When our last session ended, the party had–somewhat–consolidated their hold on Cagair Keep. Additional troops, nearly all half-orcs and some progeny, had been brought in by Thokk and had sworn some sort of orcish oath to Adran. The dworc servants were helping Adran settle into his new role (and, for varying reasons, learning to dislike Strik). Perhaps even more importantly, a secret entrance to some sort of lower level had been discovered! Caill’s will had hinted at treasure that those who invaded his keep probably would not have found and the dworcs had told Adran he would find great treasure below. Now we’re talking…loot!
This recap is from RJ. Muse and Rachel both had to miss this session. Also, Andrew had to “tender his resignation” from the group with a busy schedule and a planned move out of town. I learned my lesson last time with Bran (Todd’s prior character) departing as he had. So this time, Luther just kind of faded…stage left. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics].
By the end of our last session, the “good guys” had achieved the objective of driving Lady Hawke out of Cagair Keep but they had to figure out how they could keep the Keep. Hawke had escaped and after some rather orcish interrogation of a prisoner by Strik, they learned that their foe still had men in the area and could be probably be back by morning. Thokk, despite the party’s reluctance, left to find troops to bring back to the Keep to defend, with all assuming that he’d bring back orcs. We pick up with all of this victory “aftermath.”
This recap is from Todd who has rejoined the group as he is now staying in town instead of moving. You’ll see who he’s playing in a bit. Both Andrew and Muse were missing this session. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics].
In our last session, Strik had entered Cagair Keep and had quite the conversation with Lady Hawke and his own little adventure. The session ended with Strik, naked, bound, and shot, leading Hawke and her men to Thokk…or so Strik had convinced them. Unbeknownst to Strik, the rest of the PCs and Thokk as well had, in fact, made their way to the area of the cave where they first encountered Thokk…the same place Strik was headed. That’s where we pick up.
This recap is from Andrew. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics].
When we ended our last session, we got back to having something of a cliffhanger…phew. The party had gone to Cagair Keep and Dru had entered under some false pretenses to see what information she could acquire. She learned, among other things, that Lady Hawke has little patience. Kicked out of Cagair Keep, Dru was walking away from the keep when a number of the guards let loose with crossbow bolts! That’s where we pick up.
This recap is from Rachel. Andrew and Muse were missing this session. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics].
The last session ended somewhat tamely compared to some prior ones. The party had headed to Floshin Estate to see if they could find out anymore information about Caill and/or his death as his body had been found near the estate. They were greeted by an elf before catching even sight of any building that might be part of Floshin Estate. The elf didn’t seem too pleased at their arrival but did share some information, showed them the location where Caill’s body had been found, and granted them permission to camp on Floshin lands. Bran took first watch but the elf suggested that they would face no dangers while camping and Bran took him at his word, the halfling went to sleep.
This recap is from Muse. Todd would not be playing with us anymore as he was moving out of town so I came up with something that seemed fairly appropriate for Bran’s departure. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics]. There are, potentially, some spoilers for the old Dungeon magazine (Issue #26) adventure, “The Inheritance,” even if many (if not most) of the details aren’t quite as written in that adventure.
The last session ended in carnage with the party of PCs somewhat caught between caravan guards and attacking cultists of some sort. Although the PCs took their share of beating, they were the only ones left standing at the end (although a couple of them were down from wounds). The battle had been rather chaotic with multiple fronts, cultists fighting guards and PCs, guards fighting cultists and PCs, and PCs fighting caravan guards and cultists. There was no sign of why these cultists had attacked with such savagery, brutally killing all that they could, and the PCs had not yet found the item that they were hired to acquire…a brass and copper chest. We pick up with the aftermath of the battle after the break.
This recap is from Thomas. RJ was missing and so Thomas played Adran. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics]. We finally get to some of the more direct elements of the old Dungeon magazine (Issue #26) adventure, “The Inheritance,” that is the inspiration of the initial “plot hook” of Adran being the heir to a keep. Many (if not most) of the details aren’t quite as written in that adventure but there are still potential spoilers below.
In our last session, the PCs had learned that someone else had taken up residence in Cagair Keep. They had also defeated some bandits who had preyed upon a small homestead and fought a fairly large band of guards serving someone named Lady Hawke…the same person, it appears, who now hold Cagair Keep! They had made it back to Daggerford and had provide the constable, Sherlyn Miller, information on their discoveries and they planned to head back to Waterdeep to speak with the Magister about the things they had discovered. We pick up with their departure from Daggerford below the break.
This recap is from RJ. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics]. Some might recognize the idea of a PC inheriting a keep from an uncle as this is all inspired by the old Dungeon magazine adventure, “The Inheritance,” in issue #26. Many (if not most) of the details aren’t quite as written in that adventure but I have shamelessly appropriated the concept of the adventure.
Our first session of our new Forgotten Realms campaign found the PCs coming together for various reasons and learning that one of them, Adran, had a potential opportunity to inherit his uncle’s holdings…an uncle, Caill Dafad, he hadn’t seen since his childhood. All Adran had to do was provide some proof of his relationship to Caill. Unable to think of some sort of proof and finding little such evidence in Waterdeep, they party had set off for Daggerford as they had learned that Caill’s holdings, Cagair Keep to be exact, lay somewhere in the vicinity of that town. We ended the session after the party and the merchants that they were accompanying had been ambushed by some pitiful hobgoblins.
This session’s recap is from Todd and starts below the break. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics]. Some might recognize the idea of a PC inheriting a keep from an uncle as this is all inspired by the old Dungeon magazine adventure, “The Inheritance,” in issue #26. Many (if not most) of the details aren’t quite as written in that adventure but I have shamelessly appropriated the concept of the adventure.
Our first session of our new campaign, set in the Forgotten Realms, was this past weekend. We did a potluck and so got started a bit late and began with character creation so we had a bit of an abbreviated session of play. You can see the cast of characters in the immediately prior post. After character creation, we jumped right in with the seven PCs arriving in Waterdeep on three different ships at the same docks.
For this campaign, I’m asking the players to write the session recaps again. Is it because I’m a lazy GM and don’t want to do them myself? Well, I’d be a little less than truthful if I said that I didn’t like the idea of not having to do the full writeups each week but that’s not the main reason. I want the recaps to be from the players’ perspective and not just mine. That’s the main reason.
So, this week’s recap is from Rachel and starts below the break. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics].
Delimbiyr Vale Regional Map by Mike Schley
Our past session marked the beginning of a new campaign here at Fat Rat Games. This campaign is set in the Forgotten Realms and using the 5e D&D rules (since everyone still seems to be enjoying them). The campaign is starting centered in the area around Daggerford using the map by Mike Schley from Scourge of the Sword Coast. We are not, however, playing that adventure.
Instead, we’re just going with Forgotten Realms as a bit of a backdrop and this map as our playground. We aren’t concerned about staying true to Forgotten Realms’ canon in any fashion whatsoever. Instead, we’re starting with the old “Grey Box” Realms and treating it as a dark and grim, “points of light” type setting with islands of civilization floating in seas of wilderness. The ancient empires of elves and dwarves have fallen and the lands of mankind have not yet grown strong enough to replace them. Even where the dim light of civilization of humanity shines, foul things lurk at its porous edges and may even hide in plain sight amongst those very lights of civilization. Our Forgotten Realms will become a thing of its own…which is, in my opinion, what every campaign should do!
Our “theme” for the player characters is something along the lines of “mercenaries with hearts of gold.” We are not going with an outright heroic campaign this time around. Instead, my analogy was something like the crew of the Serenity from Firefly…as a whole, not your goody two-shoes nor black-hearted villains.
The cast of characters include:
Adran Amakir: A half-elf draconic sorcerer played by RJ.
Bran Lackman: A halfling barbarian played by Todd.
Drusilia Moonwhisper: A high elf ranger played by Muse.
Luther Brightbriar: A half-elf warlock (Great Old One patron) played by Andrew who is a new player joining us.
Rory: A half-elf rogue played by Rachel.
Sabrina: A half-elf ranger played by Bridgett (when she can join us).
Strik: A half-orc cleric of Shar played by Thomas.
For a campaign setting where humans vastly outnumber demi-humans, that sure is a lot of demi-humans. 😉
There is an initial plot hook that I’m “requiring” that the players buy into but after that, we’ll just see where things go. The hook, which was not shared before character creation or the first session, is that one of the PCs (who had to be human or half-elf) is going to have the opportunity to inherit a keep of some sort. They came across this plot hook in the initial session and it is Adran who had an uncle recently pass away. Yes, for those who remember it, this is the premise from an old Dungeon Magazine adventure, “The Inheritance,” and I’m shamelessly employing it here.
The writeup of the first session will follow later this week.
