NERDS Candy Adventures — Game Session — 001

Game summary for October 31, 2021, NERDS Candy Adventures campaign, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, for Expeditions-R-Us. Session included: Green (D&D NERDS Bard played by Elyse Scruggs), Orange (D&D NERDS Fighter played by Casey Scruggs), Pink (D&D NERDS Rogue played by Sarah Jane Scruggs), Purple (D&D NERDS Wizard played by Andrew Renfrow), and Yellow (D&D NERDS Cleric played by Evelyn Renfrow). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team were led by the amulet of harmony to a pair of old doors in the mountainside.  Pink was able to pick the lock, and the team moved in after lightning candles and torches.  Green walked into a room filled with poison!  She was able to assess the situation and figure out how to shut down the gas by pulling a lever.  They then found some footprints and hoofprints and followed them down the hallway.

In the next room, they found a bunch of boneheads standing around holding farming implements!  Pink used a sneak attack to get rid of one while Purple cast mage armor.  Yellow came in and used turn undead to drive them all away!

The group moved into another room and found a swinging rope bridge spanning a deep chasm.  Purple cast fly on Green who then flew to the other side.  She noticed a bunch of cookie monsters climbing the walls!  The monsters came up on both sides of the bridge and attacked.  The team took several shots but were able to clobber all the cookie monsters.

Behind another door they found a bugbear and four orc goons menacing a bunch of flumphs!  The flumphs begged for help!  Purple hurled a fireball and burned some allies!  Green was nearly killed in the in the battle, but a healing potion headed off disaster.  The group broke out arrows and blades and were able to save all the flumphs!

The flumphs thanked them and told them about a secret door leading the missing rainbow alicorns!  They opened the door and moved in where they found Mr. Greystone berating Mr. Emo and blaming him for the party finding them.  A battle ensued, and soon Mr. Greystone was clobbered.  At that, Mr. Emo stopped draining alicorn colors and began to cry.  He explained he was bullied by Mr. Greystone and didn’t want to do any of this.  The team forgave him and helped him become an honorary flumph.  The team extracted the alicorns from the pit and set them free.  They became the heroes of Harmony for their heroic actions!

Classic Quest — Game Session — 060

Game summary for October 26, 2021, Classic Quest campaign, Dungeons & Dragons BECMI / RC Edition, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Arminious Ironkeep (Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Garadal Davster (Halfling played by Parker Harmon), Katarina Magdanov (Magic-User played by Casey Scruggs), Koehan Rumisar (Elf played by Peyton Harmon), Levi Ackerman (Thief played by Andrew Renfrow), and Valor Eagleclaw (Fighter played by Preston Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team found a cave to hide in through the night and nurse their wounds.  The next morning they set out trying to find a way out of the mountains and pack into the valley while avoiding the gnolls.  Not long into their trip, a helmet fell down through the canopy and bounced along the ground.  They looked up just in time to see a manticore fly by clutching a gnoll!  They moved quickly to try and put some distance between them and came across something scurrying in the bushes.

After a cautious approach, they found a trail of blood leading into the thicket.  Koehan called out in gnoll and discovered an injured gnoll with three manticore spikes lodged in his chest.  Arminious healed him, and they began a conversation.  The gnoll, Snarque, eventually agreed to take them to the gnoll shaman, Krasgat, to negotiate safe passage through gnoll territory.  They traveled to the site of the revered dead.

The team found themselves back at the place that had been obscured in fog when they first encountered the ghouls.  The revered dead, they discovered, were ever-widening concentric rings of pikes holding up the decaying gnoll corpses.  Buzzards and ravens circled overhead and some picked away at the bodies.  Snarque called out for Krasgat, and she emerged from her hut and several gnoll warriors followed close behind her.  She approached and cried out calling the party the “defilers!”  Koehan translated between them for a while before she revealed she could speak Common!  She claimed the party had killed her baby, which was quite a shocking announcement to the team, especially when she held up a sack!  She reached in and pulled out a severed human head dripping with maggots.  A long tongue lolled out of the mouth and they could see sharp teeth.  They realized it was one of the ghouls!  After some time, they were able to negotiate with her after offering her two handfuls of gems. 

They talked to her a bit more and it came out they wanted to get to the north end of the valley as quickly as possible at any cost.  This piqued her interest.  She said again, “At any cost?”  They debated a minute and decided wealth would do them no good at the moment so yeah.  She told them someone owed her a favor…

First, she mixed a concoction of reeking ingredients into which she urinated and then smeared it as markings all over the party.  They then traveled a day’s journey across the value to the other mountains.  Once there they found a platform with two posts adorned with skulls, feathers, and markings.  Chained manacles hung from the posts, and disembodied decaying arms hung loosely in them.  Krasgat informed them they needed a sacrifice… they looked around and were debating…  Krasgat told them a goat would do just fine.  Somewhat relieved (embarrassed) they found a goat and chained it to the posts.  The shaman then began crying out and then sat down to wait.

After a while, the sun was eclipsed, and an enormous red dragon landed!  It ate the goat!  Krasgat told the dragon the party was willing to pay for its assistance.  So, she introduced them to mighty Mythranthraxus, terror of the north!  It leaned down and told them it was listening.

Classic Quest — Game Session — 059

Game summary for October 19, 2021, Classic Quest campaign, Dungeons & Dragons BECMI / RC Edition, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Arminious Ironkeep (Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Garadal Davster (Halfling played by Parker Harmon), Koehan Rumisar (Elf played by Peyton Harmon), Levi Ackerman (Thief played by Andrew Renfrow), and Valor Eagleclaw (Fighter played by Preston Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team closed ranks around their injured and prepared to resist the ghouls.  Arminious stepped forward and presented his holy symbol and channeled the might of his deities.  The power flowed through, and the ghouls were turned by his spiritual might!  The beasts fled off into the fog, and the team rushed off into the mist to try and put distance behind them.  Within moments, they could hear footsteps dogging their tail and gnolls barking back and forth with one another.  The gnolls spread out and started flanking the team.  The group realized the danger and decided they needed to get their backs to the river, so they darted back the way they came which confused the gnolls for a moment. 

The party lined up along the river and prepared to defend.  The gnolls closed in hurling spears and a shaman came in casting spells!  She cast hold person and paralyzed lots of party members!  Not to be outdone, Arminious cast his own hold person and paralyzed the bulk of the gnolls.  The shaman then cast darkness centered on the party and used it as cover to flee.  The team shoved the paralyzed gnolls into the river and threw their own helpless allies over their shoulders and sped along the riverbank. 

As the fog lifted, the team could see a war party of gnolls gathering behind them a couple miles away and in steady pursuit.  There was also another much larger creature with them carrying a small tree as a club.  They surmised it to be either an ogre or giant.  After debating they decided there must be a worse threat up ahead or the gnolls would go ahead and close in.  They decided to change course and head into the mountains and try to lose the gnolls.  They broke to the side and climbed into the wooded mountain range. 

As darkness fell, a pair of glowing-eyed dogs emerged from the darkness.  As they charged, flames rolled from their mouths and the beasts began to smoke and flame as they closed in.  The team’s melee fighters moved forward to intercept, and the monsters breathed flames on them and then ran around them into the back flanks!  The group then spent several moments chasing the canines back and forth as they breathed fire over and over.  The party was severely injured but was able to bring down the hellhounds! 

Classic Quest — Game Session — 058

Game summary for October 12, 2021, Classic Quest campaign, Dungeons & Dragons BECMI / RC Edition, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Garadal Davster (Halfling played by Parker Harmon), Grozzadeth Boulderback (Dwarf played by Kaliegh Belda), Katarina Magdanov (Magic-User played by Casey Scruggs), Koehan Rumisar (Elf played by Peyton Harmon), Levi Ackerman (Thief played by Andrew Renfrow), and Valor Eagleclaw (Fighter played by Preston Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team waited for dawn and met up with Selwyn.  He sketched out a map of the Black Peaks and the Foamfire Valley and told them roughly their travel plans.  Not far out of town they found numerous horse tracks and made the assumption they belong to Golthar and the Iron Ring.  After a day or so of travel, they began to hear drumming in the valley and the distant howls of gnoll packs.  Selwyn presumed the gnolls are probably on the trail of the horsemen.

The group traveled through thick fog and came upon a burned out campsite recently destroyed.  A trio of hunters had been there, their bodies dragged off into the fog.  All the team was able to locate were their severed heads on pikes.  Not too far in the distance they heard chanting from a gnoll and tried to sneak around.  Coming through the fog was a horrific sight.  A gaunt sallow-skinned dead man lumbered toward them.  His mouth opened to reveal a maw of razor-like teeth, and a long rough tongue lolled forward as he screamed into the fog and dropped into a loping charge.  Answering cries erupted around the team as more undead came ripping through misty landscape and hurling themselves into the party.  Grozz was bitten and paralyzed while Katarina and Koehan unleashed magic missiles.  Levi cut down one ghoul while Garadal finished off the one damaged by the spellcaster.  More slavering monstrosities hurtled out of the fog toward them, though!

Classic Quest — Game Session — 057

Game summary for October 5, 2021, Classic Quest campaign, Dungeons & Dragons BECMI / RC Edition, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Garadal Davster (Halfling played by Parker Harmon), Katarina Magdanov (Magic-User played by Casey Scruggs), Koehan Rumisar (Elf played by Peyton Harmon), Levi Ackerman (Thief played by Andrew Renfrow), and Valor Eagleclaw (Fighter played by Preston Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team ran after the rat-faced man and chased him into a dead-end alley, but he was not there!  Levi used his larcenous eye to realize there was an easy way to use the various debris as a stairway up and over the wall, so he led the team across.  On the other, they could see the man fleeing into a warehouse, and they took up chase.  He fled through the warehouse and into another street.  He ran down a riverside street in full flight toward Northbridge.  The team finally caught up and Katarina tripped him up on the bridge.  They then hog-tied him and carried him across back to the main city.  Unfortunately, they very carefully tied him but did not gag him.  When a patrol came around the corner, he screamed bloody murder.

After being taken to the nearest guard station under suspicion of assault and kidnapping, the team was separated and put in holding.  A few hours later, Sgt. Arthol arrived and had them quietly released.  He tipped them off that the man was going to be released soon too, so the group went back to the tavern while Levi hung back and tailed the man to a house on Fogor Isle.  He crouched outside an open window and watched him talk to a woman removing some make-up and revealing herself to be much younger than she appeared.  The man called her Mafka.  He told her the party had been arrested for kidnapping him and was likely to be prosecuted.  With them in custody, she called off a planned ambush.  She told the man Golthar already had the map because the team fell for their ruse and handed the map directly to the Iron Ring by giving it to Fitel Cocos. 

Levi went back to the Hook and Hatchet to deliver the terrible news.  Realizing they had been duped but not able to set out without their guide for several more hours, they rushed over to the Crossed Swords to see if Golthar happened to be there.  Levi could hear something in the basement.  The team moved into the building, the floor creaking with every step.  They heard creaking coming from the kitchen.  Katarina planned to cast wizard lock on the door if it was an ambush.  Levi peaked through the keyhole and saw an eye peaking back at him!

A reeking troll burst through the door and attacked!  Katarina was mauled while Levi fled up the stairs and the team scattered.  The team made it out the front door where Kalani cast cure light wounds on Katarina.  Meanwhile, Levi nimbly climbed out a second-floor window down to the street.  The team then ran at full speed toward the bridge with the troll in hot pursuit.  It stopped to eat an inebriated man in an alley allowing the team to outpace it and retreat back to the Hook and Hatchet!