Genesis Gauntlet Session 1 Recap

Sitting around a table at a tavern, you see a small kobold take the stage. He was a curious sight, for barely topping two feet tall, the mandolin he carried with him extended past him in both directions, though it didn't seem to bother him.

"Ah, I see a good crowd tonight. Perhaps you would like to hear something new, a tale still yet unfolding." He begins to pluck the strings, and though his fingers and arms were stretched as far as they would go, the sound was sweet and clear, a subtle undertone to the story he was about to tell.

"I am Valaquiqui, and this tale happened a few weeks past, more advenurers seeking the gauntlet of genesis - though one that ended differently than any so far. You see, this group of travellers did not arrive together seeking the gauntlet, they arrived seperately. An ancient wizard by Marresisio, a devout cleric named Horace, and a pair of curious twins, each as large as a mountain and both named Chint. Odd fellows. They came to yours truly asking for information on the gauntlet, seeking it out after meeting in a drunken party the night before. They asked the right questions, and promptly left the town, seeking the treasure of a lifetime."

The kobold pauses a moment, and plays a more complicated peice on the mandolin, an interlude of sorts. "I understand they found a map on the oblisk, a map leading to a secret place underneath the city. They followed he map, and under the city, they found this building that they suspected to belong to Vireem, buried under centuries of silt from the seasonal flooding. I would have never have guessed the forces of time and nature to be so secretive. Inside, they immediately encountered a thick swarm of rats, using an ancient storage closet as their nest, though they simply stuck their torches to the ground and scared them away. Clever, if I must say. They continued to move through the corridor, only to find that the dungeon had become the recent den of a pair of bear cubs. Deciding they were too close to the town to be safe, they promptly struck them down, only to do so within the very line of sight of their mother bear! One of the Chint brothers was knocked to the ground at the bear's maw, only to be saved by the other. A true tale of brotherhood, indeed. With Horace's help, they dispatched the bears, and I for one am thankful, I did not care to have such lumbering beasts so close to my own doorstep."

Another intermission, and the kobold continues, "Ah, I need a drink. Excuse me for a moment, I shall return once I whet my tongue. Would anyone care to join me?"

Characters for the Genesis Gauntlet

Okay, the characters!

Eric - Marresisio Eld'etoresio, the venerable wizard.
Tyler - Horace Viraseth , the cleric of Pelor
Jon - Chint, the self-absorbed human fighter
Kevin - Chint, the self-absorbed human fighter

Session 20 - A Recap (FINALLY)

    This session started out with the group receiving an offer of employment and a request to appear at the towns court for the trial of Bascom Yates.  The party began by doing some investigating and ultimately learning that Bascom Yates killed Emory Steele for a strange item pulled from the ocean which he then sold to Prardo for a hefty bag of coin.  They also learned that Prardo was under arrest for possession of magic items. This information was obtained by visiting Bascom Yates in prison and tricking him into believing that a candle they had would cause him pain if he lied while in it's lit presence. 

     At Bascom Yates's trial the party convinced the judge to post-pone his execution as his testimony may be needed in the future to arrest Prardo.  The judge agreed and sent Bascom back to the prison.

    Later Bl'nx wanted to find out what that evil aura in the ocean was so the party hired a sailor and sailed out to the point where it was strongest.  Saloch cast water breathing on the party and wildshaped into a shark.  The party sank to a depth of 500 feet where they discovered an ancient lizardfolk temple inhabited by Kuo-Toa.  In the main hallways they were forced to fight with some mad Kuo-Toa and defeated them soundly.  Futher into the temple they found a strange ritual being performed by Kuo-Toa clergy which involved chanted around a large suspended light while hitting it with lightning bolts.  Each lightning bolt only seemed to make it bigger.

      The party fled from the temple and decided to investigate the offer of employment they had recieved.  The address marked took them to a house in the upperclass district where they met a man who wanted to hire the party to track down Fernmire's ambassador to the Lizardfolk in the swamp.  While they were searching he also asked them to obtain a strange substance call quintessence for him and offered a large sum of money for any that they could find. 

     The party purchased two rowboats and four oars and set out to the Fernmire Bog

Session twenty recap

I was meaning to wait and do this one when I had my notes, but it seems that's not in the cards for now.

The characters rolled were:
Eric - A venerable wizard
Tyler - A stout cleric of strength and healing

Kevin and Jon, to prevent needing a second session to roll up you guys too, I'll just ask you to roll your stats next week, before Jon's adventure, and then do the rest of the work on your own.

Relevant information:
You're starting at first level
To roll stats:roll 4d6 seven times, drop lowest die from each set, and then drop lowest set. If you get a crappy roll, you may scrap the entire set and roll a second. However, if you do you will have no choice to keep the second set of rolls, even if they wind up being terrible.
Maximum starting gold.
Your character must have a desire to discover or collect the Genesis Gauntlet.

Session 'twenty'

From what I hear, tonight John will not be available to DM, But that's no reason for us not to still meet up and play DnD.

If John isn't available, then tonight, we will be rolling up and preparing for the first adventure in the Genesis Gauntlet series of short adventures - An Obelisk Stands Alone. The only restrictions are: Your character may be neither a total jackass or evil, and your character must have some sort of interest in locating and/or obtaining the Genesis Gauntlet. Everything else is currently fair game.

John, of course, can roll up his character for this adventure during another time he is available.

A new tale begins!

As John said, there's the opportunity for some temporary fill-in DMing after this current adventure ends. I'm really interested in running some short one-shot adventures I've been writing, so I think this is the perfect time.

The first adventure I will be running will be the start of a series of related adventures on the following premise:

There are many reasons an item might be buried away. It might be dangerous, or powerful, or simply too valuable to otherwise protect. This item, The Genesis Gauntlet, was hidden away to keep from the hands of Vireem. That much is known, but everything else has been lost and obscured by the sands of time.

What little else is known is myth. At the dawn of time, the gods created the world. But doing so was a great deal of work. So, the gods created the Tools of The Genesis, and gifted them to their most trusted servants to aid in the crafting of the world. In the millenia since, all but one of these tools have been recorded to be destroyed, and that one is the Gauntlet of Genesis.

It's specific powers are as forgotten as it's location, but it is said that it had the power to move mountains, the power to treat stone as sand and metal as clay, but the most legendary and critical power was the power to grant the very essence of life to unliving things. For this reason, it is said Vireem searched for it. For the entirety of his life, and for the entirety of his long unlife following it he searched. But he never found it.

The group that controlled the gauntlet knew it was being hunted, and buried it away somewhere, hidden deep within the earth, or perhaps the sea. The group has been forgotten, the gauntlet has been lost, and it exists only as legend.

But all legends are founded on a grain of truth. The gauntlet does exist, and there is a single clue to it's supposed whereabouts. Even now, centuries after Vireem was destroyed, there is an obelisk that stands proclaiming a secret of sorts regarding the gauntlet, and where it might be found. Power, enough to kindle the fires of passion in all but the most meek of people, was there for the taking, if only they had the bravery and cunning to find it.

Time to start coming up with character ideas. Starting level for this adventure will be 1, and the world is generic enough that being in our existing campaign world should be no issue.

Just Who is this Saloch Fellow, anyways?

Saloch is slightly reserved and quiet, but opinionated when he does speak. Most of his time is spent deciding on how the first few lines of his arguments should go, and that alone keeps him out of more discussions than it keeps him in.

His druidic circle is that of the Sammosan River, not far from (starting town), one of the less common circles of druids that focus on an ecosystem that is not a forest. He enjoys rain, puddles, rivers, and so on. He has few qualms about the eating of surface animals, though he will speak strongly against over-hunting because that might cause the fish to overpopulate which will break *that* ecostystem.

On his padded arm is often his friend and ally, Ellie the Hawk (Hey, she chose the name, alright?). Unlike Saloch, she prefers fish to feild mice, and Saloch is okay with that - after all it's part of the natural cycle. Saloch fitted her with a special breastplate to protect her from hunters arrows or the like, and she has taken quite the liking to it - provided she doesn't have to wear it on more than occasional basis.

Saloch perpetually seems moist, his hair is wet even in the driest weather, and his skin is usually clammy and cold, not that he ever notices or minds.

Sound familliar? A number of you have already read Saloch's orignal backstory, but he's a more complex fellow than this indicates. Below are a series of questions that will let you get to know more in-depth about your favorite moist druid.



1. Who were the character's parents? Did they raise the character? If not, why? If not them, then who?

Saloch's mother (Susua Lartous) was an herbalist in Balterrosa, though for the most part she was simply a mother, having enough children to keep her busy for most of the time. While she did support herself with her herb-gathering before she married, it had never been the same passion as having a family was.

Saloch's father (Samuel Lartous) was a fisherman, and a good one. He always fished for the family, fished some for money, but never more than the river could handle. He was never a druid himself, but was always a friend to the druids of the Sammosan River - which was one of the reasons he always managed to have enough, but not too many, fish for his family.

Together they raised Saloch, as well as his five other siblings, all of whom were encouraged to take to the fields and farms and trades, rather than fishing, and all of them obliged, finding callings in other trades.

2. Did the character have any childhood friends? Any siblings? Where are they now? Does the character stay in touch with them or have they become separated? If separated, why?

Saloch had no particularly strong friends growing up. He has his siblings, and other children of his age in Balterrosa, but no best friend. It was always the river. There were two giant frogs (Bella and Herman) and a turtle (Lallo) that he used to talk to on a regular basis, but they do not travel, and Saloch has moved away, so he does not speak with them any more.

3. What was childhood like for the character?

Saloch was the second oldest of his siblings, and while he had some talents in other areas, his calling had always been the river, and the waters. He played on the riverbank, and caught frogs and small fish with the other children, having a good childhood. As he grew, most children moved on to other things, romances, trades, skills and other things. Saloch didn't, always playing with the other children in the water, listening to it's secrets, and talking at length with the druids who would stop by often to talk and do business with his father.

4. Does the character have any or did the character have any role models? Describe them.

Saloch's father was obviously a role model to him, living so with the water as he did, as was the head of the druidic circle of the Sammosan river, Fantissima when he met her. Of course, Lallo was always fascinating too, being a turtle and so old and... well, worldly.

Fantissima is a half elven woman who is obvious was beautiful when she was younger. Her husband and son were killed some long time ago, and in seeking solace, she discovered the tranquility of the water, the ability to be ever moving, yet ever unchanging save the subtlest ways. She has long come to peace with the loss of her family, and her calmness and cleverness are true inspirations.

Lallo the turtle refuses to tell his exact age, but admits that he is well over two hundred years old, and has travelled the oceans and rivers all over the continent, and even far away, though he never speaks of it. Unlike other turtles, he also speaks the language of humans on his own - which is interesting of itself. Lallo's origin , however, is far from what he is now. Lallo, originally Laillothamendos, was born a bronze dragon, and spent the first century of his life behaving as was standard for a creature of his kind, finding a lair, gathering treasure, and being generally pensive and mysterious. Then, a group of adventurers stormed his castle, and polymorphed him into a large turtle. He retains some, though not all of his knowledge of his past life, and the power to speak the common tongue is one of those things. Still, he does dream of again flying through the sky, perhaps finding vengance, if the perpetrators are not already dead - it was over a century ago. But those desires are secret, and he stays quiet of them, for now.

5. What did the character do before he / she entered the story? Who trained the character to do what she / he does now? What is the character's relationship with his teacher(s)?

Saloch was always a druid, an outdoorsman, a swimmer. He was one with the river since he could walk to it, and as soon as he could, he joined the druid circle of the Sammosan river, where he learned the ways of the world from his teachers, and Fantissima. Now a fully trained druid, Saloch has yet to choose whether he will remain with the circle in his 'journeyman' stage of his druid training, or if he will leave and apply the teachings to other aspects of his life. He has a good, though not personal relationship with each of the senior druids of the circle, and a slightly closer, more mother-son relationship with Fantissima.

6. What are the character's moral, ethical and religious beliefs? What lengths will the character go to defend those beliefs? Who or what taught those beliefs to the character? Remember that a character's moral and ethical beliefs, not necessarily his behavior, define his alignment.

Saloch is a man whose few beleifs are focused around nature. One should defend life and cultivate it. Any that seek to take life for their own gain must be stopped. One must never undo nature, for it is natural. Do not unbalance any ecosystem. In the unending battle of those who seek to bring structure to the world versus those who seek chaos, take no side. He is undecided on a number of things, even major ones like love, and justice; but he knows by now that he is willing to aid those who ask it, should they repay the favor. Furthermore, he has no love for unnatural beasts, demons, or even those creatures that take on a facimile of humanity. His ideal would would be men, and the simple beasts of the land (well, maybe elves and dwarves and such too..)

7. Does the character have any unusual habits or physical traits? What are they? What do they stem from? How do others tend to react to them?

Saloch is a druid of the Sammosan river, and among the traits he has developed over the years, one has stood out. As part of his joining with the water, he became more water than man, and as such is always damp. His clothes stick to him, his breath fogs at all times, and behind him are footprints at all times. Of course, he drinks many times more water than a normal person does too, and will often also simply douse himself with water via magic to keep himself hydrated.

8. What is the general reaction to the character by other characters? Why, in the character's opinion, do they act that way?

Most people feel Saloch is a little odd by merely looking at him. However, once they meet him Saloch is fairly friendly and will always try to help, or at least find an effective compromise in a situation so that nobody leaves unhappy.

9. Can the character kill? When did he decide (or learn) that he could? Why would the character kill? Does he / she have any enemies at all?

Saloch can and has killed men, though he is uneasy with doing so. He has no qualms with killing unnatural beasts and only a few with killing non-humans.

10. What kind of relationships does the character currently have? Does he / she have any close friends? Bitter enemies? If so, who? What are they like? What is the history of the character and this person's relationship?

Saloch has few permanant relationships, as like a river he is currently in motion. He knows his passion lies in being a druid, which is a fairly solitary calling, but he has yet to find a real calling, something that he will definitively do for the rest of his life. Outside of several aquantances in many cities, Saloch's only true friend is his animal companion, the hawk Ellie.

11. Does the character have any mental problems? Phobias? If so, what are they? What do they stem from?

Saloch is mentally stable, thanks.

12. How does the character generally treat others? Does she / he trust easily? Or not? How does the character relate to people? Is he shy and withdrawn or a condescending snob?

Saloch is generally polite and inquisitive, and often helpful when he can be. More often, he will attempt to come to a compromise, if he is asked to help. He trusts people shallowly easily, but nobody completely, as he rarely knows them for long enough to build enough of a relationship with them.

13. What does the character look like? Does he / she have any scars or tattoos? If so how did she / he get them? Obviously this includes eye and hair color, but unusual gaits and accents come into play here as well.

Saloch has dark brown hair which is usally whetted black with water, and blue eyes. He is slightly short, and of average weight, though almost exclusively weighed in the 'while soaking wet' category, for he is soaking wet almost exclusively. While his robes and the rest of his outfits change with the day, he wears a suit of heavy leather armor underneath, and along the topside of his right sleeve, so that Ellie can land without pinching him.

14. What are the character's dreams? Ambitions? Goals?

Saloch is unclear of his goals, and at the moment he only wants to discover them. He is satisfied with adventuring, though not as something he would want to do for the rest of his life.

15. Does the character ever want to have a family of his / her own someday?

Saloch does want to have a family someday, but has yet to discover anyone he wants to have a family with.

Session 20

Session 20 will be at my place.  You all know where I live so I'm not too concerned about addresses.  I'm free all of Tuesday and as such will be able to start as soon as people want too.  If everyone arrives early we can discuss the guest dm'ing mentioned in the post below.  As a very brief recap of last session (here's the gnome recap for our gnome readers).

    The party arrived in Fernmire.  Areden finished his business.  The party bought some goods.  The party found an inn.  The party fought a ghost.  Areden left for the forests.

Also if everyone wants (AND COMMENT IF YOU DO) we can order pizza.  Bring money for that then.

You too can be a DM

Does designing adventures and treasure sound like fun to you.  Do you enjoy playing monsters that die fight after fight. If this is the life style for you then perhaps you might consider being a guest DM.  What does a guest DM do you may ask.  Well in this case you would run a quick 2-5 session adventure.  Your adventure would be outside the story of the main plot and is essentially a break for me and one of you as well as give other players a chance to try out other classes.  After your adventure is finished we would resume play of the current d&d story line.  For simplicities sake I've broken this down into a who, what, where, when, why and how.

Glory Tales (translated from Gnome)

Greetings again Glaindyr''schtmpt! It has been a while since I last regaled you in my adventures, but I have been quite busy indeed! After a daring battle with the defilers of sanctity, the murderous swine, my friends and I were able to continue on our way to Fernmire with a large supply of weapons to distribute across the merchant markets, as well as to finally escorting Eridan to his secret dealer. Of course a dealer in secrets would be impressive, which is clearly why Aridyn asked us to come along; with Garl by our sides we will be victorious!

Our travels were valiantly, heroically, and magnificently boring for the next two days of travel as we approached closer to Furnm'arr. Which is great! More time to fill in your back ''Schtmptsy! Together we will make the world proud of Garl and our ventures; shedding light where there be dark. However, as we approached Fernmyre (I like this one best!) Garl was quick to point out this town is shrouded in the most fiendish of faint glows. Eredan told us all that this place has a strong disposition towards magic and religious: We must be at attention at all times friend. Even at the time of retelling to you, danger is lurking, and mysteries must still be solved.

Tommorow's Session

I'm wanting a little R&R and time to plan the next session much more properly to give you all the fun session you deserve so tommorows D&D session will not be on but next week we can play at MY PLACE ZOMG.  So tommorow (March 9 2010) no D&D but next week (March 16 2010) yes D&D at my place for whenever everyone shows up.  If you guys wanna order pizza or something discuss it in the comments.  Until then I refer you to this link and I'll refer myself to this one.  Also you're all sexy and I wish you all a good day.

Session 19 - Welcome to Fernmire

    This session started with the party looting the bodies of the orc horde and traveling to Fernmire.  One of the things first noticed by Bl'nx was a faint aura of evil that seemed to cover the entire town.  The first thing they did was accompany Areden to the store Unique Tools where the met the gnomes Podpon and Abonwar.  They concluded their business quickly and Areden went to Fernmire's Finest, the finest inn and restaurant in Fernmire.  The party continued to do some shopping and sold all of the weapons and armour they picked off the orcs as well as went to purchase a few items.  The big ticket purchases are Bl'nx's armour coming in at 2300 gold and Saloch's fancy robe at 50 gold.  For some context Bl'nx spent the equivalent of 230 000 dollars on armour and Saloch spent 5000 dollars on a robe.  The party then went to spend a night at The Sparrow's Inn.  Zanben set out to make a deal with the inn keeper to perform in exchange for free room and board and spent his day advertising himself around town.
      Later that night at roughly 8 o'clock an incredibly thick fog covered the entire city.  It soon became almost impossible to see anything in the fog and many of the residents went home.  Unfortunatly for Zanben this meant that there was a very small crowd and he did not net as much money as he thought he would.  Bl'nx decided to stand outside of the inn and wait for anything bad to happen as he was definatly suspicious of this fog.

It was around this time that mike had to go home which is unfortunate because he keeps missing all the fun stuff. 

Session 19

Session 19 will be at Tai's place at 6:30.  A full recap can be found here.  A brief recap can be found here.  The party looted the cave of the hag,  They then continued travelling until they got to a horde of orcs.  They challenged the orcs to a one on on fight to avoid paying the toll and ended up slaughtering the lot of them.

Session 18 - Aggressive Negotiations

    Saloch grew weary of waiting for the group to return from the cavern so he set out after them tracking them through the undeground fort and making it to the hags cavern.  He then helped the party loot the room by summoning water elementals to bring everything they could find underwater back to them.  The water elemental returned with a dead Kuo-Toa cleric, scrolls, gold, platinum, crystal starfish, and a squishy ball of tentacles contains in a translucent membrane.  The party decided that they had found everything of value here and left the cavern.  There was a brief argument between Bl'nx and the rest of the party about disabling the traps. 
    Once again the party was on it's way to Fernmire when the unthinkable happened.  A horde of 40 orcs was standing on the road demanding tribute from party in everything that they owned.  Areden cast tongues on Zanben and Zanben headed up the negotiations.  Zanben negotiated witht  the orc chief that if the party's best could beat the orcs best in a game of wrestling then the orc would let them pass for free, if not they would pay the toll.  Eventually this got changed to a fight to the death and the orcs sent out their champion, a large strong beast with a battle axe.   Bl'nx was nominated as the party's strongest though he wasn't allowed to use his horse.  The battle started and the orc quickly overwhelmed Bl'nx.   Bl'nx then retreated behind Saloch and everything went to shit.  The entire party and the orc horde went to arms with Areden disarming people and Bl'nx and his horse chopping and kicking people and Kyler impaling people and Saloch burning people and Ellie scratching people and Dankil hacking people and Areden blasting people.  The fight was quickly won considering the party's numbers and the party now continues on their way.