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I often write recaps for the games I run. Usually quick play by play summaries so my players can remember where they left off for the next game. But recently I decided to try writing one for a campaign I'm playing in and to try something new I decided to write it in character. Now I'm no writer so to all the English teachers out there you're going to find plenty of mistakes that are sure to make you cringe. For that I apologize in advance. The first section is actually my character's background I wrote for the DM but I went ahead and included it in the recap. We are currently playing Pathfinder and the module we played was Into the Haunted Forest it served as a warm up for the Second Darkness Adventure Path that we are about to start. I don't have a blog site I can kink to so apologies for the long post.
The Players
Devon Crowley- Human Ranger (Urban Ranger archetype)- yours truly
???- Aasimar Paladin- George Delong I honestly didn't catch his character's name
Albie- Half Orc Fighter- Jeremy Henry
Athrogate Bloodhammer- Drugar Rogue- James Alan Arters
Pizzack- Tengu Cleric- Brandon Whitlock
From the Journal of Devon Crowley
My name is Devon Crowley and I find things. It doesn't matter to me if they want to be found or if they are in possession of the original owner, if somebody wants it I'll get it...for a price of course. I was born in the country of Cheliax a place where everyone seems to get ahead by pulling down those around him so you'll have to excuse me if I'm slow to trust you. I've spent the majority of my life in big cities and the streets are a second home to me. I've currently worn out my welcome in my home town, seems to be a dispute over the ownership of a certain item I acquired for a client. Don't know why they want my head I'm just the middle man. So now I'm looking for work elsewhere. I've heard there's a big gambling tournament coming up. I can read people, I can catch cheaters so I'm hoping they might have a need for some security, if not well I'm also pretty good at cheating so maybe I'll enter. And I'm always willing to find things and if need be I can make things disappear.
Seems I've picked up a couple of companions on my way to Riddleport. A large half orc with the unlikely name of Albie, he's your typical half orc, hits hard and thinks little. Bruisers like him are always handy to have around so I'm trying to stay on his good side, tat is if he has one. The other is a goody two shoes paladin. I don't even know his name. I haven't really even spoke with him. Paladins crimp my style. I think I'll call him Slappy.
My best guess has us about halfway to Riddleport and we are currently in a thick forest. We have heard that there is an inn along the road, probably be a good idea to stop for the night. The woods in this area can be dangerous after dark. Hopefully we'll get to this place soon.
Interesting day today. We found the inn shortly before dusk. As we approached there were some dogs fighting over a humanoid corpse in the road. Since I've always had a knack with animals I thought I would go up to them and calm them down and see just who or what this body was. Well the dogs weren't as impressed by my natural charm as I am and attacked. My mates killed one of the curs and I killed another one of the mutts the third tucked tail and ran after seeing it's pack slaughtered. The body was a hobgoblin that looked like it overestimated his prowess and tried to take on a well armed group of travelers. Judging by the footprints the fool was outnumbered four to one, I saw at least three different sets of human sized prints and on that belonged to a small fellow. I also found a nice looking dagger in the ditch nearby. I should have left the damned thing there but I'll get to that in a bit. There was some kind of traveling show that was packing up for the night outside the inn. We asked if anyone saw anything out of the ordinary but apparently hobgoblins getting killed in the middle of the road counts as normal around here.
We went into the inn but in retrospect we probably should have taken our chances pushing through the woods for the night considering the mess we are now in. The place was pretty crowded, traveling merchants, a dark dwarf who is on the wrong side of the ground, people from the show outside, some smart looking fellow staring intently at a piece of carpet and the group that most likely killed the hobgoblin. While we were looking for a place to sit a hooded fellow came through the door and bumped into us. We struck up the conversation and what do you know he also happens to be heading to Riddleport and he's a cleric. Now I know from experience that having someone around that can patch up holes left by various weapon is a plus but I don't want him to realize how valuable he is so I turn it around and offer to provide him an armed escort to Riddleport for a small fee. He revealed himself to be a Tengu, said his name was Pisssack or something like that, and asked if we were sure we wanted him along because most don't like his kind. We told him it was fine. I personally don't care if you're a bloody cave troll with bad breath, if you have the gold and can channel positive energy you're welcome in my crew. We sat down and ordered some drinks to kill some time before we turned in for the night. Mistake number three. The other armed group of travelers started mean mugging us and one of the more athletic looking fellow came over to our table and informed me that I had his dagger. Now I know good and well that it probably is that jackass's dagger but I decided he needs to learn to take better care of his stuff so I offered to sell it to him, besides he didn't say please. Well needless to say that went over about as well as you would expect and fisticuffs ensued. The fellow who I will know refer to as Punchy managed to catch me off guard and caught me in the jaw with a right hook. I was in the middle of slipping on my brass knuckles to get some payback when that idiot dwarf decided to bring a polearm to a fistfight and caused the sheriff to break things up. The sheriff confiscated the dagger and placed us all under house arrest locking our party plus the dwarf (I guess since he took a swing at Punchy the sheriff assumed he was with us) and the other party in our rooms. Did I say the day was interesting, I meant god-awful. Our "trial" is tomorrow.
Well our trial was set for today but low and behold the sheriff informed us that someone had stolen the dagger and he asked us to help find it. Now I have to question the wisdom of asking a group that should be considered prime suspects in the theft to help search for the dagger but this kind of thing is my line of work anyway so why not go with it. We set out asking a few of the witnesses questions but everyone was either temporarily drunk or permanently stupid to be of any help so we decided to search a few rooms. My first guess was Punchy and his crew but a search of his room turned up nothing. I decided to go to the sheriff's room and work backwards from there. We found some small footprints and some strange black marks on the bed. Closer inspection revealed the marks to be dung. Gross and I touched it. Now considering the small footprints I was suspecting the little goblin that was hanging out with Punchy's crew, and knowing that stables are a good place to find various varieties of dung I figured that little bastard hid it there. Inside the stable we found a pile of hay and crap but before we could root through it a freaking' owl of all things swoops down and starts trying to peck my eyes out. A quick swipe of my sword left it in a bloody pile of feathers. A halfling then came bounding out of the shadows crying that I killed his pet. We questioned him and he revealed that he was the one that took the dagger. I was really hoping the culprit was Punchy's goblin. I had Albie pick him up by the scruff and we took his thieving little ass to the sheriff. Problem solved right? Nope only just getting started.
The sheriff was grateful enough for our help but the smart looking fellow was there and rather upset. During the scuffle the night before a candle was knocked over on the tapestry he was intently studying. Not sure how it was our fault considering we were on the complete opposite side of the pub but he was pretty riled. He started going on how it was a tapestry of some ancient king and blah blah big words but the words debtor's prison and 40 years imprisonment did ring a bell. He did have an offer from us though, there was a druid nearby that had five artifacts he was interested in if we could convince the druid to let us borrow them he could create a new tapestry and all would be forgiven. The sheriff also sweetened the pot saying if we would do this the dagger would be ours. Smart guy gave us a map and some drawings of the items so we set off to find the druid's grove.
I was leading the way and we weren't more than a few hundred yards before I found myself hanging upside down from a snare. Did I mention I'm more at home in the city than the woods? Slappy cut me down with his sword but nobody thought to catch me so I ended up flat on my back to make matters worse a hungry wolf came bounding out of the bushes and takes a bite out of my leg. Slappy hit him pretty hard with his great sword this distracted him long enough for me to jab my long sword in his throat for the killing blow. I got myself up, dusted myself off, grabbed my hat, and tried to maintain what little dignity I had left. On the plus side we found a scroll of comprehend language someone had carelessly left behind.
We found the druid's grove other than a wolf tangled in some nasty looking vines the place was deserted. There were several rune stones around with some writing scribbled on them. Pisssack was able to translate the words, they were riddles that gave directions to the artifacts we were looking for. Unfortunately we couldn't read them all from our vantage point and none of us wanted to risk treading on the wolf strangling vines. There was a large tree nearby so since Stumpy claimed to be a rogue we had him climb to the top and take a look at the other stones. Seemed like a brilliant plan until he started shouting back "I see some thing that looks like a stickman with no head, a circle with a squiggle, and a bird flying sideways.". Ability to climb excellent, ability to read whatever language is written on the stones ehh not so much. Pisssack used the scroll we had found earlier and Stumpy was then able to prattle off the rest of the clues and he happened to find the breast plate we needed and a ring of swimming. We gave the ring to Slappy and set off to find the "Forest Giant" mentioned in one of the riddles and get the next item. I really hope Forest Giant is a metaphor.
We traveled a little deeper into the woods and came across a huge rotted tree. We heard a strange thumping noise and saw a scroll case hanging off one of the branches blowing in the breeze. Since Stumpy did such a good job climbing the other tree we sent him up this one as well. He scrambled up and grabbed the case but he also disturbed a large and hungry beetle that was nesting in the hollow tree. I had to laugh as our rogue learned the folly of only carrying a two handed weapon, sure they pack a wallop but the are rather useless when you're using one hand to hang on to a tree for dear life. While it was humorous watching him hang there and swat furiously at the beetle, it was getting the better of him so we stepped in. I managed to stick an arrow in it despite all the commotion going on in the tree and Pisssack stuck it with a magiced up icicle but this was a rather large beetle and was still trying to eat Stumpy's face off. Stumpy finally gave up and let go of the tree and dropped to the ground the beetle flew down after but this was it's last mistake as it was now well within Albie's smashing range. We opened the scroll case and it contained one more item that we needed so we consulted our notes and made our way to the next closest location mentioned in the riddles.
We came across a cave and we noticed some very familiar looking footprints going in then coming back out. It looks like we have some competition with Punchy's crew. We decided that although they probably beat us to it we would go ahead and take a look just in case. Sure enough the artifact wasn't home but an extremely pissed off black bear was. Now I always thought of Lucerne hammers as being way too dainty to be a real weapon, something a fancy pants palace guard carries for show, but Stumpy showed me his weapon of choice may be of some use after all as he laid out the bear with one solid hit. I'll make a mental note not to put myself in a situation where I could possibly be on the receiving end of one of those.
We double timed it to the next area which was a small pond in the forest. As we approached the edge a magic missile struck Albie in the back. The caster, who happened to be the fat fellow who hung out with Punchy stepped out of the bushes. Now I'm not a genius but I'm smart enough to know if you hit a big half orc and don't kill him you don't step out of your cover with a big stupid grin on your face. Fatty won't make this mistake again since Albie bisected him with his great sword. After things settled down we saw a disturbance in the pond. A female face poked half way out of the water and was observing us. I don't know if she was setting off Slappy's evil sense or if she reminded him of an ex-girlfriend but he grabbed his bow and was about ready to start going ballistic.... hmm maybe Slappy the Paladin isn't so bad after all. But to me she looked more bored than hostile so I stepped in between the two and decided to take the diplomatic approach. I asked her if she had the flask of everlasting water we needed. She replied that she did and she would be willing to trade for another item that matched her element. I instantly regretted giving the ring of swimming to Slappy since he still seemed to want to separate this creature's head from her body. I had my sap ready to send Slappy to dreamland just in case negotiations broke down but he gave up the ring with no argument.
We traveled about a league to the last location. An old abandoned inn in the middle of the woods. We entered and saw the remains of a large battle, several skeletons and old broken weapons scattered about. Against the northern wall there was a staff matching the one in the drawings the professor gave us. Before we could grab it Punchy, his elf bitch and his little goblin buddy entered the inn. Slappy made a mad dash for the staff but I placed my foot on it to prevent him from grabbing it, we were between it and those other bastards for the time being so it wasn't a priority at the moment besides I've learned from previous experience that when there is an artifact in a room full of skeletons said skeletons tend to get up and get upset when you take it and we already had our hands full. I got my revenge against Punchy by sinking an arrow deep in his gut but the elf healed him before he dropped. I yelled at everyone to focus on the bitch but Albie and Slappy were already headed her way. Here's where things got interesting and by that I mean here's where things went to hell. The goblin drops back and uses the wand we were looking for in the cave to start torching everyone, his party mates included. There's good reason not to give goblins anything that has something to do with fire, they like to watch things burn including friends and family. And to add to the fun a large wooden golem of some sort comes bursting from the back of the old inn and starts taking swings at Pisssack.
Punchy was rather displeased with his little buddy for scorching him and turned around and started taking potshots at him while Albie and Slappy made short work of the elf. Pisssack and Stumpy were holding their own against the wood thing for the time being so I went after my old friend Punchy. Even though he was focused on the goblin who was still torching him, Slappy and Albie he was proving difficult to hit. Albie and Slappy turned their attention to the little pyro and did away with him in short order while Pisssack and Stumpy continued to chip away at the wood thing with magic and hammer. Punchy moved away from me to take a shot at the wood thing but before I could pursue the creature cast an entanglement spell rooting everyone but Albie to one spot. Albie moved up to Punchy who made the fatal mistake of trying to stab the half orc in the face. I was really wanting to be the one to deal the fatal blow to Punchy but since I wasn't I just made a note to go kick his corpse once I could move again. I launched an arrow and knocked the wood creature to the ground, Albie then did what he does best and smashed the creature to pieces. Slappy got the wand from the dead goblin, I grabbed the staff and we made our way back to the inn.
The professor was pleased with the items we brought him and the sheriff dropped all charges and gave me the dagger. We left and are currently continuing our journey to Riddleport. I don't even want the damned dagger now. I think I'll give it to Stumpy so he'll have a proper rogue weapon to use instead of the ridiculous hammer of his.
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Starfish are pointy.
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