DDO in 4e: A Campaign Diary

**nibel** · 09-27-2015, 01:13 PM

I announced I was going to run this campaign for a few weeks already, and this topic will be used purely as a campaign journal. I'll include on the other topic the tactical encounters I adapted for tabletop use, so if you run something similar on your table, you might find this useful.

It is worth saying that my group have not played DDO, and thus, don't know the quest themselves. So they are reacting to them as any other D&D group would. This might lead to some inventive ways to circumvent quest mechanics, or the story might have some different outcomes compared to "how the quest should complete" in DDO.

Everyone is welcome to post comments about the story and characters. This topic will be updated weekly, usually between friday and sunday. Questions about the encounters or any mechanic question, please, use the other topic. Thank you.

Index

Chapter 1: Korthos Island

Chapter 2: Welcome to Stormreach

Chapter 3: Outside Stormreach

**nibel** · 09-27-2015, 01:37 PM

These are the bold heroes that will face the perils presented in DDO.

Callahan Swiftmare d'Orien, Human Ranger|Seeker, is the oldest son of the Swiftmare clan (but fourth child) inside House Orien. Born in Thrane, he spent most of his childhood in Stormreach, because his parents tried to keep him away from the Last War. His father is an influent noble inside House Orien, and his mother left a few years ago to follow her call as a crusader of the Silver Flame. He is a charming womanizer and moneygrubber, always looking for the next thing that will fill his pockets or his pants.

Big Chin, Warforged Fighter, is a warforged created by Lars Heyton that is an expert tracker and, according to Amalgam, the strongest warrior between his warforgeds. He was temporarily asked to join the group to help destroy the Mindsunder in the Yuan-ti's possession, and later joined them full-time in Stormreach.

Ladrian Tingaralatingadun, Eladrin Warlord, native from Thelanis and originally from the feyspire of Meridia in the Vale of Twilight. He is stranded in Eberron since the Day of Mourning, and consider this world primitive and unsightly. He consider himself too noble to ever cross swords with a mortal, and never unsheathe his sword from its scabbard. He believes the key to unlock Meridia from the primary plane is somewhere in Xen'drik, and will look for it while work as a mercenary commander to get enough gold to make his living more palatable.

Yasdril, Drow Warden, native from the Vulkoori tribe of Menechtarun, and was adopted by Callahan's granpa, Mathusalem Swiftmare, while she was a baby, saved from the local tribe and trusted to him by Zawabi himself. She consider herself to be his daughter, and currently works as the main bodyguard of his tavern. She is very close to Callahan (but not THIS close).

Krusjik, Kobold Rogue, last survivor of the Tunnelworm clan. Says the Order of the White Dragon have the responsibility to give him shelter since they destroyed his clan. He still banter that one day he will take vengeance, become a dragon, and eat the whole party.

=================================

Prelude

Callahan's family were in joy when he got his dragonmark, and as a prize, his dad gave him a small airship that could be guided even for someone outside Lyrandar. Before he and Yasdril returned to Stormreach, however, Ywain asked to come with them so that he could investigate more about the Stormreaver. They accept, and the trio fly towards Xen'drik. What they didn't expected was to be attacked by a white dragon and crash in Korthos.

Ladrian and Drogbar heard the news about the sudden winter on Korthos, and went there to help. Drogbar believe it is because of an ancient Devourer's Herald that is sealed under the island. Ladrian believes it is the influence of the Winter Count, and might have some clues of what he is seeking. When mayor Storr tells them it is because of a dragon, they got frustrated, but decided to give a shot the island for their cues anyway. Drogbar checked the secret runes keeping the beast sleeping, and it was still holding strong. But while they were looking for fey signs, they witness Callahan's airship crashing and the dragon attacking. The duo rescue the survivors, and bring them to Korthos.

==========================

The Crypt

Drogbar (Level 1), Shifter Cleric of the Sovereign Host, son of pirates. He walked away from his family to become a crusader of the Sovereign Host against evil. He is blessed by the power of the Dols, and can change his longsword in size as he see fit, from a dagger to a fullblade. He is currently in a mission to locate the legendary Sword of Tesyus. He died while fighting the Giant Bullywug, and was buried in Korthos as a hero.

Ywain Swiftmare (Level 2), Human Swordmage, younger brother of Callahan. By being an applied scholar, he was invited into the Twelve, where he learned about the giant tribes' Legend of the Stormreaver, and fell in love with it. He is traveling with Callahan to the one place where he might discover new information regarding the legend.
He left the group in good terms to start exploring Xen'drik with Falcor Redwillow.

**nibel** · 09-27-2015, 01:57 PM

Callahan wake up in the clinic of Drusen d'Jorasco, local healer. He don't get quiet until he learns that his brother and the drow are safe. Drogbar tell them what happened on the island, and what they could salvage from the airship. And while they talk, a grievous news arrive: The dragon attacked the village after the airship, and froze solid the harbor. No ship can come in or out of Korthos until this problem get solved.

After the group got kicked out of the clinic (thanks to Callahan trying to seduce Drusen), they went to the Wavecrest Tavern, where Sigmund gave them a hot drink on the house "because of the circumstances". They start to talk about what they should do next, and Kaja, daughter of Sigmund, ask for their help. She is not comfortable with Callahan's advances, but relate her history:

Lars Heyton is the current head of security in Korthos Village, responsible for keeping the energy crystals running and the gate defenses up. The island have a bullywug tribe that can't take the island because they are too chaotic on their attacks, and thus, attack as individuals instead of a tribe. However, a few weeks ago, they are acting in a strange synchrony, and Lars had to fight them off. He succeeded, but disappeared during the battle. No one knows if he ran away, or got captured. She believes he is hiding to get room to plan something, and last night she heard some strange sounds coming from the Heyton's family crypt. She believe he might be hiding inside, but the tomb guard, Jacoby, don't let her in, and dismiss her claims as pure imagination, since he didn't heard anything.

Callahan, Ywain and Drogbar believe the sound might also be from undead raising inside the crypt, and volunteer to check it out in exchange of their family handling out rooms for them while they solve the problem in Korthos. Kaja then dismiss Callahan's advances and let out a not-so-subtle hint that she likes Lars.

When the group approaches the tomb, Jacoby tries to keep them out. Callahan tries to bluff his way in, but Yasdril call out the bluff, and went straight to the point. He becomes more hostile, and demand them to leave because he don't want outsiders to just steal stuff from the protectors of Korthos. Drogbar then says he has authority to check out the tomb for the undead wards, since he is a priest. He don't have arguments against that, and then unlock the gate, allowing them to go in.

Inside the mausoleum, things looks normal in the first levels, but then the group hears some howling, and a chant in a weird language no one in the party know. When they approach, they see a bullywug in ceremonial clothes chanting over the dead body of a Heyton woman. Around him, two large bullywugs and half dozen cultists watch patiently. The group decides to intervene, and everyone protects the priest while he finish the ritual. The fight is hard because of the narrow corridors, but they push it into the main room and get some space. However, they only do that after the ritual is complete, and Kyleanne Heyton get raised as a zombie.

After defeating the cultists, they ask if maybe Jacoby is involved on this, or if they found a way into the crypt by themselves. The answer was clear once they reach the exit: Jacoby locked the gate with them inside, and is no longer in his usual guarding spot. The group bash the lock, and start searching for the traitor.

**nibel** · 10-03-2015, 04:28 PM

After breaking the lock, Callahan start tracking Jacoby. He figures that he went into the tavern and out, but lose him by the plaza. Disappointed, the team returns to the tavern to report back to Kaja. They enter and see the place empty, while Kaja clean up the tables. Sigmund interpose himself between the group and her, and ask forgiveness for his daughter bothering them. When they tell what was found there, Sigmund gets clearly concerned, and says that he finally understand what Jacoby told him before leaving a few minutes ago. Under the light of the news, he believes that was a threat. Probably Jacoby believes Sigmund was the one who send the group, and now want revenge. He then contracts the group to stay the night protecting the tavern and being sure no one threaten he or Kaja.

While on guard duty, Drogbar uses a Comprehend Language ritual to be sure he will understand anything the bullywugs let slip in a future attack, and during the night, they hear a loud beating on the ceiling, as if something was trying to break in. The group draw their weapons, and a group of cultists break through the front door. Jacoby is behind them, and provokes the group, saying they shouldn't have meddled on his business. He leaves, and let the combat for the others. The combat goes on until the thing on the ceiling finally breaks through and fall on the middle of the room. The fight was an easy win, with the worst victim being Ladrian's fine clothes being stained with mud.

After taking a breath, they noticed that the rest of the village is also under bullywug attack. The cultists have opened the main gate, and apparently, the frogkin is kidnapping people still alive for some reason. The group discuss if they should go out to protect the village or keep their position guarding the tavern, and in the end they decide to leave the tavern behind and help the others. They directly save two people, and close the gate, keeping more bullywugs from entering.

When they come back to the tavern, they find Sigmund dead, with his throat slit. Kaja is missing. Callahan kneel in guilt, saying that it was his fault for leaving the tavern. Ladrian talk some sense back on his head, and then he notices a subtle trace of blood leading to the cellar. The cellar is small and tight, but looking around they find a secret door leading to an underground passage. They ask themselves why that passage was under the tavern, and further down they hear Jacoby and another bullywug (Kiv Nerl) discussing behind a stone door. Drogbar understand the conversation, and find out that Jacoby killed "that traitorous Sigmund" and kidnapped Kaja "for the sacrifice". Kiv say that "she couldn't survive the river" and that they should "get rid of her."

At this moment, the group intervenes and attack. After dealing with everyone else, Jacoby see himself cornered, and surrender. Drogbar holds his shifting and with a punch knock him unconscious. Kaja is untied, and ask everyone to not go out saying that her father is a cultist. She says he was always an ally to the Heytons, and helped a lot of times against the bullywugs. She don't know why this passage exists, but there must be an explanation out there. With no reason to discuss with her right now, the group agree to keep thing secret for now.

**nibel** · 10-10-2015, 04:17 PM

After capturing Jacoby Drexelhand, the group returns to the tavern and seal the secret passage. Jacoby is tied in one of the rooms, and the group gets a rest while Kaja ask the village to help cleaning the tavern and her father's body. The assault last night was harsh, and from around 50 villagers, only 18 were still in the village, with the others being killed, kidnapped, or revealed themselves as cultists of The Devourer. Kaja tells the group that the whole village wants to talk to them, and she had some troubles keeping them outside.

Yasdril and Ladrian goes to interrogate Jacoby, who says the "ritual will begin soon" and that "Lars is dead, we would succeed if it was not for your intereference". He seems fearless, knowing the group will not kill him, or would have done that in the previous battle. His main intention seems to be killing time, answering in vague terms, and handling insults. When he cracks up, he says that "the shifter knows about the beast", and two locations where he believes the bullywugs could have dragged the prisoners and lock them up while they prepare the ritual. The interrogatory ends with Yasdril losing patience, and hitting him on the head with her hammer, knocking him unconscious.

The other three went to talk to the villagers. The mayor Viggie Storr congratulate them on helping last night, and ask the team to go rescue the captured villagers. A guard followed them after the gate was closed, and knows the location where they are now. He also whispers to the party that his own daughter was caught, and if they rescue her safe, he will add an extra reward on top. During the meeting, a young guard says that she saw Lars earlier today, moving with his warforged bodyguard in the direction of the old cannith manufactury.

The team them discuss if they should go save the villagers or meet Lars first. They end up voting, and decide to help Lars. It was a good call, since when they arrived on the place, a group of bullywugs was about to start an assault on the manufactury. Drogbar hear they talking about witnessing him enter there, and that this time, they will deal with him once and for all. The group intervenes, defeat them in a hard battle, and enter the manufactury.

**nibel** · 10-16-2015, 09:54 PM

The group enters the manufactury, and as expected, the place is seriously abandoned: pieces of gear falling off, lots of rusting stuff, and broken crystals. They search around, until they notice a rough barricade made with new wood. They decide to pass and recreate the barricade in case more bullywugs come.

A bit further down, they see light and a pair of iron defenders patrolling the corridors. The homunculi don't seem to deviate from their path, and the group chooses to keep them alive, while following them through the corridor. The plan goes nicely, until the metal dog crosses through another one patrolling the reverse path, and they are spotted. They start to run as deep as they can, until they reach a large room, with two doors barred by forcefields, and three big crystals hanging from the ceiling. Ywain alerts everyone that the crystals are full of energy that might backlash if they break. Still, Yasdril uses her powers to create stone roots that hold the dogs in place, while Ywain breaks one of the forcefields and close it again to keep the iron defenders outside, barking.

The room they entered looks like a study room, and quickly they find out that many books are about bullywug ecology, written by generations of the Heyton family. The info there don't match what the group has been fighting thus far: They say bullywugs are confused and disorganized, never fighting in groups larger than three, and even then, they break down to individual calls as soon as a dangerous situation (like a combat) presents itself. Ladrian assumes something else happened for such a change in attitude. Callahan also found a secret passage in the room that leads directly to the crystals, allowing access probably for maintenance reasons.

When the group returns to the main room, the iron defenders were already gone, but the other forcefield got a reinforcement, and Ywain don't think khe can break it without the proper magic code. Drogbar rushes to the crystals, and smash them with his large sword. It hurt the cleric a fair amount, but the power goes down, and so do the barrier. Callahan have the distinct impression that he heard the dogs barking again before the power went down.

On the other side, they finally meet Lars Heyton and his bodyguard Amalgam, the warforged. Amalgam tell Lars that those person are the ones that helped protect the village last night. Lars is still mad that they destroyed his crystals. The group talk, and Lars say he knows the dragon Aussircaex is also a victim, and that he is trying to track the true danger that is putting Korthos in risk. They ask if he was not careless to leave the village unprotected, and he replies that he believes the bullywugs might be after him, and they will never bypass the defenses of the manufactury. Or wouldn't, if they didn't had just disabled them all.

When the group relates that the bullywugs are attacking in large numbers, Lars start to think, and then suddenly, the barrier in that room breaks, and a bunch of bullywugs jumps from the water, ready to take on the old magewright. The group engages the fight, and it is clearly the hardest fight they fought since their arrival on Korthos. After winning, Lars thanks the group, and then tell the whole story of what happened on Korthos:

When they attacked a few weeks ago, he thought it was because a new bullywug leader raised to the top, and this is a rare event, that usually make them go organized for a few days. Since he knew the main target was him, and not the village, he went into hiding on the old manufactury. However, Amalgam related to him about Jacoby and some other people becoming cultists of the Devourer, and found it strange, since he knew everyone in the village, and a group this large couldn't hide this kind of devotion for so long. When the dragon arrived, he detected a strong psionic aura around her, and concluded that something else was interfering with the minds of everyone. He was trying to track the signal using a fallen scale of Aussircaex, but the aura was faint. Until they informed him about the bullywugs also being controlled, so he could scan through the strong aura still in effect on them.

The group can't make use of this information right now, because it is madness to attack the main base of the enemy already half-beaten, and the group says they still have to save the kidnapped villagers, and Lars offers Amalgam to go with them while he returns to the village and make some preparations for the attack tomorrow.

**nibel** · 10-23-2015, 03:05 PM

Session 5 was cut short because of technical problems, and there was not much stuff going (only did one combat), so I'll post the session resume next week, alongside Session 6. Sorry for the break.

**nibel** · 10-31-2015, 05:16 PM

The group and Amalgam enter the old Cannith aqueduct where they were told that the bullywugs were keeping the villagers. They approach the moist and place with caution, until they found them guarding a few people in two cells. They fight and after a somewhat harsh fight, they defeat them and release the prisoners. While the villagers cheered om them during the fight, once the adrenaline was down, they told the group that the bullywugs had already took six people down and they have not returned yet. They took this as a clue that there are more people being kept deeper in the aqueduct, and tell Amalgam to escort them back to the village while they search for the remaining ones.

After walking though the place and avoiding a trap or two, they find a strange wooden door that is clearly not on its right place. Callahan approach cautiously, and see a dozen enemies between cultists and bullywugs aiming at the door. He then makes use of his primal magic to blast the door from a safe range, and then the group engage in combat with them. Drogbar can hear two bullywugs discussing in Primordial about releasing "the beast", with one of them seriously frightened by the possibility. The boss, Rhix Fyl, then says that he will give them a chance and only open the cell if they clearly can't beat the intruders.

They fight their best, but Rhix end up releasing the giant bullywug that wreck havoc in no time, ending up knocking Drogbar and Ladrian unconscious (more than once), and swallowing Ywain. The fight ends with an aimed arrow into the frogman's head. The team is able to stabilize Ladrian, but it was already too late for Drogbar, who died in the middle of the skirmish. Before Ladrian can wake up, the frogman's body starts to shrink back to human-sized, revealing its true body as Arissa, the daughter of Korthos' mayor. Callahan feels bad for killing the beast, but in the end Yasdril says he didn't knew about it, and had no choice when she was trying to kill them all. The three then carry out the bodies of Ladrian, Drogbar and Arissa, and walk back to Korthos.

When they arrive, the people are already celebrating the rescue of the survivors, but Arissa's body chilled the party. Viggie Storr paid the promised reward, but asked for some time to mourn his daughter. Callahan asks for forgiveness, but he only says he will not do any judgment right now and for them to leave. They leave, and move to Drusen's clinic to treat Ladrian, that awakes hours later. He also react a lot less than expected on the news of Drogbar's death.

The group then finally meet Lars, that is finishing the repairs on the village's main gate. He tells the group that he was able to remove the domination effect from everyone inside the village, including Jacoby Drexelhand. Since he was no longer under effect, he provided valuable info on what is affecting the whole village. There is a psionic artifact used on Sarlona called The Mindsunder. It is mainly used on criminals so that they can behave while imprisoned to avoid riots. We don't know how, but a Yuan-ti got his claws into this artifact, and was using its energy to get everyone on the island. Lars believe he caught the dragon by accident while she was flying nearby, and that since the artifact was created to work primarly on humans, the dragon might be resisting and weakening the thing. This also explain why some stronger bullywugs could resist its effects, like Rhix Fyl, who used the weakened minds of his brethren to unify them.

Lars believes the yuan-ti can no longer dominate anyone else, since he need to focus the Mindsunder's energy on the dragon so that she don't escape, but he is capable to create some magic rings that will prevent them from being affected by it, in case he is wrong. His plan is to avoid direct confrontation, since the dragon is a powerful creature. He will sacrifice all of his homunculi and warforgeds to create a large distraction on the dragon's lair, while the group will enter Misery's Peak and search for the Mindsunder. If the group is able to break the thing, they might be able to reason with the dragon to leave.

The group agree with the plan, and go back into the Wavecrest Tavern to rest and prepare for the final assault. During the night, Callahan gets a private talk with Yasdril, where he says he got scared with the easiness any of them can die at any moment, and reveals his feelings for her. She reciprocates, and they spend the rest of the night together.

**nibel** · 11-08-2015, 11:28 PM

After the group have a night of sleep, they meet Amalgam in the next morning. He says that he want to ask them a favor. He and his brothers are afraid that they all can be destroyed if Lars' plan don't go exactly as planned, and he needs them to help protect the village. So, he will ask you to accept one of his brothers, Big Chin, as an extra hand on their mission. This way, even if the distraction destroy them all, at least one of the warforgeds will survive and keep protecting Master Heyton. The group thinks about it, and agree that with Drogbar dead, they can use the extra help.

With that, Big Chin joins the party.

After waiting a few more hours, Lars summon the group and give them the four magic rings he forged to protect them from the Mindsunder, in the off-chance it is still working. He and his warforgeds and homunculi start moving, and tell them to go a few minutes later. Chin guides the group to the peak's side entrance, where they expect that no one will be guarding. Their expectation was wrong. A group of cultists and some strange elves are guarding that entrance. Ladrian recognize the mark on their armor as some pirates that fled Aerenal a few years ago. Listening to their chat, they also discover they are not dominated, but were promised gold to protect the mountain. The group try to coordinate an attack, but they took too long talking, and got detected. The combat starts, and it was an easy win, despite the ice throwing everyone around all the time. They loot the pirates' gold to themselves, alongside some potions of cold resistance.

The next room was very spacious, with icy cold winds running through the whole place. They can see some large black pillar on the ceiling that is clearly magical and carved with glowing runes, but is not the Mindsunder. While thinking how they could reach it to analyse it, Callahan notices some ice footing on the walls that form a inward spiral on the whole room. The ice is slippery, but they can take their time and climb up. They don't want to risk everyone getting attacked at once, so Ywain goes through the walkway alone. When he is arriving close to the pillar, the ice itself forms a dozen elemental monsters and surround him. Panicked by the possibility to fight alone, he jumps down and (barely) survives the 30 ft fall. The monsters didn't followed him, just merging back into the ice.

Ladrian then drinks his cold resistance potion, and the team decides to climb again, this time prepared to face the frozen creatures together.

**nibel** · 11-16-2015, 09:49 PM

After recovering Ywain's injuries, the team climb back up, prepared to face the ice monsters. The fight starts, and the group has a hard time dealing with them. However, once they defeat them, Yasdril hear the voice of the mountain thanking them for destroying that impurity, and reward her with the mountain blessing, turning her hammer into a Frost Craghammer.

Ywain then start analyzing the pillar, and says that unlike they were theorizing, it was not the dragon that bought the unexpected winter weather to Korthos but it is this pillar, that is drawing its power directly from Risia. This means that the yuan-ti activated this pillar for an unknown reason. Yasdril points out that yuan-tis are reptilian creatures, and thus, are not exactly comfortable in cold climates. In the end, Ywain points out that he believes that he can disable the runes, but this is risky, because the yuan-ti would notice the sudden stop of cold energy. They discuss for a while, and decide to turn it off, so that if they fail, at least the inhabitants will have the option to flee if the harbor is no longer frozen.

While Ywain works on the pillar, the dragon flies through the cave below them, going to fight Lars Heyton and his army. Callahan notices that the dragon see them on the top, and smiles, while not reducing her flying speed. Callahan believes his charms were good enough to satisfy even a dragon. Ladrian points out that maybe she was happy that she was not forced to fight the group, since she wants to escape as well, thus wants them to succeed.

After the pillar is deactivated, Ywain say that the ice might take a day or two to melt, but the power from Risia was cut off, and they need to keep going. The group decides to follow through the tunnel the dragon came, since it might lead to the snake.

**Cordovan** · 11-17-2015, 12:51 PM

Cool thread.

**nibel** · 11-21-2015, 09:54 PM

The group start talking between themselves why that pillar was there when the snake already had the mindsunder. Yasdril thinks that maybe he needed that energy right now, and didn't had the time to wait until the next time Risia would become conterminous with Eberron. Ladrian tell everyone to hurry, so that they don't have much time to develop a complex ambush, since the group declared their presence back there. As they proceed through the cave, they notice many sentinel posts abandoned recently. Probably, the pirates will gather all their forces for a final attack. And so they did.

The group had some trouble with the fight on the ice bridge before, Callahan and Chin are seriously injured after they beat the pirates. They think about aborting the mission and retreating back to the village, but Ladrian reminds them that Lars Heyton said they had only one chance on this assault. They reorganize the group's formation, and keep advancing. At near the end of the cave, they start hearing chantings and a strong red light. Once they came closer, they see the yuan-ti escaping through a breach in the wall on the other side of the room at the same time a whirlwind of snow start forming above the runes on the ground, instantly freezing and shattering the cultists that were executing the ritual. From the whirlwind, a small blue crystal emerge, and all the snow around gathers around it, forming a huge humanoid form.

The entity gloats that finally he was able to cross to Eberron, and that the group would be a good warm-up before he would take over the whole world. Ywain recognize him as an Elemental Lord, and that if his powers are like the legends, his threats would be no bluff. Ywain drink the second potion of cold resistance, and Yasdril assumer her Winter Herald form, while Ladrian and Callahan kept their distance. Big Chin tried to maneuver around to flank, and is able to deliver a solid hit, but he also get countered and fall inert on the ground. The group uses their attacks to keep the Spirit pinned in the same place, until Yasdril finally is able to shatter the gem, and banish the spirit back to Risia.

Everyone is on their last forces, but Callahan don't let the group forget about the yuan-ti that escaped. They follow through the path he took, and end in a large cavern at the same time the dragon lands. The yuan-ti extended his hands in the direction of the dragon while touching a 5 ft tall crystal with the other hand. Callahan recognize the description as the Mindsunder, and in a whim, take out an arrow, and shatter the giant crystal. The dragon then freezes the yuan-ti, and swallow him whole. The dragon don't want to believe she was saved by lowly creatures, but thanks the group anyway. As she take flight to go away, she tell the group her name, Aussircaex, and says she will pay her debt one day.

With the mission complete, the group returns to the village, where they meet Lars alive and well (but also hurt), while half of his army is gone, and the other half is seriously damaged. Amalgam is one of the survivors. The mission was a success, and to reward the group, Lars give them a Casque of Tactics in addition to the payment for the original reason Ladrian came to Korthos: Save the village from the eternal winter.

Two days later, while the pier was still half-frozen, Ladrian called everyone and made an offer to form a mercenary group with them. Big Chin promptly accepts, and retires to ask Lars permission to leave to Stormreach, which he grants with ease. Callahan and Yasdril are reluctant to accept because those last days were their first life-or-death combat situations they faced. In the end, Ladrian convince them that as an official company, they will have the freedom to only accept the missions they see fit, so they can refuse missions against their principles.

And that is the story of how the Order of the White Dragon was formed and took sail to Stormreach. Ywain reported back on the Citadel of the Twelve, Big Chin delivered a letter of recommendation to Toven d'Cannith, head administrator of Cannith Enclave, to provide him a place to stay, Callahan and Yasdril went to their grandparents' tavern on Orien Enclave, and Ladrian went to look out for work for their newly formed company.

**nibel** · 11-27-2015, 05:39 PM

This week we knew we would end the session earlier, so basically we just leveled up, and talked about future plans.

There was no roleplaying this week.

**nibel** · 12-06-2015, 04:29 PM

One week after reaching Stormreach, Ladrian call the Order to meet at the Anvilfire Inn, in the Deneith Enclave. There, he introduces the group to Kirstana, a khoravar that is seeking a dangerous pirate called Drog Blackhand. Before any negotiations could be done, Ladrian tells the team that Drog is actually Drogbar's father, and that is the reason why he prevented her to seek aid of Deneith, and want to deal with that, as a last work for the deceased priest. This catches the group interest, that decides to hear Kirstana's story.

Drog Blackhand is a slave trader that crossed over the path of so many pirate lords that he is no longer welcome in Three Barrel Cove or Stormreach. He lost most of his crew recently, and she lost his tracks a few weeks ago when he reached Stormreach. Right now, he is being protected by a local bandit group, the Quickfoot Gang, and she is looking for a mercenary force that is willing to enter their base and kill Blackhand. She does not care about the Quickfoot and whatever they have as treasure, but they absolutely must recover a magic ring that Blackhand uses. She promisses 300 gp for the ring as proof of Drog's death.

Yasdril don't believes on her motivation, and want some guarantee that they will not trade a slaver for another. Callahan also believes she is hiding something, and pressure her to reveal more. She then reveal that she actually works for House Medani (showing her dragonmark), under the orders of the Aundarian crown. Drog's ring is an artifact that channel necrotic energy that he stole from Arcanix during the Last War. She only actually want the ring, but the previous mercenaries she sent with that objective were killed. So, she believes the ring can only be taken now after his death. He still believes she is hiding something, but worries that if he pushes further, she will give up on the contract.

She gives the order the map to the quickfoot hideout in the Cerulean Hills, and a 24 hours deadline before she takes them as dead and hires Deneith to work on it. They navigate through the fields, taking care of the advanced scouts without any trouble. The hideout itself is well-protected, and while they failed to notice a good number of traps, the fight provided no challenge to them. They also did not allowed a single bandit to flee and warn the others. And now they have to start searching the cave for their target.

**nibel** · 12-14-2015, 07:55 PM

The group notices that the hideout is actually a lot larger than they were expecting at first, and had no idea from where to start the search for Drog Blackhand. Callahan try to loot for tracks, and notice a large movement going into the west tunnel. With no other hint, they go down that path. They end up in a small prison, where three cells are being occupied by a large number of people. They take care of the guard with ease and talk to the prisoners, who say they were from some ships sunk by Drog and his crew. Knowing his fame, they would probably be sold as slaves as soon as he could get away. Ladrian open the cell doors, and let everyone run away back to Stormreach, making sure they know the Order of the White Dragon was the group responsible for that.

After returning to the main room, they think that maybe the good route is through the water, since it would prevents any track to form in the first place. So, this time they went down through a small maze of natural caverns, where eventually they end up in a large room with mushrooms as tall as trees. Callahan recognize this species, and tell everyone that it penetrated through wounds and then put you to sleep. Forever. While they are discussing ways to prevent the infection, Blaeric Goodspeed and Ras Clowery, the two most dangerous members of the Quickfoot Gang, tell them that "they will not steal their prize", and then attack them.

The fight is harder than they were expecting. Blaric was cutting through them with ease, but suddenly, Ras run away through a secret passage with her remaining archers. Blaeric curses her name, but now he is outnumbered by the Order, and is finished before he can offer a truce. In the aftermatch, they notice a very small mushroom growing up on Chin's chin, Yasdril's back, and Callahan's shoulder. Trying to prevent the infection, they immediately remove the nodule, but it just grow away in a matter of minutes. They get worried about their status, but Callahan says that they might have a few days before it knocks them down for good.

The Order follow through the entrance Ras used to escape, and end up back into the main room, where they see her climbing up through the stone steps before getting out of sight again. Since that is the only place they didn't examined yet, they believe she is going to inform Drog about what happened, and they are glad to follow her until their target.

**nibel** · 12-21-2015, 11:11 PM

While following Ras Clowery, because of the spores slowing down Chin and Callahan, she has enough time to start a set of traps when the group find a bunch of stalagmites holding platforms above a subterranean lake. When trying to reach the first platform, Ladrian falls like a rock, and swim almost as good as one. Yasdril jump into the water and rescue the eladrin before he drown. She finds a hidden ladder in a rock wall, and use it to climb back up. However, she notices that the fall on the water attracted a big fish. Not really a problem, since Callahan sniped the fish from the top with no risk at all.

Chin goes ahead of the group, disarming the traps that could knock them into the water, and using some teamwork, they allowed Ladrian to make his way through the gauntlet. At the moment the group reaches the other side, they hear screams, and rush ahead, only to see a murder scene, where a tall brown-fur shifter just killed half dozen slaves. He taunts the group, saying that now he is light on cargo, and will escape again after taking care of them. Callahan and Ywain let their rage go up their heads, and rush to confront Drogbar's father. The fight gives them some trouble, but they win in the end. Or thought they won. After defeating everyone in the room, Drog's ring float in the air, and concentrate negative energies to raise his dead body as a fearsome wight. The second fight goes fast, but take its toll, almost killing Ywain, and forcing Callahan and Yasdril to fight each other.

Once they take his final form once and for all, they grab his ring to give it back to Kirstana, while Callahan call dibs on his magic gloves. They goes into his personal room, only to meet a naked human woman, laying on his bed, crying. She seems very afraid of the group, and asks who they are. They say they are the Order of the White Dragon, and that they just killed Drog Blackhand, and that she is free. Ladrian notices that there is something odd about this slave girl (specifically, that she looks too well-fed and healthy), and blocks her passage when she tries to get away. She presents herself as Annelisa, and while she says that they should "look carefully into the room", she keeps trying to find excuses to get away from there as fast as possible.

In the end, the group splits. Callahan and Ywain stay behind to search the room, while the others escorted her back into Stormreach. Yasdril even talked to her father about giving her some extra clothes and a room in their tavern for a while, which he agrees. At the same time, however, Callahan finds a suspicious letter, from where he recognizes an extra name: The Black Abbot. He is one of the targets their mother is searching in Xen'drik. They run as fast as they can back into Stormreach, but by there, she had already escaped.

=========================

We will be on pause during the holidays and new year. Expect new reports in 2016.

**nibel** · 01-11-2016, 11:53 PM

On the next day, Chin and Yasdril feel a lot better, and they were cured from the Sleep Spores with just a good rest. Callahan, on the other hand, got infested with even more mushrooms on his shoulders and head. The group then recurred to use part of the treasure they found with the Quickfoot to pay Jorasco to get rid of that thing. It was money well-spent, and Callahan is healthy in time to meet Kirstana.

While Callahan was bring treated, Ywain put Chin and Ladrian on par about Annelisa. Callahan sent the intel to his mother, and the brothers are hoping she will not be angry with them for allowing Annelisa to escape. Without further ado, they go back into the Anvilfire Inn while Kirstana was hiring Deneith soldiers to go after them. She dismiss them, and ask the party about the target. The Order ensues Drog Blackhand is dead, and deliver the ring to her. She don't trade much words, and pay the group. Ladrian asks her to give some good words for the team, if she is satisfied.

After that, Ladrian mentions that he remember an unusual movement in the harbor earlier today, and he bets that this means they can find a new job there. They see a large gathering of merchants around the harbormaster's house, complaining that he closed the piers and is not allowing any ship to sail or berth. They cut into the line and go talk directly to Zin, the harbormaster. Ladrian bluff his way in saying that they are interested in his offer, and he actually has an offer to made.

The night before, two kids named Arlos and Venn disappeared, and where last seen entering the waterworks. However, more than once he has blamed the kobolds for kidnappings, and it was actually a pirate getting a new unwilling sailor. So, this time he will track this one too. He put his guards to check all ships in the docks, while hiring adventurers to check with the kobolds. Ladrian is expecting a catch, and he say it: The adventurers only get paid if they actually rescue a kid. 120 galifars per head, plus a magic item if the same party find both kids. Ywain think the value is a bit too high for two unrelated kids, and Zin confirms, saying that both are nephews of Coin Lord Omaren, and she wants them found quickly.

The party discuss the proposal, but the chance to get in good graces with a Coin Lord is unique, and they don't risk much anyway, since kobolds are not that dangerous compared to the fully-guarded criminal cabal they just defeated. Zin then give them a map of waterworks, pointing the location of the two nearby clans: The Gnashtooth and the Molediggers. They choose to check the Gnashtooth clan first.

**nibel** · 01-12-2016, 12:20 AM

When the Order enter the sewers, they meet a few guards Zin put down there to prevent kobolds from jumping out into the city. Theyask the party to seek for a Miri Tember* if they see her. She rushed into the gnashtooth clan territory a few hours ago, and didn't returned. They find her hurt and crying near their objective, and ask what she is making all the way down there. She says that the boys are her cousins, and she was teaching them about Stormreach history, and suspect they went down here to search for information on the Giant empire without having to leave the city. She tried to go and rescue them alone, but was overwhelmed by the kobolds' numbers, and got kicked out. Ladrian informs that her colleagues are waiting for her return, but she asks if she can go with them. She has some experience in war spellcasting, and will not be a dead weight. He ponders if she will want part of the reward for that, but in the end accept the young mage to join the team.

While they enter Gnashtooth territory, they can hear the cackling sound of kobold-speak. Ywain translate to the group saying they were noticed, and to be aware of traps from now on. They meet a bunch of kobolds, but deal with them swiftly, and without any major trouble. Callahan check the paths for footprints, and the group follow them.

After a few minutes, they reach Chief Eechik's throne room. There is a small army there, and with apparently more brave kobolds than the ones the group fought before. Ywain hear Eechik saying to wait the group's reaction before attacking, and then say they went just to rescue the kids they found in the sewers. Eechik confirms that they found one human cub, but only one, not two. He was put in prison to learn to not invade Gnashtooth territory. When the group demand to see and rescue him, he says they were the ones invading, and are in no position to make demands. And asks for a tribute before he could consider releasing the "human cub".

Ladrian provides the chief a Thelanis toy: a fey doll. He was amused by the little contraption, and allow the group to go to prison and get their cub back. However, he must warn that he is not in control of the prison. Bloodletter is. And he is a nasty bugbear that has lasted a lot more than Gnashtooth chiefs. While Ladrian and Eechik discuss, Ywain has an idea to sub-hire the Gnashtooth clan to search for the other kid while they rescue the first one from Bloodletter. Chief Eechik accepts his offer, and immediately send his warriors to scuttle through the tunnels while looking for the "other human cub".

With all set, Chief Eechik order one last kobold to guide them to the prison, where they will "talk" to Bloodletter about relasing the first kidnapped children.

*Guard Tember in the game is male, but I had an extra player that wanted to join for a few sessions, and offered him to control this NPC. So now, Guard Tember is a female human wizard and will help the party rescue the boys.

**nibel** · 01-30-2016, 11:22 AM

(Session 15 was cut short, so I waited until we finished the next session before posting the news)

The kobold guide provided by Eechik guided the Order to the prison entrance, where then he pointed the direction and went away. Quickly the party discovered why: There were a lot of traps before they actually reached the prison, but they were easily spotted and disarmed by Chin. The party then found a large flooded room, where the path split in three ways. They choose to go uphill, and meet two kobold guards protecting a barred gate. Ywain spoke with them in Draconic that Eechik authorized them to remove a prisoner. They opened the gate, and abandoned their posts, walking away after warning them that "boss like his new toy. See if he will let you leave with it." Miri decided to split off the group to follow the guards and see where they are going.

As soon as the rest of the party entered the prison, the gate close behind them, and a loud roar is heared. Bloodletter was waiting for them, and he launched the assault immediately. The group had some trouble fighting them, but in the end they emerged victorious without any of them dropping to the ground. They loot the keys from the bugbear's corpse, and free the ten prisoners in that section, including the young boy Arlos.

Arlos thanks the group, but appear to be more worried about his brother than his own state. He told them that they were looking for the ruins of Shan-To-Kor, because aunt Miri told them it was laying somewhere under Stormreach. He was able to tell them the characteristics of the clan that took Venn away, and Ladrian recognize them as the Tunnelworm clan. Unlike the Gnashtooth, Tunnelworms are not known to keep prisoners. They are more aggressive, and prey on lesser tribes. The party thinks that probably Venn is already dead, but they agree to go there and look out for him anyway.

At this time, Miri came back, and started banging on the barred gate to call their attention. She says that the guards called reinforcements, and they might be there anytime. The group tell the prisoners that they'll scout ahead, and for them to keep some distance in case they are attacked. Arlos ignore this, and cling near Yasdril in the front. When they reach back to the flooded room, Callahan see Miri unconscious in a corner, as if whatever knocked her down was trying to hide her body. When he said that out loud, Arlos rushed in her direction. Everyone but Callahan ran behind to stop him, but that was not fast enough. Kobolds jumped from pipes in each corner, and raised all the bridges. They attack the group, and arlos get a serious bleeding. He rush back to Callahan in time to not be attacked anymore, while the others try to jump across the gap to attack the kobolds. Ladrian fell into the water, where he got attacked by their pet crocodile before he could Fey Step back into solid ground. Yasdril also fail a jump and fall into the water, but since she can't teleport like Ladrian, they had to help her and kill the croc.

Without any more problems, they lead the prisoners back to the surface, including an unconscious Miri Tember. Ywain and Ladrian go back to Eechik to tell him that they don't need his help anymore. Eechik try to threaten them into paying the gold anyway, but Ywain called his bluff, and told them to try if they want to die. Eechik curses, but let the party go without a fight. Later, Ladrian comments that his attitude will not keep him in the throne for too long.

At the end of the day, the party meets Harbormaster Zin and give him the news about Arlos' rescue. They also tell him about the Tunnelworm hint, but since he agreed that the group who find clues will have priority searching there, he had to agree to wait until the next day before sending any other party to their territory. Since the Order was tired and seriously hurt, they went back home, and decided to go back into the waterworks early in the next day to find Venn.

**nibel** · 02-09-2016, 05:35 PM

The Order was getting ready to go down into the waterworks again, but they were interrupted by a messenger from The Twelve, summoning Ywain to help Professor Falcor Redwillow into an expedition. He was torn between keep going with the group or starting his work searching for the giant legends of Xen'drik. The group was comprehensive, and let him go. He gave Yasdril his magic belt, and then went on his own way while wishing luck to everyone.

With that, Ywain leave the party.

When the group enter the sewers for the second time, they meet again the guards of the previous day, and asked for directions to the Tunnelworm clan. They gave the directions, but Callahan notices that they are hiding something. When pressured, they said another party last night asked for directions of that clan, and they have not returned yet. Since they were in six, and apparently better armed than them, he is worried that they will die to those savage kobold clan. Ladrian says that Zin should had kept his word, because now he just threw incompetent adventurers to die and alert the tribe.

As the group approaches the Tunnelworm territory, they notice that there is screams of pain echoing through the entire complex, alongside a laugh or two. They follow the screams until they reach a flooded room, where some kobolds were standing guard. They recognize Bloodletter's armor on Callahan, and tell everyone to focus on him, because he probably is the strongest on the group. They try to shield him the best they can, and Callahan tries to return through the pipe they came in, just to be thrown into the central pillar and separated from the others. He and Chin got serious wounds after the combat, but they end up winning. However, one of the kobolds ran away and said that "Chief Jitik will not be happy".

Thread: DDO in 4e: A Campaign Diary

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DDO in 4e: A Campaign Diary

Meet the Team!

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3

Session 4

Session 5 & 6

Session 7

Session 8

Session 9

Session 10

Session 11

Session 12

Session 13

Session 14

Session 15 & 16

Session 17

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