They made it! It only took five sessions, but they finally got into Stonehell proper. Oh, I’m getting ahead of myself as we stopped the prior session as they descended into Stonehell. They did a bit before that so I suppose we should start there. At the end of Session 5, the group was investigating more of the caves along the side of the canyon. In one, they found some sobbing children, toddlers, and that is where we will pick up below the break.

All players were in attendance for this session. There are, of course, potential spoilers for Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls below. My GM comments, as usual, are in italics.

In Session 4, we spent nearly the entire session exploring a single room and its occupant. It wasn’t a boring session. It was, actually, quite tense at times. It was also pretty much all impromptu as a result of my asking if the players would like something interesting to happy in what would otherwise be a plain and boring room. As a result, they recovered one magic item and we have added to the history to Stonehell, its inhabitants, and the inhabitants of the surrounding area. By the end of the session, two of the five characters were incapacitated and the party retreated to a relatively safe area to recover. We’ll pick up there after the break.

All players were in attendance for this session so Collem rejoined the group…albeit only for a short period of time. There are, of course, potential spoilers for Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls below. My GM comments, as usual, are in italics.

In our last session, the party continued their exploration of the canyon. They discovered the actual entrance to Stonehell as well as exploring some of the caves in the canyon’s walls. We ended after they encountered an obviously crazed individual and explored where this nut had come from. Let’s just say that this session went a little sideways. I made the “mistake” of asking if the players would like anything interesting to happen with an otherwise empty room that they had started to explore. We ended up spending this entire session in that room. Will I learn my lesson and not ask that question again? Probably not…yeah, definitely not. We pick up with it below the break.

Todd was missing this session so Collem was also missing. There are, of course, potential spoilers for Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls below; however, I don’t think there are too many this time around. My GM comments, as usual, are in italics.

In Session 2, Jen and Todd joined and rolled up their characters…Clara and Collem. They joined with the other characters to continue their initial investigations of the canyon leading to Stonehell. After exploring some of the ruined buildings and some of the gatehouse, surviving a fight, avoiding some others, and finding some hidden treasure, they decided to explore some other areas of the canyon. We will pick up with these explorations after the break.

We had everyone in attendance for this session. There are, of course, potential spoilers for Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls below. My GM comments, as usual, are in italics.

Oh, just a quick note about our calendar. It is good to have something to track time and the passage of days. I created a relatively simple calendar for a prior game and we’re just using it. It just has four months which match the seasons. Each consists of thirteen weeks of seven days of twenty-four hours.

In our prior session, only Rachel and RJ could play so they each rolled up two characters to play. We had everyone in attendance for this session so Jen and Todd both rolled up one character each. Jen is playing Clara, a human priest who had been previously working as a haberdasher. Todd is playing Collem, a human thief who was once a mariner. I will leave it up to Rachel and RJ if they want to continue playing both of their characters or to drop down to just one. Any of the players are also free to swap characters in and out each session as they feel is necessary. So just a quick recap, we have six characters at the moment (I’m sharing Clara and Collem’s motivations below; for the motivations of the others, see Session 1).

• Brielle, dwarven fighter played by Rachel
• Clara, human priest played by Jen; Clara has come to Stonehell in search of a friend who came here and was never heard from again.
• Collem, human thief played by Todd; Collem is looking for treasure and to hide from a former boss who wants to find Collem after he slept with the daughter of the boss (not yet shared with the group).
• Ivy, half-elf witch played by Rachel
• Korgath, goliath fighter played by RJ
• Torin the Beast, human pit fighter played by RJ

In our first session, Brielle, Ivy, Korgath, and Torin had come to Stonehell…each with their own reason for being here. They did a little initial exploration of the canyon beyond the curtain wall and had found one area that caught their attention. We will pick up with things there after the break.

There are, of course, spoilers for Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls below. My GM comments, as usual, are in italics.