Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for September 14, 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 arrived in Threshold and met with Sgt. Arthol of the town guard.  They turned over Hrothgar and the Scange prisoners.  He told them to come by the courts the next day to collect their bounties.  He also invited them to meet up with him at the Hook and Hatchet tavern for a drink and to talk about their inquiry about a dark-haired lady arriving in town recently. 

They then went over to Jeglic’s Junks, a boat dealer.  They sold the captured Blue Belle riverboat for 2,000 gp after Katarina haggled.  They then went to Faustina’s Fine Jewelry to shop for magic items.  They bargained a while and purchased a ring of protection +1, 5′ radius for Katarina.  They eventually came to an agreement to purchase gauntlets of ogre power for Levi and a pair of eggs of wonder. 

Game summary for September 7, 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), Grozzadeth Boulderback (Dwarf played by Kaliegh Belda), Katarina Magdanov (Magic-User played by Casey Scruggs), Koehan Rumisar (Elf played by Peyton Harmon), and Valor Eagleclaw (Fighter played by Preston Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team lined up along the gunwales to engage the closing brigands.  The Scange archers unleashed a flurry of arrows.  Some struck Garadal and some Grozzadeth.  Katarina and Koehan hit the Scange leader with magic missiles while Garadal started picking off archers with his bow.  The Scange kept trying to grapple the Mudlark, but the team kept cutting the lines.  Several volleys exchanged, but finally the Scange grappled and tried to swarm aboard.  The team put up a heavy resistance and fought their own way onto the enemy vessel!  Arminious hit several of the brigands with hold person.  Then, Koehan trapped several more using web!  The party pulled the ships together, crushing one of the brigands who had fallen into the river.  Soon the brigands were overcome. 

The group interrogated a couple and learned the Scange have a nearby camp.  Also, their leader, Hrothgar, apparently met with the dark-haired woman the previous day.  The party decided to take both ships and the captured bandits to Threshold to see if there is a bounty. 

Game summary for August 31, 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), and Valor Eagleclaw (Fighter played by Preston Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

After reviving Byrnwyn, he asked them repeatedly about their plans for when they travel to the location on the Hutaakan map.  They were a bit nebulous about “stopping the Iron Ring” and such.  He posited if they have the map and the Iron Ring doesn’t know where to go without the map, couldn’t they just destroy the map and leave and thus “stop the Iron Ring?”  They scratched their heads a while, and accidentally made Byrwyn believe they were grave robbers.  He tried to flee with the map to save the historic value of the site.  However, his frail form was too slow, and the team blocked the door.  He began screaming for help.  They calmed him down and assured him they would document their findings for history, and he gave them a journal and travel writing kit.

The group decided they would ride up to Threshold on the far side of the river to avoid the road and bandits.  They went to Prestelle and bought riding horses for 90 gp each.  After some debate and conversation with the locals, they learned the terrain on that side of the river was too rough to make good progress on horseback.  Someone suggested they take a boat upriver.  They stabled the new horses and booked passage with Captain Scylla and the Mudlark.

The river boat headed out, and the first evening was uneventful.  The next day Katarina inspired the crew with her musical abilities, and they covered a lot more water than they otherwise would have.  Off in the distance, they spotted the elf Cardia and her magic carpet flying passengers North.  That evening, while on watch a body drifted up to the boat.  It was a woman slain by a trio of black-fletched arrows—a sign of the Scange!  The took the body ashore and buried her before moving on. 

Early the next morning they could see smoke on the water.  Katarina rigged a quick magical feat of engineering to see across a great distance and could tell there was a ruined flaming wagon on the bank surrounded by bodies riddled with black-fletched arrows.  They approached cautiously, and they could hear snarling and barking.  Koehan realized it was a language he spoke, gnoll!  The creatures were feasting on the slain, so the Mudlark drifted as far to the other bank as possible and tried to pass by.  On the shore, the gnolls noticed them and came yelling and taunting the party.  The blood-splattered beasts were fearsome but mostly harmless so far away.  They began howling in a wild frenzy, and in the distance, the party could hear answering calls.  The boat picked up speed, and they sailed away from the marauders.

A short while later, another boat came drifting out from behind a bend enroute to cut off their path. Along with gunwales stood numerous archers with black-fletched arrows.  A large black-armored man stood in the middle of the vessel, the leader of the Scange!

Game summary for August 24, 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 took the ferry over into Rifllian and sold a horse to the ferryman on the way over.  Stephan took them over to the Silver Swan Inn, and they met his friend Stubbs Plattermann.  He brought them a fine meal and drinks, and in the conversation they learned that a dark-haired woman and a man named Gactus had been here looking for them.  Throughout the evening several elves came over, and the team sold two more horses.

The next day they headed over to Prestelle, the chief trader, and made a deal to sell the rest of the horses.  While Stephan and Taras finalized that deal and prepared for Taras to return to Sukiskyn, the team went to meet the elven historian, Byrnwyn. 

The old elf talked to the team a while about Xitaqa and their exploits.  He was excited to examine the sword Levi took from the minotaur.  He identified it as the elven blade Cellora, which gives sight to the sightless!  It was last seen in the hands of Ellomir, and elven captain who died long ago at the Battle of the Falling Sun fighting orcs. 

The group showed him the scroll fragment and the completed map.  The elf was stunned by the information and so excited he collapsed!  Arminious leapt to his rescue and revived him there on his floor!

Game summary for August 17, 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), and Valor Eagleclaw (Fighter played by Preston Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The group interrogated the Red-Blade goblins and the human captives.  They learned Golthar had fled to Kelvin and had groups scouring the countryside looking for the party.  The team then let the goblins go, nursed the wounds of the humans, and paid them for their “wild” horses. 

Determined to reach Rifllian soon, they headed out toward the gnomes’ ferry.  With little incident, they arrived and spoke with one of the hostel owners.  They agreed on a price for the ferry crossing and also paid him a bit extra to “have never seen the party.”  After making it across, off in the distance some of the team saw some lightly armored riders heading toward the hostel.  The group sped off and found a place to hole up for the night.  The next morning, Koehan scouted around and could find no signs of pursuit. 

Another couple days’ travel put the group right outside of Rifllian on the trade road where they encountered a wagon train and guardsmen.  They talked for a while until the main wagons arrived, and they got to meet with Ahiktos the merchant.  He traded some information to them in exchange for some gemstones.  He let them know Golthar had arrived in Kelvin and had a mysterious tall dark-haired woman with him who has been inquiring about adventurers who meet the party’s description.  He also told them of bandit activity North of Kelvin.  And to top things off, allegedly, the Duke’s daughter has run off with the captain of the guard!

Game summary for August 10, 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), 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.

Grozzadeth and Levi caught up to the team and swept in to engage the Iron Ring!  The goblins sleepily emerged from the tent, partially blinded by the sunlight.  With a roar, the bugbear came rushing out as well!  Levi began backstabbing enemies while Valor and Garadal continued their tag-team of terror on the south side of the camp.  Grozz went toe-to-toe with the sword-wielding Reaver!  Meanwhile, the Reaver Cleric cast blight on some of the team, which served to strip some of the bless effect.  He also tried to blind Levi with a darkness spell but failed. 

The goblins swarmed into the team but were quite ineffective due to their limited ability and dazzled condition.  They did slow things down and landed a blow here or there.  One of the Hounds tried to get Levi to surrender by threatening to slay a helpless Katarina, but Levi didn’t even slow down.  The Hound tried to trip him up with Katarina’s held body but failed.  Grozz soon found himself surrounded by the Reaver, the cleric, and a goblin! 

The battle was fierce, but one-by-one the enemy leaders began to fall.  Their minions fell as well.  Finally victorious, the team freed their bound and held allies and went to investigate the prisoners.  They found nineteen captured humans and fifteen Red-Blade goblins. 

Game summary for August 3, 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), and Valor Eagleclaw (Fighter played by Preston Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team crossed the Volaga river and headed toward the gnome ferry. Off in the distance, they saw four horses on the Moors; they recognized them from their travels in the woods several weeks back.  After some debate, they followed and tracked the horses and came upon the centaur Loshad!  He greeted the party and asked about the white horses with them.  He approved of their plan to sell them to the elves of Rifllian.  He told them about a group of humans and goblins camped nearby who had other humans and horses chained up and were beating them.  After some discussion it became clear Loshad had somehow causes the horses to go wild, but now he believed the humans were going to kill the horses out of frustration.  The team decided to go and try and free the people and horses.

The group snuck up on the camp during the day (believing the goblins to be asleep) and came in from two sides.  They caught the slavers by surprise.  Things went well early on.  Arrows took down some slavers while the melee party members closed in and mopped up.  Valor even cut one slaver completely in half.  Then things went sideways.  The slavers had a cleric in their midst!  A single hold person spell froze four of the party in their tracks!  Several Hounds of the Iron Ring closed in and clamped on some manacles!  Obviously the slavers want as many taken alive as possible.  As the rest of the team came charging across the battlefield to try and save their friends, the first of the sleepy goblins began sticking their heads out of tents!

Game summary for July 27, 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 group charged in to try and save the bear.  The group spread out a bit and unleashed arrows and began swinging swords.  They dropped one of the Hound of the Iron Ring who had a rope around the bear.  The bear spun about and mauled the other slaver behind it!  More heavily armed Reavers charged in, and one dealt a terrible blow to Koehan.  He fell back while Kalana began healing him.  Katarina blasted off a magic missile before getting hit with several hard shots.  She fell back and cast shield while Koehan cast web to imprison one of the Hounds.  Grozz and Levi tore into the enemies, and Valor’s mighty sword cut a swathe of destruction.  Garadal peppered the battlefield with arrows.  Eventually, the team was left around the webbed Hound.  Knowing he was a slaver, Grozz mercilessly lit the webs…

Game summary for July 6, 2021, Classic Quest campaign, Dungeons & Dragons BECMI / RC Edition, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Arminious Ironkeep (Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Felix Stonebrook (Halfling played by Shane Bradley), 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 escaped from Xitaqa and sped back toward Sukiskyn.  The first evening, Levi noticed they were being watched by the centaur far in the distance.  The second evening, they arrived at Misha’s ferry.  There they encountered Misha’s fearsome cave bear!  Arminious bravely went up and fed the bear, gaining a measure of trust.  Grozzadeth also fed the bear and then began playfully wrestling with it.  Before long, the bear was happily romping around with the party… until Garadal approached.  The bear remembered Garadal as one of the party members who fought against it weeks ago!  Gradually, they calmed the bear down and followed it into the woods.  It led them to Misha’s body.  Levi went over and slipped her coin purse into his own while examining the body.  He determined she had died of arrow wounds, but it had taken a while.  She had tried to bandage herself but had eventually died of her injuries.  The team realized there is a good chance they could have saved her life a month ago when they first encountered the bear.  Arminious and Valor dug a grave, and the priest performed a traditional Traladaran burial rite using a makeshift thurible.  The team then entered Misha’s home and realized it had been open to the weather and animals, so it was in much worse condition than when they were last here.  Grozzadeth fashioned a scarf for the bear out of Misha’s blanket. 

The next day, the team departed for Sukiskyn.  They tried to convince the bear to follow, but it would not leave Misha’s grave.  Once at Sukiskyn, Pyotr threw a great feast in honor of their success in rescuing Stephan!  He gifted each of them with a valuable gem for their help.  After the meal, Stephan and the party placed the silver needle and golden thread on the tapestry, and it quickly stitched a map!  They stared at it a while and tried to reconcile it with landmarks they knew.  They decided it led to a location somewhere in the mountains north of Threshold.

With Stephan and Pyotr, they developed a plan for their next steps.  They would take the 24 white horses to Rifllian like originally planned and sell the horses to the elves.  Taras and Stephan would accompany them.  Taras would then return with half the money for the Sukiskyn residents.  Stephan would continue on with the party.  The group would avoid Kelvin in case Golthar had spies looking for them.  Instead, they would utilize a ferry operated by gnomes to stay further afield.  After selling the horses, they would then travel north to Threshold and then into the mountains. 

The group set out to Misha’s ferry once again. As they arrived, they found Iron Ring slavers trying to capture the bear!

Game summary for June 29, 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. This was a Roll20 session.

The group went up the stairs and found a room with two jade statues that animated and attacked!  One ripped into Levi, wounding him to the edge of death.  Valor smashed one with his sword when suddenly magic missiles ripped into the team!  Golthar fled through a secret door and up another stairwell while the remaining statue continued to rain down blows.  The second statue was shattered, and the group sped across the room in pursuit of the fleeing wizard. 

They got to the top floor in time to see Golthar flying off through a shattered window, and they lobbed ranged attacks at him but missed.  The group talked to Stephan and learned about a tapestry at Sukiskyn that might be part of a long lost map!  They ransacked Golthar’s quarters and found a chest filled with a huge fortune in gold and gems.  Levi was able to read an old scroll and confirm that the tapestry will reveal a map when combined.  In another container they found the silver needle and golden thread!

A crash resounded, and the team remembered the minotaur!  They debated strategy a moment and thought about trying to descend ropes outside the tower, but the 1,000 pounds of gold was a problem.  Levi set a snare under a sheet on the floor, and the rest of the team pushed the heavy bed to the window and tied the rope to it.  When the minotaur ascended the stairs, Arminious began taunting it and talking about its mother.  Enraged, the minotaur began to charge!  The pulled the rope, and the snare closed on its leg.  A mighty shove pushed the bed through the window, and for a moment the minotaur stared in disbelief.  It then found itself on its back and flying across the flagstones!  Its sword clattered down the stairs as the minotaur whipped out the window and followed the bed all the way down to the crashing ground! 

With the minotaur dead, the group packed up the treasures and fled down the stairs to try and escape the tower and Xitaqa!