The Chronicles of Zahhak

The Chronicles of Zahhak - Chapter 1

We begin with a description of the hero of the story, me, Zahhak. I am above average height, black haired and often seen wearing blackened plate armor and two silvered short swords. I’m a man of many talents chief among them directed application of violence against a wide assortment of targets. 

Zahhak (Assassin 3)
Neutral
Str 16
Int 9
Wis 8
Dex 16
Con 10
Chr 9
HP: 15
AC: 8
Proficiencies: Fighting Style Two weapon fighting, Combat Reflexes, Intimidate

I also have hired a few men of different talents to help me. First is my truest friend Ali. A man with the ability to find anything and sweet talk any merchant out of his own home. While not much use in combat he does try to keep his talents up with his short sword and arbalest.

Ali (Venturer 2) (Zahhak’s henchman)
Neutral
Str 10
Int 9
Wis 8
Dex 9
Con 10
Chr 16
HP: 5
AC: 2
Proficiencies: Bargaining x2

My other companion is Surtr. He is a barbarian from the frozen wastes of Kahl. While he doesn’t speak much he can sure hit hard enough to make up for that. In addition he can take a hit like few I’ve ever seen. He also handles tracking down those pesky targets who manage to avoid my first attempt. 

Surtr (Barbarian 2) (Zahhak’s Henchman)
Neutral
Str 16
Int 10
Wis 7
Dex 10
Con 16
Chr 6
HP: 13
AC: 5
Proficiencies: Weapon Focus: Spears, Tracking

Our heroes begin their journey in Tidewater Bay, de facto capital of Zahre, one of the most troubled kingdoms in the entire kingdom of Rylia. Recently released from guild duties for the time being Zahhak is out looking for work when fortune smiles upon him. I spy a lone fighter chatting up a cleric with a decent sized retinue. Hearing the fighter mention he needs more muscle to follow a treasure map he’s acquired I jump at the opportunity and offer my services. Seeing a man of such obvious skill and refinement of course they bring me in. 

The fighter, Heimdall seems a bit too enthused about his job title but other than that a decent enough sort. He wears plate, carries a silvered warhammer and all in all looks like someone I would not want to mess with, well if he saw me coming anyway. 

Heimdall Rodgar III (Fighter 3)
Neutral
Str 13
Int 9
Wis 13
Dex 9
Con 13
Chr 8
HP: 15
AC: 7
Proficiencies: Alertness, endurance, fighting style: Two handed weapons

The cleric Caius, seems like a trusting sort, honestly too trusting. I told him I was a member of the guild and he asked me which one. Otherwise seems like a decent enough fighter and must have some skill at command since he has a decent sized retinue with him. He wears a suit of plate and carries a silvered mace and shield.
Caius (Cleric 3)
Neutral
Str 14
Int 13
Wis 13
Dex 9
Con 9
Chr 13
HP: 15
AC: 7
Proficiencies: Riding, Healing, Lay on Hands

In his party he’d hired 6 peasants, 3 slingers, and 3 light infantry mercenaries to accompany him through the wilderness. To round this retinue out he had his own hired companion, an impressively armored fellow named Ulric.
Ulric (fighter 2) (Caius’s Henchman)
Str 16
Int 13
Wis 7
Dex 16
Con 8
Chr 12
HP: 7
AC: 10
Proficiencies: Fighting Style: Weapon and Shield, Knowledge Woodworking, Siege Engineering

Our intrepid band heads off to the north and before we even make it to the next town are set upon by a fairly large group of bandits. Alis silver tongue proved invaluable at the time and impressed upon these poor souls the danger of attacking  member in good standing with the guild. In fact he impressed them so much that they decided to trade with us and one of them even agreed to sign on to work with me. At first he seemed a little reluctant but at the mention of the 25 gold signing bonus he jumped at the offer. 

Dale Grapevalley (Fighter 2) (Zahhaks Henchman) (Fanatically Loyal +1 to future moral rolls)
Str 17
Int 7
Wis 9
Dex 10
Con 12
Chr 12
HP: 7
AC: 8
Proficiencies: Fighting Style: Weapon and Shield, Endurance

After that our journey north was mostly uneventful although we kept hearing rumors of trouble to the north. Apparently a small horde had snuck in raid while the aegis was dealing with a much larger one. Eventually we got to the city of nobridge, the manufacturing center for the aegis. It was practically deserted, just a few diehards and city guard to try and keep some semblance of law. I immediately switched into my leather armor and set off with my trusted companion Ali, we searched everywhere but only managed to liberate a few paltry goods, barely enough to cover hiring Dale. The others went off to find out information and found that some adventurers were trying to marshal an army to take on the orc horde. We set out to join their army and went straight to the Aegis fort Aegis IV (not a creative lot the Aegis). 

Upon arriving we find it almost completely deserted just under 30 men holding the entire thing. Now my companions completely of their own volition decide to talk to the man in charge of the fort to distract him while i liberate some unused possessions from their dusty prisons. After a successful foray through the barracks we negotiate to leave our wagons in the fort and head out.

We soon realize we won’t make it in time to the army and decide to just head towards the treasure maps location and make straight for the swamp. We manage to avoid most encounters until day three when we stumble into a lair of giant crabs. This was our groups first real fight and it was a bit of a bloodbath. Both sides were heavily armored and it took quite a bit to hit almost anybody. Unfortunately for our side the crabs quickly found that the mercenaries were not so heavily armored and started cleaving through them like soft butter. Eventually we triumphed, however we had lost all but two of our mercenaries.

That was the end of the day and we had to camp for the night. Late at night during Ali and Surtr’s watch a horde of zombies shambles out of the swamp to attack us. At first this looked like a real tough fight. There were 20 some zombies and only 2 of us were in armor. Our cleric as well only managed to turn 2 before they overcame his holy power. We all formed up around the campfire and tried to shoot what we could down. This proved to be a surprisingly good tactic as even Ali could, apparently, shoot one of them down a round and those of us with more training could shoot down one or two. Our only casualty was Ulric who without his massive armor had a hand torn off and eaten before we could help him. Luckily he will still be able to fight if he gets a weeks bed rest. We decide to head back to aegis IV to recover, since nobody thought the swamp was a great place to stay for a week. 

Next morning we packed up and rode out of the swamps. One surprising upside to losing most of our mercenaries is that we could now fit our party on the horses we’d brought with us. Our way out of the swamp was quite uneventful, but as soon as we made it back into the border lands that changed. Every 6 miles some fresh new horror popped out of the ground, first a purple worm, than a lamia, than a 10 headed hydra. Of course we judiciously retreated from each, and luckily for us none of them chased us. We eventually made it back to Aegis IV and found the returning heroes from the battle. Upon arriving the remaining mercenaries claimed they were fed up with Caius’s tactics and stomped off. The place was positively swarming with soldiers and peasant militia, but even so we managed to secure a place to stay for a week so Ulric could heal up. 

After the week we head out a few miles from the fort to see if any monsters had taken advantage of the recent chaos to set up shop. We were in luck and quickly found a small goblin camp. We jumped them and despite almost knocking out Dale, none of our party fell to them. One of them claimed to be some King Rodney and kept screaming about some deal we were breaking, but we ignored his obvious lies. A decent enough haul came from “King” Rodneys little lair, approximately 900 gold worth of supplies and most of that in gems.

Had the second session tonight, man it was a wild ride. Will post it up later when I get the energy to. Only thing I’ll say is I legitimately thought it would be a TPK at least three times.

Great opening session! I will look forward to your next write-up.

How many players are there, 3?

yeah three players. Sorry the write up is taking too long we left some book keeping stuff to after the session and haven’t had time to figure it all out.

Chapter 2 - The Roller Coaster of Death

Since we were fresh out of mercenaries we hired 4 more light infantry and 2 slingers in Aegis IV. We then set back out for Moak To, where our treasure map pointed too. We had a surprisingly easy trek through the swamp and into the dead forest Moak To resides in. There was a band of goblin riders that came uncomfortably close to us but we managed to avoid them. We quickly set up camp outside the burial mound and left the mercenaries to guard it. 

We tied some rope to a nearby dead tree and rappelled into the mound. I was of course first into danger and the rest quickly shimmied down after me. We looked around and all the walls were filled with elf skulls stacked like bricks. We were in a crossroads with 4 paths spiraling off into the darkness. Steeling ourselves against the horrors that were obviously about to find us we choose one and went down it. We came upon an unlocked door and I peeked through. There was a strange silver dome in the center of the room and nothing else. I pried an elven skull out of the wall and threw it at it. It made a strange sound almost as if it were hollow. Deciding the elfs skull was too fragile I scrounged up a largeish stone and threw it at the dome, which cracked it and revealed a tunnel going down. It also revealed a menacing green gas that began filling the room. Still at the doorway I quickly shut the door and fled as quick as possible. We waited a little bit by the crossroads again but the gas didn’t seem to follow us. 

 We then went a different route and found another unlocked door. Heimdall opened this one and saw it filled to the brim with 20 skeleton warriors who quickly leapt at us. We immediately formed a battle line with me and Heimdall holding the front rank. Surtr came in behind and started attacking over the front rank with a spear. Caius began chanting a spell that blunted the assault of the undead. The rest of the party stayed ready to jump in the fight but couldn’t make it into the fray. After a few rounds Heimdall was drawing a bunch of the shots and was barely standing he retreated to the back and Ulric took the front. Eventually we re-killed the undead swept up their remains and decided to retreat to the surface for the night so Heimdall could heal and Caius could regain his spells.

 Early next morning as we were fixing breakfast we heard a strange sound of monstrous wings flapping as a swarm of giant bats descended upon us. It was a brutal fight as the majority of our mercenaries were killed. All of our main band survived but many of us were barely standing. We decided we needed to wait another day to recuperate and than we’d head back and come back with a larger group. 

 Just before we all went to bed we heard light footsteps quickly approaching us. Then an elven voice rang out and taunted us. I personally don’t speak elvish but Caius surprised us all with his command of the tongue. He exchanged a few quick words then shouted out in common for us to be ready and the arrows started showering us. The majority of the party charged the leader of these strange ashen elves while I attacked the elves on the left flank. Ali and the mercenaries still alive also started shooting the right flank. The elves struck with such ferocity and speed that things looked truly bad for us. Than with horror we watched as the plate wearing leader quickly cast his own spell before we could react. His already formidable armor was suddenly almost uncrackable. Luckily the same could not be said for the elves he brought with him who we dispatched fairly easily. The men fighting their leader were all fantastic fighters and despite the combination of elvish grace, strong plate, and foul sorcery, they managed to wound him severely. They also were quite adapt at defense themselves and the only one he managed to hit for any serious damage was Caius who went down shrieking when the bottom two fingers of his hand were cut off. Ali quickly bandaged his wounds and prevented them becoming even worse. Finally after taking wounds that would kill me twice over the damned elf tried to flee. As he turned his sorcerous shield couldn’t protect him and Heimdall and Surtr finally managed to fell him. We stripped him of gear, including a magic ring!, and cut off his head to take with us. We figured someone that tough to take down must be somewhat important maybe we could identify him when we got back to civilization.

 Just before daybreak as we were preparing to leave this cursed place for good and not come back until we had a freaking army at our backs, we turned and saw two hauntingly familiar faces. It seems two of the mercenaries that had died in the bat attack had risen again as vampires. Caius quickly shouted out to us to use fire and ran to the horses to grab his stash of holy water. All of us with silvered weapons struck at them and the rest grabbed burning sticks out of the fire and swarmed them. The two vampires quickly struck down and drained Ulric. We managed to crush one of them who immediately vanished in a puff of smoke. After that the other one jumped Surtr and drained him as well. Seeing that the sun was fast approaching he called down horrible beasts upon us and disappeared as well. We quickly stripped our fallen, staked them through the heart and through them on the fire. Than we hopped on our horses and rode as quickly as possible.

 The way back through the swamps while scary was actually also pretty simple. We outrode anything vaguely threatening that came close to us. eventually we found a strange inn amongst some rice paddies in the swamp. Named the Silver Dragon Inn it was apparently a staging grounds for adventurous types heading into the swamps. We stayed and negotiated with the locals to see if any would sign on with me. Dorik Bluffbeard a stout Dwarven Warrior signed on with us.

Dorikk Bluffbeard (Dwarven Vaultguard 2)
Neutral
Str 13
Int 11
Wis 6
Dex 13
Con 13
Chr 10
HP: 14
AC: 8
Proficiencies: Weapon focus Axes, Endurance

After that we quickly made it back to shrubland and ran into a small band of elves from Yivenarr’s Haven patrolling against the dark elves. We mentioned to them the Dark elf we ran into by Moak To and showed them the head. They said he had a bounty on him and was a known mass murderer. All we had to do was visit the haven and show them the head to collect. Only one other significant event happened on the way to Aegis V. We met with a down on his luck explorer by the name of Shea La’Piet. Caius manage to  persuad him that his future lay with us. 

Shea La’Piet (Explorer 2)
Neutral
Str 9
Int 13
Wis 10
Dex 18
Con 8
Chr 5
HP: 5
AC: 7
Proficiencies: Fighting Style Missile Weapons, Trapping, Naturalism

Before we leave we hire our usual crop of mercenaries, since all the other ones had run off or dies, we really need to up our hiring standards. Setting off from Aegis V we met a fellow adventuring band that also agreed to join up with us. First among them was Calder a stealthy fellow with two shortswords in hand.
Calder (Thief 4)
Neutral
Str 16
Int 9
Wis 7
Dex 18
Con 10
Chr 13
HP: 10
AC: 5
Proficiencies: Acrobatics and Tracking

With him he had two wiry looking helpers, a mage named Domingo and aVenturer named Jack.
Domingo (Mage 2)
Neutral
Str 8
Int 16
Wis 9
Dex 11
Con 13
Chr 8
HP: 8
AC: 0
Proficiencies: Alchemy 3 and Familiar Raven, Raven has Magical Enginering and Language Common
Jack (Venturer 1)
Neutral
Str 12
Int 13
Wis 9
Dex 10
Con 18
Chr 18
HP: 3
AC: 2
Proficiencies: Bargaining 3

We immediately set off for Yivenars haven to claim our bounty. We headed to the small town of lakeside to catch a boat up the river. We secured passage on the boat to the haven. It was for once a peaceful trip and we arrived with no issue. Upon arriving we found out that the humans in the area were currently being attacked by a fringe group of elves. Deciding that was too far above our paygrade we head for the local guard and get our bounty. They give us the bounty 200 gold!

We  had heard of a group of bandits nearby and decided to head off towards where they had been reported to see if we could do something about them. Only a few miles away from the haven we run into a huge gnoll warband marauding through the area. We decide to take them on. Unfortunately they proove to be far tougher than we thought. We have all of our mercenaries fall and I myself eventually fall to the champion. Waking up Caius tells me my lungs and heart have been damaged and my health will never be the same.

After that we have to retreat and head back to the haven. On the way back we accidentally stumble into a Giant Black Spider lair. Deciding discretion is the better part of valor we run for our lives and luckily after a quick tap from Dorikk they decide not to chase us too far. Arriving in the Haven we quickly track down a cleric who has the sufficient ability to regrow Caiuses fingers and heal my lungs/heart. Unfortunately for both of us we require two weeks of bedrest to heal from the magic fully. While we do this Domingo practices his potion making skills and makes a potion of sharpness. We also manage to track down some mercenaries and deciding to try quality over quantity we hire 6 heavy cav, hoping they might last a little longer. We also gather a bunch of birthwort and hire several chiurgens to try and protect us as we go to clear out the Giant Spider lair.

Oooph, heart damage! The worst. Did you get any Tampering With Mortality effects?

No tampering effects just bed rest luckily.