Game 3: The Ruins of Firestrong

For this game - David decided that he wanted to join. I had told all my D&D playing friends that I would write them in at any point if they wanted to join, so I came up with an idea for him. I didn't want him to play #7 though, so he would appear mid-story.


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Rested after their sleep, Echo, Altus, and Enbel rose at about midday. They breakfasted and prepared for departure. The skeleton of the goblin Set was placed inside #7 so it would look like he had escaped the facility himself, and was plotting revenge on the goblin community. Coming out of the temple, and re-chaining the door, they surveyed the scene. The town was broken down. The town hall could be seen to the north, and the gnome fortress to the Northwest. Even though they had seen the broken down town in the moon's light the night previous - the reality seemed even more surreal as they looked at it in the sunshine.

They decided to check out the town hall. On the inside, the place looks totally disused - cobwebbed and dusty and full of now useless junk. There is a line of fresh footprints, going up the stairs. They follow the prints to a closed closet, and on opening it they see a hulking machine-like figure rummaging through the closets contents.

On seeing them, after a moment the figure snatches the mayoral seal from Enbel's neck, saying "That is mine." The metallic figure has a crudely painted "#8" on the chest-plate. #7 confirmed that #8 was the 8th unit from the save point, and was 'defective' and had therefore not been activated. #8 said that he had acquired the "Echo, Altus, and Enbel units" and that he needed to find the other 4 survivors which had been at the compound. Despite Enbel's protestations that they did not need protection, and that #8 should just go track down the other 4, #8 refused to leave them, and said he would continue with them. #8 seemed to have certain knowledge of them already, despite the fact that none of them had ever seen him before. Altus told #8 of the rogue goblin Set, trying to raise revolution against the goblins. They decide to continue together toward the gnome fortress - but they stop along the way to check out the tavern, to see if there is anything special about it given it has been left standing. The tavern used to be owned by Hondo the Scorpion - when they last remembered being there - however long ago that was: 300 years, if #7 was to be believed. Still, there weren't any calendars lying around.

On breaking through the door, they see a cluster of imps on the floor. #7 had earlier made a passing comment about how it was unusual that there seemed to be no imps around. The explanation was obvious from what they saw before them - 20 or more imps savaging a goat corpse. The party led out with a few distracting attacks and some imps scattered and fled. Altus tried to reach out to them psychically and succeeded in identifying the leader - with the help of #8 slowing them down, calming them temporarily. The imps remaining took refuge behind the bar, while the remaining, clothed imp stayed out to make some conversation. The imp seemed intelligent, and the party heard from him about the surrounding area, and comings and goings of different races. The imp had seen the other survivors leaving - the boy went into the forest, and the dragonborn's north toward the town of Wintersnare.

#8 (to the imp): "Do you eat bone?"
Altus: "Is this one of those human double-entendres that I've heard so much about?"

The party decided to name the imp Clomp, as he had no name for himself. During their conversation they became aware that the imps only named by identifiers - like how they died. During all this talk of names, Echo decided that she wanted to name #8 'Pump'. Clomp said that one of their number had been called Pump... but he had died. Clomp was very interested in Ranger, he had not seen dogs in a long time, and was pretty transparent about what he would do with one - eat it. At this point they broke out some of the bat meat they had harvested from the previous night's fight, and that seemed to take Clomp's attention from their four-legged friend. They took their leave on good terms - with promise to be in touch, and to supply more meat in future in exchange for friendship and information.

On departure towards the fortress, they could see a number of drakes circling in the sky, and a gnome figure walking in their general direction. The drakes began to set upon him, and Echo, Enbel, Altus, and 'Pump' ran forward to join in the battle. This gnome appeared to be a bard, like Altus, judging from the instrument on his back. The battle went on, and they eventually downed the last of them. They were then set upon by a group of pseudodragons, that had been hidden out of sight. Continuing the battle - with Joplin (their new gnome companion) assisting Altus with healing the party, and #8 assisting Echo with her defending duties - the pseudodragons fell. A pair of ostriches that had been 'watching' nearby returned and fled in the direction of the fortress.

Quickly, Joplin severed and collected the heads of any of the impressive drakes, and the pseudodragons. He lets the others know that he had left the fortress on the condition that he would not return until he had the head of a drake. As such, the group have given him a great assistance, as he would quite possibly have been killed on this dangerous errand. He offers the group shelter for the night in the fortress. As they are righting themselves for departure - they harvest the edible meat and the usable hides of the beasts they killed - Ranger begins to act agitated and bark at a figure in the distance. Pump gets excitable at this - loudly proclaiming it to be "the goblin! Set!!"

They leave the unusable drake and pseudodragon bits in a pile, with a little pictogram for Clomp to come and claim it for the imps. They then continue to the fortress. The doorman sneers at Joplin. "I thought you weren't going to come back until you had the head of a drake". The doorman falls silent as Joplin holds up a whole string of heads. He turns to his new friends, and says "Welcome to Blackwater Fortress"

*End of Game 3*

The integration of #8 worked quite well - as there is a place for him in the game. His actual origin will remain secret from the rest of the party for a while, however I have told David what it is. #8, or Pump as he will be interchangeably known from now on has been built as a Warforged Battlemind.


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Battle notes:
Despite some tweaking, the battle with the drakes/pseudodragons was too easy for the party. #8 is a defender, like Echo, so now there are a lot of status effects which come into play. I need to consider this when putting together encounters for my future games.