Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for December 14, 2021, Classic Quest campaign, Dungeons & Dragons BECMI / RC Edition, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Garadal Davster (Halfling played by Parker Harmon), Koehan Rumisar (Elf played by Peyton Harmon), and Valor Eagleclaw (Human Fighter played by Preston Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The party headed out of the village and came across an ornate arch.  They investigated and found a pair of mountain lions!  The lions attacked the party but one was driven off and the other slain.  After the skirmish, the team headed further into the valley.

They came upon a bridge and looked under it for trolls.  They began to cross and heard buzzing.  Half a dozen stirges rose up and attacked!  In moments, the parasites had attached themselves to multiple party members and were plumping up with drained blood!  Blood sprayed everywhere as the party began slaying stirges.  The blood-slicked bridge was a hazardous mess by the time the fight was finished.

The team spent the night in a small hovel, and Valor spotted some more Hutaakan undead, zombies and skeletons, in the night but decided not to follow.  The next day they came upon another village and searched it finding much the same as the first.  They also discovered lots of lizard footprints and tracked them to a shrine.  They discovered the shrine had been desecrated and found footprints and evidence of living humans! 

Game summary for December 7, 2021, Classic Quest campaign, Dungeons & Dragons BECMI / RC Edition, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Arminious Ironkeep (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Garadal Davster (Halfling played by Parker Harmon), Katarina Magdanov (Human Magic-User played by Casey Scruggs), Koehan Rumisar (Elf played by Peyton Harmon), and Valor Eagleclaw (Human Fighter played by Preston Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The group followed the undead to a farmhouse and found more zombie Hutaakans farming (ineffectively).  The team stayed the night in the house, and Koehan watched the undead stop farming early in the morning and head off into the night.  In the morning, the group went back to the road and continued traveling.

They came upon a shrine and found it had been desecrated.  A while later they came upon an old village and began exploring.  They found the remains of a zombie that was badly burned and partially devoured.  Around it they found gory canine footprints.  Throughout the village they found long dead bodies from some skirmish between what they assume to be Hutaakans and humans.  They are starting to develop a theory that either the two races had a falling out or a faction of one or the other turned on the rest. 

Game summary for November 30, 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.

Arminious took a sling and drove off the lizard.  He then used the ropes and crossed the rockslide.  Then, Katarina had the idea of using the wand of polymorph again.  They debated a while and decided for her to shift into a pegasus form.  She then scouted ahead and found the road crossed a fallen bridge up to some impressive gates.  Katarina returned to the party and shifted back to human form.  They decided to use the wand again and ferry everyone to the gates rather than continue trying to ascend along the treacherous roadway.

It took a couple hours to fly everyone back and forth, but eventually Katarina ferried everyone to the other side of the gates.  They went and examined the hieroglyphics all over the gates and discovered they told a story.  They deduced the Hutaakans fled to this valley along with a group of bald humans.  Best they could tell, they had been chased here by gnolls! 

The team set out along the road in search of a place to camp for the night.  Koehan found clawed humanoid tracks crossing their path and tracked back the way they came.  He could see a group of Hutaakans farming in the dark.  He came back and reported to the party before tracking the other direction.  He found another group of Hutaakans drawing water from a well.  Koehan came back to the party, and they decided to wait on the road for the well Hutaakans to come back to the farm so they could try and talk to them.

After a while, the Hutaakans appeared over a hill carrying sloshing buckets of water.  Oddly, some of the buckets were in terrible shape and leaking water everywhere.  Then, the smell hit them.  The party was horrified to discover these Hutaakans were undead!  The shambling dead completely ignored the team and shuffled past.

Game summary for November 23, 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 griffon tore into Arminious and Garadal!  The team hit it with several attacks including a thrown dagger and a magic missile.  However, it was Koehan who proved lethal when he bound it with a web spell mid-air!  Arminious then went about tending to the wounded.

They came upon another much wider rockslide.  They tied off Garadal and sent him across.  He got the rope detached and anchored to a dagger driven into the ground.  From behind, he heard a rattling.  He spun about just in time to block a rattlesnake bite!  He took the hammer he used to drive in the dagger and bashed the snake to death.  The team then went about debating how to anchor the rope on their side.  After a while, a giant tuatara lizard came up the side of the mountain and attacked Garadal!  He tried to scurry back across the rockslide and ended up dislodging half of it!  He was hit by several falling rocks but made it to the other side just before a huge section plunged toward the valley floor. 

Game summary for November 16, 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 began the treacherous ascent up the mountain roadway.  They found themselves along a sheer mountainside moving across a narrow path.  High up they came across a rockslide.  They tied off Garadal and sent him scampering across.  He used a warhammer and drove a dagger into a crack in the wall.  He used that as an anchor point for a rope.  Slowly the rest of the team was able to make it across. 

Later they found a place where the road had collapsed and a waterfall cascaded down across their path!  The rushing water roared in their ears as they considered options.  Garadal was able to work his way under the waterfall to the other side.  Using his incredible strength, Valor was able to get through as well although he nearly got knocked free.  The two of them secured the rope on an outcropping as the rest of the team did the same on their side.  Koehan tied a safety rope and attempted a rope traverse high in the air beside a rushing waterfall!  He nearly made it too.

Koehan fell off the rope, but his safety held!  He pulled himself back up to the main rope and made it across.  Stephan and Kalana were able to cross uneventfully.  Arminious, however, fell like Koehan!  Much weaker than the elf, he struggled to right himself.  He was able to get across, but it was very tense!  Katarina used their new wand of polymorphing and turned into an eagle!  She flew across with ease.  Selwyn took up the rear and was bringing the ropes across when he slipped!  He fell into the waterfall and was bashed repeatedly against the rocks.  By the time they hauled him up, he had perished in the accident. 

The group had a few words of mourning for their fallen guide.  They wrapped the body, and Valor agreed to carry him out.  As they continued on, a screech ripped the air and a griffon swooped in to the attack!

Game summary for November 9, 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.

Koehan stepped into the room and was charged by both statues.  He was able to slow them down with a web spell, but they were quickly ripping free.  The team moved around the room and tried the rear door.  It opened easily, and so much of the party exited.  However, on the way out, Levi noticed some potentially valuable items sitting on the ground.  The statues took up pursuit, and the team decided they would try and maneuver them off the bridge. 

Garadal hit one of the statues with an arrow, and it just stuck to its head.  Meanwhile, Levi used some acrobatics, leverage, and his gauntlets to unbalance one of the statues and plunge it into the river!  Valor hit the other statue with his two-handed sword, and it stuck fast!  Moments later, the metal of the arrow and the sword were absorbed into the statue.  The team worked together to trip up the last statue and plunge it into the river as well. 

The party went back into the tower and retrieved a magical wand and a scroll with numerous powerful spells!

Game summary for November 2, 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.

Face-to-face with Mythranthraxus, the team began to negotiate.  The dragon listened and then calmly made the statement it could have all their valuables and dinner.  So, what could they offer that the dragon couldn’t simply take? 

After some discussion, they realized the dragon could truly take any physical possession they had.  In fact, it already considered all of it its own anyway.  Also, they didn’t possess information of value to the dragon.  However, perhaps they could provide some kind of service?  The dragon very much liked this idea.  It agreed to take them across the valley and give the information it knew about the Hutaakans in exchange for 1 year of service from each of them. 

The dragon told them about Hutaakan culture and that it had actually seen one within the last century!  It then flew off for a few minutes and returned with two wagons it carried by ropes.  The party climbed into the wagons, and the great wyrm flew them across the valley to the base of the waterfall and the ruins of the old road.  The group ascended to the bridge over the waterfall and found a trio of gnoll skeletons.  They examined the bodies and their weapons and found that the axe heads and spear tips were missing.  Koehan then examined the door leading into the guard tower.  The door had a pattern of needles and thread.  He opened the door and revealed a somewhat ruined interior occupied by two metallic statues.

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.

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! 

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!