Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fuzzybear" data-source="post: 8873110" data-attributes="member: 6917259"><h3>Episode 12 - Indomitability</h3>This episode certainly went differently than I had expected coming in. In none of my preparation did I consider the idea that they might try what they did, so I had to improvise on the fly what would happen and how it would work. I do think it went very well though! They did take some time on the side to consider what they wanted to do coming into the session I knew as there was some questions being thrown out about what 'not angering the forest' meant previously. With the trees falling and a voice seeming to emanate from the forest, Jack especially thought that they needed to atone for something they had done to the forest. This is very obvious on the first turn as instead of attacking with the advantage, the group decides to instead do nothing. Jack even kneels to the fiery stags hoping that a show of deference and atonement would stop the fight before it even had a chance to be begin.Little did they know, but it wasn't the forest that was attacking them. And this wasn't because of a breach of conduct, but instead sent as a test of the player's power.Once it became clear that the deer weren't going to let them go for free, the party decided the next best course of action was to run for the river, despite the flaming trees between them and safety. This is what I never considered in my preparation, so the details of how that would work, how much damage they might take, the effect of cold based spells on the flames, these were all items that I was not prepared for. Some of the encounters of the previous adventure put the idea in their heads that not every fight is there to be fought. They learned that lesson more effectively than even I had meant to teach it, but that doesn't make it wrong!As the fire approached, and every gasp as it quickly closed in behind them, Winry made it to the trees first (being a tabaxi monk this was always going to be the case) and tried to blast them with frost fingers. Her subclass being cold based instead of the lightning based one from the player's guide popping up again here for interesting results! I decided that the fire would go out briefly but not permanently when coated by cold magic, so for the next round it would leave a path that would quickly close back up. This made it action (and ki point for Winry) expensive for them to go through this way, but possible. Between Jack and Winry, they were able to make it most of the way through.The other part for going through the trees was defined in the adventure, but the majority of the party is pretty solid with Dexterity making most of them have only a few troubles making their way through. They do take some burns on the first 4 characters through together, but it was more of an annoyance than a real problem for them. It did make things very tense, but I think it did annoy them a bit instead.The real problem is that Myetharia was last. She stayed behind intentionally the first round to slow down the chasing enemies, but then got in a situation where she couldn't just run anymore. By the time she tried to make her break for the trees, she was already in trouble. And before she could make it there, she was down.Now here is where things get interesting. I got a little over-excited to have downed someone because of the effect that comes with and failed to realize that it shouldn't have affected her right away. I will admit that I skimmed it a bit beforehand but didn't think much of it until later on in the adventure as most of the early encounters are not meant to be deadly. As such, in the heat of the moment (heh, pun), I made a mistake and treated her as though she became keyword Indomitable. While this was technically a mistake, it made the rest of the adventure so much better. I think I would even encourage other DMs to strongly consider trying to down a PC to get this out there and let the group play around with the effect more. It added a lot more enjoyment and depth to the forest.Myetharia sparks back to life, flaring and determined, then climbs through the downed trees as though no trouble. The rest of the party is left shocked, spooked, and scared, and that's before the giant flaming face appears and starts talking to them! Ryan, who does the mixing for our remastered episodes, had some fun with the voice here which is really good along with the fire crackling noise. They had some good questions (which surprisingly the adventure did a good job of having answers for) and started butting heads with the mysteries of the forest.Next time, a search, a sack, and a secret!--------[USER=6763100]@Nod_Hero[/USER] and [USER=7039265]@Boundless Creation[/USER] , thank you both for the kind words and support! They are definitely appreciated. The remastered episodes may be coming to an end soon, just too much work for little reward for Ryan, but the unedited ones are there all the way through the end of the 4th adventure on our channel! <a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4QDR_zXNcOPh-QTC-kxyWBKiGKn9I3Xn" target="_blank">Here is the playlist for the uncut versions instead.</a> We have them on Spotify as well I believe, though I'd have to ask for the playlist link there if it is wanted. I'll continue posting my reviews, but they may come in groups of episodes instead of each one.</blockquote>

Verification