Curse of the Void: Recap

[color=darkred][u][size=18]Session 2:[/size][/u]

[u]Characters involved:[/u]
William
Lusre
Verik
Galmen
Dontar
Alyven
Allan

[u]'Boss' enemies:[/u]
[url=www.opnpw.com/saber/cotv/bosses/hozar.rtf]Hozar the Boar, 2nd cheif[/url]

After beating their way through the goblins at the bridge, the group continued on their escape path. They headed to the west gate, and hopefully on to freedom.

About 5 minutes away from the exit, they came upon a swordsman by the name of Allan fighting off a half-dozen goblins by himself. Lusre knew Allan from his intro scenario (they had met in the jail), so he decided to help out. The group followed suit, of course.

As they eliminated the goblins attacking Allan, Hozar, a hobgoblin cheif appeared with his own small army, making sure none would pass to safety. The group was now standing face to face with, again, over two dozen goblins, and even some goblin worg riders, not to mention Hozar himself.

Hozar turned out to be very overconfident, and that was his downfall. The group had to work together well in this battle, as the enemy attacked from two sides. However, in the end, they defeated all of Hozar's waves, and finally Hozar himself. The group surrounded Hozar as he raged, and Hozar died, without dealing any damage to the group personally.

The group exited the town Meksturzan proper, and Allan turned around to return to the town. He was going back to kill more goblins. It was at this time that Verik buried the body of his friend. The group then set out towards Wiach. They traveled for a few hours, to get away from the town, and then made camp. Nothing harrassed their sleep.

[b]End of Session 2.[/b][/color]

[color=darkred][u][size=18]Sessions 3 & 4:[/size][/u]

[u]Characters involved:[/u]
William
Lusre
Verik
Galmen
Dontar
Alyven

The group awoke the next day and proceeded to Wiach. They made it to the city outskirts around late afternoon, and made their way through the city.

On their way in, a most impressive of sights passed them. A small task force of soldiers was leaving Wiach, most definately headed towards Meksturzan. With the task force rolled the pride of Wiach's army, a steam tank.

Dontar had to go take care of some business and had the group meet him at "The Western Lass", a small tavern nearby. The group went there, and hung out for a while. As they waited, they'd periodically leave to make various purchases. Not much was done during this session, merely minor roleplaying.

[b]End of Session 3.[/b]

While still in "The Western Lass", the group eventually got involved in a game of cards. They played blackjack with a young man, and eventually Verik won the deck of cards. Alyven, however, won the night with almost 50 gold worth of winnings. Lusre had a little beginners luck.

Dontar showed up and gave the group some money from Edward. Later that evening, Dontar entered a drinking contest and won handily. Will vowed to never have a drinking contest against Dontar.

This was the first night that Galmen performed in the tavern. He made a fair amount of money that evening, but lost most of it to the card game. The group went to sleep, and again, nothing happened that night.

[b]End of Session 4[/b][/color]

[color=darkred][u][size=18]Session 5:[/size][/u]

[u]Characters involved:[/u]
William
Lusre
Verik
Galmen
Dontar
Alyven

After resting up at "The Western Lass", the group prepared to set out to Cale, to cross the mountains, and then to board a ship to meet Edward in Tinandre. Dontar explained that Edward had arranged for some horses to be available so they could cross the plains to Cale quickly.

On the way to the stables, the group found a stage upon which a traveling salesman was advertising some odd miracle tonics and potions. He had Will come on stage and actually kill one of his sales associates, to prove that his tonic that brought people back to life actually worked. Will slew the man, albiet reluctantly, and the salesman brought the man named Charles back to life, as promised.

The group bought a healing tincture and a few antivenoms from the salesman, who is working for a business known as Westward Tonics Company. They then proceeded to the stables, hopped aboard their horses, and rode to Cale.

The trip to Cale was expected to only take a day, and it did. However, along the way, the group was attacked by a small group of ankhegs, and they lost a horse to an ankheg. Dontar was grappled, but broke free, and Lusre nearly died saving Dontar. William fired his pistol at the ankheg that killed the horse (his horse), and criticalled on the creature, killing it in one blow.

Once the group made it to Cale, they went to an apothecary to receive healing. They bought supplies for the trip through the nearby forest, and sold the horses, as no animals are willing to enter the forest. Galmen again entertained for money, and made a fair amount that night. He spent a lot of it, buying food, drinks, and inn rooms for the entire group.

Before the group went to sleep, they met an old adventurer who knew a lot about the forest. They learned that the spiders within are extremely dangerous, and leave wounds that don't heal, not even with magical healing. The adventurer once was trying to rid the forest of the spiders, but was forced to give up due to the wounds he's received.

The group slept that night, again with no troubles, and then set out in the morning. They entered the forest, and had to light up the lantern they had purchased, as even in full daylight, the forest is as dark as a moonless night. What's worse was, the path was so poor and clustered, the group had to march single file through the beginning part of the forest.

About four hours into the forest, the group took a small rest break. Then, the group started seeing creatures, and Lusre actually saw a creature with six beady eyes. After a short, tense period of waiting and watching, the group began moving again, being cautious of an ambush.

They proceeded on, and stopped after about eight hours of marching. They set up two tents, placed the lantern in the middle of the little camp, and set up two guards. Will and Dontar were the first two guards. During the end of their shift, four huge, deformed spiders attacked.

The spiders dealt damage to Will, Dontar, and Alyven, and left their trademark wounds. Galmen put one of the spiders to sleep (one that was trying to destroy their lantern), and Verik coup de graced it with a smite attack. Lusre broke his bow, and now does not have a ranged weapon.

After the group slew the spiders, they then healed each other up as best as possible, and went back to sleeping and guard shifts. There were no other attacks that night.

[b]End of Session 5.[/b][/color]

[color=darkred][u][size=18]Session 6:[/size][/u]

[u]Characters involved:[/u]
William
Lusre
Verik
Galmen
Dontar
Alyven
Xan

[u]'Boss' enemies:[/u]
[url=www.opnpw.com/saber/cotv/bosses/valaun.rtf]Valaun G'eldyraen[/url]

The group awoke, and got everything together, and set out again for the other side of the forest. The going got tough again, as soon the path narrowed to 5' wide again. After a three hours of travel, the group noticed that it was getting much colder. Lusre thought this unusual, as it doesn't get cold until closer to the mountain base.

The group continued on, and came close to the river crossing. There, Verik heard a man shouting. It was in elven, so the group decided to investigate. Galmen and Lusre went forward to scout. They found a group of arctic elves going to hang one of their own.

After a tough battle against Valaun and his elves, the group emerged barely victorious, after Will pulled Xan out of the water. Valaun was killed right before Verik was knocked unconscious by an archer's arrow. The group talked to Xan and found out that the arctic elves are using a shard of Elemental Ice to freeze the local area. Xan had tried to stop them, and failed. He was then sentenced to death.

The group found a lot of nice equipment on Valaun's body, and they got their first piece of magical equipment (other than potions). Will is now carrying around a Rapier +1. The group ended the session, continuing on, intent on foiling the arctic elves' plot to freeze the area.

[b]End of Session 6.[/b][/color]

[color=darkred][u][size=18]Session 7:[/size][/u]

[u]Characters involved:[/u]
William
Lusre
Verik
Galmen
Dontar
Alyven
Xan
Cob

The group continued on, journeying through the forest. They traveled on for another two hours, and slept. The next day, they continued through the forest, and exited about 7 hours after awakening. Nothing else accosted the group that day, except for increasingly chilly temperatures.

As the group exited the forest and worked their way to the base of the mountains, they met a grizzled woodsman by the name of Cob. It turns out that Cob accidentally caused a small avalanche and blocked the pass ahead. He's interested in going through the mountains too, and offered to help them across with his mountaineering knowledge.

The group accepted his offer, and made it to the base of the mountain. Then, after the group settled into camp, a small group of three orcs attacked during the 2nd shift. The two guards, Will and Cob, made short work of the pitiful attack, with a small bit of help from the awakened Lusre. Nothing else harassed the group that night.

[b]End of Session 7.[/b][/color]

[color=darkred][u][size=18]Session 8:[/size][/u]

[u]Characters involved:[/u]
William
Lusre
Verik
Galmen
Dontar
Alyven
Xan
Cob

The group went to cross the blocked pass, and had to take two trips. Will saved Alyven twice and Cob once, and proved his athletic worth. A few more orcs were killed after they ambushed Cob and Will as they returned for the second trip past the pass.

While they waited, Lusre, Xan, and Verik were attacked in the middle of the night by three worgs. Xan showed everyone just how powerful his spells were, and burned the hell out of one of the worgs. The group finished off two, and the other ran away.

The group, after getting everyone one across successfully, headed on to Adwirar. At Adwirar, they found the small mountain village nearly deserted, with people making large fires to keep warm and using abandoned buildings for places of business. The group stayed at the makeshift boardinghouse, and got to sleep on the floor. It was during their stay that Alyven let the group know that she was staying behind while they scaled the mountain.

The next day, they headed to the merchant and purchased supplies for their journey. They bought a cart, an ox, fifty days worth of rations, and ten days worth of firewood and feed for the ox. They also bought three injections of Hot Blood, an elixer that's supposed to keep a person toasty warm for over a day. These are creations of Westward Tonics Co.; it seemed that a salesman came through the city a few days ago, and sold Adwirar's merchant a large amount of tonics.

The trip up the mountain to the arctic elven cave is difficult at best. during the first day up the mountain, cold was the only thing the party felt. Everyone suffered frostbite, some more than others. No one passed out, and the group made it to a nice cave and made camp. The next day, they awoke to a blizzard, so they had to stay in the cave.

The third day, they proceeded out up the mountain. It was snowing, and the going was cold and hard, the group bogged down due to so much snow. An hour or so before they got to a watch tower on the mountain, they were nearly ran over by boulders. Verik shattered one, and Dontar got hit by one, but got right back up. Dontar is a man's dwarf.

The group made it to the tower, and made camp. They rested around the fire, and slept. The fourth day, they advanced even further up the mountain. They came to what seemed an unscalable rock wall, when a female bugbear came up to them. She initiatied conversation, and pretended to be friendly to the group. In truth, she was biding time until her ally could get into position to ambush. She attacked, surprising the party.

After a hardfought battle, the group emerged victorious. Xan again showed his magical might, dealing a lot of fire damage to both bugbear. Lusre hailed arrows into the bugbear that ambushed him, and Dontar made short work of the female bugbear.

[b]End of Session 8.[/b][/color]

[color=darkred][u][size=18]Session 9:[/size][/u]

[u]Characters involved:[/u]
William
Lusre
Verik
Galmen
Dontar
Xan
Cob
Tomas

The group moved on towards the arctic elf lair. On their way, they came across the bugbear's cave. They decided to enter and explore a little. Lusre and Will found their living area, and found a large amount of food and firewood. Also, the group found a large pile of gold and silver in a wooden chest.

Also in the cave, the group found a prisoner on the edge of death. He was sent by his god Pelor to defeat the elves, but was taken captive by the bugbears. The group rested for a short time in the bugbear cave, and moved on.

The group made it to the base of the climbing stretch of the mountain trek. They decided to make camp, and head out in the morning. The next day, they set to climbing the rock wall.

The going was rough, with many characters nearly falling to a painful demise... However, no one was killed. Will did fall and take a little damage, but this is because he was at the bottom and didn't have as many people to try to save him.

Once at the top, Cob climbed back down, and guarded the camp. The group moved on towards their goal; the elven palace. They went to ambush the guards, but after a while of waiting, the guards eventually left. The group learned a fair amount of information as to the going-ons inside the elves' lair.

The group then went inside, while Verik stayed back to guard the front entrance. After a wrong turn, they encountered a few ice worm creatures. The creatures were extremely cold to the touch, and froze the skin immediately on contact. Dontar was nearly defeated by the worms, but the group made quick work of the four beasts.

The group then took another wrong turn and ended up at a dead end. They proceeded on, and came upon a icy slope downhill to a thin walkway surrounded by nothing but a fall on either side.

[b]End of Session 9.[/b][/color]

[color=darkred][u][size=18]Session 10:[/size][/u]

[u]Characters involved:[/u]
William
Lusre
Verik
Galmen
Dontar
Xan
Tomas

[u]'Boss' enemies:[/u]
[url=www.opnpw.com/saber/cotv/bosses/galiondir.rtf]Galiondir, Arctic Elven Ice Master[/url] (not yet hosted)

The group started their descent down the slope. After Will and Lusre made it down safely, and while Galmen was climbing, the group was ambushed. Two elven archers attacked Will and Lusre, as well as an ice mephit. Four elven spearmen attacked the three on top.

Xan fried two of the spearmen, and Dontar finished the rest. Tomas basically provided coverfire, and Lusre killed one of the archers (Xan killed the other). Will dealt the final blow to the mephit.

As the group left the ambush site, the mephit got back up and flew away. He used his fast healing ability, and got away. The group proceeded through the cave. They got to the heart of the ice palace, and Verik caught up with the group. He provided much needed healing, and talked of a white wolf guarding the entrace of the ice cave.

The group proceeded through the ice palace and searched out the master. They found him in the main chamber of the palace, and he urged everyone out to the open for negotiations. During negotiations, Will lost patience and attacked.

Will dealt the master a fair amount of damage, but then the master backed up and cast an odd ice version of the fireball spell. This knocked Xan and Galmen down to negatives, and harmed the rest of the party.

The group was facing the master of ice, the ice mephit that ran away, two archers, and a swordsman... And the group was already down two warriors. Lusre tried to even the odds by killing the ice master, but his arrows deflected off the master like rain on a duck. Tomas then decided to charge the swordsman. He cleanly slew the swordsman before he knew what hit him.

The battle wore on, and eventually Lusre destroyed the Ice Shard. The shard exploded, dealing damage to both Dontar and Will. Will was soon after struck down by the mephit. Tomas, who was sick of this battle, charged the master and criticalled, cutting him down to -15. Pelor was shining his glory on this battle, to be sure.

The rest of the battle was short work, and the group regrouped. They made a quick round of looting, and found a large amount of money, and some papers, not to mention Xan and Tomas's things, as well as the master's staff and his spellbook. Both of those went to Xan.

The session ended with the group preparing to exit the cave which seemed to be falling apart. They grimly anticipate the upcoming battle with the wolf outside...

[b]End of Session 10.[/b][/color]

[color=darkred][u][size=18]Session 11:[/size][/u]

[u]Characters involved:[/u]
William
Lusre
Verik
Galmen
Dontar
Xan
Tomas
Cob
Alyven
Eldrinn

The group made their way to the exit of the ice cave. On their way out, the group noticed an odd doorway, with various runes and symbols outlining the doorway. Since the doorway was solid, the group paid the odd door no heed.

Once the group exited the cave, Tomas found the wolf, ready to strike. It won initiative, and breathed icy breath on the group. Xan got really angry and cast one of his spells at a much higher power than he should have been able to, and then passed out. Lusre killed the beast, though, with an arrow to the creature's eye.

The group made their way down the mountain, meeting up with Cob, and then Alyven at Adwirar. When the group rested the night where Cob was camped, Tomas looked over some papers found in the ice master's study. It turns out that the Westward Tonic Co. was paying the arctic elves to freeze the area. The group plans on researching that more, once they arrive in Raewin.

At Adwirar, Alyven told the group about orc raids, and Verik offered to stay back to help defend Adwirar. The group rested (gained a level), and made they way to Raewin, making sure to get their sled changed into a cart.

Along the way to Raewin, the group came across an old elf. The elf turned out to be a masterful archer, and he tought Lusre an old trick of his. The mysterious elf parted ways with the group, but the group has a nagging feeling they'll be meeting up with him again someday.

Also, on their second day of travel, Lusre found an owl companion. He named the owl Las. The group continued on, and eventually Raewin came into view. Much to their dismay, the group found the port still, for the most part, frozen. However, Lusre did spot a ship anchored at the edge of the ice, and the group holds out hope that they'll be able to hitch a ride on the ship.

Once inside the city, the group was caught in the middle of an escape. The 'thing' escaping was a large, steamwork construct, bent on destruction. A man had stolen its restritor, and Will chased after that man. Meanwhile, the group was left to take on the machine.

Will chased the man through alleyways, not unlike how the guards did to him earlier, in his intro games. He eventually was attacked by the man, and they ended up dueling. They took the duel to the inside of a tavern/inn, and fought tabletop. The man took off again, shortly after the duel begun, and ran upstairs. Will continued the chase. Eventually, on the third floor, the man attempted to leap to the rooftop of a nearby building.

Rolling a natural one, the man fell 30'. Will jumped down after him, controlling his jump. The man got up and started to run. Will tried to attack him as he ran, but Will missed. Will then started the pursuit again. He ran up to the man, and struck him again. The man then turned to him, and stabbed Will. Will was knocked unconscious.

The rest of the group, meanwhile, had their hands full with the steam machine. The group coordinated well, working their strengths while minimizing their weaknesses. Dontar dealt a large pile of damage with his sword, while Xan blasted the thing repeatedly with fire spells. Soon, the machine was destroyed, its killing spree ended.

Will regained consciousness shortly after falling, the innkeeper reviving him. The innkeeper demanded payment for damages caused by Will's duel. Will reluctantly paid, and went searching for clues.

Soon, Will came across a rough-looking fellow who knew of the man he had dueled. After a brief exchange, the thugish man let slip the duelist's name. His name was Eldrinn. Shortly after he slipped, the thug made a move to kill Will. Will turned the table quickly on the thug, and killed him with one clean stroke. Shortly after, though, Will was on the run again.

The session ended with Will evading the guards and meeting back up with the rest of the group, empty handed except for a name...

[b]End of Session 11.[/b][/color]

[color=darkred][u][size=18]Session 12:[/size][/u]

[u]Characters involved:[/u]
William
Lusre
Galmen
Dontar
Xan
Tomas
Cob
Alyven
Eldrinn
Tolen

The group met up at the steaming pile of metal. Elite town guards arrived to survey the damage and interrogate the people around the sight. They dismissed the group shortly, with only little gratitude. Will explained that he didn't find the man that stole the restrictor, but he did get a name. Eldrinn.

Will, Alyven, and Galmen went looking for information on this man, while the rest of the group did other things. Lusre relaxed, Tomas and Xan went to do spellcaster things, and Dontar and Cob went to sell the ox and cart.

Will's group went to a local tavern near the docks. Sadly, soon after they arrived, Will attracted unwanted attention. His old crew recognized him, and eventually surrounded him. His captain, Tolen, even was there, and a fight nearly ensued. However, oddly enough, Tolen invited Will and his group to sail with him to Tinandre. Will accepted, wary. He was told that they were to leave in exactly two weeks, at noon.

As Lusre was resting, a man came up to Lusre and asked about a way to the island to the south. Lusre didn't really have any info for the man, as he wasn't going the same way. Soon, the man noticed someone coming, and ran upstairs.

Tomas ran into the man, and the man kept running. Apparently, this was Eldrinn, and he was fleeing from Will and his small group. Later, when Dontar arrived without Cob, the group found out that Cob offered to guide Eldrinn over the mountains, not really realizing who he was.

The group did a few miscellaneous purchases, and the session ended early, due to me feeling crappy.

[b]End of Session 12.[/b][/color]

[color=darkred][u][size=18]Session 13:[/size][/u]

[u]Characters involved:[/u]
William
Lusre
Galmen
Dontar
Xan
Tomas
Alyven
Derik
Detra

The group gathered, and journeyed to the local branch of Westward Tonic Co. to do some investigation. After a bit of discussion, and a little bit of Galmen's magic, the group entered the store front.

First, Lusre and Tomas entered, pretending they were merely shopping. Then, shortly thereafter, Xan and Will (disguised as an arctic elf) entered and pretended to be VIPs. The clerk brought them back and had someone meet with them, by the name of Derik.

While Derik completely believed Xan, he saw through Will like a pane of glass. This was mostly due to Will not being properly disguised, and his heavy 'human' accent. Eventually, Derik locked Xan and Will in that small room, unsure as to what to do with them.

Eventually, Xan decided to burn the door down. The man that was guarding the door kicked it down, and soon a mass melee started. Lusre was away from Tomas, pretending he had to go to the bathroom. This left Tomas alone to face a well-armed and armored guard, and a 'covert' guard. If it weren't for Xan's help, he surely would have been bested.

Lusre and Will handled their guards with 'relative' ease. It nearly went as bad for them as well, except the guards had a string of poor rolls. While this all went on inside, outside, Derik found Dontar who was keeping watch over the place. Detra, who was 'stalking' the group attempted to enter the store, until Derik attacked Dontar.

Within a few short rounds, Dontar was slain by the powerful Derik. Derik cured himself with a potion, and went to engage those inside the store. He was greeted by some of Xan's trademark fire, and some of Lusre's arrows. Before he fell, however, he nearly slew both Xan and Tomas. Derik was a fierce opponent indeed.

Shortly thereafter, the building blew up. Before it did, however, Tomas snagged a few tonics, including two that were supposed to bring recently deceased back alive. He used one on Dontar, and made a heal check. He succeeded, and Dontar was restored to the land of the living.

The group was escorted away from the scene by a group of elite guards. They had the group hide out in an old warehouse, so that any of the supporters from Westward Tonic Co. didn't get to them. The group soon realized, though, that Alyven and Galmen were missing.

That night, Will, Lusre, and Detra went out looking for them. Lusre found tracks taking them from the Tonic store to the water's edge. Will believes that the pirates from his ship have taken them two aboard. Will was about to enter the water, but it reasoned that it was too cold for such a long swim.

The group then hid out in the warehouse for the rest of the two weeks, and the session ended with the group preparing to board the pirate ship.

[b]End of Session 13.[/b][/color]