Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for December 21, 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), Grozzadeth Boulderback (Dwarf played by Kaliegh Belda), 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 team traveled on and found another village.  While exploring, they encountered a pair of hellhounds rushing out of the ruins!  Both converged on Kalana, biting and breathing fire!  The priestess was unable to withstand the brutal attack and died quickly.  Once they regrouped, the team was able to quickly defeat the hellhounds and bury their fallen ally.

Digging the grave took some time, and they decided to make camp in one of the roofless ruins. During Grozzadeth’s watch, four massive bats flew in and attacked!  The team scrambled to wake up and fight!  Katarina warded herself with shield while Arminious illuminated the darkness with a torch allowing everyone to take up the battle.  With the bats now visible, the group converged and started taking them down.  The bats inflicted several wounds but could not withstand the entire team. 

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.