Return to the Temple campaign, chapter 1. [Campaign]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

Well, as most of you know, five of us (soon to be six) have started up
an online play-by-post campaign on RPGNet. We're playing the Return to
the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign. This thread is for discussing
what has happened so far. I'll probably be posting one of these every
month or so.

Note: the PCs should treat any information on this thread as Out Of
Character info. With that said, feel free to speak of things that you
haven't yet told your companions in-game, if you want. Just make sure
to firewall that information.

DM: me (Laszlo)

PCs: Bara'duk (Bear), orc Rogue/Barbarian, played by tussock
Jayla, human Paladin, played by dalamb
Snarfi, kobold Warlock, played by Justisaur
Alexander, human Cleric, played by Billy Yank

NPC controllers: Werebat and Jasin. They're doing lots of fun
behind-the-scenes machinations. I also have it on good authority that
they spend much of their time cackling manically.

You can find the Out-of-Character thread (including the character
sheets) here:
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=206742

And the In-Character thread is here:
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=206745

The Story So Far: (No real spoilers for the Return to the Temple of
Elemental Evil module)

*****************

Snarfi and Bear arrived in the bustling, peaceful little town of
Hommlet under cover of night, well before dawn. They woke up all the
town's dogs, naturally, who then proceeded to wake up most of Hommlet.
Bear's master plan at this point was to hammer at the inn door for a
while, then ride to the main square and yell "HELLO PEOPLE OF HOMMLET"
at the top of his lungs (I think this probably explains why he's a
wanderer).

Well, as much as I would have enjoyed DMing a lynching, a woman did in
fact let them into the inn. Another woman screamed obscenities at them,
and most of the inn gathered to see what the big deal was. They quieted
down and went back to sleep after a while, and so did Snarfi and Bear.

Around noon, Jayla and Alexander rode into the town, all pimped out in
Heironeous gear. A group of kids almost threw stones at them, but Jayla
gave them a brief lecture on the dangers of throwing stones at
strangers' horses. And remember... The Power Is Yours!

Things took a turn for the weird when Snarfi woke up and rushed out of
the inn, with her dog (Shpot) running after her, barking happily. Most
of the diners at the suffered got heart palpitations, with weren't
helped much by Bear (a great big orc) calmly jogging out of the inn
after Snarfi, a moment later.

It turned out that Snarfi the kobold had some urgent leg-humping to do.
She rushed over to Jayla, and, well, the two were definitely an item
there for a bit. Bear and Alex looked on in amazement.

Soon enough, though, Snarfi decided that Jayla wasn't what she was
looking for, and started showing an unhealthy interest in Alex's
backpack, and someone--or something--that she suspected was imprisoned
there. Jayla and Alex eventually convinced Snarfi that tied-up
leprechauns were not, in fact, standard travel gear for followers of
Heironeous. Alex _did_ have something unusual in his pack though: some
kind of documents he was to show a wizard in Hommlet, called Spugnoir.

Things were further complicated as Otis, the leader of the town militia
showed up, an old gnome in tow. The gnome ranted about Snarfi having
stolen something from him. Snarfi gave her best "get this filthy
peasant away from me" impression. Things got a bit tense, but the PCs
were eventually allowed to get on with their business.

They asked for directions to Spugnoir's place, and went to pay the mage
a visit...

*****************

Well, this is what we've accomplished so far. No battles yet, but
things are definitely happening. A slight communications snafu at the
beginning meant that the PCs took a bit longer to meet up than I
expected, but no problem.

So. Thoughts, opinions, jeers? PCs, you guys OK with the adventure so
far? (I realize that it was perhaps a bit RP-rich and combat-poor so
far, but this will change.)

Laszlo