Campaign Journal: The Northlands and Beyond Chapter 1

So, I thought I'd start posting my campaign journal entries here, in a brief summary format.  For a more detailed version, you can check out the Obsidian Portal site for our campaign.  Because this game is played via a play-by-post method, there are no real "sessions" as we pretty much play every single day.  Instead, I've divided the entries up by chapters.  They don't really act as chapters of a story, per se, but rather offer a break or change in events, so to speak.  So, here is the abbreviated version.  Again, for those that don't already know, this is an adventure played in AD&D 2e in the Forgotten Realms setting (using 1993 boxed set).  The year is 1368DR.

Cast:

Xilus - Lvl 1 Fighter/Mage/Thief half elf, played by Chris

Davrun - Lvl 1 Paladin, human played by Billy F.

Stanley - Lvl 1 Cleric of Torm, human played by Rouse

Flute - Lvl 1 Bard, half elf, played by Billy C.

Bazhur - Lvl 1 Ranger/Thief, human played by Ron

Tymel - Lvl 1 Cleric of Tyr, human NPC

Xilus, Davrun, Flute, and Stanley arrived at the Hall of Justice in Neverwinter on the morning of Hammer 5th, 1368 to answer a call to arms. Over the past two weeks, 4 merchant caravans had gone missing while traveling south along the High Road near the Neverwinter Wood. The party was commissioned to find the bandits raiding the merchant caravans, rescue any survivors, and bring the brigands to justice in Neverwinter. Tymel Greyhammer, cleric of Tyr, and priest at the Hall of Justice accompanied the party.

They departed on Hammer 6th using a cart disguised as a merchant cart in order to lure out the bandits. That night, after traveling along the High Road the group set up camp. During the night they were attacked by a pack of wolves. 

During the late afternoon of the following day, Hammer 7th, the party came across 3 people standing by a broken cart along the High Road. They claimed to be from Neverwinter and in need of assistance to get back on the road. Xilus noticed that there were no fresh tracks to indicate the cart had been moving. From the back of their own cart, Davrun the young paladin, who was hiding in order to surprise brigands, sensed evil nearby. 

While questioning the 3 humans, the party was ambushed by a group of 5 orcs.  During the fray, Xilus cast a sleep spell on the humans. After the orcs were slain, the 3 humans revealed that they were survivors from a previous caravan raid. The raids were not being conducted by bandits, but rather by orcs. The orcs somehow knew of the party's coming and forced the humans to act as bait for an ambush.

The humans informed the party that the orcs had a camp a half-day's journey into the Neverwinter Wood and that there were other human survivors. They also mentioned that every other night an elf would come into the camp, speak with some of the orcs, and sometimes take a few of the humans. Those that were taken had not been seen again. They also suspected that the elf was behind the ambush.  One of the 3 humans, a woman named Myrtha, revealed that her son was still alive in the orc camp. The other two humans agreed to take some horses and ride back to Neverwinter to report the news.

The party then departed through the forest of the Neverwinter Wood headed for the orc camp with Myrtha in tow. Upon finding a ravine with a tree fallen across in the forest, Xilus went forward to scout the orc camp. As he was scouting the camp he encountered another human, this one armed. He revealed himself to be Bazhur Kahn, a warrior from Calimshan. He informed Xilus that he had been scouting the camp for several days, but could not act to free the captives because he was severely outnumbered. With the party waiting back at the ravine about 100 yards back, Khan and Xilus proceeded to the orc camp.

After stealthily taking two of the orc guardtowers, they signaled the rest of the party to come forward. The ambush didn't go as planned, and a battle ensued. The party managed to kill most of the orcs including a chieftain and a shaman. They also freed the remaining survivors. One of the survivors, a merchant named Dalos Ironwinter, attempted to sneak into the chieftain's tent after being freed, but Xilus spotted him and secretly followed him. After observing Dalos, he realized the man was looking for something extremely important in the chieftain's tent. He revealed himself to Dalos, and after some questioning, discovered that Dalos was commissioned by one of the Neverwinter Nine, a man named Balar, to create a map of the city of Neverwinter, and deliver it to Waterdeep to a contact with the Lord's Alliance.

After creating the map, and disguising his journey as a mere merchant's caravan, he was ambushed by the orcs along the High Road. He told of a mysterious elf who came into the camp every few days. He would take a few human captives with him, but the captives would never return. Dalos was digging through the merchant cargo stored in the chieftain's tent looking for the map of Neverwinter. Unable to find it, Dalos feared it may be in the hands of the elf, or worse yet, on it's way to the Arcane Brotherhood in Luskan, bitter enemies of Neverwinter.

While Xilus questioned Dalos, Davrun spoke with the little boy held captive, Myrtha's son. He told the boy that Myrtha was with the party, and after looking around, discovered she was missing. He went to the outskirts of the camp where he discovered a blood stained trail leading into the darkness of the forest. Putting the pieces together, he reasoned that somehow during the melee, Myrtha was taken. Angered, he wanted to pursue her captor into the wilderness, but the party members convinced him to wait until dawn.

At dawn on Hammer 8th, Davrun and Tymel went searching for Myrtha. The rest of the party prepared to depart with the remaining survivors, and return to Neverwinter. Davrun and Tymel discovered a beaten and bloody Myrtha hanging from a tree with a note attached which read: "I will kill them all if you follow me -e.v." Davrun and Tymel wrapped her body in a blanket, and returned to camp. Her son was horrified with the sight and Davrun attempted to comfort him.

The party agreed to take the survivors to Helm's Hold just south of Neverwinter. They arrived at Helm's Hold on the evening of Hammer 8th. Xilus gave the note to a sage at Helm's Hold who revealed a hidden watermark on the note. The symbol was that of the Eldreth Veluuthra, an organization of elves bent on ridding the world of humans and half-elves.

The party determined they must hunt down the elf, and bring him to justice for his crimes, and also recover the map of the city before falling into the wrong hands. They agree to take Dalos with them as he would be able to identify the authenticity of the map.  The party headed out of Helm's Hold, towards the village of Conyberry, a small, human village, and home of Xilus, on Hammer 9th.

So ends Chapter 1 of our heroes' tale.

The Northlands and Beyond Campaign: Meet the Players

First, let me say that none of my players know about my blog here, although I'm sure they will eventually find out.  I didn't tell them about it intentionally, as I plan to use this blog to discuss and share opinions and tips on game mastering.  As such, game plots about my campaign tend to be revealed here or there, so I thought it best to keep them out of the loop about Black Hole Diaries, at least for now.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, we currently play in a play-by-post game using AD&D 2e rules set in the Forgotten Realms.  Of course, it doesn't beat playing at the table, but considering it's the first time all of us have been able to play DnD together as a group for nearly a decade now, it works out quite well for us.  I detailed how I have made it work for us to be as close a simulation of the table top experience in another post, so go take a look if you haven't already, and you're interested in exploring the play-by-post method.

Since I plan on discussing my adventure quite a bit on this blog, I thought it best to introduce those curious enough to read all this to some of the players in the game.  I've known some of these guys for over 20 years.  We have a great cohesion together, because we've been playing so long.  While that sounds good, and overall I suppose the pros outweigh the cons in that regard, it can be terribly difficult to design a game that can be both surprising and enjoyable because they have seen and done it all.  They know my style as a DM, and I know their styles as players.  Fortunately, they are all very talented gamers.

Here they are.  The cast of the Northlands and Beyond.

Chris - I've known Chris for 26 years.  We have been best friends our entire lives, and truly he is more like a brother to me than just a friend.  Then again, the same can be said about all the guys in the group.  Chris has a very eclectic taste when it comes to DnD.  He doesn't tend to favor any one particular class or race.  He's often careful in how he approaches a situation, taking the time to assess as thoroughly as he can.  He tends to play this way due to past games where he has been tasked with accomplishing something major for the party, and being unable to get it done.  This stems mainly from poor dice rolls rather than bad play on his part.  He is the king of the "fumble."  The joke in our group is never tell him "all you have to do to hit is NOT roll a 1," as this is often the kiss of death.  Truly, he has fumbled more times in critical situations in previous games than I can even recall.  His character in our current game Xilus, a Fighter/Mage/Thief half-elf from the village of Conyberry just south of the Neverwinter Wood.  Yes, a Fighter/Mage/Thief.  I told you he was eclectic.

Ron - Throughout most of our time playing DnD as a group, Ron has always been the primary DM.  His imagination is unreal.  He has crafted brilliant home brew worlds, and some of the most brilliant adventures one could imagine.  He doesn't use modules, preferring to run his own adventures, and honestly, they are better than any module you could pick up.  I say this having experienced some module gaming, and also running characters in his games.  There is no comparison.  Why he isn't working for WotC or some other gaming company is beyond me at this point.  He lives far from us all now, which makes getting together to play at the table impossible, so the play-by-post works perfectly.  In fact, he's created his own system of rules which he's been using to run his own games for over a decade now.  As to his style of play, he tends to put a lot into his characters.  He likes to flesh out a great background for them, and make them a little different from the rest.  The brilliant thing about this is the fact that he can turn the basic race/class combination from the PHB into something unique without having to devote it to kits and the like.  His current character, Bazhur, is a Ranger/Thief from Calimshan.  He's stuck in the northlands by accident pretty much, his ship having crashed ashore there.  He is in search of his wife and child, who were taken by slavers some time ago.  Readers might recall a recent post in which I pointed out how he played a rather remarkable heroic situation for a 1st level character.  Give it a read if you haven't already.

Billy F. - I've known Billy F. for about 17 years.  He and I tend to get pretty crazy when we get together if there's alcohol involved, which we do pretty routinely.  He's a funny guy with a sharp wit.  In DnD, he generally tends to play the warrior type.  I can't recall an instance where he ever played a mage, in fact.  Most of his time has been devoted to playing melee fighters.  He decided to try something new in this game, and play a Paladin.  He chose this, I imagine, because he knows that often in games I run, it becomes nearly impossible to play the Paladin class.  I wouldn't say I am necessarily strict on how I look at the Paladin class, however there are certain benefits derived from the class, and it is one of the few classes in the PHB that must stick to a straight and narrow line in terms of alignment and the like.  I simply hold players to those terms, which in an adventuring party full of different alignments and classes, often results in a challenge.  It's been pretty interesting thus far, because his presence in the party creates a great dynamic in how they work to accomplish certain goals.  Oftentimes, they work behind his back to achieve an end, not because they are doing something evil, but because he simply would not allow it if he knew about it due to the lawful good alignment.  So far, he has done a good job playing the character although I have often questioned if he's really having fun with it, because it is such a departure from what he's typically used to running.  His character, Davrun, is a human Paladin of Ilmater.

Rouse - Rouse was a latecomer to our group about 15 years ago.  He's currently in the military and deployed, so I've been running his character as an NPC for quite some time.  Rouse tends to play the lawful good type in just about every game.  He loves the Paladin class, but I have sort of broken him from this in the past.  We played a one-on-one campaign for about a year in which he played a Paladin that nearly lost his Paladinhood.  He generally tends to play the same way with all his characters.  I can't think of a time that he's ever played anything but a Paladin or Cleric.  In our game, in fact, he's playing a human Cleric of Torm named Stanley.

Billy C. - Billy C. is a large man.  He's a very heavy guy with a heart just as big.  Truly, he's one of the nicest people I've ever had a privilege to know.  His tastes are eclectic as well when it comes to DnD.  He has played everything from the large melee warrior, to a devious female thief.  He enjoys intrigue and shady plots in the background, and working to expose them.  He's also prone to going his own way to look for things when the rest of the party is focused on something else entirely.  Sometimes this is rewarding, and other times this has proven to be disastrous for the party in other games.  One of the most dreaded things to hear at the gaming table is Billy C. saying "I'm opening the door."  He is a good player, however, and his risk/reward style is always something I have to prep for well as a DM.  He is Murphy's Law epitomized at the gaming table.  If you suspect the party is going to do one thing in an encounter, you can pretty much count on Billy C. doing something entirely different.  No matter how much I prepare to plan with him in mind, it never matters though.  He always catches me off guard with his antics.  Currently in our game he's playing a half-elf Bard named Flute.  His main goal being to write tales and sing songs of the party's exploits wherever they go.  Currently, he's recovering from an attack from a doppleganger, which nearly cost his character his life.  Another instance of his inquisitive nature almost getting the best of him, and the party for that matter.  Yet, were it not for his prying, the doppleganger would have likely inflicted even more damage on the party as a whole.

Paul - Paul is currently in the Navy and is deployed at sea.  He also tends to be careful in how he handles situations.  He rarely takes the lead, but often works in the background with his characters to achieve his own ends.  He has a tendency to play the thief in our games.  He enjoys slinking about, hiding in shadows and sneaking up on opponents.  Much like Billy C., he also relishes in intrigue and the like, and he's prone to go against the grain, although not to the extent of Billy C.  He's a good player, and his ideas and input on certain situations have saved the party on more than one occasion.  His current character is a human thief named Rabe Branty.

There you have it; the cast of The Northlands and Beyond campaign.  Now, that I've taken the time to introduce you to them and their characters, some of my posts about the campaign will make more sense.  If you're interested in reading up on the campaign, take a look at our Obsidian Portal page, which we update regularly.  Check out the Adventure Log there as well.  Several of the players are using the Adventure Log to post entries from their own characters' perspectives, and some of them have been very awesome.