It’s good to be back, dear readers! I have the second installment of my highlight on the Sunday night campaign. Last week, I gave you the skinny on some exposition and beginning adventures of the merry band. Today, I complicate matters with some extra characters and some story bends that’ll blow your mind!… if you were playing… and your mind is easily exploded. Today, I introduce to you James and Chris, or as we’ve come to know them: Kharshk, the Dragonborn Paladin of The Red Knight; and Dr. Penasaurus Beardstorm, Eladrin Swordmage. Let’s jump right in after the break.
Previously on Dungeons & Dragons…
…is a bangin’ way to begin each gaming session. And I do. Every gods-damn time. I like to start with what happened the previous week to get everyone in the mood. Plus, it makes me feel like that creepy/stoic voice from the beginning of each BSG episode. Anyway, when last we left, you all out there in reader-land introduced yourselves to the brave initial party members of Team C. Today, I’ll break down the story up to our current standing. For the most part, I used the Underdark sourcebook and The Pyramid of Shadows adventure module. If you’ve played with these, you’ll recognize a few things. Let’s do it.
Part II: Of Drow and Vampires
Clik here to view.
General Vaan De Marco instructed the team that the Underdark awaited their arrival. It was the safest way (note the hilarity that traveling through the Underdark is the “safest” way to anything) for the heroes to get to Porto Champlaign to hopefully assassinate the insane Baron and place The Dark Child on the throne of the De Marco Barony. Starting at a dragon’s burial site, the heroes would venture into the Underdark and make their way westward to the coast. The party would venture to the city of Maelbrathyr and then around the Drow-controlled city of Erelhei-Cinlu. If they kept their wits about them and watched their fronts as well as their backs, then they may just succeed.
A tricky task, however, when troglodytes; Drow renegades and mercenaries; and a particularly slave-hungry band of Beholders waited around every bend. Furthermore, arriving at Maelbrathyr, the group experienced anything but a warm reception. They were forced to put a price on walloping their Eladrin companion in order to make money and blend into the Bleak Carnival, an annual parade of vanity, lavish sales, and promiscuity.
Clik here to view.
Maelbrathyr turned ugly when the richest man in town, a “human” named Hannault Thrayban happened to be a half-inhabitated Count Strahd von Zarovich (wenh-wanh!). But it wasn’t all for naught: the gang met their next newest members: Kharshk, a Dragonborn Paladin of The Red Knight, desperately seeking a rare artifact of the warrior goddess; and Dr. Penasaurus Beardstorm, an Eladrin Swordmage, and doctor of arcane practices who, with his cohort Maelstrom (a.k.a. Marcus Montague — more on this later…), were plotting in the Underdark to gain as much knowledge as they could on the gods and their history. Both Beardstorm (an Eladrin slave of Hannault’s (he kept slaves to appease his fellow citizens)) and Maelstrom are members of The Heretics, an elite cult of agnostics who sought only the truth of their ontology and creation. Kharshk and Beardstorm joined the group and fought bravely to try and subdue Count von Zarovich but to no avail. They escaped by the skin of their teeth via the brave crew of The Century Hawk, an airship, and their general transport, piloted by Captain Inkwell S’mandermann.
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Unfortunately, Kharshk suffered the blood drain of von Zarovich and was practically sired. However, his soul and his humanity remained… but for what reason? *cue suspenseful music* As the cavern surrounding Maelbrathyr filled with a lake of blood, the party sped away, chased by undead wyverns and a skeletal gargantuan dragon. They evaded the wyrms, but the airship suffered enough damage to crash it inside the environs of Erelhei-Cinlu, an incredibly dangerous drow-controlled city. Airship destroyed. Demi-gods inhabitating. Morale obliterated. The party was imprisoned immediately, where they also encountered one Terran Staul, a human sorcerer and fellow Heretic. There, they learned that indeed there was a temple to Lolth within Erelhei-Cinlu, under which was not only an ancient tomb of Red Knight’s but also a way out of the city.
Good thing the Drow love spectacle and were going to execute them within that very temple. A damn good thing.
Beardstorm adeptly called his devoted weapon to him, and the group escaped the tomb and ventured further within (see video below for this encounter). The tomb, corrupted by Lolth’s zealots proved a mystery and dangerous venture; however, the group managed to break through. At the last minute, the group found a pyramid artifact left behind by The Red Knight herself. They had learned of the Pyramid of Shadows as a place of great power that even contained priceless artifacts and weapons of the gods themselves. Assembling the pyramid puzzle device, a portal opened to the famed location. Just in time too: Tiamat’s Sin of Envy (a.k.a. “Virgil,” a green flameskull, fully corporeal now) showed up with five ascended chromatic dragonborns (each bearing one color of Tiamat’s chromatic appearance) and a corporeal body for Horace, Tiamat’s Sin of Vanity who, since the group found him in the dragon’s burial site, traveled with them in the form of a blue flameskull. It was time for the group to make their exit, and they did so toward the Pyramid of Shadows…
…but if you wanna go through space and time to another location, you first have to get her permission:
Clik here to view.
The group journeys through Sigil: next week!
Before I go, I’d like to share with you some visual representations of how Sunday nights go down. First, here’s a picture of the boys in their player forms. You’ll notice how astute and poised Dr. Beardstorm is.
Clik here to view.
Second, enjoy this video of one of their adventures. The sound is a little wonky, as it’s taken with Mac Photo Booth (hence also why the image is reversed, just as Chris’ shirt reads “sirhC” in the picture above). But I think you’ll all get the gist. Enjoy! The continuing story of Sunday night’s campaign will conclude next week! Stay tuned for… Dungeons & Dragons!
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The post [Dr. DM] Introducing Team C: A Spotlight on Dr. DM’s Sunday Night Campaign Part II first appeared on Pixelated Geek.