Session Seven: Lucky Breaks Aren't Always Lucky

 

Alternate Title - "Why, Dice Gods? Why?"

I was asked to not be specific on how bad the rolling was this session, so I won't be, but let's just say that no one is allowed to use longbows anymore... This was also a shorter session. Weather and whatnot had me aware that we wouldn't have nearly a full session's time, so I made sure to adjust a few things to keep the story going in the time we are able to utilize.

Things opened up where we left off last session, with the party on the grounds of Valeth Tower. We ran through a quick summary, stuff about the book and Analise Brokengulf and that everyone would eventually be returning from whence they came, whether going back north via Phandalin or heading west to Saltmarsh, or going to the various mines in the area. Lenneth earned some extra XP by using her Song of Healing (is that the name of the ability? I can never remember without looking) to heal up everyone within the sound of her voice, which was basically all of the noncombatants, the dwarves, the goblins, the elves, the party, the Dragonborn, etc. The Stoneshield dwarves reiterated their invitation to visit their excavation works any time, and the Golgari did functionally the same.

This is where the party also got to add their XP from the previous couple sessions. I've been tracking mostly combat XP as a group, which I'll continue to do, but players will now also gain extra XP for doing very in-character actions or solving puzzles or whatnot. Once the APL of a group passes 3, it doesn't really matter if someone hits 4 first or whatever since subclassing basically renders the difference of a level or two moot.

Once the formalities were out of the way, the party embarked on their trip back to town. I described how different the forest felt now, the lack of bird or animal sounds, the oppressive mist, the knowledge that the necromancer had come this way with his horde & that danger could be around the corner at any point. I made a note to have the party determine their march order, even though I knew what it would be, as I'd planned on having someone make a roll every game hour as they traveled. I also made notes in case the party decided to do a short or long rest before leaving, and how that'd impact the later portions of the session, but they soldiered right on.

However, with the session losing a couple hours or so, I decided to change the every hour of the eight or so hour run to every two hours. It lessened the amount of encounters and helped speed things up to the next portion. Rather, I took the result of the roll and determined which encounter I would use & where the party would be.

So, two hours in, and they hear sounds that remind Besiljka of a pack of raptors trying to chew through an armored knight. Little of note would direct them to the origin of the noise, and the party did a quick scout of the area, with Gabriel getting as high up a tree as he could. There was no sign of the source, and soon the party decided to move on.

Four hours after setting out, they stumbled across a half dozen zombies taking a leisurely stroll northward. Gabriel went into the trees to try and shoot the zombies with the elven longbow he snagged last session, aaaaaand did bad. Like really bad. But he didn't kill anyone with it this time, so as Besiljka ran up to smash, Lenneth demanded the bow be throw to her and really, when the blindsight Tiefling decides to take a shot, you know its going bad. And her roll was... Every bit not good, but my new thing with crit failures is to have the player roll multiple d20s for any target they -could- hit, and compare against AC. So, in the end, a different zombie got it. Also, these zombies weren't at full HP or fighting prowess, but they did some serious damage to the barbarian, until she whipped out a healing potion and drank deep. Between that and some Healing Hands from the paladin, the party succeeded in destroying some more undead & moved on.

Six hours in and this was an encounter I've been waiting to give the party. An unnatural darkness fell, limiting even darksight to see more than ten feet out. Honestly I figured Gabriel would pull out the Light cantrip since the party's spell slots were shot, but Lenneth ninja'd the process and wanted to cast Dancing Lights to form the shape of a handsome man. Her roll was, again, not good, and instead, she cast it in the form of an unattractive man. Who we called Danny DeVito. Then I described the beating sound of wings as the party prepared to be attacked by harpies! But no, no, it wasn't hostile harpies. It was mothcats that I call maulin, after an elvish word. Basically a cat-moth hybrid with six legs, a fat kitten shaped body, and wings like ghost moths. I dunno, I found images on the internet and thought it'd be cute for party pets or something. Lenneth did not do well on her rolls to entice one (see a theme here?) but Besiljka came to the rescue and was able to get her one, and will most likely return to the forest at some point to get one of her own.

Final check wasn't really a check per se, I already had an ending to the trail in mind, but because the party was able to get there not long after nightfall, it changed how the encounter went versus middle of the night (less hostile). Arrows rained down from behind barricades, but Elspeth was there and she called a fire hold, running out to greet Besiljka.

The big thing from here to the end of the session is that I wanted to communicate that the players are the most important part of the game, but the world exists no matter what.

So, Elspeth was overjoyed to see Besiljka, because they have a blooming romance going on, and the other villagers came out looking soot streaked, with the town appearing to have been hit by the undead as well. Elspeth relays to the party that she's fought before, but nothing like this, and that Sildar was at the Townmaster's Hall. The party didn't want to delay and headed straight there, so I described the battlefield feel of the town, the buildings being shuttered, the pyres for the zombies, etc. Armed folk patrolling the streets, just trying to get across that things were not sunshine and roses here.

They reached the hall aaaaaaand I got to pull out the Warlock Tiles building I slapped together for it, thanks to Lenneth's player. It looked super great on top of the dry erase grids and really lent a visual feel for what went on after that.

Sildar was leading a congregation of townsfolk and assessing the situation when the party arrived. He greeted them, then upon seeing their condition, he got the story of the Tower. After they finished, he went into what had happened in their absence - finding Harbin Wester's body in the Hall, his being assassinated by unknown parties most likely before Sildar and the party arrived in town, that Iarno "Glasstaff" had escaped, possibly with aid from the same assassin, the town being attacked, etc. I threw in some lines from Elspeth about equipping the townsfolk from the Redbrand's poorly kept weapons and how some of the townsfolk that went into the basement heard a voice in their head, ie the Nothic cackling and saying "naughty, naughty!" I'm not done with them yet.

Because I wanted the players to enjoy the interactions, I went on some stuff where Linene and Sildar went back and forth on running the town, with Elspeth getting encouragement from Besiljka about forming a three person town council with her and the two of them. This continues the line of running the town and thwarts a plan that -muffled sounds of intervention before this part can be completed-

With this decided, the party went back to Stonehill for the evening, to rest up, and regain their spells & HP. The next day, I had the describe what they were doing and how they wanted to spend their time. Besiljka wanted to get closer to Elspeth so they went off together. Gabriel went fishing with the intention of getting everyone together for a celebratory "hey, we didn't die!" feast. Lenneth also went down to the same stream, a little further down from him, to wash some clothes after everything that had happened.

As she was washing clothes, and everything is peaceful and serene and really just idyllic, I had a tentacle rise from the water and just sort of... wave... at her. She didn't know whether to wave back or run, and Gabriel was too far away to help. In the end, she waved, and that's when she heard laughter behind her. The tentacle was Sora's Fathomless Warlock ability, and she used it to announce that the Dragonborn, as well as some of the survivors from the tower, had made it back to Phandalin.

Gabriel continued fishing, and Lenneth & Grimfang went off together to help the farmers, since Lenneth had that as part of her background, and Grimfang is always willing to lend a hand for heavy lifting. Sora, lazier being that she is, went back to town proper to get a drink and chill. Eventually, Besiljka decided to see the blacksmith about forging an engagement ring for Elspeth, and Lenneth made her way there as well to get a circlet made. Both had plenty of gold for stuff like that. Lenneth also wanted the silken dresses she grabbed from the tower tailored to fit. A girl's gotta look good in a battle skirt, after all.

An appropriate amount of time later, everyone met back up and we did some stuff with a festival, goblin fireworks and some other stuff (I just wrote "bullshit here" on my notes, and stuck with it) that ingratiated them with the townsfolk. By this point, everyone has a really favorable opinion of the party, though Besilkja didn't do so well with her marriage talk to Elspeth, where we decided the subject just came up, not that it was an actual proposal at that point.

The next morning, Elspeth brought the party back to a frazzled but energized Sildar, who laid out some of the town plans, and then, under the authority of the Lord's Alliance, he offered the party the deed to Tresendar Manor. Keeping the party close for the time, and using the gold to strengthen the town, Sildar was already showing himself to be a competent administrator. I let the party have input in how the money was spent, whether they went more Infrastructure, Commerce, or Military, and eventually it was decided to put a little in all three rather than become really strong in any one thing.

Afterwards, Sildar laid out some news - Cragmaw Castle was still the party's best bet for dealing with the mine situation, plus his kidnapping, and addressing the Black Spider who may or may not be involved with the attacks. In addition, he relayed rumors of a necromancer spotted in the area. So next session, the party can meet with Daran "I swear my orchard isn't haunted, please buy some apple jam, I have kids to feed" Edermath to learn about his missing friend Reidoth, an individual that knows where Cragmaw is, or they can pursue the necromancer lead at the Old Owl Well, or even both, depending on what they decide.

Main takeaway from the session is something strange is afoot at the Circle K.

NPC Spotlight: Grimfang

Since I have blogs to expand races and will have some bestiary blogs/other miscellaneous stuff down the line, I thought I might expound on some of the NPCs that the party encounters on their journey. Also, I was asked what character would be most "me" if I were a player, other than a beefy Mind Flayer Alhoon, and Grimfang was the first PC I designed/put work into, once I purchased the 5e PHB. 

(Random internet picture, artist unknown)

Name: Rhogar of Clan Fenkenkabradon, more commonly known as Grimfang Shields-the-Weak
Race: Vayemniri, strong Silver Dragon ancestry
Birthplace: Djerad Thymar, Tymanther
Class: Paladin of Bahamut
Background: Soldier (Vanguard)
Known Affiliations: Platinum Cadre, Brokengulfs of Waterdeep
Height: 6'8" Weight: 245lbs Eyes: Ice Blue Skin Tone: Silvery

About: Dragonborn mature at a different pace than humans, and by their 15th year, they're commonly accepted as adults. And, like most human adults, Dragonborn regularly become restless within the Clan-driven society of Djerad Thymar. Rhogar was one such adult. After achieving warrior status, he would regularly volunteer for daily military patrols outside of the city, often heading back out with a new patrol as his previous one was returning to the barracks. Skirmishes with ash giants and assorted beasties sharpened his combat instincts. Squads he patrolled with had a notably higher amount of these encounters than their fellows, but with fewer injuries and casualties. This was due in part to Rhogar continually putting himself between his squadmates and danger. In his early career, this caused strife amongst his fellow warriors because they believed that he thought them incapable of being competent fighters, but in truth, he just couldn't bear to see any of his comrades fall.

Because of his dedication to other Vayemniri, he was taken under the wing of his platoon leader, a heretical follower of the Platinum Dragon, Bahamut. Unlike most Dragonborn who believe that all dragons are tyrannical beasts, the followers of Bahamut believe that He created the Dragonborn in His image and that it is up to them to aid good-aligned metallic dragons in their fight against evil-aligned chromatics. The platoon leader pointed to Rhogar's silver-hued scales as a sign of Bahamut's favor and great potential. 

Though successful as a soldier of Djerad Thymar, staying on the defensive began to rankle the young Dragonborn, who requested patrols going further and further from the city. On one of these trips, his squad had the honor of rescuing and protecting a caravan from the city of Waterdeep, who braved the long distance to trade with the nation of Tymather. Striking up conversations about their home with the human and dwarven travelers, he made the decision to travel north. Weeks later, the caravan headed back out, and with the blessing of his platoon leader, he went with.

His serious, albeit charismatic, nature earned him the nickname "Grimfang" amongst the dwarves, who nevertheless appreciated his fighting prowess even if most jokes land flat on him. And the Northerner humans dubbed the deed sobriquet "Shields-the-Weak" after he used his own body to deflect hobgoblin arrows away from human farmers during an incident on the road to Waterdeep. 

Sometime after arriving in the city, he parted ways with the Brokengulf team and picked up bounties from the local adventurer's guildhall, meeting and teaming up with fellow Dragonborn Sora, a Fathomless Warlock. Recently, the pair have been seen in the area of Phandalin, looking to work further with the Brokengulf family after the announcement of Lady Analise's upcoming nuptials to Lord Lezard Eroth. 

Further Character Details: When in the field or on duty, Rhogar prefers heavy armor, either scalemail or full plate, and is rarely seen without an axe or hammer in one hand, and a kite shield in the other. Where possible, he prefers to dress in blues and whites, with the holy symbol of Bahamut worked into his gear to proudly declare his allegiance.
Personality Traits: "I will lay down my life for my friends and once I've decided on a path, I follow it to the end."
Ideals: "Greater good, self sacrifice."
Bonds: "I will never leave a friend behind."
Flaws: "I have little respect for unproven warriors, and spell casting makes me uneasy."

(Holy symbol of Bahamut)

Session Six: Corrective Actions

 

Alternate Title - "RIP Harambe: #DicksOutForever"

After a short hiatus caused by personal things, we're starting to get back on track with our sessions and session six is the lynchpin in future plans, as well as "correcting" some things from the previous session. 

As noted in the previous post, the party sped through Valeth Tower after fighting outside, and since most of us had kind of checked out by the end of the session, I decided to "restart" the party on the top floor, directly after slaying/looting the zombie minotaur. Once the brief recap was out of the way, I described how the runic enchantments of the tower had faded after the minotaur was slain, to which they surmised either it was the cause of the runes, or the runes created it. Chicken or the egg. Because the enchantments were down, I described that the sounds of combat outside had diminished as well. We did some CSI-type stuff right off the bat, getting as much info as possible on the flower-stuffed head of Analise Brokengulf. The head was removed with surgical precision. Her facial expression was terrified but not surprised. There was no pools of blood in the ritual room, nor was her body found at all. There were also no plants in the room - that brought a moment of "why would he tell us that?" as if it were a clue, but it was mostly to indicate the flower in her mouth wasn't from that particular room. I also let Lenneth attempt a Nature check to see if she'd recognize the plant, but with her result, I only told the party that it isn't native to the North Sword Coast at all.

Satisfied that they'd gained all of the information from this room that they possibly could, the party revisited Lezard's presumed bedchambers. Because of the stressed spartan nature of the room, there were many questions about whether or not it was his actual bedroom. And/or whether he's the actual master of Valeth Tower or if he is somehow also just a servant. I played up his charming, but haughty and elite demeanor having met him the day before, and how at odds the room was to that. With stacks of correspondences and scrolls aplenty, the team went to work, investigating the scene. Lots of missives from wizard schools of Faerun, and LOTS of "spreadsheets," for lack of a better term, noble crap, about mining and crop yields in the area, presumably for tax purposes. Items of interests to members of the Lord's Alliance, but nothing that really stood out as "important" in the sense of clues as to Lezard's whereabouts or what was happening at the tower. Gabriel decided that it'd be a good idea to search the bed, so he whipped out his battle axe and chopped it in half. More missives spilled out from the under the straw-stuffed mattress (again, not feather or down or anything super high class), of an even more esoteric nature, bunch of elven wizardy bullshit, and also his monster-image porn collection. Biggest clue, under the bed was an intricately scrawled sigil/glyph that was vaguely reminiscent of the pulsing runes on the walls and floors of the tower, but with far more minute detail and written that didn't appear to be the same dwarven-esque the remainder of the runes were in. Could this be a curse? Protection? Something else? Besiljka decided to sketch a copy on one of the blank sides of a missive laying around, to follow up on later with learned scholars of the Realms. 

Moving on down to the second floor, the stench of decaying zombie bodies hit the party like a rampaging triceratops. I imagine Lenneth and her heightened blind sight senses probably took the brunt of the rotten-asshole-stew smell. But let it never be said that our Tiefling complains about the little things. Starting at the bottom of the stairs, the party entered the westernmost room, which turned out to be the visiting Eroth quarters. As Lezard is a minor scion of the family, important enough to have the tower and demesne over a section of the Elven Protectorate, but not so important as to have the heads of the family in attendance, the room was quite sufficient for the Eroth representatives. Banners adorned the walls and the beds were much nicer than the room upstairs, but otherwise, there wasn't much notable about the room. Except the closet, and the treasure chests within that were most likely the tributes and dowry from the wedding. Lenneth had a set of thieves tools that she picked up from the corpse of the party's old rogue Rafael. Yeah, remember him? Glad the player's write things down. So even though she doesn't have a lot of experience lockpicking, she rolled really well and popped the first chest no problem. A good amount of coinage and some uncut gems (emeralds) were secured, high five team. Then she moved onto the second one and as she jammed the tools into the lock, the chest snarled. 

Yes. Goddamned Besiljka's player was like "he's gonna throw a mimic at us" and Lenneth's player was like "he said they're too strong and won't throw any of them at us" to which it was countered that I threw a dragon at them in session one so... Look, it was a wyrmling. How was I supposed to know that it'd almost TPK in the first round??

But yes. It was a mimic. Mimikyu-chan shot out its tongue but failed to hit any of the team, so we did initiative and combat. Gabriel had top number so aimed for the things tongue, narrowly missing his chance. The mimic retaliated, aiming for the "weakest" party member in Lenneth, slapping her "center of mass" with its prehensile mouth appendage. Though she took 4HP of damage, she wasn't terribly upset at the encounter. Besiljka did was she does best and cracked the thing's hard shell with a powerful strike, but when it came time for Laucian to attack, he rolled a critical failure and ended up overextending his swing, smashing his sword eventually into his own leg, Fortunately, he didn't chop it right off. That was the only significant damage anyone received in the brief battle, which ended with one dead mimic in a closet, dissolving into a puddle of goo, the final blow coming from Battle Maiden Lenneth (way to take the College of Valor) wielding Erevan's enchanted short sword as she jabbed the sword into its gullet, "deftly" removing its tongue. So no second date? We had a discussion on whether or not one could eat a mimic, and it was agreed that it'd be a lot like trying to eat a xenomorph. 

Going to the northernmost room on the floor next, the party found Analise Brokengulf's bridal chambers. I think this was really just a strong session based upon all of the questions the party was asking and the things they were specifically looking for in terms of their searches, as well as Gabriel's moral quandaries about just looting the tower - whilst, yeah, Lezard is MIA, potentially KIA, no one knows what's up, and the Eroths & Brokengulfs in the tower are all most likely toast, he doesn't just want to steal everything that isn't nailed down under the logic that surely there will be someone looking for this stuff at some point down the road. However, the rest of the party is a "pack it all up, could be useful" and Lenneth was really interested in getting some fine new dresses & accessories. The bridal suite also featured a walk in closet, so checking that out (and I love that the party is scouring rooms for hidden doors and traps and secrets and shit), they found a lectern with a black grimoire sitting closed atop it. I described the book as oily/greasy looking (and also to the touch). No one thought reading it would be a good idea at that point. It... uh... looks pretty evil. Gabriel tried to bless it with some holy water to see what would happen, and it sort of beaded off with a steaming roll. So this is clearly not a good book. But why is it in the bridal suite? Does it belong to Analise? Is/was Lezard under some kind of spell the whole time? The party never got around to selling the beaver pelts they found in the Redbrand hideout so they used a handful to wrap the book up. No one wanted to touch it at all, but they figure Lenneth is close enough to cursed as it is that the book couldn't possibly do more damage. Right? No sign of the bride's body or her wedding dress so the conclusion was reached that she was probably wearing the dress and her body is... Somewhere.

The only other room on the floor was the Brokengulf family suite, in which the party didn't find much of note. Again, banners and finery. Nobles don't necessarily travel from Waterdeep into "the middle of nowhere" with a bunch of valuables to be stolen. 

In all rooms on the second floor of the tower, though, the constant "are there any plants here?" question came up. The little details and clues and hints that are being planted really seem to stick. And I like that. That the players are getting into the weeds with everything, paying attention to their surroundings, looking for keys to the kingdom as it were... 

Back to the main floor, and at the bottom of the stairs is the kitchen. I figured everyone could grab a quick snack. The bread seems okay, but some of the leftovers from the night before were covered in flies. No one seemed all that hungry after fighting through zombies and smelling the filth on the second floor, so we quickly moved on. I did give stats on improvised weapons from the kitchen, in case someone needed a baguette as a tool of assassination. 

Servants quarters were attached to the kitchen and it seemed the most logical to check in there. As all of the small serving staff were (most likely) pasted all over the floor and walls of the tower, the room itself was empty, and everything looked as poor & shabby as Lezard's room on three. Searching didn't turn up much, except a golden idol of Sehanine Moonbow, the patron goddess of the Moon Elves. Quite an interesting thing, given that Lezard and the Eroths are High/Sun Elves... 

Last unexplored room of the tower was the guard barracks on the south side. Here, they found beds stacked like bunks and stores of Elven short/long swords and longbows. None of the swords appealed to the party (Lenneth already had an enchanted short sword, Besiljka is an axe user, and Gabriel is loaded with weaponry already) but Gabriel did decide he needed a longbow and a quiver of arrows for some ranged attack potential. 

This proved deadly for the party. Exiting Valeth Tower after what seemed like an eternity (really, a session and half or so, but it felt like months of real time), the party came upon a grisly scene. Only about a third of the individuals who were celebrating the day before were still on their feet. Both Grimfang and Sora, the Dragonborn adventurers, were alive (and keeping the dwarves and Devkarin from each other's throats), and Mizmagnus the Izzet goblin, friend and semi-mentor to Lenneth, was surrounded by charred zombie corpses. Past the commotion of the survivors arguing amongst themselves, the party spotted a bone-armored individual in the far northern distance melting into the treeline with the remaining undead. Presumably this is the necromancer responsible for the zombies, but he was definitely a human and not an elf of any stripe. Why was he there? Is he somehow tied to the black book? Was he, in fact, responsible at all (I mean, he did walk off with the zombies, but...)? All anyone knows for sure is that he and his force returned to the forest and appeared to head north, towards Phandalin. 

The party debated giving chase, but even at a quick sprint, they'd not have made the treeline before his forces were fully in the forest, and then you're facing a necromancer (one would assume, anyway, from the bone armor) plus his undead host, without knowing how strong they might have been. If he did indeed raise the zombies to attack the tower, we're talking a guy that controlled at least a hundred human/orc/dwarf/tabaxi/etc corpses, plus a minotaur. Probably a pretty tough dude. Or maybe he didn't do all of that. I THINK WE ALL KNOW THE ANSWER - MAAAAYBE.

Anyway, Gabriel wanted to do a Hail Mary of a shot and attempt to hit him with an arrow. I said, fuck it, make your attack roll. Technically, it was outside of the 600ft range of the bow, and would have had Disadvantage anyway, but I figured if he threw a Nat20, I'd give him the hit. Instead... He threw a 1. Which, as we all know since session one, never ends well. He also did a bone-wing-leap into the air before making the shot so, I ruled that in his jump, the arrow itself hit the bowstring in a bad way, causing the arrow to come straight back down and... Well... The arrow hit Laucian. I don't usually phrase in-game things in mechanical terms, but this dude had 6HP remaining, and when the damage roll came down... It was 7. Now here's where we do death saves to stabilize, but alas, there was no player at the table to make the roll, and the elf was pinned to the ground via arrow's trajectory going into the back of the neck and down & out through the chest plate. Yikes. 

Moving right along, the party confronted the arguing dwarves and elves, as to the fleeing necromancer. No one else saw him in the confusion and conflict. Interesting. It's almost like... Naaaaaaaah, couldn't be. With a member bleeding out (I swear to Mielikki, goddess of the forest, I didn't intentionally kill him, I'd planned on NPCing him for the duration), the remaining members tried to get some answers for their burning questions. They filled in the groups outside about what had happened, and the dwarves, ever mindful of their bottom lines, inquired about their wedding gift & whether or not gems had been found. I was shooketh when Gabriel led the party to return the uncut emeralds. They weren't so valuable as to be worth making an enemy of every dwarf in the area, but I'd have given them some rolls to lie if they wanted to keep them. That was really cool, and netted the party an invitation to the dwarven thaig excavation to the southwest of the tower, "after all of this is sorted."

The Golgari seemed like they'd be the most knowledgeable, if not the most trustworthy, when it came to botany and the dark arts. Marwyn of the Devkarin immediately recognized the flower as something that doesn't grow in the Realms, anywhere, but that it comes from the Abyss. The team was hesitant about showing them the grimoire as well, but given dwarves aren't the most sorcererous of all the races, it seemed the best bet. Handing the book over to Marwyn, she was immediately intrigued by such a dark spellbook, but upon opening it and attempting to read, she was hit with a spike of psychic energy and cried out in pain, slamming the book shut. The text inside, though briefly glanced, also appeared to be Abyssal...

We called it there. Next session, the party will need to return to Phandalin with the terrible news, hopefully make it through zombie infested forest, dodge notice of the Abyss, and maybe, just maybe, make a buck now that they're paying their own way in life again. 

Biggest takeaways of the session and an overall recap of important points - Lezard is MIA/KIA/IAIAIAIA something or other, and that'll lead to a destabilization of the area until the Eroth can investigate and consolidate power. The Abyss is involved in some fashion. The bone-armored individual, who we're assuming is indeed a necromancer, may be connected to the Abyss. Or may not be. There's still the Wave Echo Cave mine in play, with Gundren Rockseeker still missing and The Black Spider is out there doing Gods know what, with ties to all of this Gods know how. Is he also aligned with the Abyss? Is there something darker (wtf is darker than the Abyss??) going on? Is it all a smokescreen for something even more insidious happening?

Find out next time.

Session Five: The Best Laid Plans..

 

I've redone this particular blog entirely. The original was incredibly morose and bitchy. That's not me and now that I'm not pissed off about the session anymore, I want the blog to better reflect the story, not the situation. With that being said, we're going to go sans-alcohol for future sessions and if a player can't make it, no worries, but their character will also be absent for whatever reason we can logically slot in. Now that the APL is 3+, it won't affect CRs as bad if someone falls a little behind on the XP gain. 

This was my third iteration of this session. Originally, I had the party completing the Redbrand hideout, going to the wedding, learning about local politics (and picking up some side quests), before the masquerade wedding itself, and then after the wedding things happening. Then a few weeks ago, I started worrying that because I'm not really making most NPCs that memorable to anyone (most aren't even using consistent miniatures), I wouldn't be able to pull off the wedding as I wrote it. So I rewrote that the tower itself would be under siege but then, without our fourth party member, the rest had less motivation to do anything in the tower so we had this session... 

We waited for a bit and when it became evident Laucian's player wouldn't be attending, we just went on. So I did a brief recap on the groups that the party encountered previously and then rolled into a bunch of undead attacking the encampments. I made sure the party was "sleeping," (elves just do the weirdo meditation thing) before going forward, in case anyone had some overnight shenanigans they wanted to pull. The wedding was to start at dawn, and during the predawn gloom when the sun was just beginning to crest the mountains, the sounds of human suffering alerted the party, camped closest to the tower. I didn't set that up to be such intentionally. Just when I was drawing the major groups, it was the only spot left that would reliably be party-sized. 

Rather than break out a hundred miniatures, I used Zombicide zombies to each represent a "squad" of five undead a piece, ensuring that the encampment was completely outnumbered. But zombies aren't as big a threat in the Realms than they are in, for instance, The Walking Dead. It's magical, not viral, so bites aren't as huge a deal, though this also means stabbing them in the head isn't as effective. It was contentious but also logical and that's the ruling that stood. I gave the party a few minutes to try and lay out a plan.

Gabriel led Laucian to help the dwarven party, where the Dragonborn Grimfang and Sora were struggling against a wave of zombies. The Devkarin were holding their own and the goblins were easily evading. The entertainers were being devoured but Lenneth and Besiljka went for the tower either to warn Lezard or stop him if he was the cause of the whole thing. Which is one of the prevailing party theories. Plus the entertainers were dicks to Lenneth so they can all die. 

Heading into the tower, the two ladies ran into a pair of zombies, and got a surprise attack on them. I described the gore on the floors and walls, as well as the pulsing magic of dwarven-esque runes on all of the walls of the tower. The gents outside were eventually going to be overrun so I started moving survivors towards the tower in the hopes that everyone would regroup. Both Dragonborn went DBNO, only surviving due to Golgari assistance.

The party came back together, and thus began a mad dash up the tower, ignoring searching anything, just going on up until hitting the top floor. They found Lezard's Spartan bedchambers but didn't actively search for anything. Then they found the zombie minotaur in a ritual room with the same type of runic symbol from the walls pulsing on the floor, and an altar. I had it as a whole epic level encounter after fighting through a bunch of zombies in the tower but since everything was rushed, it mostly turned into a whack-away until Lenneth's use of Chaos Bolt decimated the minotaur with fire. Eventually. It had a LOT of hit points. But turned into a t-bone nonetheless. When it went down, they were able to clearly see the bride-to-be's head on the altar, stuffed with a red and black spiked flower in its mouth.

Anyway... We were about to call it after the minotaur went down, with a last minute decision to go and check the basement. Down on the first floor, the dwarven and elven survivors were going at it, with the dwarves (rightfullyish) blaming the Golgari for the existence of zombies and the Golgari demonstrating that, when THEY raise the dead, it looks way different than what was on the field. The Golgari countered back with the glowing runes looking incredibly dwarven, to which the dwarven nobles and merchants had no defensible comment except shrugs. The party didn't interact with either group, so that is still something that will need to be defused next session, when we pick back up. 

Making it to the basement, the party found gore-filled cages and some sick shit experimentation stuff. I didn't go into too much detail as to what is down there, since they walked in, glanced, and that was the end, but if they investigate further... They may find nothing of import.

 There was a lot of ball-dropping in this session overall, both in my delivery and in the player's actions, that'll need to be addressed for next. I take my fair share of the blame - I was prepared for the session, like really prepared, like spending 20 hours a week on DnD stuff, but I got frustrated and stopped trying, and it showed. Plus, because of the rushed nature of the dash through the tower, the party was only able to loot two things, really - the minotaur's morning star, and the shortsword belonging to Lezard's guard captain, Erevan Siannodel. Because this session was split from last, a lot of little contextual detail was missed, and because I didn't spend any time talking about the top floor much, a big post-minotaur plot point was also missed, and I'll have to bring that back around as I can next time. 

Not every session is going to be the absolute best session we've ever played, but the less the player's put into it, the less they're going to get out of it, and that's a point that I cannot stress enough. This was the first appearance of a massive zombie apocalypse, but given how prevalent the undead are (I mean, shit dies all the time in magic areas, even without the aid of a sorcerer), it probably won't be the last time they appear. 

Big take-aways from the session - Lezard has not been seen since his "tour" the day prior. Status is unknown. Lady Analise Brokengulf is for sure dead, what with the head and flower in the mouth bit & all. It can be assumed that large numbers of Eroth and Brokengulf retainers are the victims strewn all over the tower, the zombies were mostly Chultan and in rags, so not likely any of the wedding guests were raised. Erevan Siannodel is assumedly dead as well, or is at least missing one of his two swords. The basement of the tower held secrets better left alone, but were they Lezard's? The Golgari, dwarves, goblins, and assorted others in the area will have to deal with the fallout of losing some people, as will the remains of the two noble families who weren't in attendance.

And the party, as of right now, has lost their patron.

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-