Games Sixty-Six through Seventy-Two: Lizard Men, Dalton, Goblin Tanks, Gratuitous Nudity, Forsaken, and Even an Election!

It has been an eventful few months in Dragonreach, since the near destruction of the city by an ancient red dragon!  A quick recap to catch up our fellow adventurers...

In the Sixty-Sixth foray into Dragonreach ("Evil Swamp"), a band of heroes boarded a boat to explore a deadly swamp and hunt down a fearsome tribe of lizard men who had been attacking merchants.  A short stop at a cursed swamp island was ill-advised, and led to the party's ship almost being sunk by a horde of skeletons...

And, the lizard-men island was only cleared through a deadly battle...

In the Sixty-Seventh foray into Dragonreach ("Roadhouse"), a band of heroes took a job to clean up a remote tavern plagued by Duergar bandits, extortionist kung-fu monks from the Jade Wasps, and other troubles...

In the Sixty-Eighth foray into Dragonreach ("Dirty Business"), a band plunged into the ancient sewers beneath Dragonreach, facing off against ratmen and vampires, racing against rivals to find the lost Temple of Swords...

In the Sixty-Ninth foray into Dragonreach ("The Great Goblin Machine"), a band was hired by the Overlord to track down some goblins who had absconded with a terrible war machine... 

In the Seventieth foray into Dragonreach ("Naked and Afraid"), a band woke on a strange island drugged and bereft of their equipment, and hunted for sport by an evil adventurer...

In the Seventy-First  foray into Dragonreach ("Only Murderers in the Fort"), a band of heroes were hired to hold a remote fort against an army of Forsaken barbarians -- even while a devious murderer was picking off the defenders...

In the Seventy-Second foray into Dragonreach ("The Conclave"), a band hired on as security for the Arcane Conclave, which was holding an election for the new High Archmagus.  Things did not go as planned...

Fortunately, a reputable wizard won the election...

Game Fifty-Eight to Sixty-Five - Law, Order, Rats, Liches, and Beholders!

It has been an eventful six months in Dragonreach, with adventures abound!  A quick recap to catch up our fellow adventurers...

In the Fifty-Eighth foray into Dragonreach ("Lawfulness & Order"), a band of heroes hired on as "auxiliary Hellhounds" to police the mean streets of Pyre...

They were quickly tasked to solve the murder ("dun-dun") of a prominent dwarf in the city, and several clues led to the discovery of a deadly love triangle, their accusation of the dwarf's wife, and a trial-by-combat in the Grand Arena of Pyre...

In the Fifty-Ninth foray into Dragonreach ("Trial of the Masters"), a strange portal opened the way to an interdimensional "game show" run by a cabal of liches, where the heroes were forced to compete in games of arcane trivia and deadly battles to win their freedom...or die trying (as was the fate of Dante Aldari, the dwarf barbarian).

In the Sixtieth foray into Dragonreach ("The Ransom"), another band was hired to deliver a ransom for a wealthy merchant's daughter - but things soon went awry as the bandits refused to return the hostage, who had (surprise, surprise) kidnapped herself...

In the Sixty-First foray into Dragonreach ("Die Hard"), a band of guests at the grand opening of a new mercantile guild's tower found themselves in the middle of an attack by its rivals - fortunately, only a few of the heroes were lacking shoes amid all of the broken glass...

In the Sixty-Second foray into Dragonreach ("Rats!"), a band was hired to help map the deadly sewers beneath the island of Croatoan, facing off against an enormous alligator, a vile rat-man, and massive swarms of rats!

In the Sixty-Third foray into Dragonreach ("Deadly Druid"), another band ventured deep into the Isle of Croatoan to battle a rogue druid!  Another casualty, as the halfling hero Melford Winklebottom was slain in the climactic final fight!

In the Sixty-Fourth foray into Dragonreach ("The Assassins"), a band of mercenaries tried to pave the way for a hostile mercantile takeover by assassinating a local lord - who happened to have a mechanical dragon golem under his command...

In the Sixty-Fifth foray into Dragonreach ("Bounty of Beholders"), a band of heroes was hired to track down a massive dragonshard, but needed to rescue a condemned thief to find its location, and battle three separate beholders to claim their prize!

Congratulations to all those who survived these exciting (and deadly) adventures!

Dragonreach Returns! (Games Thirty-Four and Thirty-Five)

At long last, thanks to miracle injections devised by the most ingenious wizards of the Arcane Conclave, the exploration of Dragonreach has resumed! 

The adventure began with (DM John) a foray into the perilous north in search of a missing band of adventurers hired by the Arcane Conclave (and the arcane dragonshard finder the fools had lost!).  Our heroic band tracked them to the territory of the savage Forsaken and assaulted the barbarian village to mount a rescue...

Unfortunately, the Forsaken's treasure left something to be desired - as one brave half-orc wizard discovered when he attempted to engage in a bit of looting during the battle...

The party then used the dragonshard finder to track down the stone the defeated band was seeking.  But, they faced a terrible, invisible lizard monster as well as strangely familiar rivals...

But, ultimately, the Duke's band was driven off, and our heroes returned triumphant with the dragonshard!

The next evening, a different band undertook a dangerous foray into the ancient sewers beneath dragonreach - battling giant snails, rot-grub infested shambling mounds, and a bizarre cult of quasi-mind flayers attempting to revive the Shining Path cult!  Fortunately, our heroes were able to slay the cultists and the proto-elder brain they were creating!

To be continued...

Game Twenty-Nine: Quit Clowning Around

In the 29th game in Dragonreach, a band of heroes took a mission for the Nightfingers thieves guild.  It seemed that one of the guild's members - Cutup 'the Motley King,' leader of the Midnight Jesters gang - had kidnapped the Overlord's niece.  This resulted in far too much heat for the guild, who wanted Cutup killed with a special dagger that would destroy his soul and prevent him from ever being questioned about the guild's activities...

The party ventured forth into the Jesters' territory, known as Bleakstone Docks, finding it overrun by the Overlord's guards and Knights of the Order of Nessus.  

They battled hellknights and were forced into the old ruined sewers, where they fought their way past a Dragon Turtle!

Ultimately, the party infiltrated the old, ruined lighthouse where Cutup and his men were celebrating their caper.  Cutup was slain, the Jesters' dispatched or driven off, and the Overlord's niece was rescued - albeit not by our heroes, but by a group of rivals who pinched her for a reward.

Game One: The Horror Below the Streets

In Game One, a group of first-level nobodies took a job for the Ambassador of Draconia, who had recently purchased several blocks of the ruined city of Pyre.  But, some sort of monster was hunting the streets at night...

The party stumbled across (and fought) a group of devil-worshiping warriors known as the Knights of the Order of Nessus, who were also investigating...

There were, shall we say, strange doings in the sewers, and a group of very unusual cultists of something they called "the Mother Below."

The party convinced the cultists to take them to this "Mother Below," rescuing a strange woman from being sacrificed to some horror.  They only ever saw its massive tentacles, which nearly dragged several party members into the unfathomable depths...

They were betrayed by a strange sorcerer who claimed to have met them in the future...

But, ultimately, the party managed to slaughter most of the cultists, including the so-called Herald of the Mother Below.  The tentacles withdrew back into the depths...for now.