Nemesis Destiny
Adventurer
The Aftermath of Liberating the Keep
Still no Encounter B5
The reasons for this are many, but mostly I've diverted the story for campaign reasons, and unfortunately, things are dragging out longer than expected.
While travelling in the intervening sequence I've inserted, the PCs got in a random encounter which killed one of them (she got better - sort of). And the travel times are kind of lengthy, so that took up a lot of time as well. I'm not even sure that we'll get to B5 next week, but we should at least be close.
As for the aftermath, they executed Tyranda/Morda, and freed the baron/jarl. He gave them whatever worldly gifts they wanted, which for most of them consisted of recognition of their bravery rather than any material reward. Two of them joined his household guard, and one of them asked for his grand-daughter's hand in marriage. She is also a PC so this was extra hilarious and was also a DM machination in disguise.
Shortly after this, they left to tell their king of their exploits. While they were gone, the evil spirit of Malkos/Kalevi had left the PC he was inhabiting (the one who asked to marry the jarl's kin) and entered the jarl instead. He then buggered off with the jarl's body, using a Magic Jar ritual to trap the jarl in his own sword. Conveniently, Malkos left this behind.
When the PCs returned, I knew they would inevitably set out to find the jarl (even if they hadn't quite figured out what was going on). Now, the player who had been playing the grand-daughter of the jarl has been unhappy with this character for some time, and has a new one waiting in the wings. I've been telling him that soon I will be introducing his new character, but he's been getting impatient and trying to kill her off, so I had her father ask her to carry the sword with her, as she is blood of the jarl and he is not, so it would be more fitting for her to carry it. I had a feeling this would be useful.
It was. In a random encounter with barbarians to the south, he got her killed off, so at this point, I had her grandfather's spirit enter her dying body. Heh. Now he has to play a 60+ year old man trapped in his 17 year old grand daughter's body. That's what he gets for being impatient. All it did was slow down the introduction of his new character.
After this little tragedy they continued on after their quarry. I've been dropping subtle (and some not-so-subtle) hints that it would be fruitless, but they've been nothing if not persistent. They've found evidence that the jarl's body, piloted by Kalevi/Malkos, rode his horse to death and has turned it undead and is travelling non stop now. Then, I had them find out (through tracking rolls) that he is making time on them. Then, I had them come up against the next kingdom over, which is infested with horrid shadowy tendrils sprouting from the ground (a major thing in the other campaign I ran here). Despite warning from a non-evil death knight and an encounter with some kind of undead wisp spirit swarm, they're pressing on.
I don't want to kill them to make my point, and I don't want to run a combat here because it will make them less fearful of the evil. I plan to do a skill challenge next game that will hopefully sap them of a lot of healing surges. I will then drop my next plot-bomb which will certainly distract them from the chase. This is actually the event I've been waiting for, but my issue all along has been getting the timelines of the two games to line up right. I guess I miscalculated a little bit.
Next week, they'll meet the main thread of the arc I'm running and that will be that. When they return home, I will do B5, but before I can do that, my next plot thread is going to be introduced with a fight of its own. I usually don't have time to do two fights in a session, so I doubt I will get to B5, but if all goes well I might.
That's pretty much where I'm at now.
If there is any interest, I can go into greater detail, but generally I find that campaigns you aren't playing in to be a rather dry read, so I'll only do it if someone asks.
Later this week I may also preview my encounter because I don't think any of my players read this (except my wife, and I trust her not to look).
Cheers until next post.
Still no Encounter B5

The reasons for this are many, but mostly I've diverted the story for campaign reasons, and unfortunately, things are dragging out longer than expected.
While travelling in the intervening sequence I've inserted, the PCs got in a random encounter which killed one of them (she got better - sort of). And the travel times are kind of lengthy, so that took up a lot of time as well. I'm not even sure that we'll get to B5 next week, but we should at least be close.
As for the aftermath, they executed Tyranda/Morda, and freed the baron/jarl. He gave them whatever worldly gifts they wanted, which for most of them consisted of recognition of their bravery rather than any material reward. Two of them joined his household guard, and one of them asked for his grand-daughter's hand in marriage. She is also a PC so this was extra hilarious and was also a DM machination in disguise.
Shortly after this, they left to tell their king of their exploits. While they were gone, the evil spirit of Malkos/Kalevi had left the PC he was inhabiting (the one who asked to marry the jarl's kin) and entered the jarl instead. He then buggered off with the jarl's body, using a Magic Jar ritual to trap the jarl in his own sword. Conveniently, Malkos left this behind.
When the PCs returned, I knew they would inevitably set out to find the jarl (even if they hadn't quite figured out what was going on). Now, the player who had been playing the grand-daughter of the jarl has been unhappy with this character for some time, and has a new one waiting in the wings. I've been telling him that soon I will be introducing his new character, but he's been getting impatient and trying to kill her off, so I had her father ask her to carry the sword with her, as she is blood of the jarl and he is not, so it would be more fitting for her to carry it. I had a feeling this would be useful.
It was. In a random encounter with barbarians to the south, he got her killed off, so at this point, I had her grandfather's spirit enter her dying body. Heh. Now he has to play a 60+ year old man trapped in his 17 year old grand daughter's body. That's what he gets for being impatient. All it did was slow down the introduction of his new character.
After this little tragedy they continued on after their quarry. I've been dropping subtle (and some not-so-subtle) hints that it would be fruitless, but they've been nothing if not persistent. They've found evidence that the jarl's body, piloted by Kalevi/Malkos, rode his horse to death and has turned it undead and is travelling non stop now. Then, I had them find out (through tracking rolls) that he is making time on them. Then, I had them come up against the next kingdom over, which is infested with horrid shadowy tendrils sprouting from the ground (a major thing in the other campaign I ran here). Despite warning from a non-evil death knight and an encounter with some kind of undead wisp spirit swarm, they're pressing on.
I don't want to kill them to make my point, and I don't want to run a combat here because it will make them less fearful of the evil. I plan to do a skill challenge next game that will hopefully sap them of a lot of healing surges. I will then drop my next plot-bomb which will certainly distract them from the chase. This is actually the event I've been waiting for, but my issue all along has been getting the timelines of the two games to line up right. I guess I miscalculated a little bit.
Next week, they'll meet the main thread of the arc I'm running and that will be that. When they return home, I will do B5, but before I can do that, my next plot thread is going to be introduced with a fight of its own. I usually don't have time to do two fights in a session, so I doubt I will get to B5, but if all goes well I might.
That's pretty much where I'm at now.
If there is any interest, I can go into greater detail, but generally I find that campaigns you aren't playing in to be a rather dry read, so I'll only do it if someone asks.

Later this week I may also preview my encounter because I don't think any of my players read this (except my wife, and I trust her not to look).
Cheers until next post.
