April 3, 2010

Starting on 26th of Flamerule, staring down into a tunnel cut into Toril by the creation of the gnomes, the Ultrafantastic Automated Tunnel Creater (UFATC), the party readied themselves for the unknown. The first unknown, shortly down the tunnel, were two teenage gnomes making out. Much farther down the tunnel, they encountered some evil pudding. The pudding was trivial compared to the moral dilemma that faced them far below the surface of Toril.

They came to a vast cavern where stone giants were slaves that farmed huge fields of fungi. Their masters were halflings in this strange place called Gray Haven. The party saw that one race was enslaved, and before the tunnel was created the only way out was through a tunnel too small for the stone giants. It seems that in their religion, the stone giants were shaped from the clay of Toril to Urogalan (on the surface this is a perfectly normal god of halflings) to be strong servants. One stone giant, named Grender, betrayed Urogalan and led a rebellion. After crushing them, Urogalan cast Grender to the surface, where the world meets the void. There he is subject to changes in the weather, dark and bright lights, and wind. Urogalan lives at the center of Toril, and Grender is cursed to never see him again. The other stone giants were given one chance. Urogalan created the halflings, made small and intelligent because they would have to think to teach the stone giants, but not to work themselves. The results is that the stone giants shrieked and cowered when they saw the adventuring party. Though the UFATC did throw their faith for a loop, the halfling priests told the stone giants that it was a trap sent by Grender. To climb to see Grender would mean banishment. To descent to see Urogalan would be worse, for no mortal may enter his chambers at the center of Toril in this life.

The party, seeing this awful slavery taking place, headed boldly past it without making another sound.

They descended farther, well below the level of the Drow. They eventually came to the end, where the UFATC fell down into a vast underground sea. It hit rocks below and smashed into many pieces, some in the water and some on the rocks. Of course, they were not alone down there, but they triumphed over ugly things with tentacles and some critter made of stone. Then they went swimming, found the sword called Skeltysticker, went past the slavery of a race, and returned to Myth Drannor on Midsummer. With not much to celebrate, the holiday went unnoticed there. The party claims they plan to return to Gray Haven to free the stone giants, but that will likely be forgotten.

There they learned of the other three swords.

Vorallin Lasitor was the leader of the Knights of Myth Drannor, as well as a paladin of Corellon Larethian. His sword, called Moonwind, was given to his successor, Olanas Ravenstar. Fifteen years later, Olanas and the rest of the knights were killed. They held the Abbey of the Oaks, north of Tangled Trees, in the face of a large Drow offensive. They could have fled, but the forty knights stayed so a village could be evacuated ahead of the assault. They held for days and allowed nearly a thousand elves to escape, but in doing so they ensured their own deaths. It was assumed that Moonwind remained in the keep in the possession of the Drow.

Gregor Colten was a noble in the city of Hillsfar, but the younger son. He left Hillsfar and became a ranger in the forests of Cormanthyr. His sword, Pinebough, was returned to his family. The elves of Myth Drannor do not know any more than that.

Borguff Rockwar was an emissary from Mithral Hall, the newly restored kingdom of dwarves in Silver Marches. He was meeting with Seiveril Miritar, the father of the Coronal, about reestablishing Myth Drannor. At the time it was little more than a small fort among the ruins. He was offering the support of Mithral Hall when the battle with Moander started. His axe, named Cockchopper, was returned to Mithral Hall.

The party decided they wanted to kill some Drow first, so they headed for the Abbey of the Oaks. It was about a two day fast walk through the forest, or one day by teleport. Not ones for the scenic route, the party allowed their wizard to teleport them. The location of the small keep was no mystery. It was naught but a keep, surrounded by a moat formed from a river. The party stayed back and watched for a time. After arriving, they rested, and the next morning a patrol of 5 Drow left the keep. Then the party set to searching. Some polymorphed into trouts and invented a new verb (to trout (in): to gain entry to a fortified location by swimming as a trout through grates intended to stop humans), and some searched the area for secret entrances among the forest. Though the trout discovered access to a well inside the keep, the well had been bricked over. Apparently in the past other people had trouted into the keep, and those living there decided that if they need fresh water they can just lower a bucked over the walls. Knowing that there was an invisibility purge and a block to inter-dimensional travel at the walls, the party had to get creative with their new verbs. Near the end of the day, a different patrol of Drow came to the keep. They were inspected by someone in command of the Abbey of the Oaks, who was Signy's mother. That was entirely unexpected. Signy only knew her mother from a painting, but they have the same remarkable green eyes. Her name was Betony Cinnie, and that exhausts all the knowledge Signy had about her mother.

Signy decided that a family reunion was less important that the plan. Maybe after they save the world, she could reunite with her mother and bake cookies. For now, she merely left a note with the returned picture essentially identifying the people who made off with all their money and two powerful swords. The party developed a plan, and despite empirical evidence acquired over the last year and a half, it didn't suck. At dawn the next day, the wizard and the rogue polymorphed into pigeons and flew into the keep. The pigeons at dawn were perfectly normal, and of no consequence for Drow that had not seen action for some time. They flew into an empty room for servants and transformed into their normal forms, and then made themselves invisible and flying. They snuck (Firefox says "sneaked," but I'm not buying it) about like thieves (instead of 1 thief and 1 wizard). They found a lot of female Drow getting their hair ready and all sorts of other things women do in the morning as they prepare to go out and kill things in their efforts to conquer the world. They also stumbled onto Betony's room. They searched around and, though they found nothing of material value, they found a small painting of a human man. Finding that interesting, they took it with them. They did not, however, find the sword. It turned out, they would learn, that the human was Signy's father. The painting also identified him as the Knight-Marshall of Waterdeep, which Eron knew would make him commander of the armies of Waterdeep, reporting directly to Piergeiron Paladinson, the Open Lord of Waterdeep. Eron did not attempt to recall the specific name of Signy's father from his lessons on the history of his home, but perhaps he can do that later.

Outside, the the remaining members witnessed something that might have been amusing had it been happening to someone else. The elf named Creslin, the one who accused Marchosias of killing his brother, approached the keep. Where he had been was a mystery, but he could easily have made it that far on foot. Whether he spotted the remainder of the party and assumed where the others were or if he just guessed entirely will not ever be known, but his actions were clearly that of a man near (or fully inside and refusing to leave) madness. He approached the drawbridge and shouted "There are people inside your keep attempting to steal something!" At least he did not reveal what it was they were after, though whether he didn't know or hoped that his people would have some chance of survival by being able to get Moonwind later is also something we will never know. He then began running. The Drow took a moment to respond, but the shout "to arms!" was soon heard. Four Drow chased Creslin, and the others began searching the keep. Eron convinced Marchosias that staying here was a good way to die, and they "pigeoned out."

The whole party then began pursuing the Drow who were pursuing Creslin. They stumbled on the Drow where they were searching the forest. They had apparently lost Creslin's trail, but they knew he couldn't be far. Battle ensued, and Creslin took the opportunity to attack Marchosias, who was bravely firing at Drow with his bow. Sadly, the priest of lightning was there to throw Creslin off so the rogue could stab him in awful places while he wasn't looking. Creslin died unable to avenge his brother. The Drow also died, but that was expected.

The next day the party found the Drow in the Abbey to have a slightly tighter defense, but they still did not expect pigeons at dawn. No one ever expects pigeons at dawn. This time, the rogue and the wizard found the armory. They located some platinum and gold, Moonwind, and a stark white rapier with a rotten hand still holding the hilt. It was a beautiful sword. They stole it.

The party returned briefly to Myth Drannor where they learned that the new sword was difficult to identify. It was incredibly powerful, but it also was... part of chaos. The wizard learned that it was a stark glowing white light because it contained all colors of light, each in tiny little bits. It was terrible to behold, but so is the rogue, so he took it anyway. That's when he discovered that his attitude toward the world varied day by day. He did yet discover the other secret the sword held.

They journeyed to Mithral Hall, but limits of teleportation required that they take 2 days to do so. Covering a continent in two days isn't awful, however, when most people travel by horse. They approached the hidden city in the mountains and eventually spoke to the king, Bruenor Battlehammer, who was bashing rocks with a hammer. Dwarven kings, it became clear, were not like human or elven kings. They do not have special guards, and they don't mind chatting or bashing rocks with hammers. After explaining the entire situation and the need for Cockchopper, Bruenor told them that the axe was given to Grogish Rockwar, the grandson of Borguff and his own grand-nephew. Grogish was an adventurer and, the last Bruenor heard, going to Nesme, a town on the edge of the Evermoors.

The party, somehow unwilling to walk anywhere anymore, teleported to Nesme and found it stunk. The Evermoors are unpleasant. It is damp, constantly raining, never sunny, and generally an awful place to live. This was a heavily fortified town, and the mere fact that they were all dead was remarkable. Trolls occupy the Evermoors, and they don't like humans except in soups.

They met with Tessarin, and elderly wizard who was also the head of the council of Nesme. He remembered Grogish as well as Kendra, a pretty young female wizard. They and two others had helped out the town with a small troll problem, and then headed into the Evermoors to a rock formation called "The Old Man." They were in pursuit of treasure, and the party headed out after them. They were easy to locate, as they were on the small rise of the Old Man where they had cut down trees, made a ring of logs, lit them on fire, and hunkered down to shoot at the trolls that had surrounded them and were waiting for the fires to go out.

The party, strong enough not to have to worry much about trolls, just started killing them. The rogue quickly discovered the secret of the sword. When he makes a particularly wonderful stroke, it exposes the enemy to a Prismatic Spray. A troll, previously feeling pretty good about himself, was rendered unconscious and then sent immediately to the elemental plane of Steam. He would wake up after regenerating to find the remainder of his life would be particularly unpleasant. It's not the heat, it's the humidity. Meanwhile, the rest of the party just set about killing trolls, and soon Grogish and his friends were saved.

However, Grogish was not entirely willing to give up his axe to a bunch of people who, while they had saved them, he did not know. Sunny tried to talk him into it, but Sunny is not very diplomatic despite his best effort. The wizard, though, was a bit more friendly and Grogish was convinced that he and his friends could go with them to Myth Drannor. That was fortunate because otherwise the party would have had to kill Grogish. While that would not be challenge (unless he accidentally got sent to another plane), it would probably piss off his grand-uncle, the King of Mithral Hall. That's not a good enemy averted, so having some skills in diplomacy finally paid off.

It is the 13th day of Eleasis (the 8th month), and the party is in Myth Drannor, looking northeast to Hillsfar and Pinebough, the sword of Gregor Colten.

I had to add a few comments about Signy's father. I accidentally left that out.

Marchosias really, REALLY likes his sword. He's not extremely keen on randomly switching to some namby-pamby Lawful or Good alignment, but the pure chaos that's inherent to the sword is just a little too awesome to pass up right now. Maybe if the sword causes him to commit a series of particularly heinous acts (like helping the poor or "righting" some cause that a filthy peasant is moaning about) he'll consider getting rid of it, but for now, it's a perfect complement.

Also, Marchosias was secretly delighted and proud of his adverturing fellows for leaving the stone giants in bondage. High-fives all around!

Excellent session. This part of the story is particularly good.

Just remember that it truly changes your alignment. It's not like there's an inner voice shouting "This isn't right!" and you can resist it. It's the difference between me on a non-working Friday with cupcakes, and me on a Monday morning.

That said, it is not "cursed" as per 2nd edition. You don't want to get rid of it because it does have an enchantment making you like it, but a don't-roll-low will save will allow you to get rid of it.

And of course, it is a powerful sword. It is absurdly powerful. There had to be a reason no one was using it.

Completely understood. But, it's not like it wipes my memory clean and makes me forget the previous days' actions, right? I assume I'll be keenly aware that I behaved like some sissy paladin the day before and climbed a tree to save a cat for some old lady. Hopefully, I'll roll for CE the next day and go rob the old lady and stab her cat, with an added bonus of confirming a critical and sending the cat to the Shadow Plane.

Correct, your memory is fine. My point is that on some days, you will not like the chaos of it. Some days you will be ashamed that you stole and killed. You may even dread the coming night, when you may revert back to that vile creature you once were.

I giggle to think of you on the second watch. "Sleep well, my friends. I will guard you as you rest with my life.... nevermind. It will be easier to steal your shit if I cut your throats first.

I enjoyed myself. Individually, I want to see what Signy's mother is really like. Signy on the other hand would probably wonder the same, but she has developed a certain loyalty to her party (save one) and probably wouldn't purposely jeopardize that relationship.

On the other hand, her mother is alive. And knowing her father was a fairly powerful guy at one point would probably escalate her thoughts on everything.

Did her mother truly love her father? Did he leave everything behind to protect them both? Maybe her mother had simply done what most drow would do and enslave and have her way with him. If so, how did he escape with Signy?

And we need to free the giants.

You now know to ask in Waterdeep. Someone old must remember such a fellow. Or maybe that mayor of Hilltop who had the shield his brother painted. He was a soldier of Waterdeep, afterall.

I'm glad it was a fun night.

What do you have against the dwarf? He's harmless enough. A little slow in the head, but blissful and entertaining.

It's going to be interesting to see how this sword will change things. I wonder if Marchosias is just going to get pissed off in a couple of weeks of having owned the sword, or if the chaos will be too delightful to give away.

The sword is imposing its will on Marchy. I think that would piss him off quite a bit!

It depends on his mood, I would think. Right now he's moodier than usual.

But the point is that on any given day he's perfectly happy with his alignment. He is only upset by previous days.

Chicks, dude...

Chicks (insert blue shakey head here because this forum's smileys suck).

....says the guy with a green-haired chick in his avatar.

Remember the first symptom of the Dos Equis Syndrome.... "All the others are BSC."

I think Zem got the joke.

Definitely a fun night. I was very glad to finally do battle in a storm. Slight as it might have been.

I do hope that at some point I will be able ti rain down with great vengeance and furious anger. And lightning. Lots of lightning.

The planes. There are 47 of them. I'm pretty sure it says "another plane" so we can rule out the current plane. Also, you can't send anyone to Cynosure. The manual of the planes lists others, but they do not exist. It includes things like "Asgard" and "Olympus," so that really doesn't make much sense on Toril.

So here's what we have...

1 Positive Energy
2 Negative Energy
3 Earth
4 Fire
5 Water
5 Air
6 Ooze
7 Magma
8 Smoke
9 Ice
10 Steam
11 Radiance
12 Ash
13 Salt
14 Dust
15 Vacuum
16 Mineral
17 Lightning

18 Astral Plane
19 Ethereal Plane
20 Shadow
21 Time
22 Electro-Magnetism
23 Imprisonment

24 Arvandor
25 Brightwater
26 Green Fields
27 Golden Hills
28 House of Knowledge
29 Gates of the Moon
30 House of the Triad
31 Dwarfhome
32 Dweomerheart
33 Dragon Eyrie
34 Heliopolis
35 House of Nature
36 Warrior's Rest
37 Fury's Heart
38 Hammergrim
39 Nine Hells
40 Barrens of Doom and Despair
41 The Supreme Throne
42 Nishrek
43 Demonweb Pits
44 The Abyss
45 The Fugue Plane
-- Cynosure

Cool, I'll just break out my d45 each time I confirm a critical.

Well, technically some of those have separate planes as well. The Nine Hells are nine planes. I should add all of those so you need your d72 or so.

Standard D&D cosmology DOES have Asgard. There's a shit lot of prime material planes, but there's only ONE Asgard. It doesn't make sense on Toril, but remember we can use planar travel to get the fuck OUT of forgotten realms if we wanted. Plenty of prime material planes, some served by your Norse gods! Just because a pantheon doesn't service one area shouldn't preclude that. Unless you like, really hate Asgard. Which you don't.

In my games I have the "realities" concept, and each reality has it's own "outer planes", and each AIBNQ (God) is empowered (and often watches over, but sometimes preys upon) the reality that they are drawing power from. So you could go to a different reality, and have a totally different set of deities. This means that I can't very well have, say, multiple Thors, so I'm pretty much stuck never using any of the real world gods. D&D solves the issues by putting the gods at a higher level.

There's 9 hells and I think 7 heavens. You should, if you have big man testicles, allot plenty of other spaces on the die for "other", and come up with a reality on the spot. You should also be able to land in another prime material plane entirely, such as like, Oerth, or better yet, Athas!

Also your list seems to be missing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysium_%2 ... Dragons%29 and Olympus is part of Arborea, as elaborated here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arborea_%2 ... Dragons%29


Yes, that's the real wikipedia, and yes, it really has the primary aligned planes listed as a clickable graph.

I have the sense that John will be banned soon.

Not for that. He does have a point. What he might not realize is he just volunteered to add all those other outer planes to the list for me.

This seem rather like a plane in the astral sense. Can't we all just get on the same plane?

I vote for a new Frontier.