On Trolls

To help you understand the creatures of my world, I will from time to time post information on them. I decided to randomly start with trolls. I know there are spelling errors and such. Just deal with it.



Trolls are vile humaniods that stand from anywhere from seven to ten feet. Their skin is normally greenish brown. They sometimes shade all the way up to yellow. Their skin is full of pus, pores, warts, mold, and fungus. Their skin is renown for their regeneration traits. Their hands are almost human. They are a finger short, and their nails are like jagged claws. Stuff sometimes grows out from underneath their nails. Their eyes are usually not seen by people who fight them. The skin of their body bulges farther out than their eyes, giving them a dark shadow. It is known, from dissections, that their sclera are mostly yellow. Their pupils are far larger than their cornea since they need to see out of their own darkness. Their cornea's are random colors. Blue, green, gray, hazel, brown, ect. Their backs, armpits, lower section, and nostrils are where their hair tends to grow. Their heads are scarcely covered with hair. Their hair is almost always gray. Most trolls tend to have no teeth. They tear their food apart with their claws, and then they put the food in their mouths. If a troll lives long enough for their claws to have rotten off, they will just take a rock to mush the food and then shallow the food. Trolls often do not wear clothing. The ones that do are normally the leaders of the pack and are very strong.
An old myth states that the trolls came from the earth itself. They were creatures that slept underground for ages. When man came along with their loud civilizations, the trolls clawed themselves out of the ground to silence the noise so that they can go back to sleep. This view, however, gives trolls a peacefull look, and trolls are far from peaceful. Another view, that seems to have been inspired by the myth, is that trolls come from the fungus on the earth. This seems possible. Most trolls lack bones. Trolls also reproduce asexually. A gray wart would appear one day on the troll. It would grow larger, and in a few days it would fall off with a new troll inside. It appears as though trolls can control their reproduction to match the size they need for their pack. Which means that as long as one of the pack is alive, the whole pack is still alive. However, their a few trolls that do have bones in them. There have never been more than one a pack. After a few studies it is now believed that trolls were something human or elven. It is believed that if a person gets filthy enough that the rot and mold on him would grow all over and eat out the brain. There are several ways to prove this theory. One is that all the bones found were mostly human. The rest (a very small portion) is elven. Another is that trolls appear in sporadic places on Mystara. There is no pattern to were they appear. Another is that most humanoid creatures have their own language. Even with creatures of the same species tend to have a language different from the rest of their species. Trolls, if someone tries hard enough to understand them, always speak in the native language, even to each other. Most humanoid creatures will speak to each other in their own species native language. Most trolls are generally unintelligent, so it is highly unlikely that trolls learned the native language and decided to use it. When a docter took a severed arm of a troll, he found that what we think is the skin of a troll is actually mold and fungus. If a person was to cut a troll, he would have to go at least 4 inches deep just to do any damage to a troll. This not only explains why trolls are hard to hit, but their regeneration aspect. It also explains why trolls are weak to fire. The mold appears to have grown so deep that it is rooted in whatever organs a troll has. Most of the organs a human has, trolls lack, however all trolls have at least one lung, heart, brain, stomach, and a way to process the food to their mold. The only waste trolls will leave behind is rocks, bones, and such.
Trolls have two interests in life. Food and possessions. They have a pack rat mentality where the more items they have, the better they feel. They never use the items they gain. If someone could sneak into a troll's den they would find several usuable items. There would also be several nonusuable items as most trolls take poor care of their items. Many items would be weather damaged, broken, or covered with blood and guts of their victims. Trolls don't hunt often. When they do they bring in enough food to last them at least a month. Their hunts can last up to a week. Trolls tend to be lazy and sleep a lot. They will put off their hunt until the very last minute. Trolls don't hunt just people. They will attack any living creature and take the bodies with them. The leader will always stay behind just incase the hunters come across something they can't handle. Trolls tend to travel in three to five hunting packs with six to eight trolls a pack. Their hunt can devastate the land around them. Trolls prefer meat, but when the hunt does not go well, they will tear down the trees and plants, and eat them. Trolls are smart enough to recognize and avoid danger, but they are not smart enough to work their way around it. It is possible to trick a troll into thinking that you are more dangerous than what you really are. Because trolls store their food for a least a month, a traveler will almost always smell a troll den long before they come across it (even if the traveler is down wind).
Trolls will almost never be encountered in an army. When you do see a troll in an army, it will mostly be because someone has them under mind control. Most of the time, a person will only come across trolls when they are hunting. If that person is lucky, he could stay out of the pack's sight. Though trolls are dangerous, they are only dangerous to the people surrounding their den at least once a month. Because of this, goverments tend not to be concern with the trolls. Governments also do not concern themselves with trolls often as the task of destroying a den completely would either require a good army or a well paid party of adventurers who have a good plan. Either way, the economic resources a goverment would spend on this is more than it's worth.
One final note on trolls, they are not smart enough to make sure that someone is dead. They only attack long enough to make sure that their target is no longer a threat. This means that a person can die a very slow and painful death at the hands of trolls. If you find youself in this position, it is probably better to figure out a way to kill yourself as rescue is highly unlikely.

Dec. 6th session

While the players trained, Maleik informed them about the happenings of the land. He tells them about how the Barons were on the edge of war amongst each other. Ziek, Detelle, Atrem, and Ashton passed their training. Ziek and Detelle the Heavy Crossbow. Atrem the Mace. Ashton the Hand Axe. Elric failed his staff training.

The players were sent to Highforge. On the first day of Spring the Great Gnome Caravan leaves for the Capital City Specularum. Highforge is a Gnomish town that is in habited by mostly Gnomes and Dwarves. There is a very large mining facility underneath the town. The town is sitting in the middle of some high hills. The players are there because they are to guard the lead caravan who is owned by a Gnome named Junge Marix. Junge is a rude, young, racist Gnome. However, he does not let his views get in the way of buisness.

The players are also to do two other things. Maleik had a few letters that he wanted delivered to Specularum. These letters contain mostly mostly boring buisness sales (buying potions, magic scrolls, ect. ect.) All the players have to do is deliever them to the guard house at the cities enterance. That is the easy part of the mission. The hard part is that Maleik is looking for a crystal ball that is hidden somewhere in the ruins of Krakatos.

Krakatos is a very ancient city. Thousands of years old. It is so old that previous versions of the city lays underneath. Krakatos is the largest ruins in Karameikos. It is over five miles wide. There are all sort creatures, hidden treasure, and other items in these ruins. The players are to find a church that, due to the broken walls and celling, looks like a hand. The crystal ball is somewhere in the church dungeon.

The players had some time to kill before the caravan moved out. They went walking around and saw a bard get his money jacked by a thief. They gave chase to the thief, and managed to catch him. Our "heroes" took the money for themselves, and argued what they would do to the thief. They thought about killing him, breaking his arm, or cutting off a hand. They settled with having the halfling rape the thief.

They head back to the caravan, and Junge soon moved out the caravan. The first night the players had to deal with some wolves. The next day they reached the river. The caravan would have to cross over a ferry in order to get to the other side. However, there were a throng of Kelven guards here. They were doing an inspection. After a while, the guards told the caravan to lay down arms. Ziek tried to obbey, but meet a swift kick from Junge. Junge dragged Ziek and Detelle back, handed them a repeating heavy crossbow. Here the battle began. The players, Gnomes, and Dwarves engaged the Kelven Guards in a small combat which ended with all of the Kelven Guard dead. The players gave the advice of burning the bodies, and Junge decided to follow through. The Gnomes looted the body, and Junge told the players that he would give them a cut of the loot along with their pay. Junge took back the crossbows as well. The caravan continued south after that.

Dec. 13th

This Saturday I will be working. So we won't be meeting this Saturday. That means we won't have D&D for the rest of the month.

If you guys want to, we can meet January 3rd. We could meet at 12:00 noon that day instead of 2:00 P.M. If we meet that day, we still might be going to Augusta. I will have to see if the place will be open that day.

If we don't meet January 3rd, we will most definitely meet at January 10th.

Hope you guys have a good holiday! (This break will mean I get to come up with a ton of way to kill ya!)

I will be posting up stuff still over the holidays. I will probably post what happened last session this evening. Right now, I need to get some Christmas shopping done.

Brown Nosing the Dragon

A while ago, Ziek and I were talking about dragons. He said something along the lines of, "Flattery always work on a dragon!"

When looking through the rule book, I found this line on pg. 169:

" When playing a dragon, a DM should keep in mind that, because of its pride, even the hungriest dragon will pause and listen to flattery (if no one is attacking it, and if it understands the language of the speaker)."

I still find this silly though, so don't count on talking you way out of every dragon you meet. To a dragon, you are just a chicken nugget that needs ketchup.

Past sessions

This is a review on what happened the past several game sessions not including the most recent one.


After making their characters the players wake up in the middle of a field a little bit south of Threshold. They do not remember much of anything about their past except their names and what they are skilled at. They heard a voice in their head that told them, "Instead of focusing on your past, you should focus on your future. I put you here, and I expect great results from you."

For their own reasons, they decided to trust each other and stay together. After traveling towards the town a short bit, they heared a cry coming from a patch of trees. When they investigated they found three people standing over an old man. They decided to shoot at the three guys. After nailing two of them, the old man and the last guy ran off. Ziek and Detelle gave chase. The old man tripped and was caught by Detelle. Ziek lost the other guy. They interrogated the old man and then they let him go. They decided to burn the bodies in order to hide their tracks. It took them a while to burn the bodies, and when they did they realized that they were surrounded by law enforcement lead by a Sergeant Galvens. They gave themselves up to the law. They spent a night at the cell in Castle Tarnskeep north of Threshold.

The next day they were escorted by Sergeant Thiesen the Halls of Justice to be tried. Sergeant Galvens was there to testify against the players. Court Lord Furmond was there to speak for the players. Baron Halaran was the judge. The court decided to give the heroes term of community service. The length of time of the service would be determined later.

After spending another night in the cell, they were escorted by some guards and Court Lord Furmond to Maleik's place. Maleik, an arenaceous fifty-seven year old wizard who has an eye patch over his left eye. He apparently has the power to see into the future. He also studies the dark arks as a mean to defend himself against it. Thus his lab looks rather spooky.

Maleik sends the heroes off on their first mission. They are to steal a staff from another wizard named Steriana. Steriana is up there in her age, and Maleik sees her death not far off. The staff that the players are to steal could prove dangerous in the wrong hands. She was donating that staff to a museum. Maleik worries that the staff could easily be stolen there. The players are to sneak in, switch the staff out with a fake.

The players travel to her hut, and managed to convince her to let them sleep outside for the night. The players slip a potion in her drinking water that Maleik gave them to help Steriana sleep. That night, Ziek slipped in and switched the staffs. They also fought two hobgoblins and killed one of them.

When they players returned, Maleik gave them another job. He told them about how Hesond Dreti, owner of the Dreti Mining Company in Stallanford, was auctioning Giant bones. Maleik was interested in only the bones of a Giant King. He sent the players to try to buy the bones before the auction.

Along the way to Stallanford, the hereos came across a bandit named Jirean. Jirean's bandit group have just been destroyed by about eight trolls. He tells the players that he is going to turn himself in, and plot for revenge on the trolls.

When the players reach Stallanford, they find Hesond quickly. Initially, Hesond did not look interested in selling. He only agreed to bargaining after he loss to a dice game that the heroes took him on. Afterwards, he took them to his office where the players were attacked by assassins. The players barely managed to fend them off. Hesond had people tend to the players's wound, and agreed to their price in thanks of saving his life.

The players head back to Maleik's place. Along the way, they ran into a Sphinx along the way home. They managed to answer it's riddle and past without problems.

A day after they got back to Maleik's place, he sent them out on another job. The staff they got was not complete. The other part of the staff was in Steriana's Dungeon. Maleik guessed that the Sphinx the players encountered would be a good place to start looking for the dungeon as Sphinxes are used as guards for such places.

The players passed Armstead along the way, and got kicked out of the town. They saw Jirean locked up in a pillory. The public was waste and stuff at him. Detelle got in the middle of it all, and started to yell at the townfolk. For trying to incite a riot, and for supporting someone in a pillory, the players were kicked out of the town.

The players later found the dungeon with the Sphinx they encouter guarding it. The Sphinx knowes that her owner is dead, but could not leave as her young was there. She agreed to give the playerse advice on the dungeon if they could beat her in a riddle competition. They won the competition and got hints on the dungeon. They managed to beat the riddles in the dungeon, and find the missing part to the staff. They had to fight a minotaur in order to get that part.

They gave the staff part to Maleik, and he rewarded the players with two weeks of training. That brings us up to our last session.

Automation

It is automatically assumed the players eat, relieve themselves, maintain their gear, drink water, heal wounds that they gained in previous encounters, take breaks, wash, and a few other daily things.

It is not assumed that players will carry everything, know where they are, know who someone is, will have their weapon out and loaded, heal wounds that they just gained, sleep, search for food, refill their water pouches, write down were they are going, and other things.

Though this is done to make the game play go by quicker, players should be cautious as to what they let pass unchecked. The starvation that they players went through last session happened because the players assumed that they would have took the food off the mules when they left the mules outside the dungeon. Other things that can happen if players leave them go by unchecked:

1) Weapons that they dropped in battle being left behind
2) bleeding wounds that they gained in battle continue the bleed without them knowing until they pass out or die
3) Run out of water when they really need it
4) Getting lost in a straight in a dungeon
5) Not prepare their spells

The players should be aware that the DM will notice their mistakes. The DM can and will use this against them.

The players should know that last time I did not do everything that I should have done when they were starving last session. Just warning ya.

Things gained after Nov. 22 session

Detelle gained 1273 exp

Ziek gained 1554 exp

Blank I gained 1004 exp

Elric gained 1321 exp

Atrem gained 1004 exp

Detelle is now Skilled with the Heavy Crossbow

Ziek is now Skilled with the Heavy Crossbow

Blank I is now Skilled with the Hand Axe

Elric failed Staff training. Next time training with staff, he will have a 10% bonus.

Atrem is now Skilled with the Mace

Elric learned Entangle (Second lvl spell)

Elric learned Sleep (First lvl spell)

Detelle learned Alarm (First lvl spell)

Detelle learned Levitate (Second lvl spell)

Detelle studied Alarm 4 times.

Detelle studied Shield 4 times.

Detelle studied Read Languages 2 times.

Detelle studied Levitate 1 time

Elric studied Magic Missle 4 times.

Elric studied Mirror Image 2 times.

Elric studied Read Magic 1 time

Elric studied Entangled 1 time.

Elric studied Sleep 1 time

Atrem studied Cure Light Wounds 6 times

Atrem studied Purify Food & Water 1 time

Atrem studied Light 1 time

Atrem studied Protection from Evil 1 time

Ziek wound on his lower right lung is closed up now. However, the damage remains. He will have slight breathing problems for the rest of his life. It is not extreme, but will be noticeable in areas with less air.

Elric has a scar running down his chest that will gradually fade away in a few weeks.

Blank I suffered broken ribs from the Minotaur. Without the clerical magic, it would have not healed for a long time. The clerical magic mended the bones like slow drying glue. At the start of the next session, it will still be a few more days before the bones mend fully.

Detelle sufered a major wound while fighting the minotaur. He managed to push the Minotaur off of him while it's teeth were in Detelle's right shoulder. Doing this ripped a large chunk of skin off of him. Without the clerical magic, this would have been fatal. There is an ugly spot were the wound was that needs to be cleaned and patched regulary. Detelle has lost all feeling in the spot were his wound is. Maleik sold the goods you gained from the dungeon and bought the medicine needed to tend to the wounds. Detelle will have to clean and repatch his wound on his shoulder every morning and night. (It will be done automatically as long as he has the supplies)

Vaults of Pandius

This is a site that you can use to look up some stuff on Mystara. I mostly use it to get some ideas. It could help you out understand the world you are playing in. The country that you guys are in is the Grand Duchy of Karameikos in Southeastern Brun.

http://pandius.com/

Something that I suggest you guys look up on is the maps and the article titled "Zodiac and Mystaran moons" by LoZompatore. It could help you guys out. Then again, I might just be sending you guys on a wild goose chase. Why would you trust me? I am just the DM. I am not trying to kill you.....maybe.....

Gamers in Mystara

Okay, I decided to help my players out a bit by making some sort of blog thing. I was thinking of doing a forum, but that gets complicated. Instead, we are doing a blog. I will be posting up the gaming sessions, random information, information about future games, ect. ect. ect. In other words, I will be putting up anything I feel like you need to know. (Evil grin)

I will be using my player's character name when I am refering to them. As we got three right now, their names are Detelle, Ziek, and Elric. You guys can just call me Kid. Yes, yes, yes. I know I am like 6 foot 40. I know I am old enough to drink and all that jazz. I know that it seems silly to be calling me, the DM, Kid. However, I am just trying to relax you three...before I kill you....

Anycase, for those of you who are not my players, you should know that we are playing by the rules found in the "Dungeons & Dragons: Rules Cyclopedia" (that is OD&D). The area that we play at is called Mystara. It is one of the old campaign setting that TSR came up with years ago. I pretty much use campaign settings as guidelines, and then I just run the way I want. However, you can still read up on Mystara and possibly find out what I am talking about in all this.

So yeah, that is that for now. I would post some more junk, but right now I am feeling lazy.

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