Session Four: The Road to Wedded Bliss

Alternate title - The 4/5ths Majority

After a long hiatus from the campaign due to COVID scares and previous obligations, we were finally able to meet up again, without our Elven (Cocksleeve) player who may or may not have strep. He could just be faking it though. Never know with those guys. I ran him as an NPC in the way that I thought Sean would approve of (and didn't get him killed) and Brian provided the voice over which was a lot like Mr Hat from South Park, so it felt pretty much like a normal session.

Because we had such a space of time without playing, the recap took a bit longer and a lot more brain power to pull together. Since there's no gap in the blog, I don't really need to go back over it here, but the biggest points were that the party agreed to handle the Redbrand menace, they killed a bunch of guys, they discovered that the dreaded Glasstaff was a weak-ass wizard named Iarno Albrek, they read about the Forge of Spells in the Wave Echo Cave, and they know both the Black Spider & someone who signs their letters "N" are interested in keeping the party from the wedding and from the Rockseeker brothers. 

That's much to remember. Glad someone decided to blog this shit, eh? 

Since the GM screen has pockets on the outside and inside, I threw the map of Phandalin in one of the front panels and a map of the northern Sword Coast in the other, with written notations based on where the party has been/locations they've seen, so we have extra ways of tracking the campaign progress. I don't anticipate that we'll hit every encounter, random or otherwise, that I've built, but they're there if we need them. 

Lenneth was also able to do the spell stuff she didn't get a chance to do when she hit level 2. Because we remembered. 

Picking up right where they left off in the wizard's workshop, the party had the option to either back track their way through the Redbrand hideout or to continue to press on. Didn't take much for them to decide to clear out the last bit of basement area as Gabriel charged into the next map area, busting right into a Redbrand common room, where the boys were just playing some good old fashioned Knucklebones. Not liking their game being disrupted, the four Redbrands in the area decided it was time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel! With hilarious results. I saw more crit failures on attack rolls in this one battle then probably the entire campaign up to this point. Lenneth knifed Gabriel, both a Redbrand and Laucian (I was controlling him), dropped their swords, etc. It was just good clean fun. 

Besiljka was able to use her Rage abilities for the first time, after we went over the rules for them a little bit to better understand how they work. That was probably a lifesaver as the added damage boost was really great, but she had one roll (with advantage) where her d20s came up a 1 and a 2. It was some pretty standard combat overall and eventually the party won without a huge amount of life lost. 

At that point, they knew they still had one room unexplored, spell slots were gone, Rage was halfway used up, and everyone basically had some damage, knowing "something stronger than Iarno" was still around. So I started mentioning a psychic feeling, like some bad juju or a creeping feeling, and a voice in their heads too quiet to hear. Until now, they were expecting a dragon. That changed to them expecting a Mindflayer.

NOTE TO MY PLAYERS - Mindflayers are sacred to me. I wouldn't just throw them into a low level dungeon area. 

But if you gotta press on, you gotta press on. Gabriel still taking the lead moved into the next area, and found a pack of three bugbears fucking with a goblin. The goblin faints right away, and the perturbed bugbears demand to know what "the wizard wants now." Aye, the bugbears, being segregated from the human members, had no idea the party wasn't with them. I sort of forgot about it, but Mirna Dendrar's son actually told the party about them. We spent almost a half hour debating how to play this, with eventually Gabriel rolling a Charisma check to try and convince them the wizard had urgent business as the rest of the party moved into the center chasm of the dungeon. They didn't really believe him (he rolled low) but they were also incredibly bored and decided to check it out. They never made it where they were going. Gabriel decided to take the goblin with. We had this whole discussion about gaping humanoids found in dungeons and a PTSD clinic for them. 

After the bugbears were out of party sight, everyone heard their screams of sheer agony, "as if being burned alive." Now the party was really paranoid. And, of course, I didn't let up. Five more feet into the center of the map and BAM! Everyone is getting nose bleeds and maniacal laughter is going on inside their heads. Yes, I was made to cackle aloud. This is where everyone assumed they were going to die. 

The nothic, however, was having a great time. And talking in Gabriel's head,  it requested the dead Redbrand bodies be dropped into the chasm in the area. For dinner. It was a rather jovial creature that had been looking forward to eating the Redbrands for a long while, but was unable to do so based on the deal it had with Iarno. Whilst it could possibly leave the cave, it liked it there. And Lenneth asked it about treasure, which it was happy to share. Amongst this treasure was a longsword with the name "Talon," that Laucian's successful History check revealed to have belonged to the last Tresendar heir that died fighting orcs a couple hundred years previously. It also showed the party a way out through the southern forest, which they used when they were ready to go. But not before Lenneth had a chance to set up a date at the local Olive Garden ("it's over by the orc-hards") with the nothic.

Leaving the manor basement, the party went back to Stonehill Inn to rest up. Elspeth was there waiting for them. When Mirna and her kids were saved, they ran straight to the sheriff and told her everything they knew, including that the party rescued them. So she dispatched a messenger to Valeth Tower and settled in to wait. For Besiljka mostly, as the two of them had food and retired for cuddles. But Besiljka knows that Elspeth is a "Lady," capital L, so she's gonna take it slow. Sildar made plans to depart for Neverwinter with Iarno so that he can be put on trial for betraying the Lord's Alliance, and the rest of the party prepared to do last minute errands in the morning prior to heading to Valeth Tower. 

Because we were going to roll hit dice to heal up anyway, this was the perfect moment for the party to level up to 3. Going from 1 to 2 took almost an entire session, but 2 to 3 was fairly quick since we all had a better understanding of the leveling mechanics, and I -think- for the three players, we didn't miss anything. At least Lenneth got her spell stuff this time hah. 

Gabriel is going Oath of Vengeance for his Paladin subclass, based upon his background story and motivations as a fallen Aasimar. It's a good internal conflict where the higher and lower selves want to go in opposite directions. I dig it. I do have to make up a spell card for Hunter's Mark, which might actually be my favorite Ranger spell, since I don't have the Ranger card deck at the moment. That extra 1d6 damage on a marked target is cool, but I thought about how that would work against a BBE and holy crap would that add up fast. Let's say Gabriel is using Talon for 1d8+1 (+3 w/Str mod) damage, so max on both rolls would be 11+6 = 17 DMG a hit. He levels up to get multiattack and conceivably is hitting for 34 in a single combat round, that could be brutal against even a 200+ HP boss. Of course, bosses that strong have Resistances and whatnot to think about, and it's unlikely to max roll consistently but still. And I believe Hunter's Mark scales up if cast as a higher tier so...

Besiljka picked Path of the Ancestral Guardian for Barbarian. Partially because of how she plays barbarian in Diablo 3, but it's also a good fit for Besiljka's backstory thematically, and the drawing aggro when using Rage makes her the ideal tank. Unfortunately, after a run of good rolls, her HP roll for level 3 was pretty abysmal so she only has a handful of HP above the Tiefling now, but since Rage gives Resistance against a bunch of attack types, and the party is getting closer to the point where they can improve stats, this isn't as big of an issue. She can Hulk out and still be just fine. 

The plan for Laucian is Battlemaster subclass for Fighter. We'll see if that still holds true, but he's going from just shy of level 2 up into 3, so that'll be two levels worth of stuff to do next time. 

Last, but never least, Lenneth has gone College of Valor for Bard, which is also the closest to a Valkyrie-style character she can do as a bard, without bringing in homebrew mechanics. She also max rolled for her HP increase, so with the added armor and weapon proficiencies, and the new spells, plus expanding her Inspiration abilities, the whole team becomes that much stronger. Also, we've been playing it as such more or less, but I decided to mechanically write it down as giving Lenneth Blindsight in a 30' radius from herself. So, she's still unable to do certain things like read without magical means, and body language from others is totally lost on her, but mechanically, she can still use sight/sense based magic on things within that radius and be able to benefit from the Valor subclass abilities, which also means that if she's standing at point A, and something at point B is seven squares away on a tactical map (35'), she's shit out of luck on even knowing it's there without another character using a bonus action as a "spotter" if she needs to target it for some reason. Actually, that's something that is great for roleplaying purposes and shit, if the party has to call out their own location if past that point. The Blindsight lets her know where things are based on sound and smell and vibrational feel, but characters or targets beyond that point have to specifically call themselves out, or she continues to suffer Disadvantage.... Is that agreeable? It'd better be. Also, that makes the Darkness spell an absolute nightmare for enemies in close quarters. If the party splits up and Lenneth has to defend herself, Darkness dropping and then enemies having Disadvantage versus her.

I'm only sometimes mean to my bard. 

Without further ado, morning rolled around. Elspeth stayed to have breakfast with Besiljka, before the party had to rush out to further the story. The party has pointed out that they're accruing a lot of gold but not really spending much, and a big part of that is because their room & board has been comped by the establishment since Lezard has paid for all of the wedding guests up front. After the wedding, the party'll be on the hook to cover their own living expenses and whatnot. Plus, eventually they're going to want better armor and +1 weapons/gear/whatnot, more magic items and potions and trinkets, or they'll need to replace adventuring gear, so all those ducets will go quickly. Good thing they murderhobo so much.

Prior to skipping town, they stopped at the Izzet Enclave to have the "mysterious blue potion" they found in the wizard's workshop last session identified. Crix popped the top, smelled it, topped it back up, swirled it a bit, popped the top again and smelled it again (which was pointed out is NOT safe scientific method, but these guys blow themselves up regularly, so...) before announcing that it's a Potion of Invisibility. This may be fun later on. Since the party was already heading to the wedding, Crix requested they take some supplies down with them for a few pieces of gold, which the party agreed to since it wasn't out of their way or anything. 

The tower being such a short 12-ish mile jaunt south, I didn't impose any random travel encounters this time. Especially given how much combat we've had the past couple sessions, I was hoping we could end this one with some roleplaying and story/world building instead. Of course, I never know when my players are just going to gut a random NPC so...

“As the woods start to clear, you catch your first true glimpses of Valeth Tower just a few minutes more to the south. With parapets reaching as high as 40ft, it dominates the hill upon which it sits. Gleaming granite shimmers in the sunlight as if the tower exists on multiple planes simultaneously. Wedding banners adorn balconies on the upper stories of the tower, signaling to all the festivities planned for the occasion.

The grounds around the tower are immaculately well-kept. Rumors swirling Phandalin say that Lezard keeps a team of druids on hand so that not a single blade of grass rises above the others, and though that is surely an exaggeration, it's only just barely. Even the trees at the edge of the forest appear to bow their boughs in respect to the tower. 

Or, at least, the areas of the grounds that don't possess a carnival's worth of tents and wagons for the wedding are immaculate. As you exit the forest and "deftly maneuver" to avoid being trampled by supply carts weaving to and fro, you spot numerous banners of regional lordlings, with various races represented. There are no Eroth banners amongst the tents, of course, as Lezard's kin has suites in Valeth Tower. Nor are there more than a handful of Brokengulf banners, the bride-to-be's family, for the same. 

Surprisingly, a large number of attendees appear to be neither High Elf nor human. Their blue skin easily noticeable regardless of their height, you quickly spot the contingent of Izzet goblins Crix requested you deliver to, as their group is the furthest north from the tower. Not far past them is a sizeable gathering of dwarven merchants and mining foremen. A group of Devkarin elves, recognizable by their triblistic face markings and ashen skin, to say nothing of their aversion to standing in direct sunlight, gather to the west. Scanning the individuals milling around, your eyes pick out entertainers of all shapes and sizes, as well as a scattering of half-orcs, gnomes, and even a pair of hulking Dragonborn having a lively discussion with Lezard's guards."

Lots of potential for future side quests, and political drama with the local power structure. There were points I wanted to make with the groupings here that might have been lost since I didn't have nearly enough miniatures on the "field" as I'd have liked to accurately represent that there were more than 50 individuals outside at that point alone (making Lezard's front yard a bigger town than the hamlet in session one), but the beautiful thing about using the blog to recap is that anything the players might have missed or not been able to pick up on at the time, I can convey. In-game, it's something the characters would already know or notice anyway.

So I drew large circles on the dry erase board (putting the bard's offering to work) as rough areas where the guests had segregated their tents and preparations to. These weren't hard and restrictive - whilst the Devkarin kept mostly to themselves, the dwarves and gnomes and goblins and entertainers and assorted folk all kind of intermingled and did their own goal-furthering, things that didn't directly involve the players.

Given that they had some supplies to deliver, the party went to the goblins first. Mizmagnus, a successful galvanic blastseeker (he makes things blow up) received the supplies, and I relayed that he's the actual head of the Izzet Enclave, not Crix. Their purpose is to end the wedding with magical fireworks and to, hopefully, not blow everyone up instead. Because the party delivered the remaining supplies that the goblins were supposed to go back for (they aren't pack mules and don't have a ton of carrying capacity), he gave them a handful of gold coins AND inquired if anyone was a caster. Since Lenneth is the closest thing the team has to a wizard, he offered to teach her a new spell he is working on, in exchange for her to test it out ten times and report the results to him. She now has access to Chaos Bolt (I tried to make the A like the anarchy A, and that just resulted in her giving me shit, so back to being mean to the bard we go :-P ). Because there's no way to control what type of damage the spell does, it could be less effective or completely ineffective on some enemy types, whereas it could be twice as much on others.

From there, the party split. Gabriel went to talk to the Devkarin, Lenneth headed down to the entertainers to jam out, and Besiljka & Laucian went to interact with the guards and a pair of Dragonborn, conversing lively, by which I had to mean loudly but not necessarily angrily. There wasn't any rolling for initiative here, I just wanted to get a feel for who was doing what so I could lay down exposition as needed. 

Gabriel started with his friendly not-at-all-interrogative banter trying to get a feel for why the Devkarin would be there at all, knowing that the High Elves and the Dark Elves don't have a lot of good feelings for each other.  Relations between the High Elves and their dark cousins are never good, even at the best of times. These are not the best of times, and the Eroth are incensed that Lezard's invitations made it to Korozda. Lichlord Jarad vod Savo was thrilled and amused to have received it, and contemplated sending Kraul, or even Ishkanah in their stead (they won't elaborate on who or what that is, beyond chuckling darkly). However, as amusing as that might be, he was also intrigued at Lezard's endgame. This also gave me a chance to lay out that as sudden as the wedding itself seemed, Lezard has had at least a couple months to plan, given the distance the Devkarin had to travel from Korozda to Valeth Tower. And that it definitely is odd that a High Elf of his lineage would be marrying a human, noble or not. Gallows humor seems to be their stock in trade, and as Gabriel was walking away, Marwyn, a Golgari Circle of Spores Druid, tells him to visit the city, and Penvar, the Spider Keep, "if ever in the Underdark." 

Since Lenneth was hanging with "her people," we went there next. Unfortunately, they were a whole bag of dicks to her. Malark Greycastle, the half-orc entertainer, led the verbal abuse given that Lezard "suspiciously" went outside of the Entertainer's Guild to contract her to perform at the wedding, instead of using one of the many performers the Guild already had available. They feel like she is taking coins out of their coffers, as it were, and Greycastle was very vocal about it. Unfortunately for him, humiliation is what Lenneth lives for, and before long, there was a puddle. -insert chuckle here- Otherwise, they didn't know much about regional goings ons, other than what is happening in Waterdeep, where they originated from.

With the Dragonborn (they're actually called Vayemniri, by the by) talking to the guards, Besiljka and Laucian butted in to see what was going on. They were discussing that the male (Grimfang Shields-the-Weak) used to be a bodyguard for the Brokengulf household (bride's family) and he had arrived to offer his services again, feeling that the elves couldn't possibly do a very good job protecting her family on such a long trip back and forth from the tower to Waterdeep via Phandalin and the Triboar trail. The female (Sora) relayed that the wedding is definitely big deal status-wise for the Brokengulfs, as their power is waning in the city. Waterdeep. Not Phandalin. Obv. The guards aren't hearing any of it though, and it takes the appearance of Erevan Siannodel, the captain of Lezard's guard, coming from the tower to defuse the situation. He sends the Dragonborn on their way with placations that Lady Analise will address their concerns when she is able to, after the ceremony. That's good enough for them. He then turns his attention to the party members, specifically Laucian, who he refers to as "cath'quessir" and treats as a younger sibling, thanking him for the party's efforts in Phandalin. He goes on to mention that Harbin Wester has told neither him nor Lezard about the Redbrands, any murders in town, missing dwarven miners, or anything other than good news about the area's prosperity. Only Elspeth's recent messenger has hinted at any troubles, something he finds deeply concerning, and he promises to speak to Lezard about future work after the wedding. Because he's a dual wielder like Laucian, I pointed out how nice his swords are, with the Eroth family crest worked into the pommels (the Siannodel are a vassal family of the Eroth). It's something for Laucian to aspire to, given Silent Rain's overall goals in the Realms.

That just left the dwarves as the last major grouping of wedding attendees. Their invites were pro forma given their own nobility, and their interests were more important than general information. But they did say that the Rockseeker clan once had large mining interests in the area, until after the loss of the Wave Echo Cave to orcish assaults, where their fortunes have waxed and waned. None present have spoken to Gundren or his brothers in years, yet his obsession in locating the mine is well known. Otherwise, the dwarves were chatty about their own work to the southwest of the tower, and to the east of Phandalin, both with a dwarven excavation and gold mining. Endeavors they hope to expand into more of the Elvish protectorate with Lezard's blessing. Because Dazlyn Grayshard & Norbus Ironrune, Shield Dwarf commoners (I didn't give their names though) are looking for help with their excavations, I had the Dragonborn also show an interest, since they're looking for honest work until the Brokengulf family calls upon them. The rest of the dwarves mostly represent Clan Stoneshield, specifically the trio of Adrik, Harbek, and Oskar,the main delegation to entreat with Lezard. A couple of Rockgnomes were there as well, hoping to get the dwarves to help the in their own problems but they didn't have time to talk to the party because...

After a period of time, Lord Lezard Eroth and Lady Analise Brokengulf, servants in tow, came out of the tower to greet the different groups, spending mere moments making the rounds. The characters finally had a chance to get some type of formal introductions, where Lezard thanked them profusely, and socially awkwardly, for their efforts, before being a little creepy with Lenneth, as his fiance looked on. Gabriel moved to make sure Analise wasn't charmed or enchanted or under any kind of spell, but lacking dispel or sense magic abilities, there isn't much the party can do. She seems overly friendly, and gives backhanded insulty compliments though, so it's just as likely that she's put Lezard under a spell as the opposite.

With introductions made, the wedding party more or less met, and a bevy of new information & side quest seeds planted, and our time drawing close to an end (Sadly. I love time with my players.), we decided that was a great stopping point. So next session, we'll actually get to see an Elvish wedding in action, the bride & groom will get some blessings, and we'll move onto the next section of season one (I'm mentally counting the end of the wedding as the "mid-season break" even though we likely won't have downtime after, except for upcoming holidays). At this rate, maybe we'll get a half-orc wedding too, if Besiljka keeps wooing Elspeth.

We were pretty spot on rules-wise, but regardless I always prefer roleplaying to roll playing and I'm not a super big stickler for following the books at the table. I did, however, only allow Laucien to use one of his equipped longswords since we weren't dual wielding correctly. Also, Redbrands are statted with "multi attack, two attacks per round" and that's nuts. They're potentially doing 8 HP damage per hit, and Lenneth had 14 HP at level 2, so she could be conceivably cut down in one combat round by guys that are, essentially, no name thugs just there to pad experience and burn party resources. Granted, they all did horribly bad on their attack rolls, but the concept of it all left me shooketh. ALSO, might have to gonna ban phones at the table because -someone- was looking up stats on the nothic during play. The party parleyed instead of fighting it, which is good because it would have been a tough fight at that point, but I'm still not a fan of trying to "beat" the DM, so party members, please be on notice that I'll be using more Monster Manual Expanded I/II/III stats and or added extra abilities/more HP to common monsters to "beat" the researchers/keep the fights from feeling too repetitive. 

Additional Races of the Realms: Golgari Swarm

 

"Reduce, reuse, recycle."

(Note - this is a big divergence from the way The Underdark is written in the published Forgotten Realms setting, again bringing in information and ideas from The Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica. The Underdark itself functions the same way as published - it's a subterranean nightmarescape of things that want to eat the players. However, the major habitations of the Drow elves have been replaced with Undercities filled with Golgari races, that are not necessarily evil, but also not necessarily welcoming of surface dwellers. And, of course, factions exist here so it isn't the same monolithic "we worship Lloth and are gwanna sacrifice you!" of published FR books.)

The Golgari Swarm celebrates the growth and vibrancy of the natural world, but gives equal attention to nature's facets of destruction, decay, and death. It finds allies and agents in the form of fungi, oozes, insects, diseases, and other unsavory aspects of nature, and it uses the power of nature actively toward the goal of advancing its own place in the world. But the Golgari have also learned patience from nature; they are content to work from the shadows, harnessing the energy that comes from decay while the civilizations of Faerun slowly erode and destroy themselves.

They have sealed many of the passages leading into the Underdark, and have created many secret surface enclaves, making their territory seem like an impregnable subterranean fortress. Within it, the Golgari domain retains its grandeur, a mysterious and wondrous kingdom. The rare visitors who stumble into it are awed by its beauty and its aura of ancient power. Palatial architecture fills cavernous  chambers, and luminescent spores float through the air to shed an otherworldly light on the moss-covered masonry. Entering Golgari territory feels like stepping into a secret world of dangerous beauty, an illusion of safety in the hostile Underdark,

The leadership of the Golgari has undergone several major changes in the past hundred years, but the nature of the Swarm makes it easily adaptable to the churn of continuous cycles. Being alive isn't a prerequisite for leadership, as demonstrated by the rule of the current Swarmmaster, the elf lich Jarad Vod Savo. Assassination is seen as a perfectly valid means of effecting political change, which is how Jarad's sister, Savra, took control of the guild before him. Various groups of people and monsters coexist within the Swarm, their relative power waxing and waning with the years, and through it all, the Golgari goes on.

 

The Golgari Swarm consists of many sub-factions, each with its own agenda. Among these are those led by the three primary races of the Swarm: the Devkarin elves, the medusan-like Gorgons, and the insectoid Kraul. Many other races occupy the various Golgari holdings, though few band together in such numbers as to constitute a power block, instead choosing to serve at the leisure of the Devkarin or forming smaller multi-race factions, such as the human-led Lotleth, a collection of fungus farmers and spore-focused necromancers & druids.  

*****

Forced underground by the High Elves millennia in the past for their views on the impermanence of all things except for the cycle of life and death, the Devkarin are adept spellcasters, counting most of the Golgari's shamans among their number. After wandering in exile, they found a home amid the corrupted and overgrown places of the Underdark, and the Devkarin necromancer Svogthir became the founder of the Golgari Swarm. Since then, the Devkarin have been a major influence in the Swarm, even during the times when they didn't hold absolute power. Regardless of who rules, the Devkarin follow the guidance of a high priest, called the matka. The matka's spiritual leadership usually aligns with the Swarmmaster's commands, but during times when the guild is ruled by a non-elf faction, the matka can be a significant dissenting voice.

Of the three major Golgari races, the Devkarin are the most likely to be seen on the surface, whether establishing rot farms or strongholds in forgotten ruins, or as adventurers, looking to spread the Swarm's influence. Devkarin can almost pass as surface elves, albeit exceptionally ash-pale (as opposed to the white-blue of Moon Elves) ones with a sensitivity to bright light and Devkarin tribal tattoos across their hands or faces.

Devkarin Traits:
Devkarin are built using the Drow subrace from the Player's Handbook. But with less 1993 edginess. Learn to crack a joke, a-holes.

 

Disturbingly beautiful, Gorgons resemble green-scaled humanoids. In place of hair, they have a writhing mass of black, serpentine cables, and their hands are scaly claws. Building themselves stone manses or appropriating sunken temples, the power to kill with a glance means even the other races of the Golgari greatly fear them. All the better for every party involved that gorgons prefer to enjoy the peace and quiet of a solitary life in the darkness, broken only to turn interlopers into new trophies, or for the pleasures of the flesh, of which gorgons rarely tire.

Gorgon Traits
Your character has the following traits.
Ability Score Increase - Your Dexterity and Wisdom scores increase by 1.
Age - Gorgons mature at roughly the same rate as humans, but live four or five centuries before being considered "old."
Alignment - Few Gorgons show a predilection towards good, with most hovering the line between neutral and evil. Neither chaos nor lawfulness sway them as much as impartiality.
Size - Like humans, your size is medium. Your build is lithe and almost reptilian in nature.
Speed - Your walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision - Like most races native to the Underdark, Gorgons can see in dim light within 60 feet as bright, and within darkness as if dim light. They can only see shades of gray in this way.
Claws - You can use your claws to make unarmed strikes, dealing damage equal to 1d4 + Strength modifier Slashing damage on a successful attack.
Petrifying Gaze - As an action, you can attempt to turn a target to stone. One creature within 60 feet which can see your eyes and has fewer hit points than your level times 12 must make a Con save against a DC of 8 + your Wisdom modifier + your proficiency bonus. On a failed save, the target begins being turned to stone, and cannot move, except to repeat the save at the end of its next turn. A second failure results in Petrification that lasts until the target is freed by a greater restoration spell or similar magic.
Languages - You can speak, read, and write Common, Undercommon, and Elvish.

As an underground insectoid race, few outside of frequent Underdark visitors have any knowledge of the Kraul. Scholars that do know of them theorize that they are an offshoot of the desert and savanna dwelling Thri-Kreen, much in the way that Devkarin may have once been Moon Elves. Suffices to say that any investigation into their origins leaves one less scholar in the Realms. A strong caste-based society ensures that every Kraul works for the greater good of their hives, and the Golgari Swarm.

Kraul Traits
Your character has the following traits.
Ability Score Increase - Your Strength score increases by 3, your Wisdom score increases by 1, and your Charisma decrees by 3.
Age - Kraul mature much faster than most sentient humanoids, reaching maturity within a few years of hatching. However, their life span is also much shorter than many races, rarely exceeding 50 years.
Alignment - As a caste-based society, Kraul tend to be Lawful, with neither Good nor Evil being particularly prevalent.
Size - Kraul average between six and seven feet tall, but their slender chitinous build keeps their weight under a hundred pounds, with most averaging 50 to 75.
Speed - With multiple limbs, your base walking speed is 40 feet.
Superior Darkvision - You can see in dim light within 120 feet as if it were bright, and in darkness as if it were dim light. Like normal darkvision, you can't see in color, only shades of gray.
Spider Climb - You can climb difficult surfaces, even if entirely upside down, without needing to make an ability check.
Sunlight Sensitivity - You have Disadvantage on attack rolls or skill checks when you or your target of the roll are in direct sunlight.
Languages - You can speak Kraul, and can speak, read, and write Undercommon and Common. However, you must make a DC 5 Performance check the first time speaking Common to a new individual. Passing ensures they understand you, whilst failure ensures that your harsh clicks and chittering unnerve them and make your Common unable to be understood.
Subraces - Winged and Ground.
Winged Kraul - The elite of the Kraul, you have flying speed of 30 feet and may hover, but only if not wearing medium or heavy armor.
Ground Kraul - The stronger workers of the race, your Strength score increases by 1 (4 total for the race), and you count as one size larger when determining carrying capacity and the weight that you can push, drag, or lift.

Golgari Class Preferences:
Cleric/Life and Death Domains
Druid/Circle of Spores, Circle of the Land (forest, swamp, Underdark)
Fighter/Champion
Ranger/Beast Master (prefers insects and reptiles), Gloom Stalker
Rogue/Assassin, Thief
Warlock/Great Old One (Underdark Nephilim)
Wizard/School of Necromancy

Golgari Leadership:

Jarad Vod Savo, Dekarin Lichlord, current ruler of the Golgari Swarm
Ideal: "Death. There's wisdom to be gained in it, whether it be your own or someone else's."
Bond: "Faerun, with all its structures and institutions, will eventually rot away, and it will be time for the Golgari to bloom from the carcass."
Flaw: "I am beyond life and death and can't be harmed."
Stats - About what you'd expect from an undead Lichlord at a CR of 22.

Izoni Thousand-Eyes, Devkarin Matka
The spiritual leader of the Devkarin elves holds the position of matka. Izoni, a Golgari shaman, has recently risen to her position after the suspicious death of her predecessor, Zdenia. Izoni is known for her ability to control insects and spiders, and she is never encountered without the company of one or more swarms of insects crawling over and around her. When she walks, she appears to glide over the ground.

Vraska, the Unseen, Gorgon Assassin
Achingly attractive, even amongst other gorgons, she has narrow features and bright yellow eyes with a petrifying gaze. Like most of her race, she likes to collect trophies and her eyes shine a mirthful gold when she uses her power to turn her victims to stone. Unlike other gorgons, she occasionally leaves the Underdark and travels as incognito as possible, carrying out assassinations as a member of the Ochran mercenaries. In her travels, she has learned an important lesson, a creed by which to live her life. "A person should die the death they deserve." She began gathering followers in her quest to bring justice to those she felt deserved her retribution. Many died in her name, all deaths thematically linked to how they lived their lives. Even now, the shadows of the Northern Sword Coast are whispering her name...

Mazirek, Kraul Deathpriest
A large, dark green (almost black), Kraul, Mazirek's ambition and the encouragement by his friend, Vraska, brought the long-maligned Kraul to the fore as a force to be reckoned with in the Swarm. His arcane clicks and buzzing can summon crippling necromantic magic, and the mere presence of death seems to fortify him. He draws power from the demise of his enemies, and channels it to his allies, including using it raise The Erstwhile, a group of sentient Devkarin zombies, much to the chagrin of Jarad.

The Black Spider, Devkarin Mystery
LMAO, like I'm gonna tell you....

(Note 2 - Years of playing MtG made me want to add these to the Realms, and a quick internet search found stats and whatnot that go well with the Ravnica corebook where they weren't otherwise available. Fluff stuff is mostly mine, meshing what has been laid out in the book, Wiki articles, and on MtG cards with the Forgotten Realms setting, crunch is either official WotC material, or adapted from Kor-Artificer's phenomenal MtG to DnD conversions.)

Session Three: That Went Well

Alternate title: You'd Think a Wizard Would Be More Dangerous in a Fight

It's skull-crackin' time!

Well, almost. First, and what seems to be becoming a habit of my players, our Elvish fighter's player decided he didn't like me using clips on a Beast: the Primordial Storyteller's screen for DnD, so he got me this really nice four panel fold out with removable sheet slots. Add that to my Tiefling player getting us a series of dry erase boards w/pre-printed underlying terrain (which I was able to use this session right away), and I'm really just getting spoiled anymore. But they don't have to do anything like that at all. I'd be happy drawing on printer paper with crayons and using coins as miniatures if it meant we could keep our campaign going. 

Also, our half-orc player decided that we should have themed days, and this session was kigu day! Not owning one, I had to order a Cthulu-kigu a few days before the session and got to enjoy the look on people's faces when I had the hood up. So we had Cthulhu, a rainbow unicorn, and Snorlax at the table, along with an elf-eared Tiefling player and then our actual elf player just being there. Gosh, why do you have to ruin our fun, always?? Just kidding. He helped me swap out a car battery (by which I mean he did all the work) after the session, so it's totally fine. 

Because I'd prepared for everything for this session before last, we only went a week between games instead of our normal two. This also put our games on a better Sunday for me personally than normal, due to minimal morning obligations AND it was a daylight savings time weekend so an extra hour of sleep had me bright eyed & bushy tailed for it. 

At the stopping point for last time, the party agreed to deal with the Redbrand ruffians for Lezard's sheriff, Elspeth. Gabriel had retrieved his new dragon's blood-infused axe (shit, did we remember the extra damage on that or...? Pretty sure we did...) and the party was ready to head on over to the Sleeping Giant taphouse to have a few words with the brigands. 

Showing up, several Redbrands were lounging outside of the taphouse, half drunk already and spoiling for a fight. Immediately they started taunting our band of sometimes-do-wells with insults and insinuations that the only thing keeping them safe is Lezard. The party had a little debate on how to handle this, so I just kept going off-script with remarks about their demon whore and equally not nice things about the rest of the group. Gabriel had enough of the shit talking (and Lenneth was ready to throw down) so when Laucian stepped forward, I had a Redbrand in the backfield draw his crossbow bolt and take aim. This was meant to be fairly light combat. I didn't give the Redbrands names since they weren't important, but Gabriel needed to know so we went with peanut butter brands, like Skippy and Jiff. The party did well smacking these fools down, killing two, sleeping one, and one escaping (Laucian missed an attack of opportunity). The sleeping one was awakened via Lenneth's quarterstaff meeting his forehead. 

A few intimidation rolls later, and the ruffian filled in some blanks. Not all the ones the party wanted, like about his rough childhood or who touched him in his no no spots, but the ones that more or less mattered, like about how if he talked, "the Glasstaff" would do worse than kill him. That led the party into a lot of speculation as to who or what that referred. They decided to take this guy to Elspeth and let her pass along the information to Lezard, in return for a later reward. Laucian split with the party when they did this, to go and try to force Sildar Hallwinter to join the group in storming Tresendar Manor, where the ruffian said the Redbrands made their lair. 

I... Actually did not expect that. So I made Laucian come up with a compelling argument and whatnot. Which worked out in the party's favor, ish, later on. Not the least of which revolved around Sildar getting the killing blow on the white dragon wyrmling in session one. But a team of five is more effective than a team of four, and when you don't know what kind of a hornet's nest you're going to kick over... 

The party left the sheriff and headed east to the ruins of the Tresendar Manor. A half hour of searching (game time) led to a partially concealed entrance to the basement of the manor. Heading inside, the party found themselves in a chamber with a pair of staircases, a large amount of kegs and barrels, and a cistern of fresh drinking water. They spent probably twenty minutes here. That's an exaggeration, but not much of one. Lenneth was incredibly concerned about the water (side note: don't wear a Cthulhu-kigu if you have a water feature, your players will be paranoid), checking it with her quarterstaff until she felt something, at which time she had Bessie hold onto her in case she was pulled in. She found someone's bug out bag with clothing and some treasure inside. Gabriel wanted to check out the kegs and barrels, and Bessie warned everyone to be super quiet, just in case. Whole party rolled fantastic on Stealth, so when they found the door that led into a small room, I declared they could listen to see what was on the other side. 

Deducing it was Redbrands, the party decided Lenneth would rush in, drop Thunderwave, and they'd clean up. So Gabriel boots open the door for her, Thunderwave hits ruffians hard and a third one less hard, then the party runs in and guts everything, Gabriel and Laucian bisected a guy. There was blood and guts everywhere. I threw up in my mouth a little. 

Right, so they moved on, heading north through a hall and Besiljka's spidey sense starting tingling, indicating that there was probably a trap near. Everyone rolled and, once again, Lenneth had high roll. We decided she could hear the echo differently on the stone and Bessie could see where scuffs from footsteps weren't where they should be in a normal hall. They figured out the pit trap and Gabriel had the brilliant idea to fly over to the doorway at the end of the hall, drive a piton into the wall, and use rope as sort of a handhold. Totally worked out. Much impressed. They'd have needed to succeed on some checks either way. but this lowered the DC ridiculously to avoid triggering the trap or falling into it. 

Reaching the end of the hallway, they came upon the Tresendar family crypts, complete with Mr Skellymens. It has been insisted that all skeletons are based upon Skeletor, so the combat was replete with MERRRRH! and the frontline fighters built a wall behind which Lenneth just poked at the skeletons with her quarterstaff. One of the skeletons went full out Three Stooges and hit dem bones next to him, before getting dusted himself. It wasn't an exciting combat round but it sure was hilarious to me. 

Defeating the skeletons and moving to the East, the party stumbled across a couple of degenerate Redbrands holding a lady and her two children in slave pens. Besiljka took umbrage at this especially, charging in to murderhobo these a-holes. For some reason, even though the Redbrands didn't really have that high of AC overall, the party had a lot of issues connecting with attacks, and even two of them took way longer than it should have to put down. Regardless, you swing enough axes and all the trees in the forest will fall. 

Killing the Redbrands and rescuing the captives, the party learned that they were Mirna Dendrar, and her two children. Her husband had recently been murdered by the Redbrands (per the drunken villagers in the inn, previous session) and dumped somewhere. She doesn't know much about the Redbrands plans, but her son told the party that they're definitely being led by a wizard, and that he had "hairy, pointy eared" bodyguards protecting him. There was some back and forth about what to do with the trio after this. Sildar was put forth to escort them back, or they could just sit and wait for the party, but (and reminding the party to tell them about the pit trap) they decided to head back to town on their own knowing the way should be clear. Obviously being slave-bait, they didn't have any reward to offer but Mirna told the party about her family's ruined shop in Thundertree, and a family heirloom hidden there if they ever make it out that way. 

Continuing to clear out the basement/cellar/caverny type place, the party had a lot of dialogue on how to proceed and I really love how much my players debate things, and also how paranoid they get. Noting a smaller room to the east of a passage, they found the Redbrand armory. Now, the initial response was "what can we steal?" so in cases like this, as well as in many generic enemies, I usually point out that the weapons aren't high quality or aren't worth porting out. Not because I want to keep the party from walking around with a dozen shortswords (have at it!) but because I know they'll quickly get bogged down. So I just described the volume of the weapons either hinting at a lot more Redbrands down in the cellar, or that they were planning on an aggressive expansion. Both work well for -this line has been redacted to prevent you from knowing anything-. Lacking any explosives, the party just moved on. Dead men don't need swords. Or do they? -looks at the skeletons suspiciously-

Oh, look, a hall that isn't trapped! But they weren't taking any chances, so as soon as their passage from the armory entered into the cavern proper and opened into a new room (a workshop with lots of packing materials and... some beaver pelts), the entire party immediately wanted to start doing some Perception rolls to find shit. That's when we all began to realize that maybe the Tiefling, because they do that kind of shit, was cheating since Lenneth makes -way- more Perception checks at high numbers than anyone else. The short and skinny of it is that the party knew there was some secret shit in the room. They rolled to figure out more shit, blew that shit, and were gonna ignore the shit, but Lenneth's player would absolutely not let it go. And thus, did they find the secret door, and with no way to actually open it (that was stacked against them - spoiler alert; there was no level from that side) they decided to do a combined strength test to just bust through and... Well, I set the bar pretty high but they still managed to Koolaid-man right on through. OH YEAH!!!

A staircase later and they were sneaky snaking into the chambers of the Glasstaff, infamous leader of the Redbrands and -gasp- actually Sildar Hallwinter's contact, Iarno Albrek. The cad! He'd decided to say "screw it" and lead the ruffians despite being a member of the Lord's Alliance because.... Reasons. The party engaged, and I expected a real fight here, but to be honest, I also didn't expect the party to get there so soon and, well, the wizard just could not stand up to the combined might of our heroes. Once his HP dropped to a third of his starting total, he surrendered, and started squealing like a pig about what he as doing with the Redbrands, organizing them as more than just brigands, and of course about the mysterious Devkarin knows as the Black Spider. Who is, again spoiler alert, neither black nor a spider, I'm afraid. Iarno did relay more information on the Wave Echo Cavern, and something called the Forge of Spells which is important to the Black Spider. The party knocked him cold and left him in Sildar's care, after looting his stuff for treasures, with Lenneth taking his staff (which is made of glass, yes). They also found a vaguely threatening note to Iarno;

“Lord Albrek – My spies in Neverwinter tell me that Lezard’s little harlot is due to arrive in Phandalin, along with her escorts. They may be helping the dwarves as well. Capture them if you can, kill them if you must, but don’t allow them to upset our plans or arrive at the wedding in time. See that any items of interest on them are delivered to me with haste. I’m counting on you, Iarno. Don’t disappoint me. -N”

So now another player has entered into the mix. Oooh. 

Because the party went in a different way than planned, the next chamber they encountered was almost anticlimactic with a dead rat (I didn't initially tell them it was the Glasstaff's familiar, I just described it as twitching and then demonstrated how a dead rat twitches physically). 

And then it got fun. They found a history book so I got to talk a little more about the mine, the Forge of Spells, and the Lightbringer - a mace of immense value created there and then lost. 

THAT WILL BE IMPORTANT IN THE FUTURE

But it was also fun because they found some alchemical reagents, including nightshade, which Lenneth immediately wanted. So, of course, Gabriel had to start questioning her about the party's dead (and wolf-eaten) rogue. Interparty roleplaying is so much fun for me, but especially with this particular group because we're all just so effing hilarious. And their banter made me chuckle hardcore. 

Really, I have no complaints about this group, despite having planned for a party of five (damn, Neve Campbell could have been our warlock, if she didn't end up having her powers bound at the end of The Craft) and I look forward to every session, even if I might bitch about it sometimes. I haven't yet, but I do reserve the right to bitch later. 

 That's where we decided to end due to time. There's still -some- area left to explore unless the party calls it and heads back into town. I did warn them that Iarno was not the biggest threat in the area at all, and I think they're worried I might pull out another dragon but, I mean, really, randomly having a black dragon wyrmling rolling around in a human-filled cave that isn't already eating humans would be kind of ridiculous so they're just being paranoid, right?

 -insert maniacal cackling here-