Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for February 2, 2016, Savage! campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Night Watcher (Ogre Martial Artist played by Casey Scruggs), Spirit Walker (Naci Human Assassin played by Andrew Renfrow), Standing Bison (Giant Soldier played by Peyton Harmon), and Wolf Spirit (Kompache Human Priest played by Chris Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The party returned victorious to the camp of Rides-the-Moon and reunited Laughing Horse with his daughter Runs-with-Deer. Rides-the-Moon agreed to perform a union ceremony in one month. He informed them a captured rider from the Nightmare Company revealed another fragment of the Dawn Seal could be found in Cōlōtlxalli somewhere in the Sands of Bleached Bones. The party rode out with a group of braves and found themselves pursued by the Nightmare Company. Eventually, they lost them and made a camp for the braves and their horses to wait. The party then paddled kayaks 100 miles upstream of the Drowned Turtle River and set out to find a chieftain of the Tribe of the Flame, the dwarves, in the desert. The party met with a dwarf named Howling-Winds who agreed to provide camels and directions to Cōlōtlxalli in exchange for the party investigating why their watering hole dried up.

The party set out toward the now dry spring and were attacked by a huge mob of blue and red octoroks! The fighting was intensive, but the team quickly dominated. The octoroks were soundly defeated. The team then went down into the gorge and were attacked by leevers and peahats! The leevers tunneled through the sand and attacked from below while the flying peahats smashed into the team from above! The fighting was brief, however, and the team killed all of the carnivorous plants surrounding them.

Game summary for January 26, 2016, Savage! campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Blazing Sun (Kau Human Sage played by Kaliegh Belda), Singing Mammoth (Elf Soldier played by Taylor Averdick), and Wolf Spirit (Kompache Human Priest played by Chris Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team came across another sealed door with a puzzle lock. Blazing Sun entered a combination and was burned. Blazing Sun entered another combination and was burned. This continued a while. Eventually, Singing Mammoth figured out the pattern, entered it, and opened the doorway.

The group entered an enormous room where a young woman struggled, bound, upon an altar. She had been smeared with blood to form crude blasphemous sigils. The team recognized Runs-with-Deer! All around, Keeper priests chanted prayers to hideous ghula. A partially robed woman holding a wicked stone dagger stood behind the altar. She swayed in religious ecstasy as perverse utterances fell from her lips. She was close to completing an unholy ritual!

The priests moved in and hurled spell curses at the party with little effect. Arrows, spears, axes, and wolf teeth tore into the Keepers! The under priests went down quickly, but the priestess was made of sterner stuff. She stabbed viciously with her dagger and hurled curses at the team. In moments, she died at the hands of the team, and Singing Mammoth claimed one of the sacrificial goats staked in the corner as his own. Wolf Spirit freed Runs-with-Deer who told them the “guardian” was beyond a sealed iron gate. The team debated how to get through for a while before realizing they had the key in their pocket from a chest discovered recently.

The team moved into a cavern, but Runs-with-Deer was weak from her ordeal and stayed back. The dark dank cavern chamber was filled with faintly glowing lichen, and a putrid pool stretched into the darkness. A stalk with three orbs protruded from the water. Eyes! With a loud splash and terrifying roar, an enormous frog-like monster leapt from the pool! It had eyes on a stalk above its head, and its body was mostly like a frog, but its forelimbs were replaced with four writhing tentacles.

The horrific froghemoth tore into the team, driving most of the party back and to the ground with its battering onslaught. Blazing Sun worked her way behind it and setup a flank with the wolf. Singing Mammoth dropped back and fired volleys into its hide. A hurled spear from Wolf Spirit preceded his closing in with his axe. The froghemoth battered the team and nearly killed Blazing Sun. She was beaten unconscious, but the team killed the monster and stabilized her. The team then discovered the next fragment of the Dawn Seal just below the water surface!

Game summary for January 19, 2016, Savage! campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Blazing Sun (Kau Human Sage played by Kaliegh Belda), Night Watcher (Ogre Martial Artist played by Casey Scruggs), Singing Mammoth (Elf Soldier played by Taylor Averdick), Standing Bison (Giant Soldier played by Peyton Harmon), and Wolf Spirit (Kompache Human Priest played by Chris Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team encountered a pack of alligator snapping turtles which attempted to eat them! The party rabidly engaged. Everyone but Standing Bison had good luck against them, and the turtles were dispatched pretty readily.

Next the group entered a room with a blue glowing orb guarded by Keeper Warriors and beamos! The team tore through the Keepers with little effort while the beamos fired energy beams all about the room. The group quickly dispatched them, and Blazing Sun tricked the orb into activating. This caused a hidden chest to rise up through the floor. Within, the group discovered a key, three oils, and some red tioye.

From here the party progressed to another puzzle door. The group examined the glyphs and selected one matching the emblem on the door itself. Upon pressing it, the door swung open.

The group delved deeper until the discovered a canal. The deinosuchus that had been tracking them emerged and attacked! It bit some of the party members but slipped and stumbled in the mud. The group was able to capitalize upon this and soon brought it down.

Game summary for January 12, 2016, Savage! campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Blazing Sun (Kau Human Sage played by Kaliegh Belda), Singing Mammoth (Elf Soldier played by Taylor Averdick), Standing Bison (Giant Soldier played by Peyton Harmon), and Wolf Spirit (Kompache Human Priest played by Chris Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team entered a chamber partially flooded and filled with giant frogs. One was blue and emitted an intense supernatural cold. The frogs closed in, and one tried to swallow Blazing Sun! She used her hand claw and shredded it on the way down its gullet. Wolf Spirit was not as fortunate and ended up swallowed by the frostfoot frog. The team quickly dispatched the other frogs and surrounded the frostfoot. They were able to take it down and rescue Wolf Spirit.

The group then discovered a herd of goats and two slave boys forced to care for them. The boys told them the Keepers sacrifice the goats to a tentacle frog. The party helped them all escape into the swamp where they had at least a chance of survival. The team then had to move through a bunch of adle-minded elha who got high licking poisonous frogs. To blend in, Singing Mammoth and Wolf Spirit had to take a lick and suffered minor hallucinations. They met a diseased woman named Dawn Flower who was able to tell them about some stone doors that required a puzzle to solve and open. During their journey, the party found themselves stalked by an enormous crocodilian! They were able to evade it and found a flooded room. The group swam underwater to another chamber. Some of the party struggled making the swim, but they finally crossed.

Soon the group found themselves in front of a strange doorway surrounded by various images. Singing Mammoth followed a hunch that they depicted some kind of dance. He performed the dance, and the stone slab became somewhat insubstantial. The rest of the group also performed the dance which opened the doorway.

On the other side, the party found a mob of rock ooze living statues capable of shooting gray ooze from their fingertips! The party dispatched them with relative ease but found themselves confronting another puzzle door. Blazing Sun deduced depressing the matching panels on either side would open the door, and she was correct! The door slide open, and the team advanced inside.

Game summary for January 5, 2016, Savage! campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Blazing Sun (Kau Human Sage played by Kaliegh Belda), Singing Mammoth (Elf Soldier played by Taylor Averdick), Spirit Walker (Naci Human Assassin played by Andrew Renfrow), Standing Bison (Giant Soldier played by Peyton Harmon), and Wolf Spirit (Kompache Human Priest played by Chris Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team encountered a vicious sticky slurk that tried to entangle Standing Bison! The giant shrugged off the effect, and the team closed in. The slurk bit with its tusks, but it proved no match for the team. No sooner did it die than a creeping titanoboa surged out of the water trying to coil around Singing Mammoth! A second fight in moments erupted, with the same results. The team tried to salvage the spine as a collector’s item but destroyed it in the process.

The party discovered the ruined temple of Cueyatitahtli and delved inside. The found Runs-With-Deer’s broken necklace and a mangled pile of dismembered Kompache braves. Nearly half a dozen Keeper Warriors charged out of the dark tunnels, their feet splattered mud with every step and light glinting on their raised macuahaitls. The party braced for the charge and yelled to one another, “Never tell us the odds!” Behind the Keepers came five spear-wielding bullywug muckers! Blood flowed freely on both sides as the teams engaged. Singing Mammoth triple-shot volleys into the beasts as Spirit Walker began a stabbing flurry with his knife. Blazing Sun squared off with a warrior as Wolf Spirit and his wolf moved to flank. Standing Bison stood his ground in the corner, clubbing man and bullywug alike. In short order, the day was won! Now, the team prepares to explore the lair of the Frog Father, Cueyatitahtli.

Game summary for December 29, 2015, Savage! campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Spirit Walker (Naci Human Assassin played by Andrew Renfrow), Standing Bison (Giant Soldier played by Peyton Harmon), and Wolf Spirit (Kompache Human Priest played by Chris Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The party set out toward the Swamps of Woe to find Cueyatitahtli. Along the way, they were accosted by a band of beggars and lepers who wanted food and supplies. The team scared them off, but Spirit Walker and Wolf Spirit came down with the flu for a couple days. They picked up a tail, a scout of the Nightmare Company! After some clever maneuvering, they were able to lose him and head out of his range of vision. Once they arrived, they convinced some locals to give them some guidance to safer, solid ground in the swamp which allowed the team to travel well into the depths.

The group found the lacerated corpse of a black bear just as a pack of pristichampus crocodilians moved in to feed. The massive reptiles viciously mauled Spirit Walker’s horse, and it died in bloody tatters. Standing Bison was able to smash one of the pristichampus to death in a single blow. The fighting was quick, and the party got out with only the loss of one mount.

Soon, a horrendous thunderstorm set in, and the team had to scrounge around for shelter to ride it out. Following the storm, the group made camp and lit a fire. They realized they were surrounded by swamp gas and quickly stamped out the flames! The team contended with venomous cottonmouths, trench foot, and diseased mosquitos.

Deep in the swamp, the group came upon four bullywugs, man-like frog men. Spirit Walker moved up front and got flanked. The bullywug muckers stabbed him with spears, bit him, and slapped him with their club-like tongues. Before long, he lay on the ground unconscious and dying, but not before sinking his dagger into the chest of one of the bullywugs. A bullywug croaker closed in and unleashed its booming stunning croak! The sound stunned Standing Bison for several moments. With the giant staggering about and Spirit Walker bleeding out, things looked grim. However, the bullywug Spirit Walker injured dropped dead from the dagger wounds. The wolf tripped the croaker repeatedly while Wolf Spirit slashed away with his axe. Standing Bison shook off his stun, and Spirit Walker stabilized. With the upper hand lost, the team quickly dispatched the frog men!

Game summary for December 22, 2015, Savage! campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Blazing Sun (Kau Human Sage played by Kaliegh Belda), Night Watcher (Ogre Martial Artist played by Casey Scruggs), Singing Mammoth (Elf Soldier played by Taylor Averdick), Standing Bison (Giant Soldier played by Peyton Harmon), and Wolf Spirit (Kompache Human Priest played by Chris Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Beyond the doorway, the team faced off against Tocatlpilli and his Keeper warriors. Night Watcher got his macuahuitl stuck in the floor, and Singing Mammoth nearly shot him with an arrow. Tocatlpilli hurled numerous curses at the team, but they easily shrugged off the effects. It did not take long for the team to take out the warriors and square off against Tocatlpilli on a swinging bridge over a great abyss. Wolf Spirit’s wolf managed to trip the high priest, and Standing Bison hurled him off the bridge to his doom!

The group went into the next room where they were confronted with a riddle guarding two stone boxes. In one was the Dawn Seal fragment, in the other “death.” The team debated the riddle and eventually made their choice: they chose wisely! The group seized the fragment as the ceiling opened to reveal a massive gray widow spider! The group found their edged weapons of limited benefit against its chitinous exoskeleton, but Standing Bison and Night Watcher were able to do a lot of bashing damage to it. Eventually, they squashed the creature.

The group took the fragment and despite being led astray repeatedly by Standing Bison, they found their way out of Tocatlmayana. They learned their horses had been stolen, and they tracked down a group of gnolls with their mounts. After lots of posturing, and a bit of bribery, they secured their mounts and left. Along the route, they had to avoid the Nightmare Company raptor scouts, which they did masterfully.

Once home, they went through an initiation ritual in celebration to mark their full acceptance into the tribe. The grueling ritual left Wolf Spirit battered, but the team prevailed. After the celebration, they were tasked by Rides-the-Moon, elder and vidutana of the tribe, to travel to the Swamps of Woe and the Cueyatlahtli (cue-yacht-el-ah-tee) temple to retrieve the next fragment. They also learned Laughing Horse’s daughter had run off with several braves to try and get the fragment themselves and not returned. With nothing else to leverage, Laughing Horse offered his daughter in marriage if someone will return her safely. Rides-the-Moon agreed to perform a union ceremony but warned the fragment is far more important than the life of missing Runs-with-Deer.

Game summary for December 15, 2015, Savage! campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Blazing Sun (Kau Human Sage played by Kaliegh Belda), Night Watcher (Ogre Martial Artist played by Casey Scruggs), Singing Mammoth (Elf Soldier played by Taylor Averdick), Standing Bison (Giant Soldier played by Peyton Harmon), and Wolf Spirit (Kompache Human Priest played by Chris Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team followed the tattered map and advanced toward the first switch. Most of the team filed into the hallway with Singing Mammoth hanging back in the main room. Throwing the switch raised a platform into the room occupied by a great lasher spider! It sprayed webbing at Singing Mammoth who dodged it and then backed right into it. The team came running down the hallway, and Night Watcher got stuck unable to maneuver through the crowd. Standing Bison hit the creature, as did Wolf Spirit and his wolf. A few arrows sank in from Singing Mammoth, but it was the amazing blow by Blazing Sun that laid it low.

Next the team went down the middle hallway and threw the next lever. Doing so shocked Blazing Sun with a jolt of electricity. The ceiling in the main room rolled away, and a massive margoyle flew into the room to attack! The creature proved challenging to fight due to its ability to blend when motionless, but several of the team landed solid blows. Finally, Wolf Spirit’s wolf tripped it into the blazing coal pits where it died in flames.

The group advanced down the third hallway where Wolf Spirit and Blazing Sun plunged into a pit trap. They climbed out, and Standing Bison rushed in and fell in. The group threw the next switch and then went to the final switch. Once thrown, the barred doorway at the end of the hallway slid open!

Game summary for December 8, 2015, Savage! campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Blazing Sun (Kau Human Sage played by Kaliegh Belda), Singing Mammoth (Elf Soldier played by Taylor Averdick), Spirit Walker (Naci Human Assassin played by Andrew Renfrow), and Wolf Spirit (Kompache Human Priest played by Chris Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The party opened the next door and encountered an enormous fearsome ettin! Spirit Walker moved in and got bloodied by the creature’s spiked war club. The team closed in, but the brute unleashed a twin-headed scream that shook the team to its core. Several fled in terror. Singing Mammoth unleashed a barrage of arrows, and the same Kompache scout that assisted them earlier arrived and attacked! Some of the team shook off their fear and returned while Spirit Walker tried to keep from bleeding to death. At last, Singing Mammoth’s arrow pieced one of the skulls and killed the creature.

The team found it guarded a room with a paneled wall. After some investigation, they discovered the panels moved like a puzzle or riddle. Blazing Sun had no trouble figuring out the combination and unlocked a hidden panel! Within was a worn, tattered old map which the group assumes leads to the Dawn Seal fragment.

Arriving at the map location, the group engaged a mob of Keepers of the Gate along with their enslaved octorok guardians. A quick scuffle ensued, but the team mopped up the enemies very quickly. Now, they stand before a trio of doors and have a map to consult.