Well its that time of the month again - that's right - Frostgrave campaign day. Our campaign group got together on Saturday, 25 June, for our monthly game. All seven players showed up. We were using some modified scenarios that would prove to be interesting.
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| A view of the table layout |
On to the day's events.....but told in a different manner than usual.
An extract from the recovered journal of a dwarf named Denim....
Finally my fortunes seem to have made a turn for the better. I was able to secure a position with a wizard who goes by the name of Knabe. I had heard of his fame but never thought that I would one day be counted as a member of his powerful warband.
It all started as I entered an obscure looking inn, looking to rest my weary legs and warm my frozen body. I ordered up a pint of ale and settled in near the fireplace. I must have dozed off for I awoke to a thin elf tapping me on the shoulder. "Pardon me kind dwarf but you have the air of an adventurous soul about you. Would you perchance be looking for some work?" I was taken aback, both from being woken up, and secondly from an elf speaking politely to a dwarf. After a minute or so, I replied that I was indeed seeking employment. "Fine, fine....I am called Vogel. My master is a noble wizard who is in need of replacing a couple chaps who recently abruptly left his service. Would you be available tomorrow morning for an interview?"
And that is how I came to be in the service of Knabe and his strange band of adventurers. Besides a couple elves, there were several other dwarves (no relation) and a human. But the oddest members were his menagerie consisting of a bear, a leopard, a fox, and a roost of snow owls. This should prove to be an interesting work environment...and from what I hear from the others, quite profitable.
Today, after just a week of getting acquainted with Knabe and the rest of the team, we are heading into a new area of the frozen city. Supposedly one of the most wealthy warbands had disappeared there many months ago. Knabe was hoping to find their remains and pick up some easy loot. I like the sound of that.
Another rumor being spread is the return of dragons. One of the regular sots was telling this tale to anyone who would by him a pint. Pfffttttt. Time to move out, more later.
I was just thrust upwards by one of Knabe's spells to the top of an old tower. Upon entering, I found a sealed chest. Huzzah. Success on my first outing. I can here sounds of fighting off in the distance, but its quiet in here. I'll take a little time and catch my breath before climbing down. Strange, I hear a loud flapping sound, I wonder what th
As heard in the tavern called The Smelly Skunk....
Surrounded by a ragtag bunch of patrons late one night, a dwarf sat at his table drinking a pint of ale.
"I tell ya, today was a serious rush. Knabe runs a good group of lads. We entered the frozen ruins early in the morning. Vogel, that's Knabe's young apprentice, handed me a Potion of Teleportation. telling me to use it wisely. I was proud that he would place such trust in a new hire. Obviously he must have heard of my reputation."
As the dwarf finishes his ale, another is quickly placed in front of him. "Thank you lass...now where was I......oh yeah. Things started slowly as we cautiously moved through the ruins. Knabe wanted to search for the corpses of a previous group that had gone missing months ago.
I move off to the left, following Knabe's animal companions. The snow leopard spots a war hound sniffing around what looks like a corpse; snarling it charges and pounces on the hound. The fight was over fast. As the leopard paused to clean itself, a crossbow bolt comes out of nowhere and skews him - he dropped a rock. A few moments later, a fog arises screening our movement and protecting us from any more shooting attacks. Uhlmann, some kind of bird handler, moved over an searched the corpse; coming up empty handed. Bah, bird handling, what kind of a job is that for a dwarf?
As I was glancing around, I noticed a wizard appear out of thin air on top of a nearby tower. As I pointed him out, Vogel cast some kind of spell on my leather jerkin. Never one to back down from a challenge, I quickly quaffed down the potion and suddenly found myself on the tower watching the wizard pick up a chest. A wall of fog appears beside me - must have been Knabe protecting my backside."
The dwarf pauses to take a sip of ale.
"From over my left shoulder, I hear a slight flapping sound as a snow owl screeches by me. The owl engages the wizard and slightly wounds him. The wizard flails about and eventually kills the owl. Just as I get ready to charge into contact, the wizard drops the chest, salutes me, and quickly climbs over the wall. I guess he knew of my reputation as well. I thought about chasing him but the lure of what the chest contained was too great. I opened it up and saw a sword and a bag of coins. I stuffed them into my backpack.
From my lofty height, I can see a couple of my fellow warband members engaged in a melee with a wizard. It looked like Vaaron but I have only seen him once, so I could be mistaken. With a mighty growl, I watch Knabe's bear charge Vaaron only to be struck down. Ten an orange streak races in an takes out Vararon. Who knew that a fox could be that deadly. Faenger kills a male warrior only to be incapacitated himself by a female fighter. I then saw Knabe's thief get shredded by a wild wolf.
I heard someone shouting 'Dragon.' That was enough to get me to stop sightseeing and get moving down the tower. I'm not afraid of many creatures but even a dragon makes me think twice about hanging around. What good is finding some loot if you don't make it back? Besides, I hear Knabe killed it with one magic attack. I think I have found a great warband to join. If any of you slackers think you have what it takes, you should seek him out. He is looking for a couple more good lads, or lasses."
About that time an elven ranger enters the tavern and the place goes quiet. You don't see elves out socializing much.
"Kruger, Knabe wants everyone back early tonight."
The dwarf nods, drains his mug, and heads out into the night.
Knabe's Tale
While wandering around one of the communities that has sprung up on the outskirts of Felstad (aka Frostgrave), I came upon a man performing tricks with an owl. After his show, I invited him to have some food and drink. I was interested in how well an owl could be trained - and would a trained owl be helpful as my warband and I went about searching and exploring the ancient city. The owl master, who goes by the name Uhlmann, convinced me to hire him. And even got me to put out funds to build an owl roost behind our inn to provide a place for him to train and house his owls. hopefully this expenditure will pay off - I'm finding out that trained owls are not cheap.
I was also able to entice two treasure hunters to join me - Kruger and Denim, both dwarves, and both seemed highly capable.
Prior to leaving the inn, Vogel and I both tried to brew some potions for the outing - but we both failed miserably.
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| Knabe's warband ready for action |
Once we arrived at the point I had chosen to enter the ruins, I tried to divine the location of any nearby treasure items. Once again, my magic failed me. Hopefully this would not be a portent for the rest of the day. The only highlight was Vogel raising up a zombie to assist the warband and calling a snow leopard; who he promptly named Fleck II.
Shortly after entering the ruins, I detected Buck's group to my immediate front and Vaaron's men off to my left. Based on the rumors pickup in various bars and inns, I knew there were others here as well.
I decided it was time to test the meddle of Denim, my newly hired treasure hunter. I cast
Leap on him, propelling him into a tall tower to check it for items of interest. Up he went, disappearing inside. What seemed like a short time later, I hear and feel a tremendous flapping sound as large dragon settles itself on the same tower. I thought to myself, "What foul sorcery is this? Are the rumors true, dragons have returned?" But there was the proof. The sounds of a short fight could be heard and then crunching noises. I could see the dragon's head bobbing up and down as it made a meal out of my new hire. The dragon flosses his teeth with Denim's belt, belches, and flies away.
Seeing this, I then attempted to cast
Enchant Armor on Faenger (treasure hunter) but the trauma of from the dragon must have distracted my casting.
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| The dragon that ate Denim |
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| Kruger, Faenger, and Diebin use Fog to mask their move while Fleck II engages a warhound |
Off to my left, I see Vaaron's crossbow armed minions taking up positions to shoot into my warband. I easily created a wall of
Fog to block their attempt. Since the dragon had left, I cast
Leap on Fritz (marksman) and threw him on the same tower where Denim had met his end.
I then noticed Kruger teleporting himself to top of another tower. What is he up to I wondered? He was in an exposed position so I placed a wall of
Fog to protect him from attacks. He's another new hire treasure hunter, hopefully he lasts longer than Denim.
Off in the distance I heard someone shouting "Dragon". So I changed position and climbed up a small cliff to get a better view across the ruins. I could see a dragon off in the distance but closer was a member of Vaaron's band trying to make off with some loot. A quick
Bone Dart ended that attempt as both man and loot fell into the snow. I shouted the location to Faenger hoping he could intercept.
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| The dragon Knabe killed = fighting the Doctor |
I then turned my attention to the dragon. It looked like it was getting the best of the Doctor and his band. For a moment I considered letting the dragon kill the Doctor but how often does one get a chance to attack a dragon from a position of safety. I carefully prepared a
Bone Dart and concentrated on flying it straight. Of course if it hit the Doctor, that would not be bad either. Fortunately the Bone Dart flew straight and true. It pierced the dragon's skin - seconds later the dragon bellowed once and fell; throwing up a small storm of snow and ice as it hit the ground with a loud thunderous noise. I could not help but cheer, as did Vogel who was standing by my side. My successful cast must have motivated the boy for he then cast
Bone Dart to take out one of the Doctor's marksman.
About then, the light was starting to wane. Not wanting to get caught here after dark, Vogel and I started to head back to meet up with the rest of the lads. Even if we didn't gain any treasure from this outing, I was still pleased - Knabe the Dragon Slayer has a nice sound to it.
As we regrouped. I assessed gains and losses for the day's activities. In addition to Denim, Diebin (thief) and Speck II (snow leopard) did not make it back. Diebin had been one of my first hires when I started my warband, he'll be missed. As for gains, we recovered 100 gold coins, two magic swords (one +2 fight, one +2 damage), and a magic leather jerkin (+1 armor). I successfully cast five spells and Vogel was able to cast three.
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Sorry for the lack of pictures, I was busy trying to record all the action. I hope you enjoyed the report. Now I have to wait a month for the next campaign game.
