NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="THEMNGMNT" data-source="post: 8506265" data-attributes="member: 6809274">9th session of Monte Cook's 3E Banewarrens campaign run with Shadow of the Demon Lord on Owlbear Rodeo.Five player characters at Level 2:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dwarf Warrior. Heir to a lost kingdom -- in this case, Dwarvenhearth, deep beneath Ptolus. His trinket is half of a treasure map.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Elf Magician. Outcast from elven lands, raised in Ptolus, keeper of a dark secret. His magical traditions are Arcana, Teleportation, and Chaos.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Goblin Magician. Responsible for the destruction of his tribe. Specialized in the Fire and Forbidden magic traditions.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Changeling Magician. An awesome background: Outcast by her "adopted family" and looking for her "sister"--the child she replaced. Her magical themes are light and darkness, using the Celestial and Shadow traditions.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Human 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.</li> </ul>This was yet another session with lots of social interaction and roleplaying where no dice were rolled. The lethality of low level SotDL is causing my players to avoid combat and focus on investigating the mysteries of the world. Not a development I anticipated when I was planning this campaign!Fortunately, we had a couple big reveals this session that got everyone pumped.The players have cleared the Broken Seal entry to the Banewarrens, but need to find a way through a magically sealed door deeper into the Banewarrens. They've begun investigating the origins of the Banewarrens. If they can understand how it was constructed, maybe they can understand how to get into and out of it.In a lengthy scene with their patron at the Church of Lothian, Sister Mara von Witten, they discovered the Banewarrens had been built thousands of years ago by a high cleric called Danar. But, unknown to most, Danar had succumbed to an artifact called the Book of Inverted Darkness. It transformed him into Eslathagos Malkith, the Dread One.This was a big reveal that crystallized the danger posed by the Banewarrens.Further, they learned that Danar/Malkith had created keys that allowed him and his servants to navigate the Banewarrens. Sister Mara let slip that she possesses one of the keys. But she wants to hold it in reserve as a back up. Another key is rumored to be in possession of House Vladaam, the most sinister of Ptolus' twelve noble families. Sister Mara believes the key cannot be allowed to remain in the Vladaam's possession. The Church can't steal it. But the characters? That's another matter.The characters agreed to take the job. They gave Sister Mara a list of the gear and magic they would need. She agreed to provide it but needed a few days to pull it all together.Meanwhile, the players travelled to the Warrens -- the most wretched slum in Ptolus. There they met with an old washer woman who once worked at House Vladaam and bore them a grudge. When she saw the characters she was terrified of them. Of one of them in particular. The changeling. Because the changeling looked exactly like Navanna Vladaam, scion of House Vladaam.This was a huge reveal. The player had conceived the character as looking like a beautiful woman that had once passed her on the street long ago. But he didn't know who the woman was. Well, now he does! Furthermore, the changeling had not revealed her nature to the other characters. So in this moment they learned that she was a shapeshifter.This was a fun scene as I locked into my best old crone impersonation. She made the Vladaam's sound absolutely wicked, the epitome of evil, and her descriptions of what would happen to the characters if captured really got under the players' skin. One of my best moments.Ultimately, the old woman agreed to provide a map of the nobles' estate, which is what the characters had come for. What the players don't yet realize is that the old woman is, in fact, Navanna Vladaam in disguise.Next session: The Onyx Spider!</blockquote>

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