AD&D Caledonia Campaign -- Session Log

Caledonia Campaign (AD&D 2e)

Session 1 -- The Friendly Giant

THE PLAYER CHARACTERS

• Allistor Reignhold – Swashbuckling male human fighter and aspiring engineer. Specialized in broadsword. Bears a Letter of Introduction to Sir Thomas Markheim, the commander of the Border Legion based out of Eastguard Keep and a noted engineer in his own right.
• “Quinn the Healer” (Mikaela Apambra) – Female human cleric of Diancecht. Fifth child of a lesser branch of the noble Apabmra family, Mikaela tired of being "just yet another temple-based healer" who spent her days casting Cure Light Wounds and Purify Food & Drink for the people of the city of Miklegard. Upon learning that the lost Tamaroan Empire had possessed a near-miraculous knowledge of medicine and healing, she assumed a new name and left the city to seek out these lost secrets.
• Hatilde Silentfoot – Female hobbit thief and expert forger. Following a “bit of a misunderstanding” with the Miklegard Thieves’ Guild, she left Miklegard in a hurry. Although she had been disguised as a human child at the time, she is convinced that the Thieves' Guild has identified her and is on her trail. She carries (carefully forged) papers identifying her as a representative of the "Finest in Wines" merchant house, which is shipping a cargo of wine from Miklegard to Eastguard Keep.
• Isaac Nighteyes – Male hobbit fighter, cavalryman, and part-time chariot racer. His name comes from his Stout ancestry, which provides him with infravision. Friendly with the dwarves of the Northern Mountains. Decided to leave Miklegard following an incident with the Miklegard Thieves' Guild, in which wanted him to "throw" a race against their favored charioteer.

Non-Player Characters of Note

• Fergus the Small – A runt of a hill giant (he stands only 15 feet tall in his bare feet) who was kicked out of his clan due to his puny size, Fergus is a friendly sort (Chaotic Good – another reason he was kicked out of his clan) who digs up "yellow rock" (gold ore) which he trades for wine. He has been recently plagued by a clutch of stirges who have moved into a nearby abandoned tower.

SESSION 1 – The Friendly Giant

The PCs were accompanying a caravan from Miklegard to Eastguard Keep – Allistor and Isaac as caravan guards, Quinn as a healer, and Hatilde with (carefully forged) papers showing her to be a representative of the "Finest in Wines" merchant house that was shipping the wine that served as part of the cargo. The caravan was less than a day from Eastguard Keep when the sentries reported a giant "carrying a big club and a large sack" had walked down the road and stopped a short distance from the caravan.

The giant, who identified himself as "Fergus" wished to trade his sack full of "yellow rocks" for wine. Upon determining that the "yellow rocks" in question were, in fact, gold ore, Hatilde (in her capacity as "representative of the wine merchant") authorized the trade.

Quinn noticed that the giant had several unhealed and infected welts on his neck and exposed arms; when questioned about them, Fergus replied that they had been caused by "big bugs" that had recently moved in near his home and had been biting him. Quinn used a Cure Light Wounds spell to heal the giant, and in gratitude he invited them to visit his home for dinner. For various reasons, the PCs accepted the invitation – Quinn and Allistor to remove the threat represented by the "big bugs", Isaac because he was fascinated by the idea of meeting a giant, and Hatilde because she still believed that the Miklegard Thieves' Guild was following her and she wanted to separate from the caravan in case they were catching up with her.

The PCs reached Fergus' home and got a quick tour of his house (an old two-story broch from which he had removed the second floor in order to provide headroom), his simple open-pit mine, and his cookfire (upon which were large skewers with several sides of beef on them). Fergus then indicated a taller tower in the distance, and the PCs noticed three flying creatures approaching them.

The creatures turned out to be stirges – some of Fergus' "big bugs" – and the PCs were able to bring down two of them with missile fire before the third reached them. It attacked Allistor, and the rest of the PCs ganged up on it (in two cases narrowly avoiding hitting Allistor by mistake) before Allistor was able to kill it.

The session ended with the PCs making plans to explore the tower, which was obviously the nest of the stirges.