This is my new weekly article in which I will write about my weekly DnD campaign, what works, what doesn’t work, and all that.
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Prequel: My campaign first began with a simple escort contract, taken up by the Elf Slayer, Shale Avalon, the Human Warpriest, Mike Walsy, and the Halfling Thief, Darth Reven. Though when the caravan was ambushed by goblins and the man they were supposed to protect got insured, little did they know this would start them all on an epic (more or less) adventure.
After they repelled the attack, they learned that the precious chest in the back of the wagon was gone, and because of their contract, they were inclined to get the item back at all costs. Leaving the dwarf merchant alone, they started off East which is where they figured the goblins came from. They arrived at a suspicious cave with a small squad of goblin guards at the entrance, so they figured they were in the right place. They used clever thinking to allow themselves to be captured by the goblins, only then to spring a trap and kill them all, while losing a little bit of gold in the process. The found the doors to what appeared to be an ancient temple in the back of the cave, and continued onwards.
Inside the ruins they killed a bunch of goblins while also discovering some other secrets, like a common-speaking dragon who gave them information about the necromancer in the back of the cave, as well as a reward for his head, though the dragon was sitting upon a magic circle, which upon examination leads to a stocked treasure stash. They also found a clever chess board trap, in which moving outside the bounds of their assigned chess piece wouldn’t be a good for their health. They finally found the necromancer and engaged in combat with him and his undead minions after threats seemed to not provoke any interest. The priest was pinned in a corner by multiple undead, with his only possible escape being over a bookcase, many failed attempts and a new inside joke later, he got out, and made quick work of the necromancer and his minions, while killing the undead ogre with a natural 20. They learned that the item in the box was a human skull with “necromantic properties” and they found an enchanted item or two in a chest, as well as a necromancer’s book on a bookshelf.
They returned to the dragon for their reward, and then walked outside (and for anyone who noticed, this is the end of the pre-set 4e Red Box mission) only to be greeted by more undead, and a seemingly crazy woman and her assistant, Clyde. They asked for the skull, and since the adventurers refused to give it to her, they engaged in combat, killing them all, but having trouble with their final enemy, an undead horse rider. They went back to the merchant who was still okay, to receive an award. The merchant then left without them heading straight for the town of Fallcrest, leaving the adventurers in the middle of nowhere.
After another encounter or two and multiple attempts at ditching the selfish thief (to no avail) they arrive at Fallcrest, eager to spend their money. The adventurers decide to stay together and head towards the dwarven outpost of Hammerfast, which is home to many…odd properties, such as ghosts and undead walking the streets, not seeming to harm anyone, and some interacting with others. They headed to an Inn to get some rest (and ale) as well as searching for information on possible “sources of income” since it seemed Hammerfast wasn’t in an immediate need for adventurers. They learned of a possible revolution going on to the south in the valley of Harkenwold. They arrived just in time to save a woman from bandits, after which they learned more about the revolution and how they could help. They sought out an old witch, who told them a few ways to help turn the tides of the revolution, which they completed before heading to the main stronghold of the enemy, a heavily fortified castle to finish the revolution they may have well started.
Their plan for infiltrating the castle took inspiration from the movie Prince of Persia, as Shale scaled the wall of the castle, raising alarm, but also getting inside. He threw two of the guards off the wall so that his other two companions could get their armor to attempt to walk in the front door. It took a little persuading, but they managed to get inside, while Shale took out a whole squad of archers. They learned of the location of one of the leaders/high value targets and headed his way. They entered one of the castle’s interior towers, and made way downstairs into the dungeon, which was guarded by a demon. Some hand gestures, as well as a large sum of money and sharing of gods between Reven and the demon, got him to exit the room. They found a prince, clearly over 65 years in age, imprisoned in there, who told them that if they kill the leader, he could give them some nice items as a reward. They agreed, but alerted the guards in the process, forcing them to fight their way to the secret passage that leads to the target’s quarters, they got their and killed him off. Their actions won the revolution for the valley, and they were branded Heroes of Harkenwold. This is also the time that my Thief, Reven, decided to become a mage, and reinvented himself as Darth Nithus.
They head off in search of more work, and went to help out the leader of the trade guild in Hammerfast. They were tasked with stealing an expensive cloak from a rival family, with a hefty reward. They entered the complex to find a guard’s house with a guard inside, they ended up killing him to get the key to the front gate, but caused a pretty big fire in the process. Due to the fire, they were greeted by a very large group of dwarfs, which the killed as well. The inside of the castle was big, and they ended up scaring, then bribing some guards to get info on where the cloak was. They entered the dungeon to find a thief locked away, instead of being diplomatic, they decided to kill him to have one more encounter and get their action point back, this was their mistake as the thief conjured up a mage hand to steal thievery tools from Nithus and allowing himself to be freed by a natural 20 thievery check rolled by myself. After becoming bloodied, he turned invisible and escaped. They continued down the corridors until they got to the cloak, and had a 2nd encounter with the thief, who again, when weakened, disappeared. Our heroes grabbed the cloak and made for the exit, but not before the traps were activated. They avoided them all until they came to a Huge gelatinous cube, which our wizard teleported past and the only action he ever took was to laugh as the Slayer engaged in One on One combat, ultimate leading to his death, as the gelatinous cube had 3 health remaining.
Nithus booked it out, and instead of completing what he was tasked with, he sold the cloak for a large sum of money he could only dream of, though there is now an outstanding bounty for his arrest/head within Hammerfast by the trade captain.
Shale found himself awoken with his head covered and chained to a wall, he was able to shake off his head covering, and found himself in ancient ruins with two guards, and with a Half-Elf chained up next to him (played by our guest player). Nithus learned that Shale’s body was sold to a dark rider who headed west, and started traveling with the Warpriest Mike. Shale and the Half-Elf freed themselves and found their equipment stashed nearby, and at that moment Mike and Nithus entered through a window. Now having a moment out of combat, they did some checks and learned that they were on the “Keep on the Shadowfell”, ancient ruins built to preserve a giant portal linking the Nentir Vale (where our heroes currently are) and the realm of the Shadowfell, and that the current inhabitants of the ruins are followers of Orcus. They advanced their way into a central chamber which had a 30ft arch in it, which also had a cloaked figure saying chants out of Shale’s necromancers book in front of it. (At this point the Half-Elf jumped out a window and ran away) Our heroes fought the demons inside, but it seemed that the chanting figure had a force field around him so he could not be damaged/interrupted. Mike decided to do something reckless and broke all but one of the large support beams, and then threatened to break the last one, as he signaled this to the chanting figure, he said one last word as the archway turned into a large black portal, which sucked them, and the building into it, in a very Portal 2-esque moment.
They awoke on top of a ruined tower, which was filled with 4 floors of demons and monsters; they fought their way to the 2nd floor, and all jumped out as Shale almost got carried away by a Gargoyle. Mike was able to tame a gargoyle and got it as his new companion, and they fought off the rest. They were able to deduce that they were in the middle of nowhere, and also in the Shadowfell, a gloomy plain much different from their own. They headed along what they assumed was a path until they arrived to something odd, it seemed like Hammerfast, just the way it was in the Nentir Vale, besides the dark sky of course. They slept in a familiar inn, but awoke to learn that all the inhabitants of the town were vampires and they were about to be made dinner. They were able to escape and ran out of the town.
Today’s Game: Our heroes, and their Gargoyle, continued down the path set before them, when they arrived at a seemingly abandoned and toppled wagon, inside they found some gold, but also (in one of the oldest tricks in the book) they found an ambush. Before engaging in combat, the “main dude” spoke about how it seems that they found their target “3 adventures clearly lost and not from this plain”, they were clearly followers of Orcus. They killed them all, but their Golem also killed “Fluffy” Mike’s gargoyle, the reason I chose to kill the Gargoyle was because it was becoming a pain to handle and deal with within combat. They still continued on the path, hoping to arrive at some sort of safe haven, when an Inn with a glowing lantern on the top of it appeared, seemingly, out of nowhere. Mike and Shale entered, while our wizard, Nithus, was still suspicious after being chained to a bed by vampires in an Inn. It seemed welcoming, and Nithus ended up teleporting inside. They were greeted by a Halfling host who introduced this place as the “House of the Black Lantern” an Inn which helps people in need. They bought some beer and then went to sleep, covering the room with chain so there would be a loud noise if any of them moved an inch, they awoke safely, and looking out the window they just saw black.
After some bribery (and threats) they convinced the Halfling to drop them off outside Gloomwrought, the main city in the Shadowfall, and exited the Inn after being told “Find the Lantern, and you will find shelter”. They arrived greeted by suspicious guards, and having trouble explaining why they were here and where they were from; they said some gibberish and barged inside the town. The hardest part of this game was trying to explain how Gloomwrought is an odd and strange town, and how the atmosphere is dark and dreaded. I did this by adding details, such as a house randomly collapsing with a couple inside, who didn’t even let out a scream as they were crushed. Our heroes found a house with a yellow lantern on it and entered, being welcomed by an elderly woman who explained where they were, and how the only way to get back to their “home” (which our heroes explained by saying “We want to get back to Hammerfast, and not fucked up Hammerfast, our Hammerfast”) was through a portal, rumored to be over 100 miles out from the Gloomwrought port, through a very dangerous sea. She also told them about groups within the city and who they could try to find jobs with.
They left heading to the market, in which they learned they could find just about anything for sale. Nithus (still living up to the expectations of his original character) ended up stealing a near priceless talisman and a scroll which answered any three questions at any time. He ended up selling those, gaining a 50K profit, and stole them again (using teleportation to quickly get out). He went on a spending spree and bought new weapons for the group, as well as some Health Bracers for himself and also learned a “Summon Minion” skill from a Necromancer. While the other two went “Pet-Shopping” they tried to steal a drake and a wolf, but ended up alerting the guards, who happened to have another golem. They were able to kill the guards and golems and tame their pets. I was thinking of killing the pets, but decided even though I dislike them, the group likes companions so I will make them part of the game now since the group is really focused on them.
They stabled their new pets outside the city walls and headed to the nearest inn for over 20 ales and rest. This was another opportunity to help show the atmosphere of Gloomwrought, so I had them awake 2 hours into their sleep to hear a building close by being destroyed, and in the morning they awoke in the same inn…but on the other side of the street. They all agreed they want to get out of here and were freaked out by the “Fucked Up” stuff that was going on. They decided to talk to the prince that day and were given an audience, and they told the prince of the dangers of Orcus, and the prince told them if they could get money, they could use the private docks of Gloomwrough and would be given a squad of guards to accompany them on their journey. They then rolled a d4 to decide they would join the Crimson Sash Merc. Group to get the money need for a ship, which they learned would be 200K for a fitted battleship.
This game was very important in that it gave them a quest, but also helped set the mood of their new home city and gave me things I could use in future games, such as the Time Travel talisman Nithus possesses, but doesn’t realize is priceless and that there were only 5 created, I also failed to mention that it can only be used once, and that a single ship wouldn’t survive the sea to get to the portal, as dangerous enemies lurk within it. My next articles should be much more in depth than this one, but I wanted to take the time to explain the back story.