Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Lonesome Wanderings, Session 67

 In which Badger...

  • Travels to the city of Magnimar at the request of one Sheriff Hemlock in Sandpoint.
  • Discovers 2 doppelgangers posing as the now deceased Aldern Foxglove and wife.
  • Slays the doppelgangers and finds documents of a conspiracy to raise an ancient demigod known as a Runelord, this one being the Runelord of Greed Karzoug.
  • Tracks down one set of cultists meeting in a sawmill = the Skinsaw Cult - led by one Xanesha, a naga, and by one Justice Ironbriar, with their bodyguard being one large clay golem called the Scarecrow.
  • Uses a nearby damn to release a flood killing all but Xanesha of the cult, who escapes...only to realize the flood has significantly damaged much of the city itself.
  • Leaves Magnimar and heads back to Sandpoint, only to be accosted by some bandits he easily dispatches.
  • Gets accosted by Shayliss Vinder, who has positioned herself as the Abbess of Sandpoint and sends her own cult to attack her ex lover Badger.
  • Flees by using the bracers of Spite-the-Drowning-Waters to circumvent to the home of one Brodert Quink to get information on where the lost Runelord might be...only to learn of the name of a lost city Xin Shalast, but nothing more.
  • Sneaks out of Sandpoint to avoid Shayliss's cult in the middle of the night and heads to Thistletop to make a deal with the trapped demon, Malfeshnekor. 
  • Forces the demon to make a blood pact to slay the Runelord and avoid attacking Badger ever at the cost of being sent back to the Underworld...the demon reluctantly accepts.
  • Frees Malfeshnekor who is released to cause chaos, with notice that he will be called back by the pact once he is needed.
  • Travels to one Turtleback Ferry, a town, to explore a the wreckage of a recently sunken barge.
  • Is ambushed on the way by Xanesha, who is easily turned away but who unfortunately makes a run for it and is successful again.
  • Arrives and explores the wreckage of the barge after noting the small town is eerily empty.
  • Is ambushed in the first room of the barge by some rust monsters!
  • Barely fends off the rust monsters as he loses many metal items - including magic ones, such as his legendary sword Knutsvar, the Spite-of-Drowning-Waters bracers, his magic shield, his ring of animal control, false tooth of poison resist, and finally, a regular shovel.
  • Manages to slay one of the rust monsters before the rest flee with their metal gains.
  • Gathers the remainder of his supplies and returns back to town to buy a sword and rest up before returning back to the wreckage to continue exploring.
Current Level: Badger 13

Saturday, October 26, 2024

Lonesome Wanderings, Session 66

 In which Badger...

  • Explores an old ruined keep in the wilds, which is largely infested by zombies.
  • Flees from zombies, avoiding them while searching for treasures.
  • Rescues one Rheddrian, a man trapped in a strange mirror shield in the keep, by exchanging places with him in the shield. 
  • Get's jostled around in the shield realm before being released once more after Rheddrian cracks the magic of the shield.
  • Gains a favor from Rheddrian, who thanks him for freeing him before leaving to study the "modern world."
  • Decides to trek up the sides of one cliff face to a long lost dungeon.
  • Finds a tower at the base of the cliff face, and explores.
  • Runs into a ghost in the tower, which attacks him and results in him losing constitution and aging by 11 years, going from 36 to 47 within an instant.
  • Returns back to town, and learns the only way to restore his health and youth are through finding a cleric who can cast a restoration spell - which he learns that there are one of which in the town he is in.
  • Returns back to the cliff face, trying to climb a set of stairs carved into its side up to the dungeon.
  • Runs into a mountain lion, which gives him a serious scare as he nearly plummets to his death, but he manages to slay the creature.
  • Decides the dungeon isn't worth it for the moment, his bones aching more than usual, and returns back to town to rest.
Current level: Badger 13

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Lonesome Wanderings, Session 65

 In which Badger...

  • Helps a clan of mountain dwarves return to their ancestral home from giants and gargoyles, and gains another ally in them.
  • Attends to pre-wedding events of King Ericall and Princess Christina Marie Alanira.
  • Escorts Christina one night for a walk at the King's command, when kidnappers arrive to take her - agents of Thyatis, Alphatia's rival empire.
  • Manages to escape with the princess by using his Spare the Dying Waters bracers and grabbing her and running, much to the king's relief.
  • Is faced in the dining hall one night - along with King Ericall and the rest of the Lords of his court, by the Black Avengers, a group of knights there to test the king's resolve by challenging 4 of his lords.
  • Avoids being one of the 4 lords chosen for the challenge, and watches as the Bear Tribe Shaman, Orik the lazy warrior, Longtooth the Thief, and Max the 1st - all of his rivals - are slain at the cost of only 2 Black Avengers, humiliating the king.
  • Offers to give it a shot, only for King Ericall - unable to stand more humiliation - forbid him from challenging the avengers, accepting defeat and retreating to his throne room to wallow.
  • Badger, risking the king's wrath, goads the remaining two avengers, much to the shock of the guests, and starts fighting them strategically.
  • Guides them to where the ale and wine are stored in the side of the dining hall, and secretly snakes the Rope of Climb upwards to wrap around a bar above.
  • Has the rope pull him up quickly and then lights a molotov he had on him, dropping it onto the pile of alcohol below causing a massive explosion as guests flee in terror, and the black avengers are consumed in flame - only to both remain standing, if much weakened, such was their strength.
  • Drops down and with some difficulty finally drops the two avengers - officially beating them, but by doing so disobeying the king and causing massive damage to his hall.
  • Is stripped of his rank of lord and exiled by the King, and sent from his wedding once the events of the night are determined.
  • Is called to the king's chambers secretly, and told that, despite disobeying the king, for putting down the Black Avengers, he will be granted one favor from the King.
  • As the wedding goes on, dreams of an oncoming war between Alphatia and Thyatis taking place in Norwald, and hears that some "crones" appeared in a vision in the wedding warning the king of the same.
  • Travels north to the reputed lair of the crones, and manages to sneak into their mountain cave.
  • Is attacked by the 3 crones, ancient mystic seers, as they each take a magic item - his Broach of Freedom, his Bag of Holding, and his Ring of Spell Turning.
  • Surrenders to the crones, who offer him a deal - 5 years as their servant and the magic items they stole, and they will protect him from the oncoming war and give protection to his Keep...he accepts. 
  • Serves the crones for 5 years as he sees his Keep and Ericall's lands and armies, tens of thousands strong, plunged into war, a pyrrhic victory for Alphatia over Thyatis, but with Ericall's armies crippled.
  • Is released from service in 5 years, returning to his Keep and Kebi, only to discover it has become the defacto palace and capital of King Ericall and his new vassal - Lord Tino, who over the last few years has grown the only army of any note in the land and serves as the real ruler with Ericall as his puppet keeping Alphatia proper off his back.
  • Manages to sneak into his Keep with the Rope of Climb and enter into Ericall and Christina's bedchambers, where the now hollowed out king is shocked to find his former vassal still alive.
  • Offers to let the King rule as a proper ruler and deal with Tino as well...if on the other side, he holds up his offer of a favor as he formerly note - the desperate king accepts.
  • Recruits the dwarven forces to attack Kebi and the Keep, attacking weak points and other known fallacies of the Keep and forcing Tino himself out into the open.
  • Reveals himself to Tino, and slays him in one on one combat, as the dwarves take control of the Keep. 
  • Gathering information from the locals discreetly, discovers that Tino was a beloved leader who had stabilized the keep and grown Kebi, and that the fact that the former errant and irresponsible lord Badger was back could foment a revolution in the population.
  • Decides that, since he lacked interest in ruling anyways, he would hand over the keep as promised to Ericall for him to deal with the mess, taking his favor - to meet the Empress of Alphatia herself, which Ericall gladly arranges, alongside re-ordaining him as a noble Lord.
  • Travels by ship to homeland Alphatia, across the seas to the East, where he witnesses the heart of an Empire run on magic.
  • Is escorted to the throne room of Empress Eriadna the Wise, and is given an audience, arranged by her son Ericall.
  • Requests the Empress to give him access to the Empire's archives and resources for future endeavors - which she rebukes, saying the offer of an audience was gift enough - why should she offer him more, few have even had the opportunity to meet the Empress herself.
  • Reveals to her of the dwarven "allies" supporting the king at the moment, and Barbarian "savages" surrounding the king's lands lead by Barkal the Red, and even an old red dragon lairing nearby that, while not guaranteed to win, could be a real thorn in Alphatia's side.
  • Is surprised that Eriadna is not angered but amused with a positive reaction by the gall of the man to come into her throne room and directly threaten her, as well as not wanting to deal with the headache that is her son's kingdom any longer after a long and costly war, let's Badger access the archives and do his research in the great archives of Alphatia.
  • Badger researches and learns the information he was searching for - about how to start down the paths to immortality!

Current Level: Badger 13

Monday, September 9, 2024

Lonesome Wanderings, Session 64

 In which Badger...

  • Travels to the court of King Ericall with levied forces to fight a troupe of levied frost giants (along with other members of the court), only to find out that one independent King Yarrick of Oceansend had negotiated a peace deal with the giants...and made an ally with them in the process.
  • Heads to the Ruins of Alinor with the bugbear death squad of 50 bugbears, an ancient dungeon with hidden treasures.
  • Hides from some freeing frost giants, and discovers the corpses of others.
  • Avoids some giant scorpions munching on a frost giant corpse.
  • Finds a bronze golem guarding the entrance to the palace and manages to, using his Rope of Climb and the bugbears, destroy the golem.
  • Discovers a large golden dragon guarding the palace, and collapses the palace roof onto the creature burying it. 
  • Loots the ruins for 2 large, expensive golden doors and a hefty pile of gold.
  • Explores the Dungeon of Kyell, another old dungeon with hidden loot.
  • Teams up with the red dragon Old Smokeynose to take out a beholder guarding the loot, and splits the take with the wily red dragon, gaining an ally.
  • Flees from various frost giants and trolls in the rest of the dungeon.
  • Is chased out of the dungeon itself by the wight of one Kyell, the namesake of the dungeon, fleeing and hiding in the wood.
  • Meets up with his bugbear squad in the woods, when he happens upon one barbarian chief Barkal singlehandedly holding his own against a massive earth elemental.
  • Directs his troops to help the barbarian, and they manage to bring down the earth elemental.
  • Discovers the elemental was conjured by a magic user, tracking them down to discover one Madeira, vizier in the court of King Ericall.
  • Learns from her that she was trying to eliminate the barbarians to gain favor in the king's eyes without him knowing.
  • Blackmails her to silence and gains a secret ally in the barbarian horde of the woods.
  • Returns to his Keep with instructions to start developing the small village of Kebi into a larger town, which will take many seasons.
  • Receives invitation of King Ericall to one Christina Marie Alanira from Alphatia, with the wedding to be held over the summer.

Current Level: Badger 12

Sunday, September 1, 2024

The Kingmaker's Cairn, Session 5

 In which the party...

  • Travels west from Oleg's to stumble into the bandit camp of the bandits who had been harassing Oleg.
  • Try to bargain with them, only to completely put their foot in their mouths as they accidentally say too much and reveal they were the ones who'd killed the bandits at Olegs.
  • Try to flee only to be corralled in by bandits who pile onto them.
  • Sybil the thief, Yslin the ranger, Cannora the elf, and Amiri the barbarian are slain by the cuts of many bandit blades.
  • The remaining party attempt to flee again - but run into a dead end of a sheer stony cliff leering down over some rapids.
  • Linzi the halfling and Jaethal the elf both fall in combat with the bandits as well, and Ethex takes the Ooze form to try and escape the bandits, which he barely manages falling into the waters below.
  • Ethex wakes up on the banks of a river miles from the bandit camp - only to come face to face with a raging wild boar.
  • Attempts to flee once more fail, and the boar gores Ethex, who - now out of spells having not rested - falls.
  • Thus the party is TPKed.
This session turned south quickly with multiple failed escape attempts and lost initiatives, along with stumbling into an encounter with a large group of bandits (and the lone survivor rolling a particularly brutal encounter with a wild boar). 

After consideration of whether I wanted to reset the session or events, I figured I'd rather be true to the dice and the party be laid to rest here. With my interest being pulled with other new settings and supplements, I'll consider this experiment complete for the moment with the possibility of returning to it in the future.

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

The Kingmaker's Cairn, Session 4

In which the party...

  • Travels past Crooked Falls to one Bokken's hut, and discovers hermit Bokken fighting off some wild thylacines.
  • Kills the thylacines and saves Bokken, who lets them rest for a few days. 
  • Agree to help Bokken find some Fangberries.
  • Travel on to arrive at Oleg's Trading Post, where they meet gruff Oleg and his kind wife, Svetlana.
  • Ambush some bandits who come to attack Oleg, but none of them break and reveal where their camp is before they die.
  • Travel southwest to explore and discover a radish patch - and some kobolds guarding it.
  • Slay the kobolds and take the Radishes back to Oleg to sell. 
Party: Sybil the thief, Yslin the ranger, Cannora the elf, Ethex the magic user, Amiri the barbarian, Linzi the halfling, Jaethal the elf.

Current date: 15 Pharast, Early Spring.

Sunday, August 25, 2024

The Kingmaker's Cairn, Session 3

  In which the party...

  • Travels to the city of Restov from Lady Jamandi's keep to buy supplies and a wagon with 2 mules to carry their goods on 25 Calistril, the late winter month.
  • Heads west along the road from Restov to the southwestern most village of Nikita's crossing.
  • Discovers some barrels smashed and contents emptied along a bridge over a small stream.
  • Runs into some Thylacines, starving marsupial wild dogs that the party is forced to slay.
  • Arrives at Nikita's crossing where Maegar Varn and his party also rest up and set up camp.
  • Shares stories with Varn, who buys them that night's meal and invites them to visit his holdings if they manage to survive.
  • Overnight, are ambushed by 3 bandits and forced to fight them, with Amiri and Cannora getting infected by their rusty blades during the battle.
  • Remain in Nikita's Crossing for 5 days, use up some rations, and work odd jobs to earn enough to get by as the infected heal, as late winter rolls into early spring.
  • Set out again to the west along the road in 2 Pharast, aiming to reach Oleg's trading post, with rumors that bandits continue to harass the trader.
Party: Sybil the thief, Yslin the ranger, Cannora the elf, Ethex the magic user, Amiri the barbarian, Linzi the halfling, Jaethal the elf.

Saturday, August 24, 2024

The Kingmaker's Cairn, Session 2

 In which the party...

  • Explores the western wing of Lady Jamandi's manor.
  • Uses Ethex's bandit puppet as a scout before he chokes on smoke and dies to get a layout of the wing.
  • Quickly follows Ethex, who uses his spell Ooze Form to lead them safely through the smoke quickly.
  • Discover Tartuccio lying presumably dead, and takes him to a restorative shrine they discover, where he wakes and starts seizing before going unconscious, but alive.
  • Leave the gnome to rest as they discover Jaethal tied up and gagged by a contingent of bandits.
  • Take out the bandits, including the second in command of the bandits and free Jaethal, who joins the party.
  • Discover Lady Jamandi facing up again 2 giants and help her fend off more bandits.
  • Face down the bandit leader of the "Black Tears" and her minions in combat.
  • Nearly lose Linzi, Ethex, and Jaethal in fierce combat against the Black Tears leader's forces before the leader and her minions are finally slain.
  • Heal up with numerous healing potions and aid as they accompany Lady Jamandi out of the wing.
  • Receive a charter from Lady Jamandi to explore the Stolen Lands, and told to go meet with one Oleg to deal with his own bandit problem.
  • Watch 3 other parties - the Iron Wraiths, arrogant warriors; Baron Hannis Drelev and company, a cruel noble; and one Maegar Varn and company, an optimistic knight receive their own seperate charters to explore.
  • Discover Tartuccio alive and with the 2 other hostages left from last night, Harrim the dwarf and Valerie the paladin, taking the charter and breaking off from the party to deal with the Stolen lands' problems on their own.
  • Set out from Lady Jamandi's manor into the wilds to explore the Stolen Lands.
Party: Sybil the thief, Yslin the ranger, Cannora the elf, Ethex the magic user, Amiri the barbarian, Linzi the halfling, Jaethal the elf.

Friday, August 23, 2024

The Kingmaker's Cairn, Session 1

 In which the party...

  • Is invited to a dinner at the hall of one Lady Jamandi for a quest to colonize the wilds.
  • Chat up other guests at the dinner, other hopeful adventurers: 
    • Sybil the thief slips the rings and valuables off one sorcerer Tartuccio, who waxes tales of his own heroics oblivious with the thief's flattery.
    • Yslin the ranger impresses one barbarian Amiri as they bond over hunting and tales of dangerous travails in the wilds.
    • Cannora the elf plays her with against another elf Jaethal, as the iterant gambler tests her wit against Jaethal's as they proceed mock the other guests at the party.
    • Ethex the magic user endears himself to one halfling Linzi, who finds an intriguing character for her travelogue as he nerds out over various magic spells and books with her by mistakenly assuming her writing relates to magic.
  • Head to rest up for the night only to be awakened by the shout of a guest being cut short.
  • Realize that bandits are attacking the tower, and set up traps at the entrance of their room - including a bear trap by Yslin and Caltrops by Sybil. 
  • Manage to slay 2 bandits with traps, as Ethex takes control of a third with his Command spell.
  • Use the controlled bandit to send other bandits in the wrong direction as they make their way through various rooms. 
  • Discover gold, gems, healing potions, and even a tanglefoot bag of tar by looting corpses.
  • Save hiding halfling Linzi, who is being attacked by a blinded ogre, by entrapping the ogre with the tanglefoot bag before fleeing.
  • Run into one giant Jurginder, who takes a hefty bribe of gold, gems, and healing potions to let them through to the great hall.
  • Find 3 tied up guests of the dinner - one of whom is Amiri, who they revive with a healing potion and joins the party, leaving the other 2 for the moment.
  • Enter the great hall to discover the captain of the guard holding the fort, while Lady Jamandi has gone to the opposite wing to save other guests while it is on fire.
Party: Sybil the thief, Yslin the ranger, Cannora the elf, Ethex the magic user, Amiri the barbarian, Linzi the halfling 

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

The Kingmaker's Cairn, Session 0

I've always wanted to try some of the giant adventure paths put out by Pathfinder. But the crunchy system and massive page counts always pushed me away. However, a while back I started playing the Pathfinder Kingmaker video game. A few hours in, and I thought to myself  - hey, I could play this as a solo adventure using a lighter system. So here's my attempt at exactly that: to play through Pathfinder Kingmaker using Cairn.

Nearly 700 pages...here goes nothing

To start out, I will be using Cairn with Hexcrawl in Cairn rules for hexcrawl structure and the Barrow Delver solo rules as an oracle. I'll add on tools as needed, but otherwise will be running Pathfinder Kingmaker as written. I will be using the 2e version of Kingmaker here since it has content based on the video game which I want to include.

My starting party is: Sybil Orthax, a thief; Yslin Breagle, a ranger; Cannora Malksmilk, an elf; and Ethex Burl, a magic user. As the adventure progresses new characters may be added or removed as needed. 

I'll skim through most of the background and in classic fashion, plunge straight into the adventure. Having played the initial parts of the video game will hopefully help jumpstart this, and following that the hexcrawl structure should hopefully help this move smoothly.

Sunday, August 11, 2024

Lonesome Wanderings, Session 63

 In which Badger...

  • Travels and explores the lands around his keep.
  • Discovers an orc contingent and manages to crush them with a rockslide in a quarry.
  • Notes some giant sightings around his keep.
  • Gets word of the death of elven maiden Rahasia after the bandits of one Rahib invaded her village and slaughtered all present there.
  • Flees from a tribe of gnolls gathered in a ring of trees in a clearing.
  • Finds a road traveling to one hamlet of Wastow and follows the road.
  • Discovers some bandits harassing a merchant caravan and helps the merchants out by helping take out the bandits.
  • Gets offered 600 gold for helping escort the caravan to Wastow, which he accepts.
  • Travels past an abandoned quarry and makes notes of some ancient runes on a standing stone on the road to Wastow.
  • Arrives in Wastow without any other issue and collects his payment, and rests to heals up.
  • Celebrates his 31st birthday in the hamlet as he rests.
Current Level: Badger 11

Thursday, June 13, 2024

Lonesome Wanderings, Session 62

 In which Badger...

  • Portals into a magical university where he's forced to take the disguise of a professor of magic, despite not having any real magic.
  • Takes and teaches classes of students in the department of magical items and lore.
  • Berates one student Rosie, who begins to cry and making the dean of the college quite irritated.
  • Befriends one elephant woman Losheel, a lazy academic who does research on ancient texts from the comfort of the library.
  • Saves one Javanesh, an owl student, from rampaging tree mimics and discovers the mimics were doused in strange potions.
  • Does research while administering exams throughout the academic semester, and works on studying magic portals so he could return home.
  • Is forced to teach remedial courses for struggling students after his research as some slowing down.
  • Manages to publish a paper on magic portals, and using his research finds a portal and travels home, with Javanesh, who wished to explore his home realm, in tow after resigning from his post in the college.
  • After 9 weeks of research and publishing, finally returns back to Badger Keep.

Current Level: Badger 11 

Saturday, May 4, 2024

Lonesome Wanderings, Session 61

 In which Badger...

  • Travels to the West Marches and travels from the towns of Blackgate to Eastwatch.
  • Runs from bandits, lion and boars, wolves, green dragons, a hydra, and jaguars.
  • Kills a couple of giant bees.
  • Meets a friendly orc village on his journey and rests with them, hearing of their struggles with dragons picking of their fellows.
  • Discovers a cave in the forests and notes it for the future.
  • Returns to his keep and learns crime rate has been dropping.
  • Heads to the weakened but still surviving Wicked City at the request of Courtesan Jamila, whom he fancied, to retrieve a blue gem for her cloud people who's cloud castle was stolen by Patricia Vezzini, the cunning last scion of her noble lineage, and the ex-minister of civil order, the coarse Gulnora the Radiant.
  • Heads to the bazaar and is assaulted by a Murder Harlot.
  • Slays the Murder Harlot only to learn he is a shock trooper sent by a contingent working for Patricia, who vanish into the shadows.
  • Frees a slave girl and runs through the streets with her, escaping her former captors.
  • Learns of the gem's location in the Maze under the city, and heads with his freed slave girl ally into the Maze.
  • Avoids another assault by poison darts from a contingent of Murder Harlots.
  • Hides from some automatons excavating the Maze, and visits a shrine in the Maze inhabited by a wild hermit who demands the pair undergo tests.
  • Loses the slave girl, who dies in the "test" of the mad hermit dancing wilding with a blade in the shrine before he is slain by Badger.
  • Heads deeper in and finds the gem - only to be attacked by 4 blind ghosts who age him by nearly two decades as he flees.
  • Manages to escape the ghosts even in his weakened, aged body only to be surrounded by cloud folk and Jamila, who beat him and take the jewel for themselves without honoring their agreement.
  • Manages to survive and find a cleric who reverts the aging magic for a hefty sum.
  • Is met by Patricia and Gulnora, who reveal that Jamila is a snake who works for the real lord of the cloud castle and stole the gem to pay off her debts from its real owner, Patricia Vezzini.
  • Learns that Patricia and the Murder Harlots actions have been in self defense and fear, and he agrees to help her regain her heritage.
  • Avoids conflict with some Blood Men in the streets of the Wicked City, who egg on passers by for a fight.
  • Joins Patricia, Gulnora, and his now allies of the Murder Harlots and uses the Rope of Climb to tie to the bottom of an elevator that takes Jamila and her crew up to the cloud castle.
  • Follows Jamila to the throne room of the cloud castle and releases a Bear Jar into the room, and sets off an alarm to attract all the guards.
  • Captures one guard and rushes to the cloud castle's control room to bring down the castle, cutting the control battery with Knutsvar, only for the backup generators to kick in.
  • Fights off ever increasing guards with Patricia as Gulnora is slain by Jamila.
  • Ties a rope and hangs out as live bait in the cloud castle wearing the Spite the Drowning Waters bracers as 2 rocs (and many other sea creatures) arrive near cloud castle  now over the ocean, and manage to destroy the backup power as the castle comes crashing down.
  • Manages to, along with Patricia and Jamila, get picked up by a merchant crew to be sailed back to the Wicked City, with the two women making up as well now that the cloud castle has fallen.
  • Gets attacked by pirates off the coast of the Wicked City and helps the Merchant crew try to fend them off using the Spite the Drowning Waters bracers to attract killer whales and control one of the whales with the ring of Animal Control.
  • Realizes his mistake once the other whales except the one controlled start attacking the merchant ship as well as the pirates.
  • Tries to swim to other ship only to get attacked by whales attracted to the Spite the Drowning Waters bracelet.
  • Has the merchant ship shoot the bracelet onto the pirate ship and gets a whale ride as the other whales ignore him to the pirate ship, slays a couple of pirates, and activates the bracelet to attract the killer whales.
  • Sees the merchant ship - and Jamila and Patricia with it - unfortunately drown as the whales turn their attention to where they felt the bracelet last - the pirate ship - and attack.
  • Deactivates the bracelet, and stealthily gets away to the coast on whaleback as the pirates and killer whales fight it out.
  • Escapes the Wicked City back to his keep, avoiding the remaining Murder Harlots in the city.
  • Returns to his keep to learn the relic found their has lost its holiness, and that a war has broken out between Yoon Suin and Varsia over portals that have started opening up in the Steppe.
  • Learns the population in his keep and Kebi continues to grow.

Current Level: Badger 11

Friday, April 26, 2024

Lonesome Wanderings, Session 60

 In which Badger...

  • Returns to Sandpoint to investigate some murders for the sheriff.
  • Gets assaulted by and knocks out Ven Vinder, the father of Shayliss his ex-lover, when investigating as he finds out she has been missing for 3 years and he thought she was with Badger.
  • Visits Dr. Habe's sanitorium and discovers a ghoul threat in a manor to the south - and causes Dr. Habe to panic and to start tracking him down with a necromancer associate.
  • Heads south to the farmlands and learns of various ghoul attacks in the area.
  • Creates a trap and blows up a bunch of ghouls in a barn, mopping up the others in the farmlands.
  • Arrives at the manor, owned by a noble he'd met once Aldern Foxglove, and starts to investigate.
  • Gets attacked by one Gorvii, and orc streetsweep who'd previously been humiliated by Badger and was seeking revenge.
  • Knocks out Gorvii, but on the way out the orc get burnt by a trap and dies, forcing Badger to dump the body.
  • Heads deeper into the manor and comes across 2 other adventurer friends Ameiko and Shalelu, who are also investigating the house, and joins them in looking for a revenant who had wandered beneath the house.
  • Investigates and discovers an underground basement tunnel network.
  • In the tunnel network is attacked by a masked woman, who is knocked out and revealed to be Shayliss, who has taken the identity of Shroud, a vigilante also investigating the house.
  • Depositing Shayliss outside for safety, continues to investigate the house. 
  • Gets paralyzed with the other two by a ghoul trap set by Dr. Habe and his associate, who start tying them up.
  • The noise attracts a contingent of other ghouls, molds, rats, and ghasts to the area who attack Dr. Habe and his associate.
  • As chaos breaks out the party becomes unparalyzed and runs upstairs to hide - but Shalelu is not fast enough and dies, beset upon by ghouls. 
  • Badger and Ameiko prepare and throw molotovs and mop up the survivors, essentially clearing the tunnels.
  • Continue ahead and find the revenant killing Aldern, who was in fact a ghast himself it is revealed.
  • Let the revenant finish the job, and then die herself her purpose fulfilled.
  • Loot all the corpses and the rest of the house and take off to deliver Shayliss back to her father and sell their treasure.
  • Badger heads back to his keep to learn of a strange "Dark Humor" sickness that came and went when he was gone, but which nonetheless did not hurt his keeps burgeoning population.

Current Level: Level 11

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Lonesome Wanderings, Session 59

 In which Badger...

  • Stops by Rahasia and explores a few more rooms of the temple.
  • Heads over to the West Marches town of Blackgate and joins Ser Agune and Ethex exploring the wilds.
  • Discovers a Hill Giant in the wilds who was driven out of his camp for being a coward.
  • Agrees to help out the Hill Giant take out the Hill Giant camp to the west.
  • Abandons his post and sneaks off to and uses molotovs and barrels of alcohol lying around camp to blow it up, killing the hill giants, bugbears, dire wolves, and ogres sleeping there.
  • Mops up the survivors of the camp and loots it with his Bag of Holding.
  • Returns to his own party only to learn Agune, Ethex, and the Hill Giant were dead and bludgeoned by a party of goblins in their sleep when he had abandoned his post.
  • Returns to Blackgates and joins one Khayos in the West Marches in exploring.
  • Discovers some strange pollen foliage, and then barely manages to kill a Rat Imp Dog.
  • Travels back to his keep where Old Bart the pigman meets him to let him know that the pigs of Swinescombe who were after him had been captured by Baron Hogwarsh of Castle Brackenwold and executed for murder.
  • Heads over to visit the town of High Hankle in the Dolmenwood with Baron Hogwarsh, and buys a fishing pole.

Current Level: Badger 10

Sunday, April 7, 2024

Lonesome Wanderings, Session 58

 In which Badger...

  • Travels to the Island realms and speaks with some dragons about trading
  • Learns that the Tale of the Ant Knight has attracted 16 of his settlers from his Keep to the Lost Coast.
  • Hires Church of the Psychopomp to help clear out the mines in the Lost Coast.
  • Teleports to the Lost Coast and joins a ceremony in the Lost Coast in raising Wellyn, his adventuring companion, after his death to an evil cleric.
  • Hires a church to perform a Raise from Dead spell in case of his demise in his adventures.
  • Learns that a silvery armored cleric and the Church of the Psychopomp have cleared out the ghouls, for a fee.
  • Hears that it would likely be past winter until mining began in the Coast for copper due to the time it took to clear out ghouls.
  • After a period of inactivity, he discovers the Lost Coast has recently become inaccessible, but a ship with copper remnants escapes from the realm before it seals off for the moment.
  • Resolves the copper shortage with the shipment of copper received as he continues to rule from his Keep.
  • Helped Knighto search for his lost fiancĂ© Jil in the lair of some giants in Geatland. 
  • Heard of increased bandit activity in the area around his keep, while the population of his keep continues to grow.

Current Level: Badger 10

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Lonesome Wanderings, Session 57

 In which Badger...

  • Falls through a portal near the Keep to arrive in a strange village of nomadic air druids who fly on wing gliders, apparently arriving through a rift that leads to the plane of air.
  • Meets the leader of the air druids, Keyleth, an elven druid, who tells him to leave and never return on the risk of death - he agrees.
  • Re-enters the rift before arriving at the Lost Coast, where he joins a sage and a contingent of adventurers to go to a large golden fire giant statue for the treasure horde inside.
  • Meets with some hillfolk in the Lost Coast to discuss about his mine and their grievances with it, and comes to a peace agreement to mine for a couple years then withdraw.
  • Lends his sword Knutsvar to a fellow adventurer, who uses it to break the statue and reveal the loot horde.
  • Joins the adventurers, with the copious use of bear jars and sneaking and toppling rocks, to crush a dozen hellhounds guarding the now desecrated statue.
  • Helps the party loot the horde of now melted gold mixed with slag for a hefty treasure haul.
  • Teleports via the portal into the Trinity Continuum, a reality where superbeings called novas stalk the Earth.
  • Is hired as a bounty hunter to kill the most post powerful these superbeings, the leader of a terrorist group, called Divis Mal by an organization called the Directive.
  • Creates a complex plan involving a trigger of a failed attack to be able to remember how to activate Knutsvar's cutting power, so as to prevent any mind reading powers from zoning in on the plan.
  • Manages to track down Divis Mal to an attack by his terrorist organization, Teragen, on a holding facility of novas, and fights a 4 way battle with Mal alongside Cestus Pax - the most popular superhero nova, and Chiraben, a black ops assassin nova. 
  • Manages to unlock how to use Knustvar as Divis Mal ignores him, a mere "baseline" human, to fight the other 2 novas, beating them both in 30 seconds for Cestus Pax and 12 seconds for Chiraben, who is outed as a deep cover spy for one Project Utopia, the largest nova organization overtly focused on "preserving world peace".
  • Uses Knustvar to decapitate Divis Mal, who is shocked by the development, who is only able to say "Not like this...not by a baseline...not like this."
  • Gets hurt by a dying, decapitate Mal who rages all his power into one concentrated attack in the form of an explosion, as Badger barely manages to escape with his life.
  • Manages to avoid other authorities and report back to the Directive, thus leaving the murderer of Divis Mal a mystery.
  • Learns Mal had anticipated his death as a potentiality, and had planted a call to arms to revitalize his terrorist cell Teragen and serve as a martyr for their cause, a message that is spread around the world.
  • Collects his paycheck from the Directive and leaves via the portal for the moment, to go back and rest and recuperate in his Keep.
  • Back in the Keep, there are heavier than usual rains and more dire wolves are spotted, though they seem to be leaving travelers alone for now.
  • Word comes from the wilds - the foolhardy, wild adventurer Rutgr Dag dies, mauled by monsters.

Current Level: Badger 10

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Lonesome Wandering, Session 56

 In which Badger...

  • Joins the court of King Ericall of Alphatia to get a seat at the table of the Empire's colonizing efforts
  • Participates in a tournament to determine the new lords of the colonies and the King's court, and gets 4th place, with the top 6 becoming the King's court - alongside the Bear tribe shaman, Orik the lazy warrior, Longtooth the cunning thief, Rutgr Dag the wild northland warrior, and Max the 1st the careful warrior.
  • Splits land claims with the others in the new colony, maintaining his keep and getting claim on untamed land surrounding it, all whilst scheming ways to retain more land and maintain his independence from the King's onerous terms.
  • Joins a journey in the Lost Coast, traveling south to a sea village and back again, adopting a riding horse Joe II.
  • Travels to the strange island over the seas via boat called Neverland.
  • Explores the Neverland southwestern peninsula, discovering some strange melodic chimes, a weeping ghost, a strange broken lich ward, and some mermaids whom he unsuccessfully tries to bribe and is forced to flee from.
  • Continues to explore a strange, litter covered beach in the south of Neverland, taking refuge under a flipped rowboat as a massive thunderstorm ravages the beach, sees crabs come into circle of twelve with the strange chimes, discovers the nest of a blue billed pelican, wakes up at night to some flying biting shoals and peaceful walking jellyfish, watches as the flying shoals devour the mother and father blue billed pelicans within a short time before turning to the pelican chick, manages to burn the flying shoals and save the pelican chick.
  • Takes the blue billed pelican chick, which he names Peli, and travels back to his boat and sails back to the keep.
  • Has the coal mines around his keep run dry one month, and the next month makes a trade deal with Varisia to solve the coal shortage resulting in high profits and even a surplus, with a patriotic population of the keep and lots of population growth.
  • Celebrates his 30th birthday at his keep with his new pelican chick Peli and riding horse Joe II.

Current Level: Badger 10

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Lonesome Wanderings, Session 55

 In which Badger...

  • Is at a stalemate with the Wicked City, with the Wicked King sealed away but the King's army and cult still maintaining control as his allies lay siege outside the city walls.
  • Returns back and continues to explore the dungeon for Rahasia.
  • Fights off a gargoyle and finds the entrance to the temple to where Rahasia's beloved and father may be hidden.
  • Is called back to the Lost Coast and helps the heroes there defeat the Dark Lord, luring him to and trapping him in a cavern and killing him and his henchmen.
  • Returns back to the Keep as Tino - who had been sent to the Lost Coast to help with copper mining - returns with an army of mercenaries and turns the tides in the Wicked City as the King's army is forced to flee and the allies take over the city.
  • Helps negotiate the surrender treaty and loots the Wicked City for all it's worth, all of the allies gaining fabulous wealth in the process.
  • Send the Order of the Repentant Serpent back to the Lost Coast, whom Acolytes of the Sun, ex-Wicked City soldiers, and one Arion continuing his search for enlightenment all join.
  • Brings Tino on as General Tino, with his Toughest as the captains and a mercenary force from the Lost Coast and the Bugbear Death squad all serving as the peace keeping force for the Keep of the Badger Lord.
  • Meets a strange travelling merchant from The Coast, far to the west, who has some books, and buys and reads one Ironclad, talking of the customs of Eidolon knights, ragwretches, and Firlish customs.
  • Travels to Etoileval, where he helps the adventurers negotiate with the Qagan there along with some help from the Walsh gang and prevent the Apocalypse.
  • Returns back to the Keep, where negotiations happen, the ruins of the Wicked City are picked dry, the Steppe folk are determined to have self determination, and merchant activity booms in the aftermath of the war and the power vacuum that subsequently follows.
  • Learns that word of the Wicked King's sealing into his hell realm has spread across the known world and bigger players on the world stage begin to move. To the east the Empires of Alphatia and Thyatis both bring their armies and set sail to the west, laying claims on the western lands they dub "Norwold". To the north, beyond the wastes of the Steppe, the Grand Duke of Karameikos rides down with his army, and Yoon Suin slugmen emerge from their isolation, sending their Elephant caravans north. Endon's revolutionaries test their industrial grade weaponry, all eyes on the wilderness lay bare for the taking...
  • Manages to - with the help of General Tino and the Keep's new forces - convince the major players and get a seat at the table of negotiations on the organized by the son of the Empress of Alphatia and the new king of the colony, one King Ericall.

Current Level: Badger 10