Gem Wars World Map

Since my players kept losing it, I've uploaded the map of my DnD campaign to this blog. I hope this makes it clear where this blog got it's name.

The continuation of the campaign

When we last left our heroes, they had just secured the gem of elements. After the great whale guardian was slain, the small fishing village nearby threw a large party, fed and lit by whale. Most of the heroes joined in on the festivities, but not all. Using the festival as a distraction, John Fox annexed one of the small fishing boats to help continue their quest. Using their newly acquired boat, they traveled to Lightpoint where they hoped to find a larger boat (and steal it without the cleric noticing) to take them to the Three Cities of Katarna where another gem might reside.
So shortly after arriving, they left the cleric behind and snuck away to the harbor. There they encountered a crowd gathered around two people arguing. A captain of a merchant ship was refusing to set sail to the Three Cities because of the danger. The merchant who owns the ship, is demanding that the captain does what he is told and that the rumors have no basis of truth. The merchant then cries out that if the captain won't do his job, he'll just find a new one. It's at this point that our heroes stepped forward and offered to captain the ship to the Three Cities. The merchant agreed, and the old captain disagreed. The next day they set sail with the merchant ship, onward to the next gem. However on the way there, they planned to steal the ship away from the merchant by making the crew rise up against him. They hid the food, and claimed the merchant had given them insufficient supplies to make the trip. After which they graciously 'bought' new food in one of the villages on the route. Then they forged a letter from the merchant that because of their tardiness no one would be getting paid. After all this the crew had no problem that the heroes raised the pirate flag and set sail for the Isles of Bones, a known pirate hide-out and possible location of one of the Gems of Power. Our heroes where well under way when disaster struck.
Under the cover of a massive storm, two water drakes attacked the boat. Despite being quickly dispatched by the heroes, the drakes did manage to damage the boat enough so that it capsized under the force of the storm. Our heroes where thrown into the water, able to save only a handful of the crew. They gathered the driftwood remains of the ship and created a simple raft. After a few days of drifting, they stranded on the Isles of Bones.But the island seemed deserted, a few pirate ships remained half-sunk it the bay of the island. They then set out to explore the island in search of the Gem of Power.
A few hours travel later, they found a cave where they set up their camp for the night. During the night zombies sprang up from deep inside the cave but were quickly destroyed by the cleric on guard. The next day they set out to explore the cave, only to find their old cleric at the end of it. He called out to the heroes, claiming that they had abandoned and replaced him. The cleric had killed the guardian that had been there and was now wearing the gem. the heroes quickly killed him but had more trouble with the Bone Nagas which had been under his control. They now had the Gem of Life but were stranded on an island with no way to get back to the main land.

The campaign continues further

When we last left our heroes they had just left Devalon after promising the Steward to find the gems he was looking for and kill him (not necessarily in that order). They headed towards Digger's Pass where the Red Tower guard was searching for a gem until they were stopped. The party quickly retraced their steps and discovered a secret passage way which now stood perched open. Inside the secret tunnel they heard a scream coming from a nearby cave. They drew their weapons and charged ahead, only to be confronted by a conflagration ooze chasing after a girl. While they were fighting the ooze, two other humans showed up in their aid. Supposedly these two men had wandered into the caves from Underbridge, one of the towns which guards the entrance to Digger's Pass. With their help the ooze quickly died. The girl thanked our heroes and explained that she was from Aeriola, a city nearby. As the party and the rest of the world was unfamiliar with this city, she explained that it was a city deep in the mountains governed by the emissary of Hevate, Kroc. It was also Kroc who had saved her life by giving her part of his soul when she had an accident a long time ago. The party continued on to Aeriola and discovered a transport ooze in the caves abandoned by giants who lived here long ago. After luring it down with food, they climbed aboard and the cube ferried them to Aeriola. The city of Aeriola turned out to be a ring-link structure hovering around the largest mountain and the cube had to climb across a cable to get there. After reaching the city they were greeted by its Bluespawn guards. As a thank you for saving the girl they were taken to Kroc instead of being killed on sight. Confronted with the large blue dragon, Kroc, the party soon figured out that he was the guardian of the gem and went on the offensive. Beating back the palace guards on one side and the dragon on the other, they eventually came out victorious and secured the gem. Unfortunately the girl they rescued went up in flames and the city that Kroc was powering started falling down. Some quick thinking by the party enabled them to survive the impending doom. Two gems down, three to go. From the prophecy of the Formian queen, they figured out that the gem of elements is located in the bay of the reflected moon. They commandeered a boat to take them there and along the way heard legends of a sea monster that lives in that area. Putting op base in a small fishing village, they headed out to find this creature. After confronting the 300m whale, their only solution was to get themselves swallowed and attack from the inside out. The poor creature never stood a chance as a half-dragon crocodile made its way through its gut. Inside the carcass they found the gem. Feeling confident they set out to find the remaining gems.

The Ongoing Campaign

The third segment of my ongoing campaign (quite some time since the last time)

The heroes had just vanquished a bandit camp terrorizing Stonedelve. The only clue they had found was a letter with dates and times stamped with a seal featuring a Red Tower. They continue their march north until they encounter a pregnant woman being plagued by two bandits. Both bandits were wearing an armband with the same Red Tower symbol as the letter that was found. They killed the bandits and save the woman who says her name is Shari. She says she was visiting family nearby and was now on her way back to Underbridge. But our heroes think she's lying, and they will later turn out to be correct. She decides that she will accompany them on the journey north.
Eventually they arrive in Fourstones where people have been going missing. During their stay Mercurios, the elven cartographer disappears. After a frivolous search the heroes find nothing except that men have been seen around the village at night wearing armbands. They depart the now named Four Slightly Smaller Stones to search for clues in the area, leaving Shari waiting in the inn. They eventually end up in Underbridge, without the pregnant Shari.
There they discover a city in trouble. Digger's Pass, invaluable for trade with the rest of Devalon, has been flooded and an emergency city guard has been razed of mercenaries under the command of a merchant named Neil Grater. The baron of Underbridge has taken ill and is no longer leaving his mansion. The son and daughter-in-law of the baron are gone to visit relatives far away, this effectively leaves the city in the hands of the questionable Neil Grater and a small contingent of Red Tower guards sent by the Steward of Devalon. The heroes are convinced of Grater's roll in all of it but cannot prove anything. After they meet him and mention a local inn keeper who has spoken out against him, they find the man's inn burned to the ground. Grater offers them stay at his inn, and showers the female party members with gifts. Unable to enter Grater's mansion or pay a visit to the baron, they decide to explore Digger's Pass. They not only find it trapped but also find Red Tower guards and Grater's sorceror, Gardon running an operation out of an abondonned segment of the tunnel network. They attack Gardon and the guards, capturing Gardon. He confesses that they have been using slaves that they kidnapped from neighboring village to dig in the tunnel in search of a mysterious gem.
They take Gardon to Grater's manion along with all of the slaves they freed and demand he give up. Grater reluctantly agrees and is taken into custody by the real town guards. They reunite the baron with his son and they are handsomely rewarded. The son then leaves after learning that his wife, Shari, is in Fourstones.
Our heroes bid their farewells and set off through Digger's Pass towards Devalon and the insidious Steward. At a brisk pace they arrive quickly at the capital and use the armbands from the captured Red Tower guards to disguise themselves. They report in and convinces the local guards that the bring a message for the Steward. They confront him with all that they have learned and he thanks them for stopping the plot in Underbridge. The Steward reveals that he knows who the adventures are and has heard of their exploits. He know wishes to hire them for a dire mission. He explains that he only sent the Red Tower guard to Underbridge to secure the gem hidden in Digger's Pass and that they misinterpreted his orders. The gem he seeks is one of five gems of power. It is through these gems that the gods manifest their power on the world. These gems have suddenly started evil, corrupting everything around them, including their guardians. The Steward already has one gem, the emerald of Maitri which was secured from a temple near Smallbank. The guardian linked to the gem regenerates daily and to prevent this from happening the emerald is kept in a special box. His only intention is to find the gems and perform the purification ritual. And he asks the heroes if they would find them for him. They agree, but only if they take the emerald of Maitri and all copy's of the book detailing the cleansing ritual. Right before they leave, they promise that after they will come back within two weeks to kill the Steward.

Answered questions:

Why is part of the woods near Treeshine and Stonedelve evil?
What happened to the guardian of the temple of Maitri?
Why did the giant's youths turn into ogres?
What is the mysterious gem and how is it linked to the salamander and the rest of the plot?

New unanswered questions:

What do the new dreams that the party has been having mean?
Why are the gems of power turning evil?
Where are they all hidden?
What is the goal of the Steward, is it as he says or is there more?
How much more is there to the legend of the gems?
Why is it that no one has found the gem in Digger's Pass when the location is so obvious?
What other mysteries does the tunnel network of Digger's Pass hold?
What happened to Grater and his men, is it safe to assume that they are gone for good?

The campaign continues

Yesterday was the second session of my new D&D campaign.

The heroes had just found a lost city of giants , living in solitude underground for several thousands of years. They are taken to the giant king, who explains that his people have hidden themselves, awaiting prophecy and the one they call the 'world shaper'. But they might soon become discovered. Some of their youths went on a coming of age quest to the nearby temple of Maitri and they still haven't returned.
Determined that these youths are the ogres attacking the village, the heroes set out to stop them. They journey to the temple and confront the ogres in combat. They kill them but are now themselves trapped in the ceremony, unable to leave it until it is complete. They journey through caves to find the guardian who must part words of wisdom to complete the ceremony. But they find the guardian missing and an evil looking frost salamander in his place. They manage to defeat it and find a gem hidden in the carcass. The gem has strange magical properties.
The heroes head back to the giants to tell them of the unfortunate fates of their youths. For some reason the dwarven cleric accompanying them has vanished while they slept in the giant stronghold. They move on to the village of Smallbank to sell their spoils of war. After selling the mysterious gem to the local magic shop, they receive a new companion, a favored soul to compensate for the loss of their cleric. A loud bang is heard and when the heroes rush to the scene, the magic shop is destroyed and the frost salamander has returned. They defeat it yet again and again find the gem hidden in its body. They decide to take the gem back to the temple and seal it in. After that they move on, making a promise to the mayor of Smallbank to investigate a missing caravan due from Stonedelve.
Arriving in Stonedelve, they learn that their mine has been taken over by formains and this has stopped production. Without further inquiry, they head to the mine to find the formians. While meeting with the guards, trying to speak to their leader, they are attacked by a hidden sniper. The formains attack and combat ensues. They kill the sniper and calm the formains down. They are then taken to the queen. The queen accuses them of being fools. No dwarf has entered this mine in over 500 years. They've been tricked and played. The queen also imparts a dire warning in the form of a prophecy.
Meanwhile the dilettante follows the snipers tracks and finds a bandit camp, who have captured the children of Stonedelve. The heroes return to the village, demanding an explanation. The major tells them that the bandits have taken their children and they were told to get rid of the heroes. The bandits have raided the village of everything and are forcing the dwarfs to make a large quantity of tools. The tools are then shipped north. The heroes leave to village and attack the bandit camp night. They manage to rescue the children, but find no trace of the village wealth. The only clue they do find is a letter...

Unanswered questions:

Why is part of the woods near Treeshine and Stonedelve evil?
What happened to the guardian of the temple of Maitri?
Why did the giant's youths turn into ogres?
What is the mysterious gem and how is it linked to the salamander and the rest of the plot?
Who was the false witness plotting the villages against each other? And for what reason?
Why is it so important that the giants remain hidden?
What was the great war that the giants talked about?
What happened to the dwarven cleric?
Why does everyone in the party dream of the sound of war drums every night?
Why were the bandits near Stonedelve shipping tools north?
Who were they working for?
What is in the letter that the heroes found?
What does the prophecy mean given to the heroes by the formian queen?
What is the obsession that the giants have with gelatinous cubes?

Why are my PC's so content with bypassing any and all plot points? (sigh)

New campaign

Yesterday was the first session of a new dnd campaign that I'm running.
Everybody seems to have made a sport of playing the strangest character classes which they could find and now we're lacking an (decent) arcane caster. We have a swashbucling pirate, a very specialized shapeshifting druid, a dilletant (whose key asset at the moment is his saves), a duskblade speciallizing in geography, then a cleric and a rogue.

The world that they're playing on is home grown. I still have to come up with a name for it. It's basicly a world where evil has been erradicated long ago. At first there was the great nation of Devalon which covered a significant part of the world. But after the king dissappeared, some of the more distant cities severed all ties, forming the nation of Katarna. Since then tensions has been rising between the two great nations.
Our heroes began on various different places but all met with an untimely death in the first few moments of the session. However shortly after they woke up again near the towns of Smallbank and Treeshine on the border between Devalon and Katarna. They soon find out that strange things have been happening in this area and random attacks are taking place on nearby farms. When a witness steps forward in Smallbank who claims to have witnessed that the elves of Treeshine are behind the attacks, the town starts gathering weapons. Determined to stop a war, the heroes set out to investigate. After finding some strange ruins in the area, they head out to Treeshine. In Treeshine they discover that a witness there has claimed that the people of Smallbank are behind the atrocities and that there too they are readying for war. Now our heroes are sure that a third party is involved, whose bent on starting a war in this area. This all coincides with the discovery of an area of forest where everything has turned evil, a sight unseen for thousands of years. The session ended with the investigation of ancient crypts. Legends surround these abandoned crypts, and some claim that the recent events can be traced back to them. After navigating several traps and discovering an unorthodox transportation system, the heroes find themselves in a hidden underground giant city, a race unseen for millennia.