Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
thekwp's War of the Burning Sky Unchained
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="thekwp" data-source="post: 7059224" data-attributes="member: 56444"><p><strong>Session 12 - Feb 8, 2017</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Player Summary</strong></p><p><em>Act One: Out of the frying pan...</em></p><p></p><p><em>Scene Seven: Indomitability's Offer</em></p><p></p><p>As Krombholz's bolt killed the last fire stag, the curtain of fire sputtered out, and the party heard whispers amid the trees, snatches of words coming from all directions, growing louder and more intense all around until finally a booming voice shouted from the flaming trees: "Come!" it roared. "Follow the river. Set me free!"</p><p></p><p>The flames on the fallen trees blockading the road flared as a draconic face emerged, shaped of fire, its head adorned with a massive crown of jagged horns. The image then faded so only a pair of eyes remain. A voice entered the minds of everyone present, deep, fiery, burning with restrained anger. "Know this: I am the flame, and I am a prisoner here. Save me, free me from the prison of this enforced flesh, and you may continue to your destination. Refuse, and never shall you leave this wood. You shall be a prisoner for as long as I. You shall burn forever, and never die."</p><p></p><p>The party asked several questions of the spirit:</p><p></p><p><em>Where are you?</em> "Rest your flesh now in the ruins beyond the bridge. Then you must follow the river down to the singing lake. I lie trapped beneath its surface. Set me free!"</p><p></p><p><em>How do we free you?</em> "End the song of the deep, the song of agony and eternal vigil. Silence the forty tongues who hold me here, who doom themselves with my relentless flame."</p><p></p><p><em>What are you?</em> "I am Indomitability. No wound shall ever defeat me. No fire shall ever destroy me. My power can be yours if you release me."</p><p></p><p><em>What if we don’t want to help you? </em>"There is one whose blade shall cross your trail. He shall have my boon, and if you do not fall before him, my fire shall turn you to ash and embers. You shall regret your choice."</p><p></p><p>Several other questions receives replies along the lines of "Your question makes no sense to me. I care for nothing but Freedom, but if you do not release me you shall suffer my wrath."</p><p></p><p>Though there was some mutters of interest, the party did not react warmly to the offer from Indomitability, and the party did not voice acceptance. The flames roaring across the trees guttered and died, and the fires at the side of the road dimmed again. Within a minute, the Elfroad was safe to travel again.</p><p></p><p><em>Act Two: Rivers Flow to the Deep</em></p><p><em>Scene One: Defeated In No Battles</em></p><p></p><p>With some minor effort, they managed to get the horses across the downed trees. Beyond could clearly be seen a stone bridge crossing a strong river that - somehow - persisted in the unrelenting heat of the fire. The bridge had a small tower atop the side of it, and beyond the bridge through the haze of smoke lay the relatively safe remains of an elvish village. Crossing the bridge, the party took the time to attempt to break into the tower. Gath tried to break the door down, and at first failed, triggering a spiritual weapon that manifested attempting to beat him into submission. Torrent bestowed one of the Strength Surges from the Tidereaver upon Gath, who then succeeded. Breaking through the doorway triggered a Glyph of Warding, releasing a freezing burst cold enough to harm several people despite the intense heat of the fire forest.</p><p></p><p>Beyond the door way inside the main chamber of the tower, the party found a block of stone with a heatless fire burning atop it, and written in elvish on the side: "The password is 'friend'." Gath called out 'friend' in elvish, saying "Mellon!" At once, the magic assaulting the party ceased, and they entered into the well preserved tower. The heat from the forest was notably lessened here, though still intolerable without magic. With temperatures enough to slowly cook, the two guards found within the tower who had kept their stations rather than flee showed all the signs of death from dehydration and heat exhaustion, but appeared undisturbed since their death. Their equipment remained generally in good shape, in part because of the excellent craftsmanship in its making. </p><p></p><p>On the second floor, the party found a tactical model of the nearby village, identified as Serni Bui-Duin, meaning "Stones by the River." The model had small carved figures placed amid the miniature buildings, clearly having been used to help plan how to defend the town. A holy symbol with two elven faces in profile lay on the table next to the village model. Dom identified it as belonging to to Alseta, the elven goddess of doorways.</p><p></p><p>Also on the table, the party found a remarkably well preserved log book. The keeper of the log book had expanded it, especially in the later sections into a journal. The original name of the author was not in the book, but the author had adopted the name Bhurisrava. Translated from the Celestial, it means "defeated in no battles." The journal covers the last few weeks trapped in the tower as his home became engulfed in an unending inferno, and the reflections on faith that this apocalypse brought him. As he faced not only his death but the destruction of all he had loved and cared for, Bhurisrava clearly longed to change to a faith dedicated to healing but did not know how. Interspersed with his personal crisis, he recounts the many refugees who spoke of fires that simply would not go out. Despite their best efforts and strongest magics, the elves of Innenotdar could not put out the flames consuming their home.</p><p></p><p>One passage mentioned capturing goblins who apparently had helped start the fire by an orc that claimed to be Ragesian. One of them carried something Bhurisrava identified as "dream seeds." According to the interrogation and the information from a speak with dead spell, the seeds create prophetic visions from the Dimension of Dreams. His notes indicated he tried them with no effect, and wonders how they might function in the Age of Lost Omens. However, to side of this entry, written later in a hasty script, he notes "<em>deception within shadows, and misdirection; hide the truth carefully!</em>"</p><p></p><p>The final passage in the journal reads:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>I tire of spending my days rescuing the burning bodies of survivors and tending to them to no effect. The last survivor I found was a woman who still believed that the Living Wood of Innenotdar could not be abandoned. She asked my help looking for her boyfriend. We found him in a hidden basement under the Shrine of Anyariel, where he had gone to curse the Anyariel name, along with a dozen other of the townsfolk. The fire had somehow burned in from the roots of the shrine, and they had long since been claimed. Though not dead, they are despairing, and their curses haunt me. The woman saw her beloved and fled me into the woods, seeking an impossible death I found myself hoping something ate her.</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><em></em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>I never learned her name.</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><em></em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>I can do this no longer. To whatever god hears the prayers of the doubting, please give me the strength for the task ahead of me. I am going to deliver the despairing to the mouth of the White River upstream, where at least they can have some reprieve from the fire. May someone find what I have hidden. It would help bring to justice those responsible for the destruction of my beautiful homeland, for which otherwise none shall shed tears.</em></p><p></p><p>The name of Anyariel sparked some memories, especially from Ceilthanus, who's grandmother used to tell him stories of the hero of Innenotdar. As his grandmother explained to him, she was a holy warrior who died only a few years before the forest caught fire. Well known as a friend of the forest's fey and blessed by the forest itself, many times she drove darkness from Innenotdar's borders with her magic sword. The greatsword Anyariel wielded was carved from living wood, and with it she defeated many monsters including a blackguard from Ragesia and a rampaging golem of white clay. The last foe she faced was a great stag that would not die, no matter how many wounds she dealt to it, so she pinned the creature to the bottom of a lake with her sword, so its rampage would end. In this context, and having heard Indomitability, his grandmother's description of the stag took on a new meaning.</p><p></p><p>On the doorway to the third floor was locked, and required Gath to break the door down. This took some repeated efforts before he was successful. Beyond that, that found some supplies and house keeping materials. Among them, a pouched had note attached to it in Bhurisrava's handwriting saying "For later study." In it were seven small blackened seeds shaped like claws. Crudely scrawled on the paper pouch was a sleeping face. Written on it in goblin were the following instructions:</p><p></p><p><em><p style="margin-left: 20px">Take one for visions of the firemaker. Do not take more. These are poison.</p><p></em>The party deduced that these are the dream seeds mentioned in the journal. Dom expressed interest in seeing how these worked, but agreed that they should not be tried while the party did not have as secure position. When asked, Crystin expressed that she would be willing to try them, to compare them to her own visions, the party seemed split on the merits of letting their expert on prophecies examine the results versus the wisdom of giving a teenager hallucinogens. </p><p></p><p><em>Scene Two: The Shrine of Anyariel</em></p><p></p><p>With nothing else of interest in the tower, the party decided to check out the Shrine of Anyariel in Serni Bui-Duin. They found the beautiful fountain in the shape of a grand willow tree with drooping branches. The water had long boiled away, and the entire stone carving was covered with ash, with several leathery and desiccated bodies hanging in the branches of the shrine's sculpted tree. Krombholz pinpointed the stone work that acted as a door easily enough, but the secret stairs leading down beneath the stone willow was sealed. As the party attempted to get close the base of the tree to look for how to open it, three of the bodies dropped around the party, and began to attack.</p><p></p><p>The fight that followed with the ghasts proved surprisingly difficult for the party. Dom was paralyzed by one of their attacks, but a blessing from Desna allowed him to continue moving long enough to finish the fight. Gath and Krombholz both took nasty wounds in the fight as well, but the party prevailed with Krombholz having delivered the final blow to two of the foul creatures after Dom and Torrent both used the last of their channel energies for the day either harming their undead foes or healing the party in the fight.</p><p></p><p>Feeling like their resources were running low, the party debated briefly returning to the tower to rest, or continuing on. Having come so far, they felt that should at least examine the shrine before resting, and resumed the search. Something that happened during the fight had unsealed the door, however, and the party had no trouble entering now.</p><p></p><p><em>Scene Three: Under the Shrine</em></p><p></p><p>Blue luminescence bathed the twenty foot stairway leading down to the shrine. The chamber radiated peace and patience, with soft whispers in the air of a hallowed, distance song. A tall white statue depicting an elven woman plunging a greatsword deep into a rampant stag dominated the chamber's center. The sword, though carved of stone, looked like it was made of wood and covered in vines that entwine the elf woman’s hands</p><p></p><p>At the statue's fee lay two immobile figures, both elven. The first wore the uniform of a Shahalesti soldier from decades past, and a pale flame wreathed his body, struggling to burn, as did the pale flickering fire on the roots growing down through the ceiling. The man's eyes lay closed, as if in a deep slumber. The second fgure, a young male elf with red hair, wore the robes of a priest, though he bore no holy symbol. Numerous claw wounds marked his face and body, and he did not draw any breath, though his body showed no signs of decay or baking from the heat. His arms lay spread as if he fell in battle, and a heavy mace lay inches from one of his hands. It points to an elaborate glass display case near the wall, which has been shattered, its contents missing. The inscription on the case indicated that hair within were from Anyariel, a gift from her beloved Timbre.</p><p></p><p>A heavenly figure stood guard over the room. The azata ghaele, Eteranth, challenged the party, and listened to their pleas. Impressed by Bosma's telling of their story and their virtue in their efforts so far, Eteranth granted them entry to the Shrine, and sanctuary within. She began to discuss her presence her as well. The ghaele explained she served Desna, and was dispatched to this area as a favor to Qi Zhong, to grant a miracle and answer the dying prayer of a virtuous elf. Until her duty is complete, she remains vigilant here in the shrine and has little knowledge of the general affairs in the fire forest.</p><p></p><p>The party asked what they could do to help with her duty. Part of the miracle granted was placing the Shahalesti soldier into stasis, until such time as he may give testimony to the truth of what happened here in Innenotdar. If the party could bring leader or diplomats to her this testimony, and share the truth of what happened, this would go a long way toward fulfilling her duty, and the party responded with a promise to do what they could to bring witnesses to hear the testimony. Until that time, Eteranth will continue to stand vigilant, preserving the memory of the truth until travel is restored through Innenotdar.</p><p></p><p>Eteranth offered them continued sanctuary in the Shrine of Anyariel, and healing for their wounds. Deciding to accept her offer for the day, the party settled into the shrine for a bit. Several members took time during the evening to speak with Eteranth. Dom in particular sought out a discussion with the servant of his diety, and the two shared a long conversation. Gath and Bosma also talked with her, and Ceilthanus briefly consulted with her as well about Meetima Salka, his sword.</p><p></p><p>Gath and Dom wanted to try the Dream Seeds recovered from the elven watchtower. Bosma considered is unwise to risk intoxication with a strange drug in hostile territory, but would not prohibit Dom from pursuing something that spoke to his faith, or Gath for go along with it. Others in the party were persuaded by Bosma's stance not to participate, or had no inclination anyway.</p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p><strong>Story Deviation & Extra Details</strong></p><p></p><p>I derived the name "Serni Bui-Duin" from using Tolkien's elvish language for "Stones by the River" and it refers to the delicate and well crafted stonewood construction throughout the village. I thought the name appropriate, and that the location would be named somewhere in the references the party found for it.</p><p></p><p>I choose Qi Zhong as the god who answered Bhurisrava's last prayer for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted a god of healing within the Pathfinder setting. However, I wanted it to avoid the use of Sarenrae, because I did not want my players to dismiss the preserving of Diashan Shediell as merely "an act of mercy." </p><p></p><p>I did a lot of interpretation around the Azata Ghaele, Eteranth, and had a lot of fun placing her here. One of the questions no one asked her was why Desna would send her agent if Qi Zhong was the one responding. I was going to use the answer to that question to talk about this territory now being strongly within Desna's domain of Dreams, and lay the ground work for future reveltions on the Trillith, while tying that to Dom's trait abilities and Crystin. To my surprise, no one has asked that question yet.</p><p></p><p><strong>Tactical Notes and Conversions</strong></p><p></p><p>I felt like the party was having an easy time of it, and the heavy exploration aspect of this session left a few of my payers feeling a bit let down (while completely enrapturing others). I decided to add the advance template to the ghasts to increase the challenge a little, and that turned out to make the encounter more challenging than I really expected. Dom's use of his Liberation domain ability after being paralyzed in the opening round made a big difference.</p><p></p><p>Gath and Krombholz have failed their saving throws against ghast fever, and have contracted it. They will start having to make saves against the progression of the disease in the next session. I have not announced that explicitly, and while some of the players understand the risk from knowledge of the game, those players are doing a good job of not having their characters express any extra concerns.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mechanics Issues</strong></p><p></p><p>As the players attempted to deal with what they knew in character with other's abilities, an interesting question came up regarding if player's could tell that the Liberation Domain's Liberation ability had become activated. In particular, Bosma has taken the Saving Finale spell which allows him to let another character reroll a save as an immediate action that ends his bard song. Would the Liberation power to suppress the results keep him from being aware he needed to use Saving Finale? For that matter, could he use use Saving Finale if he didn't realize that an ally had been the target of a spell? I settled on the fact that domain abilities are generally evident when in use unless noted or suggested otherwise, which would open the door to realize such an ability was used by an opponent. However, I am still thinking on how much Bosma needs to do know about an effect to realize it is used and allow an ally a chance to reroll.</p><p></p><p><strong>Notable player reactions</strong></p><p></p><p>To use or not to use the dream seeds? That was a surprisingly vigorous party debate. Dom and Gath were interested to try, and Bosma opposed. Dom pulled out the reasons why dreams are an important domain for his religion, and Gath thought the chance for prophetic information was too valuable to pass on. Bosma replied with examples from his faith for Cayden Cailean, and how even the "Lucky Drunk" didn't support getting inebriated on a mission. The argument that under the presence of celestial outsider to help if there were any complications was persuasive that it could help mitigate the risks. We ended the session on that discussion, with me getting a confirmation of which players planned to do so. I then used this to help draft the vision for the next session.</p><p></p><p>The players are having a bit of trouble keeping the keeping track of the nations and the different factions in play. I have tried to help out when I see the players trying to recall which group or faction was involved which way, when I think such information would be second nature to the character in questions, e.g. someone from Gate Pass is not going to forget which nation conquered them, and someone from Dassen will not forget Dassen.</p><p></p><p>The party is taking Crystin's premonitions seriously, talking with her about them and considering the details in them. They really wanted the vision of Indomitability watching them to be Kazyk the bearded devil, and a few times confused draconic and demonic with the description of the eyes, but caught themselves and realized it must be something different. The use of draconic here is a nice touch relating to the Trillith origin, that I don't think the party will remember long enough to connect,</p><p></p><p><strong>Props, music, images, supporting handouts, etc</strong></p><p></p><p>Music for this session was:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">TRON: Legacy by Daft Punk</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Amazing Spider-Man 2 by Hans Zimmer & The Magnificent Six</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dances with Wolves by John Barry</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dr. Strange by Michael Giacchino</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hamlet by Ennio Morricone</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Pt 1 by Alexandre Desplat</li> </ul><p>I made a hand out of Bhurisrava's journal's last page from the module. I wish I had time to make more excerpts for the party to get a feel for the last days of Innenotdar. There is a powerful tragedy and sorrow here in the story, and I feel like I have not done enough convey the immensity of the loss here.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="thekwp, post: 7059224, member: 56444"] [b]Session 12 - Feb 8, 2017[/b] [B]Player Summary[/B] [I]Act One: Out of the frying pan...[/I] [I]Scene Seven: Indomitability's Offer[/I] As Krombholz's bolt killed the last fire stag, the curtain of fire sputtered out, and the party heard whispers amid the trees, snatches of words coming from all directions, growing louder and more intense all around until finally a booming voice shouted from the flaming trees: "Come!" it roared. "Follow the river. Set me free!" The flames on the fallen trees blockading the road flared as a draconic face emerged, shaped of fire, its head adorned with a massive crown of jagged horns. The image then faded so only a pair of eyes remain. A voice entered the minds of everyone present, deep, fiery, burning with restrained anger. "Know this: I am the flame, and I am a prisoner here. Save me, free me from the prison of this enforced flesh, and you may continue to your destination. Refuse, and never shall you leave this wood. You shall be a prisoner for as long as I. You shall burn forever, and never die." The party asked several questions of the spirit: [I]Where are you?[/I] "Rest your flesh now in the ruins beyond the bridge. Then you must follow the river down to the singing lake. I lie trapped beneath its surface. Set me free!" [I]How do we free you?[/I] "End the song of the deep, the song of agony and eternal vigil. Silence the forty tongues who hold me here, who doom themselves with my relentless flame." [I]What are you?[/I] "I am Indomitability. No wound shall ever defeat me. No fire shall ever destroy me. My power can be yours if you release me." [I]What if we don’t want to help you? [/I]"There is one whose blade shall cross your trail. He shall have my boon, and if you do not fall before him, my fire shall turn you to ash and embers. You shall regret your choice." Several other questions receives replies along the lines of "Your question makes no sense to me. I care for nothing but Freedom, but if you do not release me you shall suffer my wrath." Though there was some mutters of interest, the party did not react warmly to the offer from Indomitability, and the party did not voice acceptance. The flames roaring across the trees guttered and died, and the fires at the side of the road dimmed again. Within a minute, the Elfroad was safe to travel again. [I]Act Two: Rivers Flow to the Deep Scene One: Defeated In No Battles[/I] With some minor effort, they managed to get the horses across the downed trees. Beyond could clearly be seen a stone bridge crossing a strong river that - somehow - persisted in the unrelenting heat of the fire. The bridge had a small tower atop the side of it, and beyond the bridge through the haze of smoke lay the relatively safe remains of an elvish village. Crossing the bridge, the party took the time to attempt to break into the tower. Gath tried to break the door down, and at first failed, triggering a spiritual weapon that manifested attempting to beat him into submission. Torrent bestowed one of the Strength Surges from the Tidereaver upon Gath, who then succeeded. Breaking through the doorway triggered a Glyph of Warding, releasing a freezing burst cold enough to harm several people despite the intense heat of the fire forest. Beyond the door way inside the main chamber of the tower, the party found a block of stone with a heatless fire burning atop it, and written in elvish on the side: "The password is 'friend'." Gath called out 'friend' in elvish, saying "Mellon!" At once, the magic assaulting the party ceased, and they entered into the well preserved tower. The heat from the forest was notably lessened here, though still intolerable without magic. With temperatures enough to slowly cook, the two guards found within the tower who had kept their stations rather than flee showed all the signs of death from dehydration and heat exhaustion, but appeared undisturbed since their death. Their equipment remained generally in good shape, in part because of the excellent craftsmanship in its making. On the second floor, the party found a tactical model of the nearby village, identified as Serni Bui-Duin, meaning "Stones by the River." The model had small carved figures placed amid the miniature buildings, clearly having been used to help plan how to defend the town. A holy symbol with two elven faces in profile lay on the table next to the village model. Dom identified it as belonging to to Alseta, the elven goddess of doorways. Also on the table, the party found a remarkably well preserved log book. The keeper of the log book had expanded it, especially in the later sections into a journal. The original name of the author was not in the book, but the author had adopted the name Bhurisrava. Translated from the Celestial, it means "defeated in no battles." The journal covers the last few weeks trapped in the tower as his home became engulfed in an unending inferno, and the reflections on faith that this apocalypse brought him. As he faced not only his death but the destruction of all he had loved and cared for, Bhurisrava clearly longed to change to a faith dedicated to healing but did not know how. Interspersed with his personal crisis, he recounts the many refugees who spoke of fires that simply would not go out. Despite their best efforts and strongest magics, the elves of Innenotdar could not put out the flames consuming their home. One passage mentioned capturing goblins who apparently had helped start the fire by an orc that claimed to be Ragesian. One of them carried something Bhurisrava identified as "dream seeds." According to the interrogation and the information from a speak with dead spell, the seeds create prophetic visions from the Dimension of Dreams. His notes indicated he tried them with no effect, and wonders how they might function in the Age of Lost Omens. However, to side of this entry, written later in a hasty script, he notes "[I]deception within shadows, and misdirection; hide the truth carefully![/I]" The final passage in the journal reads: [INDENT][I]I tire of spending my days rescuing the burning bodies of survivors and tending to them to no effect. The last survivor I found was a woman who still believed that the Living Wood of Innenotdar could not be abandoned. She asked my help looking for her boyfriend. We found him in a hidden basement under the Shrine of Anyariel, where he had gone to curse the Anyariel name, along with a dozen other of the townsfolk. The fire had somehow burned in from the roots of the shrine, and they had long since been claimed. Though not dead, they are despairing, and their curses haunt me. The woman saw her beloved and fled me into the woods, seeking an impossible death I found myself hoping something ate her. I never learned her name. I can do this no longer. To whatever god hears the prayers of the doubting, please give me the strength for the task ahead of me. I am going to deliver the despairing to the mouth of the White River upstream, where at least they can have some reprieve from the fire. May someone find what I have hidden. It would help bring to justice those responsible for the destruction of my beautiful homeland, for which otherwise none shall shed tears.[/I][/INDENT] The name of Anyariel sparked some memories, especially from Ceilthanus, who's grandmother used to tell him stories of the hero of Innenotdar. As his grandmother explained to him, she was a holy warrior who died only a few years before the forest caught fire. Well known as a friend of the forest's fey and blessed by the forest itself, many times she drove darkness from Innenotdar's borders with her magic sword. The greatsword Anyariel wielded was carved from living wood, and with it she defeated many monsters including a blackguard from Ragesia and a rampaging golem of white clay. The last foe she faced was a great stag that would not die, no matter how many wounds she dealt to it, so she pinned the creature to the bottom of a lake with her sword, so its rampage would end. In this context, and having heard Indomitability, his grandmother's description of the stag took on a new meaning. On the doorway to the third floor was locked, and required Gath to break the door down. This took some repeated efforts before he was successful. Beyond that, that found some supplies and house keeping materials. Among them, a pouched had note attached to it in Bhurisrava's handwriting saying "For later study." In it were seven small blackened seeds shaped like claws. Crudely scrawled on the paper pouch was a sleeping face. Written on it in goblin were the following instructions: [I][INDENT]Take one for visions of the firemaker. Do not take more. These are poison.[/INDENT][/I] The party deduced that these are the dream seeds mentioned in the journal. Dom expressed interest in seeing how these worked, but agreed that they should not be tried while the party did not have as secure position. When asked, Crystin expressed that she would be willing to try them, to compare them to her own visions, the party seemed split on the merits of letting their expert on prophecies examine the results versus the wisdom of giving a teenager hallucinogens. [I]Scene Two: The Shrine of Anyariel[/I] With nothing else of interest in the tower, the party decided to check out the Shrine of Anyariel in Serni Bui-Duin. They found the beautiful fountain in the shape of a grand willow tree with drooping branches. The water had long boiled away, and the entire stone carving was covered with ash, with several leathery and desiccated bodies hanging in the branches of the shrine's sculpted tree. Krombholz pinpointed the stone work that acted as a door easily enough, but the secret stairs leading down beneath the stone willow was sealed. As the party attempted to get close the base of the tree to look for how to open it, three of the bodies dropped around the party, and began to attack. The fight that followed with the ghasts proved surprisingly difficult for the party. Dom was paralyzed by one of their attacks, but a blessing from Desna allowed him to continue moving long enough to finish the fight. Gath and Krombholz both took nasty wounds in the fight as well, but the party prevailed with Krombholz having delivered the final blow to two of the foul creatures after Dom and Torrent both used the last of their channel energies for the day either harming their undead foes or healing the party in the fight. Feeling like their resources were running low, the party debated briefly returning to the tower to rest, or continuing on. Having come so far, they felt that should at least examine the shrine before resting, and resumed the search. Something that happened during the fight had unsealed the door, however, and the party had no trouble entering now. [I]Scene Three: Under the Shrine[/I] Blue luminescence bathed the twenty foot stairway leading down to the shrine. The chamber radiated peace and patience, with soft whispers in the air of a hallowed, distance song. A tall white statue depicting an elven woman plunging a greatsword deep into a rampant stag dominated the chamber's center. The sword, though carved of stone, looked like it was made of wood and covered in vines that entwine the elf woman’s hands At the statue's fee lay two immobile figures, both elven. The first wore the uniform of a Shahalesti soldier from decades past, and a pale flame wreathed his body, struggling to burn, as did the pale flickering fire on the roots growing down through the ceiling. The man's eyes lay closed, as if in a deep slumber. The second fgure, a young male elf with red hair, wore the robes of a priest, though he bore no holy symbol. Numerous claw wounds marked his face and body, and he did not draw any breath, though his body showed no signs of decay or baking from the heat. His arms lay spread as if he fell in battle, and a heavy mace lay inches from one of his hands. It points to an elaborate glass display case near the wall, which has been shattered, its contents missing. The inscription on the case indicated that hair within were from Anyariel, a gift from her beloved Timbre. A heavenly figure stood guard over the room. The azata ghaele, Eteranth, challenged the party, and listened to their pleas. Impressed by Bosma's telling of their story and their virtue in their efforts so far, Eteranth granted them entry to the Shrine, and sanctuary within. She began to discuss her presence her as well. The ghaele explained she served Desna, and was dispatched to this area as a favor to Qi Zhong, to grant a miracle and answer the dying prayer of a virtuous elf. Until her duty is complete, she remains vigilant here in the shrine and has little knowledge of the general affairs in the fire forest. The party asked what they could do to help with her duty. Part of the miracle granted was placing the Shahalesti soldier into stasis, until such time as he may give testimony to the truth of what happened here in Innenotdar. If the party could bring leader or diplomats to her this testimony, and share the truth of what happened, this would go a long way toward fulfilling her duty, and the party responded with a promise to do what they could to bring witnesses to hear the testimony. Until that time, Eteranth will continue to stand vigilant, preserving the memory of the truth until travel is restored through Innenotdar. Eteranth offered them continued sanctuary in the Shrine of Anyariel, and healing for their wounds. Deciding to accept her offer for the day, the party settled into the shrine for a bit. Several members took time during the evening to speak with Eteranth. Dom in particular sought out a discussion with the servant of his diety, and the two shared a long conversation. Gath and Bosma also talked with her, and Ceilthanus briefly consulted with her as well about Meetima Salka, his sword. Gath and Dom wanted to try the Dream Seeds recovered from the elven watchtower. Bosma considered is unwise to risk intoxication with a strange drug in hostile territory, but would not prohibit Dom from pursuing something that spoke to his faith, or Gath for go along with it. Others in the party were persuaded by Bosma's stance not to participate, or had no inclination anyway. [HR][/HR] [B]Story Deviation & Extra Details[/B] I derived the name "Serni Bui-Duin" from using Tolkien's elvish language for "Stones by the River" and it refers to the delicate and well crafted stonewood construction throughout the village. I thought the name appropriate, and that the location would be named somewhere in the references the party found for it. I choose Qi Zhong as the god who answered Bhurisrava's last prayer for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted a god of healing within the Pathfinder setting. However, I wanted it to avoid the use of Sarenrae, because I did not want my players to dismiss the preserving of Diashan Shediell as merely "an act of mercy." I did a lot of interpretation around the Azata Ghaele, Eteranth, and had a lot of fun placing her here. One of the questions no one asked her was why Desna would send her agent if Qi Zhong was the one responding. I was going to use the answer to that question to talk about this territory now being strongly within Desna's domain of Dreams, and lay the ground work for future reveltions on the Trillith, while tying that to Dom's trait abilities and Crystin. To my surprise, no one has asked that question yet. [B]Tactical Notes and Conversions[/B] I felt like the party was having an easy time of it, and the heavy exploration aspect of this session left a few of my payers feeling a bit let down (while completely enrapturing others). I decided to add the advance template to the ghasts to increase the challenge a little, and that turned out to make the encounter more challenging than I really expected. Dom's use of his Liberation domain ability after being paralyzed in the opening round made a big difference. Gath and Krombholz have failed their saving throws against ghast fever, and have contracted it. They will start having to make saves against the progression of the disease in the next session. I have not announced that explicitly, and while some of the players understand the risk from knowledge of the game, those players are doing a good job of not having their characters express any extra concerns. [B]Mechanics Issues[/B] As the players attempted to deal with what they knew in character with other's abilities, an interesting question came up regarding if player's could tell that the Liberation Domain's Liberation ability had become activated. In particular, Bosma has taken the Saving Finale spell which allows him to let another character reroll a save as an immediate action that ends his bard song. Would the Liberation power to suppress the results keep him from being aware he needed to use Saving Finale? For that matter, could he use use Saving Finale if he didn't realize that an ally had been the target of a spell? I settled on the fact that domain abilities are generally evident when in use unless noted or suggested otherwise, which would open the door to realize such an ability was used by an opponent. However, I am still thinking on how much Bosma needs to do know about an effect to realize it is used and allow an ally a chance to reroll. [B]Notable player reactions[/B] To use or not to use the dream seeds? That was a surprisingly vigorous party debate. Dom and Gath were interested to try, and Bosma opposed. Dom pulled out the reasons why dreams are an important domain for his religion, and Gath thought the chance for prophetic information was too valuable to pass on. Bosma replied with examples from his faith for Cayden Cailean, and how even the "Lucky Drunk" didn't support getting inebriated on a mission. The argument that under the presence of celestial outsider to help if there were any complications was persuasive that it could help mitigate the risks. We ended the session on that discussion, with me getting a confirmation of which players planned to do so. I then used this to help draft the vision for the next session. The players are having a bit of trouble keeping the keeping track of the nations and the different factions in play. I have tried to help out when I see the players trying to recall which group or faction was involved which way, when I think such information would be second nature to the character in questions, e.g. someone from Gate Pass is not going to forget which nation conquered them, and someone from Dassen will not forget Dassen. The party is taking Crystin's premonitions seriously, talking with her about them and considering the details in them. They really wanted the vision of Indomitability watching them to be Kazyk the bearded devil, and a few times confused draconic and demonic with the description of the eyes, but caught themselves and realized it must be something different. The use of draconic here is a nice touch relating to the Trillith origin, that I don't think the party will remember long enough to connect, [B]Props, music, images, supporting handouts, etc[/B] Music for this session was: [LIST] [*]TRON: Legacy by Daft Punk [*]Amazing Spider-Man 2 by Hans Zimmer & The Magnificent Six [*]Dances with Wolves by John Barry [*]Dr. Strange by Michael Giacchino [*]Hamlet by Ennio Morricone [*]Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Pt 1 by Alexandre Desplat [/LIST] I made a hand out of Bhurisrava's journal's last page from the module. I wish I had time to make more excerpts for the party to get a feel for the last days of Innenotdar. There is a powerful tragedy and sorrow here in the story, and I feel like I have not done enough convey the immensity of the loss here. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
thekwp's War of the Burning Sky Unchained
Top