DavesGaming

After the kobold caves we worked our way west, and came across a large nomad camp.

We fought off a horde of kobolds with them, and they pledged their friendship to us. They will pose no further problems for New Phlan.

From here we set off to the west again. We had been told a mage was poluting the Stojanow River up by its source. This river flows down to the Moonsea and Phlan is right at it’s delta. If the river remains poluted it will limit much expansion of the city. Our plan was to intercept the river near its source and head downstream to see what we could find.

Gee thanks ladies, never would have figured that one out…

We fought several packs of lizardmen, they seemed larger and fiercer than others of the sort we’ve met. Especially their savage ferocity. Don’t get me wrong, lizardmen are often not friendly. But I’ve seen them visit human towns for trade, they’re not always ferocious. These seemed out of their minds.

As we figured out the maze and teleporters, we got to a more inhabited part of the pyramid.

Then we found a lab of some sort. It had a few vats of bubbling goo, and pipes moving the stuff all about. Something was being brewed here and sent out to the river. Psyche immediately set to figuring out what was being done.

Psyche laughed and suggested Moya was right. We should all “have at it!”

Well that was fun.

From here we followed the river back to town. After a little rest and restock we set out again. This time to the west of town. We were to deliver a diplomatic message to a Zhentil outpost. I’m not sure of the diplomacy? In my experience Zhents are nothing but trouble. But I suppose its not our call, we’ll deliver a message and be on our way.

Then we were escorted (is that political speak for moved under guard?) to a comfortable guest quarters. Where were attacked a few hours later. Fortunately we had posted our own guard and were ready for trouble. After the attack we left our quarters.

Well, the Zhent fortress is now available for other uses… We did learn we were set-up from the start. Councilman Cadorna in New Phlan was literally selling out the city, and suggested the Zhents should dispose of us.

On the way back to Phlan we saw a semi-permanent bandit camp. We had heard of a Phlan noble child being kidnapped, and determined to investigate.

The child was rescued and the camp was burned.

We returned to Phlan for a well diserved rest. Next on our agenda was undead hunting at the old Valhingen Graveyard. Naturally, we ran afoul of several groups of undead. Mostly zombies and skeletons.

We put the cemetary back to rest as it should be.

*****

It makes me laugh how the vampire graphic is such a traditional Dracula or Strahd sort of character. So that’s how I rendered him!

Last time I’d commented how Shuri had not been hugely effective. Well now she has Gauntlets of Ogre Power. She is clearly a hard hitter now! And that sword is +3 against undead, so she really rocked the graveyard.

I had forgotten how devestating level drain is in this iteration of D&D, much more like it works in PnP (than it does in the IE games). Sure we have some Restoration Scrolls. But it only restores you *to the bottom* of your previous level. Diomedes and Harg were never hit, so they are 7th level and might hit 8th by the end of the game. But Garaint, Shuri and Moya were all drained at different times. Now they’re all Restored back to 6th level (where Moya is capped in this game, so she’s fine). But Garaint and Shuri may not hit 7th level by the end of the game! Ouch.
I’m thinking when I hit Curse of the Azure Bonds I’ll simply recreate the whole party.