March 26, 2004

Game Start Date
8/20/10042
Game Master
Krystal Tyler
Adventurers
Kulov
Freya
Natasha
Harold
Grog

Hook

Your in a bar when...

Plot Synopsis

All five adventurers somehow manage to end up in the same small bar in Port Haven. Grog the Orc orders some grog, even though he doesn’t have any money. Shortly afterward, Harold, yet another Orc, also orders grog, tipping heavily. Grog sees this as his way out of paying for his own drink, and the two almost immediately begin arguing.

Later, two men are seen following a third out the bar doors, and shouting/arguing ensues. Grog wanders outside to see what is going on, Harold follows, still wanting to “talk,” Freya is curious enough to follow the Orcs, and the other two just shrug it off as part of the Port Haven “ambience.” Eventually, the guy being harassed in a nearby alley manages to escape and runs off, the two thugs in tow. Grog notices that the guy seemed to have done something just before making a run for it and proceeds to investigate the back of the alley. Behind a loose board he finds a book, and as Harold approaches, he decides to hide his find by sitting on it. Both Harold and Freya see the book when Grog points to his butt to show that he’s only sitting on his behind. The book passes between Freya and Grog as they both try to get their hands on it. Grog loudly notes that the first page of the book appears to be glowing, attracting the attention of Natasha and Kulov (as well as some other patrons). A small scuffle ensues, including Grog getting smacked by Harold’s pick. As Grog makes a flying leap to catch the book, Natasha deftly snatches it away from him and promptly disappears. In a few minutes’ time (due to more scuffling and book-poking), the entire party has vanished.

The five appear in a vast, extremely hot, sand-covered desert (some face-down). Grog and Harold begin to fight again, but the others calm them down so that they can figure out what’s happened to them. Most of them notice that it suddenly appears later in the day and that sand is obscuring the northeast horizon. The party makes its way to the closest shelter, which turns out to be a rocky outcropping. The sandstorm comes upon them with a vengeance, blowing some of them off their feet and making others attempt things such as “shield sailing” and testing the wind with an umbrella. The party camps at the leeward side of the rock to wait out the storm; Harold spots some movement not far away, and he and Natasha investigate. A creature surprises them by biting Natasha’s foot. They quickly dispose of it and yank it out of the sand, revealing an 11-foot-long, plated, segmented sandworm. They drag it back to the camp, and some of the party (mostly the Orcs) eat it while saving the plates.

Night falls some hours later, and the party takes watches. Sometime in the night, the wind dies down and stars can be seen (but no moon). The night is oddly dark and cold. During Harold’s watch, he hears the swishing of sand. After several tense moments and odd sounds, he finally notices a large, lizard-like creature standing no more than 20 feet from him. More time passes as the two size each other up, with the creature making many odd noises and gestures. Harold wakes Natasha, who then figures out that the creature is intelligent. Natasha introduces herself and Harold, and the creature responds by pointing to itself and saying, Khrath, which the party takes as its name. Khrath notes the cold party and makes a small fire out of a couple strange objects. Natasha then proceeds to ask the creature if he knows about a book. More confusion ensues, but the creature moves to the rock outcropping and reveals what appears to be a hidden cave entrance. Natasha and Harold investigate, finding another book at the end of the passage. The rest of the party is awakened, and they all follow the passage to the book, whereupon they hear what seems to be the creature covering the entrance to the cave with a large rock. Harold carefully attempts to investigate the book but soon disappears, taking with him the party’s only light source. Kulov lamps two more rocks, giving one to Grog. Natasha looks more closely at the book, noticing that a group of pages at the end appear to stick out farther than the others. As she tries to flip the pages to that section, she disappears, taking yet another light source. Once again, the entire party ends up disappearing one by one: Grog, Natasha, and Kulov end up in the midst of the Portal Farm; Harold and Freya end up just off the shore of an island on yet another strange world, this one with much water (to their relief), a rocky canyon, and lots of odd devices made of rusted iron. Strangely enough, they quickly discover yet another book, but this one looks more like the one that took them off Jaern in the first place. Leery of touching the book too much, he and Freya explore, finding many more odd things and mechanical devices. They don’t find anything to loot, so they return to the book and touch the pages, once again returning to the dark sandy world. They run to the rocky outcropping, pull away the stone, and return to the book in the cavern, which has been replaced where it was when they first found it. Freya manages to appear in the Portal Farm, while poor Harold once again ends up on the canyon world with a splash. By the time he returns to the rocky outcropping on the desert world, the sun has risen again, and Khrath is waiting for him at the entrance to the cavern, wearing some odd goggle-like things and looking slightly annoyed. He helps Harold move the rock. The book has (once again) been replaced, and after much flipping, Harold finally manages to return to Jaern.

2500 XP.

Notable events: Harold gets some frequent hiker miles.

Noteworthy Postgame Events