Session 1

Attendees

 * Vince Hank Scorpio
 * Paul Tim Bucket Jr.
 * Jason Lithopedion Stoneridge
 * Albert Buh deBurg
 * Amit Ivellios Presley

Notable events

 * 1) Rolled characters, Amit attempted at least 5 times to get an adequate character
 * 2) Party introductions
 * 3) Tema's Rest festival
 * 4) Wizard Bob!'s Wands. d10,000 fun times.
 * 5) Encountered Vondrir Flaskrock. Given a mission to save his comrades
 * 6) Found an old tomb of the Delian Order in the hills.
 * 7) Killed scores of bandits
 * 8) Saved the hostage

Part 1: The Journey to Tema's Rest
We began the afternoon rolling up characters (with Vince pre-rolling his character days before). Everyone rolled fairly strong characters, with the exception of Paul and Amit. Paul did not hit the minimum of two 15s and opted to reroll. Amit, on the other hand, failed to meet that requirement at least 5 times (to the delight of everyone around him). In fact, he seemed to defy the laws of probability and kept rolling worse each subsequent attempt. Eventually he rolled well enough to create his Bard, Ivellios Presley.

The adventure started with the party on a wagon train from Heldenburg to Tema's Rest, a small village of ~500 people. In the wagon train were various travelers, The Lars family (Gabriel Lars, Mary Lars, Celeste Lars), Sven Nevs, "Greg", and James McMillion. Tim Bucket Jr. (Paul) informed the party that he resided in Tema's Rest and that they will be arriving at the beginning of their harvest festival.

Part 2: The Harvest Festival
Upon arriving to Tema's Rest, the party was greeted by the town's bumbling and forgetful mayor, Gaylen Friar. The town was alive with activity. Marge Ignus, the elderly scarecrow maker, warmly greeted Tim back from his journey to Heldenburg. The streets of Tema's Rest were full of fruit and vegetable vendors, games, drunks, music, and most notably, Wizard Bob!'s kiosk. Wizard Bob! got the attention of the PCs with a very enticing offer: test out 20 of his magical wands, report their findings, and receive 1000gp as a reward! Everyone signed a magical contract, took the wands, and went on their merry way.

Lithopedion (Jason) was accosted by a drunkard named Jacob Stevenson and asked repeatedly to gamble with him at a nearby table. Litho, Tim, Jacob, and a few others played a very interesting lizard racing game - with Lithopedion winning the pot. Jacob, upset at his repeated losses stormed away. Hank Scorpio (Vince) noticed Jacob going down an alley and stealhily followed him. He overheard a conversation between Jacob and "Greg". "Greg" seemed to threaten Jacob, asking him to pay his debts soon or suffer the consequences.

Late in the evening, Lithopedion, Tim, Buh (Albert), and Ivellios (Amit) met up with Korvin Ironmane and entered a drinking contest. Lizzy Green, the tavern owner brought over a massive amount of drinks to the table. Surprisingly, Lithopedion got out drunk by Buh, who made it to the final round with Korvin. Unfortunately, Buh just couldn't keep up with Korvin's iron constitution and lost. Meanwhile, Hank Scorpio found himself at an archery contest with the town's resident marksman, Dalaran Elderleaf, an old elf farmer. Unfortunately, Hank was unable to come up with a victory, coming in second place to Dalaran.

Ivellios seized an opportunity to play in front of a large crowd! He casually snuck up on to the stage, and played an epic ballad. The whole town went nuts over this new bard. Even the old farmer Dalaran was impressed. Eventually the time came for the final event to take place. Gaylen Friar announced that it was time to light the bonfire, signalling the end to another excellent harvest season. The bonfire was assembled in the center of town, with the scarecrows from last seasons harvest on top. Hank Scorpio took this opportunity to be a part of the celebration and elected to start the fire himself!

Part 3: The Bloodied Dwarf
A bloodied dwarf named Vondrir Flaskrock stumbled into town, pleading with everyone to assist him. He claimed to have been ambushed by bandits and that his two compatriots were captured (Harold Stigmar and Tizon Furymane). The PCs rushed into action, Lithopdeion took Vondrir to get some aide, meeting up with Sister Wynn, a cleric of Daghdha who was able to offer assistance. The others tried to persuade the captain of the guard Sammuel Carter to assist. Unfortunately, he proved to be too much of a coward and the PCs were left to their own devices. But they were at least able to secure some horses to aide them with their quest.

Part 4: The Fate of the Wagon
The PCs rushed to the scene of the ambush. Discovering clear signs of an attack. A fallen tree, a wheel trap, and the discarded remnants of a wagon in the nearby creek. It was at this point that our very first combat session began! Four bandits popped out of the bushes and engaged the players. But these ruffians proved no match for our heroes. Everyone busted out their new wands of magic missiles and fired them on their assailants. It was then they realized just how crazy the effects of each wand was! I believe one wand turned a bandit pink. The other gave Ivellios gold. One made Hank think everyone around him looked like Tim. It was truly nuts.

After the bandits were successfully dispatched, Lithopedion put their bodies to rest by performing their last rites. Afterwards, everyone donned green robes recovered from the bodies in order to disguise themselves as members of Freemen of Tiphor, with Lithopedion acting as a prisoner. The group managed to evade two cleverly hidden traps.

The group reached a clearing, encountering two more bandits guarding an entrance. They managed to peacefully closed the distance on the guards... getting close enough to kill them before they alerted anyone inside.

Part 5: The Knights of the Delian Order
The door the bandits were guarding opened up to reveal a tomb for an ancient order. The Knights of the Delian Order. There was a chapel, an offering room with an intricate mural, a trapped room with a statue, a secret door with a magical rune, and a secret room containing five tombs. Fortunately for Ivellios, Hank Scorpio was able to detect and disarm a scythe trap moments before it would have cut Ivellios in half! The party also encountered a riddle at the base of a statue that seemed to be linked somehow to a rune that was next to a secret door. Unfortunately, the party was unable to solve the riddle, and instead decided to open the secret chamber regardless. The secret door lead to a chamber with 5 tombs. Each sarcophagus contained the remnants of members of the Delian Order. The party opted to leave the tomb undisturbed, leaving the room at peace.

Part 6: The Bandit Caves
With only one path left to take, the party took a tunnel down into a massive cavern network. It was here that our heroes encountered various groups of enemies. They once again attempted to fool a group of bandits that they were new recruits with a Dwarf prisoner in tow. After getting punched too many times in the face, Lithopedion took it upon himself to initiate combat (to hilarious effect). In their second real encounter, Litho used his magic missile wand on his aggressor yielding a very interesting side effect. His target's feet disappeared. More wands were used in that combat, as well. I believe one enemy thought that he was stuck in a raging river. Buh's skin appeared to shrink. His nose also appeared to float in front of his face. It was then that Hank Scorpio used his wand that caused everyone with 60 yards to lose all of their clothes. The party searched the rest of the cavern, hiding from naked and confused bandits, eventually stumbling int a small room that had Vondrir's friends, one of whom was being interrogated by a fearsome looking individual. This was easily one of the weirdest encounters. Let me try to recap.
 * 1) Tattoo guy got hit with a LOT of magic missiles.  He turned pink.  Thought he was trapped in a river.  Lost his upper teeth.  His shield turned to adamantium.
 * 2) Hank had developed a craving for leeches, maggots, and worms during the fight.
 * 3) Letho got knocked out by a wolf.
 * 4) The Wolf then lost all of HIS upper teeth.
 * 5) Tim got knocked out by the tattooed fellow
 * 6) Hank made everyone naked, again.

It was a weird fight. But everyone managed to defeat the bandits, and no one died! Great success! However, the rest of the cavern was alerted to their presence, and our heroes decided to flee (along with Harold).

Part 7: The Escape!
Using Tim's mastery of illusion, the party was able to trick a group of bandits to go down another corridor, giving the PCs a perfect avenue for escape. The group successfully escaped the cavern with Harold Stigmar (even though he was slightly naked).

Amazing session. I had a lot of fun. Thanks a lot, everyone.