Dungeons and Dragons

Last year Steve M started a D&D campaign and having not played it since I was 14 or so I jumped at the chance to give it another go and joined Pete, Greg and Matt in making a suitable party. Pete chose a less than savory human wizard with a penchant for looking after himself and a slight issue with starting fires. Matt went a High Elf cleric. Greg was a Wood Elf Rogue (Galindan) and I rolled a Hill Dwarf Fighter, Knoffles Weaselbane Silvertop, handily portrayed by this little fellow below.  (Weaselbane was added after he one shotted a giant Weasel in a night-time encounter in our first adventure).

With another D&D night coming up, I thought i’d post a bit of character background and Greg has also provided a recap of the second adventure.

Background of Knoffles Silvertop

Knoffles strode along the dusty track, cracked paving stones just visible under the layer of mud, shaking his head at lack of upkeep of the road. The last of the hills receded behind him, as he strode along purposefully. With each step his ancestral home was left further behind, as the youngest scion of the Silvertop Clan made his way into the world to pay back his family’s debt. Overhead storm clouds raced across the sky, the frequent lightning strikes causing his main of red hair to glow. The immensity of his task weighed on his mind, “humans are so short lived, how am I to find one orphaned child amongst a continent of them”.

Standing at a 4‘ 9” and weighing in at 187 lbs, Knoffles is a giant of a dwarf. Being the youngest son of Borek Silvertop he lacked many of the responsibilities required of his older siblings instead turning his hand to the martial arts and joining a conglomerate militia of the local clans. His status as a Silvertop ensured his prominence in the organisation but his natural proficiency at weapons and down to earth nature won both the admiration and respect of the other warriors.

The Silvertops are a prosperous clan, their wealth gained mainly through mining and trading.  Knoffles was named after the human, Knoffles Stormwind, who saved Borek’s life when his trade caravan was attacked by goblins. The two forged a firm friendship during the weeks spent tracking down the beasts to their lair where they slaughtered them all, wiping the stain of their existence from the world. The two started a trade agreement that greatly enriched the two families. Marak Stormwind, Knoffle’s son, was forged from the same mould as his father and maintained close contact with the Silvertops continuing the trade enterprise.

Word has recently been received that the Stormwind family have been murdered but rumours persisted that their daughter, Leah had been taken. Borek has sent Knoffles to find out if the rumours are true and if so to track down Leah and ensure her safety.

 

Recap of the 2nd D&D Adventure

Greg has put me to shame (again) in another superb narrative write up. This time of our latest adventure, so we know where we were up to after our extended break.

Session 1 – 10/06/16 at SELWG

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 High Elf Cleric- Matt

Human Wizard- Pete

Hill Dwarf Warrior- Mark

Wood Elf Rogue- Greg

DM- Steve

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Elephant retrieval services

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After our successful first mission we returned to the city in good spirits. While most of us spent our winnings on new items, Pete actually put his time to good use and began to study the mysterious parchment we had found on our first quest. Using his history knowledge he was able to work out that the parchment contained primordial runes and was related to Demons. He also worked out some words on it.  Having no idea what they meant he carried on his research. He was able to determine that the parchment referred to a specific location on a map, a land inhabited by giant spiders and ravens much bigger than normal. Furthermore he determined that this land was somewhere distant in the north- over 120 miles away. Finally there was an 8 armed symbol on the map. It seems this was the resting place of a mighty warrior who had wielded many magical weapons and artifacts. Although not entirely clear it seemed that this island was rich with treasure and certainly worth pursuing.

Flush with this newfound knowledge Pete was chuffed and decided to check on the progress of the war elephant he had ordered previously. He visited the Elven trader who had sold it to him and discovered that the Elephant needed to be picked up from an island far out to the west of the city. This island was at present fairly inhospitable and a powerful wizard was shortly preparing a force to head over and reclaim the island and set up a seat of power for himself. The wizard was paying 100 gold pieces per day for this task and the Elven trader was willing to waive the delivery charge on the Elephant if our party joined this expeditionary force.

We had some debate as to whether to accept this side mission or press on North to follow up on the parchment. We eventually decided that leveling up on the side mission wasn’t a bad idea, and of course Pete wanted his elephant!

We had 3 days in the city before the expedition was leaving, and we spent it gambling and drinking. The Wizard won 300 gold but the Wood elf Galindan, ever the gambler lost 250 gold pieces- not a good start! The stingy dwarf Knoffles wasn’t tempted by this gambling in he slightest and refused to partake.

Finally making it down to the docks we discovered a fine Elven galleon bristling with weapons and crew members. We set sail and as soon as we were out of the harbor the patron of the expedition, the mighty Wizard, brought out a cauldron and conjured up an air elemental to speed us on our way.

Adventuring at sea had a few fun mechanics. We would firstly test for the weather each day, hoping to avoid the doldrums or any severe storms. Secondly we would test for an encounter, and the likelihood of this increased after each passing week.

After five days uneventful sailing we encountered a surprise- a mighty giant octopus was attacking us. Everyone was itching to get into a fight and the Octopus was slain in a single round of combat, the spells of our party proving particularly destructive, backed up by effective Wood Elf bow fire from the crows nest and a mighty swing of the dwarfs hammer. This was enough to increase us all to level 3.

After more days at sea the weather turned for the worse and a storm set in. We also saw a mysterious flock of very large birds flying overhead, but they ignored us.

Finally we encountered our second battle at sea, this time against a mighty five-headed Hydra which towered over our ship. This was a tough battle but we kept the same tactics as before and ground the creature down. One spell from the cleric caused a mighty 25 hit points, and backed up by some bow fire from the crew we eventually destroyed two of the heads. Not wanting to suffer any more the Hydra slunk off into the deep (Steve later told us we had caused over 80 hit points but the Hyrda still had almost 100 left!). The crew of the ship took a bit of a battering in this battle and about 7 of them were eaten by the Hydra. Thankfully the Hydra lost an attack each time a head was killed so we finally ground it down.

The last few days were fairly uneventful, the wind turned in our favour and we made good speed. Eventually, after 21 days sailing the cry went up for “Land ho” and we sighted the island.

It was getting late at that point so a good time to stop for the evening.

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