SESSION 10 - LEIF MAKES LIKE A TREE & LEAVES AN EMAIL ON SOME ARMOR

RANGERS

"But in the wild lands beyond Bree there were mysterious wanderers. The Bree-folk called them Rangers, and knew nothing of their origin. They were taller and darker than the Men of Bree and were believed to have strange powers of sight and hearing, and to understand the languages of beasts and birds. They roamed at will southwards, and eastwards even as far as the Misty Mountains; but they were now few and rarely seen. When they appeared they brought news from afar, and told strange forgotten tales which were eagerly listened to; but the Bree-folk did not make friends of them." - Fellowship of the Ring

Rangers are humans that have left civilization in order to protect it from chaos & evil lurking in the forests, therefore they are always Lawful in alignment. If a Ranger ever does any action outside of this alignment, he immediately becomes a Fighter & loses all Ranger specifics. Rangers start out w/ 2 hit dice b/c they have already gained experience & heft in their relocation to the woods. Though they do not see eye-to-eye w/ Elves in all matters (if they are not themselves an elf), they usually become familiar w/ Elves & can speak Elvish by 2nd Level & read & write Elvish by 3rd Level. In addition, beginning w/ 4th Level, a Ranger has access to magic from the Elf Spell List (though it is limited to specific spells). The Ranger accesses this magic through primitive means (as the Elves first did), ie. communing w/ the forest, learning its wild laws, meditation, etc. They memorize their spells similarly to a cleric. Due to their stealth, Rangers cannot wear plate mail & also, when using missile weapons within the forest & w/ surprise, gain an additional +2 to hit.

 for now...

SESSIONS 9 & 10 - THESE AREN'T THE GNOLLS YOU'RE LOOKING FOR

In which the party untraps zombies from a cell - Djarel gets rushed to the Church of the White Widow - The party tries to convince Goody that thieves killed Shadow - A day of rest is in order - Unrest in & outside Talbot Outfitters - Gnoll Too leads the party into the rolling fields north of Talbot - Inside an old tree Leif senses a secret door & the party investigates...

PARTY CAST:
Leif, elf ranger - LE
Djarel, cleric of Dawnbringer - RM
Telal, thief - JT
Amadi, magic-user - MN
Gnolan, charmed gnoll - NPC
Mellon, freed gnoll - NPC
Magus, dwarf - MIA

ENCOUNTERED NON-PARTY NPCs:
Chill Deeter - holy man @ Church of the White Widow
Goody Threeshoe - barkeep @ the Green Lantern Inn
Dashdalian - traveling bard
Leonard Loonberry - hobbit owner of Talbot Outfitters
Farmer John & 4 of his friends - 2 w/ shovels, 2 w/ spears, FJ w/ sword

Before heading up out of the jail below the Gambling Hall, the party weighs their options & decide to try one more of the remaining jail cell doors... One of the gnolls beats down the door & four zombies move about. Djarel forces entry, brandishing the symbol of Dawnbringer, but the zombies keep on toward the door. They start clawing into the two gnolls who end up crunched over in a corner outside the door, a zombie on top of them & before the party can get the best of the 4 zombies, Djarel takes a serious blow that puts him @ Death's Door. Once the zombies are bested, they lift Djarel, rush out of the Gambling Hall & move west to the Church of the White Widow. It is late at night by this time, & inside the church, where they see a massive, sparkling spider @ back upon a dais, sits a man, quietly. He offers his services for a contribution of 20 gold. Leif is quick to hand over the $. The holy man, Chill Deeter, casts a spell upon Djarel who begins to groan & flounder a bit. Everyone is happy to see he hasnt kicked the bucket. They return him to a bed in the common room @ the Green Lantern & go in & speak w/ Goody who is cleaning up. Though they speak of Shadow dead down in the bottom of the Gambling Hall, killed by thieves, Goody doesnt quite seem to buy it & asks them why exactly he should believe them. They retire for sleep & in doing so, cause a bit of a controversy as a few others there, like a bard named Dashdalian, are not so psyched on their gnoll friends. The next day the party stays the entire day @ the inn, resting. The inn seems oddly quiet all day, which is fine w/ them. On the following morning, they leave the inn & go next door to Talbot Outfitters so that Leif can purchase items to replace those he lost when captured. Like the inn, the town seems rather dead except for a handful of men standing down the strip, in the road, watching the party as they enter the Outfitters. The owner/clerk, Leonard Loonberry, refuses to do business w/ them & after a while agrees to sell the items if the gnolls leave the store. He tells them that word around town is that they killed Shadow & rescued this other gnoll. Leonard tells them this gnoll they rescued robbed his shop @ one time. The party calms him down w/ their purchases & assures him they are trying to do the right thing & are actually trying to get to the bottom of who killed Shadow, saying they are being wrongly accused. Though Leonard doesnt seem to totally buy their story, he gives them enough slack to get what they want & get out of there...

As they exit the shop, they find that the men from down the strip are now just outside the shop, in a semi-circle surrounding the gnolls. The two on the outside have spears, the two closer in have shovels & the guy in the middle has a sword. He's the one that starts taunting the party, waving his sword. Farmer John says they better get the hell outta town & never come back. They are convinced the party killed Shadow & they dont like these gnolls they're runnin' w/. After a bit of a stand-off, the party simply walks through their line, calling their bluff. Farmer John & his lackeys dont do anything, but Farmer John keeps telling them they better not come back to Talbot, or else.

By mid-morning the party is north of Talbot walking through the fields - they are being led by Mellon (gnoll 2), who finally noticing a few dips in the plain, inside a slight valley, brings them to an old, gnarly tree. The tree is extremely massive @ its base, though not that tall; a bit stunted it seems & dying. About five feet up, there is a broken, hollow branch that looks to lead into the tree. Gnoll Too says this is where he hid the bags of silver. The party tells him to go in & get it & Telal lends him his rope. After about 5 or 10 mins in the tree, the gnoll shows his head out the hole & is irritated. He tells the other gnoll & Leif that the bags are gone & says he knows this is the place b/c he specifically disarmed a pit trap the last time. The party decides to enter the tree to check it out. Telal lights up a torch. Sure enough they see the pit trap & spikes & a skeleton down there. But as Leif looks about the hollowed out room, which is about 10 feet high & 10 feet in diameter, he senses something about the north wall. He goes over & lays his hands about, & sure enough, feels the crease of something there. Telal comes over & helps investigate & before long they are opening a secret door which once opened, reveals a stair that suspends up into darkness... They can hear the slow slosh of water somewhere. In order, the party climbs the creaky stair, reaching a dirt landing of sorts, but as Djarel, who was last, gets close to the landing, the stair wobbles & snaps & Djarel falls...  hitting something rubbery he pops off & into the water which is not very deep but next something whips around, what he landed on & an alligator is swinging it's jaws @ him, missing, two other alligators can then be heard splashing from each side, further away... Telal shines his torch down there & then tries pushing Mellon over ledge, but it backfires when Mellon simply grabs his hand & tosses him off, his torch landing beside the water, but not in it... Telal takes 1 damage from the fall...& everyone can hear Amadi chanting something, he's reading from a scroll & then suddenly the alligators are asleep, snoring, hacking up water...It takes a bit but the party heals the rift between Telal & Mellon & Telal & Djarel are hauled back up to the landing using the rope.

Another torch is lit & the party moves forward down a corridor, away from the stairs & the snoring alligators. They come to a 10 x 10 ft. clearing where another stair leads off upwards to their left, a passage also leads straight ahead, they head down the passage & enter into a 15 foot wide, 25 foot long room w/ webs about & as they move in they notice a large, golden key sticking down into the floor. After some talk, they turn the key. When doing so, a section of the north wall spins & opens. They pass through the opening in the north wall & come out into a 30 foot long hallway that smells of mold, about 10 feet wide, armor statues stand to each side, six in all... The armor is a funny cast as it looks to be armor for a crawfish-shaped man, long arms of armor opened for pincers, etc. Telal gets out front & searches for traps, scanning the armor, notices that the 2nd on the left has a pole arm attached to a trip wire. He is able to disarm it. They move in further & Magus slowly examines the armor, telling everyone that the second set on the right seems made of especially fine metals. The party takes time to bag up the suit of armor... They then notice a large collection of gray/black mushrooms growing up from the red rug running down the hall, 12 total, @ the center point of the room, they collect them all... They look down the hall to the other side & the doorway there, about 10 feet in front of them... They get back into a marching order, ready to move on...

3:40 PM, Friday, 15th day of the month of the Hummingbird, Talbot, Furthermoor

OD&D - AD&D: CHAR GEN: HOLMES BASIC (ADDITIONAL)

Since Flake was such a quick roll up, I rolled up another w/ Holmes...

Character rolled up using Holmes Basic:

[in approx. 50 minutes]

NADINE THE NADIR, Medium/Veteran, Chaotic Evil, Female Elf

HP: 1 / AC: 6 [13]
STR: 8
INT: 12
WIS: 7
CON: 7
DEX: 7 (-1 missile to-hit)
CHA: 11

12 - Death Ray/Poison
13 - Wands/Polymorph/Paralyze
13 - Stone
15 - Dragon Breath
15 - Staves &Spells

LANGUAGES: Common, alignment, elvish, human, orc, hobgoblin, gnoll & harpy.

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Can detect secret doors, 60' infravision, not paralyzed by ghouls

POSSESSIONS:

Leather armor
Shield
Sword
Dagger
Short Bow
Quiver of arrows (20)
Leather back pack
Small sack
Water/wine skin
Tinder box
Wine, 2 quarts
Iron rations (1 wk)
50' rope
Spell book*

Mule (Grigory)

*Spells in book:
Dancing Lights
Enlargements
Hold Portal
Light
Magic Missile
Protection from Good

gold: 9

OD&D - AD&D: CHAR GEN: HOLMES BASIC

Dude, what is up w/ me & rolling up clerics?

Character rolled up using Holmes Basic:

[in approx. 10 minutes]

FLAKE THE FOUNDLING, Acolyte, Chaotic Good [+5% earned XP]

HP: 2 / AC: 2 [17]
STR: 9
INT: 10
WIS: 13
CON: 11
DEX: 10
CHA: 11

11 - Death Ray/Poison
12 - Wands/Polymorph/Paralyze
14 - Stone
16 - Dragon Breath
15 - Staves &Spells

LANGUAGES: Common, alignment, human

POSSESSIONS:

Plate Mail
Shield
Silver Cross
Mace
Tinder Box
Torches (6)
Water/wine skin
Standard rations (1wk)
Small sack
Silver mirror, small
3 stakes & mallet

gold:  1

SESSION 9 - THE CONFESSIONS OF DJAREL

From the Journal of Djarel...

Foolish of me to stand before both of the abominations at once. The scars will help me remember this lesson. Blessed be the Dawnbringer to let me see the sunrise again and for her I will not let this lesson go unlearned. I still feel my rib floating... I do not wish to be a burden on my companions but I will not be able to swing my hammer with sureness until my injuries are healed. I am grateful to my new found friends for bringing me out of the thieves den. I must trust my companions and err on the side of caution.

I miss the clear skies of  Debthaven. It is always grey and dark here in Talbot which makes me feel that much farther from the Temple of the Dawn-bringer. Kumis... guide me to my grandfather's bones and help me return them to the Rising sun Barrows... Kumis keep my companions safe from that which harrows us.

I will pray to the Dawnbringer for healing...

-D

SESSION 9 - LEIF'S LETTER (TO LUCIUS?)

Dear L,

The blasted undead have almost taken one of us to the depths. Of all the creatures, it is they who confound me most—these abominations that haunt Wild Earth surely risen from the egos of craven gods.

Dginger lies in recovery. We dragged his limp body from the thieves guild. None can say we were blameless. Our own egos—his most of all—whispering in our ears to stuff our pockets when they were already bulging. I admit, my own head was ringing with the thought. I was naked but for my clothes, wanting revenge for those who robbed and tied me.

I wanted my White Knife back; my skull pipe with mouthpiece worn to my lips. But at what cost? I whispered to myself; perhaps audibly to my companions, “Let us stop now. We can buy 50 knives; 40 pipes. Let us consider ourselves lucky, and ascend from this dark place.” But whispers are whispered; they are not heard when blood is pounding. No longer can my indecision allow the loudest to prevail.

I was blinded by conceit. I carry the weight of this. I pray to Obad for strength to guide our young and eager party with a thoughtful and strong voice. I pray to Ehlenestra to restore my friends—to ease the half-orc’s pain, to focus the dwarf’s concentration, to soothe our Gnolls as they lick their wounds. We have been lucky; we will not last on luck.

-LTR