D&D General How Was Your Last Session?
Older Beholder
Hero
Had a really fun session last night.
We've been ordered to travel to 'The Academy' to enlist a wizard that specializes in water based magic, with the aim of creating an air pocket beneath a lake for purpose of an archeological dig in enemy territory.
We started with a lot of roleplay in the town outside the academy as we tried to find the wizard we were looking for. Eventually we got into the academy and did a bunch of puzzles in a magical library before finding the guy. He took some convincing, but in the end has agreed, although has said he needs 3 days to research and prepare the spell.
In the meantime we've gone to explore some nearby 'Ooze Caves' we had heard about. We just got into the caves at the end of the session.
I've been playing a barbarian/druid in this campaign and I've been enjoying the combo a lot.
We've been ordered to travel to 'The Academy' to enlist a wizard that specializes in water based magic, with the aim of creating an air pocket beneath a lake for purpose of an archeological dig in enemy territory.
We started with a lot of roleplay in the town outside the academy as we tried to find the wizard we were looking for. Eventually we got into the academy and did a bunch of puzzles in a magical library before finding the guy. He took some convincing, but in the end has agreed, although has said he needs 3 days to research and prepare the spell.
In the meantime we've gone to explore some nearby 'Ooze Caves' we had heard about. We just got into the caves at the end of the session.
I've been playing a barbarian/druid in this campaign and I've been enjoying the combo a lot.
EzekielRaiden
Follower of the Way
Last session, the party finally opened the master bedroom of the ancient Al-Shafadir palace. The room itself was kind of dull, clearly set up to protect the furniture with magical and mundane means, but they knew more had to be going on. Moreover, the room had some very impressive magic items: a pair of large glass "windows." See, this being the private bedroom of some powerful genie-rajahs, having open windows was a bit of a gamble, but having no windows would have been drab. So they had magic glass installed, panes magically treated so they would reveal what was on the other side of the wall! The party spent a bit of time in the middle of the session learning what they could about how it worked and hoping to copy its magic later (cooperating with their wizard and expert artificer ally, Hafsa).
Investigating the room, they were able to locate a hidden latch that revealed a secret chamber containing a magic "panic room" type thing. Basically, the genie-rajahs (and both of their successor cultures, the mortals who replaced them in the mortal world and who were the ancestors of the PCs, and the Jinnistani genies who departed the mortal world for the elemental otherworld, Al-Akirah) would magically treat a wall so that it would become a portal to a room completely cut off from the rest of the house, often buried underground, as a way to hide secrets or escape attackers. This one, however, had something strange on its portal mural.
Similar to the very first mural they found of this kind (at a human-built house in Al-Rakkah), it featured two trees. One tree, on the left, was a kind they were familiar with, the hikmah tree. This tree is called the "tree of wisdom." It grows very slowly (think olives and other trees that need several years before they produce proper fruit) but it has some alchemical activity in its fruit and really can encourage enlightenment and wisdom. It wasn't much of a surprise to see this tree there, as they had found other hikmah trees (not very healthy, mostly due to two millennia of neglect) on the palace grounds.
The other tree, however, was deeply strange. Unlike other Jinnistani plants they have seen, it was a relatively normal tree (as in, having leaves and fruit and such made of ordinary plant matter, not fire or ice or smoke etc.) But its appearance was weird, even disturbing. Its leaves were black, and it seemed to grow out of fire rather than earth. On its many branches, it bore fruit that looked like faces. The party Bard, whose area of knowledge is effectively cryptozoology (he carries a Bestiary of Creatures Unusual), identified the tree as a zaqqum, but that opened even more questions. Zaqqum are not good trees in the mythology of the Tarrakhuna. They are associated with sin and darkness and the knowledge of suffering. They're also extremely rare, to the point that none are known to exist and some modern-day naturalists are unsure if they ever existed at all, thinking they may have just been a metaphor for the faults of the often cruel and oppressive genie-rajahs when they ruled mortal kind in the ancient past. But a few fragmentary myths thought to be based on old genie beliefs present the zaqqum in a more positive light; it isn't a happy or joyful tree, but it is still serving a good end, by providing a more grounded form of understanding, compared to the implied abstractness and detachment of the hikmah's enlightenment.
Further, after a quick search located the physical key, the party Spellslinger (hybrid wizard, sharpshooter, and artificer) learned that the trigger word for the mural was the ancient genie-rajah word for "succession" or "inheritance," which seemed curious.
Inside they found an almost completely empty private vault, containing mostly just empty chests and storage stuff. But on the far side, in a prominent spot, was a single wooden box. Its surface was covered in lovely carvings of fire and water. And just as hoped, it contained the two elemental jewels they were looking for. The jewels, shaped like a teardrop and a little flame, strongly resembled lesser versions of other objects the players previously found. Where the prior ones were more like powerful artifacts capable of major feats, these roughly golf ball sized jewels are more like major magic items, potent focuses for elemental energy but not nearly as capable of major feats. (E.g. the previous stones had the power to alter the winds and weather of the entire region in capable hands; these smaller ones might be usable on a radius of a hundred feet perhaps. Still useful, but waaaay weaker.)
Before departing the palace, the players decided to check out the basement, which they correctly assumed contained the regular vaults. At first it was mostly just odd, but then the Druid started getting really, really disoriented. Trying to use his spirit sight in this place gave him the feeling of looking into a kaleidoscope. So they cautiously advanced into the first hallway after the loading and unloading room, and doing so caused the Druid's kaleidoscope vision to shift. Going back to the entry room shifted it to where it had been before.
Turns out, the genies were damn clever with their security. The basement is a minor labyrinth, but every connecting door is actually a magic portal connecting to a different spot in the labyrinth. They designed the doors so that, if you couldn't circumvent these portal "traps," you could never get to the "island" (isolated from surrounding walls so the "right hand on the wall" trick won't get you there either) where the real treasures were. Party defeated those traps and found four treasures (coincidentally one each). Two treasures, as I shared when I pasted in the table, rolled up as "There is Absolutely Nothing Wrong with the item you find!" (Cursed, but the curse is not obvious.) One was a set of tiger claws (punching weapons) with a berserker rage thing, basically making you very strong (increase class damage die by 1 size) but forced to fight to the death and ah...taste one's success, shall we say. The other is a vorpal sword that works just like a regular one...but if you botch an attack you must defy danger to prevent it from cutting off something on yourself, making it rather dangerous to use. The third, which rolled as obviously cursed, was a belted wolfhide cloak...that forcibly turns the wearer into a desert wolf (thought to have been a punishment device). Finally, the Bard found...ERMAHGERD, SHOES! We don't know what they do yet, but they're "something Special."
After collecting their treasures (and the Spellslinger making damn sure no one USES any of them until they're ALL checked for curses), the party ascended and went to the fire-and-water temple that had been their ACTUAL goal for quite some time. They used the knowledge they had previously gathered, their elemental attunements and personal connections to water and fire, and their own improvisations, to perform the Danse Paradox, the dance of fire and water, allowing them to pass the traps guarding the deeper parts of the temple.
We ended session with them entering an underground chamber that looked, strangely, VERY MUCH like a Kahina (druids and shamans) place of study and ritual. Near the center of the large, somewhat dome shaped semi natural cavern, they saw two healthy trees...a hikmah and a zaqqum.
And next session, they will learn many things.
Investigating the room, they were able to locate a hidden latch that revealed a secret chamber containing a magic "panic room" type thing. Basically, the genie-rajahs (and both of their successor cultures, the mortals who replaced them in the mortal world and who were the ancestors of the PCs, and the Jinnistani genies who departed the mortal world for the elemental otherworld, Al-Akirah) would magically treat a wall so that it would become a portal to a room completely cut off from the rest of the house, often buried underground, as a way to hide secrets or escape attackers. This one, however, had something strange on its portal mural.
Similar to the very first mural they found of this kind (at a human-built house in Al-Rakkah), it featured two trees. One tree, on the left, was a kind they were familiar with, the hikmah tree. This tree is called the "tree of wisdom." It grows very slowly (think olives and other trees that need several years before they produce proper fruit) but it has some alchemical activity in its fruit and really can encourage enlightenment and wisdom. It wasn't much of a surprise to see this tree there, as they had found other hikmah trees (not very healthy, mostly due to two millennia of neglect) on the palace grounds.
The other tree, however, was deeply strange. Unlike other Jinnistani plants they have seen, it was a relatively normal tree (as in, having leaves and fruit and such made of ordinary plant matter, not fire or ice or smoke etc.) But its appearance was weird, even disturbing. Its leaves were black, and it seemed to grow out of fire rather than earth. On its many branches, it bore fruit that looked like faces. The party Bard, whose area of knowledge is effectively cryptozoology (he carries a Bestiary of Creatures Unusual), identified the tree as a zaqqum, but that opened even more questions. Zaqqum are not good trees in the mythology of the Tarrakhuna. They are associated with sin and darkness and the knowledge of suffering. They're also extremely rare, to the point that none are known to exist and some modern-day naturalists are unsure if they ever existed at all, thinking they may have just been a metaphor for the faults of the often cruel and oppressive genie-rajahs when they ruled mortal kind in the ancient past. But a few fragmentary myths thought to be based on old genie beliefs present the zaqqum in a more positive light; it isn't a happy or joyful tree, but it is still serving a good end, by providing a more grounded form of understanding, compared to the implied abstractness and detachment of the hikmah's enlightenment.
Further, after a quick search located the physical key, the party Spellslinger (hybrid wizard, sharpshooter, and artificer) learned that the trigger word for the mural was the ancient genie-rajah word for "succession" or "inheritance," which seemed curious.
Inside they found an almost completely empty private vault, containing mostly just empty chests and storage stuff. But on the far side, in a prominent spot, was a single wooden box. Its surface was covered in lovely carvings of fire and water. And just as hoped, it contained the two elemental jewels they were looking for. The jewels, shaped like a teardrop and a little flame, strongly resembled lesser versions of other objects the players previously found. Where the prior ones were more like powerful artifacts capable of major feats, these roughly golf ball sized jewels are more like major magic items, potent focuses for elemental energy but not nearly as capable of major feats. (E.g. the previous stones had the power to alter the winds and weather of the entire region in capable hands; these smaller ones might be usable on a radius of a hundred feet perhaps. Still useful, but waaaay weaker.)
Before departing the palace, the players decided to check out the basement, which they correctly assumed contained the regular vaults. At first it was mostly just odd, but then the Druid started getting really, really disoriented. Trying to use his spirit sight in this place gave him the feeling of looking into a kaleidoscope. So they cautiously advanced into the first hallway after the loading and unloading room, and doing so caused the Druid's kaleidoscope vision to shift. Going back to the entry room shifted it to where it had been before.
Turns out, the genies were damn clever with their security. The basement is a minor labyrinth, but every connecting door is actually a magic portal connecting to a different spot in the labyrinth. They designed the doors so that, if you couldn't circumvent these portal "traps," you could never get to the "island" (isolated from surrounding walls so the "right hand on the wall" trick won't get you there either) where the real treasures were. Party defeated those traps and found four treasures (coincidentally one each). Two treasures, as I shared when I pasted in the table, rolled up as "There is Absolutely Nothing Wrong with the item you find!" (Cursed, but the curse is not obvious.) One was a set of tiger claws (punching weapons) with a berserker rage thing, basically making you very strong (increase class damage die by 1 size) but forced to fight to the death and ah...taste one's success, shall we say. The other is a vorpal sword that works just like a regular one...but if you botch an attack you must defy danger to prevent it from cutting off something on yourself, making it rather dangerous to use. The third, which rolled as obviously cursed, was a belted wolfhide cloak...that forcibly turns the wearer into a desert wolf (thought to have been a punishment device). Finally, the Bard found...ERMAHGERD, SHOES! We don't know what they do yet, but they're "something Special."
After collecting their treasures (and the Spellslinger making damn sure no one USES any of them until they're ALL checked for curses), the party ascended and went to the fire-and-water temple that had been their ACTUAL goal for quite some time. They used the knowledge they had previously gathered, their elemental attunements and personal connections to water and fire, and their own improvisations, to perform the Danse Paradox, the dance of fire and water, allowing them to pass the traps guarding the deeper parts of the temple.
We ended session with them entering an underground chamber that looked, strangely, VERY MUCH like a Kahina (druids and shamans) place of study and ritual. Near the center of the large, somewhat dome shaped semi natural cavern, they saw two healthy trees...a hikmah and a zaqqum.
And next session, they will learn many things.
36th session of my Neverwinter campaign. Three 7th level characters: half-orc vengeance paladin, human genie warlock, drow evoker wizard. Running a modified version of Hall of Harsh Reflections -- an adventure from the Age of Worms adventure path in Dungeon magazine -- which is part of ongoing, longterm plotline about a cabal of aberrations scheming to destroy Neverwinter.
In this session, the player characters are on a mission to neutralize a thieves guild of rogue drow. They're investigating the guild's activity in the slums of the city. What they don't know is the drow are allied with a mind flayer they tangled with several sessions back.
The PCs took a room at an inn for a long rest. While they slept they fell under the mental control of the mind flayer. They awake thinking they are in the real world, but actually they're in a dreamscape that shows what Neverwinter will be like under the rule of the mind flayers.
The inn is now abandoned, decayed. The surrounding neighborhood is in ruins. There are few signs of life. The streets are patrolled by spectators and other beholderkin. The sky is strangely dark and a beam of purplish light radiates from the center of the city.
At this point, the players think they're in some sort of time loop.
They ambush a spectator and kill it. Embedded in its skull is a strange black gem. Examining it, the drow remembers an ancient legend nearly lost to time about a massive, magical gem known as the Nightstone. The Nightstone was an artifact once controlled by the drow. Drow who underwent a ritual at the Nightstone were bound in alliance to anyone else who underwent the ritual as well -- so even sworn enemies could not fight or betray each other. It was a way for scheming, backstabbing drow to unite against a common enemy. But that was eons ago. And the Nightstone was lost somewhere deep in the Underdark.
Then the PCs realize it's the Nighstone that's the source of the purple light shooting up into the sky.
(I'm stealing/adapting this idea from the Pactlords of the Quaan in Monte Cook's 3E adventure The Banewarrens...which I'm currently running with a different group.)
The PCs decide to stick to their plan when they first entered the neighborhood -- to infiltrate a warehouse where the drow thieves are known to lair. When they enter the warehouse things get even more meta -- because it has the exact same layout/map as a warehouse the orc paladin's player infiltrated in Waterdeep. But he didn't infiltrate it in this campaign. He infiltrated it in another campaign, running concurrent to this one, where he plays a halfling rogue.
More on that later...
Next session: The Sodden Hold!
In this session, the player characters are on a mission to neutralize a thieves guild of rogue drow. They're investigating the guild's activity in the slums of the city. What they don't know is the drow are allied with a mind flayer they tangled with several sessions back.
The PCs took a room at an inn for a long rest. While they slept they fell under the mental control of the mind flayer. They awake thinking they are in the real world, but actually they're in a dreamscape that shows what Neverwinter will be like under the rule of the mind flayers.
The inn is now abandoned, decayed. The surrounding neighborhood is in ruins. There are few signs of life. The streets are patrolled by spectators and other beholderkin. The sky is strangely dark and a beam of purplish light radiates from the center of the city.
At this point, the players think they're in some sort of time loop.
They ambush a spectator and kill it. Embedded in its skull is a strange black gem. Examining it, the drow remembers an ancient legend nearly lost to time about a massive, magical gem known as the Nightstone. The Nightstone was an artifact once controlled by the drow. Drow who underwent a ritual at the Nightstone were bound in alliance to anyone else who underwent the ritual as well -- so even sworn enemies could not fight or betray each other. It was a way for scheming, backstabbing drow to unite against a common enemy. But that was eons ago. And the Nightstone was lost somewhere deep in the Underdark.
Then the PCs realize it's the Nighstone that's the source of the purple light shooting up into the sky.
(I'm stealing/adapting this idea from the Pactlords of the Quaan in Monte Cook's 3E adventure The Banewarrens...which I'm currently running with a different group.)
The PCs decide to stick to their plan when they first entered the neighborhood -- to infiltrate a warehouse where the drow thieves are known to lair. When they enter the warehouse things get even more meta -- because it has the exact same layout/map as a warehouse the orc paladin's player infiltrated in Waterdeep. But he didn't infiltrate it in this campaign. He infiltrated it in another campaign, running concurrent to this one, where he plays a halfling rogue.
More on that later...
Next session: The Sodden Hold!
16th session of Monte Cook's 3E Banewarrens campaign run with Shadow of the Demon Lord on Owlbear Rodeo.
Five player characters at Level 3:
The player characters are exploring the Outer Vaults. Last session ended with them discovering a cache of evil weapons. This session opened with them debating whether or not to use the weapons. I wanted the temptation to be real so I made the weapons overpowered. The dwarf fighter was the first to succumb -- he took a great axe that allows him to inflict the frightened condition on enemies. The goblin oracle fell next -- a rapier that gives him invisibility. Finally the changeling spellbinder -- a rapier that grants her the ability to heal herself. Each one gained a singled point of Corruption. Not a bad cost, right? What they don't know is that the Corruption will grow with each level they gain.
Moving on, the PCs began to explore undiscovered sections of the Outer Vaults. They were greatly aided by a sprite summoned by the elf wizard. Essentially it acts as a familiar which can scout ahead. As a DM I find this incredibly annoying but it makes the players feel great. They uncovered signs of the Pactlord strike team that entered the Banewarrens not long after them -- sprung traps, dead bodies, and opened vault doors.
Previously, the players had been stumped by a freezing trap that made it impossible to safely cross a hallway. Now they realized that the possessor of the Bane Key was immune to the cold. So they took turns attuning to the Key and crossing the hall.
When the team was split in half the Pactlords struck. The Pactlords had lost several members to their explorations of the Vaults. Only the ogre, harpy, and a mongrelman archer remained. The PCs threw everything they had at them. With the help of their new magic weapons they were able to triumph with surprising ease. The players rejoiced.
The PCs moved on, finding a section storing supplies for the ongoing construction of the Vault. Unfortunately, the dwarf fighter got himself trapped in a corridor that filled with poison gas. The elf wizard botched his lockpicking roll. The PCs used a combination of spells and force to open the door and free the fighter, but by the time they got to him he was unconscious and dying.
And that's the moment they were ambushed by the leader of the original Pactlord strike team, lost in the Banewarrens for weeks.
Next session: The Gorgon Strikes Back!
Five player characters at Level 3:
- Dwarf Fighter/Warrior. Heir to a lost kingdom. His trinket is half of a treasure map.
- Elf Wizard/Magician. Outcast from elven lands, raised in Ptolus, keeper of a dark secret. His magical traditions are Arcana, Teleportation, Chaos, and Fey.
- Goblin Oracle/Magician. Responsible for the destruction of his tribe. Specialized in the Fire and Forbidden magic traditions.
- Changeling Spellbinder/Magician. Created by House Vladaam to replace a child they kidnapped and held in servitude. Naturally, she wants revenge. Celestial and Battle traditions.
- Human Paladin/Priest. Cleric of Lothian, the core god of Ptolus. His magical traditions are Life, Theurgy, and Battle. His wife was murdered by undead and now he seeks answers.
The player characters are exploring the Outer Vaults. Last session ended with them discovering a cache of evil weapons. This session opened with them debating whether or not to use the weapons. I wanted the temptation to be real so I made the weapons overpowered. The dwarf fighter was the first to succumb -- he took a great axe that allows him to inflict the frightened condition on enemies. The goblin oracle fell next -- a rapier that gives him invisibility. Finally the changeling spellbinder -- a rapier that grants her the ability to heal herself. Each one gained a singled point of Corruption. Not a bad cost, right? What they don't know is that the Corruption will grow with each level they gain.
Moving on, the PCs began to explore undiscovered sections of the Outer Vaults. They were greatly aided by a sprite summoned by the elf wizard. Essentially it acts as a familiar which can scout ahead. As a DM I find this incredibly annoying but it makes the players feel great. They uncovered signs of the Pactlord strike team that entered the Banewarrens not long after them -- sprung traps, dead bodies, and opened vault doors.
Previously, the players had been stumped by a freezing trap that made it impossible to safely cross a hallway. Now they realized that the possessor of the Bane Key was immune to the cold. So they took turns attuning to the Key and crossing the hall.
When the team was split in half the Pactlords struck. The Pactlords had lost several members to their explorations of the Vaults. Only the ogre, harpy, and a mongrelman archer remained. The PCs threw everything they had at them. With the help of their new magic weapons they were able to triumph with surprising ease. The players rejoiced.
The PCs moved on, finding a section storing supplies for the ongoing construction of the Vault. Unfortunately, the dwarf fighter got himself trapped in a corridor that filled with poison gas. The elf wizard botched his lockpicking roll. The PCs used a combination of spells and force to open the door and free the fighter, but by the time they got to him he was unconscious and dying.
And that's the moment they were ambushed by the leader of the original Pactlord strike team, lost in the Banewarrens for weeks.
Next session: The Gorgon Strikes Back!
jasper
Rotten DM
They broke the DM. Me three times. I was TRYING to run Flames of Kythorn. I let the wizards role play hiring the rest of party. Then tried to give each pc a scene inside the Noble Art Showing. Even before the fire I had to take off my glasses. After the fire started well. Just say one I got back to the table there was no way we were going to finish with the clues the group got.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Last session went pretty well. Last session the party had completely deviated from their plans to go deal with a zombie outbreak. Thewy foudn them, they fought them, they were a lot tougher than expected. (They were Spawn of Kyuss, CR 5, reskinned just slightly as Plague Zombies caused by a Lair Regional Effect I gave to an Oinoloth.)
This session they again changed their plans: used skills and a Divination spell to figure out moer including where an Oinoloth likely came through, detoured to a chapterhouse of a knightly order of watchers (currently nigh-stripped for knights because of the war) that guard portals to the fiendish lands, got more information and help, and put together a plan.
They figured out that the current Duke, who is the evil uncle of one of the paladins, and has reason to believe the PC will he hunting him down, has made a pact with an Oinoloth. He wants to kill all of the elves, and dwarves had been genocided magically 460 years ago. The oinoloth has knowledge of the ritual, and will accept payment of the death of all elves for that ritual and to become the Duke's patron. So the Duke who they didnt' have any reason to physical fear then now know is a powerful warlock, with a Oinoloth inside.
Oh, did we mention that the Duke is lawfully in his position, the party are mostly wanted criminals because they support the (now former) Child-Empress instead of the new Regent and made death threats against the Regent. But the Child-Empress does not want them to "encourage regicide as a solution to problems"?
The researched how to force the Oinoloth out in order to have a legal reason to kill the Duke. They found they could kill the Vessel, which is backwards for their need, cause the Vessel to break it's pact (in case they wanted to try trickery), have an exorcism on Hallowed ground (skill challenge, but they are 8th level so just shy of casting Hallow), or things like Dispel Evil and Good (also 5th level).
So they brainstormed how to get the Duke into a consecrated ground when the realize that as part of the bread-and-circuses the Duke is doing is an Olympiad-expy. Which since the games are devoted to the gods will have a consecrated area.
So this session they took a bunch of random opportunities that were there and came up with a very workable plan to deal with this big bad that I never expected. Beautiful.
Next session we can see if the dice like it.
This session they again changed their plans: used skills and a Divination spell to figure out moer including where an Oinoloth likely came through, detoured to a chapterhouse of a knightly order of watchers (currently nigh-stripped for knights because of the war) that guard portals to the fiendish lands, got more information and help, and put together a plan.
They figured out that the current Duke, who is the evil uncle of one of the paladins, and has reason to believe the PC will he hunting him down, has made a pact with an Oinoloth. He wants to kill all of the elves, and dwarves had been genocided magically 460 years ago. The oinoloth has knowledge of the ritual, and will accept payment of the death of all elves for that ritual and to become the Duke's patron. So the Duke who they didnt' have any reason to physical fear then now know is a powerful warlock, with a Oinoloth inside.
Oh, did we mention that the Duke is lawfully in his position, the party are mostly wanted criminals because they support the (now former) Child-Empress instead of the new Regent and made death threats against the Regent. But the Child-Empress does not want them to "encourage regicide as a solution to problems"?
The researched how to force the Oinoloth out in order to have a legal reason to kill the Duke. They found they could kill the Vessel, which is backwards for their need, cause the Vessel to break it's pact (in case they wanted to try trickery), have an exorcism on Hallowed ground (skill challenge, but they are 8th level so just shy of casting Hallow), or things like Dispel Evil and Good (also 5th level).
So they brainstormed how to get the Duke into a consecrated ground when the realize that as part of the bread-and-circuses the Duke is doing is an Olympiad-expy. Which since the games are devoted to the gods will have a consecrated area.
So this session they took a bunch of random opportunities that were there and came up with a very workable plan to deal with this big bad that I never expected. Beautiful.
Next session we can see if the dice like it.
17th session of Monte Cook's 3E Banewarrens campaign run with Shadow of the Demon Lord on Owlbear Rodeo.
Five player characters at Level 3:
The downside to this battle was that all the players were so scared of being turned to stone that they kept their eyes averted for the entire fight. That led to a lot of whiffing. And it also meant I didn't get a chance to turn anyone to stone [sad DM emoji]. Halfway through the fight the players considered fleeing. Their only exit was through a frost trap that could freeze them solid. They decided to stand and fight.
Eventually they knocked the gorgon unconscious. They threw a bag over her head, bound her hands, and waited for her to wake up. They questioned her and got some intel on the Pactlords. Then they dragged her into the frost trap and put her on ice, literally.
In the gorgon's possession was a fragment of the staff of shards, which is a major magic item from the adventure. More on that next time...
Next session: The players finish their exploration of this level and ascend deeper into the Outer Vaults.
Five player characters at Level 3:
- Dwarf Fighter/Warrior. Heir to a lost kingdom. His trinket is half of a treasure map.
- Elf Wizard/Magician. Outcast from elven lands, raised in Ptolus, keeper of a dark secret. His magical traditions are Arcana, Teleportation, Chaos, and Fey.
- Goblin Oracle/Magician. Responsible for the destruction of his tribe. Specialized in the Fire and Forbidden magic traditions.
- Changeling Spellbinder/Magician. Created by House Vladaam to replace a child they kidnapped and held in servitude. Naturally, she wants revenge. Celestial and Battle traditions.
- Human Paladin/Priest. Cleric of Lothian, the primary god of Ptolus. His magical traditions are Life, Theurgy, and Battle. His wife was murdered by undead and now he seeks answers.
The downside to this battle was that all the players were so scared of being turned to stone that they kept their eyes averted for the entire fight. That led to a lot of whiffing. And it also meant I didn't get a chance to turn anyone to stone [sad DM emoji]. Halfway through the fight the players considered fleeing. Their only exit was through a frost trap that could freeze them solid. They decided to stand and fight.
Eventually they knocked the gorgon unconscious. They threw a bag over her head, bound her hands, and waited for her to wake up. They questioned her and got some intel on the Pactlords. Then they dragged her into the frost trap and put her on ice, literally.
In the gorgon's possession was a fragment of the staff of shards, which is a major magic item from the adventure. More on that next time...
Next session: The players finish their exploration of this level and ascend deeper into the Outer Vaults.
G
Guest 7034872
Guest
I think it's getting better. I'm still less organized than I wish I were (there's a lot to keep in your head on the fly as DM!), but I'm at least catching on to when I should shut up and let the players play versus when I should prompt action, and my motor mouth isn't so bad now.
It is surprising just how much information the DM has to keep in her/his head at any one moment: I had not expected that.
It is surprising just how much information the DM has to keep in her/his head at any one moment: I had not expected that.
37th session of my Neverwinter campaign. Three 7th level characters: half-orc vengeance paladin, human genie warlock, drow evoker wizard. Running a modified version of Hall of Harsh Reflections -- an adventure from the Age of Worms adventure path in Dungeon magazine -- which is part of ongoing, longterm plotline about a cabal of aberrations scheming to destroy Neverwinter.
The players haven't yet realized it, but while sleeping they were abducted by a mind flayer. They are now trapped in a dreamscape constructed by the mind flayer as it attempts to break their will and turn them into thralls. They believe they've somehow jumped into a future version of a post-apocalyptic Neverwinter.
In this session, they raided the Sodden Hold warehouse, lair of the mind flayer's minions -- a guild of drow thieves called the Night's Kiss. They defeated the commonfolk thralls who defended the entry and took a drow prisoner. Interrogating the prisoner, the drow evoker PC learned that his missing sister is the leader of the Night's Kiss. She's made a deal with the mind flayers -- she'll help them spawn an elder brain and conquer Neverwinter in return for leaving her drow homeland alone.
I'm leaving out some really fun roleplaying details as the PCs began to realize that the NPCs were perceiving a different reality than them.
It was a short session -- we had a lot of real life to discuss.
Next session: Deeper into the dream!
The players haven't yet realized it, but while sleeping they were abducted by a mind flayer. They are now trapped in a dreamscape constructed by the mind flayer as it attempts to break their will and turn them into thralls. They believe they've somehow jumped into a future version of a post-apocalyptic Neverwinter.
In this session, they raided the Sodden Hold warehouse, lair of the mind flayer's minions -- a guild of drow thieves called the Night's Kiss. They defeated the commonfolk thralls who defended the entry and took a drow prisoner. Interrogating the prisoner, the drow evoker PC learned that his missing sister is the leader of the Night's Kiss. She's made a deal with the mind flayers -- she'll help them spawn an elder brain and conquer Neverwinter in return for leaving her drow homeland alone.
I'm leaving out some really fun roleplaying details as the PCs began to realize that the NPCs were perceiving a different reality than them.
It was a short session -- we had a lot of real life to discuss.
Next session: Deeper into the dream!
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