How are we not dead yet, part 3

Yesterday's game was kinda short, and I felt it was a little dull. Not every game is amazing though, and you have to take the good with the bad in D&D. I think part of the problem is my style of DMing because this has happened before with this group and others. I don't want to change because I view player choice as the fundamental heart of all RPGs, yet there are times when the players fail to make any choices. I don't want to push any sort of 'story' on the players; I try to present the world as it is, and it is the responsibility of the players to interact with that world. I am a referee or judge, not a storyteller. The story is a byproduct of the game, not what moves or creates the game; the players' actions and choices are the core of the game. Then again when sessions like yesterday occur I question myself and try to find what I did wrong or how I can improve.

Anyway on to the recap, the party finally picked a company name: How Are We Not Dead Yet (HAWNDY). Every adventuring group is part of the adventurers guild. The group is identified by a company name within the guild and may be composed of more adventurers than are currently being used. I'll have to write another post about the adventurer guild at some future point.

Date: 14 April 2017
Characters:
Ozbrave, M-U lvl 3
Raveling, Thief lvl 5
Willem, Elf lvl2
Dilbert, Lizardman lvl 1
Dalia, Elf lvl 1

Calendar Date: 23 Kaldmont - 25 Kaldmont

23 kaldmont, weather = 11-20 degrees Fahrenheit, moderate humidity, 15 mph minds from north

We left off just after the party had defeated and captured an old elf hermit on an island in the bog. The session began with the interrogation of the Hermit. Ozbrave really wanted his spellbook, so kept asking questions to its whereabouts, but the mad ravings of the hermit were the only response he got, so he killed the hermit.

They then continued on to the forge. as they approached, they saw that there was a 20' tall wooden stockade guarded by kobolds and gnolls. they approached the gates, and told the guards they were interested in buying some swords which were supposed to be made here. The gnoll captain, Cosann, deliberated with them for a while and then left to go speak with his boss. After a few minutes he came back with an ogre named Graah. He showed them a blight blade, claimed that a wound from it would cause the victim to bleed continuously, and said they might be able to purchase one for 85 silver. he said before any purchases were made, he would have to talk to the 'Queen', but the party could stay inside the stockade while waiting for her reply. He left to talk to the the Queen, and Cosann led the party into the stockade to the gnoll barracks and said they could sleep there. after some initial non-conversation with the gnolls in the barracks, they decide to sleep outside.

24 Kaldmont, weather = 30-50 degrees Fahrenheit, High Humidity(misty), moderate rainfall

The party awoke just after midnight  when Graah arrived and said the witchqueen wanted to speak with them immediately. They were led to her residence, and talked with her in her foyer, which was decorated in demonic artwork. They negotiated with her and she led them on a tour of the facility, showing them the forge where Graah made the swords, the chasm where the blight was mined from the swamp, and her sacrificial platform above the chasm. They finally agreed on purchasing 10 swords at a total price of 850 silver. She said the crafting would take a few days, so they left and set up camp on the island outside of the stockade.

25 Kaldmont, weather = 15-35 degrees Fahrenheit,  High Humidity(misty),  15mph winds from North

At dawn, the a Merrow comes out of the swamp water and begins talking to the PCs. No one can understand him at first, but then he starts speaking in broken Lizardman. He asks for their help in curing a sickness and says lizardmen are the source of it. He dissapears back into the swamp. later in the day, Cosann and 5 kobolds come out of the stockade and say they have the swords. They deliver them wrapped in a bundle of hides. Ozbrave hands out the swords to the party members, and puts the extras in their wagon, and then they turn around ready to attack the kobolds.

XP: 40 each

How are we not dead yet, part 2

Date: 17 March 2017 Karameikan Calendar Date:19 Kaldmont - 23 Kaldmont
Characters:
Henry, lvl 1 fighter
Ozbrave, lvl 3 M-U
Matt, lvl 3 M-U
Edge, lvl 3 Mystic
Raveling, lvl 5 thief
Dilbert, lvl 1 Lizardman
Bladus, lvl 1 Fighter
Bilbo, lvl 1 Thief
Willem, lvl 2 Elf
Ranulf, lvl 2 Fighter
Dr Happy, lvl 2 Cleric
Daila, Lvl 1 elf

We started the game by leveling up characters who gained enough xp from last session: Raveling, Edge, Ozbrave, and Matt, and Willem.

19 Kaldmont - weather = 10-18 degrees Fahrenheit, low humidity, no winds.
     The party continues on their journey north. In the morning they encounter some villagers running south along the road in panic. One of them has his hair on fire. They scream warnings about a red dragon and continue fleeing south. Party drives wagon off road into forest in attempt to hide, other individuals in party attempt to hide behind trees. They see an adult red dragon come flying over trees and bite head off of peasant who was slower than the rest, he circles around and come back to the dead body, sniffs it, and flies away.
     The party continues on the road north. after about a mile they find small farming village on side of road burnt down. they search the remains and find a small chest with 100 crona. They continue traveling until dark and make camp.

20 Kaldmont - weather = 10-25 degrees Fahrenheit, low humidity, no winds.
     The party continues north. the day passes uneventfully. Towards dusk they approach Kelvin and stay at an inn.

21 Kaldmont - weather = 10-18 degrees Fahrenheit, moderate humidity, no winds.
     The party goes shopping, buys winter clothes and fresh food and a few weapons. They continue on the Duke's Road north. About midday they find a hole that has been recently dug in the middle of the road. It is 5' diameter, and 8' deep. They investigate it for a few minutes and move on, camping when darkness falls.
     At about midnight, Henry is keeping watch. he hears the shriek of an eagle. He wakes up Willem and Dilbert. They look towards the source of  the sound and see a giant bird above them. Henry wakes everyone else up. The bird lands next to the wagon and starts rummaging through it. Willem and Dilbert both throw missiles at it, but miss. The rest of the party is now awake and attack the Roc with missile weapons. It becomes frightened and begins to fly away, but Ozbrave hits it with his necklace of Fireballs. It dies and falls to the ground. The party cuts it up and eats some of it and stores the rest of it in the wagon.

22 Kaldmont - weather = 15-26 degrees Fahrenheit, high humidity, no winds.
     As the party continues north on the road, a heavy mist moves in from the swamp and envelopes them. A horrible rotting stench comes with the mist. After a few hours of traveling they hear noises of combat, and a horse comes galloping out of the mist dragging a dead rider behind it. The rider is an orc armed in rusted mail.
     They go towards the noise and find four overturned wagons, several dead orc bodies, dead horses, deadslave bodies, and deep furrows in the ground. The good from the wagons are all spoiled or broken, they included provisions, and crude black swords. Henry goes scouting into the swamp, and hears deep breathes. he goes further and sees the head of a black dragon looking at him. He turns around and runs away yelling. The dragon chases him, and runs towards the rest of the party. Ozbrave hits it with his wand of fireballs. The dragon runs forward and breathes a line of acid, injuring Ozbrave, Willem, Daila, Bladus, Raveling and Edge. Matt casts a globe of continual darkness around the dragon, the rest of the party shoots blindly into the globe. The dragon comes limping out and melees Ranulf, while the rest of the party attacks the dragon. The dragon takesto thewing and starts to fly away, Matt takes the necklace of fireballs from Ozbrave and hits the dragon, killing it.

     During the whole combat it was apparent that the dragon was suffering from some sort of disease and that he couldn't summon the strength to use his breath weapon after the first attack. When he died the dragon exploded and a bitter acid landed on everyone.
     The party now sees two crude wooden bridges leading into the swamp, they hear voices of orcs on one bridge so decide to take the other. The bridge leads to a smallislandin the swamp with a dead tree and an old statue of some forgotten king. They search the island and find a large silver neck circlet 5' in diameter, with a riddle inscribed on the inside, "Prince and Pauper, King and Knave, equals in his wake."  The statue has a carving of the head of a five eyeddemon hanging from its belt. Ozbrave casts detect magic on the statueand is able to determine that the statue is a construct ofsome sort, so they avoid it.
    The returns to the other bridge and Ozbrave goes forward andparleys with the orcs. After learning that the dragon is deadby their hand, the orcs want to celebrate with the party. They drink and eat, and cut off Willem's hair. The party learns that the orcs are part of the cult of the dragon. THeir cult is trying to ressurect and ancient evil reddragon. A kobpld sect of the cultwas tasked with ressurecting the dragon's human companion, a human wizard named Tsathzar Rho, who had helped the dragon conquer many lands. The orcs had just traded asignificant amount of the cultswealth for a shipment of swords of blight. Swords of blight are made at the forge in the swamp, ruled by Kyleth, an vil sorceress, knownas the witch queen. They give the party a crude map of the swamp, and agreeto take them to the forge. The party campswith the orcsfor the night.

23 Kaldmont - weather = 11-20 degrees Fahrenheit, moderate humidity, 15 mph minds from north.

     The party is led by the orcs across another bridge to a larger island. in one corner of this island is a hut, which the orcs identify as the hut of a hermit that they avoid. the party goes in, the hermit is an ancient elf who babbles about curing a sickness and joining his army to destroy the witch queen. he then commands 10 skeletons to attack the party. They quickly dispatch the skeletons and tie up the old man. They find someof his diaries, most of wich is illegible. what they can read is cryptic ravings of a madman.

XP earned: 313 per character

How are we not dead yet, part 1

So I plan on keeping notes for my current D&D campaign, starting with last week's events

Characters present:
Raveling lvl 4 thief
Edge lvl 1 mystic
Dr. Happy lvl 1 cleric
Willem lvl 1 elf
Ronalf lvl1 fighter
Matt lvl 1 m-u
ozbrave lvl 1 m-u
Chelsea lvl 2 druid

Previously: The party had just finished an adventure in a dungeon beneath Koriszegy Keep where they defeated a kobold cult trying to resurrect Tsathzar Rho, an ancient sorcerer. After returning to town (Luln) they were contacted by an agent of the Duke who had received word about the rise of this cult in his domain. the agent had recently discovered the plans of the cult to perform a dark ritual at the standing stones in the forest nearby. While discussing a plan to sabotage the ritual the agent was assassinated and the assassin escaped. The party continued with their plans to stop the ritual  and were successful, either killing or chasing off the cultists. They captured one cultist and were able to withdraw information from him. he revealed that the cult receives weapon shipments at the village of Stallanford. At this point the party returned to Luln and sold some of their loot from the dungeon. they then took a wagon with more loot, mostly a library that they plundered, to Specularum to find a buyer for the collection.

Date 10 March 2017, calendar date:18 sviftmont - 18 kaldmont

At this point the party reached Specularum  in the late evening after the gates to city were shut. they were able to bribe the guards to let them in. They stayed the night at the Rattlebone inn. The next day they went to various merchants and were able to sell their gems and other miscellaneous items. they were able to sell their collection of books to senator Eipoistlo in the Hill district. They initialyy couldn't find anyone to buy  the Black Candles from them, but were able to convince Ceesar the sage to buy them. At this point those with enough experience found the local chapter of the Adventurers Guild and spent time training to level up. they then left the city and began the journey north along the dukes road. we ended with them about 15 miles north of Krakatos.

Things of Note:
Black Candles - the party learned that these candles were magically created specifically for dark rituals. They are made from the blood of 5 different species, men, elves, dwarves, dragons, and rakasta combined with fat of orcs.

Adventurers Guild: this guild was created in the city of dragons located north of the lost valley. The guild has chapters in most major cities throughout the known world. Each chapter provides training for adventurers, a place to sell loot, buy equipment, and recruit new members.