Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Echolocation" data-source="post: 8167464" data-attributes="member: 7011911">Session 33Who doesn't like a good montage? I interspersed the party's planning montage with scenes from their lives outside work. Some scenes represented the powers gained in their recent level up, such as John retraining with a druid Professor from Pardwight University. Ella's scenes represented her increasingly slip into Distant Madness, such as:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Scene of Ella scribing a Scroll of Fireball into her spellbook, her hands shaking and her shadow momentarily morphing before her eyes into the outline of Cillian.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Scene of Ella with Serena in a building, repairing the construct from the steel mill and trying to get memories from it but growing increasingly frustrated. One clear memory: bronze claws reaching out towards a blurred, darkened humanoid figure; gained the impression that this figure was a source of hate and resentment but that the construct was reaching out toward it in kindness, forgiveness and hope. (Ella had found a way to magically share memories with Grappa. Grappa sensing Ella's ruthlessness for revenge tries to imbue an alternative route. After it becomes clear Ella is long beyond forgiveness, Grappa refuses to share any more memories with the tiefling).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ella destroys the willow planting above her father's grave with a fireball</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ella writes to Kell demanding information. At the meetup, Kell sends assassins. Ella murders them with fireballs from a distance.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ella bombards Kell-associated factories with fireballs.</li> </ul>I asked Ella's player to brainstorm ideas before running this session. I didn't want to play her character.On the final day before the voyage to Danor, Ella brings her younger brother into the RHC HQ for witness protection, paranoid her family will fail to care for him. Angharad, the Vekesh Mystic, attempts to arm the child. A heated argument breaks out among the party, still oblivious to Ella's madness. Ultimately, Delft agrees to issue protection for the child. Once the party leaves, Delft oversees numerous reports of arson, murder, and Ella's own family demanding the child is released. After consulting experts and running interviews, Delft joins the dots. By this point it's too late to warn members of Team BAD---they are in the dead magic zone of Danor.As for the montage, the party did well. They passed the cover identity and secrecy goals, with a few contingencies planned for Vendricce. I used Roll20 to track goals in front of my players.[ATTACH=full]131080[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]131081[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]131082[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]131083[/ATTACH]The voyage aboard the Roscommon was pleasant. The captain gave another set of false identities to the party. The party (bar Ella) drank chocolate liqueur, offering plenty to the fey spirits of the figurehead. With each day, the Roscommon swayed a little more... Unbeknownst to the party, a submarine placed a tracking device on their ship.The party arrives in Beaumont. I took the luxury of a tense moment where guards look over their paperwork, before breaking the tension joyously welcoming them into the country. The party sleep at a luxurious hotel. But just who is the party?<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lisandra: Lynette Musgrave: A bride to-be. Travelling along the Avery Coast to meet nobility from Crisillyir. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Angharad: Henri Musgrave: Lynette's brother.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ella: Cassandra "Cassie" Flickerfield: Lynette's legal advisor, to ensure the proceedings go as expected.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">John: Behid: Bodyguard for the group, and handler of Lynette's gift to her to-be husband.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sydney the Lion: Abigail: Lynette's gift</li> </ul>For each day, I had Ella roll a wisdom check. Once the party settled into Beaumont, she realised her dubious actions in Flint would be uncovered, and the RHC would likely send warning to the party. Fearing circumstances sliding out of control, she decided she had to act.</blockquote>

Verification