Thunderheart Incorporated - The Heroes Begin

I haven't really talked much about the D&D game I have been running for just over a year now, so I've decided to post what has happened so far. 

EDIT: I am not going to continue to update this blog post, if you're interested in more information and the continuation of the story, check us out on Obsidian Portal.

First off, here are the characters and a little information about each one...

Gehn - Male, Dragonborn Paladin
He is the leader of the party, but only in name. He has a battle standard (daily, standard action) that grants +1 to all attack rolls to allies within 10 squares of the standard. To activate it he must slam it into the ground and shout "BRING ON THE THUNDER!" He likes to set Jelenneth on fire and has a "thing" for her. His catchphrase is "Cheeseburger!"

Jelenneth -Female, Eladrin Warlord
She has a special magical sword called Warlord's Ultimatum which grants 1d10 + 1d6 damage, crits on 20 and gives [max damage] + 1d10 + 1d6, esentially a free 2nd hit. She absolutely hates being set on fire but doesn't confront Gehn about it as it only happens during the heat of battle, perhaps it is just a coincidence, but she is ALWAYS inside the freakin' damage area when he uses his dragon breath attack.

OttO/tOOt - Male, Tiefling Druid
Goes by OttO when in Tiefling form and tOOt when in bear form. He has bad gas and is always pulling his pants down.

Methos  - Male, Half-elf Ranger
He never moves...ever. He loves spicy dragon-wings for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He recently put an ad in the local paper looking for single ladies and mentioned his "arrow".
Shameless plug: Methos is played by the drummer in my band and the inspiration for our new song "Twin Striker".  Check us out at http://www.Paperanvil.com

Bo Jangles -Male, Halfling Sorcerer
He is the true leader of the party and a real lady's man. He's ever suspicious and always looks out for himself. His catchphrase is "The men can call me Bo, but the ladies call me Jangles!" followed by shaking his hips back and forth.

Tutela - Male, Deva Avenger
He is currently missing in action.

Kron Thunderheart - Male, Dwarven Wizard
He is somewhere back in Waterdeep.
Note: Originally he was supposed to be a PC but even after the campaign has been going on over a year, the guy who specifically requested I create him a dwarven wizard has never shown up.

Here is the story so far...

Thunderheart Incorporated - The Heroes Begin

A Party Is Built
Kron Thunderheart started Thunderheart Incorporated Adventuring Company out of Waterdeep several years ago. He hired Gehn soon there after and most recently sent him to Silverymoon on a job. Gehn went into The Rotten Apple Tavern there in Silverymoon and announced "I need help." After a short interview process, he was joined by Methos, Tutela, and Jelenneth. The group headed east past Everlund, and over to meet Alistaire (human, wizard-that-never-finished-his-training) at his tower. Alistaire's brother Jacob was a member of the Everlund City Guard that was sent on a mission to start up relations with a new Dwarven settlement nearby. The guards had been gone for some time but the city wasn't willing to spare more for a search party. Alistaire thought the Orcs were involved and has been trying to rally the troops of the town to prepare for an Orc invasion. The party decided to head into town to see if they could get more information about the guards' whereabouts. They met up with the guard captain, who was ever willing to allow someone else to look for the missing men, but didn't think they were actually missing. He had assumed the trade negotiations with the Dwarves were just taking longer than expected and the guards would be back soon enough. When the party mentioned Alistaire's thoughts of the Orc invasion, the guard captain dismissed Alistaire and his claims calling him "an eccentric old fool." Once the party was given the location of the Dwarven settlement, they headed out.

Coppernaught's Hold
As the party approached the Dwarven settlement, they found a dead Dwarf with a letter in his pack. The letter stated the settlement had been attacked by a group of Kobolds and a Dragon, all of which were taking orders from an Orc. The party made quick work of the enemies, freed the Dwarves, and found an entrance to the Underdark [1st entrance found]. After a good night's rest (and fresh dragon-wings for Methos) they headed back to Alistaire's tower with Jacob and the other surviving members of the Everlund City Guard. With the letter from the dead Dwarf and the word of the members of the Everlund City Guard, Alistaire became even more adamant about stopping the pending Orc invasion. Alistaire told the party about a magical battle map that would show the location of all enemy forces in battle. He believed it could be used to not only convince the guard captain of the pending invasion, but help once the attack came. Alistaire's old teacher Araldil had it in his tower to the north east of Everlund. There was a knock at the door the next morning and Bo Jangles entered the scene. He was sent my Kron Thunderheart to deliver the Thunderheart Battle Standard and join the party. The party decided to escort the Everlund City Guards back to town and met with the guard captain. He was grateful for their help but still did not believe any concern about an Orc invasion was warranted. He asked if the party would be willing to work for hire on a few local problems he had been dealing with, to which the party agreed.

Whispering Willow Cemetery
The guard captain told them about some recent killings in the town where the victim had a certain message cut into their flesh. He offered the party a small amount of pay but said they could keep whatever loot they found. The party tracked the message back to an old continent-wide thieves guild and a curse that was put on the seven thief kings' graves. Once the cemetery was found, the party cleaned it out and headed back to town.


The Guild Hall
The guard captain rewarded them and offered to sell them the old blacksmith guild hall. He was looking to unload it cheap and the party would have a permanent base camp for their adventures in the area. The party agreed, cleared out the guild hall, made a deal with their neighbors - the wizards' guild - for a magical alarm system, and found several interesting magical devices in the storage area. They decided to head out and find the magical battle map.

Level 2 reached!

Goblins on the Hill
On the way to meet Araldil, the party was awakened by a group of Goblins barreling down the hill towards their camp. The party readied themselves for battle but were confused when the Goblins continued to run past them. It was quickly realized that the Goblins were running from a group of Hill Giants. The Hill Giants paid no attention to the party and were after a certain Goblin carrying a box. The party took down the Goblins and snatched the box to see what was so important to the Hill Giants. As the Hill Giants approached the party, Bo Jangles was able to bluff them into thinking the Goblin with the box had "run that-a-way!" and the party was spared. When attacking the Goblins, the party had decided to knock one of them unconscious to question once the Hill Giants were handled. The Goblin was rambling on about giving the "Devil's Box" to its Master and the party convinced it to take them to the Master's camp.

The Slave Pit
The Goblin led the party to what turned out to be a slave camp. The party decided to free the slaves before continuing on their journey. OttO, who was captured and chained with the other slaves, changed into his bear form and helped defeat the slaver guards. Walter Bellhaven, the leader of the slavers, got a few of his mercenaries but not before they were able to knock Tutela unconscious and kidnap him. The party tried to follow Walter and his gang into the cave system, but lost their trail pretty quickly as the caves led into the Underdark [2nd entrance found]. They then decided to escort the slaves back to their home village and OttO decided to join the group.

Gates of Dyadasti
Once at the fishing village, the town elders were greatful for the work the party had done but worried the slavers would come back in force. The party quickly devised a defense plan and was able to fend off the slavers' attack. Walter and part of his group did survive and get away, but not before revealing Tutela had escaped them. The party decided to continue on to Araldil's tower.


Aradil's Tower
Upon arriving at Aradil's tower, the party realized something must be wrong. The tower was overgrown, broken, and looked uninhabited. As they entered the tower they were attacked by all kinds of vines and plant creatures. Making their way through the various levels to the top, they found a witch and a huge plant beast. As it turns out, the witch was Aradil's other apprentice and she had commissioned the old blacksmith's guild in Everlund to create a special device that would help her turn Aradil back into a human. After delivering the device from the guild's storage, Aradil was transformed into his human self and offered the magical battle map as compensation along with several other items. He also told the party that the map only works partially without the ocular piece, which could only be found in Longtooth's Labrynth.

Level 3 reached!

Orc Encampment
The party decided to check the battle map and found that there was a small Orc scouting party between them and the labrynth. They attacked the Orcs with much ferocity, several coup-de-graces, and did not allow a single Orc to live.

Longtooth's Labyrinth
The party finally made it to the labyrinth, defeated the various enemies, and faced off against Longtooth. They found the ocular piece needed to make the battle map work fully. When they exited the labyrinth, they were met with a small Minotaur hunting party led by the huntress Buttersworth. She asked, "Does my brother Longtooth live?" The party, unsure of how she would react, lied and told her they paid him several gold to set them free. She then revealed her hunting party was there to slay him as their village had come under a curse, which they thought Longtooth had put on them. Once the party came clean about killing Longtooth, Buttersworth asked them to accompany her to the village and help stop whatever was going on there. Bo Jangles took a look at the battle map through the ocular and could see the placement of all the Orc troops. The majority were up in the Orcish lands to the north, but there were a few small bands peppering the area, one of which was at the same location as the Minotaur settlement. The party discussed this out of earshot of the hunting party and decided to go with them and stop the Orcs there, but did not want to tell Buttersworth the Orcs were the cause.

Minotaur Settlement
Upon entering the Minotaur settlement, the party saw that all the Minotaurs were worshipping their leader in a sort of trance. The party used their attacks that caused the enemies to be pulled to them to try and release one of the Minotaurs from the trance. This angered the leader and caused all the other Minotaurs to attack. Buttersworth and her hunting party are helping but have requested no Minotaurs be killed, just left unconscious.

The last session ended in the fray of battle.  We'll finish up with the Minotaurs tonight and all the PCs will gain another level!