For those of you who played it know that it's was a tough fight, and their characters were pretty beaten up when it went down.  But still they played smart, and they ran that ragged edge between success and failure and did manage to kill the Wastewalker. At the end of it all they succeeded, and high fives were well and truly earned around the table for all of them.  They picked themselves up and walked to the gaye of Tyr and parted ways (with Yuka's player saying his goodbyes and walking back to the Ringing Mountains seriously intending to live the rest of his life in that jungle.)  It felt like the conclusion of a great drama, and I loved that they enjoyed the hell out of it.

Afterwards (and I really wasn't expecting this) they gave me a card thanking me for the campaign and a new set of dice for The Keep on the Borderlands next week.  It was a moment of pure pride and joy that these people (who for the most part I hadn't met before Encounters I didn't know) loved my DMing enough that they wanted me to know about it. 

Anyway this is a long way to say how proud I am of my players (Gabriel, Chris, Simon, Alexander, Kris, and Jessica) and how profoundly humbled that they enjoyed my DM'ing so much that they took the time to let me know.

My players are the best players in the world!

Oh and there is that 'largest mass grave in all of Faerûn' thing too.  :D

I was a huge fanboy, ever since Ed Greenwood first mentioned it in I believe one of the Pages from the Mages articles he wrote in Dragon magazine. I'd sit and imagine the corridors of the dungeon, and what it would be like to walk the halls and rooms.  There was a set of rooms with a secret door and a tracking Ochre Jelly that still sticks in my mind...  The saddest part of my relationship with Undermountain is that I never (in all the years since I got it) ever had a chance to challenge the dungeon.  I owned both boxed sets and had almost anything that talked about it, making it something that I thought I would never play.  Which is why I am so delighted with the D&D Encounters game.

I was (and still am) excited that after almost twenty years I'm going to experience Undermountain as an adventurer for the first time. (I'm playing a Human Barbarian from Lurkwood, if your ever in Ottawa ask for Keff. :D)  The first fight (the one outside the Yawning Portal) was a tough one for Keff (thanks to that dwarf and the halfling) Keff almost died without ever seeing Undermountain, imagine my emotions about that!  Thankfully my companions revived me (Thanks Nick!) and I was alive to descend into Undermountain.  The combat in the well chamber went easier than the one on the surface and left me raring for more.

Thanks Wizards for all the fun!

I think I've managed to strike a balance between the 3.5E version of the monster and 4E design.  Any and all suggestions or comments would be gratefully received. 

The Evening of 9th of Readying, 591 C.Y.

Our heroes have holled up in The Hasty Goblin Inn, in the burgeoning town of Hardby on the shores of Woolly Bay.  Over the past week, they have following the rumors of bandit activity up and down the trade road between Hardby and Greyhawk, and actually managed to defeat some of the bandits, while on the road to Hardby.  Tonight they are resting in a warm and comfortable inn, while a sleet storm outside makes any other travel unlikely, besides Dunathoin (their Dwarven Fighter) swore on his honour that he was not seeing things (despite the little fortress pile of drained hand kegs about him) that the mighty wizard Warnes Starcoat (of the Circle of Eight) was to be visiting them, to discuss the banditry and an offer of employment.  The party then noticed a trio of hooded and caped figures struggle into the tavern, wet and chilled from the night's weather.  They stood there unmoving for a few seconds too long and arroused the suspicions of the party.

While warming himself by the fire, the halfling Bard Allister asked one of the other two patrons in the bar if they had seen those strangers before?  The seated stranger merely removed his own hood showing the face of bare skull!  The party found themselves surrounded by some manner of zombie (while a sixth dropped down the chimney flue while a thick fog began to fill the inn's common room.  If this was not enough a Wraith emerged from the night and joined in the ambush.

The zombies and wraith did not go down easily, but six rounds later the party had defeated all of the undead.  With a sickening feeling of dread, Dividicus (a cleric of Pelor and a foe of the undead) knew that these creatures were sent by Linnae Torm his recently deceased antagonist.  A short message on a piece of parchment inside the split skull of a zombie read simply "Our business is not ended!  Waking or sleeping, I will be near."  How that necromancer had managed this feat while also having been slain by Davidicus nearly a week prior to this remains a mystery. 

Shortly after the players and the inn recovers from the sudden attack, A man resplendent in blue robes and a battered shapeless hat.  His skin is very pale, obviously of Suel descent, but his strawberry blonde says that some other Oerthly blood is in his ancestry.  He also wears a mantle of the deepest black, with tiny little stars affixed to the cloak.  He introduces himself as Warnes Starcoat, a member of the Circle of Eight and a wizard of some note.   He orders a drink and offers some to the party, and begins to ask of the bandit raid that took place a week before.  The party explains their encounter with the bandits, the strange necromantic weapon the bandit Lieutenant wielded.  How it seems that mind control had been used on him, as before his career as a bandit that he was a caravan guard.  The last piece of his story, the supposed location of the bandits hideout in the Star Cairns is the reason for his interest. 

 The Star Cairns according to Warnes, figure promenantly in a prophecy related to the Doomgrinder, a metal windmill-like ruin far to the north of Hardby.  It is said that as the topmost vane reaches it's zenith a doom will come to Greyhawk and bring with it the end of the Oerth itself.  The Star Cairns, ancient burial mounds of the Greyhawk aristocrats seem to be the place from which the doom would emerge. Warnes confided with them that he suspects that the time of this prophecy appears to be approaching.  Both the vanes of the doomgrinder have been on the move, and the rise of bandits originating from the Cairns point to the prophecy's approach.  Warnes offers the adventurers a job to explore the Cairns for the Council of Eight, and to find the lost fifth Cairn from which the doom is said to originate. 

Yarrko the Half-orc, suggested that a little apportation magic would go a long way of to accomplishing the Council's goals.  Warnes responded that that was quite impossible, with the traitor Rary maintaining a careful watch on the hills of the Albor-Alz.  Any magic that we should use would spark, unwanted attention from Rary and may embroil Greyhawk in a war it should not fight.  Warnes provided the party with 500 gold, and said that he would arrange for food and supplies to be waiting for them at Storm Keep.  With no more questions to answer Warnes said his farewells, and went back out into the cold Hardby night.

All the PC's earned 250 XPs and Elderath earning an extra 50 for making the DM laugh.

Bart's PC (Dividicus) has received a Holy Symbol of Daring +1 for his acts of bravery during the Bandit raid at the river Selk crossing.  The remains of the undead attackers has provided enough material for the party to gain a Gravespawn Potion, and a Potion of Lifeshield.

Yes I procrastinate, get used to it.

But now, I have PC's.  I have my heroes whose stories will play out over the tapestry of Greyhawk and if they are very luck stop a plot that has been a long time coming...and who are these great heroes of yore?  Well let me break it down for you.

• We have Dechyon, a Half-Elf Cleric of Pelor, who is unknowingly pursuing the last member of the necromantic cult that nearly had him in their thrall.
• Nahlah, a Human Invoker of Pelor (curious that...) who remembers nothing of her past life, and awoke somewhere on the Plains of Greyhawk facing to the south, and with a curious mark inscribed on her forehead.
• Elderath, an Eladrin Swordmage who is not from this Prime and may possibly be the only Eladrin in Greyhawk.  He searches for the way to find his true home, unknowning the role that Istus has prepared for him.
• Dunathoin, A Dwarven Fighter who lusts for adventure and the treasure that may bring to him.
• And finally the unnamed Halfling Bard, whose path will cross these adventurers and of course never be the same.

Now that I have my DP I can start to plot, and see how I want to have their individual stories come togther.

Because my friends if something is not done and soon, all of Greyhawk may be no more.

More to come!