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TOPIC: R3 2021: Splinters of Faith recap

R3 2021: Splinters of Faith recap 2 years 5 months ago #5639

  • mikeawmids
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Since their may actually be some interest in picking this up again at some point in the future, I have now done a recap of the campaign so far. Boom!

Splinters of Faith

Book 1: It started with a Chicken

  • Gek Crazyhands, Halfling Fighter
  • Eldrin, Elf Ranger
  • Shadrach, Deep Gnome Rogue
  • Darv, Human Wizard

To mitigate their spiralling medical bills, the party undertake a quest from the Temple of Freya, to escort an acolyte through the wilds and deliver him safely to the village of Lessef. Young Sarnau (cameo appearance from Aka) is a spotty, squeaky-voiced tenager with a real hard-on for God.

Arriving in Lessef, the party are confronted by an ornery old timer, who is having trouble with a wily fox raiding his chicken coop. This triggers a lengthy debate on the nature of foxes; what even is a fox, and do they wear boots? Tracks from the old man's farm lead to a group of ruffians camped outside the entrance to an old, overgrown barrow mound. The heroes dispatch the goons with ease and learn they are in the service of creepy nobleman Rayne de' Anzeray, who descended into the barrow two days ago and has yet to return.

The heroes enter the barrow. Sickly green flames flicker within iron, skull-shaped braziers. The floors are littered with bones, and crude symbols of Orcus (evil god of undeath) are scratched into the walls. The whole place gives of a real bad vibe, which is only exacerbated when the heroes bump into a group of flesh-eating zombies.

One room contains hundreds of gnawed skulls, which spill out noisily into the corridor as soon as the door is opened.

The defacto 'leader' of of the undead is a ghast called Fulcyst, who sits atop his throne of bones, stroking his skanky ghoul cat. Eldrin pins the ghast to his throne with arrows and Sarnau sets the whole thing alight with sacred flame. Darv casts Shocking Grasp on the ghoul cat. I guess you could say his clever fingers really stimulated that p - EDIT: actually no, let's not say that.

Moving on, there is some unpleasant business with a swarm of zombie rats and the party befriend the talking skull of a long dead bard, called Gillespy. Shadrach chucks the skull into his bag, from where it intermittently shouts out words of muffled encouragement, granting bardic inspiration (d6) to anyone who can make out what he's actually saying.

Ultimately, the heroes discover this whole dungeon was built to serve as the prison-tomb of Akruel, infamous death priest of Orcus. Impaled upon the Sceptre of Faiths, Akruel was not slain, but fell into a death-like stasis and was sealed beneath the earth for hundreds of years. Nowadays, he's effectively been forgotten about altogether - but not by creepy nobleman Rayne de' Anzeray, who only went and removed the Sceptre, restoring Akruel to un-life (doh!). Soon, the world will remember Akruel and the long shadow of Orcus will once again shroud the land in death, darkness and decay. Fortuitously, the two halves of the shattered sceptre lie discarded beside the death priest's vacant sarcophagus, along with convenient instructions detailing how the artifact may be reforged and restored to its full power. Only then, can the party hope to defeat Akruel once and for all!

"Hold up, how is this our problem?" Shadrach wants to know.

Because you're Heroes, m****r-f****r, so put on your big boy pants and get on with it!
Last Edit: 2 years 4 months ago by mikeawmids.
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R3 2021: Splinters of Faith recap 2 years 4 months ago #5640

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Book 2: Burning Desires
Gek Crazyhands, Halfling Fighter
Eldrin, Elf Ranger
Shadrach, Deep Gnome Rogue
Darv, Human Wizard

Party Allies/Effect;
Sarnau, pubescent cleric; recover 1d8+2 HP
Gillespy, singing skull; gain Inspiration die d6


'Blessing of Joining Flame; Forge first in Dargath's fire.'

The first step in the ritual to remake the Sceptre of Faiths brings the party Anvil Klunge (sigh), temple-citadel of the dwarves. Their is a hoo-ha at the gates, as the guards insist on searching anyone attempting to leave the city. The heroes learn that the Flame of Dargath has been stolen and the dwarves wont be remaking shit until it is recovered.

The party offer their services to High Priest Brovok Ashenchisel and agree to recover the Flame in exchange for his help reforging the Sceptre. Ashenchisel chucks in 500gp and a vest of mithril armour to sweeten the deal. Evidence at the crime scene; muddy footprints, red clay, a tuft of dark fur caught in a drain, suggests the culprit is none other than Trawla of the Sin Mire, a whack-job druid squatting in the nearby marshland. The party comandeer a raft and set off to explore the swamp.

It's not long before they draw attention from the bog's hungry denizens. Three giant frogs hop out of the tangled foliage and attack. Shadrach is swallowed whole, but manages to carve his own emergency exit from the frog's stomach.

The party encounter a sad pseudodragon who is searching for a friend. He agrees to guide them through the mire, hoping their company will temporarily offset the crushing loneliness that defines his existence. The heroes don't even remember his name.

As the shadows lengthen, the party seek a safe place to rest. The pseudodragon guides them to the flooded ruins of a village reclaimed by the swamp. The flat roof of a sunken church provides a good space to make camp. Darv detects magic beneath the surface and Eldrin goes for a swim. He finds the waterlogged corpse of an armoured dwarf. Whilst looting the body, he is ambushed by aquatic ghouls! Simultaneously, more ghouls clamber onto the roof of the church to attack the rest of the group. The heroes defeat the monsters, berate the pseudodragon and finish pillaging the dead dwarf for his gear; +1 shield, +1 silver dagger, suit of dwarven platemail & a potion of healing. The rest of the night passes uneventfully.

The next morning, the heroes are stopped by an ogre possessed of a limited vocabulary, but an abundance of big rocks. Darv casts Tasha's Hideous Laughter and the ogre drops a rock on his own head. The party move on.

The heroes hear mournful howling in the distance and decide to investigate. They find a (comparatively) tame wolf mourning the demise of its human companion. The wolf is called Gravy, according to its collar. It seems poor Rusgart the Ranger ventured into a flooded ruin and got ganked by a wight. The heroes avenge his death and adopt his dog, who takes an immediate shine to Eldrin, but growls at everyone else.

The adventure continues! Shadrach is getting mighty tired of this godforsaken swamp. The party are ambushed by a young black dragon, who makes the mistake of being drawn into a conversation with Gek Crazyhands. One migraine later and the wyrmling agrees to let them pass, just to be rid of them.

The heroes reach a tall clay tower, lair to Trawla of the Sin Mire and her in-bred family of half-orc hillbillies. The tower is hollow and descends beneath the ground. The party slide down into the dank and are immediately attacked by a giant crayfish guard lobster... thing. Having recently unlocked the power of rune magic, Gek binds the monster with flaming chains and breaks off its pincers with his bare hands.

Moving on, the party are ambushed by a gang of troglodytes guarding the entrance to Trawla's sanctum. Gek uses some bullshit, third-party Fighter ability to grow Large and wreaks havoc in the claustrophobic tunnels.

Bursting into the sanctum, the heroes discover Trawla is trying to extinguish the Flame of Dargath to gain favour with Alyheedra, evil goddess of elemental water. She has invited some unsettling fish people to witness her moment of triumpth. Gek kind-of ruins it by tossing a dead troglodyte across the room, knocking Trawla prone in front of her peers. Embarrassing - but she must not have taken it too personally, because she starts giggling helplessly. No, wait, that's Tasha's Hideous Laughter. Gek stomps in and seizes the druid in his massive arms. She wildshapes into an otter, but Gek maintains the grapple and crushes her tiny body in the palm of his hand. Gross. Meanwhile, Darv hides from the fish people in a pile of dead fish (insensitive much?) and Shadrach runs away from another giant lobster, that pops its head up to see what all the fuss is about. Seeing that Trawla has been squished, the rest of the monsters call it a day. The Heroes are victorious!

The party collect the Flame of Dargath and return to Anvil Klunge. High Priest Ashenchisel ignites the great forge and personally oversees the restoration of the broken sceptre. It becomes a +1 mace and will continue to grow in power as the party gain additional blessings from the rest of the pantheon. Next stop; the coastal city of Bargasport and the secretive clergy of Ayianna, patron goddess of thieves, trickery and luck.

TBC, possibly.
Last Edit: 2 years 4 months ago by mikeawmids.
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MellyMel - Fri 29 Mar - 09:50

gary - GARTOPA - please resubmit user request - it is gone.

MellyMel - Thu 28 Mar - 16:30

i fancy mothership if there is space (get it?) - no actually i really do

Sarge - Thu 28 Mar - 15:00

Galleons players. Sant is running a Mothership RPG one shot tonight as Coriolis is off, come join the fun!

mikeawmids - Thu 28 Mar - 14:37

Perhaps Charlie Rumble will reach Cook Island after all....

Temrane - Thu 28 Mar - 13:07

galleons folks, no game tonight, work calls unfortunately! back next week

MellyMel - Thu 21 Mar - 15:38

i believe some new user(s) are awaiting authorisation. if so please recreate request as i've just deleted the russian bot swarm and your request might be spotted this time.

Inept - Thu 29 Feb - 17:07

Apologies decent guys... Hell has obviously inflicted itself on my van... It's broke. Won't be there tonight.

rhodsey - Tue 27 Feb - 09:09

I can't accomodate two sorry but I'm happy if they want to come and observe for a bit at least then see if there's a game while they are here.

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