The Pros of the Cons and the Cons of the Pros

I miss DnD. Not the group. At all (this is a lie, slightly). But the game. Despite the fact that it is basically like having a second full time job, I miss the hell out of running DnD. I love BattleTech, and I'd be down to run games of Fallout or any of the dozen RPGs on my bookshelves any time, yet nothing is as "DM-friendly" as DnD 5e w/the huge amount of current support and continuing product releases and whatnot.

Or maybe that's because I didn't do any older editions and fantasy isn't usually my genre of choice so compared to a World of/Chronicles of Darkness game or getting people into Legend of the Five Rings, A Time of War, or Fallout 2d20, 5e -seems- more friendly.

Either way. Not really my point here.

When I do run DnD again, with whatever group I end up building or finding, I very much want to run a magic-themed campaign world based upon one of the planes (though I wouldn't be opposed to returning to the Realms) and featuring NPCs that at least some of my players will likely recognize, or at least the ones that play MtG. So, I have the following as options in my head currently;

Dominaria
Innistrad
Ixalan
Theros
Ravnica
Whatever Plane Strixhaven is on
Zendikar

That's not an exhaustive list of planes, or even an exhaustive lists of ones that have art books and tons of information out there for, just the ones that I'm looking at for running games. Kamigawa I dismissed outright since L5R would scratch that itch. Mirrodin/New Phyrexia doesn't appeal to me for DnD. I don't know enough about Lorwyn or whatever plane Thrones of Eldraine was on, same with the plane that Conspiracy is on, which I can't be assed to just Google the answer for. Ikoria and Kaldheim both super appeal to me but they also feel much less established w/only one set for each. Homelands would almost have been a cool setting, and I'm pretty sure I have a couple full sets of it, for the all of $20 they're worth though I'm pretty sure Innistrad does the vampire stuff better. But that's all digression and the seven above are really only in contention (and even then, some not entirely all that much).

So pros and cons and whatnot of each, just to think aloud, and try to puzzle through which I'd like to run/which would be easiest for players to get into.

Miniatures are a big pro/con regardless of setting. If I don't have minis that I like that'd work, it's kind of a bummer. I like minis and terrain and maps and visual representation. It's my DM style.

Dominaria

As the "original" Magic plane, Big D has a LOT of background information so little scratch homebrew work is needed on that front. Plus, it's as close to a "normal DnD/Forgotten Realms-esque" setting as it comes, with most of the big popular character options easily presentable. Tieflings aren't there, I don't think, but I wouldn't allow one in my future games anyway, so that's moot. But most races/classes would work just fine with only a few tweaks here and there. There are multiple points of history that a campaign could be set in, from the Thran Empire to The Brother's War, to the Ice Age, to everything that came after up to and including the most recent set released there. But this is also kind of a con, as information that was totally valid for 4th edition MtG was later dashed during the Urza's Sage block/not to say anything of the later Phyrexian invasion and whatnot. Plus, a lot of the later content, I wasn't actively playing MtG for and there's a big disconnect for me from US to the latest set. But with the art book and the internet, anything is possible. Also, always found it weird that Urza "planeswalked" all over, but like Shiv and Tolaria are considered "on" Dominaria so... Yeah.

Innistrad

This is the current frontrunner in my head. I love Innistrad. It's my favorite MtG plane and the reason I came back to Magic after a long, lone hiatus (Urza's Destiny was the last set I bought boosters from until Dark Ascension). The gothic styling and preponderance of weird horror stuff just speaks to my soul. Werewolves, vampires, zombies galore, etc. Not only is there a current set coming out with another right behind that (Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow), making it "fresh" in the hearts and minds of people, but the last Innistrad block was heavily Lovecraftian with Emrakul the Eldrazi titan, and y'all know I love me some cosmic horror. Buuuut the downside is that Innistrad is also a very heavily human-oriented plane. It -might- be acceptable to squeeze in an Aasimar (or a Tiefling, but again, banned) and the "lineages" from Van Richten's would certainly fit the theme, but otherwise, we're looking at either variant human rules or the "regional" human rules from the Planeshift Innistrad article. There's a ton of lore information, an artbook, the planeshift article, and multiple full blocks to draw inspiration and stories from, as well as a wealth of fan stuff online like maps and adventures. It's just the "can my players just play humans from different areas instead of needing to be super extra rare one-off sparkly subtype of this one race made trendy due to popculture?" stumbling block, as well as limiting certain class options to be thematically on point. Bards are fairly uncommon and the "suggestions" for how they may be incorporated honestly work better for druids. Barbarians are kind of rarer, but at least certain provinces would make sense. Clerics, Fighters, and Paladins are all on point, with the various magic users either Church of Avacyn-related, or like heretical necromancer types. That's mostly easy to work around.

Ixalan

I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a blog drafted as a rough outline for an Ixalan campaign already. Sure, there's the "natives versus colonizers" part you could focus on but let's be real, we know there's only one true campaign for me on Ixalan, and that's mother lovin' pirates. A Brazen Coalition campaign with plunder and adventure, whether Indiana Jones-ing it through lost cities or going toe-to-toe in shipboard combat with the Legion of Dusk, this plane is a-may-zing. Since only a handful of the plane has been "explored" in official releases, there isn't a lot to stop players from using most DnD character races, though classes are a bit rougher as rogues and fighters make the most sense from a Brazen Coalition standpoint. Everything else is more Legion or Empire or River Heralds and would take a bit more work. But orcs, goblins, humans, and sirens, under the captaincy of a medusa or a minotaur is pretty epic awesome.

Ravnica

 

Ravnica has a lot of merit for a bunch of reasons. It's a giant city, but that also has tons of unused or rundown or desolated areas, several novels, a bunch of card sets, an artbook, AND already has an official DnD sourcebook. It takes the races and classes of DnD & mixes them with the Guilds of Ravnica as well as kind of delves into colors and whatnot, I think. Honestly, I haven't read read the book cover to cover in a while, beyond snagging the Golgari and Izzet goblins for ToE. But there's a good intro adventure and a bunch of stuff on the DMs Guild for it, and there are enough race options straight out that it would be a good campaign setting. Actually, there aren't a lot of cons here, other than it's not a plane I am super passionate about. There's even extra miniature support from Wizkids here w/their prepainted GGtR releases. So it's definitely in consideration right now.

Strixhaven (Arcavios)

Had to Google what plane Strixhaven is on, hah. Now, this was a one-set plane and an incredibly recent one, so how does it even merit inclusion into consideration? Well, first off, it's effing Harry Potter in the Magic-verse. Magical school with "Houses" based on MtG color pairings that compete with each other. And it has a very "cross planar" feel so few character options would feel wholly out of place. Except martial classes. Since, you know, it's a magic school. I figure the best way around that would be if players started as third level characters w/magic-oriented subclasses for the martial stuff but that's nothing set in stone. Also, later this year, a Strixhaven book is coming out for DnD and whilst I'm disappointed there's no sourcebook for Innistrad instead (James Wyatt mostly just tacked it onto Ravenloft in his PS article so..), I imagine it'll be a worthy purchase regardless. And it has owlfolk. I'm... Not really into the "fursuiter" races but I guess owlfolk aren't much different then acrocockrocackra bird people and still less furry than rabbitfolk coming out in the feywild book soon. And there's an elephant NPC guy, like on Ravnica. I dunno what that race is called. Elephantfolk is most likely not right. Anyway, this is ranked probably #4 currently (tied with Dominaria maybe), but I feel like I'd be able to get players more easily if I say "Harry Potter DnD!" Wizkids is also dropping unpainted minis for the NPCs, including a dragon, next month.
 

Theros

You get a Grecian God, and -you- get a Grecian God, and YOU get a Grecian God, etc. Like Ravnica, Theros gets some bonus points for having a DnD book, and extra bonus points for having Polukranos, my favorite legendary hydra. And also like Ravnica, Wizkids has Theros minis as well. I think? I feel like I remember there being some. Maybe I'll have to double check. IN any case, Leonin are way cooler than Tabaxi, and there are some Nacatl minis coming out that'd be perfect for them as brawny warrior cats. Centaurs and satyrs and other Grecian tropes abound here. So for the "classical" kinda themes, Homeric epics and whatnot, it's hard to top. But also, out of the entire list of things here, Theros is at the bottom of my desire to run. Also, there're a lot of the PHB races that wouldn't make sense, and not sure about all of the classes either. Okay, I -have- this book, but mostly just skimmed it, and mostly just for Polukranos stats. Maybe after a read through or two, I can get more interest here.

Zendikar

Zendikar is right up there in my affection with Innistrad and Ixalan. So that'd rank it a solid #3 if I were doing this as a poll, or quite possibly tied at #2 with Ixalan. We have an artbook, several MtG sets, miniatures, a planeshift article, great character options in Kor, Mer, Vamps, etc, and the plane itself is just tailor-made for DnD, up to and including that the last set had a "party" mechanic that encouraged having warriors and rogues and whatnot team up. Imagining players line-slinging their way into ruins in the sky, avoiding mana-quakes, plumbing the depths of sunken cities, etc is pure unf. But there's also a lot of work involved here with really understanding back story or doing worldbuilding despite the above (also because I don't own the artbook yet). Zendikar also got pretty curbstomped by the Eldrazi and that leaves the temptation to do a campaign at an earlier point in history. Or even to run a campaign whilst the Gatewatch attempts to defeat Bobert and Dichard or whatever their names were. I have some specifically-Eldrazi minis from the short living MtG skirmish game so that helps, too. Considering who was on Zendikar, if I actually wanted PWs to be NPCs (and that's iffy), I already have minis for all of the important actors there as well.

So that's kinda that. Innistrad - Ixalan/Zendikar - Ravnica - Strixhaven/Dominaria - Theros is the current order I'm pondering. For someday. When I DnD again.

Final - Session Twelve: Calm Before The Sturm und Drang

Alt title - The End of All Things to Come

I designed this session to be a bridge, more about letting the party "relax" and kind of get to feel out the town of Phandalin more than they'd had a chance to do previously. So we jumped in with a recap and then a hand-waived "return to town" section;

"However, when the party finally felt far enough away to make camp in an easily-defended position (and even then, not much rest was had for anyone), Gundren made a disturbing discovery whilst attempting to show a dwarven technique to Besiljka. The map taken from the bugbear king was -not- his map. It was the same map to the Rockseeker excavation into the Wave Echo Cave, he could tell from having walked the path laid out. But his map, his -original- map had a faded clan crest that could be seen when held up to firelight. This map lacked that.

Mulling over pack rations in front of the fire, he and the party came to the only logical conclusion - that the Black Spider must have the original. That being the case, why would the bugbear have a copy? And what payment were then the bugbear and not-elf thing in heated discussion over? And what was that thing? Had the guard captain been an agent of the Black Spider from the start? Was the assault on Valeth Tower and the carnage within all part of the Black Spider's schemes? It seems as if every time the party comes close to answers, new questions spring up.

As early as possible, camp was broken to finish the last bit of journey back to Phandalin. By midmorning, the fork from the Triboar Trail appeared and the party could almost smell their destination. In the distance, a new sight greeted them - an impressive wooden watchtower had been built at the northern edge of town during their absence. As the party approached closer, a familiar Elven figure leaned over and waved a greeting. Daran Edermath, with longbow in hand, stood watch on the elevated position, with a commanding view of the area. Upon seeing Gundren in the party's care, he yelled down urging a report to Sildar with the utmost haste. Grimfang, wanting to check in with Sora and look into a few things on the side, made his temporary goodbyes from the party. "

Afterwards, the party got to add up their XP from the past couple sessions. Going from level 4 to 5 is a process with a ways to go yet.

We had a town square & series of Warlock Tiles buildings set up just to be representative of the town, which I stressed at least nine times, but my players still treated as "I'm in this building." Okay. We can work with it.

Besiljka escorted Gundren to the Townmaster Hall, where they found a group of dwarves, including Gundren's cousin Holstead. They were thrilled to see Gundren alive & showered Bessie with praise, as well as uncut gemstones. Then she made it inside to Sildar, who could not have been more overjoyed, both with Gundren and the return of his sword & chainmail. They talked a little bit before she moved on, eager to see Elspeth. Gabriel was "in" Karniv's, where the party had been before, but he didn't remember, so they mostly talked about weird stuff. Lenneth hung out with some horses and stuff for a bit. Grimfang was off with Sora, discussing new information.

So, again, goal here was just to chill, not necessarily move plot, etc. Bessie met up with Elspeth at the "militia barracks," really a barn that had been converted to train the 10ish person group. Elspeth was riding hard on the recruits to get them up to speed as quickly as possible, as less than a dozen fighters were expected to protect a town of 250ish. But when Bessie called out to her, she forgot anything except for her heart. Meanwhile, Gabe headed to the blacksmith to get himself some new gear. Trading in his dragon's blood infused axe for a warhammer and a trident, he left happy. Lenneth headed to the Shrine of the Moon (replacing the Shrine of Luck) and talked to Sister Garaele a bit. Wanting to not add more side quests just yet, I left it at that.

-seems like a bunch of my original text deleted itself-

Anyway, party met back up at the Stonehill to drink a bunch and interact with the dwarves more. Gabe got to talking to Gundren and eventually convinced him to open up more. Lenneth played music. Besiljka spent time with Elspeth. Grimfang and Sora hung out with Sora telling everyone how she built the watchtower. Lot of card games and gambling happened.. Eventually the night grew late and people started to filter out. Lenneth returned to the Shrine to seek guidance under the moonlight escorted by Grim. After, they decided to share a room. Bessie and Elspeth did the same. All Eventually settled in for a peaceful evening of rest as we ended the session. 

Alas, such was not to be. Under the cover of darkness, the hobgoblins of Cragmaw Castle stalked into the town. Positioning themselves around the inn and Townmaster Hall, they set both buildings ablaze. All inside received 10d10 fire damage and with the town's leadership and protectors dealt with, it didn't take long to pillage the stores and farms. In the coming weeks and months, those left would flee to Salmarsh or Neverwinter and Phandalin would return to the ruins from which it had lain for the previous 200 years. 

THAT'S HOW IT COULD HAVE HAPPENED, OR...

The Abyssal grimoire the party kept from Valeth Tower began humming with gathering darkness. Not knowing the bomb within their midst, the party enjoyed the evening in frivolity, celebrating their good fortunate. But, as a chill wind blew in and the moon bled crimson, the spell began in the tower blossomed to fruition, releasing an entity from beyond space and time, beyond colossal in size, beyond reality in appearance. 

Mother fucking Azathoth. 

End of campaign. 

Session Eleven: Bugbear Beatdown

Alt title - "What the Actual Fuck, Guys?"

Last session found the party battling a grick right at the end of our time, so this session started with the aftermath of that battle. The party hadn't searched the shrine/temple area yet, and proceeded to do so as we opened up. Noticing the hearth blazing-ish (not a roaring bonfire, but not smoldering coals either) oddly on one side, Besiljka stirred up some coals with her rusted axe and undercovered something wrapped in cloth and stuffed in the corner. Goblins are not bright, and sticking a treasure in a fire to hide it from their peers is pretty on-brand for them. Bessie unwrapped the item and found a golden statue of a sun/high elf. This was something most likely looted from passer-bys or maybe taken from the ruins that dot the Elven Protectorate. I think we spent maybe a half hour just on whether or not this was cursed, and then whether or not it was shaped well enough for Gabriel to hide it in his ass ala prison wallets and drug mule pockets. Which then devolved into a few minutes of conversation over the first episode of the timeless classic Magnum PI. Tom Selleck is still the GOAT. -hums Magnum theme whilst typing this- Also, during the investigation of the room, I pointed out the four gods engraved upon the walls, common enough that most people of the Realms would know their images or sigils, including Kelemvor, the Judge of the Dead, whose symbol was found amongst the acolytes in the angel's tomb back at Thundertree.

With such a large castle and a battle map that didn't hide much (the wood elves had sketched a crude drawing of the inside of the castle to the best of their knowledge), the party spent some time trying to determine a plan of action and finally settled upon moving into an adjacent room separated by leather/canvas style curtains. Because Gabriel failed his Perception check and had the grick attack him, forcing the rest of the party to furiously beat it off (huehuehue), the trio of goblins in this area were alerted, and behind a stone altar they hid.

This is going to get weird, fair warning. My players want me to do a lot more roleplaying with them with the NPCs and stuff, and I'm looking for them to come up with creative solutions to problems. Two of the goblins rolled around each side of the stone altar to attack the party, with the third/goblin priest jumping over it to strike. Gabriel rushed in with his battle axe, ultimately cleaving one in a diagonal strike & then smashing its head with his own, and a trio of gobbos should have been a cakewalk for a party of four either way. Instead, Lenneth decided that maybe these poor things just didn't have enough love from their mothers (probably true; goblin warrens are like rat's nests and when times are lean, rats eat their young) so she grabbed one and hugged it close to her -indeterminate size though the party has always gone with "massive"- boobs, cuddling it into submission. The thing relented and uttered some goblin gibberish. The third goblin looked to Besiljka and made a "pick me up, orc mommy" gesture so Bessie did the same. Grimfang looked on, entirely perplexed and kinda weirded out by the party's tactics. But, they were effective, and when it came time, Grim shoved his dagger through the base of Lenneth's cuddle-partner's skull & Besiljka snapped the neck of hers. Whilst the two were busy, Gabe made to loot the altar of its golden artifacts, but hearing a distinctive "tsk tsk" in his head, he decided to put them back. The feeling of disapproval hung with him, even after that.

And then I'm pretty sure this is where the "finger blasting a lizard" started, as we were discussing goblin breeding practices and the assumption that at least some of the goblins were ladies, but that the only way to be sure would be to finger their slits like lizards. Except goblinoids are mammalian (one would assume) so their genitalia would be easy to see just by looking under their clothing. However, Gabriel and his rep with the deer has now extended to "lizard blasting" and the Dragonborn of the area had best be on their guard.

This session was hilarious. Tears in the eyes hilarious. I don't care much about podcasts and youtube and whatnot, since this blog is sufficient to keep track of what we've done for both myself and for the players to look back on as a refresher in between sessions, but if we did have something for other people to listen to, they'd agree that we're 10/10 ridiculous.

Anyway, my notes are kind of jumbled since the party went in a counter clockwise exploration. After leaving the defiled goblin bodies to rot, they ended up in a storeroom full of rotting grain and old meat. Visual checks revealed a bloody suit of chainmail, along with a heavy crossbow and a longswod with Neverwinter's emblem in the hilt. Quite clearly this was Sildar Hallwinter missing gear, and I'm sure he'd be favorably dispositioned towards the party for returning it, almost as much as for saving his life in the first place. After some investigation rolls, the party followed Lenneth's nose to a small cask of brandy. That'll be good to party with later. 

Since there was a dead end on the map, Besiljka poked her head into the next room to see what was up, and whoosh went a dagger past her head. A squad of hobgoblins hanging out in their barracks prepared themselves for mortal kombat, but like the way Batman no longer goes down on Catwoman, the hobgoblins weren't able to finish her. As has become the standard for combat against groups, Lenneth rushed in to drop Thunderwave, damaging a couple and knocking one into the wall. Knowing that the three who took half damage would be the biggest threat, Grimfang shouldered between the two ladies and exhaled some icy cold "this is how it feels to chew Five gum" breath of doom, flashfreezing their faces off. Lizard blasting, if you will. The fourth hobbo was in no position to face the full might of the party and he surrendered, putting his weapon down. He was knocking on death's door for sure. 

With almost no health left, the party knew the hobbo's conviction and military discipline would leave him, and he'd give up all of his secrets. So they decided to do a little interrogation. Lenneth with her high Charisma threw some tail whipping to Intimidate aaaaaand her 1d4 tail whip attack snapped the poor hobbos neck. Like holy shit. Gabriel was not happy and this resulted in some serious shit talking and a casting of Vicious Mockery for the first time. The angel and the devil verbally sparring is unsurprising, and the disapproving silent voice in Gabriel's head seemed to approve of it. 

Lenneth stormed out of the room and Grimfang interposed himself between the two to contain the fighting. Retracing their steps through visited rooms, the party moved into a large hall space with leather or canvas draping to prevent DRAFTS. DRAFTS. Not giraffes, you mother fuckers. Apparently I don't enunciate clearly enough for some assholes lmao. So then we had to discuss how high the ceilings are for the giraffes. You know, I'm actually surprised we even finished Cragmaw Castle at all with the amount of laughter. 

So anyway, from the large hallway, the party split up. Besiljka wanted to search the east wing and Gabriel wanted to search south. Grimfang escorted Lenneth, who was planning on heading southeast, but who had to follow the same path as Bessie to get there. Order of operations had Gabe opening in to a dining hall, and a "moblin" of gobbos! Seven deep plus a chonky chef boss goblin. With the party split, he had only a moment to cast Light on the door to blind them (it was mostly unsuccessful). 

Bessie cracked her door open and two more hobgoblins were standing vigil at the arrow slits, on high alert for an attack against the castle after the sound of the Thunderwave, plus the wood elves drawing a portion of the Cragmaw troops out. Unfortunately for them, they were facing the wrong way. 

Gabriel shouted a warning down the hall, running as fast as his legs could carry him and Bessie launched her javelins at the hobbos, impaling one straight through the back of the neck but only ripping the ear off of the other one. Before they could really react, Lenneth and Grimfang swooped in to join. Dynamic duo style. Besiljka has been using Rage more and her anger finished the second one after he'd taken damage from Grim's longsword. I allowed Bessie to chuck both javelins at her targets together, yes, because thematically it was on brand and also we had probably five solid minutes of "javelin in each hand as phallic imagery" comments that made it all worthwhile. 

This whole session was just cock jokes and innuendo and at one point I'm fairly certain I was encouraged to just "whip it out," which, dear readers, is a dangerous thing to say to me. 

Two hobgoblins down and a hall filled with goblins chasing Gabe, Besiljka rushed to his aid, bottlenecking the hall with her giant figurative orc balls, smashing at the goblins with reckless abandon. Her axe swinging, Lenneth flung crossbows over the rubble into the melee. Gabriel turned to fight, and Grimfang crawled into higher ground to stab downward at the goblins. They fell like wheat under the scythe, after multiple rounds of combat, with the last two being cut down by a massively successful attack and damage roll by raging Bessie. After the last goblin fell, Bessie went to get her javelins and Lenneth, with the aid of Grimfang, retrieved her crossbow bolts. There was a lot of conversation about using the brandy from above as a goblin grenade molotov but I think Gabe is planning on getting blackout drunk with it instead. 

Now, the party was faced with two choices. Two large areas left to be explored and party abilities & spell slots winnowing. I cautioned one would answer their questions (semi honest) and one would lead to their doom (totally honest). Heading to the southeast where Lenneth wanted to go in the first place, they cautiously approached a barred door and, at first, they thought mayhaps a kidnapped dwarf could be in there. Bessie had some concerns and rather than just boot the door in, she cautiously opened it, succeeding on a Stealth check, to find... who? A GODDAMNED OWLBEAR, THAT'S WHOOO. The party did some quick mental math and came to the conclusion that an owlbear would probably murder them, though Lenneth was convinced that they could just chuck some goblin meat in there to make it happy, or at least calm enough that she could befriend it. It wasn't a terrible plan but no one else wanted to risk it, so they decided to leave the owlbear in the tower (Lenneth's maulin wouldn't have the lifting ability to drop meat to it risk free). SO that's how the doom option might have played out. Maybe they could've taken an enraged owlbear. Maybe not. Action economy forces tough choices in a hostile land. 

Bidding farewell to the beast, they made their way to the northeast and the only major area of the castle unchecked. Behind stone walls and a wooden door, two voices were heard arguing. One gruff and one light & effeminate, the party went all "FBI this is a raid!" and stormed the room. The bugbear chieftain, stronger than his kin and spoiling for a fight stood in conversation with a high elf. And not just -any- high elf, but no less than Lezard's guard captain, Erevan Sionnadel, he whose magic shortsword Lenneth still wields. Bound and unconscious, the party finally found Gundren Rockseeker on the castle floor. The bugbear raised his weapon in challenge to Bessie, wanting the bounty on her head. Erevan moved to kill Gundren but Bessie's javelin was flung between he and the dwarf, stopping him in his tracks. Gabriel tried to use Intimidate on the bugbear, but rolled a 1, and the chieftain just laughed. The elf hurled insults at Besiljka and Lenneth, and before much more could happen, battle was joined. It only took a round or two or combat before the party noticed the elf was... wrong. Massive hits against it were barely enough to slow it down and though it taunted the party, it was almost as if it didn't personally recognize any of them, despite having met at least two of the party members within the past tenday or so. 

Both adversaries, as well as the bugbear's pet wolf, were hit hard and hit hard in return. But when the elf nicked Lenneth, her Hellish Rebuke wreathed it in flames and the elvish skin burned away to reveal featureless gray flesh underneath. Not long after, the three villainous foes were brought low, and the party had time to catch their breath. 

Peeling more skin back, it was clear that the elf was nothing of the sort, and a discussion ensued to try and figure out what the bloody hell it could be. A mystery for another time (another piece of the puzzle with no clear picture emerging), as Gabriel used healing abilities to rouse Gundren. Dazed and confused, and not a little happy to be alive, Gundren asked if Sildar had sent the party. Then he wanted to know where his map was. 

I don't do voices usually, but I channeled a cock swinging vaguely Leprechauny kinda voice for Gundren here as he hard bargained with the party to find his map and get him back to town, eventually settling on a 15% stake in his mine. It was some of the best back and forth we've done as an NPC with the party yet. He may be a dwarven commoner, and in a bad bargaining position, but with an entire clan of dwarves behind him, Gundren doesn't back down easily. It's 5% more than he'd have liked, but still well under the 50% that Besiljka was looking for.

Time grew short as a distant hunting horn signaled that the hobgoblin warband had triumphed over the wood elves, and at the end of the session, the party scrambled to the southern egress to escape the castle. 

Will they make it safely back to Phandalin? Find out next time. 

Session Ten: Return to Grace

Alt Title: Are We Gonna Smash or Nah?

We picked up in media res with Gabriel down in the antechamber after the party "chased" Venomfang out of the ruined tower. The space he found himself seemed incredibly antiquated, predating much of the works above, and was likely undisturbed for centuries. Whereas the tower above was most likely the abode of a wizard or warlock in the past, the under-space felt almost hallowed, and Gabriel experienced a sense of calm and comfort down there.

Because Darkvision can be limiting with colors and shapes in shadows, Gabe cast Light to illuminate more of the space down the hall from where he fell, which was itself mostly bathed in light from above. After stopping to listen closely, no signs of life of movement were detected and Lenneth & Besiljka bandied ideas for getting down via rope. A ruined tower leaves for lots of places to anchor themselves and before much time had passed, they were down in the hole.

But where Gabriel felt comfortable, Lenneth felt a ton of air pressure, like being underwater or the way the air changes right before a storm. Bessie felt none of that, and her Danger Sense (which I realized we were playing way wrong) didn't tingle at all to alert them of traps, though she did have a notion that the area was... Different. 

They went up the hall into the "main" chamber of the underground space, where an altar and several pieces of furniture lay. The tower itself held no treasure for the dragon hadn't been there long enough to amass a new hoard, and it'd have been fuming with the mound beneath its feet. A pile of coinage (which was described as gold, silver, and copper, but not in the mintage of any current kingdom the players know), as well as goblets and assorted trinkets including a rusty axe, met them. Further searching through some old papers found a couple of spell scrolls, including a Scroll of Misty Step. I make mention of this one specifically because in imagery, the effect reminds me of Ciri's blink dodge in The Witcher 3, and since it's something that'll be available after further levels for Gabriel, I think it might be an incredibly useful motive spell.

As the party located those goods, Besiljka wanted to really do a deep investigation, convinced there was more to the area than they could easily see. So some checks later and she realized that one section of wall was slightly different colored than the remaining stone. Messing around with the rusted axe and using brute force, she poked a hole through the masonry and a pinpoint of light became visible. She and Gabriel worked together and eventually busted a hole through a patch of wall, revealing another chamber to the area. Torches burning brightly in odd colors, clearly magical, lit the space and Gabriel's feeling of comfort intensified, like coming home after a long trip. Lenneth's discomfort also increased and she made the decision to stay far out of the subchamber. In addition, a low whispering started. Though he couldn't make out the words, Gabriel could tell the language was Celestial. As he and Bessie went into the hall, the walls were described as having intricate murals depicting demons and devils at war with one another, and angels flying above to protect the Material Plane from their conflict. These images continued along until they reached a larger portion, a tomb with a sarcophagus surrounded by what appeared to be priests or monks, six in number, kneeling as if in prayer. All were long since dead, bones stripped of any semblance of flesh. With the whispering and the dead bodies, the party started throwing out theories on what was in the sarcophagus. Either Bessie or Gabe (probably Bessie) tipped over one of the monks, and around his neck was a silver holy symbol, an upright skeletal hand holding a pair of scales. I had to specify these were of the weighing things type, and not of the dragon type. So, Gabriel and Lenneth thought the party should get the fuck out of there and not mess with anything else, lest they incur the wrath of a God or of some kinda demon/devil (maybe Lenneth's dad even! Just kidding, he's... elsewhere).

But, and this is why (important later) I'm not allowing Feats as an option for this campaign, I very subtly reminded Gabriel that Paladins could sense good and evil stuffs as a class trait, and after he did so, I revealed that the ground was hallowed, centered on the sarcophagus, but that no fiend or undead was in the room. That was all the motivation Besiljka needed, as she rushed to pop open the tomb and blammo, stepped into a Holy Ward, taking a radiant beating. But Bessie easily shrugged it off, revealing what was inside - what appeared to be a fine diamond dust surrounded by a golden-hued set of immaculate splintmail! The judgement motif was etched across the suit, similar to the holy symbol the monks carried.

Gabriel is the only party member set for heavier armors and he was quick to snatch this find up. As his hand touched the suit, he had a mini-seizure. The Celestial whispering intensified and he could clearly make out the words "that which has risen must fall; that which has fallen may rise again." He sees a realm of artifice filled with clockwork beings and angelic entities flitting about and accomplishing tasks with mechanical precision. After clearing his head and making a Religion or Arcana check (I forget which), the party learned the vision was of Mechanus, an Outer Plane of Absolute Law ruled by Primus. Fitting the armor on, he discovered the back pieces was cut specifically to allow a winged being to wear the splint, and his feeling of righteousness grew within it. 

After a little "but what does it all mean, Basil?" going on (and the party having more questions than answers, but does this burial chamber even have any connection to the crisis in Phandalin or the zombie assault?), the party returned topside and exited the ammonia-stinking tower. Before they could reach the bottom of the hill, Reidoth and freshly-arrived Grimfang met them.

Reidoth was flustered about Venomfang flying off, and wanted to know what happened. 

"Gods bedamnit! Phandalin may be safe now, but greens are liars. Here, this map'll get you to Cragmaw Castle through the Wood. I'm heading back to town to warn them."

With that, he Animorphed (look, it's what Druids do, alright) into a giant hawk and flew off to warn Phandalin. Grimfang shrugged in a very Dragonborn way, and explained his presence.

“Sora is helping to shore up Phandalin's defenses. A band of dwarves showed up in town looking for Sildar. Sildar sent me to Daran, Daran sent me here. Looks like I missed out.”

Of course, the party was less than thrilled that he wasn't there to (potentially) help them slay a dragon (they'd all have just died) but having him along to go to Cragmaw Castle as a four-stack instead of three definitely buoyed their confidence level. Where Gabriel is a more offense-oriented Paladin, Grimfang is definitely a Protector.

I had to adapt a little on the fly for this next part so it didn't flow quite the way I wanted it to, but..

Though Cragmaw Castle looked to be a relatively short jaunt, Neverwinter Wood is primeval forest and not easy going. After a day's push, the party reached a clearing near a stream, a great place to set up camp. Or it would have been, but an arrow whizzed by Besiljka's head, a squad of Hobgoblins ready to open ye olde canneth of whupass on the party. This was the first time we've had to deal with a longer range. Something I've noticed in combat is that most dungeons and maps and using Warlock Tiles etc is that skirmishes rarely occur with more than 30 ft separating combatants. Maybe that's my fault. But this time, the Hobknobgobblers we're near the stream with the party coming through the trees and other than some logs, cover was sparse. It looked like the party would soon be pincushions but then Lenneth remembered she had a Sleep spell. Casting at the maximum level she could (as a 2nd Level spell), she was able to sleep three of the six, and daze the fourth enough to give him Disadvantage on his attack roll. Besiljka and Grimfang rushed forward. The Dragonborn took an arrow to the shoulder but sloughed off the damage. Unable to get close enough, Besiljka instead chucked a javelin like an Olympic athlete. The party knew they needed to close the gap, and the Gobblinthisjunk squad had to shake off the sleep effects as quickly as possible. Tactics came into play, surprisingly, and whilst Bessie  Grim held the line, Gabriel pulled out THE FUCKING CURSED LONGBOW and rolled with all the big dick energy he could. Resulting in a 1. Of course, you know what that means, rolling again aaaaaand he shot Grimfang with an arrow. Look, guys, no more. Until someone -actually- gets Proficiency with a Longbow, maybe let's get rid of that thing. Hell, Blindsight Lenneth could probably just work a crossbow and kill fewer party members. 

With the center of the Hobbledgobbles line half asleep, Grim tried to use his breath attack and did a dismal three measly HP of damage to them. Yikes. But then Gabriel's brain went all the way back to the Cragmaw Hideout, and he decided the best thing he could do would be to chuck Lenneth forward for some Thunderwave into the stream followed by using a Lightning Bolt scroll. 

Was this the dumbest plan ever? Nope not even close. Especially when it worked to get her within range, and Thunderwave did enough damage to flat out murder a couple of them. Thunderwave has proven itself to be the MVP of spells.

Anyway, the militants were killed after another round or two and the party went to lewting. Their leader carried a bounty notice for Besiljka, and signed by a black spider. Like, -the- Black Spider. It was for 25 GP though and if I were Bessie, I'd feel freaking insulted. 

As the party went through the bodies, the trees sprung to life and a force of wood elves appeared, bows drawn. Their leader introduced himself as Faren Elmdreamer, and let them know that they'd been following the party with plans to kill them, but it seemed as if they had a common enemy. A battle plan was struck between the two teams where the wood elves would draw off as much of the Cragmaw army as they could, and the party would kill their king.

Now... My plan here was that the party would camp for the night so we could get some roleplay in between the party, Grimfang, and the elves. I'd actually hoped for enough of that to finish out the session and then start next at Cragmaw Castle, especially because the party hit level 4. But we did the leveling and camping quickly, and then moved on. 

Elvish intelligence gave the party enough of a rough layout of the castle that I just laid down battle maps. Studying it for a bit, Besiljka decided to disguise herself as a tree to get close without being seen. Her Stealth roll was low, so she didn't go unobserved, but the goblin that saw her just assumed the trees were walking again. Neverwinter Wood is a weird place. And when the rest of the party followed suit, it was basically a normal day. 

Again, mess up on the Danger Sense had Besiljka easily spotting and disarming a tripwire trap. Pushing into the interior of the castle a bit, the party made it into a great hall with religious iconography. All rolled Perception and Gabriel blew his, resulting in a surprise attack from a Grick! This was the first time a multiattack creature came at the party hard, so I described its tentacles finding the slits in the back of Gabe's armor as its beak tried to pierce his neck. In his splintmail though, he is a tough nut to crack and the Grick just couldn't get in there that much, resulting in its untimely death.

That's where we ended things. Party is in the room with a dead Grick and who knows what else lurking in the ruins of Cragmaw Castle.

 

Session Nine: Mad Max - Beyond Thundertree

Alt title - Two Groups Enter, One Group Leaves

Looking at the date stamp on previous posts, it's pretty clear that there have been some large gaps in between game sessions, and because of this, I thought it may be beneficial to do an entire campaign recap up to the point where the party left off last session, safely ensconced in the Druid's Redoubt with Reidoth, the dour human druid from Phandalin who was watching over Thundertree and keeping an eye on the young green dragon taking up shelter there.

I did not, however, mention Lenneth and her Olive Garden date with the basement nothic -colors and sounds- at any point in my recap, which I got called out on lmao. 

Once we established where the party was and what they'd already done, there was a good bit of discussion on where to go and how to proceed. Reidoth warned the party about the young green dragon in the tower, and they'd already experienced the twig blights and ash zombies. Having debt back in Phandalin & hungry for that XP, they continued their explorations eastward. 

Popping across the road from the Druid's Redoubt into a ruined farmhouse, they were dismayed at not finding anything truly of value, but their disappointment was short lived as the farmhouse was soon surrounded by a group of eight twiggy bois. Besiljka could have stomped on them, and I kept mentioning fire after Lenneth used her "what are these guys weak to?" cantrip, but the party thought I was mentioning it "too much" and Gabriel pointed out not wanting to burn the entire area down (note - they made it through a bunch of rain coming up so it probably would not have burned the ruins too much). SO. They found some old jerky in the farmhouse and decided (I love my players) to cover it in blood and use it as bait to get the twig blights to follow it away from the farmhouse. Gabriel bled, and Lenneth was going to use her maulin to fly it off but Besiljka just chucked it instead, and rolled intimidation to kind of chase the twigs towards "weaker" prey. 

I mean, it's not a dumb plan if it works, right?

With the blights occupied, the party trotted over to the ruined storefront wherein they'd found Mirna's Jewels, knowing that it was a relatively safe place. Note - my players have this habit of Googling shit so any time I'm utilizing anything prepublished or using maps that are out there somewhere, I gotta change up a LOT of stuff so, my Thundertree didn't exactly match up and some of my buildings were rearranged or modified.  

I mention this because if a building looked mostly intact, the first thing the party wanted to do was knock on the door. It was an interesting approach in a ghost town. And I liked it. So after regrouping in the storefront, they moved southeast towards a good looking and fairly defensible structure. With a wide chimney and a rotted pile of firewood outside, it was described as some kind of smithy. To my players, this meant tools at the very least and maybe weapons. A knock on the door and some shuffling was heard within, but no answer. Peeking inside, with minimal light, two humanoid figures were seen standing stationary, and the party knew right away that it was more ash zombies. Stealth, always appreciated, was kind of an after thought since coming to town and Lenneth's Thunderwave from last session, so combat ensued with the zombies getting caulked "eventually." Even weaker zombies can take a lot of damage if it isn't fire related. Looting ensued, with some decent smith's tools recovered and Bessie finding a loose brick with a coin pouch behind it. 

The party didn't necessarily split up at that point but Besiljka wanted to check out what looked like a "shed" and told the rest of the party they didn't have to come with. What was most likely some kind of workshop or store, the building was absolutely covered with spider webs and the signs of giant spiders were pretty unmistakable. As was an adventurer's corpse inside of the building. The only way to get in was to go through the webs, burning them or killing the spiders, but then Besiljka's player wanted to try some Tenacious D cock pushup stuff through the laser grid bullshit and maneuver into the room without disturbing the webs. She rolled amazingly well and I absolutely allowed her to get in to loot. But then she had to roll to get back out and I figured she'd be boned by the spiders but no, she did well on the exit roll too and escaped unscathed. 

Getting back to the rest of the party, Gabriel and Lenneth wanted to go to the larger open area of the town, what appeared to be a town square and a reinforced barracks type building overlooking it. Like the smithy, the building looked like there could be survivors inside so the party knocked. And a slide opened, wherein the residents asked what Gabriel and Lenneth were doing there. "Were here to help you." "-laughter within-"

The door was opened and a half dozen individuals were inside the barracks. I may have played them up as kind of insane and really, really into dragons. Members of the Cult of the Dragon, they were in Thundertree to treat with the young green, before moving on to treat with the young white (wait, there's another dragon??). They were as oily as used car salesmen when their leader, Favric, spoke with a zealot's glee. 

Gabriel didn't want to leave people obviously mentally touched and Besiljka's players kept looking up psychological effects of green dragons on humans. Favric, meanwhile, talked about the glory of Tiamat. The party was getting skeeved out by these guys and after a lot of back and forth amongst themselves (and at least one successful Charisma check plus Gabriel casting Blessing), they decided to say fuck it & go pay their respects to the dragon. 

This could have been a solid and easy TPK. I almost never talk game mechanics or hit points or whatnot at the table, beyond what an attack does if it hits, etc but the breath attack of a young green can do a max 72 pts, or 36 on a successful save. Highest HP with the party is like 28 I think so... Literally OHKO possibility here. But the party approached Venomfang with respect and reverence, noticing right away that he had been recently injured (wing flaps were gouged and rent, overall he seemed weaker than he should have been). 

His first inquiry, beyond anything else, involved the party and any involvement with "Cryovain." The group didn't want to risk pretending to be friends with them, and said they'd no knowledge of them. Venomfang was pleased, and proclaimed that he alone would be the one to slaughter "the white." The party picked up that Cryovain must have been the white dragon on the mountain of which Favric and the cultists spoke. I've never actually thought about how to play up a dragon but greens are very haughty and love to corrupt so I went with the prideful aspect. Clearly the white dragon had kicked his ass, or at least forced a stalemate. And if the cultists thought to recruit both of them for Tiamat's schemes, they were in for a rude awakening. After some good banter and wanting to stay on Venomfang's good side, the party offered to go and lead the cultists to meet him. 

Now I know the idea of bringing some probably crazy cultists who have draco-boners to slavishly fawn over the local TPK-capable beastie might not have been the best play. Especially when they're shady as shit, but the party was 100% ahead of the curve when the cultists tried to tell Venomfang that they were actually in league with Cryovain. The dragon could have killed them all (or those in the AOE of his breath attack) with one exhalation, or it could have turned into a swirling melee of cultists & dragon vs party, but instead, Venomfang decided he would believe which ever side killed the other. Previously, Gabriel, being a paladin and all, had some moral quandaries about killing the cultists as they'd not be overtly hostile towards the party members. Here, he still had some of that, but it was a kill or be killed situation, even if the cultists were most likely under the dragon's influence, something Venomfang had denied being directly responsible for if so. 

Lenneth took damage from Favric, and so was able to do Hellish Rebuke to fry him like bacon. It didn't kill him outright, but it chewed him down badly enough for Besiljka to finish him. Even being outnumbered two to one didn't slow the party all that much, despite the multitude of nicks and scrapes they received, and before too long, Venomfang had a buffet of fresh cultist meat. As a "reward," beyond not killing the party, he "allowed" Lenneth to cast a healing spell to mend his wings and beef his HP back up to max. However, he "chuckled" after she did so, displaying he was never all that injured. Or, so he said. His wings were too damaged to fly in either case, and with the spell, he was able to put wind back under them. Chromatic dragons, evil and duplicitous as they are, aren't really known to be beings of their words, but Venomfang did give the party his solemn vow - Phandalin would "burn last" in gratitude for getting him back into his feud with Cryovain. With a mighty beating of his restored wings, he flew up and out of the tower, intent on heading south.

But to where? My DM screen contains region and town maps for the players to use as a visual reference and Besiljka's player noticed a black down south of Thundertree, & was then adamant that Venomfang must have headed there. That's... Not what the mark was (turns out, it wasn't even ON the map, but on the plastic), but kudos for the outside of the box thinking.

Actually, much of this session was out of the box. And my players really kind of pushed harder into the "explore the whole area for fun & profit" aspect of DnD. 

With Venomfang "dealt with," and time drawing short, the party wanted to head back to Reidoth and let him know the news, so that he could stop watching the town and help them with their Cragmaw situation. BUT WAIT, everyone give me a Dex check! Success, success, uh oh, failure. See, I had added something here last minute, but it was contingent on Lenneth using Thunderwave in the tower. Which I knew she would if the party had to fight the cultists (I'd written several other ways that could have gone, but party actions led to this outcome) since it is the only good AOE spell the party has access to thus far (she also hit Gabriel with it haha). So, Thunderwave works as a cube, but cubes also push downward, and by using it in the ruined space, it damaged the floor in the whole area. Part of which was over a....

Well, that's all the time we have for now. Tune in next time to find out what it all means.

(Really, I needed another half hour to finish up this session properly, but our pacing was slightly off because we were also hanging out and spending time together as friends for the first time in forever. Next time though. And there was a lot of actual note taking this session -kudos to my players whenever they do that-, plus my recaps never encompass the full experience or how much fun we have/how much laughter there is, but my main purpose is always just to have the broad strokes available for players to refer back to at any time)