I like that adventure, especially the Mountain Door section.
D&D General How Was Your Last Session?
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Eberron! We open in Korth, capital of Karrnath. The group enters an apothecary, have a chat with the young man at the counter, and then go to the back room to meet Yulia’s contact, the coal-black Tabaxi spy, Midnight. Midnight informs them of some stuff, and suggest the meet their benefactor, and Yulia’s mysterious patron, both of whom will be at the manor of Vidanya’s family.
I had up to 3 encounters ready, but they rocked the group stealth to move unnoticed through the city.
They make it to the manor, and as the old butler is greeting them, assassins strike!
With Vidanya’s whole family there, and 4 different fighting NPCs along for the ride, I narrated part of the fight to introduce the idea of there being 3 separate fronts to the battle.
A flank by Emerald Claw knights and assassins from the eastern streets is blocked by the Rogachovyas and a family friend.
On the rooftops, Khalid the Shadar-Kai monk, Inigo the halfling sniper ranger, Midnight, and Dame Uldrana the former Emerald Claw cultist who now follows Vidanya were on the rooftops keeping snipers and flanking manuevers under control.
the party and Yulia are at the steps of the manor.
A mysterious stranger is impossibly dark black armor with silver highlights and a circlet engraved into his skull helm wielding a sword made of darkness flies out of a window in the manor, apparently one of the family’s dinner guests, to meet an equally enigmatic figure who seems to be leading the assault. They have a very anime sword fight on a the very steep rooftop of a nearby cathedral.
The commander of the forces is in dark red armor with a helmet that features draconic back-swept horns, as are his lieutenants.
About half the assassins seem to hear aberrant Dragonmarks, while the others seem to be Emerald Claw zealots and mercenaries.
As the tide turns in favor of the team, the lieutenant leading the frontal assault uses an action to return 2 dead assassins to the fray as burning undead, who burn with a dark red flame. The lieutenant is engaged with Vidanya, and suddenly her smites are doing more damage, indicating he become undead himself by using that ability.
The fight continues, cools stuff happens. The burning undead seem to be animated by the dark red flame.
As the lieutenant gets more hurt, he begins to burn with the same dark flame and become more like a wraith. The commander has also become a dark flame wraith by this point, and flees saying, “The Dark Flame will return, and the Onyx Skull will die!”
When the fight is over, Vidanya’s family (who are Vryloka, which I’ve built in a way where they can turn into either wolves or mist) go on a hunt in their special forms, hunting down the fleeing assassins.
We fade to black and return in the manor’s parlor, a couple hours later. The mysterious ally removes his helm to reveal that he is King Kaius of Karrnath, and also revealing that he is a vampire (his visage hadn’t quite returned to normal). Finally, he approaches Yulia, kisses her forehead, and tells her, “Well done!”
We leave the session with Vidanya yelling “what the naughty word have you been doing!?” at her little sister.
I had up to 3 encounters ready, but they rocked the group stealth to move unnoticed through the city.
They make it to the manor, and as the old butler is greeting them, assassins strike!
With Vidanya’s whole family there, and 4 different fighting NPCs along for the ride, I narrated part of the fight to introduce the idea of there being 3 separate fronts to the battle.
A flank by Emerald Claw knights and assassins from the eastern streets is blocked by the Rogachovyas and a family friend.
On the rooftops, Khalid the Shadar-Kai monk, Inigo the halfling sniper ranger, Midnight, and Dame Uldrana the former Emerald Claw cultist who now follows Vidanya were on the rooftops keeping snipers and flanking manuevers under control.
the party and Yulia are at the steps of the manor.
A mysterious stranger is impossibly dark black armor with silver highlights and a circlet engraved into his skull helm wielding a sword made of darkness flies out of a window in the manor, apparently one of the family’s dinner guests, to meet an equally enigmatic figure who seems to be leading the assault. They have a very anime sword fight on a the very steep rooftop of a nearby cathedral.
The commander of the forces is in dark red armor with a helmet that features draconic back-swept horns, as are his lieutenants.
About half the assassins seem to hear aberrant Dragonmarks, while the others seem to be Emerald Claw zealots and mercenaries.
As the tide turns in favor of the team, the lieutenant leading the frontal assault uses an action to return 2 dead assassins to the fray as burning undead, who burn with a dark red flame. The lieutenant is engaged with Vidanya, and suddenly her smites are doing more damage, indicating he become undead himself by using that ability.
The fight continues, cools stuff happens. The burning undead seem to be animated by the dark red flame.
As the lieutenant gets more hurt, he begins to burn with the same dark flame and become more like a wraith. The commander has also become a dark flame wraith by this point, and flees saying, “The Dark Flame will return, and the Onyx Skull will die!”
When the fight is over, Vidanya’s family (who are Vryloka, which I’ve built in a way where they can turn into either wolves or mist) go on a hunt in their special forms, hunting down the fleeing assassins.
We fade to black and return in the manor’s parlor, a couple hours later. The mysterious ally removes his helm to reveal that he is King Kaius of Karrnath, and also revealing that he is a vampire (his visage hadn’t quite returned to normal). Finally, he approaches Yulia, kisses her forehead, and tells her, “Well done!”
We leave the session with Vidanya yelling “what the naughty word have you been doing!?” at her little sister.
The latest session of my modified version of Storm King's Thunder was juicy. It opened with action as the players mopped up the last of the bounty hunters who had pursued them from Waterdeep to here, the lost giant temple known as the Eye of the All-Father.
During the battle, their frost giant ally Harshnag (called "Harshang" in my version because, well, it's a better name) became the puppet of an intellect devourer. The characters slew the devourer...but they also had to slay Harshnag. The halfling bard used Raise Dead to bring the giant back to life. Then his mind was restored with Greater Restoration by the drow cleric of Lolth who had become their temporary ally. Harshnag, owing a life debt to the halfling, pledges loyalty to him.
Meanwhile, the other characters interrogated the lone surviving bounty hunter and cast Speak With Dead on another to discover that the bounty hunters had been summoned to the Eye of the All-Father by an enigmatic trinity of erinyes--devils--who in fact were waiting in the next chamber. The tiefling shadow sorcerer suspects that these erinyes are her sisters and may be able to shed light on the mystery of who her mother and father really are. Disturbed by these revelations, the tiefling coldbloodedly kills the surviving bounty hunter with Blight.
After a long rest, the characters advanced to the edge of the next chamber. The tiefling enters alone. The three erinyes inside call her sister and greet her warmly. Suddenly, pain wracks her body. She falls to her knees. And a pair of batlike wings rip from her back and unfurl above her. End scene.
Next session the players will parlay with the erinyes, get some answers, gain some questions, and likely earn the blessings of a giant god.
During the battle, their frost giant ally Harshnag (called "Harshang" in my version because, well, it's a better name) became the puppet of an intellect devourer. The characters slew the devourer...but they also had to slay Harshnag. The halfling bard used Raise Dead to bring the giant back to life. Then his mind was restored with Greater Restoration by the drow cleric of Lolth who had become their temporary ally. Harshnag, owing a life debt to the halfling, pledges loyalty to him.
Meanwhile, the other characters interrogated the lone surviving bounty hunter and cast Speak With Dead on another to discover that the bounty hunters had been summoned to the Eye of the All-Father by an enigmatic trinity of erinyes--devils--who in fact were waiting in the next chamber. The tiefling shadow sorcerer suspects that these erinyes are her sisters and may be able to shed light on the mystery of who her mother and father really are. Disturbed by these revelations, the tiefling coldbloodedly kills the surviving bounty hunter with Blight.
After a long rest, the characters advanced to the edge of the next chamber. The tiefling enters alone. The three erinyes inside call her sister and greet her warmly. Suddenly, pain wracks her body. She falls to her knees. And a pair of batlike wings rip from her back and unfurl above her. End scene.
Next session the players will parlay with the erinyes, get some answers, gain some questions, and likely earn the blessings of a giant god.
I finally got to do something I've been building up to for years: get my (now 19th-level) 3.5 D&D PC group into Gamma World. I dropped seeds from the very first adventure in the campaign; we just finished up adventure #74 (with 6 more to go in the campaign before we wrap it up). But they'll be spending the next month, in game, on Gamma Terra, which will incorporate the next four adventures. Then two more to wrap things back up on the home world and then we'll call it a campaign.
Oh, and this is probably worth mentioning: I killed off 2 PCs and 3 NPCs in the last battle before they even entered Gamma World; fortunately, they had received (two adventures prior) the means to have them all true resurrected in time for the exploration into Gamma Terra.
Johnathan
Oh, and this is probably worth mentioning: I killed off 2 PCs and 3 NPCs in the last battle before they even entered Gamma World; fortunately, they had received (two adventures prior) the means to have them all true resurrected in time for the exploration into Gamma Terra.
Johnathan
R_J_K75
Legend
I started a new 1st level 5E D&D campaign with 3 players set in the Forgotten Realms. Since everyone is social distancing and self-quarantining we are using Skype video calls to play for 2 to 3 hours twice a week. Its working OK but Skype is kind of quirky and the connection could be better, it cuts out here and there and even drops calls. The campaign is set in Cormyr out of Marsember. The players were on a boat hired to transport 4 individuals of a merchant costar and their cargo to Teziir. Unbeknownst to the crew of the boat, mixed in with the cargo were snakes. Snakes got lose on the boat, killed a few crewmen, and the hold was sealed off until the ship made land fall. Once in port and the cargo was unloaded the PCs decided to investigate and followed the merchants and their cargo through the streets of Teziir. When the merchants realized they were being followed, they attacked the PCs to keep them from meddling in their affairs. One of the PC's, a bard perished in the ensuing battle, bitten to death by a swarm of poisonous snakes and then inadvertently set on fire by a flask of flaming oil thrown by one of her compatriots. She was buried in a shallow grave marked by a makeshift cross along with her deflated bagpipes.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
I recommend trying discord video chat, or even just Facebook messenger video conference calling, over Skype, tbh.
I’ve had the least problems with discord, but I haven’t been using it for as long.
R_J_K75
Legend
Thanks. I will definitely keep this in mind and switch if we start experiencing significant problems. As of now they are just minor inconveniences. I actually think its the internet connection itself. I just did a speed test and heres what I got, Ping: 1 ms, Download: 10.60 Mbps, Upload: 18.95 Mbps. Im not too sure what it means but I think its about half of what Im paying for. With the amount of people stuck in their houses, streaming movies, connected to wifi and online Im surprised we can even game at all without getting more dropped calls or the lag being so great that it makes it impossible to have a conversation.
atanakar
Hero
Characters discovered underground caverns under their home city. During constructions the city engineers pierced man-holes down into the caverns to channel rain water out of the city.
While searching the basement of a spy's house they found a newly dug tunnel leading to the caverns. With 5 guards they searched the caverns and found a war band waiting to stage a take over of the city. The enemies were able to access the caverns via another access point well outside the city.
A major battle erupted between the 5 PCs and the enemy. It lasted 15 rounds. The enemy arrived in three waves of attacks as they were dispersed in adjoining caverns as look outs.
The spy was captured and thrown in jail for interrogation at the start of the next session.
While searching the basement of a spy's house they found a newly dug tunnel leading to the caverns. With 5 guards they searched the caverns and found a war band waiting to stage a take over of the city. The enemies were able to access the caverns via another access point well outside the city.
A major battle erupted between the 5 PCs and the enemy. It lasted 15 rounds. The enemy arrived in three waves of attacks as they were dispersed in adjoining caverns as look outs.
The spy was captured and thrown in jail for interrogation at the start of the next session.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Eberron. The PCs got to compare notes with King Kaius, found out that he is a vampire and that his great-grandson is pretending to be him pretending to be himself, all while using multiple layers of magic to hide both the fact that he isn’t a vampire and that he “is” a vampire, depending on who is looking. Like a nesting doll of deception and intrigue.
The cult of Vol thinks Kaius I is impersonating his descendent, when actually the two are working together to stop Vol and save Karrnath from whatever they’re planning.
Meanwhile, the PCs have figured out that Lady Vol is Erandis Vol, and comparing notes have figured out that the Emerald Claw and their allies are trying to manipulate Dragonmarks and prophecy, with necromancy, and force the magic that makes manifest zones work into people, to either resurrect Vol or bypass the limits of undeath and grant her access to the power of her Dragonmark in spite of her lichdom.
The nerds figured out that the magic is basically taking principles of “place magic” and “thing magic” and using necromancy (life and death magic) to force it into people. They also theorized that the Mourning involves mixing of place magic (manifest zones and other planar magic) with people magic (stuff that normally affects creatures), and that the two might be related.
Meanwhile, Kaius wants them to murder his vampire sire, who he cannot act directly against. Also he needs to be detached from it if they fail.
He also has advised them to gather their strength, research, find and craft items of power, and find more allies and resources to call upon.
So, after next sessions interlude into the lands in and around the eastern and northern Nightwood which are Vidanya’s family’s charter, they will be sent on various missions to gather new resources.
Gwen has a secret and very ambitious goal of healing the Mournland, and this session brought her one step closer to understand what the Mournland actually is (possibly both a perversion if creature magic made into place magic, and overlapping manifest zones. Inigo has asked her to join himom his next expedition into the Mournland for the Cyran crown in exile.
The cult of Vol thinks Kaius I is impersonating his descendent, when actually the two are working together to stop Vol and save Karrnath from whatever they’re planning.
Meanwhile, the PCs have figured out that Lady Vol is Erandis Vol, and comparing notes have figured out that the Emerald Claw and their allies are trying to manipulate Dragonmarks and prophecy, with necromancy, and force the magic that makes manifest zones work into people, to either resurrect Vol or bypass the limits of undeath and grant her access to the power of her Dragonmark in spite of her lichdom.
The nerds figured out that the magic is basically taking principles of “place magic” and “thing magic” and using necromancy (life and death magic) to force it into people. They also theorized that the Mourning involves mixing of place magic (manifest zones and other planar magic) with people magic (stuff that normally affects creatures), and that the two might be related.
Meanwhile, Kaius wants them to murder his vampire sire, who he cannot act directly against. Also he needs to be detached from it if they fail.
He also has advised them to gather their strength, research, find and craft items of power, and find more allies and resources to call upon.
So, after next sessions interlude into the lands in and around the eastern and northern Nightwood which are Vidanya’s family’s charter, they will be sent on various missions to gather new resources.
Gwen has a secret and very ambitious goal of healing the Mournland, and this session brought her one step closer to understand what the Mournland actually is (possibly both a perversion if creature magic made into place magic, and overlapping manifest zones. Inigo has asked her to join himom his next expedition into the Mournland for the Cyran crown in exile.
It was! Gloriously gross and amazing. Luckily with high level PCs they were able to bring the poor dwarf back.
Last night's session was equally epic. The party returned to the dungeon, made an alliance with the Githyanki and assaulted the illithid stronghold anew (even the the githyanki captain tried to trick the PCs into taking on the neothelid first).
8 orogs and 6 illithis vs 4 PCs and 6 githyanki. It was an awesome battle that almost saw the dwarf get dominated again (last time that happened he smeared the nature cleric into red butter).
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