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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Flynn" data-source="post: 4118708" data-attributes="member: 1836">Session Notes - 03/19/08Good Morning, All:Last night, we had a full house, and so it came to pass that we resumed our regularly scheduled fantasy campaign, already in progress. Although it was somewhat combat intensive, we did have a lot of fun with roleplay and background development as well.The Synopsis:After watching the hermit, Ol' Nubius, disappear into the forest, the band ate a quick cold breakfast and then proceeded into the fey wood. Yngvar Stonewall led the way, for this was his quest, and it seemed that the Skeinwood opened to his forceful presence, as trees and plants seemed to move aside to reveal a narrow path. The morning fog clung to the wood, as fey mists are apt to do, and so the adventurers could not see more than thirty or forty feet away.After an hour or so, the woods grew quite, and the elven priest Anzjin the Stave noted the nearby presence of large predators moving almost silently through the fog. He let forth a warning cry as large blood wolves charged forth from the mists. The leader of the pack heard the outcry and, noting that their surprise assault was rendered ineffective, howled a challenge of his own, quickly joined by the other three of his band.Few succumbed to the fearful presence brought about by the blood wolves' howls, and the band of adventurers quickly threw themselves into battle. The leader suffered the concentrated efforts of the party, falling first, which left the rest of the pack to fend for themselves. Through superior numbers, the party emerged victorious. The fighting was fierce, and although the adventurers survived the assault without a scratch, there were a number of close calls.When the battle was done, the carcass of the leader of the pack rose it's head and began speaking in a feyish tongue to Anzjin, the one that landed the final blow and felled him. The Magus Chrysander quickly cast a Speak Languages spell, and was able to understand the words of the beast. In short, the wolf stated that, as the victor, he should mark himself with the blood wolf's blood and proceed forward, where he will meet the Black Mother Serpents as his next challenge. When the magus translated, the party marked themselves or their equipment with the blood of the pack leader, and then followed Yngvar deeper into the Skeinwood.An hour or so passed, and the twisting trail emptied into a clearing. A natural spring pours forth from a rock wall, forming a small pond in the midst of the clearing. As Yngvar walked confidently forward to the pool and looked in, the rest of the party entered the clearing behind him. Calyt the Shade, being somewhat paranoid of ents and the Black Mother Serpents, climbed a nearby tree to prepare to make a ranged assault on whatever should come. As Yngvar peered into the water of the pool, he was filled with a vision, recalling the day he made his vow against the Sundered in perfect detail. As his vision ended, the water rippled and a huge serpent, black as night, rose up from the waters and towered over him. Meanwhile, a number of large serpents crawled forth from the clearing's edge, while another slithered across the branches of Calyt's tree, surprising the rogue by the suddenness of its presence near him.All but Yngvar were filled with fear by the presence of the Great Black Mother Serpent, though they fought valiantly. Calyt, in an effort to flee the serpent in the tree with him, dove forward agilely to the ground and burrowed into it using his magic. Like a diver entering a pool, his body was swallowed by the earth without harm. The tree serpent, having no one to feast upon, slithered down the tree and over to the closest target, the Magus Chrysander, landing on him a terrible blow. The rest of the band, led by the Warlord Andrus, fought the lesser serpents, leaving Yngvar to face the challenge of the Great Black Mother Serpent on his own. The dwarf found the challenge fitting, and despite being attacked by another serpent seeking to protect the Great One, the dwarf kept his attentions focused on the mother of all serpents. After an exchange of blows, Yngvar finally hooked the serpent's teeth with his shield, pulling the great head down where he landed a fiercesome blow on the fey beast, felling it. As he fought against the Great One, the others in the adventurers' band struck down the lesser serpents. Anzjin was even able to bring Chrysander back from the brink of death with a well-timed healing spell, after which Chrysander used the Gauntlet of Joven to restore his health.All told, the battle with the Black Mother Serpents left a few of the party wounded, and much of their magic spent. The body of the Great Black Mother Serpent spoke to the party in a hissing feyish tongue, but Chrysander was too shaken to get his spell up in time to understand. Uncertain as to what to do, the party recovered briefly, and then Yngvar, followed by others, took a moment to gather a scale from the Great One as proof of their victory, for the wolf had called for them to mark themselves with his blood earlier. With that, the adventurers pushed onward, determined to achieve their goal and leave the feywood before nightfall, for none shall stay in the feywood at night and survive till dawn, or so legend has told.As the sun reached its zenith, the party finally stumbled into another clearing, this one unmarked by mist or shadow. Within the center of the clearing stood an old and ancient ent, with a ancient great sword buried deep within its trunk, so that only the rune-covered hilt showed. At the base of the tree, a lithe man of white hair and silvery eyes rested. As the party entered, he rose, preparing a silvered shield and war pick. The party, recalling the advice of Ol' Nubius, chose to parley instead of fight.Using Chrysander's Speak Language spell, Yngvar spoke to the knightly man, Sir Gordian, and learned that he was a Custodian Sentinel of the Fourth Dominion. It was his place to guard the sword Tiwazbrandr from evil, and only allow those of purpose and will the chance to attempt to draw it forth from the tree. After witnessing the blooded shield and the serpent scale that Yngvar presented, the party faltered when Sir Gordian asked for a symbol of their third challenge. The party invited Sir Gordian to join them for a small feast, and they toasted their accomplishments, presenting their worth in tales and stories. When they were done eating, Sir Gordian requested once more for the third symbol. After an exchange where Sir Gordian questioned Yngvar as to his purpose for coming after the blade, he asked Yngvar to recite his vow against the Sundered Kings. When the lengthy vow was duly quoted, and Sir Gordian was satisfied, he granted the dwarf permission to attempt to draw Tiwazbrandr from the ent. The blade gave to his will, and with a strong pull, Yngvar freed the ancient dwarven blade from the ent.The Sentinel gave his farewells, and ascended to the Vault of Heaven amidts a celestial chorus and divine light, leaving the party to return through the Skeinwood. Having spoken with the ent that bore the sword, Chrysander learned that they must leave the few wood before nightfall, lest they be immasculated by the ents because the elven priest has been carrying around a spear made from the heartwood of the ent from Amberdale. The Magus urged his companions to leave the Skeinwood, and they emerged on the periphery a few hours before dusk.Making their way toward Moonwell, the party arrived at the edge of the flattened fields outside the walls of the village. Shortly after dusk, Calyt transformed himself into an owl and flew about Moonwell, quickly gathering tactical information on the disposition of the Sundered Kings. Upon his return, he relayed the information to the Warlord Andrus, who deduced that the Sundered Emperor and the White Magus were not present in the village, as the patrols were unorganized and the Sundered were drunk more often than not. Having evaluated the holding force, the party retired to a cold supper that evening as they discussed their future plans...And that's where we ended the session.The Commentary:It was a fun adventure. The players enjoyed the more roleplay-oriented "challenge of the fey" approach to the combat sequences, which gave them a somewhat elevated significance instead of just being treated like random encounters. I got the chance to be descriptive, and the presence of ents everywhere caused Calyt to act quite scared and paranoid. (If you might recall, he was nearly laid low with one blow by the corrupted ent in the Amberdale adventure a few months back.)It was definitely Yngvar's adventure, and he stepped up into the limelight with dwarven gusto. The others had dealt with much of their backgrounds in previous adventures, and so this particular quest was to help rectify some of that. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy the game, as did the others. While he had the spotlight, the others all had their places to shine in last night's tale. I particularly enjoyed watching both Yngvar and Calyt attempt more cinematic maneuvers. Calyt's always been strong in that area, but Yngvar has begun stepping out of the tried and true, which also made the combats memorable for me.Tiwazbrandr is a powerful relic. In the hands of a non-dwarf, it's only a +1 great sword. However, in the hands of a dwarf, it's a +2 great sword with both Giant Killer and Demon Bane (i.e. it does +1d6 damage to giants or demons). It's probably one of the most powerful weapons I'm likely to introduce to the game, but given its mythic origins and backstory, I think it will be okay. And should it ever become a problem, I have ways of dealing with the issue in-game, due to the cultural significance of the blade in dwarven society.This is the second major item I've given the party (the first being the Gauntlet of Joven). In another adventure or two, I'll provide them with another item and so forth. I like giving them nice things like this, but I'm doing so slowly, so that I can get used to the impact of an item on the game before I introduce another one. In time, they will all have an item that is special for them.System-wise, I am enjoying the use of Agility tricks more and more. Calyt's dive into the earth was an Agility trick to try and shake the snake in the tree, which he succeeded in doing, followed by a dive and activating the Burrow power. Given that he did so well on the Agility trick as well as the casting roll, I decided that he did not have to take any falling damage (like a swimmer diving into a lake from a similar height). The visual in our collective imaginations was quite evocative.Yngvar pulled another one, with an Agility trick to wedge his shield in the mouth of the serpent and bask its head in. Mechanically, we went with an Agility trick (which he used a benny to reroll to get a better result). He was successful enough to shake the huge serpent, and then he followed it up with a called shot to the head. He hit hard, and his damage aced. Applying a total of 30 points against the serpent's 16 Toughness, the blow dealt a vicious three wounds. As the serpent was already down two wounds, and I was out of bennies, I rolled for incapacitation and failed horribly. He had slain the beast (and earned a bennie for cool cinematic action at the same time). Well done, well done!Like I said, it was a good night. Ahead, the party has a number of options. They are considering gathering a force together from Trader's Point, Greenfell and Newport to fight the Sundered at Moonwell. Not only will this give them a chance to use the mass battle rules again, but it will represent a step forward in the direction of the campaign, as they move into leadership roles among the local communities and begin to forge a land of their own against the tides of darkness. If so, then these are very exciting times, indeed.I also took a moment at the end of the session to take an informal poll among the players, to see if they are enjoying the game. They all said unanimously that they are having a blast. I must be doing something right, then. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Wish Them Luck,Flynn</blockquote>

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