Alt Title - "How Besiljka Got Parasites"
Alt ALT Title - "Why is Gabriel's Dick Covered in Deer Blood?"
Not that I expect anyone to shout into the darkness looking for their friend when the killer is creeping up behind them in the woods like the blonde that always dies in horror movies just because "it's what your character would do." Half of DnD is roleplaying though so in most situations, it should always come down to "how would my character handle this scenario?" and not "well, -I- wouldn't do that!" Yeah, the dragon would just eat your ass, Karen, we know.
That damned deer.
Anyway, prepping for SessEight was more akin to prepping for multiple sessions than just one. The party was left at the end of last time with multiple plot threads to follow and not knowing what they'd want to do or where they'd choose to go, I came up with several different what if scenarios. With the open world nature of DnD, and barring heavy railroading, it's impossible to account for all player decisions but I'd like to think I anticipated as well as I could.
The one thing that I had "sort of" planned for, was a new player. We'd talked previously about adding a couple of people and with COVID still a concern, it was set aside for the time being, plus we went a good long while in between sessions, and in that time, my SiL expressed interest in playing and some back & forth later, we came up with a Fire Genasi Druid (which I can absolutely work into the campaign backstory). However, she was unable to play this weekend which was a big sad face from me since 4 PCs = more carnage than 3 PCs.
Party went over where they were at, got themselves reacquainted with life in Phandalin, and then decided to look at the Sword Coast map and plan out where to go next. Heading over to Edermath Orchard and Daran Edermath, Gabriel immediately wanted to throw the guy a beating. Like, before even speaking to him. And I thought -I- didn't like elves! Besiljka and Lenneth went for a walk in the orchard whilst Gabriel handled the "interrogation" of Daran, over a cup of tea, and some serious bedroom eyes flirting going on. It wasn't meant to be a terribly hostile encounter, when I opened with “a small
cottage sits on the edge of an acreage with apple trees as far as you
can see. A silver-haired half-elf stands at the door, almost as if
waiting for you. You've seen Daran Edermath at several town
functions, between the Townmaster's Hall and the bonfire, but this is
the first time you've had a chance to discuss anything directly with
the former adventurer.”And once actually inside in the cabin, Gabriel mostly asked his questions and Daran directed the Aasimar to seek out his friend, Reidoth, a druid known to frequent the trail between Phandalin and the ruins of Thundertree, a town abandoned when Mt Hotenow erupted. Then we discussed the fast food chain of the same name. Or, as we always called it "Cold n Later." Volcanoes and cheap burgers, man.
Had a chance to make some Skyrim "used to be an adventurer until I took an arrow to the knee" references when talking about Daran and even if the rest of the session would have gone poorly (we laughed WAY too much for that), that alone would have made it golden.
Party was in for a multi-day trek north to reach the ruins, and before setting out, they went over their supplies & found that they were fortunately stocked well enough for a journey. Rations like hard tack and sea biscuits will keep you alive, but it's not the best life. In addition, Bessie's Outlander background gives her the ability to find food and water for up to a party of six in the type of environment where the party is, so the group was confident they'd be alright for a quick jaunt.
Quick is the operative word there. I planned for maybe 20 minutes of narrative travel, and a handful of rolls, and maybe (possibly) one actual combat encounter depending...
But I didn't plan for the damned deer.
Day one started well. A breeze blowing in from the coast and a light step had them making good time out of Phandalin and up towards the Triboar Trail. Getting closer to the forest, they felt some unease after dealing with the stuff from the tower and the zombies and the whatnot, but otherwise, no major disruptions to their travel plans occurred. As night started to draw close, the party set up camp/ Even though two of the three have darkvision, you're limited to 60ft out & just grayscale so thrashing your way through the underbrush in the dark is best avoided when possible. Gabriel thought it a good idea to set up a perimeter ring of torches to keep any wild animals at bay (though risking bandits or gobbos or orcs, etc). Was a good plan, we got to bring out the camping miniatures and lay them out, and we had some awkward party interactions that resulted in no one getting laid in the forest. After some good Perception checks and a vigilant watch...
...day rolled around and the party began the middle leg of the trip. The weather cooled a bit more and a spring drizzle started falling. During a midday meal, Gabriel saw a rock that looked like a giant dragon turd. Besiljka roared with laughter. Lenneth just shrugged. It was a good time. Nothing really eventful happened during the day so I handwaved, or had planned to handwave, most of the rest of day two up until camp was set up and then a quick repeat of night one (barring complications).
Then the damned deer happened.
Look, my DM style is generally "I'll allow it" if something makes sense. So when Besiljka decided to go hunting for deer for the evening meal, it sounded like a good idea. Quick Animal Handling or Nature roll (went with AH here to find the tracks), a solid longbow shot or javelin throw to bring it down (wait, if Bessie had the longbow here, did she give it back to Lenneth? Let's assume so), a Nature roll for Lenneth to find some herbs and spices and viola, done. But no. The party had to spend a half hour on the deer. Deciding how best to butcher it, what to do with the leftover meat, how much does an average deer weigh, can I make a helmet with the antlers, etc. Besiljka devoured the beast's heart like a true Barbarian champion. The digging a hole for the leftovers was probably ten minutes of game time alone. It was utterly hilarious but I really didn't think we'd get sidetracked for so long with it. But since the party was having a good time, I saw no reason to be like "okay, let's continue." The rain increased in tempo so after the deer, the party looked at ways to set up camp as such as to stay keep as dry as possible.
Eventually we did get to night time, and the perimeter defense, and Perception rolls. And this time, Gabriel saw some movement in the trees to the south of the camp, though in grayscale he could only make out that it was about a half dozen figures moving slowly. A quiet warning to the party prefaced a use of his Light spell, and in a blinding flash - GOBLIN RAIDERS!
Who were freaked the heck out by the light being conjured from no where, and like flipping a switch & seeing roaches scatter, the goblins fled. Gabriel used an action to attempt to lasso one. Besiljka tried to throw a javelin into one. Gabriel also tried to making an aerial dash leap thing with his tattered Aasimar wings but they just couldn't grab one of the wily things. Were they sent by someone? Are they just forest opportunists? Have they been stalking the party? Questions without answers, currently.
Sleep was fitful and Gabriel most likely spooned with what was left of the deer since Lenneth kept shooting him down, but eventually the party was able to get a modicum of rest.
The morning came again, as they do, and the party was in sight of Thundertree. This was one of the first maps I ever printed out on my new printer (long before I needed it) because a) it's a one inch = 10ft kind of thing so at 1 to 5 like normal battlemaps, the ruined town is a fairly large area and b) I've been looking forward to the party getting here for a while.
Yes, I was fully prepared if they went elsewhere, but this is where -I- was hoping we'd get to.
Also, it was pointed out after the fact that the party left their deer meat in the ground back at the last camp site. Hope nothing bad happens too it or because of that... Muahahaha.
Tumbling down cottages, carcasses of storefronts, and a ruined tower in the center of town, Thundertree is a happenin' place with lots to see and do. I allowed a Skill Check for the party to remember anything important about the town from earlier sessions and Lenneth scored well enough to remember that Mirna Dendrar, back in the Redbrand hideout dungeon, told the party that her family had an herbalism/alchemy shop once upon a time & that she'd left behind a necklace when the family fled the volcano eruption. Which turned out to be a good thing because the party forgot about Reidoth for the moment.
Besiljka likes to make an entrance and she booted open the door of a dilapidated tavern, stirring up dust and a handful of ash zombies. So after she whacked the first one, a cloud of volcanic dust kicked up but with her high con modifier, there was little danger of lung damage or blinding. The party is also tracking hit points on mobs of like enemies so (minor spoiler alert) I made these guys less hit-pointy than normally statted for a couple of reasons. Mostly so we wouldn't get bogged down on grunt enemies in the first searched building. Anyway, some really good combat rolls for the entire party (unlike last session) and four ash zombies were returned to the death. The building itself was fairly disappointing. Little treasure to be had, no gold anywhere, but there was what appeared to be a beer recipe that maybe some innkeeper will be interested in.
This brought up a conundrum - does the party bother to search every building and fight anything they possibly can or do they attempt to just fine the alchemy shop (again, forgot about Reidoth)? Video game player-me says to search every nook & cranny no matter what for any hint of treasure or XP. However, there's also the time involved real-world and you only have so many hours for a session.
Gabriel decided to attempt stealth and just peek his head into a cottage to the south. He wasn't super stealthy though as -gasp- A HALF DOZEN twig blights caught sight of him. Since he didn't actually go into the building, the blights were less than zealous in chasing him down. But over Lenneth's objections, the party decided they couldn't really risk leaving them at their backs, and Besiljka went in, axe a-blazin' after Gabriel suggested using a tinder box to just light everything on fire. I sure love how destructive my murderhobos are. Unfortunately, the tiny blights proved to be too hard for the mountain of a lady to hit, and her sweeping axe just trimmed their little head branches. So Lenneth came in and Thunderwaved the hell out of them & Bessie as well (who, again, high Con, avoided the brunt of it). Most the blights were obliterated right out. HOWEVER.... Forget any future stealth since Thunderwave can be heard up to 300ft away. HOWEVER... Maybe because of the rain, anything that heard it will just assume it is the weather... Or maybe not.
They rolled on down the dirt road and came to a cottage that looked to be in much better shape than anything around it. Rather than attempt to boot the iron-banded door in, Lenneth knocked and was greeted by the druid Reidoth.
"Can't read?"
-"I'm blind."
"Fair."
Brusque and not using a lot of words when one or two would do, Reidoth wasn't exactly forthcoming with information, answering questions with the bare minimum, and Bessie was about to roll for attack. Until Lenneth mentioned they were sent by Daran, at which point he elaborated, not only relaying which building was the shop, but also mapping out where Cragmaw Castle is AND a warning about the dragon in the tower. No Olive Garden date though - he likes those things separate, not together. Also, he hadn't seen any goblins lately so those that the party encountered most likely didn't come from the north.
Yes. I said the dragon. In the tower. Oh noes.
Time was drawing short so the party made a move to find the necklace in the shop- awesome use of Dancing Lights to get a glint off anything metal gave Advantage on the Investigation check. To end the session, the party went back to Reidoth's hideyhole so we can pick up there next time. Will they explore more of Thundertree? Did the dragon hear the use of Thunderwave? Who are the mysterious masked people on the east side of town? Do they even matter? Does anything, in the end? And what happened to the damned deer meat?
--I didnt genuinely think we'd be able to run everything I had for Thundertree in one session so the party chilling with Reidoth works out great. It's a logical stopping point and if there are a lot more dangers in the town, having that to pick up from will be helpful. Barring that though, even if the party walks away and nothing else happens with the town, it was awesome to finally have them visit there. Trying to make the map and the world feel more "lived in" has been a struggle for me, where I do enough for logic but not so much that it becomes overwhelming. So either we continue there, or the party moves on to Cragmaw to potentially rescue Gundren Rockseeker or we see what else we will see. Still a necromancer out there. Lezard is still gone. Wave Echo Cave hasn't been found. Dwarves are still digging shit. Golgari are still growing shit. And deeper things are stirring... Ancient evils that will devour the world... Also, I know I probably missed a lot of the fun jokes and shit we had going on. There's only so much of a session I can convey but we sure do have a good time.-
