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thekwp's War of the Burning Sky Unchained
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<blockquote data-quote="thekwp" data-source="post: 7068011" data-attributes="member: 56444"><p><strong>Session 13 - Feb 22, 2017</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Player Summary</strong></p><p><em>Act Two: Rivers Flow to the Deep</em></p><p><em>Scene Four: To Sleep</em></p><p></p><p>After some consideration, Dom offered to attempt an augury to judge the results. However, he needed both the carved bones and the incense for casting the spell. Dom speculated that Bhurisrava might have had some, speculating that a cleric of his power might have had the focus item to do augury. The party discussed if that was ethical to use his possessions, as they wanted very much to be respectful to the priest who had struggled so hard, and whose faith was rewarded at death by a miracle. Dom and Bosma talked with Eteranth, asking her guidance in the matter. She replied that she believed a soul so concerned with helping others would be willing to help someone else seeking guidance, and would not begrudge them the use. She also said that the party's expressed intent to bury Bhurisrava properly with honors and rites spoke well of their character.</p><p></p><p>Eteranth then asked to see Dom's starknife. He told her regretfully that he did not carry one as of yet. She paid him to bring her Bhurisrava'a heavy mace. She then spoke words in Celestial that resonated with the power of creation, and heavy mace began to glow like a brilliant star. When the light faded, she held a starknife in its place, which she bestowed on Dom. One one side, the center was marked with a wagon wheel, the spokes made from water, earth, metal, fire, and wood respectively. The other side held an beautifully etched butterfly. Eternath explained that this represented the twin influence of Desna and Qi Zhong, and bestowed it on Dom.</p><p></p><p>Upon searching Bhurisrava's body, Dom did find carved bones which he could use as the focus for an Augury, but no incense. Having a little bit of time, the party started to search the village to see if they could find anything that could work. Among other trinkets, the party did recover a damaged carved ivory necklace, that they later discerned held the power to let anyone who wore it understand Sylvan, but only Sylvan while they wore it. A wand of ray of frost made of worked iron was found, as well as a family bond's chord, showing the closeness of a relationship. Bosma found a masterwork lyre damaged by the heat but not beyond repair, and a book of sylvan hymns. Finally, a stash of exotic spices and herbs was found by Krombholz in one of the kitchens preserved in sealed pottery jars though dried out with the heat from the years.</p><p></p><p>Dom confirmed this would work, and set about with his Augury. Considering the action of Dom and Gath taking the dream seeds, Dom's augury read "Weal." Gath and Dom got ready to take the dream seeds, settling in for the evening, while Krombholz and Torrent made ready to help them if they had any reactions to the exotic seeds.</p><p></p><p><em>Intermission: Perchance to Dream</em></p><p></p><p>Dom and Gath began to dream, and were aware of each other's presence in the dream. Arising from the secret room in the shrine like incense smoke drifting to the sky, they beheld the fire forest of Innenotdar as though birds above the entire inferno.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, the smoke and blaze began to run in reverse, picking up speed, days and nights flashing by faster than could be counted. When events began to proceed again, they witnessed a beautiful elven woman wielding a greatsword made from wood, battling a giant stag. They recognized the woman as Anyariel from the statue, and both men are amazed at the skill with which she fights. Despite both men's experience in battle, and the veterans of wars past that they had known, neither had ever seen a warrior with more skill. Despite the savage wounds she inflicted on the stag, however, she could not bring the beast down.</p><p></p><p>Deftly, she maneuvered and lead the stag through the forest to a lake down river from the bridge. There, she forced the beast back into the water, until it was swimming to try to get around her. Anyariel pursued it, then with a mighty surge, pinned it to the bottom of the lake with her sword, swimming away while the beast struggled futilely to free itself. During the entire struggle, the pair had heard an eerie song, as though hundreds of fey hidden throughout the woods had sung the melody and let it echo on the wind throughout the forest.</p><p></p><p>As the seasons changed the color of the leaves on the trees, the song never ended. Snow fell across the forest. Spring came, then summer and fall, leading to the stillness of winter again. Three times the cycle repeated, sometimes with the lake freezing partially, but while the song softened after the defeat of the great stag, it never ended.</p><p></p><p>Pulled like a cloud on the wind, Dom and Gath flew away from the tranquility of the lake to see the forest again. In the vision of their dreams, they could see the great torrents of power running through Innenotdar, two through the ground of the forest itself and one along the White River. Along the two that ran through the forest's land, they could see the essence of the giant stag slowly creeping out to engulf the forest, while the shining lance at the head of the river and the golden green power in the lake kept the creature's influence from the river. When the goblins crept through, setting fires across the forest, they could see the sparks ignite not just the forest, but the power from the stag as well.</p><p> </p><p>As the elves fled Innenotdar, the fey continued to gather around the lake, singing the song continuously. Their numbers dwindled into only forty remained, their shadows cast long and flickering from the fire forest around them. While all their faces were concealed, one of the shadows cast by the singers behaved far differently than the others, moving independently of the one who cast it, visibly drawing a knife and preparing to strike down those next to it. </p><p></p><p>Expecting to see a fight breakout among these fey, Gath and Dom were instead blown north, across days and nights and across the mountain's pass, to come to rest over Gate Pass. Outside the west walls of the town, the 2nd Army of Ragesia spread out, with their great siege engines being put into place. The gates were opened, and a long march of masked Ragesian Inquisitors were lead into the city. Subtly, and carefully, the inquisitors were split up and lead into different sections of the town. When the Spire Clocktower rang, hidden Gate Pass soldiers and militia sprang from hiding places -- some veiled by clever illusions -- along with wizards from Gabal's School, and assaulted the overconfident Inquisitors.</p><p></p><p>The roar of an explosion pulled Dom and Gath's attention back to the West Gate. There, they could see Gabal himself raining destruction down over the siege equipment of the army. Rapidly, the weapons of war were brought down by the archmage. However, a great dragon launched from the rear of the army, wearing a giant bone Inquisitor's mask. Gabal turned his immense magical might upon the Inquisitor Dragon, but much of it failed to reach the dragon at all. The elderly wizards soon fell to the claws and flame of the wyrm.</p><p></p><p>With their weapons destroyed, the army slowly begins to entrench for a long siege. Forces spread across the surrounding countryside, gathering up people who had not retreated behind the city walls. Gath's direct family had stayed behind, and he and Dom watched as Ragesian hobgoblins and goblins gathered them up and harassed them while marching them to the prisoner camps.</p><p></p><p>Before the pair could see the fate of Gath's family, they were pulled by the winds southward. Flying over the mountains, and then across Dassen, they arrived quickly down the peninsula to Seaquen. High above the city, they could hear many different voices arguing with each others. Floating over the city, you can see refugees from all over arriving, seemingly carried by the wind. Many strangers and unusual people speaking in different tongues, but even among this crowd, a few truly strange creatures stand out. As they watched more and more people arrive at the city, ships sailing from different corners of the land, the swirling of winds and pressure became greater and greater. An ominous wind from the north east blows in, across the city and over the water, fomenting a terrible storm. None can stand against the strength of the wind, except Dom and Gath, who feel the winds fully, but stand unmoved by them.</p><p></p><p>Leaving the storm behind, they fly to the north over Dessen to Bresk, the home of King Steppengard. A great serpent with many heads curls around the king and whispers in his ears. As the king leans in to listen to the serpent, its many other heads rise up to strike his children from behind. As the king weeps in sorrow for his children, you are pushed further north still to Gallo's Fend. There, Dom watches as his uncle desperately tries to stop a wave of madness from the south while glancing over his should at a river of fire approaching slowly through the frozen Alydi Gap.</p><p></p><p>As Gath and Dom which Dom's uncle try to stand alone against what seems an overwhelming situation, a pair of silvery blue serpents appear in the dream realm. They flew toward the pair and lash them with a whip-like tail, damaging their dream projections, which causes both Dom and Gath to cry out in the waking world, though they remain asleep. Moments later, the coiled draconic spirits leave the Dimension of Dreams and manifest in the physical world, ready to attack the other members the party.</p><p></p><p>As the rest of the party began to respond to the threat, Eternath responded to the intrusion of her sanctuary, lashing out with chain lightening destroying one and badly damaging the second. Within moments, Khrombolz and Ceilthanus took care of the last one. Not wanting to risk anything else, the party woke the two sleepers up, and worked to help them with their psychic damage, while they in turn shared their visions with the party. Bromsby identified the flows through the earth and the river as ley lines, and he and Ceilthanus speculated that two forces seen in the dream must be working to stop the creature's influence on the river, explaining why it and the lake survive despite forty years being boiled away in the fire.</p><p></p><p>The party debated how much was real, how much was history, and how much were visions of the future. After much consideration, the party decided they cannot risk not warning Gabal about the dragon if it was a vision of things to come. They asked Eternath to try a sending to Gabal to warn him of the dragon if possible. She agreed, and attempted to use Far Casting to contact Gabal, but he could not be reached. Either he was protected by wards too powerful for the Azata to breach, or more likely the azata warned, he was already dead.</p><p></p><p>The party made ready to camp for the evening. Several people sought discussions with Eternath, including Dom, Bosma, and Gath. The remainder of the night passed peacefully. In the morning, Eternath conjured a marvelous feast for the entire party, a Hero's Feast for their day.</p><p></p><p><em>Scene Five: Going Against the Flow</em></p><p></p><p>The party discussed their directions for the day, debating the merits of the options available. They part wanted to find out where Bhurisrava took the people he rescued as well as what the shinning spear that lay at the mouth of the White River, keeping it pure. In addition, they had no wish to following the wishes of the demanding fire spirit.</p><p></p><p>As the party travelled northeast along the edge of the river, Bromsby rode on the back of Krombholz horse and attempted to attune to the ley line running along the river. He was able to identify and feel its power, but in the course of the time he spent meditating trying to tap into it, a powerful wind below a tsunami wave of fire and cinders across the party. Krombholz spotted it coming before it hit, and alerted enough of the party that most members of the party dove into the river before it rolled over the party. Ceilthanus, however, caught on fire briefly before being able to extinguish it in the fire. Twice more as the party continued upriver, a similar cinder storm swept across the party, but the party responded with the same tactic of diving into the river if they could react in time, or immediately diving into the river after the wave of flame passed if they could not.</p><p></p><p>After the third wave, Krombholz and Ceilthanus spotted a hideous flying monstrosity, looking a red skinned goblin head with saber tooth tusks, attached to spider like body of taloned legs. The creature moved in quickly on the party as they began to recover from the third cinder storm. Bromsby identified the creature as as rast, a predator native to the elemental plane of fire, and warned the party to avoid its gaze. Gath did not, and was soon paralyzed by its gaze.</p><p></p><p>As Bosma attempted to keep between the rast and Gath, Torrent called down a fog cloud while Bosma worked to pull Gath out of the water before he drowned. Ceilthanus closed his eyes entirely, and asked his blade Meetima Salka to guide him toward his foe. Bromsby averted his gaze, but successfully cast a color spray on the rast. With the creature stunned, Ceilthanus and Dom attacked it successfully in melee, while Krombholz shot at it from range after guiding the horse he and Bromsby rode away from the shore.</p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p><strong>Story Deviation & Extra Details</strong></p><p></p><p>All the notes in the module background are unclear of this point, I decided that Indomitabilty was not ablaze before the fire was set alight. His essence was infused with the forest when the fire started, I think, though one could take it the other way, with the history of the Dream Seeds suggests that prior to seeting the forest afire, Indom was not in fact a fire spirit. As long as he is infused into the burning forest, though, he will remain on fire as well, though, so the issue is only of importance for the history seen by the party, and if they encounter Indom after the fire burns out.</p><p></p><p>The source material never really defines what the azata ghaele will or will not do to help the party. I may have been generous with the aid, but I took the stance that any reasonable request that she could offer the party that would not endanger her ability to stand sentinel or defend the shrine would be granted. Thus, her agreeing to the sending request and the offering of Hero's Feast, which in turn took care of two developing cases of ghoul fever in the party as well as giving them a bonus for the rest of the day. I also had her change Bhurisrava’s mace to a starknife to match the player's ideas for his character. Marking the starknife with both Qi Zhong and Desna's emblems recognizes the dual heritage of the blessing.</p><p></p><p>I expanded the details within the vision considerably. I did this in part to give the party some focus on events within the fire forest, but also to give more context to the rest of the world events. Other game masters here will undoubtedly recognize Deception among the Seela, the hint of Diogenes's role inside Gate Pass, Vorax-Hûl at the death of Gabal, the hint of Two Winds Monastery's involvement for the hurricane at Seaquen, and then finally the role of Madness in Dessen. I tried to be as literal in these visions as possible, such that when the plot unfolds in that adventure, the party will recognize the elements when they see them; while at the same time, I don't expect the information in these visions to make much sense at all to the players now. Likewise, I tried to give more details for those elements that involved one of the two dreamers than the general information of the campaign adventure. Thus, revelation of Madness and the details about Dom's uncle, Duke Gallo, while much less information is offered for the events to happen around Seaquen. If other characters had joined, I would have called out other details to link to them and their backgrounds.</p><p></p><p>I came across the treatment of ley lines in Occult Adventures when reading up on the Dimension of Dreams within pathfinder. It fit my concepts of how magic was working in the setting, and I brainstormed from there to use as an explanation for the river being kept free, and for how Indomitable spread his influence through the forest. The White River ley line provided a +4 caster level bonus to those attuned to it, with an additional +2 caster level for any spell with the water descriptor. While this is a significant boost, it actually does not provide that much bonus to Bromsby; as a 3rd level sorcerrer, he only has 1st level spells, and the damage output for his spells cap at 5 dice of damage. The most benefit he gets is for duration of spells. Still, it is a boost, and would recommend anyone else using this judge for the particular characters in their party on a case by case basis if that much a bonus will be too much.</p><p></p><p><strong>Tactical Notes and Conversions</strong></p><p></p><p>Once again to adjust for the larger party size, I increased the number of opponents, this time from one to two dream elementals. As the two creatures were going to invade the sanctuary of the ghaele, I knew this would not be much of a threat for the party. However, it gave the party pause about using the Dream seeds, as they wondered if one dream elemental was called for each use of dream seed.</p><p></p><p>The rast is an interesting challenge. A series of bad roles could really hurt the party here, as multiple paralyzed characters for a four person party could really spiral down quickly. In my party, recognizing what the creature was before it got into range gave my party choices on how to respond. A failed skill check there would likely have resulted with a few more characters paralyzed by the rast. The best option for the party is to spread out and deal with the rast from range, but when the open round leaves someone paralyzed who is already in the water, that did not prove a very viable option for my party. I did not make use of the rast's flyby attack feat, and under different circumstances that could have proven interesting as a tactic.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mechanics Issues</strong></p><p></p><p>When dealing with the cinder storm and rast attacks by the side of the river, my party immediately made use of the river, either wading out into it or swimming. </p><p>I would have benefited from more details on the depth of the river or the flow speeds to help estimate the swim DC. I settled on a maximum depth of 15 ft, 25 feet wide river, and that it was a Calm River (DC 10 Swim check) despite the name "White River" which suggested more the idea of rapids to me.</p><p></p><p>I addressed the issue of ley lines above.</p><p></p><p>After this session, there was an extended email discussion regarding the Armor as Damage Reduction variant rule. While as the game master, I had been the one to introduce the idea of this variant rule among the other ones in use, I had been watching as it really began to skew the difficult of encounters in odd ways. I finally decided that this variant rule is not really a good rule to use in general, and would not recommend it. By 3rd level, I could already see how problematic it was going to be much later in the campaign while the way that it changed the feel of combat was not satisfying enough for the complications it was causing and would cause. A campaign journal isn't really the place for a detailed mechanics break down and analysis, but if anyone is interested I can post that separately, focusing on examples from the campaign already and what I projected going forward in future War of the Burning Sky encounters. After a lot of exchanges, including several from my players asking to make sure that they understood what I was trying to get from the variant rules and others commenting more generally on the variant rules and how they were impacting them, we decided to revert from Armor as Damage Reduction to traditional Armor Class rules, starting next session.</p><p></p><p><strong>Notable player reactions</strong></p><p></p><p>Krombholz was not present for the game. Dom was late, and that caused a slight delay in getting going, as I did not have the visions readied as hand out for the session, and did not want to repeat it after he arrived. I thought his suggestion for a augury before using the dream seeds was a really good in character way to settle the discussion about the use of the dream seeds.</p><p></p><p>The party actually spent a modest amount of time discussing the uses for the "broken" translation necklace. For example, the party is thinking of keeping it so that they may place it on a prisoner, and then keep a prisoner from learning any information about them while they are held.</p><p></p><p>Once the vision was shared, they discussed the events about Gate Pass tactics and status in detail. I had Torrent offer the observation that by violating truce with their ambush of the Inquisitors, Gate Pass would not find it easy to negotiate any other terms except for total surrender. The players were split, with some thinking that Gate Pass had taken a risky but dedicated move that would let them hold out longer, while others was appalled at the violation of a "truce" or "settlement" realizing how angry it must make the Ragesian army. I do plan to have this play into General Danava's view of Gate Pass, and the protracted nature of that fight there. </p><p></p><p>I had more requests for discussions with Eternath than I expected, with many players wanting to spend time talking with the celestial being.</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">Bram Stoker's Dracula by Wojciech Kilar</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Vampire Hunter D by Marco D'Ambrosio</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hero by Tan Dun</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">House of Flying Daggers by Shigeru Umebayashi</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dead Again by Patrick Doyle</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dragon Age: Origins by Inon Zur</li> </ul><p></p><p>I had no hand outs for this session, and only an image from the bestiary for the rast.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="thekwp, post: 7068011, member: 56444"] [b]Session 13 - Feb 22, 2017[/b] [B]Player Summary[/B] [I]Act Two: Rivers Flow to the Deep Scene Four: To Sleep[/I] After some consideration, Dom offered to attempt an augury to judge the results. However, he needed both the carved bones and the incense for casting the spell. Dom speculated that Bhurisrava might have had some, speculating that a cleric of his power might have had the focus item to do augury. The party discussed if that was ethical to use his possessions, as they wanted very much to be respectful to the priest who had struggled so hard, and whose faith was rewarded at death by a miracle. Dom and Bosma talked with Eteranth, asking her guidance in the matter. She replied that she believed a soul so concerned with helping others would be willing to help someone else seeking guidance, and would not begrudge them the use. She also said that the party's expressed intent to bury Bhurisrava properly with honors and rites spoke well of their character. Eteranth then asked to see Dom's starknife. He told her regretfully that he did not carry one as of yet. She paid him to bring her Bhurisrava'a heavy mace. She then spoke words in Celestial that resonated with the power of creation, and heavy mace began to glow like a brilliant star. When the light faded, she held a starknife in its place, which she bestowed on Dom. One one side, the center was marked with a wagon wheel, the spokes made from water, earth, metal, fire, and wood respectively. The other side held an beautifully etched butterfly. Eternath explained that this represented the twin influence of Desna and Qi Zhong, and bestowed it on Dom. Upon searching Bhurisrava's body, Dom did find carved bones which he could use as the focus for an Augury, but no incense. Having a little bit of time, the party started to search the village to see if they could find anything that could work. Among other trinkets, the party did recover a damaged carved ivory necklace, that they later discerned held the power to let anyone who wore it understand Sylvan, but only Sylvan while they wore it. A wand of ray of frost made of worked iron was found, as well as a family bond's chord, showing the closeness of a relationship. Bosma found a masterwork lyre damaged by the heat but not beyond repair, and a book of sylvan hymns. Finally, a stash of exotic spices and herbs was found by Krombholz in one of the kitchens preserved in sealed pottery jars though dried out with the heat from the years. Dom confirmed this would work, and set about with his Augury. Considering the action of Dom and Gath taking the dream seeds, Dom's augury read "Weal." Gath and Dom got ready to take the dream seeds, settling in for the evening, while Krombholz and Torrent made ready to help them if they had any reactions to the exotic seeds. [I]Intermission: Perchance to Dream[/I] Dom and Gath began to dream, and were aware of each other's presence in the dream. Arising from the secret room in the shrine like incense smoke drifting to the sky, they beheld the fire forest of Innenotdar as though birds above the entire inferno. Suddenly, the smoke and blaze began to run in reverse, picking up speed, days and nights flashing by faster than could be counted. When events began to proceed again, they witnessed a beautiful elven woman wielding a greatsword made from wood, battling a giant stag. They recognized the woman as Anyariel from the statue, and both men are amazed at the skill with which she fights. Despite both men's experience in battle, and the veterans of wars past that they had known, neither had ever seen a warrior with more skill. Despite the savage wounds she inflicted on the stag, however, she could not bring the beast down. Deftly, she maneuvered and lead the stag through the forest to a lake down river from the bridge. There, she forced the beast back into the water, until it was swimming to try to get around her. Anyariel pursued it, then with a mighty surge, pinned it to the bottom of the lake with her sword, swimming away while the beast struggled futilely to free itself. During the entire struggle, the pair had heard an eerie song, as though hundreds of fey hidden throughout the woods had sung the melody and let it echo on the wind throughout the forest. As the seasons changed the color of the leaves on the trees, the song never ended. Snow fell across the forest. Spring came, then summer and fall, leading to the stillness of winter again. Three times the cycle repeated, sometimes with the lake freezing partially, but while the song softened after the defeat of the great stag, it never ended. Pulled like a cloud on the wind, Dom and Gath flew away from the tranquility of the lake to see the forest again. In the vision of their dreams, they could see the great torrents of power running through Innenotdar, two through the ground of the forest itself and one along the White River. Along the two that ran through the forest's land, they could see the essence of the giant stag slowly creeping out to engulf the forest, while the shining lance at the head of the river and the golden green power in the lake kept the creature's influence from the river. When the goblins crept through, setting fires across the forest, they could see the sparks ignite not just the forest, but the power from the stag as well. As the elves fled Innenotdar, the fey continued to gather around the lake, singing the song continuously. Their numbers dwindled into only forty remained, their shadows cast long and flickering from the fire forest around them. While all their faces were concealed, one of the shadows cast by the singers behaved far differently than the others, moving independently of the one who cast it, visibly drawing a knife and preparing to strike down those next to it. Expecting to see a fight breakout among these fey, Gath and Dom were instead blown north, across days and nights and across the mountain's pass, to come to rest over Gate Pass. Outside the west walls of the town, the 2nd Army of Ragesia spread out, with their great siege engines being put into place. The gates were opened, and a long march of masked Ragesian Inquisitors were lead into the city. Subtly, and carefully, the inquisitors were split up and lead into different sections of the town. When the Spire Clocktower rang, hidden Gate Pass soldiers and militia sprang from hiding places -- some veiled by clever illusions -- along with wizards from Gabal's School, and assaulted the overconfident Inquisitors. The roar of an explosion pulled Dom and Gath's attention back to the West Gate. There, they could see Gabal himself raining destruction down over the siege equipment of the army. Rapidly, the weapons of war were brought down by the archmage. However, a great dragon launched from the rear of the army, wearing a giant bone Inquisitor's mask. Gabal turned his immense magical might upon the Inquisitor Dragon, but much of it failed to reach the dragon at all. The elderly wizards soon fell to the claws and flame of the wyrm. With their weapons destroyed, the army slowly begins to entrench for a long siege. Forces spread across the surrounding countryside, gathering up people who had not retreated behind the city walls. Gath's direct family had stayed behind, and he and Dom watched as Ragesian hobgoblins and goblins gathered them up and harassed them while marching them to the prisoner camps. Before the pair could see the fate of Gath's family, they were pulled by the winds southward. Flying over the mountains, and then across Dassen, they arrived quickly down the peninsula to Seaquen. High above the city, they could hear many different voices arguing with each others. Floating over the city, you can see refugees from all over arriving, seemingly carried by the wind. Many strangers and unusual people speaking in different tongues, but even among this crowd, a few truly strange creatures stand out. As they watched more and more people arrive at the city, ships sailing from different corners of the land, the swirling of winds and pressure became greater and greater. An ominous wind from the north east blows in, across the city and over the water, fomenting a terrible storm. None can stand against the strength of the wind, except Dom and Gath, who feel the winds fully, but stand unmoved by them. Leaving the storm behind, they fly to the north over Dessen to Bresk, the home of King Steppengard. A great serpent with many heads curls around the king and whispers in his ears. As the king leans in to listen to the serpent, its many other heads rise up to strike his children from behind. As the king weeps in sorrow for his children, you are pushed further north still to Gallo's Fend. There, Dom watches as his uncle desperately tries to stop a wave of madness from the south while glancing over his should at a river of fire approaching slowly through the frozen Alydi Gap. As Gath and Dom which Dom's uncle try to stand alone against what seems an overwhelming situation, a pair of silvery blue serpents appear in the dream realm. They flew toward the pair and lash them with a whip-like tail, damaging their dream projections, which causes both Dom and Gath to cry out in the waking world, though they remain asleep. Moments later, the coiled draconic spirits leave the Dimension of Dreams and manifest in the physical world, ready to attack the other members the party. As the rest of the party began to respond to the threat, Eternath responded to the intrusion of her sanctuary, lashing out with chain lightening destroying one and badly damaging the second. Within moments, Khrombolz and Ceilthanus took care of the last one. Not wanting to risk anything else, the party woke the two sleepers up, and worked to help them with their psychic damage, while they in turn shared their visions with the party. Bromsby identified the flows through the earth and the river as ley lines, and he and Ceilthanus speculated that two forces seen in the dream must be working to stop the creature's influence on the river, explaining why it and the lake survive despite forty years being boiled away in the fire. The party debated how much was real, how much was history, and how much were visions of the future. After much consideration, the party decided they cannot risk not warning Gabal about the dragon if it was a vision of things to come. They asked Eternath to try a sending to Gabal to warn him of the dragon if possible. She agreed, and attempted to use Far Casting to contact Gabal, but he could not be reached. Either he was protected by wards too powerful for the Azata to breach, or more likely the azata warned, he was already dead. The party made ready to camp for the evening. Several people sought discussions with Eternath, including Dom, Bosma, and Gath. The remainder of the night passed peacefully. In the morning, Eternath conjured a marvelous feast for the entire party, a Hero's Feast for their day. [I]Scene Five: Going Against the Flow[/I] The party discussed their directions for the day, debating the merits of the options available. They part wanted to find out where Bhurisrava took the people he rescued as well as what the shinning spear that lay at the mouth of the White River, keeping it pure. In addition, they had no wish to following the wishes of the demanding fire spirit. As the party travelled northeast along the edge of the river, Bromsby rode on the back of Krombholz horse and attempted to attune to the ley line running along the river. He was able to identify and feel its power, but in the course of the time he spent meditating trying to tap into it, a powerful wind below a tsunami wave of fire and cinders across the party. Krombholz spotted it coming before it hit, and alerted enough of the party that most members of the party dove into the river before it rolled over the party. Ceilthanus, however, caught on fire briefly before being able to extinguish it in the fire. Twice more as the party continued upriver, a similar cinder storm swept across the party, but the party responded with the same tactic of diving into the river if they could react in time, or immediately diving into the river after the wave of flame passed if they could not. After the third wave, Krombholz and Ceilthanus spotted a hideous flying monstrosity, looking a red skinned goblin head with saber tooth tusks, attached to spider like body of taloned legs. The creature moved in quickly on the party as they began to recover from the third cinder storm. Bromsby identified the creature as as rast, a predator native to the elemental plane of fire, and warned the party to avoid its gaze. Gath did not, and was soon paralyzed by its gaze. As Bosma attempted to keep between the rast and Gath, Torrent called down a fog cloud while Bosma worked to pull Gath out of the water before he drowned. Ceilthanus closed his eyes entirely, and asked his blade Meetima Salka to guide him toward his foe. Bromsby averted his gaze, but successfully cast a color spray on the rast. With the creature stunned, Ceilthanus and Dom attacked it successfully in melee, while Krombholz shot at it from range after guiding the horse he and Bromsby rode away from the shore. [HR][/HR] [B]Story Deviation & Extra Details[/B] All the notes in the module background are unclear of this point, I decided that Indomitabilty was not ablaze before the fire was set alight. His essence was infused with the forest when the fire started, I think, though one could take it the other way, with the history of the Dream Seeds suggests that prior to seeting the forest afire, Indom was not in fact a fire spirit. As long as he is infused into the burning forest, though, he will remain on fire as well, though, so the issue is only of importance for the history seen by the party, and if they encounter Indom after the fire burns out. The source material never really defines what the azata ghaele will or will not do to help the party. I may have been generous with the aid, but I took the stance that any reasonable request that she could offer the party that would not endanger her ability to stand sentinel or defend the shrine would be granted. Thus, her agreeing to the sending request and the offering of Hero's Feast, which in turn took care of two developing cases of ghoul fever in the party as well as giving them a bonus for the rest of the day. I also had her change Bhurisrava’s mace to a starknife to match the player's ideas for his character. Marking the starknife with both Qi Zhong and Desna's emblems recognizes the dual heritage of the blessing. I expanded the details within the vision considerably. I did this in part to give the party some focus on events within the fire forest, but also to give more context to the rest of the world events. Other game masters here will undoubtedly recognize Deception among the Seela, the hint of Diogenes's role inside Gate Pass, Vorax-Hûl at the death of Gabal, the hint of Two Winds Monastery's involvement for the hurricane at Seaquen, and then finally the role of Madness in Dessen. I tried to be as literal in these visions as possible, such that when the plot unfolds in that adventure, the party will recognize the elements when they see them; while at the same time, I don't expect the information in these visions to make much sense at all to the players now. Likewise, I tried to give more details for those elements that involved one of the two dreamers than the general information of the campaign adventure. Thus, revelation of Madness and the details about Dom's uncle, Duke Gallo, while much less information is offered for the events to happen around Seaquen. If other characters had joined, I would have called out other details to link to them and their backgrounds. I came across the treatment of ley lines in Occult Adventures when reading up on the Dimension of Dreams within pathfinder. It fit my concepts of how magic was working in the setting, and I brainstormed from there to use as an explanation for the river being kept free, and for how Indomitable spread his influence through the forest. The White River ley line provided a +4 caster level bonus to those attuned to it, with an additional +2 caster level for any spell with the water descriptor. While this is a significant boost, it actually does not provide that much bonus to Bromsby; as a 3rd level sorcerrer, he only has 1st level spells, and the damage output for his spells cap at 5 dice of damage. The most benefit he gets is for duration of spells. Still, it is a boost, and would recommend anyone else using this judge for the particular characters in their party on a case by case basis if that much a bonus will be too much. [B]Tactical Notes and Conversions[/B] Once again to adjust for the larger party size, I increased the number of opponents, this time from one to two dream elementals. As the two creatures were going to invade the sanctuary of the ghaele, I knew this would not be much of a threat for the party. However, it gave the party pause about using the Dream seeds, as they wondered if one dream elemental was called for each use of dream seed. The rast is an interesting challenge. A series of bad roles could really hurt the party here, as multiple paralyzed characters for a four person party could really spiral down quickly. In my party, recognizing what the creature was before it got into range gave my party choices on how to respond. A failed skill check there would likely have resulted with a few more characters paralyzed by the rast. The best option for the party is to spread out and deal with the rast from range, but when the open round leaves someone paralyzed who is already in the water, that did not prove a very viable option for my party. I did not make use of the rast's flyby attack feat, and under different circumstances that could have proven interesting as a tactic. [B]Mechanics Issues[/B] When dealing with the cinder storm and rast attacks by the side of the river, my party immediately made use of the river, either wading out into it or swimming. I would have benefited from more details on the depth of the river or the flow speeds to help estimate the swim DC. I settled on a maximum depth of 15 ft, 25 feet wide river, and that it was a Calm River (DC 10 Swim check) despite the name "White River" which suggested more the idea of rapids to me. I addressed the issue of ley lines above. After this session, there was an extended email discussion regarding the Armor as Damage Reduction variant rule. While as the game master, I had been the one to introduce the idea of this variant rule among the other ones in use, I had been watching as it really began to skew the difficult of encounters in odd ways. I finally decided that this variant rule is not really a good rule to use in general, and would not recommend it. By 3rd level, I could already see how problematic it was going to be much later in the campaign while the way that it changed the feel of combat was not satisfying enough for the complications it was causing and would cause. A campaign journal isn't really the place for a detailed mechanics break down and analysis, but if anyone is interested I can post that separately, focusing on examples from the campaign already and what I projected going forward in future War of the Burning Sky encounters. After a lot of exchanges, including several from my players asking to make sure that they understood what I was trying to get from the variant rules and others commenting more generally on the variant rules and how they were impacting them, we decided to revert from Armor as Damage Reduction to traditional Armor Class rules, starting next session. [B]Notable player reactions[/B] Krombholz was not present for the game. Dom was late, and that caused a slight delay in getting going, as I did not have the visions readied as hand out for the session, and did not want to repeat it after he arrived. I thought his suggestion for a augury before using the dream seeds was a really good in character way to settle the discussion about the use of the dream seeds. The party actually spent a modest amount of time discussing the uses for the "broken" translation necklace. For example, the party is thinking of keeping it so that they may place it on a prisoner, and then keep a prisoner from learning any information about them while they are held. Once the vision was shared, they discussed the events about Gate Pass tactics and status in detail. I had Torrent offer the observation that by violating truce with their ambush of the Inquisitors, Gate Pass would not find it easy to negotiate any other terms except for total surrender. The players were split, with some thinking that Gate Pass had taken a risky but dedicated move that would let them hold out longer, while others was appalled at the violation of a "truce" or "settlement" realizing how angry it must make the Ragesian army. I do plan to have this play into General Danava's view of Gate Pass, and the protracted nature of that fight there. I had more requests for discussions with Eternath than I expected, with many players wanting to spend time talking with the celestial being. [B]Props, music, images, supporting handouts, etc[/B] Music for this session was: [LIST] [*]Bram Stoker's Dracula by Wojciech Kilar [*]Vampire Hunter D by Marco D'Ambrosio [*]Hero by Tan Dun [*]House of Flying Daggers by Shigeru Umebayashi [*]Dead Again by Patrick Doyle [*]Dragon Age: Origins by Inon Zur [/LIST] I had no hand outs for this session, and only an image from the bestiary for the rast. [/QUOTE]
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