Barons of Bellevue

[Ancalagon]

Rif and Gritznak attacked each other but, at the early going, neither could get past the other's shield. Short Shanks ran up to stab the blinded goblin and kobolds who desperately fought back. A goblin and a kobold were put down fairly easily before the last kobold managed a wicked stab to Short Shanks with a dagger, dropping the halfling. Eribus then moved up and, with the luck of a god or two, managed to bash in the brains of the last kobold present with his staff. (Eribus has a low STR with a penalty to melee so this was fairly impressive).

At that point, Gritznak's greater size and natural savagery overwhelmed Rif's defense and he landed a spectacular blow that dropped the warrior priest in one blow. The gnoll then turned his gaze to Eribus... who suddenly realized his companions were all either unconscious or dead.

Almost as if in answer to a silent prayer, Resnick, the priest of Ealor, god of the sea, sprinted past Eribus and engaged Gritznak with is trident! The gnoll towered over Resnick just as he had Rif but the priest gave no ground. Eribus had no potent magicks available to him so he decided to try something with the last bit of sorcery he had left. He held out his right hand and spoke the word to a simple spell. The luck of the god or two was still with Eribus as the managed to use a mage hand to wrest Gritznak's broadsword from his grasp and bring it to his waiting hand! The surprised gnoll bellowed with rage and began swinging his shield as a weapon, attempting to bash Resnick. In so doing, Gritznak's defenses were weaker thus allowing Resnick to stab with his trident. Eribus made a wide circle around the combatants so as to approach Gritznack from the rear. Eribus attacked clumsily with the broadsword but managed to wound Gritznak. The gnoll wheeled to face the small man but in so doing, stumbled (rolled a "1" for the attack which resulted in a fumble) and fell forward, onto the sword, impaled himself then died.

[Captain_Blood]

I do like it when the world doesn't wait on the PCs, but who woke the halfling?

[Ancalagon]

The duration of the sleep spell was long expired when the ruckus started outside. Between that and the other PCs moving downstairs, Short Shanks awoke on his own.

[Ancalagon]

Resnick immediately tended to his fallen companions. By the grace of Ealor and applications of sea salt, wounds were closed and lives saved. The ranger who had been absent during the fight (player missed the session) returned to the Empty Flagon. He had been the first to run out and face the attackers, fighting with the locals at the outskirts of town. Most of Gritznak's forces were slain but a few fled into the night. Some townsfolk were injured. Some were killed. Nearly all of the structures were saved from the flaming arrows the goblins shot. Unconscious goblins, kobolds, and a gnoll were finished off when discovered.

Eribus examined Gritznak and found two golden earrings, a gold necklace, and an old, worn-looking iron ring on a finger, in addition to the shield he carried and a large hauberk he wore. He took the gold items and the iron ring then gave the broadsword to Ulrich.

The exhausted party returned to the Empty Flagon for some well-earned sleep.

By noon the next day everyone was awake and gathered in the common room. Food and ale were enjoyed. Discussion turned to making one last trip to Gritznak's dungeon lair which should, if luck was with them, should be pretty much deserted. Before making the trip, Eribus wanted to examine the items taken from Gritznak and a scroll tune he picked up on a previous excursion to the dungeon. Later that evening the wizard determined the iron ring and broad sword to be enchanted. He opened the scroll tube and found three spells he subsequently copied in to his grimoire.

Over the next few days as repairs were made in town and companions healed, Eribus ascertained that the ring offered its wearer a small degree of magical protection from attacks and avoiding harmful occurrences (+1 Ring of Protection that also granted the bonus to all saving throws). The broad sword was of elvish make with its name, Fëanáro, meaning Spirit of Fire, etched along the blade. The wizard discovered the command words to make the blade erupt in flame and to extinguish said flame. It was quite clear that Gritznak did not know what he possessed.

Rif claimed the iron ring and Ulrich kept the broad sword since both were prone to charge into battle. Nearly a week after the battle with Gritznak, the party, save Resnick, made ready to return to the dungeon lair. The cleric of Ealor yearned to return to the sea as it had been too long since he last smelled the salt air and felt the touch of the tides... plus he needed to replenish his store of sea salt as it was nearly exhausted with all of the healing blessings he has bestowed. (The player is out-of-state with work for the next few months so its a convenient way to have Resnick available when the player returns).

[Necron 99]

Cool session. I like the take on the ocean going cleric, pretty nifty.

[Ancalagon]

Thanks!

We had two new players, a married couple, take a seat at the game table today. Jen is playing a bard and Andrew is playing a rogue. They'll get the same deal as other new players: attend three consecutive sessions. If you dig the game, great! If its not your cup of tea, great - peace be with you and no harm no foul. So far so good. Next session is two weeks from today.

[Arashi]

Rif has quickly turned out to be my favorite character I've played. And I've played more than a few the past two years. Delimbeya Song-Weaver was quite fun too, even though I could never quite get into the character. Playing the coward certainly worked to the character's advantage, although she was starting to come around at the end.

Interestingly, in the 2e campaign Morgan ran, my characters were always team players who were willing to put their lives on the line for the better good. In the C&C campaign you run, I've played a coward who would literally close a door trapping her fellow party members in a room with hostiles, and a cleric who by design can't heal most party members, is not fond of non-humans, does not have a problem with wizards exploding dwarven heads like overripe watermelons, and generally is not much of a team player. Obviously, my DM brings out the worst in me!

The Barons of Bellevue group is an absolute blast. The only complaint I've ever been able to field is the sometimes month plus long breaks between sessions. I certainly think the current group of players is better now than at any point in the previous two years I've been gaming with the group.

[Ancalagon]

Greetings, Arashi. May your zombies remain intact.

I always enjoy seeing and hearing what Rif comes up with during a session. From a DM standpoint, I'm really digging your take on the cleric class. Not a healbot!

The only thing I'd change about our group is to lengthen the game sessions from 4 hours every other Sunday to 6 hours. Looking forward to the next session!

[Arashi]

Greetings, Arashi. May your zombies remain intact.

I always enjoy seeing and hearing what Rif comes up with during a session. From a DM standpoint, I'm really digging your take on the cleric class. Not a healbot!

The only thing I'd change about our group is to lengthen the game sessions from 4 hours every other Sunday to 6 hours. Looking forward to the next session!

I had to google the zombie reference.

I enjoy coming up with Rif's "codes" as well. They're definitely a work in progress. For the wizard, this applies: "A man who cannot think is worthy of no respect; nor is a man who can do nothing but think." Implies wizards, who are quite intellectual and less "hands-on" are frowned upon by the Augustin "codes". Rif doesn't like magic users in general, because they don't fight face to face. Enter Erebus, who as far as he knows slew a gnoll with the beast's own weapon. That man can think (respect), and can act (respect), and thus Rif can/will bestow Augustus' blessings upon him.

Rif doesn't like magic-users, archers or any other ranged attacker types, doesn't like demi-humans all that much and Volrag only helped solidify those views. Who exactly does Rif like? He likes Rif. He could theoretically learn to like Bigby, but every time the hobbit opens his mouth those odds dwindle.

6 hour sessions or weekly sessions. Weekly might be a bit much these days even for me though. I'm now up to running three game sessions a week, two plus one I play in on weeks we have a Barons game scheduled. It gets a little overwhelming at times! Keeps me from getting bored while stuck in the US though.

[Ancalagon]

I'm diggin' the "codes" of Rif. And your expressions every time Bigby spouts off. I'm curious to see how Devin plays him once he returns to the table v the somewhat comic relief I've been using him as while he's been away.