Tales of PNP ToEE...post your own HERE!

PnP Adventure Log
ToEE (revisited)
1st Edition rules
{Long...Long Post}


As promised, this is a log of the recent PnP adventures in the ToEE undertaken by my adventuring
partners Zorn, Curufin, and our friend from Germantown, Maryland. The first night's adventuring took
place on December 30, 2005. We decided it would be fun to revisit the Temple as an evil party.
Characters were created and the adventure began. Zorn wanted to be a bard at first, but could not
get the right feel for this character...he settled on being a fighter, specializing in the light crossbow.
Curufin elected to become an assassin, and took along a hireling to do some spell casting. I created
a Magic user for the bulk of the spell casting chores that lay ahead. I set the stage for the adventure
by giving them the task of investigating the motives of those who kidnapped Prince Thrommel, and
why they would wish to involve the Scarlet Brotherhood in their plans. So, we have the PC line-up being:


Zorn's PC "Grolsch" Human Specialist Fighter, armed with a light crossbow & bastard sword / Level 7
Curufin's PC "Halb" Half Elf Assassin, armed with garrott, longsword, sap gloves / Level 7
"Nalb" Hireling Spellcaster - Gnome Cleric/Illusionist / Level 3-3
NPC "Heplix Hemlock" Human Magic User / Level 7

All are agents of the Scarlet Brotherhood (except the Gnome, who was picked up in Dyvers).


We hadn't considered inviting our friend from far away to join yet, so it was the 3 of us. We didn't play
for too long this first night; it was late by the time we got the PC's all made up. But, 4 hours got us
pretty far along in the adventure. I won't bore you with every single scrap & tidbit of the game (full
equipment list, magic items, etc.) unless or until it is relevant to the tale. The magic user did come
equipped with a Necklace of Missiles...just to keep things tidy in the event of a sudden overwhelming
attack. Turns out that it was useful in our first big brawl...and our last.

========================================

To begin:

The evil party was dispatched to Hommlet. They set off for Dyvers, and hired the Gnome, and then
made their way to the village. Upon arriving, they made their way to the Inn of the Welcome Wench,
and began observing the patrons. They met Elmo, and hired him as extra muscle. They visited several
of the larger buildings in the vicinity, and then made their way to the Church of St. Cuthbert. They
didn't stay there long, as they wished to avoid having their intentions discerned. They visited Elmo's
parents, talked to Burne & Rufus, and wound up by finding a party of good adventurers to follow. This
led them to split as the adventures went to both the Trader's establishment & back to the Church; Zorn
took this opportuntity to poison the Holy Water Font so as to hinder the good folk in their adventuring.
It was a slip-up, as they were nearly discovered during the act. The deed was noticed immediately, and
Calmert was blamed for allowing the font to become "unclean". The Traders revealed nothing to the
adventurers, but hints were given that they might be inclined to be of more friendly disposition to the evil
party than too the good. The good party had obviously been there for some time, and was in the process
of upgrading their equipment & levelling up, but Our heroes could not tell for how long. The good party
set off again before a plan was made to follow them further, so the evil party linked up with a caravan in
hopes that it would be attacked; they hoped to avoid the fight & follow the attackers to their lair. This
never came to pass, and the party ended up in Nulb. They made their way to the Boatman's Tavern, and
met Lodriss, Skole, and some of Tolub's crew. Pleasantries didn't last too long, as Tolub's attitude was,
as it ever is: BAD. He tried to pick a fight with Grolsch, which was answered with a twang of his bowstring,
and then it was "Lodriss, bar the door!" It was their undoing...Elmo is pure hell on 0-level pirates, and he
wore out the ones which did not die in a flash of energy from Heplix's pair of Magic Missile spells (2 rounds
= 8 missiles). The Gnome had taken cover behind the bar, and was safely slinging Chromatic Orbs at
anyone who got close. Halb plied his trade on Lodriss & Skole, who were attempting to aid Tolub. It was a
blood bath. When all was said & done, our PC's found themselves to be proud new owners of a slightly
used bar. The corpses were despoiled, and the adventure concluded for the evening.

=============================

A week passed; Curufin and I discussed the possibility of continuing with his friend from Maryland. We
spoke of how it could be done, and the idea of doing the remote seemed most plausible, so...they tried
a remote link. It seemed to work, and we contacted Zorn for more gaming. We settled on the 14th of
January as a date, and met for the event. I re-arranged the hireling Gnome (not to mention my dining
room; and at great personal risk, I might add...) for use as a full PC. The Gnome was boosted to level
5/5, and we established the link. It was GREAT! When Zorn arrived, we were all set to run. We played
for about 18 hours, from Saturday evening until Sunday evening, breaking only for about 6 hours of sleep
& meals & booze.

=============================

The PC's began by selling off their loot at Mother Screng's. Their reception was somewhat cool,
but they thought none the worse of it. Hruda mostly was suspicious, so she was less trusted
than her "Mother". Plans began to form for killing them, but these were scrapped for the time
being, as more pressing matters came to their attention. Tolub's ship had returned to Nulb, and
Grud Squinteye was seeking his master...along with another 40+ pirates. One squad of
crewmen stayed aboard the ship; another guarded the dock; two more squads (25 guys,
counting Grud) went to the Tavern. The first pirates, it seems, had found the doors locked & barred;
and thought it strange that it would be so when the bar should be open; what's more, there was
a strange odor emanating from the place. Black smoke was pouring from the chimney as Heplix &
Nalb worked feverishly to dispose of the corpses from the previous slaughter while Elmo, Grolsch
& Halb went to Screngs. So, these pirates returned to report to Grud; he returned with some help
to discover the nature of the trouble. He found out soon enough. Once they chopped their way
into the bar through the front door, a Cromatic Orb released a stinking cloud; then, a fireball
flashed - one squad was killed; the other sickened to the point of helplessness. The second
group then met a similar fate as the first; only a few remained from among the troops, but they
were quickly dispatched by blade & bolt as Elmo, Halb, and Grolsch joined the fray from behind.
End of pirates...well, those ones, at least. Now, it was time to capture their ship! They used
invisiblity to make their way onto the vessel at the dock, and took the highest-level crewman
onboard (the bosun) captive with a garrotte. He surrendered himself, the remaining crew, and the
ship to the party. The party wished to re-outfit with a crew, so they hired a smaller vessel, promoted
it's captain, and set him the task of filling the ship's roster. They were no closer to solving their quest,
though, and in fact were gaining notoriety for their deeds. So, they elected to back-track to Hommlet
& see what other clues they could discover. They took the high road, and discovered the unused
track which lead to the Moathouse. They were attacked by giant frogs; discovered a spider in the tower;
and found the despoiled corpses of bandits (several weeks old) in the upper ruins...and plenty of fat rats.
They descended, only to find that things were much the same in the lower levels in the ruins. Destroyed
undead; an ogre's corpse; deceased bugbears & gnolls...and the "New Master" beautiful no more. A
clue to his life was found in the corner of the room...a destroyed holy symbol of the goddess Lolth.
Even a Giant Crayfish had been killed by whoever explored here first...and what was found by the evil
PC's gave them a new sense of urgency to complete their task, as they began to realize that the
good adventurers were on the trail of evil and gaining experience as they went. Soon, they would be
a force to be reckoned with. Grolsch took with him poison for his bolts from the spider in the tower,
and visited Screng to have it refined to a greater degree of toxicity. This was done, but he realized
later that she had substituted a non-poisonous resin. More reason to kill her, eventually, but not
right now. First, they had to find the good guys...so they went to the Temple.

Exploring outside the ruins revealed several things; the way appeared closed due to the sealed portals.
Exploring further showed them a smashed house, an old stump of a guard tower, and a burned out barn.
This latter was investigated first, and 6 well groomed & cared for warhorses were found inside. This being
of the most interest, Halb was made invisible, and he spied from the rafters as the grooms for the horses
appeared just at dusk. They followed them back into the secret passage (a discreet time later, of course)
and found the secret entrance into the tower from below. They had little success in spying, until Halb
ventured out of the commander's quarters to listen more closely. A raid was being discussed, so he
made some mental notes & went back to tell his fellows of the plans. It was decided to explore further
along the secret passage as the raid was to be the next day, and the party came upon the quarters of
Falrinth & Smigmal. They went south first, and took him unprepared to fight. Kriitsch died immediately
from being struck by several bolts in rapid succession; Falrinth lost a level & some hit points just from
that. The onset was quite sharp, and before he could raise his Globe (or get off any good spells, really...)
he was taken by the PC's in about two rounds. They searched for about an hour while the door was
closed & guarded by Elmo & Nalb; they found all of his stuff, including a map to level 3 & some explosive
runes, which put the first real hurting on them since the adventure began. Also in the plunder was the Orb
of Golden Death, and an item not found in the computer game any where...a Mirror of Mental Prowess!
This powerful device grants the user the ability to scry remote things (including other planes) with
clairaudience; can reveal the thoughts of creatures reflected in its surface; open a portal to these remote
places, allowing the user to step through; and answer a question once per week regarding a creature
whose image is shown on its surface. This tool has the power to make kings, and the PC's began using
it right away. Well, almost. Two things demanded their attention first. They checked behind the door to
the north, and met Smigmal. She hadn't heard the brief combat which killed her lover, and was killed in
very short order herself. She managed to run after the initial onset, and Grolsch missed a shot at her as
she rounded the corner, but a Magic Missile from the pursuing Heplix caught her before she made it to
the ladder leading into the tower where her bandit troops dwell. Then it was time to deal with them. Using
invisibility, Halb waited under the bunk of the bandit leader. He came in to rest before the next morning's
raid, and was knocked unconscious by a blow from the sap gloves of the assassin. Bound & gagged, he
was lowered through the trap door to the rest of the party waiting below. They got his cooperation by
revealing the corpse of Smigmal Redhand, and tossing her head at his feat. The bandit leader swore
fealty, and took pay offered for the troops in the tower above. They were told to stop raiding, and stand
guard over this entrance while the PC's continued their exploration. Elmo started to get a little squeamish
at this point, what with the cutting off of heads & the taking of service from evil pirates & bandits...so they appeased him a little by comparing it to the Badgers in Hommlet, and secretly decided it was time to
lower their profile somewhat. The bar was set ablaze; the pirate ship was moved downstream; and Elmo
was made prisoner & taken to Kro-Terlep in the homeland of the Scarlet Brotherhood via the Magic Mirror.
While there, the PC's sold off their loot & levelled up. They took up abode inside the Temple (in Falrinth's
secret room), and began to scry on the party of good adventurers. It could easily be seen that they were
becoming even more powerful. Their party composition & skills could be seen, as well as a general location
in the Temple. The PC's went back to the tower, and discovered in their absence that their bandit allies
had been slain; but the secret entrance was not revealed. So, they entered the temple to find the
do-gooders...but had no idea where they were. So, they went up to the ground floor going in where the
bandit leader said an entrance was located (before he died, of course...). They descended to level one,
and saw that it had been cleared by the party. They compared it with their map, and discovered that it
was to a different level. Returning to their secret hideout, they went further on to discover a secret
entrance into level 3. Using the mirror & comparing it with the map, they discovered many things about
the level, and decided to go find some beings to recruit to their cause of killing the good adventurers.
This led them to the abode of Scorpp & his minions. The stairs up near Scorpp's domain lead to the 'secret
stairs' near the Air Temple. After some negotiation, flattery, and payment, Scorpp & his minions agreed to
help ambush the good party. But, the good party was somewhere on the level above (level 2, if you're lost), and Scorpp didn't want to leave his realm. The evil ones must "Bring them to Scorpp; Scorpp KILL for you
GOOD!" Fine...but now what? A plan was hatched on the fly to bring the good party from their current location (a room with some dead werewolves in it...) to the secret door by the Air Temple. Scorpp agreed to go that far and destroy the secret door so the secret entrance would no longer be secret, and the good party would definetly find it. A tremendous racket ensued, and the good party came to investigate (they had already moved along in that direction as fate...and my dice...would have it). HOWEVER, they ran into some other creatures who also came to investigate - Air Temple Bugbears; and the fight was ON! The good party was handily dealing with the Air Temple minions, but the PC's had no idea how it was going, so they sent Halb
to investigate. He found them heavily engaged as he approached, and saw the fleeing Kelno meet his destiny at the hand of their Ranger, who put three arrows into his back as he ran. He died at Halb's feet. Halb, assassin that he was, figured that she absolutely had to die; she could not be allowed to live and use that kind of power on them! So, he approached, still invisible, and peered into the room where the foes clashed. The "fighters" (actually a Cleric of Trithereon & a Paladin of St. Cuthbert) were occupied up front; the
Wizard was in the center; the Bard was inspring courage; and the Ranger was drawing a shaft; and they were all moving 'hastily'. Halb entered the room, and made his stroke...but he MISSED! The Ranger ducked, rolled,
and fired a snap shot at him, taking him for about 16 points of damage. He elected to retire before she could do more damage. The PC's learned this, and decided to wait for the good party to descend into Scorpp's domain. As luck(?) would have it, the good guys elected to finish level 2 before going downstairs to level 3. The PC's figured that the good party was too powerful for them, and that they were not likely to beat them in these conditions (i.e., them not coming down to where their help was), so Halb followed them some more after getting his wounds healed. He followed them, awaiting a chance to kill one or more of them before any further combat could take place. This led them to the Fire Temple where he waited to strike again. The Haste had worn off by now, and the good guys were taking a more measured approach to the fight. Once they became heavily engaged with Allrem & his followers, the assassin struck...this time, his aim was true, and their elven Magic User died at a stroke! Their Bard was nearby, and struck back, missing as Halb fled. The Ranger gave chase, and using her skills to track him, followed around several corners into the main hall. In spite of having turned invisible again, she could tell that he was no longer fleeing, and was waiting ahead to ambush her. She fired blindly, and her arrow nearly found its mark. This convinced Halb that discretion was the better part of valour, and he rejoined his fellows.

Now that the good party was weakened, the PC's made their way back to their secret room to scry their actions. They saw that they elected to quit the dungeon & head for a haven to raise their fallen comrade. Time for an ambush! The PC's journeyed to the southern intersection of the high road & the unused track to hatch their scheme. Using the mirror as a portal, they were able to arrive well in advance of the good PC's. A Fireball opened the combat, and things went poorly for the good PC's. The arrows flew, but few found their mark. This was in no small part to an Illusion generated by the
Gnome to make mirror images of Heplix, who was drawing most of the Ranger's attention. He had the fireballs, after all...and was slowly burning the forces of good to death. Heplix began combat with an 8 die Fireball spell, and used his Necklace of Missiles to hurl 3 more during combat...one of 5 dice
& two of 3 dice. These killed off all of the berserkers summoned by the Bard on his Silver Horn of Valhalla, and finished the Cleric & wounded the Bard...who was finally done in by the assassin, Halb. The last fireball took the Ranger to 0 hit points. The Paladin was taken down by the group at the very
last. They despoiled the bodies, made prisoner of the unconscious Ranger, and took her to Kro-Terlep as well. The last thing the PC's did was sell off their loot & re-equip with new gear before returning to the Temple.

===================================================

We haven't any solid plans on when next to play, but it was generally agreed by all participating to be
one of the most memorable games ever! I shall report more here after the next run. We've done a lot,
but a lot more yet remains...

 

the last pnp dnd i played included lots of fun incidents such as when my already unstable wildmage/berserker character went permanently insane after summoning his familiar which turned out to be a small chaos beast.
playing crazies is fun

in that same game, there was also a drunk half-ogre pc who tripped down the stairs to the tavern and broke his neck and died.

there was also an orc PC that ended up dying because he wanted to kick an annoying little yapping dog, but critically missed and hit his head against a door knob, knocking him unconscious, allowing the dog to coup-de-graw him by biting his throat out. :O

 

Then there was the Party vs Bad-Guys of the World killing Huge finale battle in which EVERYONE died, except one hero who was left standing with one, single hit point.

SO, the DM had the following to say to that, naturally bragging, remaining "good guy":

"As you stagger, wearily away from the battlefield, you step upon on an invisible, pink, imaginary turtle, and stumble, falling into a previously unseen brick wall, taking a hit point of damage and going unconsious."

Naturally he bled to death along with the rest of us.

Campaign over.

The turtle, however, made a few appearances in the future, and was a resident in my games when I became a DM too.

 

The first time a group I was playing in made it a considerable way through the Temple, a friend of ours was trying out the 'Skills and Powers' books, or as I humbly referred to it, the 'haX0rz and p0w3rZ' books. We ran through the first two levels of the temple with a three man party of one dwarven Fighter (Duel-wielding Warhammers, yo!), a chaotic neutral Half-elven Mage-Cleric of some God of Vengeance (With backstab potential and a hide and move silently precentage!, thank you S+P!), and a chaotic good Elven Ranger (Who was, surprisingly mundane).

The senarios generally began something along the lines of my Weeeezard casting Web into a room, the Drawf charging in and trusting his insane (Thanks to the S+P min-maxing) 'Muscle' adjustment to keep him free, and the Ranger firing into the frey.

It was the only time we ever used Skills and Powers for a campaign game, as we discovered how utterly broken it can be in the minds of two players who take the idea of 'testing the system to see if it's broken' to the extreme. You don't need to ask, it is, and we snapped it clean in half.

Combats are over veeeeery quickly when you have some stacking like...Ring of Invisibility, Fist of Stone, sneak-sneak, Giant Snake Poison, bwaaaaaargh! I think Lareth the Beautiful died in one round...it was sick.

Yes, it was indeed the only time we ever opened those horribly over-powered books.

 

Bumping up for added content in the next day or so...

...featuring the conclusion!


==========================

Okay...

Last Monday I took a day off from work, as Curufin & Zorn are on Spring Break. We took advantage of the situation to get in some more Dungeons, and as the fates would have it, they managed to conclude their foray into the Temple of Elemental Evil. It took about 8 hours of actual gameplay to reach a conclusion; we had video link trouble, so our friend on the laptop actually only experienced "voice" play. All in all, it was a good time, but gameplay was not as "inspired" as our previous session. Must've been the Bushmills...

Play began with our PC's searching for what to do next. They had levelled up from their last action, which involved defeating the good NPC party. Answers were sought by the Assassin (Curufin's character, disguised due to their previous actions in Nulb) in the Waterside Hostel. It was learned that they should seek advice from the denizens to be found within the Temple. They had thus far only killed them, or watched them being killed by the other group. They settled on trying to find one by doing some invisible spying. A portal was opened using the Mirror of Mental Prowess, and the assassin entered. He looked around a good bit on the 4th level, mapping every room (except the storage spaces) up to the main temple complex. He saw Hedrack, but didn't realize who he was until later. Once he returned with the information, the PC's decided to return and follow someone, hoping to be led to the leader. Who they found was Senshock, and he was stalked to his chambers. Once alone, the assassin struck. Senshock was not killed immediately, but died the following round when help arrived via the mirror. A bolt from Zorn's crossbow finished him. The PC's then used Speak with Dead to question him. Little was learned, so they returned to the hidden city of Kro-Terlep to seek guidance. There, a more powerful cleric cast the spell, and much more was divined. The reason for framing the Brotherhood was determined; the plans of Iuz were to supplant the Brotherhood in every court of the Flanaess with his own spies. Even something of Lolth's ambition was revealed. They learned that the Prince of Furyondy still lived as well, and made plans to rescue him. Armed with this new knowledge, the PC's returned once again to carry out their plans. Thrommel was rescued, and he assumed it was by a party of brave adventurers; but he began to grow suspicious of their motives before he left. No reward was forthcoming, as he was treated rather rudely and without honor. A lot like "Look, pal, we saved your ass, now get the f--- out of here." The PC's then sought the master of the Temple, Hedrack. He was taken in his chambers by the PC's, and while not assassinated...a blow from the assassin's blade (+2 Lifestealer) took him down notch to level eight. Combat was brief, and he managed to survive longer than Senshock, but not much longer. His identity was assumed by Zorn's character, and Curufin took on the guise of Senshock. They found Barkinar, and had him muster all the troops in the temple itself, where "Hedrack" told them of Invaders sacking the upper floors of the Temple...invaders who had been aided by the citizens of Nulb. There were Bugbears, Gargoyles, Trolls, Ettins, Hill Giants, Ogres...and the best news of all, he said, was that Scorpp was to be re-united with them as their new General. {You may recall that the party recruited Scorpp in the last session to help ambush the good PC's who never made to the ambush site...} He was still on the payroll, and loyal, and he liked the idea of being a General. So, it was decided to raze Nulb to the ground. Barkinar expressed his objections to this..."My lord, is the Temple ready for such a step?" But only once. "Hedrack" cussed him out, and gave him a clout on the side of the head for good measure. He deserted at the earliest opportunity, seeing nothing but disaster in his future. Surely, the armies of justice would respond...? Kella the druid, in Hill giant form, heard of the plans for the Nulb attack, and made good her own escape from the Temple. She went straight to Nulb, and warned Mother Screng & Murfles of the attack. They told Otis, who led them swiftly to Hommlet & raised the alarm. Nulb was utterly destroyed by the Army of the Temple without the loss of any troops. Every building was burned, and every inhabitant that hadn't fled was put to the sword. Their heads were boiled and the skulls were piled in a shrine to Iuz upon the field of slaughter...

Just to make it look convincing.

The evil army returned to the Temple, and the PC's kept up the ruse until they were certain that the forces of good were on the march to destroy the Temple once & for all. An entire legion was sent by Belvor, led by his son Thrommel. The PC's then escaped to Dyvers, from whence they observed the final destruction of the Temple. A siege was set about the Temple, and the commanders organized forays to go within and kill the occupants. Every last creature within was hunted down and killed by the leaders of the army, including Thrommel armed with Fragarach. But Zuggtmoy was merely banished to her home plane, as the Orb of Golden Death still exists. It was spirited away to Kro-Terlep by the PC's. The temple has now been completely sealed, but the nodes are merely locked away. There is still an opportunity for the Fungi Queen to rise again...

The last order of business was to hunt down and kill Barkinar, as he alone might have knowledge that the leaders of the Temple "simply weren't acting like themselves" before the end. They found him, in of all places...Dyvers. And the Assassin finally made his roll to kill the victim instantly.

Das Ende.

 

I just realized that an edit would make it look like I hadn't posted anything yet...so, here's another BUMP!