The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.

[DnD 4e PbP] Vale of Buried Shadows (OOC #2)

AegisAegis Fear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
edited January 2013 in Critical Failures
IC thread: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=116993
TopBanner.jpg

The Story So Far
Chapter 1 - A Day in the Strife
--Descent into the Fallcrest Crypts
----Meeting Goril in the Repository
----Returning the Erathian Relics to High Priestess Dirina Mornbrow
--Aid for a Quarry
----Encounters with the Raven's Bandits
----Rescusing Darn Feldsting & His Workers
--Two Heads Are Better Than One (No Theyz Aren't)
--Reconnaissance of Raven's Roost
----Spotted by Patrols
----Departing from a 'Friend'
----Reaching the Roost
--Encountering Commander Relamane & the Knights
--The Hunt for Mireflame
----Demon Armies
----Abduction of Kell
----The Appearance of Lyedyn
----Entering the Forest Temple
----Finding Mireflame, His Portals, & More Ravens
----Collapsing the Portals with a Handy Pillar
----Escape of the Neldrazu but the Rescue of Kell
Chapter 2 - Signs & Portents
--Working for the Lord Warden: Problems at Kobold Keep
----A Road Ambush
----Finding Written Orders
----Kobold Scouts in the Cloakwood & the Smell of Fire
----Finding More Notes
----An Elven Casualty
----Discovery of Dragon Eggs
----Ritual: The Last Moments of the Elf's Death
--Fallcrest Under Siege
----Clearing the Five-Arch Gate
----Protecting the Inn
----Dancing with a Dragon on Five-Arch Bridge
----The Heroes of the Battle of Fallcrest
--A Report for the Lord Warden
--The Lovely High Septarch of Fallcrest
--Back to Work: Returning to Kobold Keep
----Investigating the Outer Courtyard
----Martha Stewart If She Were a Half-Orc
----Descending into the Cellars
----The Room of Statues
----Exiting the Keep
----Dead Ravens at the Swamp's Edge
----Ritual: First Glimpse of the Stone Shard
--Meeting the Greenscale
--Arriving at the Witchlight Hermitage

The Nentir Vale:
NentirVale2.jpg
(Courtesy of D&D Doodle awesomness)

The Vale's Current Exploration:
0LZTS.jpg

With the rise of the empire of Nerath to the south, human settlers began to move up the Nentir, establishing towns such as Fastormel, Harkenwold, and Winterhaven. A Nerathan hero named Aranda Markelhay obtained a charter to build a keep at the portage of the Nentir Falls. She raised a simple tower at the site of Moonstone Keep three hundred ten years ago, and under its protection the town of Fallcrest began to grow.

Over the next two centuries, Fallcrest grew into a small and prosperous city. It was a natural crossroads for trade, and the Markelhays ruled it well. When the empire of Nerath began to crumble about a century ago, Fallcrest continued to flourish—for a time. Ninety years ago, a fierce horde of orcs known as the Bloodspears descended from the Stonemarch and swept over the vale. Fallcrest’s army was defeated in a rash attempt to halt the Bloodspears out on Gardbury Downs. The Bloodspears burned and pillaged Fallcrest and went on to wreak havoc all across the Nentir Vale.

To the east, a necropolis stood amongst the peaks of the mighty Dawnforge Mountains. For untold years the city existed as a place to honor the ancestors of the mighty dwarf Lords that lived and worked within those unforgiving mountains. When the orcs of the Bloodspears came, in the wake of Fallcrest's destruction, the necropolis was gutted of most of its priests and warriors, falling prey to the looting hands of the orcs that poured through. Yet their attention wandered, and dwarven construction is more sturdy than most, as much of the tombs remained undefiled. With the fall of Nerath, the citadels of the dwarves were broken, famine and plague grew upon the land and the dwarves made the ever important decision to use their honored city as a sole surviving fortress for their own living people. And thus did Hammerfast become a place for both the living and the dead.

And to the west, in sight of the Cairngorm, stood a fortress not of men, dwarves, or the living looking for a better life in the north, but a fortress of the undead. A keep on the Shadowfell, to serve as the font of Orcus' power into the world. Nerath, while it still remained in this world, moved quickly to contain this threat. Legionnaires sent by the massive empire sealed the opening and quickly laid watch over this keep for any trace of a new threat.


In the decades since the Bloodspear War, Fallcrest has struggled to reestablish itself. The town is a shadow of the former city; little trade passes up and down the river these days. The countryside for scores of miles around is dotted with abandoned homesteads and manors from the days of Nerath.

In the decades since the Bloodspear War, Hammerfast has slowly burgeoned into a place both of remembrance for one's ancestors and a site for trade amongst those still in the living world. The city now sits as one of the more prosperous in the entire Eastern vale.

In the decades since the fall of Empire, Shadowfell Keep has crumbled. The watch remains, though like all things in the minds of men over such a stretch, its purpose has been forgotten. The West is not without life, however, as Winterhaven has risen amidst the shadow of this once deadly threat. Its people eek out a living in an unforgiving wilderness.


Once again the Nentir Vale is a thinly settled borderland where few folk live. Once again the Nentir Vale is on the precipice of important changes in history. Once again the Nentir Vale is in need of a few outstanding heros.



What This Is:
This is a campaign for five PCs which will chart a story-centric course throughout much of the Nentir Vale. It will start at 2nd level and will end...sometime in the future when the plot ends (this is currently estimated to be late teens but will be more concrete when I actually get close to it in terms of plot-writing). [As of this moment (April 4th), you will at least reach 7th-10th level.] This is also my first 4e campaign, however, I have DM'd (not here) 3.0/3.5 for years now and know at least that D&D inside and out, so this is mostly moving to a different rules-setting. As such, I will appreciate any rules-based advice or help if I flub things here and there. This shouldn't affect the plot in any way.


The final party:

Snarl.pngSnarl, Half-Orc Rogue
Aidan.pngAidan Twosouls, Dwarf Shaman
Rakash.pngRakash Dawnstrider, Longtooth Shifter Ranger
athertonkess.pngAtherton Kess, Human Swordmage
Lyedyn.pngLyedyn Soan, Elven Druid

The lost:

Kell Sumair, Human Wizard - Abducted by demons and succumbed to a coma (Chapter 1)


Mechanics Changes:

1) All players receive a free expertise feat, taken from whichever expertise feat fits their character.
2) Daily Magic Item Uses no longer exist, in line with the existing rules change by WoTC. Instead, you can use as many Daily Items as you have in your inventory with powers as you want during the course of a single day. You can still only use an individual Daily Item Power once/day, unless otherwise indicated by the power itself or circumstances. Encounter & At-will powers are not affected.
3) A power listed as "Melee or Ranged Attack" that contains both a "Strength vs <Defense> (Melee) or Dexterity vs <Defense> (Ranged)" may substitute Strength in place of Dexterity when choosing to make the ranged portion of the attack. This is to allow for the (apparently neglected) instance where one might be utilizing Heavy Thrown weapons as part of one's ranged attacks. This does not apply to powers which specifically require dual-wielding as part of their "melee or ranged" component, nor does it apply to powers which only list a ranged option with Dexterity vs <Defense>.


Loot Acquired:

Current Gold (14/01/13): Party: 1,541 gp ; Snarl: +164 gp
Current Potions (14/01/13): 4x Gravespawn Potions, 2x Potions of Healing, 2x Potions of Regeneration, 1x Potion of Clarity, 1x Fire Beetle Potion

Chapter 1
Gold: Party: 4 platinum pieces, 530 gold pieces, 1 gems (150 gp), 8 bloodstones (6x 75 gp; 2x 150 gp) ; Snarl: +125 gp, +1 gem (30 gp), +1 necklace (25 gp)
Magic Items:
* 1 Magic Tome
* 1 Gauntlet of Blood (Level 4)
* 1 +1 Lifegiving Leather Armor (Level 3)
* 1 +1 Vengeful Halberd Dagger (Level 5)
* 1 +1 Battlecrazed Longsword (Level 4)
* 1 Goblin Stompers (Level 6)
* 1 +1 Panther Spirit Leather Armor (Level 5)
* 1 +1 Flensing Short Sword (Level 5)
* 1 +1 Time Link Leather Armor (Level 4)
* 1 +1 Aegis Blade (Level 3)
* 1 Claw Gloves (Level 4)
Other Items:
* 8 4 Potions [ 3x 2x Potions of Healing (100 gp); 1 Gravespawn Potion (50 gp); 1 Potion of Clarity (50 gp); 1 Fire Beetle Potion (75 gp); 1 Potion of White Dragonsbreath (100 gp); 1 Elixir of Accuracy (125 gp) ]
* 2 Scrolls (Hand of Fate, Cure Disease)
* 2 Rituals (Enchant Magic Item, Transfer Enchantment)
Sold Items: 253 gp (Aidan's Old Armor, Battlecrazed Longsword)
Purchased Items: -16 gp for 2 Short Swords (Snarl) ; -1,895 gp (Aegis Blade, Claw Gloves, Transfer Enchantment Ritual, Enchant Magic Item Ritual)

Chapter 2
Gold: Party: 21 platinum pieces, 1040 gold pieces, 700 silver pieces, 4 gem (3x100 gp, 1x150 gp), 2 Artwork (370 gp & 285 gp), Special Components (500 gp Quartz Ore); Snarl: 2 platinum pieces
Magic Items:
*1 +1 Summer Growth Totem (Level 3)
*1 +2 Amulet of Health (Level 8)
*1 +2 Amulet of Good Fortune (Level 7)
*1 Dented Horned Helm (Level 6)
*1 Skull Mask (Level 5)
*1 +2 Ravenclaw Scimitar Longsword (Level 8)
*1 Power Jewel (Level 5)
*1 Map of Unseen Lands (Level 7)
*1 Iron Armbands of Power (Level 6)
Other Items:
*6 Potions [2x Potions of Regeneration (360 gp), 4x 8x Gravespawn Potions (400 gp)]
*1 Poison [Ungol Dust (350 gp)] - Snarl
*1 Ritual (Comrades' Succor)
Sold Items: 346 gp (Panther Spirit Armor, Rakash's Old Armor, Scimitar)
Purchased Items: -710 gp (Summer Growth Totem, Spear, Enchantment Transfer); -2,910 gp (Enchant Transfer, Comrades' Succor, Ritual Reagents, Longsword)

We'll see how long this blog lasts
Currently DMing: None :(
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Aegis on
«13456732

Posts

Sign In or Register to comment.