Kansas. That’s where things ended in our last session. In the sense of “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” After having finally gotten out of Castanamir’s abode, the party passed through the main portal to find themselves not back in The Valley. Instead, they learned that they were in the Vesve Forest on Greyhawk. In addition, they got caught up in a quest to rescue a group of elderly folk from some hobgoblins and a green dragon…somewhat reluctantly on the part of some. The session ended with the party having found the elderly folks, defeating a number of hobgoblins, and having the dragon make an appearance from the top of a tower.

This week we had Bridgett (continuing her guest appearance), Muse, RJ, Theo, and Thomas so Katerine, Callie, Grim, Rurik, Aelwulf, Lilly, and Bronn were present.

My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets].

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At last! At the end of our last session, the party discovered the exit from Castanamir’s home. Not only that, they also found quite a bit of treasure in the process. However, it was not easy and not without loss. Lavinia fell in the last battle before their escape and much of the magical treasure found was “sacrificed” to discover the location of the exit. I have a feeling that different characters might answer differently if asked which of those two was the greater loss. 😉

For this session, we had Muse, Rachel, RJ, and Thomas AND a guest appearance by Bridgett. So that meant we had Callie, Grim, Morgraen, Riordan, Rurik, Bronn, and Lilly. RJ has elected to not make a second character to replace Lavinia. Bridgett got to play an old favorite of hers, Katerine, from our old Company H campaign…although a much lower level version of Katerine than she was when we ended that campaign. She still had her “stick with a string” though (a magical bow that looks, essentially, like a big stick with a string). We did a potluck for dinner and so we started about an hour late with all the socializing, eating, and getting seconds or, in RJ’s case, thirds. When we did get started, we picked up with the party (sans Katerine) using the portal to leave Castanamir’s island.

My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets].

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In out last session, the party continued their explorations of Castanamir’s home. They had solved the riddle of how to get around the place but they still had not found an exit. There was one room that they had not really explored, one with a pool of water with much treasure at the bottom. Although Bronn had wanted to take some of the treasure, he had been convinced to leave it alone by the rest of the party. Fresh out of ideas for what to do next, they all agreed to tamper with the pool and that’s largely where we had ended the last session with Bronn and Lavinia in the pool room and the rest of the party and Castanamir in a different room. Neither location looked to be safe as the session ended.

This session we had Geoff, Rachel, RJ, Thomas and were joined by Geoff’s son, Alex. So we had Redwulf, Morgraen, Riordan, Lavinia, Rurik, Lilly, and Bronn who were joined by Pablo, a dwarven monk. We’re pretty much sticking with the Basic Rules for this campaign but Alex wanted to play a monk and it was pretty much a one-time thing so why not.

It also turned out that Session 13 was an unlucky number for one of the PCs who died. I won’t tell you who…you’ll have to read this session writeup to find out. 😉

Spoilers: There are definitely spoilers for the old AD&D module, C3: The Lost Island of Castanamir, below the break.

My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets].

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Session 12 of The Side Quest was our fifth with the party on the Lost Island of Castanamir. In our last session, the party had recovered all six of the books on Chakos’ list. They had also gained an “ally” (or at least a new member of their entourage). Lilly had stayed behind with this new ally to learn “some” secret after the rest of the party passed through another of the portals. But before I get to what happened, a bit of housekeeping first. Morgraen and Riordan have both made it to 3rd level at the start of this session. Aelwulf, Callie, Grim, Lavinia, and Rurik are all 2nd level with the remaining characters (Baern, Bronn, Lilly, and Redwulf) are still being 1st level. Why the discrepency? Characters only get XP if the player is in attendance since the character isn’t played when the player isn’t there and, of course, the strings of deaths that Theo’s characters suffered. Since Rachel has missed the fewest sessions, Morgraen and Riordan have reached the loftiest heights of all the characters.

This session we had Geoff, Muse, Rachel, RJ, and Thomas in attendance…only missing Theo and so had a nice full table and nine characters in play. So away we go…

Spoilers: There are definitely spoilers for the old AD&D module, C3: The Lost Island of Castanamir, below the break.

My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets].

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This marked our fourth session with the PCs lost on the Island of Castanamir. In our last session, they had fought then allied themselves with some hobgoblins. They then convinced one of them to start a revolt against the hobgoblin commander. Private (recently promoted to God-King) Leigh, however, was the only hobgoblin to participate in the revolt…although it did lead to an all out battle between the hobgoblins and the party. After winning that battle, the party set out to explore another, new to them, area of Castanamir’s home.

This session we had Muse, Rachel, and Thomas in attendance plus we had a new player, Geoff, join us. Thomas had made a second character and Lilly’s twin, Bronn. Bronn is a halfling rogue. Geoff rolled up a elven cleric named Redwulf. So with seven characters participating, we continued with the party’s search for the six books for Chakos and for a way out.

Spoilers: There are definitely spoilers for the old AD&D module, C3: The Lost Island of Castanamir, below the break.

My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets].

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In our last session, our party had continued their exploration of Castanamir’s abode in search for both the six books that Chakos had retained them to find and for a way out as well. In this session, Rachel, RJ, and Theo were in attendance and so Morgraen, Riordan, Lavinia, Rurik, and Aelwulf were played. As Theo had lost another of his characters in the prior session, he was also going to introduce Beorn this session…a dwarven cleric. We have also had an old player rejoin us…Thomas. Yes, the Dire Rattitude has returned to Tallahassee and wanted to get back into a game. To add to his list of quirky and memorable past characters, Thomas has now added Lilly. Lilly is a halfling cleric who can be briefly best summarized, at least from the first session, as a hippy stoner! Well, a hippy stoner who has visions that (conveniently) fit with what Lilly happens to be interested in doing. 😉

We began this session as Morgraen passed through a portal to find herself confronted with the two human thugs that the party had encountered a number of times already…encounters that largely consisted of the thugs taking a shot at the party and then fleeing. Spoilers: There are, of course, spoilers for the old AD&D module, C3: The Lost Island of Castanamir, below the break.

My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets].

Continue reading →