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Fuzzybear's Burning Sky
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<blockquote data-quote="Fuzzybear" data-source="post: 9068350" data-attributes="member: 6917259"><p><h3>The Pressure Builds...</h3><p>Well, this was probably our best session of the campaign! We were able to play in person (the first time in probably 10 years) and for a much longer session than normal, so things were off to a good start even before we picked up the dice. Then the session itself had a bit of everything, some decent combat where the players got to feel smart, a number of situations that played into character strengths as it turned out, some humor, and a bit of roleplay encounter as well. I probably couldn't have scripted a better session to be the one that we play in person like this, and I didn't even try to line anything up specifically. Just a very fortunate accident that played out perfectly.</p><p></p><p>We led things off with the combat at the lift station. Opening the door with a scout rogue, they initially tried to retreat and keep their distance, but with the gnoll caster staying out of site and the skeleton fodder blocking their line of sight and taking defensive actions, they eventually closed in. This allowed the wall of fire to be dropped, rolling poor damage, and then was nearly immediately dropped by a perfect crossbow bolt weaving through all of the madness to hit the priority target and a natural 1 on concentration. With that gone, the combat wrapped quickly, the skeletons not standing up to the fury of a bludgeoning monk for long and the caster having his gimmick nearly instantly dropped. In retrospect, ideally I should have run the gnoll out of sight again after casting the wall to prevent this happening, but it did make for a really enjoyable moment for the party.</p><p></p><p>They debated for a moment what to do with the machinery they found, but a solid roll from Rev to understand things and a Mending cast solved the pumps problems just as the stream came unblocked from Clan Millorn's efforts down the waterway. The sound of water fills the castle walls as the pressure starts to build, but they know it will take the majority of a day for enough pressure to build to take the lift upwards. They also don't understand the mechanism there, thinking it a simple elevator where the floors are "numbered" in alphabetical order instead of a complicated puzzle. I was going to have Jorrina clue them in should it be required, but they wanted to press along anyway with the session having just started.</p><p></p><p>Continuing to stretch their resources as far as they could, the group opened the door to the bath house next. Inside they found the hellwasps and zombie beekeeper. They were about to just shut the door and leave, but Rev placed the creatures and realized the honey could be valuable and useful, so instead they headed in to try to communicate with the gesturing and grunting zombie (zombee?). Contrary to what the adventure said, I decided that with the water starting to pour into the hives, the beekeeper would actually be willing to parlay with the adventurers if they were willing to try to save his wasps. It took some diplomacy and some animal handling checks (which one of my players just loves having actually trained in them), but they were able to cap one of the baths from filling up and relocate the hive from the other together to allow the wasps to continue to thrive. In return, the beekeeper and wasps allowed them to harvest the honey from one of the hives, the fruits of their labors for the saving of their home. While it was intended to be a trap in the original, or the hives were to be destroyed if the water filled in, the timing allowed it to be something of a desperate situation instead of fighting.</p><p></p><p>Finally, with Clan Millorn searching the other side of the lower level, the group heads up towards the banquet hall and the group resisting and hiding from the Dark Pyre. While they stealthed around to search the area, I wanted to get the information out to the party that this group was different before they found their way inside. So even though they avoided the main door, I had them roll stealth (which the cleric rolled awfully at of course) to allow the brief song from Findle to be heard from within mocking the skeletons who couldn't get in. By the time that they found the secret passage, Jack nearly falling prey to the false map, they had an idea that these were not necessarily enemies. So instead of coming in guns blazing, they came in disguise. Lord Gorquith saw through the disguises immediately of course, knowing all of his retinue by this point all too well, but did allow them the chance to speak.</p><p></p><p>I got to have a lot of fun with a ooze slopping around, using the skull of the skeleton inside the gel to speak. It explained the situation that these found themselves in, undead but resisting the true enemies upstairs, and willing to work together for the right price... life anew. The party already had the scroll of resurrection from the chapel previously, but have no one at a high enough level to cast it naturally of course. This became a very tense dice roll as Bryn attempted to use the scroll, backed up by Enhance Ability, bardic inspiration, and guidance all, and successfully raised Gorquith back from his ooze state! In return, the man plunges his hand back inside the ooze (for dramatic effect) and pulls free a scrap of paper with the code to the lift written upon it. Suddenly it all clicks for the party and they are thanking their lucky stars that they didn't just try to pull the lift handle right away as they realize just how dead they would have likely been since it wouldn't stop once begun. </p><p></p><p>The other undead nobles look at Gorquith with a mixture of resentment and hunger, but he tells the party not to worry about him but to get on their way up to take down Coaltongue (who he believes is still in control) and the inquisitor Griiat who killed him. My party had been thinking that it was Guthwulf in the mirror and who was in control of things here since he had been a repeated name as a thorn in their side, but now they wonder just who it will be at the top of the castle awaiting them.</p><p></p><p>The sequence found, the waters building, and the lift secured, the party stops to take their long rest as the end of our session comes up. But one more thing happens before we can wrap up. Jack and Winry decided to record their discussion ahead of time about what happened and what is going to happen going forward. They both thought that doing such intimate roleplay live for the first session in person in forever would be incredibly awkward, especially given that they are both married to other players in the game, so they pre-recorded the social encounter instead with me listening in. It was perfect and so well received by everyone as Jack bumbled his way through, talking over much and understanding too little, but in the end getting just right where he needed to as in the end the two of them come walking back to the tiny hut of Bryn's holding hands and ready to move forward together.</p><p></p><p>I know there were a fair number of things that went different from the adventure in pretty small ways, but overall the session was nearly perfect. We did still record this one, though it will be around 4 hours long instead of our normal roughly 2 hours, and it was done with 1 mic on a boom over the center of the table. I hope that we can get that uploaded in short order and get things caught up there as I know we have been behind a bit, but we are all really pleased as to how the campaign is going and wish we could do this more often.</p><p></p><p>Thanks for reading the write up! I'll be back in a couple of weeks and going forward with more regular updates as our sessions happen from now on! Next time, a ride up into the pyre's heart.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fuzzybear, post: 9068350, member: 6917259"] [HEADING=2]The Pressure Builds...[/HEADING] Well, this was probably our best session of the campaign! We were able to play in person (the first time in probably 10 years) and for a much longer session than normal, so things were off to a good start even before we picked up the dice. Then the session itself had a bit of everything, some decent combat where the players got to feel smart, a number of situations that played into character strengths as it turned out, some humor, and a bit of roleplay encounter as well. I probably couldn't have scripted a better session to be the one that we play in person like this, and I didn't even try to line anything up specifically. Just a very fortunate accident that played out perfectly. We led things off with the combat at the lift station. Opening the door with a scout rogue, they initially tried to retreat and keep their distance, but with the gnoll caster staying out of site and the skeleton fodder blocking their line of sight and taking defensive actions, they eventually closed in. This allowed the wall of fire to be dropped, rolling poor damage, and then was nearly immediately dropped by a perfect crossbow bolt weaving through all of the madness to hit the priority target and a natural 1 on concentration. With that gone, the combat wrapped quickly, the skeletons not standing up to the fury of a bludgeoning monk for long and the caster having his gimmick nearly instantly dropped. In retrospect, ideally I should have run the gnoll out of sight again after casting the wall to prevent this happening, but it did make for a really enjoyable moment for the party. They debated for a moment what to do with the machinery they found, but a solid roll from Rev to understand things and a Mending cast solved the pumps problems just as the stream came unblocked from Clan Millorn's efforts down the waterway. The sound of water fills the castle walls as the pressure starts to build, but they know it will take the majority of a day for enough pressure to build to take the lift upwards. They also don't understand the mechanism there, thinking it a simple elevator where the floors are "numbered" in alphabetical order instead of a complicated puzzle. I was going to have Jorrina clue them in should it be required, but they wanted to press along anyway with the session having just started. Continuing to stretch their resources as far as they could, the group opened the door to the bath house next. Inside they found the hellwasps and zombie beekeeper. They were about to just shut the door and leave, but Rev placed the creatures and realized the honey could be valuable and useful, so instead they headed in to try to communicate with the gesturing and grunting zombie (zombee?). Contrary to what the adventure said, I decided that with the water starting to pour into the hives, the beekeeper would actually be willing to parlay with the adventurers if they were willing to try to save his wasps. It took some diplomacy and some animal handling checks (which one of my players just loves having actually trained in them), but they were able to cap one of the baths from filling up and relocate the hive from the other together to allow the wasps to continue to thrive. In return, the beekeeper and wasps allowed them to harvest the honey from one of the hives, the fruits of their labors for the saving of their home. While it was intended to be a trap in the original, or the hives were to be destroyed if the water filled in, the timing allowed it to be something of a desperate situation instead of fighting. Finally, with Clan Millorn searching the other side of the lower level, the group heads up towards the banquet hall and the group resisting and hiding from the Dark Pyre. While they stealthed around to search the area, I wanted to get the information out to the party that this group was different before they found their way inside. So even though they avoided the main door, I had them roll stealth (which the cleric rolled awfully at of course) to allow the brief song from Findle to be heard from within mocking the skeletons who couldn't get in. By the time that they found the secret passage, Jack nearly falling prey to the false map, they had an idea that these were not necessarily enemies. So instead of coming in guns blazing, they came in disguise. Lord Gorquith saw through the disguises immediately of course, knowing all of his retinue by this point all too well, but did allow them the chance to speak. I got to have a lot of fun with a ooze slopping around, using the skull of the skeleton inside the gel to speak. It explained the situation that these found themselves in, undead but resisting the true enemies upstairs, and willing to work together for the right price... life anew. The party already had the scroll of resurrection from the chapel previously, but have no one at a high enough level to cast it naturally of course. This became a very tense dice roll as Bryn attempted to use the scroll, backed up by Enhance Ability, bardic inspiration, and guidance all, and successfully raised Gorquith back from his ooze state! In return, the man plunges his hand back inside the ooze (for dramatic effect) and pulls free a scrap of paper with the code to the lift written upon it. Suddenly it all clicks for the party and they are thanking their lucky stars that they didn't just try to pull the lift handle right away as they realize just how dead they would have likely been since it wouldn't stop once begun. The other undead nobles look at Gorquith with a mixture of resentment and hunger, but he tells the party not to worry about him but to get on their way up to take down Coaltongue (who he believes is still in control) and the inquisitor Griiat who killed him. My party had been thinking that it was Guthwulf in the mirror and who was in control of things here since he had been a repeated name as a thorn in their side, but now they wonder just who it will be at the top of the castle awaiting them. The sequence found, the waters building, and the lift secured, the party stops to take their long rest as the end of our session comes up. But one more thing happens before we can wrap up. Jack and Winry decided to record their discussion ahead of time about what happened and what is going to happen going forward. They both thought that doing such intimate roleplay live for the first session in person in forever would be incredibly awkward, especially given that they are both married to other players in the game, so they pre-recorded the social encounter instead with me listening in. It was perfect and so well received by everyone as Jack bumbled his way through, talking over much and understanding too little, but in the end getting just right where he needed to as in the end the two of them come walking back to the tiny hut of Bryn's holding hands and ready to move forward together. I know there were a fair number of things that went different from the adventure in pretty small ways, but overall the session was nearly perfect. We did still record this one, though it will be around 4 hours long instead of our normal roughly 2 hours, and it was done with 1 mic on a boom over the center of the table. I hope that we can get that uploaded in short order and get things caught up there as I know we have been behind a bit, but we are all really pleased as to how the campaign is going and wish we could do this more often. Thanks for reading the write up! I'll be back in a couple of weeks and going forward with more regular updates as our sessions happen from now on! Next time, a ride up into the pyre's heart. [/QUOTE]
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