WotBS Aartvb's Burning Sky

[aartvb]

Session 14 (26-5-2024): Fires and Beacons: The Secrets of Seaquen

After a hard-fought battle, Dolly beheads Jess. The group searches her pockets and finds a notebook listing people who are being hunted and the deals she had made. Guthwolf is mentioned as the one who ordered them to be tracked, along with a note: (Note to self: don’t teleport due to the beacon.) The lady of the house is shocked that a demon had been living under her roof but is relieved that Jess has been beheaded. She offers the group a bed to rest for the night.

January 27th
The group buys some diamonds and decides to visit the temples of the god of war and the goddess of battle. They try to convince the priest of the god of war to cooperate with the other gods. They plan to organize a meeting for all the priests. Anja and Kruggli go to speak with the religious leaders, while the rest pursue leads on an arsonist in town.

They ask around and decide to visit a bar to gather more information. They speak with an elf whose house has burned down. After investigating the burned-down house, they discover that the fire started in the basement. Rumors circulate that refugees are to blame. Anja receives information about Guthwolf, a high-ranking officer in the Ragesian army. They also learn that beacons exist that can draw teleportation towards them.

Another fire breaks out. Dolly spots someone running away and alerts the group. They decide to pursue the person and tackle him to the ground. It turns out he was on his way to report the fire to the guards. In the basement of the house, they find a small hole, just big enough for a rat to fit through. They also discover that Laurabec is a member of the Knights of the Aquiline Cross, a sect that believes dark powers can be fought using healing magic.
Personal note: I spectacularly failed my roleplay here. When the group told the owner that they found a small hole in his basement, I had him say with a concerned voice: 'I will have to fill that hole as soon as possible', as if the hole was a large problem (I completely forgot that literaly his whole house was burned to the ground).

 

[aartvb]

Session 15 (15-6-2024): Faith and War: Gathering Allies

January 28th
Anja and Krugli set off the next day to invite the remaining three religious leaders to the meeting: the god of healing, the goddess of strength, and the god of revelry. The high priest of the god of healing is skeptical and unsure if he will attend.

It is now canon that Jesus Christ is Krugli's cousin.

Meanwhile, Wyll goes to inform Laurabec about the meeting happening in her tent/house. Laurabec is talking with Crystin when Wyll arrives. He informs her about the organized meeting, but Laurabec already has plans to attend a war council to which she has been invited. Shortly after, the group is also invited to this war council. They decide that Krugli, Wyll, Dolly, and Torrent will attend the war council, while Anja and Mandagr will go to the priest meeting.

Laurabec mentions that she will decide whether to attend the war council herself or send someone else in her place.

After the discussion with Laurabec, the group heads to the priests of the god of revelry, who are in the middle of a lively party. They are immediately enthusiastic and agree to attend.

Lastly, the group visits the temple of the goddess of strength. When they arrive, the leader is engaged in a fight in the arena. After defeating her opponent, she speaks with them. She considers it an honor to be asked last and agrees to attend the meeting.

Laurabec decides to attend the war council herself, so she will not be present at the priest meeting.

The group then heads to the town hall to gather information.

They learn that natural hot springs once created tunnels in the area. These tunnels often shift location due to the flow of water. There may be an entrance in the ruins to the east of the city, or they could try knocking on the doors of local houses, many of which are connected to these tunnels.

 

[RangerWickett]

Is the lack of Katrina intentional, or just an artifact of the party not going through the swamp?

 

[aartvb]

Is the lack of Katrina intentional, or just an artifact of the party not going through the swamp?

It's the latter. But they went into the swamp later, so no worries.

 

[aartvb]

Session 16 (27-7-2024): War Council and Divine Negotiations

January 29th
War Council:
Krugli, Wyll, Dolly, and Torrent head to the Lyceum for the war council meeting, where they also encounter Torrent's old mentor, Lee Sidoneth. The meeting is led by Simeon, the head of the Lyceum.

Kiernan Stekart, head of the school's war department, wears runes on his clothing. He has sworn to fight against the tyranny of Emperor Leska.
Magistrate Lorb Votberd proposes forming a refugee police force and questioning all refugees. He also wants to avoid becoming dependent on other nations.
Lee Sidoneth is responsible for the harbor, which is overcrowded due to the influx of refugees.
Commander Xavious Foebane, a dwarf from Dassen, advocates forming as many alliances as possible and increasing the number of mages in the military. He also suggests finding and bringing the Torch of the Burning Sky to their side. This torch granted the previous emperor immortality.
Giorgio is a member of the Wayfarer Theatre. They are a highly mobile (and magical) group, willing to assist, although there are currently issues with teleportation. Sheena Larkins is the guildmaster of the Wayfarers. He hands out tickets to an upcoming show, The Spectacular Trial of Toteth Topec, encouraging everyone to attend.
Dassen Ambassador Keifer Numhaut reports that King Steppenguard is unhappy with the refugee situation and prefers to remain neutral in the war.
Sindaire Ambassador Cranston Snord is against Regasia but wants to tread carefully. He has a lead on where the Torch might be—likely in the old emperor's castle, Korstull, which is engulfed in a firestorm.
Ostalin Ambassador Kazha Lonam demands a third of the land of each of the other countries, in exchange for Ostalin's military aid, which is not well-received by the others.

Krugli diplomatically shares the military information the group has gathered with the council. Although they don't have time to review it during the meeting, they agree to examine it later. The information turns out to be encoded, and Simeon begins working on it. He recognizes it as being written by Kreven, the second-in-command of the Regasians. He also found out using divinations that it has something to do with the mysterious Trillith.

Suddenly, a man flies into the room, then out of the window, and then calmly re-enters to announce that seven elves bearing the Shahalesti flag have entered the tower. Their leader, Shalosha, daughter of the Shining Lord Shaaladel, informs the council that a fleet is en route to prove Shahalesti’s willingness to fight and take leadership. The fleet plans to block traffic in and out of the harbor, and they aim to take control of Seaquen. Although no one agrees with this plan, the fleet's help is welcomed.

Temple Meeting:
The god of sorcery’s representative arrives with ten followers, though they wait respectfully outside. The meeting begins with bickering between the different religious factions, but eventually, they are convinced to support a joint temple and work towards maximum cooperation between the faiths. They agree to continue the construction of the temple under Laurabec’s supervision.

After the day's events, everyone returns home to rest.

 

[aartvb]

Session 17 (15-8-2024): Tournament in the Ruins and the Burning Rats

January 30th
While waiting for the codes to be translated, the group decides to explore the ruins, hoping to find a way to solve the fires that have been plaguing the area.

Upon arriving, they discover that a tournament is taking place in the ruins. Manadagr participates and swiftly wins the first round, but unfortunately doesn't fare as well in the second.

Beneath the ruins, they find a swarm of burning rats, which seem to be the source of the fires in the houses. The group quickly exterminates the rats.

Looking for something else to do, they decide to prepare for a fight against a dragon the next day. They also arrange for an announcement to be made, advising people to seal their basements to prevent fires from spreading.

Afterward, the group returns to the same basement where they fought the rats and decides to spend the night there.

 

[aartvb]

Session 18 (24-8-2024): The sister-witches

January 31st
The session begins with a planning discussion. Having had enough of dealing with the rats, the group decides to inform the Lyceum leaders about the issue and move on to something more useful, such as fighting the dragon to open the travel route to the west, and obtaining the Torch of the Burning Sky.

After updating the Lyceum leader about the rat problem, they consider a few options for what to do next:

• Address the goblin issues in the swamp
• Use diplomacy to deal with the Shalalesti blockade
• Fight the dragon in the west
• Ask Tiljann about the meaning of "Child of Trillith" from the Ragesian notes

Wyll and Anja make it clear they aren’t suited for diplomacy, and the group collectively forgets about Tiljann (again).

This leaves both of the remaining options pointing them west, with fighting the dragon being the primary objective.

When they arrive at the edge of the refugee camp, a man approaches, eager to sell them a boat to traverse the unpaved areas of the swamp. Anja haggles him down to 10 gold for a large canoe, and Wyll pays.

As they head into the swamp, they encounter a group of people who had abandoned their own canoes, so they have wasted their money on this boat.

Further into the swamp, they come across a small boat adorned with skulls and a singing woman, who is singing about how wonderful the water is to swim in. The group attempts to camouflage their canoe and drift past, but that plan completely fails.

Chaos ensues. After about 20 spells and 50 saving throws, their enemy wizard is dead, their cleric has vanished, their druid is vomiting, and the crocodile doesn't attack anymore.

The party ties up the druid and interrogates her. She reveals that she and her “sisters,” all named H’andrea, have been ambushing people from the area, executing some and kidnapping the rest to later cannibalize and sacrifice using a potion to gain magical powers.

Anja has been itching to slit the druid’s throat for hours but holds off until they can free the captives the witches had apparently taken.

When they reach the island, it turns out the druid had forgotten one last security measure: a wave of skeletons rushing at the group.

Anja unleashes a powerful explosion, nearly wiping out all the skeletons and complaining so loudly that Kruggli has to take a mental break.

Personal note: in case you hadn't notices yet: after Kruggli died in session 2, he was brought back as a vampire. Hence for example the longer fangs, his missing heartbeat and his inability to swim. Anja - a cleric - used turn undead, which Kruggli really didn't like!

After opening some doors, they find a captive who seems oddly calm about the whole situation, a cauldron where something was being marinated (?), a bedroom with a cannibalized man, and a hut full of rotting food.

Once they assess the situation, Anja, overjoyed, finally slits the druid’s throat. Everyone then chooses a hut to rest in, and the group takes a long rest.

Personal note: They also found Tidereaver's Tears, and brought one with them. However, they don't understand its significance yet, so it didn't end up in the notes 😁.

 

[aartvb]

Session 19 (8-9-2024): Meeting Katrina and the Dragon's Bargain

February 1st
The session resumes on the island where the group previously stopped. The captive woman on the island introduces herself as Katrina. She wants to return to civilization and seems capable of using magic, as she has a component pouch. She expresses her disdain for the Ragesians.

Katrina decides to accompany the group on their journey to face the dragon, so the party continues with six members, split between two boats.

After a while, they spot a goblin darting away in the distance. In a quick drive-by from their boats, they manage to take him down.

Later, they hear a loud screech and decide to dock on another island to investigate.

From a distance, they spot a large green dragon. Manadagr and Katrina are made invisibility, and Wyll sneaks behind, detached from the group.

However, the dragon immediately senses their presence. The group attempts to bluff their way out of the situation, but it goes poorly.

The dragon attacks. Seeing Dolly nearly get bitten in half right away, the group decides to retreat. The dragon watches them from the air. After some time, negotiations eventually open up. The dragon reveals that her egg has been stolen and offers to speak with them if they can recover it.

The thief was a man with an unkempt appearance, blue eyes, brown hair, and a beard. He was last seen in Seaquen.

Deciding to head back to the city, the group brings Katrina along.

When they return, they notice a hawk that seems to be spying on them.

On their way back to the city, they hear a horn and are approached by five elves—Shahalesti. They want to check if the group are Ragesian spies but ultimately let them pass.

The leader of the group introduces himself as Talan.

Katrina expresses curiosity about the tube Kruggli is carrying, which they received from Rantle. It turns out the tube was meant for her—Katrina is Rantle's sister.

Apparently, Rantle misread a message that Katrina once sent to him. He hadn’t held it over the fire to reveal the hidden message.

Personal note: This was a typical situation of me internally screaming: 'Look back at your notes, you're supposed to be looking for a Katrina!'. First I had Katrina ask lots of questions on where they came from, so they would mention Gate Pass. Katrina could then ask for Rantle, who is there. But they refused to mention Gate Pass! 😂 When they were searched by the Shahalesti, I had Katrina see the tube, which she recognized. The group was like: 'do we have a tube??'. I said: 'ctr-F the notes!' Then it finally dawned on them that they had a tube, and that in fact this woman was the one who was supposed to receive the tube!
This is the reason I have them make shared notes in this campaign - it helps a lot in situations like these.

February 2nd
The group heads to the Lyceum to gather information about dragon eggs. They attend a class taught by Dougan Rambausen, an expert in magical artifacts, and decide to ask him about the dragon egg.

Dougan explains that dragon eggs are used in a variety of magical items, such as potions or weapons.

He is familiar with the dragon in question, who is named Naizelasa.

Afterward, the group heads to a part of the refugee camp where the black market is rumored to be located.

They discover that a man named Nathan Lowduke is attempting to sell the egg for thousands of gold pieces. Using magic, they convince him to sell them the egg, even though they don’t have the money he’s asking for.

We steal the egg, and Nathan, not happy about being swindled, cries crocodile tears.

The party takes a boat back to the dragon. As collateral, they give Naizelasa a 300 GP diamond and the Necklace of Mage Hand. In return, the dragon agrees to lend them a magical lyre temporarily.

Afterward, the group returns to the island where they slept the previous night.

 

[aartvb]

Session 20 (5-10-2024): The Lyre, the Show, and the Storm

February 3rd–18th
The group makes sure the magical lyre is used to construct homes in the refugee camp. There is some progress on the building of the temple. The group becomes semi-famous in Seaquen due to the lyre.

February 19th
The day of the show arrives, attended by many nobles and country representatives. The group is welcomed by a woman named Guildmistress Sheena Larkins and is guided to their seats by characters dressed as Angels and Monsters.

The show’s main actor is Georgio, playing Toteth, a leading character in the story. Georgio is the same man who invited the group to the performance. In the play, Toteth is an Orc geomancer.

Toteth is battling a dragon in an epic duel. He is revered by a primitive people for saving them. However, he is forever pursued by the dragon in his quest for immortality. Toteth encounters three mages who help him master the elements, and he receives a vision of the Stormchaser Eagle (the vision went too fast to write down).

The battle between Toteth and the dragon resumes, close to a pulsing heart. Toteth falls down, apparently defeated. A dark-haired woman rushes to his side, prays for aid, and heals him. This scene transitions into a romance montage, where the two marry.

Katrina explains to Kruggli that the play symbolizes the countries defending themselves against the Regasians, represented by the evil dragon. The dark-haired woman symbolizes the savior of Seaquen, while the three mages represent Ostalin, Sindaire, and Dassen (I am not sure if the Shalesti were mentioned).

The romance montage continues, with the woman becoming pregnant and getting a baby. She is trying to find Toteth, to show him their baby. The story follows her as she tracks Toteth by the trail of defeated creatures.
Toteth now possesses a gemstone meant to capture the dragon’s soul. However, in the final battle, Toteth fails, and the dragon bites him in half, causing the gemstone to fall still on the ground. A dramatic silence fills the scene as darkness envelops the stage.

Georgio then appears in the back of the room, quickly having changed his costume, with blood on his clothing. He goes up.

Two men, known to associate with Lee Sidoneth, stand watch at the top. A fierce storm rages in the background.

(Lee Sidoneth is Torrent’s mentor, and knows someone capable of ‘changing’ people by giving them beast-like body parts.)

Georgio is seen fiddling with a magical trinket, while a female assassin hides nearby, waiting.

Manadagr and Anja head up to the deck, with Anja pretending to be seasick and hanging over the railing to recover. As she looks over the edge, she spots a boat loaded with elven bodies.

combat

TLDR: We suck, taking lots of damage. However, teleportation spells are OP, and the Wand of Wonder is AMAZING.

Personal note: Kruggli often uses vortex warp to teleport enemies. And well, there is of course that small thing called 'the Burning Sky', making this 2nd level spell slightly OP...

Georgio and one of his allies are thrown into the sea. The remaining ally and the assassin are fireballed, causing their boat to explode.

After the battle, the audience is alerted to what happened, and the group meets with the head of the Lyceum (Simeon) to discuss next steps.

Using a scrying-like spell, Simeon discovers that Lee Sidoneth cannot be located, possibly because he is hiding in ruins where anti-scrying magic is common.

The party decides to find and confront Lee Sidoneth (though their exact goal is uncertain). Simeon provides Kruggli with a magical “compass-like” feeling to guide them to Lee Sidoneth’s estimated location.

Outside, the storm continues to rage fiercely. Anja and Kruggli seem unaffected by the storm, while Wyll’s orb (taken from the Witches) protects him from the worst of it. Manadagr and Dolly manage to stay safe by holding onto the orb as well.

We have now caught up to where we currently are! Last saturday we had another session, but those notes are not finished yet.
Tomorrow, I will start a similar thread on my Zeitgeist campaign. Looking forward to it! 😄

 

[aartvb]

Session 21 (19-10-2014): Into the Depths: Navigating Storms and Underwater Ruins

With the "compass feeling," the party made their way to the eye of the storm, where ruins were hard to see in the dark of night.

A brilliant plan was formulated: Wyll would scout the ruins ahead to check if immediate intervention was needed (i.e., could Anja and Kruggli sit and rest for an hour or not), completely forgetting that Wyll, of course, was completely blind in the dark, and a lit torch would instantly reveal his location.

The search for a short rest was abandoned, and the party decided together to investigate the gates further up.

Ruins, many gargoyles, made it feel like they were walking on a rooftop.

An entrance halfway along the shore, partly in the water, was spotted.

Brilliant plan no. 2: Since Kruggli can’t swim and Wyll and Anja are still blind, Kruggli goes on Wyll's shoulders to guide him while Wyll holds him above water and walks inside (with a STR of 8 during a severe sea storm). At the same time, Manadagr leads Anja inside using a rope, hoping they don’t both drown in heavy armor.

With incredible difficulty staying quiet, the party, of course, gets immediately spotted due to all the noise, and two fish creatures rush towards them.

Long story short: Manadagr starts landing solid sword attacks, the fish creatures attempt an Alien-style mouth-sucker attack (which fails), and grandma Anja smacks them hard with her walking stick.

Rooms nearby are searched: the south room has a skeleton with a locket, the north room appears infested with rats (they further ignored this room), the southwest room has a lever that people nearly pull right away, and the northwest room has a suspiciously perfect-looking chest with some coins on the table next to it.

Note: Yeah, they KNEW it was a mimic. Decided to touch it anyways.

After a mimic fight, they proceed down the west hallway. Wyll, as the expendable worker, nearly gets skewered (now we know the purpose of the lever), and around the corner to the south is a prison with some skeletons, two of which are wearing a necklace.

Wyll grabs one of the necklaces, and 10-20 skeletons awaken and swarm toward us.

Anja rolls up her sleeves, activates her “angry grandma” aura, and stands at the corner, ready to turn every skeleton that comes her way to dust.

Note: "angry grandma" aura = spirit guardians.

The battle is won after half an hour of mostly standing still (in shoulder-high water), after which the two chains, not even worth grabbing, are, of course, buried in the murky, sandy water under 500 pounds of bones.

Heading further south, the water reaches neck height (Kruggli now has to lie flat on his ice raft), where two angry fishmen jab at them with spears. Wyll and Manadagr take them down with Anja’s help and her angry grandma aura, while Kruggli, using the power of pure randomness, becomes invisible.

Underwater rooms turn out to be no more than small sleeping quarters and changing rooms/private toilets.

Doors lead further underwater, where Kruggli obviously cannot go, and Wyll and Anja are blind (no torches possible underwater).

Manadagr swims ahead with a rope to guide the rest.

Kruggli, still terrified of swimming, makes a one-person ice submarine for protection.

In the next room, they find a narrow tunnel that appears to lead (far) downwards.

Manadagr drops down first, accidentally dislodging a heavy rock that crashes down below (likely an alarm system).

At the end of the tunnel, they’re all suddenly flushed out, as the tunnel magically holds back the water at its end.

Somehow, everyone survives, though they’re all utterly exhausted, now in a completely isolated area, facing unknown enemies with unknown abilities who are now on high alert, with no allies, and little-to-no chance for rest or recovery.