The Primordial Campaign
The following are the annals of the first Heroes of Otan in what is dubbed The Primordial Campaign... this according to those who were there.
Primordial Campaign Timeline
The following sections are expressly for party use. The DM will fill in the basics, however all the gory details will remain for the party to fill in as they wish. Creation of other pages, adding in of conjecture, questions to be answered or theories about what anything encountered might mean are highly encouraged.
Day One
The party, not yet a party, find themselves congregated at the door of The Stuffed Kobold in Balagash, where they find a notice calling for adventurers needed to perform a service for the town governor, Irimshik Akimi. Those who would eventually become the party joined Balagash's Captain of the Guard Anasha Bastiga for a pint of ale and to hear out the wishes of the governor.
Anasha Bastiga explained the gist of the desired services as follows: The governor's son built a small keep north of Balagash which proved to be indefensible and has since been abandoned. Locked within the keep is a piece of parchment, for which directions for finding it will be given. Return of the parchment will grant the party a prize of 150 gold per person... a hefty sum. If the parchment is returned in perfect shape... the governor could further reward the party with as large a prize as the deed to the keep itself.
Anasha, not expecting the party of total noobs to survive a day's walk, much less any violent encounter, granted the party the use of a half-dead mule and a cart, presumably so the remaining survivor could return with the corpses of the brave noobs for burial. He also provided the party with a rough map to, and of the keep.
First Blood
Half a day out of town, the party ranger Rayjok sensed and upcoming ambush; kobolds! The party ambushed the ambushers and killed them all, surviving their first ever encounter.
Day Two
At the end of their first day of travel, the party left the road, set up their watches and camped out in the woods.
First Watch Shenanigans
The ranger Rayjok sensed overhead flippy flapping and got a good sight of a Dragonwrought Kobold, also known as an Urd. He chased it out to it's landing spot. Much fighting when a second one arrived and attacked the cleric Greef Roake. Greef's armor proved too much for the beast and the day was won.
Discovering the Keep
The party discovered the keep about 1/2 a day's ride further up the road. It was crawling with kobolds and urds... and a few armored tough looking kobolds of unknown might.
Laying the Trap
The party laid various snare traps to the north side of the keep opposite the keep's main gate. Additionally, they built a large signal fire to lure out kobolds, leaving Panamon Cree on the southern end of the keep prepared to infiltrate.
Forest Gumping to Victory
The signal fire did not burn well and was not noticed at all by the Urd lookouts, who can't see very well in the midday sun. When Obsidian Black started lighting up trees, however, the Kobolds acted sending a contingent of kobolds and urds out to investigate via an escape tunnel. They engaged the party from the rear, nearly overwhelming them, but Matteo and Greef held their own and slowly the tables turned.
Meanwhile, Panamon Cree kazzert'd a kobold and engaged another Urd during his 'infiltration' of the keep and escaped over the north wall. Cree rejoined Rayjok (who was struggling with an Urd he had lured down from the keep tower) and Black (who appeard from the woods just in time to vaporize said Urd) and the trio returned to the woods north of the keep (near the tunnel egress) as the remainder of the sleeping keep inhabitants began to rouse and regroup.
The party collected itself in the north woods to formulate a new strategy. They decide the Scooby Doo approach, to break up the party and attack the overwhelming numbers in a pincer movement. Greef and Obsidian mount the assault on the tunnel, while the remainder return to the northwest tower, with Panamon Cree's rope still dangling from it.
The latter group ascend the rope while the former carefully walk down the tunnel corridor toward the keep, noting small kobold-sized openings in sections of the tunnel.
The Scooby Doo Gambit
From there it was a simple matter of splitting the party into two groups. Greef and Black took on the kobolds advancing in the tunnel while the rest, under the cover of sunlight, stormed the keep.
Between exaggerated claims of abilities and even more exaggerated claims of abilities, Greef and Obsidian push back the underground Kobolds.
Meanwhile above ground the rest of the gang push their way into the keep's front door and discover a troop of 8 armored kobolds and a koboldy looking wizard(?). Shortly (pun intended) Matteo and Rajok feel the sting of kobold magic and the party fall back to the southeast tower. A short chase is given, but it is not followed up.
No Rest for the Weary
Before the party has a chance to rest and heal up, Greef and Obsidian break through the tunnel, coming up in the armory area at the north end of the keep. They emerge to find the wizardy kobold and his retinue. Panamon, hearing the commotion rushes to the front door to give aid. Greef then fired off a Command spell, causing the wizardy kobold to flee... and once fleeing the entire group continued out an arrow slit and into the skies.
Hero's Welcome
Sort of... Back at the old The Stuffed Kobold, the party re-unites with Anashar Bastiga. Upon making a joke about the party getting papercuts, only to learn they have been fighting kobolds, he is incredulous. He is unhappy. He explains that there are no kobolds in Balagash Forest. Trusting the 'evidence' of the Tsar's Guard artefacts, he believes the party and summons the governor to collect "the box".
In the end, a wagon load of loot and the parchment the heroes were sent to recover made its way back to town. The parchment was returned to the mayor and the deed to the keep was awarded as payment. The loot was sold and each of our heroes are now faced with a difficult decision. One four hundred gold piece wench? Or... four hundred one gold piece wenches? :-)
Day Three
It was the day after the night before...
