Typhus

The very first miniature game I ever played was Warhammer 40k. It was introduced to me by my friend Wesley, in exchange for me introducing him to Magic the Gathering.

I was immediately attracted to the Chaos Space Marines, and my favourite miniature of them all was the leader of the Death Guard: Typhus.

Well, I got a bunch of my old Warhammer stuff back, and the apint jobs were rough to say the least.

However I was able to salvage a ton of minis, and Typhus was among them.

This is Typhus' second paint job, and I am very pleased with the result! I should have taken a picture of what it was before... but I am also kinda glad it will never see the light of day.

From what I remember from 3rd and 4th edition Warhammer 40k, Typhus was expensive to field and not the greatest HQ choice. But he sure looks cool!

Cobblepot's Big Score Game 1

Game Master: Elijah
Game Edition: D&D 5
Players: Andrew, Dave
Starting Level: 5
Current Level:5

Quote of the Evening:
"Do you have any Salad?"

Introduction

For JADE's very first 5th edition game, we decided to return Elijah's Anthropomorphic Setting.  Elijah's very first campaign was a world full of anthropomorphic animals created for D&D 3.5. However, he was never very happy with how it turned out, and decided to relaunch the campaign setting as a small 5th ed adventure, from a much less heroic perspective

In Cobblepot's Big Score, we play as a group of Criminals under the Penguin Boss Cobblepot (Jeff). The goal is to pull off a heist where we have to steal a certain item from the king as he visits the town.

However, Jeff couldn't make it to last game, and thus Cobblepot was not there for the first game of Cobblepot's Big Score. So it was up to "fish-out-of-water" the Shark Monk Bruce "Sharky the Shark" McCoy (Andrew) and the Psychic collective of turtles; that is the Sorcerer and genetic anomaly Legion (Dave) to make their own adventure!

It was like a Saturday morning cartoon!

But what exactly would an Shark and four turtles do in a town of mostly reptiles and Mammals?

Scene 1 Trouble at the Festival.

Sharky and Legion stood outside the tavern where Cobblepot was spending his cut from their last job. As usual Sharky had been given very little (only 10gp) and Legion had been paid nothing. Cobblepot was known to go on these binges after a big pay out, leaving Sharky and Legion to their own devices.

The street outside the tavern was busy with people preparing for the festival which would be in two days. Rumour was that the Prince himself would be attending and the air was a buzz with tales and half-truths about His Majesty's coming.

Legion was enchanted by the bright banners of the festival and wanted to go right away, not understanding that it would not be on for a few days. Sharky on the other hand had never heard of a festival and was more interested in finding something to eat.

Ooooh! Colours!

Despite Sharky's hunger, Legion was insistent that they head over to the festival grounds, and convinced Sharky there would be games where he could prove his strength.

Intrigued at the idea of earning some respect for the McCoy tribe, Sharky agreed and followed Legion to the fair grounds.

FESTIVAL!

Of course, the festival was only just being setup and none of the games that Legion had promised were ready yet. Sharky was very confused by the whole setup, and decided to ask someone about it. He found a very strong looking dog who told them that the festival was not for a few days.

Sharky asked him why he was here, and the dog told them that he was going to participate in the archery tournament in a few days, and pointed over to some tents that had been set up at the back.

Legion and Sharky went back to investigate and found a small community of competitive archers training for the upcoming tournament. Most of the tents were open and unattended with most people huddled around the range.

Sharky looked at legion and told him to "investigate" the scene. Legion smiled and without saying a word cast an invisibility spell on himself. Sharky knew the drill: Legion would search the tents for anything of worth, while he distracted the on lookers at the range.

Knowing that archers have good strong arms, he head over to the range and called out a challenge. He would give 1gp to anyone that could best him in arm wrestling. No one answered.

Would you?

Sharky called out his challenge again, and finally someone answered his call. A hippopotamus rose and grunted in agreement. Sitting at a nearby table, the two wrestled with their right arms. The Hippo won.

Switching to their left arms the two tried once more, and again the hippo won. Grunting in victory, the hippo held out his hand and Sharky gave him the gold piece. The Hippo nodded and left.

Imagine it is a hippo instead of a cat.

While the Shark was arm wrestling with the Hippo, Legion was rifling through people's tents, and not finding much. None of the archers had much of value to their names, and it would seem that all of them kept their gold on them.

He was about to give up and return to Sharky when he found a chest in one of the tents. It was locked, and he had no way of opening it, but he could enter it with a Ghost Form Spell!

Casting that he floated through the seem between the lid and base and into the chest. Inside he found a coin purse with 3 gold pieces in it! He took the gold, cast another Ghost Form and left.

Deciding to stay in his Ghost Form, Legion drifted out of the tent: which proved to be a terrible idea. As his ghostly image wafted into the festival grounds, some one saw him and screamed: "GHOST!"

A crowd gathered, all screaming and yelling angrily. Some even rushed over with weapons in hand.

After being defeated by the Hippo, Sharky heard the commotion and knew exactly what was going on. Legion was in trouble.

He rushed over to the crowd and saw Legion in his Ghost Form. If he dropped the spell in the middle of the crowd, they would certainly kill him, claiming him a demon or a spirit.

Without breaking his step, Sharky ran into the middle of the crowd and shouted to Legion: "DROP THE SPELL!"

Legion Dropped the spell as Sharky ran through the crowd and grabbed him. He kept running as the crowded shouted in anger at him.

Legion Tried to turn the two of them invisible so they could disappear into the fair, but Legion's unpredictable Sorcerer's powers did something much different. The air vibrated and every thing's fur stood on end. Then with a SWOOOSH, Legion let forth a powerful blast of energy sending a helpless beaver archer flying up into the air.

Ever seen a beaver fly?

Sharky gave Legion a look of confusion, and the turtles shrugged. The moment was broken when an arrow pierced Sharky's back causing him to cry out in pain!

With the archers chasing them, Legion and Sharky wasted no time, and fled the festival winding their way into the back alleys of the town and out of sight.

Thinking they had left the scene behind, they rested for a moment,  only to have their peace broken by the closing scream of the beaver archer who was returning from his flight. His body hit the ground with a bone shattering thud.

And with that, Sharky and Legion decided to move to another alley.

Scene 2 Need Food. Legion's Lettuce.

Sharky had legion pull the arrow from his back and the five rested for a moment. At this point Sharky was hungry and Legion admitted he was pretty hungry as well. So they headed over to the market in search of food.

Legion wanted salad, while Sharky was only interested in finding raw meat, so they went their separate ways; Legion to find a "salad merchant" and left Legion to find a butcher.

Legion wandered around the market, asking people our quote of the evening:

"Do you have any salad?"

Finally someone directed Legion over to an elderly vegetable merchant. The turtles ran over to the stall and asked the Old Cat if she had any salad. She replied that she did, and asked how much he would like?

Legion thought about it for a moment and then asked how much 3gp would get him. The Cat was shocked! She had never seen more then a silver in her life! She told the turtles that they could buy the stall and she would retire. Thinking it over the Turtles agreed, and gave her three gold.

The Cat's Vegetable stall was now Legion's and the four quickly began devouring lettuce, until they grew bored. They asked the Cat if she would watch the stall while he went and looked for Sharky, in exchange for half of the profits. The Cat agreed and Legion went off to look for his friend.

Scene 3 The Bar Brawl.

Sharky's luck had not been as good as Legions. While Legion was becoming the Salad Baron, Sharky had found a butcher, but the Fox proprietor did not have enough coins to break a gold piece.

Sharky Figured that the tavern would be a good place to get some change, as well as make a quick buck gambling. So he returned to where he began his adventure and entered the establishment.

Cobblepot was no where to be found, but there was a group of tough looking mammals sitting around a table: just the kind of people would accept a challenge of strength. Thinking he could easily best one of them at arm wrestling, Sharky went over the table a issued his usual challenge.

A rather rude Badger accepted ad put his hand on the table. Sharky was not going to be beaten this time, and began using his training as a monk to focus to carnal rage into the challenge.

With a great cry the Shark slammed the Badgers hand against the table and he roared in victory; but his opponent was not so impressed. Sharky had almost broken the badger's arm. Enraged, the Badger swung a fist at him, hitting him in the nose.

Jerk.

Sharky returned with a furry of blows that knocked the badger to the ground unconscious. With blood on his hands, Sharky went into the red, and unleashed his carnal self, as several other animals attacked him. He dealt with each one, but by now there was a group of thugs surrounding him, trapping him in the corner of the room.

Sharky turned and grabbed the coin purse from the badger he had defeated, and then flung his unconscious body at the crowd. It knocked most of them down and we was able to barge and leap his way out of the tavern and into the street.

As he burst from the building, he bumped into legion, who he again scooped into his arms and fled into the alleys. This had thus far been a poor day.

Scene 4 Monopolizing. Sharky McCoy's Seafood.

In the back alley ways, Sharky was able to get his carnal rage under control. But he needed to eat immediately. Luckily, the coin purse he had taken from the badger had enough change for him to buy some meat from the butcher.

With his hunger satiated, He was able to pay attention to Legion who had been going on about his Legion's Lettuce franchise the entire time. The Turtles showed him the stand and Sharky was impressed. It seemed like a great idea! They could laundry dirty money through the legitimate business.

Using some of Sharky's gold, Legion hired a family of hares to look after the stall. The family was the Brantfords and they were grateful for the job offer.

Seeing the growth potential, Sharky decided to buy more business and used much of his gold to buy a fish stand which he quickly named Sharky McCoy's Seafood.

Nice sign...

The Brantfords again were hired to run the business, who Sharky Realized would also be the perfect scapegoats if anything went wrong. With their business secured, Legion and Sharky decided to secure some suppliers.

Scene 5 We Need More Salad. To Get a Horse. Bandits.

The cat woman's notes for her contacts were vague at best, but spoke of a farmer she met each morning outside the main gate. Sharky and Legion decided they would explore the country side and find a farmer, but they both realized they would need a horse if they wished to cover any ground.

They found a raccoon at the stables who was willing to sell them a horse, but in their purchasing of stalls in the market, Sharky and Legion did not have enough money. There was only one thing to be done. For years Sharky had kept the trophy of his first kill: a rare species of octopus, and figured that an Apothecary might be interested in acquiring it.

Though he did not get as much as he wanted for it, Sharky and Legion found an Apothecary who was interested in buying the trophy, and got just enough money to rent the horse for the day.

The five rode out of town and followed the road for an hour, until they were stopped by three men standing in the road holding crossbows.

Without heading to the bandit's demands, Sharky leaped at the thieves dodging their bolts, while Legion fought off a group who had attacked them from the rear.

Cowabunga!

After the first bandit fell, the fight left the others and the retreated back into the woods. However the commotion had scared off the horse and it was no where to be found.

Scene 6 A Town in Need.

Evening was falling as Sharky and Legion journeyed along the road on foot. They walked for hours until the darkness was scattered by the flicker lights of a small village.

The weary travelers entered the hamlet, and were approached by the towns spokesman: a squirrel with a worried look on his face.

He explained that bandits dressed as a performance troop troupe had raided their village earlier, taken most of their food, gold and two of their daughters! They would give anything to get them back!

Without hesitation, Legion accepted their offer and asked if they had a horse. The villager said they had found one earlier that day, that they could borrow, and brought out the horse they had lost during the battle with the bandits!

Reunited with their horse, Legion insisted they leave immediately, and they were back on the road again.

Scene 7 Rescuing the Daughters.

Sharky was trying to explain to Legion how unlikely it would be for them to just find the bandits in the darkness, when he was stopped short by a light shining out from the woods.

Sharky and legion crept silently into the forest and observed the camp, and there they were: a party of sleeping bandits and a troupe's carriage. One of the bandits was awake on watch, but his droopy dog eyes sagged heavily as the evening waned.

Using his hunting skills, Sharky quietly approached the watchman from behind and in a swift motion broke his neck. The dog never knew what him. Sharky then stood motionless in the camp in a ready stance, as Legion ran forth and began exploring around.

Probably the most bad ass scene of the night.

Using an invisibility spell, Legion investigated the trailer. He heard voices within and found the door locked. Playfully, the turtles knocked on the door. A slat slid nosily open, and the gruff voice of a cat asked who was there.

Legion did not respond, and waited for the slat to close. Once it had, he knocked on the door again. The slat slid open once more and an irradiated cat voice complained about hearing things before shutting it again. Giggling, Legion dropped his invisibility spell and signaled Sharky to come to him. the shark slipped over as Legion knocked on the door again. Once more the slat slid open, and with a powerful kick, Sharky burst the door down and flung into the room.

All Sharky could see was red as he slaughtered each bandit that dare oppose him, until finally he could no longer contain himself, and he feasted on the succulent flesh of his recent kills.

While Sharky ate, Legion found and rescued the performance troupe, who the bandits had robbed and tied in the back, as well as the village's missing daughters!

The troupe thanked them, introduced themselves as the Donlan Valley Mummers Troupe and offered to to take them to the village the following morning.

Scene 8 An Ungrateful Town. Cattle Rustling.

The party and the troupe rode back to the village the following morning, but they were not met with the cheers they were expecting. Instead the townsfolk were bitter and suspicious.

They would not give Legion or Sharky their reward, and told them they were no longer welcome. Sharky was infuriated by the insult, and Legion still felt he was owed.

The Troupe on the other hand was much kinder and told them that they could be found on the festival grounds in town. they asked if they wished to accompany them back to town, but Sharky and Legion had other plans.

Using another Invisibility Spell, Legion went around to the other side of the village, while Sharky stayed with the horse by the village's cattle. Once Legion was in position, he used a Fireball Spell to ignite a hay stack. It worked perfectly; the whole town came running to try and deal with it.

Your Hay. She Burns.

While the village was distracted with the fire, Sharky opened the gate to the cattle field, and charged at the cows. The beasts charged out of the enclosure as Shark rode along side them snapping his jaws to keep them in line.

Quote of the Evening runner up: "Man we did some straight up cowboy shit this game!"

Sharky drove the cattle around the village, picked up Legion and then drove the herd off back towards town with the villagers yelling and screaming behind them.

Scene 9 Selling the Cattle.

Out the front of town, the local mornings dealings were taking place. Farmers and craftsmen from all over the countryside had shown up to sell their wares; it would be the perfect place to sell cattle.

The five found the towns Cattle Commissioner and showed him the 25 head of cattle they had stolen. The Commissioner knew exactly what was going on, and rather then offering the standard 8gp per head, he offered 4gp.

Sharky understood and accepted the money. 100gp was not bad for a day's work!

Scene 10 Franchising.

Using their new found wealth, Sharky and Legion bought the four largest vegetable stands and hired the previous owners as shopkeepers. The owners agreed feeling that the industrious group would make them more money then before. Legion instructed them to go about their business as they would normally and grabbed some of their produce to bring to his first Lettuce stand. 

With four new Legion's Lettuce Stands, Sharky and the Turtles returned to the town with the intention of going to the docks, and securing a fish supplier.

 And that was where we left off for the evening.

Conclusion

Both Dave and I enjoyed our first, if unconventional, run of D&D 5! The character creation is fun and easy, and the role elements are built right into the character as you make them. A great addition to the D&D family.

Elijah's second run of the Anthropomorphic world was fantastic and Dave and I both look forward to beginning our heist next game!



                          

Bruce "Sharky the Shark" McCoy

For the second campaign in Elijah's Anthropomorphic Fantasy world, I chose to be the Anthropomorphic Shark Monk; Bruce.

Now of course it was a difficult task coming up with why exactly a Shark was running around on land, but I think I came up with a good back story.

So Bruce is the last of his Shark tribe, which lived a strict monk-like existence. They attempted to control their carnal instincts and only release them in battle. Being the last of his tribe, Bruce set out to make a name for himself.

He found this very hard under the sea and decided to have a Wizard cast a spell on him so he could breath on land: Reversed Water-Breathing and Permanency. It was not an uncommon enchantment to have cast, and soon Bruce found himself on land with several other fish, mammals, and reptiles.

After a time he joined up with the Criminal Penguin Bard Cobblepot and the Strange Psychic Collective of Turtles: Legion.

And the rest will be history.



                          

Conquest of Frey: Chapter 1: Game 12

Game Master: Dave
Game Edition: D&D 3.5
Players: Jeff, Andrew, Elijah
Starting Level: 5

Current Level: 6-10

Quote of the Evening:
"I make our secret whistle call." -Raskavas

"Do we know about the secret Whistle call?" -Bodie

Introduction

For the first time since Game 3, only Dwannis Muck-Mug (Andrew), Raskavas (Jeff) and Bodie (Elijah) stood together. They had found their way out of the dungeon and into the Wizard's tower where they were sure they would meet their foe.

That would have been a friendly sight.

The Secret passage they had found last game had bypassed much of the dungeon, but each member of the group was very injured and quite exhausted.

Scene 1 The Bottom of the Tower.

Though the room was dark, years of evolution in the Drow and Duergar had attuned their eyes to such conditions, revealing a circular room adorned with bookshelves, a chest, and those serpentine statues they had encountered last game.

A large stair case wound up along the wall, ascending to the next floor and out of the thin pool of water that covered the room and the foul mist that filled the air.

Drawing stairs is hard!

Dwannis immediately headed towards the bookshelves, and carefully searched them. He found a Book of Scrying similar to another book he had found earlier. Disappointed at finding a duplicate spell, he pocketed it anyways knowing its value and returned to the group.

Bodie, was about to give a blast from his bagpipes as he relaxed, until Dwannis stopped him. He cautioned that they did not know what was up stairs and should be careful. Bodie was disappointed but agreed that was a prudent course of action.

Raskavas ignored the two, and went to invetigate the chest. He opened it and found a strange and evil looking set of bagpipes. They were the Bagpipes of the Damned!

Raskavas having no need of bag pipes gave them to Bodie, who snatched them up gleefully.

Raskavas then scanned the whole room and found the remains of a weapons rack. Among the pieces he found an incredible Sword that Dave (our DM) dubbed the "Sexy-Ass" Long Sword. Admiring his blade, Raskavas returned Dwannis' great club, then swung his new blade through the air. It was light and agile and the perfect weapon for the Drow. fighter.

With their treasures in hand, the group made their way up to the next level of the tower.

Scene 2 Zombies In the Room.

The stairs were more hazardous then expected, as two steps of them fell out from under them as they climbed; almost taking the party with them.

At the top of the stairs, a large carpeted and comfortable room stretched before them and another stair case wound up the wall leading to the next level.

Raskavas searched the room seeing more of the serpentine statues, but also another stash of chests. The party rushed over and opened everyone of them. Despite their enthusiasm, the chests were only full of linens and blankets, and the party paid them no mind.

As they closed the chests, a groaning borke the silence of the room. It was coming from behind them. They turned to see four troglodyte zombies.

Just a smidge more powerful then your standard human zombie.

Dwannis quickly cast a Command Undead spell on one of them and ordered it attack one of the other zombies. Raskavas rushed out and attacked one of the unengaged ones, while Bodie pulled out his regular bagpipes, and played a rousing song, inspiring Raskavas to Greatness.

The Battle was over quickly, and the party continued up the stairs, with Dwannis' controlled troglodyte trailing behind.

Scene 3. the Zombie Ogre

Traveling up the next staircase, it briefly flattened out into a landing with a door in the wall. Raskavas entered carefully and approached a chest at the end of the room.

half way though the room a booming noise began pounded behind him. As he reached the chest, he turned to see the corpse of an Undead Ogre moving towards him.

He called out to party for aid using the Secret whistle call. Which gave us our quote of the evening, as Raskavas announced and Bodie questioned whether or not we knew about it.

Raskavas charged at the beast. and the two crossed blades for only a blow. Raskavas had dealt some serious damage, but the Ogre had reduced him to but a single hit point. He had to kill the beast now or perish.

After the beast swung, Dwannis entered the room and with a mighty voice cast Command Undead on the Ogre and commanded it to "STOP!" The mindless creature was helpless against the spell and stood motionless in its tracks.

No undead Ogre, but we do have an Ogre.

Not wanting to risk a trapped chest, Raskavas suggested that Dwannis tell the Ogre to open chest. Dwannis thought it was a great idea, but it proved to be a huge mistake. Instead of opening it, the beast smashed the chest with his hammer, and the red liquid of  healing potions oozed out.

Enraged, Dwannis then commanded the ogre to smash it self to pieces, which it continued to as the party left the room and continued up the stairs.

Scene 4 Zombies in the Way.

The flights of stairs ended in a small hall guarded by more Zombies. A brief brawl saw the party victorious and the continued up yet another flight of stairs.

Why are there so many zombies?

All along the way, Zombies materialized from the darkness striking with ferocity. But the trio were able to defeat them, smashing and commanding them along the way.

At the top of the stairs there stood a large iron door. Dwannis commanded his zombies to open it, and they slowly pushed the iron doors, revealing a full library. Dwannis' eyes went wide with greed.

Scene 5 The Final Battle. The Betrayal.

Cautiously the party entered the room. Dwannis was in awe of the all of the rare books that surrounded him. But his awe was broken by another group of zombies...

This is getting out of hand.

The Party easily defeated them (at the cost of Dwannis' commanded Zombies), and were about to stop and rest, when a booming voices interupted them:.

"Welcome." it said.

Oh Shit! a Ming Flayer!

A hideous monster stood before them and began casting a spell. Within moments. a Mind Blast rocked the room, stunning Bodie and Raskavas for the next 7-9 rounds. As the dust settled, only Dwannis stood against one of the most feared foes in the Dungeons and Dragons.

Start playing the most epic song you know now.

For seven rounds Dwannis resisted the spells of the Mind Flayer and returned his own spells in kind, but it was not enough. Exhausted, Dwannis finally succumbed to a Charm spell, and failed to get away as the Mind Flayer wrapped his tentacles around his face.

Bodie awoke to see the Mind Flayer rip Dwannis' Brain from his skull killing him instantly. The monster feasted on the brain and the turned towards Bodie.

The Duergar Bard acted in a last ditch attempt to save his own skin and pleaded with the creature, swearing his loyalty to it and begging it not to kill him.

As Bodie groveled, Raskavas woke up to see Dwannis dead and the Mind Flayer hovering over the abrd. He charged at the creature but its armour proved too much for even the Drow's enchanted blade. The Mind Flayer Charmed Raskavas and then sat back as  Bodie swore to fulfill his oath.

Bodie you bastard!

Bodie drew his Urgosh, and in an attempt to prove his loyalty to the Mind Flayer attacked Raskavas. Raskavas tried to defend himself, but he was too wounded. Bodie beat Raskavas unconscious and left him to bleed to death on the floor

With Dwannis Dead, and Raskavas Dying, The Mind Flayer slowly approached Bodie, placed his hand on his shoulder and said:

"There may be hope for you yet."

End.

Conclusion 

With that, we ended the first chapter of the Conquest of Frey! We had always joked from the start, "imagine if the bard were the one to survive" and low and behold he was!

A great betrayal on Elijah's part  and wonderful story decision from Dave our DM. Definitely fits the pattern of this game has fallen into! I am reminded of Ronah Val's Betrayal of Dwannis in Conquest of Frey Game 5.

When we come back to the Conquest of Frey it will be some time in the future and Bodie will be a powerful Servant of Darkness and who knows what Jeff and I will be!

Dave thanks for the great campaign! Looking Forward to Continuing it in the Future!



                          

Dave's Central Power's Planes

Dave really likes to go all out with his Central powers planes. He always uses a complicated pattern as a testament to those German Aces that decorated their palnes in outrageous patterns!

One Dave's favourite planes, the Albatross DV, is painted in red camo, with a distinctive skull and crossbones replacing the left Iron Crosses.

His black and white Roland D2 with a skull and crossbones on the side is probably one of his least favorite planes, as he dies in it every time. But still looks great!

Dave's Captured SE5, was awarded to him (as a Central powers plane choice) when one of his pilots escaped capture and managed to survive the chase with the plane in tact! Here we see it painted in a black and white checker with iron crosses on the wings.



                          

Northern Guard Strike Squad

My First introduction to Dream pod 9's Heavy Gear series was through the Heavy Gear Computer game. it was a first person shooter where you got to control the different Gears used by the North and South on Terra Nova. One o my favorite Gears to play as was the Northern Guard Jaguar. So I had to paint one!

They are a little bigger than the Hunter Gears, and standardly wield Medium Auto Cannons, so they pack a bit more of a punch. On this model I have changed the standard Light Rocket Packs for Anti-Gear Missiles.

A Jaguar usually has a Medium Auto Cannon, a Light Rocket Pack and an Open Hand. In this case he is holding a knife... which doesn't seem to do much but looks cool!

And of course I had to give one of the three Jaguar's my favourite gun, the Snub Cannon.

Strike squads are great for attacking other gears. They are a little heavier then a General Purpose Squad, And can move a little faster, making them great for hunting down other squads.

The are comprised of three Jaguar Gears support by two Hunter Gears, creating a lethal combination.



                          

Conquest of Frey: Chapter 1: Game 11

Game Master: Dave
Game Edition: D&D 3.5
Players: Jeff, Andrew, Elijah
Starting Level: 5 

Current Level: 6-10

Quote of the Evening:

"Remember, you guys still have those potions I gave you!?"

"Nope.. Valgard had them... 

Introduction

They had lost track of how many days they had been in this Dungeon: an impossible labyrinth on the back of a city-sized octopus.

The Duergar Necromancer Dwannis Muck-Mug (Andrew), his General the Drow Fighter Raskavas (Jeff), His Spy the Duegar Bard Bodie (Elijah), His Bodie guard the Drow Barbarian Sayer (Tom) and his unwitting disciple the Duergar Cleric Valgard (Adam), had just defeated the hydra and spent the night in the creatures layer. They knowing the reputation of the creature would keep them safe for any wandering creatures the time being.

Sadly for this run of the Conquest of Frey Adam and Tom were unable to join us. So Jeff and I took control of their Characters, and we picked up where we left off."

Who doesn't love dungeons?

Scene 1 The Hydra's Layer

The air was starting to stink, as the swampy floor of the Hydra's lair hastened the rotting of the beast's corpse. But despite the stench, each member of the party awoke hungry. Any provisions they had brought with them had been lost in the shipwreck that stranded them here, and it had been days since they had eaten a proper meal.

Gastronomic delights danced in their dreams.

Knowing that the poison of the rotting flesh wouldn't effect them,the Duergar party members began to eat their fill of the Hydra's remains. Even the Drow, needing to draw on their fortitude with each mouthful, ate some of the tainted meat to avoid from starving to death. Things were looking pretty grim.

Grim enough to consider eating that thing.

While the others stretched and prepared themselves for another grueling day in the dungeon, Dwannis studied his spells, readying himself for the trials a head.


When the spells were memorized, the armour adorned, and the joints limbered, the party set off in search of a key hole for the golden gemmed golden key they had recovered from the Hydra. 

Scene 2 The Note. A Locked Door.

Leaving the chamber, Raskavas took point as the party explored the rest of the tunnels.

The first path they chose lead them to a dead end, but on the floor there were three skeletons, and one of the them was clutching a note. Dwannis snatched the paper from the corpse's hand. The edges were singed, as if the man had been roasted as he grasped it.

Nice work on the props Dave!

Dwannis read the first half of the note to himself, learning that it was written by one of Aren Bellwick's men. They also spoke of a strange room with some comforts in it; like a fire place and some chairs. He kept that information to himself, but read aloud the dead man's description of the shadowy creature that stalked him and his men through the corridors.

Searching the corpses further, Valgard found five cure moderate wounds potions among the packs the skeletons carried, and the party sighed a sigh of relief. They would be able to survive this adventure!

Leaving the dead end the party followed the tunnel in the opposite direction and discovered a locked door. Not having a lock pick, or wanting to waste a spell, or the strength to break it down, the party turned around to investigate another chamber they had passed by. 

Scene 3 Surviving the Flood. Valgard Lost.

The room they had walked passed was the main chamber on this level, and the party had already crossed through it, coming out of one of the four other doors in the room. There were still however, three corridors they had not explored.

however, unlike their unopposed egress from the chamber earlier, as the last party member entered the room a very dangerous trap was sprung! A grind of ancient gears sealed each hallway with a large iron plate, and pipes around the cieling began flooding the chamber with water. They would need to find a way to stop the flood or be drowned!

Dwannis ducked his head under the water and focused his keen wits on a solution. There were four statues of soldiers around the chamber, each of them holding a different weapon, and one them was holding a trident!

Jetting towards the statue, Dwannis pulled the trident towards him, fighting the rust and age of the device. he managed to pull it all the way forward until he heard a loud click! As the Trident locked into place, the water stopped flowing from the pipes, and a great hole opened in the floor causing the water to spin into a deadly and powerful whirlpool, as it drained from the room.

Everyone in the party grabbed onto something as tight as they could. The force of the water lifted each of them as the strained to keep their hold. It seemed all was well, until Valgard's grasp slipped, and he was sucked into the whirlpool.

Adam's not gonna be to happy about that!

Down he went into the darkness. As the waters cleared, his comrades rushed to the edge of the drain. Below there was only darkness. Bodie called out, but no one answered. Valgard, the party's healer, was lost forever.

Scene 4 The Howlers. The Death of Sayer

Leaving the main chamber, The group followed one of the paths they had not traveled. After winding left and right, the tunnel opened into a chamber strewn with torn cloth and of bits of debris, that formed a repugnant nest.

As the group entered the room, four Howlers came out of the nest, and they were equally as repugnant as their home.

Repugnant.

Dwannis opened the fight with a blast from a fireball. It damaged the creatures, but their armour proved tough to cut through and their strikes deadly. The howlers shot poisoned quills into their attackers, slowing their movement and lessening their strikes, while their powerful claws ripped and the party's flesh.

Sayer took the brunt of many attacks, as two of the beasts attacked him from either side. He fell to the ground unconscious, and Bodie rushed to his side to revive him, but it was all in vain. The Howlers attacked Sayer again this time killing him with a single blow.

Tom isn't going to be happy about that. And we didn't have howlers, so go weird squid things!

Using his magic, Dwannis raised one of the dead howlers and the Corpse of Sayer, and with their help the group slew the rest of the beasts.

Exploring their nest revealed nothing other than the Howler's young. Bodie killed most of them, but kept one of the pups for himself. Perhaps they could eat it later.  

Scene 5 Dead Ends.

The two remaining unexplored passages proved to be dead ends. However in one of the tunnels, there was a chest, temptingly unguarded: everyone was incredibly suspicious of it. Before they opened it, Dwannis tried a number spells to determine if there was anything strange about the box.

Fool me once...

The chest appeared to be an ordinary chest, and had some some Cure Light wounds potions in it. Not that they did much for the injured party but the small boost in health was enough to keep going.

It was here that the quote of the evening was born. As the party lamented their lack of potions,Dave (The DM) commented:

"Remember, you guys Still have those potions I gave you!?"

To which Jeff replied. "Nope.. Valgard had them..."

We all had a good laugh, but inside we knew we were screwed. 

Scene 6 Back the Way We Came. The Dire Bats

Having explored every direction other than the locked door, the party decided to back track and returned to the room they had fallen into the previous day.

There was another door on the opposite side of the chamber, and Sayer's Zombie proved useful in springing the the gate trap on the door. After it was sprung, Raskavas was able to lift it and allow the party and the zombies to pass through.

After winding through more tunnels, a noxious smell from the next room filled the party's sense before they even entered it. The room was filled with a thick soup of rot and bobbing among the grotesque fluid were the skeletal remains of Dwarves, Elves, Duergar and Drow. They rolled and drifted towards the party as the stepped into the muck. Dwannis felt right home.

As they crossed the crypt soup, a flutter was the only warning they got before four Dire Bats swooped from the ceiling.

Bat-swarms work as Dire Bats right?

Each member strained to the reach the bats as they flew overhead tearing at the party. The Drow had a chance to swing when the beasts got near, but the Duergar had to jump at the bats as they swooped down. It proved very difficult.
After loosing the Sayer Zombie, and much of their vitality, Dwannis, Raskavas, Bodie and the Howler Zombie managed to slay the bats, and cross the chamber leaving it through a heavy wooden door.

Scene 7 The Comfortable Room, a Secret Passage.

Behind the door was the comfortable room that Dwannis had neglected to mention to Raskavas and Bodie. Needless to say they were shocked.

A roaring fire blazed steadily in a stone fire place, and several comfortable chairs surrounded a large wooden table with a map of a far away land. There were two statues that stood against the back wall, one carved as a simple solider, the other as a regal warrior.

Studying the key that he found on the Hydra, Dwannis was able to decipher a single word: "Crown".  He looked up at the regal statue's head and saw a rectangular key hole.

This I what Imagined the key to look like.

Using the spell Mage Hand, Dwannis was able to lift the key into the lock and turn it. The two statues parted and revealed a secret passage way behind them. Following the tunnel it opened behind two similar statues on the other end, and the party stood inside a circular room with a stair case that spiraled up. They had reached the main tower.

Conclusion

We can only assume that we have finally found the home of our true foe: The Magic-User behind all of this Necromancy and Illusion.

The first chapter of the Conquest of Frey draws to a close, and only three of the nine that entered this dungeon remain a live. Do we have enough fight in us to defeat this villain and claim his fortress as our own, or will we perish in the attempt?