Campaign Recap for 04/06/2021

 After action for 04/06/2021. Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose), Sir Moonknight (John)

Date in Campaign is: Start at 53th of Grentle, ending at 55th

P'wox and Solaris are running through the marsh, sure that the Lizardmen are in pursuit. P'wox and Solaris run towards where they believe the village is. Solaris thinks she failed as a cleric because two of our friends just died. Meltara is semi conscious, hears and feels two people cleaning his wounds. "He isn't from the village. Could he be a demon worshiper?"  Elkas, when he exited the cave, went in the direction of the village.. or so he thought. He runs, rushes through the march for 30 minutes before realizing he is not heading towards the village. He stops, looks at the sun, feels the wind and totally heads in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, Sir Moonknight walks into the village and meets with Grandpa and company, joining him on his interviews and learns a few things about the villagers. Sir Moonknight is a young paladin. About an hour later P'wox and Solaris show at the inn looking bedraggled and hungry. Solaris frowns and it's the first time you see her sad because she knows two of her friends are  deceased. Elkas finds a small cottage with an strangely knowledgeable old woman.. She gave him some soup and then reads his palms. Things she says while reading his palms: "You haven't met your father yet...not your real father", "Your brother is evil do not trust him, but you also haven't met him" Finally she says “tell the king that you remember the old ways and will fight to defend the hearth and spawn.” “You can just call me....*pause* sally.” She points him towards the village and sends him on his way. At the Inn Grandpa listens to P'wox and Solaris's tale and explains them what they did wrong. He is also talking to the drivers and some villagers having them complete some missions for him. (hunting?) About an hour after that Elkas showed up at the inn. Elkas freshens up and then gathers the party to tell them his tale. Elkas' tale: this unknown force drove me through the marsh, leading me to the cottage of Sally of The Marsh. "She told me what I need to do, we have to get to the cave before Grandpa!" The PC's run out of the village and head towards the Lizardman cave as darkness falls. Meanwhile Grandpa is wondering where these assholes are… He waits for about an hour before heading off with his cart.  Elkas gives his gear to his friends and then disrobes as he enters the cave...The first thing he sees when he enters is the remains of Ironhide, leaning with his back to a wall, obviously dead. Elkas thinks "I guess he kicked the bucket" making a reference to Ironhide having a bucket-like head (this was as funny as it sounds but I added it here cause it was memorable). He enters further and as a Lizardman is about to javelin his ass to heaven (kick the bucket smh)..Elkas throws up his hands and says "Wait! I am not an enemy! I'm a friend! I have a message for the King!" The King comes forth and demands an explanation. Elkas apologies for the attack on their nest and repeats what Sally had told him "I remember the old ways and will fight to defend the hearth and spawn." The King listens.. then has Elkas follow him to the Hall of Old Elders.. which are animated mummified heads. The heads initially are against him but he shouts his line over and over, eventually gaining the favor of the elders (GM note, there was a bit where he started telling the heads his backstory but the King told him this isn't a therapy session and just say your line..). The large altar like stone in the center of the room splits open and a wood and crystal staff arises from it. The King tells Elkas to take the staff and then leads him to the prisoner area. He tells Elkas that there were three humans that were demon worshipers that were discovered performing a ritual and killed when they fought, two others were found out away from the village at night and were captured and finally, the demi-human that was captured from Elkas' party Meltara. "He has the stink of demons on him.. about his face and rear end!"  The Lizard king gives Elkas the 3 prisoners, Meltara, June and Rollo. Elkas leaves with the prisons but has loads of confusion regarding what is happening and what happened. He ties up June and Rollo, telling the others they are demon worshippers. Meltara defends them but then Elkas accuses him. As they are talking and questioning June and Rollo, Grandpa and company shows up with his cart. Grandma has the cart taken to the front of the cave and then yells out in Draconic to the Lizardmen. "Unknown commarders, accept these gifts of meat for services and for misunderstands." The King comes out and looks at the cart filled with 2 deer, 2 pigs and two strings of 10 rabbits. "Very well, the misunderstanding is the past, we look towards the present and future." They take the meat and return to the cave. Grandpa had already discovered proof of the demon worshippers at the village. Everyone walks back to inn at the village. A big party is held for the safe return of June and Rollo. Their families agree to let them marry and they are given a small farm that belonged to one of the slain demon worshippers. Sir Moon Knight joins the party, farewells to Ironhide. During the celebration at the inn after several hours, there is a knock at the door.. When the door is checked Ironhide's body is left in front of the inn. Grandpa says "They normally eat their eat and kills but I guess they have no use for a metal being." They bury Ironhide at one of the local graveyards. A long rest and then they had off in the morning. Meltara tells Elkas the reason the Lizardman King smelled demon on him "My boyfriend's a demon, end of story." While on route to Weepmire, 4hours into the mostly quiet trip, Solaris sees something on the road ahead and calls out for the wagons to stop...Two wrecked wagons in the distance, almost directly on the trail. Grandpa tells them "Ok boys and girl, go investigate and earn your pay." They stop about 200 feet from the wagons and let the party go ahead on foot. The north wagon turned out to be a group of four mimics waiting for goblins or what not to investigate. They got a couple of shots against the party but one of the mimics broke and ran slowly away, yelling "They have casters! Fuck this!". Two of the other mimics yelled at him to come back "Narg don't run away!" "Don't leave us you bitch!" The party kills the three remaining mimics after a few rounds. The wagon is in bad repair and the mimics were using their bodies to make it look more complete using the nearby other wrecked wagon as a model. While the rest of the party investigates the wagon and mimics bodies, Sir Moon Knight decides to chase the last one. Solaris looks at the mimic bodies, trying to figure out how and what to harvest from them...icky! Elkas is trying (poorly) to set fire to the south wagon. They suddenly realize that Sir Moonknight is missing... Meanwhile.. Sir Moonknight follows the trail of the mimic that had run off. It changed shape a few times but he keeps tracking it. A few minutes later he had found that last mimic. He runs up and fights with it. It was a close battle but the Mimic won. It grabbed his body and continued it's escape. The mimic would have a hearty meal...Moments later, The party decides to find Sir Moonknight, looking for his footprints. Solaris finds the scene of Sir Moonknight's final battle and bits of armor the mimic had spit out. (GM note: Like a person walking eating crab and spitting out pieces of shell) RIP Sir  Moonknight...Solaris is saddened by losing another comrade. They head back to the wagons to determine what to do next..

Kill count=(3xMimic)

Exp=(3x450)=1350/5=270 exp each

For Repairing associations with the LizardMen +200, Defending June And Rollo +150 (Meltara), Entering the Lizardmen cave unarmed and undressed +100 (Elkas). 

Elkas obtained a +1 Quarterstaff.

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 2254, Elkas 2504, Solaris 2254, Meltara 2354, Sir Moonknight RIP.

Campaign Recap for 03/28/2021

After action for 03/28/2021. Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Ironhide (John), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: Start at 52th of Grentle, ending at 53th

When we last left our adventurers, they were in a barn and everyone was either asleep or had succumb to a sleep spell except for Ironhide who is in rest mode. Rest mode is he is awake but motionless. Ironhide saw several humanoids in dark cloaks and large furry footwear silently enter the barn. He reactivated his movement systems and moved towards them... and was shut down by another sleep spell cast be an unknown watcher. (GM Note: I expected him to stay quiet and learn stuff before moving but that did not happen....) The next thing that happens is Ironhide and Solaris are awaken by a loud slam noise.. looking around they realize they had been bespelled.. Solaris runs to the inn to tell Grandpa and wake everyone up. Ironhide checks the wagons but is unable to determine if anything had be taken or even moved. Solaris bangs on Grandpa's door and wakes everyone.. when they had down to the inn's main room, there is a note left on the bar.. it has a musical symbol on it. Grandpa reads it and tell everyone to go back to sleep "We all have things to investigation in the morning..." Solaris takes out her incense and says a prayer,  keeping the incense burning all night. "just in case...demons..." As they have breakfast Grandpa explains what happened.. the Mysterious Notes (notes like in music) gang checked the wagons and people looking for slavers and demon worshippers. Local peoples are missing in the area and they are concerned, they recognised the Reign of Peace symbol on the boxes and gear and want no trouble with them. Grandma returns in the morning to tell the group that there are lizard men in the area. As far as any of the locals know the lizardmen were killed and driven away decades ago. After an investigation the party finds that 5 people are missing along with a large number of live stock (pigs, sheep, etc). The only thing the people has in common was being out really late at night. Solaris sings lore and tales she knows of the Lizard men (to the theme of the song from Spiderman). The party is sent to investigate a one set of tracks while Grandpa, Grandma and the drivers investigate another. The party follow some footprints of lizardfolk near a farm, leads them to a nearby farm where a few sheep were taken. Following the prints, they travel a few hours away from the village to some foothills, with lots of marshy ground near by. The prints lead to a largish cave opening. They vote and decide to enter the cave during daylight. Solaris casts Aid on Ironhide, P'wox and herself raising their hp by 5. Entering the caves they realize there are a lot of Lizardmen there (GM note:  I "accidentally" left the lights on the map, revealing their numbers), but they decide to charge in anyway. They head towards the smell of sheep and wind up in a narrow tunnel with several Lizardmen in front of them. Po'wox and Elkas can understand them, hearing things like "Alert the king!" "They are heading for the spawning pit!" etc. but make no serious effort to talk to them. They down a few of the warriors but more come from behind and the King shows up, larger and stronger then then other.. The party has no real tactics, just attacking stuff and was slowly worn down by the greater numbers of Lizardmen. When they were about to be wiped out they decided to run, with three members down. Elkas escapes the cave and runs through the marsh. Po'wox gave a potion to Solaris as he carried out towards the cave mouth. Ironhide and Meltara were left behind, dying. Solaris having regained consciousness due to Pwox's potion, sees P'wox go down, she casts Cure Wounds on P'wox then tries to run and is clubbed down... like a baby seal. P'wox stands, casting Cure Wounds on Solaris and then shield bashing the Lizardman nearby. The Lizardmen start banging on their shields as the King reenters the main cave, cheering him. This sudden pause for ceremonies sake gives P'wox and Solaris a chance to run like scared rabbits... Pwox, Solaris and Elkas dash through the marsh, living but leaving their two fallen friends behind. Ironhide succumbs to his wounds, Meltara clings to life...

Kill count=(5xLizardfolk)

Exp=(5x100)=500/5=100 exp each

For finding the lair of the Lizardfolk +150

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 1784, Elkas 1884, Solaris 1784, Meltara 1784, Ironhide RIP.

Campaign Recap for 03/21/2021

 After action for 03/21/2021. Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Ironhide (John), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: Start at 49th of Grentle, ending at 52th

The party sits in the tavern waiting for Alshu to contact them. As they sit in the tavern and try to grasp the intricate social structure of Kallamos. What they understand is there are a lot of groups that are competing for control or power of the various areas. The area they are in (the Docks) is towards the middle of the structure. The Blue Stripes are empowered by the Nobles that run the city and are usually corrupt, abuse their power and are easily bribed. Two days later, Broken Baron comes in with six people clothed as common workers He introduces them (Pervis, Clevon, Lee, Wilma, Virgil and Lynndie). He reveals they will be operating the two large wagons that they will be guarding on the way to Asium. Each wagon has three operators and three acuna, two and a spare. Acuna are the dog like animals that are used as horses locally (horses with a bite attack in place of hoof attack). The Acuna are named Cotton, Shadow, Puffer, Dandy, Ding and Spitter. They goto the depot and see the wagons. While there, two elderly humans show up, introducing themselves as Grandma and Grandpapa. They are Nightingale and Reckless in disguise, Elkas recognizes them but doesn't say anything.

They set off for the first stop. stop at the gate, chat with guards, Grandmother pays them off. Travel with the wagons is slow, moving at 2.5miles/hour on road, 1.5miles/hour on trails and 1mile/hour in rough.. It takes a few hours to get to the hidden warehouse, the same warehouse they had cleared of the demon rats a few days earlier. At the warehouse, forman says there is noise in cellar and they hear digging. Grandpa brings the party to a cave not too far away that leads to the tunnel dug to their basement. The party enters, leaving Grandpa outside. They hear digging and clawing noises to the left hand tunnel and slowly proceed that way.The party fights four Warped Giant Rats, overcoming them without too many injuries. The party leaves except for Ironhide, who goes farther into the cave as the rest of the party leaves.. he finds ana unusual three foot high glowing crystal that seems to have a feeling of evil to it. It weakens his Great Sword when he assaults the crystal, pitting and dulling the blade so he strikes it to shards with his Handaxe, ruining his Handaxe in the process. Village of Caraley is a six hour journey, the party gets the benefit of a Short Rest during the ride, IronHide gets his Great Sword repaired on way by Pervis (who is trained as a Blacksmith). They arrive at the small village. The wagons are stored in a large barn near the only inn in town. The drivers will watch it in 3 shifts of 3 hours each. Solaris will take a watch guarding the wagons and spend the rest of the night at the inn. (We already failed one mission, rather be cautious and hold a double watch). Meanwhile, Ironhide is in Rest mode in the barn against the backwall. Elkas is napping in the barn , Solaris is sitting against the wagon and the two guards chatting.. they fall quiet and then Solaris's head nods... Ironhide is standing there unmoving.... CLIFFHANGER!!

Kill count=(4xWarped Giant Rats)

Exp=(4x200)=800/5=160 exp each

For resolving the hidden warehouse's problem +100, For finding and destroying the source of the Warping +150 Ironhide

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 1534, Elkas 1634, Solaris 1534, Meltara 1534, Ironhide 1734.

Heat or What happens when you're too flashy for your own good.

 Heat is the measure of how much unwanted attention you’re getting from the local community. A city starts at 0 Heat. After each adventure, roll 1d20. If the total is equal or less than the community’s Heat, the Heroes will have to either move on or the adventure will have the Plot elements that revolve around coping with the consequences of their notoriety.  

Heroes earn Heat by becoming either too problematic or too useful to the local powers. A cleric who’s constantly healing the sick with potent magic can find herself suddenly “invited” to be the permanent physician of the local magistrate while a regular head-breaker might find himself sought for punishment by the city watch captain. A hero who wins an adventure that revolves around dealing with their Heat can decrease it by 1d4+1 points.

Aside from Heat the GM might add to your total when it seems narratively appropriate, Heroes can also gain Heat by choosing to solve Challenges in ways that could come back to haunt you. If you beat a Challenge with magic in a way that others might hear about, roll 1d20. If the roll is less than the total levels of spells used in the Challenge, add (1d4+ Highest Level of Spells used) Heat. Strong magic makes rulers nervous. If you beat a Challenge with violence and your opponents are not socially-acceptable targets for brutal disposal, add 1d4 Heat to the community. If they’re very sympathetic figures, add 2d4 Heat. Spells cast in combat might fall afoul of the prior rule as well..

Note: These rules are taken almost verbatim from Scarlet Heroes by Kevin Crawford.  

Campaign Recap for 03/16/2021

 After action for 03/16/2021. 

Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Ironhide (John), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: 47th of Grentle, ending at 49th.

Running from the Sorrow Pits the party realizes there are three directions they can run in. They can try and circle around widely and then go back to Kallamos or head out into the darkness and keep going until they reach the farmlands hiding there or finally head out into the darkness into the nearby small stands of trees and see if they can hide there. They choose the stands of trees heading out into the blackness without using any lights being guided mostly by Elkas and Solaris. The reek coming off IronHide makes them keep him towards the back of the party (lead by a rope?). Finally after about half hour of heading through the moonless night they reach a stand of trees and move about ten feet beyond that. Looking back they can see the Sorrow Pits and shanty town are lit by multiple torches and figures moving about. After an hour of watching they see there are less figures and most of the torches gone. They can see a few groups moving out into the darkness looking for them. A hungry Brown Bear is drawn to the smell of IronHide, almost kills Elkas before being driven off. The party uses some of their water to wash IronHide, scrubing him with branches and leaves. Meanwhile, A group of five Blue Stripes has been tracking them.. moving closer and closer.. till they get with in bow shot... 150 feet. Elkas comes up with a plan and uses Dancing Lights to distract the Blue Stripes and head into the stand of woods away from them. The party over hears "metal demon must die" and then they see the hunters enter the woods and then exit an hour later saying they must have lost them.. the Blue Stripes return to Kallamos. The party spends most of the night hiding in the small stand of trees. Heading back to Kallamos just before dawn. Thinking IronHide is the metal demon the Blue Stripes talked about, they try to figure out a disguise for IronHide. They settle on putting his cloak on and keeping his head covered and mouth shut. Iron Hide and Solaris go to the Main or South Gate. There they overhear merchants talking about a Wizard at Sorrow Pits with a hoard of Ghouls and a metal Demon. The demon is described as over nine feet tall and with glowing wings. Solaris tries to plant a casual rumor about a Druid who turned into a bear at the sorrow Pits with a hoard of ghouls (She keeps at it though nothing supports it).P'wox and Elkas go to the North Gate and see a handbill with the account of the Blue Stripes saving the city from a hoard of ghouls from the Sorrow Pits. A drawing shows a demonic Meltara summoning and blasting stuff, a horde of Ghouls crawling out of the pits and a giant winged metal demon in the background (looks like a heavy metal album cover). They all make it back to the Lucky Steer. All of the people in the tavern seem to think they screwed up. Solaris thinks Alshu might send them off to a convent or something (not to use to the outside world)... Taking a Long Rest, everyone levels up. P'wox goes to the Bleeding Heart but is unable to weedle any potions from them as they have send all their available healing potions to the Blue Stripes as a thank you for saving the city. He is amazed by the hero worship of the Blue Stripes. He keeps over hearing random people praising the Blue Stripes for saving the town and repelling the "demon horde". The Blue Stripes have the corpses of the slain Zombies and Ghouls chained to the Bayview Tower with placards saying "Zombie" and "Ghouls slayed by the heroic Captain Awen". Broken Baron explains how and it is bad for the Blue Stripes to be popular with the city folks. The party finally gets a meeting with Alshu, he tells them that he is greatly disappointed in them and in their performance and their inability to follow directions. He tells them he is going to find something for them to do outside of the city until the 'heat' dies down and then send them back to the Lucky Steer to wait.

Game Note: The party has 4 Heat on them, see other post for Heat rules.

Kill count=(Brown Bear Defeated)+(5xBlue Strike Elites Avoided/Escaped from)

Exp=(200)+(5x450x1/4)=695/5=139 exp each

For Escaping the Sorrow Pits and the approaching Blue Stripes +200, For clever use of Dancing Lights to trick trackers +100 Elkas

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 1274, Elkas 1374, Solaris 1274, Meltara 1274, Ironhide 1324.

Campaign Recap for 03/16/2021

 After action for 03/16/2021. Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Ironhide (John), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: 47th of Grentle, ending at 49th.

Running from the Sorrow Pits the party realizes there are three directions they can run in. They can try and circle around widely and then go back to Kallamos or head out into the darkness and keep going until they reach the farmlands hiding there or finally head out into the darkness into the nearby small stands of trees and see if they can hide there. They choose the stands of trees heading out into the blackness without using any lights being guided mostly by Elkas and Solaris. The reek coming off IronHide makes them keep him towards the back of the party (lead by a rope?). Finally after about half hour of heading through the moonless night they reach a stand of trees and move about ten feet beyond that. Looking back they can see the Sorrow Pits and shanty town are lit by multiple torches and figures moving about. After an hour of watching they see there are less figures and most of the torches gone. They can see a few groups moving out into the darkness looking for them. A hungry Brown Bear is drawn to the smell of IronHide, almost kills Elkas before being driven off. The party uses some of their water to wash IronHide, scrubing him with branches and leaves. Meanwhile, A group of five Blue Stripes has been tracking them.. moving closer and closer.. till they get with in bow shot... 150 feet. Elkas comes up with a plan and uses Dancing Lights to distract the Blue Stripes and head into the stand of woods away from them. The party over hears "metal demon must die" and then they see the hunters enter the woods and then exit an hour later saying they must have lost them.. the Blue Stripes return to Kallamos. The party spends most of the night hiding in the small stand of trees. Heading back to Kallamos just before dawn. Thinking IronHide is the metal demon the Blue Stripes talked about, they try to figure out a disguise for IronHide. They settle on putting his cloak on and keeping his head covered and mouth shut. Iron Hide and Solaris go to the Main or South Gate. There they overhear merchants talking about a Wizard at Sorrow Pits with a hoard of Ghouls and a metal Demon. The demon is described as over nine feet tall and with glowing wings. Solaris tries to plant a casual rumor about a Druid who turned into a bear at the sorrow Pits with a hoard of ghouls (She keeps at it though nothing supports it).P'wox and Elkas go to the North Gate and see a handbill with the account of the Blue Stripes saving the city from a hoard of ghouls from the Sorrow Pits. A drawing shows a demonic Meltara summoning and blasting stuff, a horde of Ghouls crawling out of the pits and a giant winged metal demon in the background (looks like a heavy metal album cover). They all make it back to the Lucky Steer. All of the people in the tavern seem to think they screwed up. Solaris thinks Alshu might send them off to a convent or something (not to use to the outside world)... Taking a Long Rest, everyone levels up. P'wox goes to the Bleeding Heart but is unable to weedle any potions from them as they have send all their available healing potions to the Blue Stripes as a thank you for saving the city. He is amazed by the hero worship of the Blue Stripes. He keeps over hearing random people praising the Blue Stripes for saving the town and repelling the "demon horde". The Blue Stripes have the corpses of the slain Zombies and Ghouls chained to the Bayview Tower with placards saying "Zombie" and "Ghouls slayed by the heroic Captain Awen". Broken Baron explains how and it is bad for the Blue Stripes to be popular with the city folks. The party finally gets a meeting with Alshu, he tells them that he is greatly disappointed in them and in their performance and their inability to follow directions. He tells them he is going to find something for them to do outside of the city until the 'heat' dies down and then send them back to the Lucky Steer to wait.

Game Note: The party has 4 Heat on them, see other post for Heat rules.

Kill count=(Brown Bear Defeated)+(5xBlue Strike Elites Avoided/Escaped from)

Exp=(200)+(5x450x1/4)=695/5=139 exp each

For Escaping the Sorrow Pits and the approaching Blue Stripes +200, For clever use of Dancing Lights to trick trackers +100 Elkas

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 1274, Elkas 1374, Solaris 1274, Meltara 1274, Ironhide 1324.

Campaign Recap for 03/08/2021

 After action for 03/09/2021. Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Ironhide (John), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: 46th of Grentle.

The party back at the tavern askes the barkeep if he would sell them rooms.  Being themselves they act weird and suspicious so he denies them rooms.  They tried throwing Alshu's name around but this makes him even less friendly. Finding themselves on the street they  are discussing amongst themselves their next move when they are approached by a cloaked figure who tells them "Alshu sent me. Follow me." and walked away.  They follow him cluelessly down an alleyway and around the block to a boarded up storefront. The stranger knocks on the door, a little peek hole is slid open and he shows something. The door opens. He leads them inside. It's another dimly lit traven with small groups of 2 or 3 people talking quietly at tables. All of them are wearing muted colors and hooded cloaks. Everyone looks up as they enter and stares. Most go back to what they were doing when the stranger leading them waves at them. Sitting them at a table against a wall, the stranger waves over the barkeep and has mead brought over. He takes a long drink while looking at them... The stranger seems short and stocky..maybe a dwarf? His face is covered in scars. His raspy voice begins... He is called Broken Baron and Alshu has instructed him to tell the party the lay of the land as they are very much babes in the woods. Elkas askes "How did you get that name?" "Everyone earns a name..in time." He starts by telling them their clothes are too bright and attract too much attention. He has the barkeep go get them some hooded cloaks. Broken Baron shows them the symbol on the bar and what he has as a necklace on a copper necklace. It is a peace symbol. Some of the  party recall having seen it on shop doors and in various places as they were walking through the dock area.  Apparently this is the symbol of Alshu's group, called Reign of Peace. He fills them in on the Big Picture and tells them about some of the important local areas.

Big Picture:

Nobles: The Nobles of Kallamos have grown very corrupt over the last few hundred years. For the most part they stay in the Inner City and just to live a life of decadence. If any skilled entertainers or adventurers show up in the city they are forced to pay exorbitant taxes or work for the Nobles. The Nobles are also obsessed with anything that might upset the status quo. Rebels and possible Rebels are found and either exiled or killed (depending on the size of the bribe). The 'Legal' system in place favors the Nobles to an  embarrassing degree. There isn't even a pretense of fairness.

Visitor Passes: Newcomers to Kallmos are issued a Visitor Pass. It lasts for a week. A visitor without a Pass and not on the Tax Roll can be subject to an Accounting. Extended Passes are for sale at various rates and there is a large amount of forgery and theft of Passes.

Tax Roll: A large book of names and figures, there are three copies and they are compared by the Tax board every few months.. By 'law' everyone pays taxes every year, which is equal to 2% of their worth. If your name is not on the Roll you can be held for up to the last 5 years of taxes (this is known as an Accounting). Anyone that lives in Kallamos knows their number in the book and their page.

Gangs on the docks: there is one big gang, Reign of Peace, run by Alshu and two smaller gangs that are his rivals, Serene Petal and Panic Blades. Panic Blades (run by Angel Moustache) is the more dangerous of the two as it does loan sharking and strong arm operations mostly, where as Serene Petal (run by Fearless Rose) does prostitution and small time drug dealing. Reign of Peace is mostly protection (keeping the small timers in check), bootlegging and fencing. For the most part everyone in these gangs uses a nickname.

Places:

Sorrow Pits: Large trash pits for the city and graveyard for the poor and unknown, basically a big collection of large pits with bodies and debris thrown inside and then covered up. Has a small shanty town on the side closest the city filled with poor and wretched garbage pickers.

Bleedingheart Clinic: A run down warehouse, kept running by three Acolytes, Holger, Duus and Aksel, worshipers of the Martyr god. Serves the poor and needy, by functioning as a soup kitchen, shelter and hospital. They also sell healing potions and buy potion ingredients.

Promise Gardens: A large fenced in garden area, cared for by a druid named Odddo. She also raises fruits and vegetables that she donates to Bleeding heart. Visitors are allowed but damaging the plants is a big no no.

Bayview Tower: This is the guard post that guards that patrol the docks work and sleep. It is three stories so one of the largest buildings in the area and houses about 40 people, 25 of which are the Blue Stripes (the dock guards have blue stripes on their shoulders). Most of the Blue Stripes abuse their power and are easily bribed.

White Petal: Is the base of operations of the Serene Petal. A largish two story manor in good upkeep that is painted white. It is for the most part a huge brothel.

Clear Water Trading Company: A large run down looking warehouse on the docks. Base of ops for Reign of Peace. The main floor is kept mostly dusty and empty with Alshu conducting his business in the back of the room at a large table/desk. The lighting is kept very dim. 

Smooth Market: The local market square of the docks.. a lot of sellers and buyers. Not a lot of unusual stuff though. Lots of cutpurses.

He tells them to stay at this place, which is connected to the Lucky Steer. Around this time, the barkeep from the Lucky Steer comes through a door and is surprised to see them here. His name is Gnu and tells them to keep Alshu's name out of their mouths. Broken Baron leaves. Some of the party try to listen to the other tables but everyone talks quietly. They eat and Gnu gives them 3 rooms to use. Solaris grabs a key and heads up to go to sleep. Ironhide finds a spot against the wall and goes into standby mode. Elkas, Meltara and P'wox drink for a bit, then P'wox and a few hours later Meltara go up to a room. Elkas stays, trying to learn something. A group of two come and sit at a table near Ironhide, wondering why Gnu is decorating the place. Ironhide tries to scare them so they go to another table, shaking their heads. Elkas goes over and makes friends with them. Their names of Reckless and Nightingale. Nightingale is female and has a gravelly voice. They speak for an hour or two,  telling Elkas about Ghouls at the Sorrow Pit, preying on the poor and wretched that live there. Reckless says he will tell Alshu about it in the morning. Nightingale whispers to Reckless. Elkas turns down a night with Reckless and Nightingale. Everyone goes to sleep.

SideNote: It is figured out that Ironhide eats and drinks and has to recharge from some as yet unknown energy source or item every few months. He can't get drunk, but he can taste things. He currently has 4 months of charge left. 

In the morning P'wox is the first one up. He asks for raw meat and they bring it. P'wox goes to the Bleeding Heart, buys two Lesser Healing potions. Cures the disease of a sick child and is rewarded with a Minor Healing potion. P'wox put one lessor potion in his belt to use as a bonus action. Returning to the tavern, he finds Ironhide eating huge bowls of porridge after he had had two regular breakfasts. After an hour or two Elkas come down and tells the party what he has learned (kind of mixing things up but whatever). Reckless and Nightingale come down, get some porridge and leave, waving to Elkas as they go. A few hours later  Reckless returns   and tells the party that Alshu wants them to look into the Ghoul situation tonight. They are told not to do anything flashy and not bring attention to themselves, investigate and kill the ghouls if possible. That night Reckless leads them to the shanty town near the Sorrow Pits. The shanty town is mostly dark,  as there are few inhabitants and most can't afford to keep candles or torches going all night. The party move through the shantys, Ironhide wandering into some huts to scare the inhabitants. Meltara enters a hut and roots around finding a not that badly soiled piece of cloth.. then leaves. They get to the pits and the stench is horrible,  rotting garbage, vegetables and bones, possibly some unwanted bodies. They hear movement in the nearest pit but can't see anything. Elkas uses Dancing Lights to dimly illuminate the pit. The debris starts about 3 feet down from the edge, about ten feet in, they can see two Zombies mindlessly digging through the trash. Ironhide jumps into the mess, wading towards them and then attacking them with his great sword. Elkas uses Firebolt, lighting up the night and then Meltara uses Sacred Flame. Ironhide finishes off the two Zombies then wades deeping into the pit, falling into a smaller pit towards the middle and finding himself ten feet under the trash, 15 feet from the end of the pit. He hears something digging towards him. None of the other characters can see the fight as Ironhide and a Zombie engage. Trash is flying about in the pit.. And in another nearby pit, 5 Ghouls have been creeping up on Elkas standing there with his torch. The Ghouls attack but don't do much, P'wox breathing Lightning, Solaris using Word of Radiance and Meltara using Sacred Flame, breaking the darkness with magical flares and flashes. Ironhide has finished off the Zombie but is just floundering about in the trash, unable to climb up the slick wall, lucky for him he doesn't need to breathe or he would be dying there. P'wox uses divine smite, Elkas uses Magic Missile, more flashes and explosions.  The Ghouls are all killed.. but the party sees a large group of torches coming towards them! They quickly use a rope to get Ironhide out of the pit and run out into the darkness beyond the city...

CLIFFHANGER!!!

Kill count=(3xZombies)+(5xGhouls)

Exp=(3x50)+(5x200)=1150/5=230 exp each

For completing the mission, but failing to not attract attention +50

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 935, Elkas 935, Solaris 935, Meltara 935, Ironhide 985. All characters can level to 3 once they take a Long Rest (which might be hard while running from Blue Stripes).

New Campaign Direction, Recap for 03/01/21

 After action for 03/01/21. Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Ironhide (John), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: 45th of Grentle.

So We start a new group of adventurers... We start in the city of Kallamos.

Kallamos is a cosmopolitan city, many races and cultures meet and mingle here, their harbor has ships that travel and trade across the known world and beyond. Sometimes ships from other worlds or planes dock here but that is a rare occurrence. For the last few months there has been the appearance of other world demons that have attacked smaller settlements. Everyone is talking about some sort of invasion about to happen but no details are known to anyone.. or so it seems..

Sitting in a small cheap tavern, The Lucky Steer, on the docks, we find our adventurers, newly arrived at the city. They are; P'wox Akraj (played by Aaron), a gold Dragonborn Paladin, a soldier by trade. Elkas Daera (played by Jose), a Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer, Haunted by horrors in his past. Solaris (played by Julie), an Aasimar Light Domain Cleric, raised by the church. Meltara Waert(played by Keiran) a Kalashtar Grave Domain Cleric, who is a Noble by birth. And finally Ironhide (played by John) a Warforged fighter, a soldier by birth and trade. 

A newsie street orphan type goes to each of the weird strangers tables and drops off a crude handbill. Written in common it says "Adventurers wanted for dangerous but profitable work" and gives a nearby location on the docks. The players get up as a group.. they introduce each other as they walk to the address. They see a large but somewhat ill kept warehouse.. the newsie looking kid is standing in front.."Wow.. so all of you huh? ok let's go see the boss."They enter the warehouse, which seems mostly large and empty. Sitting in the far corner in flickering candles is a large table with a huge humanoid. As they approach he sends away the few figures he was taking to. He introduces himself as Alshu. He tells him one of his smaller operations, a warehouse not far from the city, has fallen silent for the last few days. Find out why they aren't sending any messages for the last 3 days. If it's monsters or rivals kill them. Don't destroy the warehouse. He will pay them based on performance. He wants them to go there and solve the problem then come back and report.

Neekno, the newsie street orphan, will guide them to his warehouse outside of Kallamos. The warehouse is a four hour walk outside of the city. It's in an area of farms and small stands of stunted trees.  As they walk to the warehouse, Neekno tells the that Alshu is a good boss, tough but fair. Traveling around several small very poor looking Farms they finally come to the warehouse hidden in a stand of trees.  I would never have found it without Neekno leading them there.  The circle it from a distance then as we get closer five spiked rats jump out from the trees and bushes they were hidden in and attack them. Spiked rats are weird little monkey rat things that can fire the spines on their back. It's a tough first battle for the group as the rats jumped them and they are unsure of their own abilities. P'wox breathes lightning on three of the rat, damaging them all. Ironhide yells "Die fleshy!" slashing a Spiked Rat to death. They defeat the rats and take a moment to heal and plan.Solaris using her Healing Hands on P'wox (2 HP). Meltara runs to the warehouse door and flings it open.. and a Warped Giant Rat rushes out of the darkness to eat him. P'wox and the rest rush forward to try to save his dumb ass.. it's a one sided battle and they kill the Giant Rat, dragging it out to open the warehouse. Neekno stays distant and watches as they do their thing. Realizing it is dark in the warehouse P'wox lights a torch. Meltara runs in the warehouse and is attacked by two Spiked Rats (see a pattern here...). Everyone rushes in after him. Solaris uses Word of Radiance, Elkas Fire Bolts, Ironhide hacking... Another Warped Giant Rat comes up from the lower level. Meltarra uses Inflict Wounds on it and Ironhide almost killing it. Elkas's Magic Missile finishes it off. They investigate the basement.. a Rat the size of a tiny dog, hiding in some empty crates, attacks Meltarra when he finds it but he kills it easily, taking it's small collar as a bracelet. Searching the basement reveals their was some kind of brewing operation here but everything is broken and smashed by the invading rat creatures. The party finds the bloody remains of the workers, some coins for the Living Fund and a tunnel hidden behind a curtain. The tunnel is low and looks like it goes on for a distance, sloping down beyond the range of torch light. Since they would have to crawl down the tunnel they decide not to explore it and instead block it with boxes and crates. Solaris walks out while the others look and see if there's anything they can take as loot (Alshu didn't tell them not to?). Exiting the warehouse, Neekno is nowhere to be seen. Solaris hears a faint cry in the distance and takes off running towards it, P'wox running with her. When the others exit, they aren't sure where Solaris or P'wox are..  Running for a minute they come to a large tree with Neekno climbed up it and four wolves surrounding it. He is yelling at the wolves to go away. When Solaris yells to him, he says to not get close you'll attract their attention and get attacked. Solaris runs back to get help, P'wox bangs on his shield and runs away too.. (hoping the wolves would follow?) He waits for Solaris to run back to the warehouse and get the others and bring them back. By the time they do all and get back to the tree, Neekno and the wolves are gone. The base of the tree has blood on and around it. They follow the wolves prints away from the tree. Some large feline creature is with them. A short while later one of the wolves is found with it's throat ripped out. They make some theories about Neekno. They lose the trail at a small stream. Because they left the warehouse open they have to go back and secure it.. then they head back to the city. They see Alshu and give a confusing report, telling him the people were killed but not that the brewing operation is ruined and the basement a mess (Meltara "oh it's a wine cellar now.").  They tell him they lost Neeko and about the wolves but Alshu seems unworried. Alshu pays them each 20 gold for their work. tells them he will be in touch. They go back to the Lucky Steer and look for rooms in the area. 

Kill count=(7xSpiked Rat)+(2xWarped Giant Rat)+(Giant Rat)

Exp=(7x50)+(2x200)+(25)=775/5=155exp each

For completing the mission given by Alshu +200, For using “Die Fleshy!” as his battle cry +50 Ironhide (amusing the GM).

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 655, Elkas 655, Solaris 655, Meltara 655, Ironhide 705.