ZEITGEIST The Flint Irregulars, whose portraits you may have seen

[Ajar]

Oh, I guess I should mention that Murdok's player isn't my wife, Viveen's player is. So that was funny. But we're all great friends, so we had a good time with it.

I thought there might be some interest in how I've been doing clocks in Act 3. Here's what the players see (except the hidden Ob Unity one, until after the Forward Symposium where they'll get intel). Clocks update whenever, as they say, "new naughty word comes to light."

Ber gained stability after Ursalina was saved. Risur started very stable, and is ticking up only slowly due to the lack of a fishery (because the players left She-Who-Writhes alone for now, to block Ob fleets from sailing the seas). But Beshela has been keeping them in the loop about Asrabey's scheming (she doesn't know details, but he asked for her help), so they know something's up there -- hence the Asrabey clock.

Crisillyr updates whenever they get intel about gods being executed. Komanov they just got the letter from Heid, so that's their first info about it. And the Dreaming, they've been putting messages in the Absurdist Web, and just heard back from Copperhat that their world is close to the Gyre (one segment filled) and has cracked in half (second segment filled) and it turns out the Bleak Gate is inside it (no segments, but a hint about how to get there faster... which so far I don't think they've really picked up on, even though I told them the full "moon" is approaching and they've heard naughty word's getting weird on Cauldron Hill).

 

[RangerWickett]

That's neat.

Are you still playing once a year for like a week? Was the most recent session in October?

 

[Ajar]

The once a year thing is in addition to playing online semi-regularly. We have a weekly call where because of time zones we only really have about 90 minutes, so some weeks we make a bit of progress, and other weeks something gets in the way and we just catch up. Then we do irregular longer online sessions on the weekend where we get a good 4-6 hour block of time.

Which we did last weekend! After recapping the clocks / state of the world, the group decided to work with Beshela to misdirect Asrabey so that they could try to negotiate with She-Who-Writhes without his interference. As with clocks, I'm trying to move as much as I can toward player-facing mechanics, so I had one of them roll Beshela's bluff vs Asrabey's insight, which was a success. They had two candidate zones for trying to engage the fey titan, one north of Flint in the Ayres, and another in the tidal lee of a point a few dozen miles away. They chose the latter to avoid having a city nearby, and sent Asrabey to the former. Then they obtained duplicants from Pemberton Industries and had idle Risuri navy sailors work as duplicant crews on a small number of steamships, while they flew to the target area on their airship. They also made sure to wear earplugs.

Beshela conjured a hurricane with all of them in the eye of it, to create a shallow area to limit the underwater mobility of the titan, and Vesta gave her a ring that would allow her to teleport into the mouth / interior of She-Who-Writhes to be able to commune with her mistress in relative safety (the ring eliminates the need to have line of sight / line of effect to the destination). Knowing that the communion would take a full minute, they orchestrated their duplicant-crewed steamships to kite the titan around the zone in the eye of the hurricane, basically making them a sacrificial offering since they knew from Beshela and from past experience with Duchess Ethelyn (who was killed by Asrabey early in the campaign) that She-Who-Writhes hated steamships and would greatly enjoy hauling them to their doom.

Once Beshela's communion was complete and the titan was sated and calmed enough to be amenable to negotiation, they negotiated a total ban on the use of steamships by Risur and Ber, and that any conventional sailing ship from either nation would make an offering of treasure to the seas upon departure from port. Even if sailors from other countries pick up on the need to make an offering, any technological seafaring vessel is fair game to be dinner for the fey titan. (This does, unfortunately, mean the end of Murdok's offscreen career as a submarine captain that began when her player left the game. But I'm sure the character will find something else to do, I wouldn't be surprised if the player makes a cameo before the game ends.)

Then they teleported back to Flint and headed to the Ayres location where they'd sent a now very irate Asrabey. So they're still getting their climactic showdown with him. They usually try to avoid having to fight or kill their enemies (especially now that Viveen has the Humble Hook), but Asrabey has been a thorn in their side for so long that they seem to be relishing the chance to finally take him down. Vesta especially, as when they finally cross swords, they will both be wielding flaming blades of Srasama. (I think I previously mentioned I made the blade at the eladrin monastery in Adventure 8 into an artifact, the First Blade of Srasama, with which Vesta has developed high concordance.) So it's as much about personal enmity as it is about who is actually embodying the spirit and precepts of the goddess.

 

[Ajar]

I think Ashima-Shimtu will appear during the fight as well, but since the party already knows about all of the things in the portents she provides in the written text, I'll have to decide what she should tell them. Maybe about the Lost Riders and the lava dragon. Maybe something about the undead dragon tyrant Venkio, who got away during the palace battle.

 

[Ajar]

Asrabey is no more. They did gradually persuade his supporting cast of eladrin sorcerers from one of the enclaves and Vekeshi druids to stand down, but Vesta himself delivered the final coup de grace on Asrabey.

During the fight, Asrabey commented about the open seat on the Unseen Court, and his new status as Archfey of Obedience. Asrabey speculated that perhaps Vesta would be Archfey of Irritation, but Vesta has decided to be Archfey of Inconvenient Timing, a narrow but useful portfolio.

When Vesta originally recovered the First Blade of Srasama, I reworked it as an artifact with concordance, but I don't think I shared the stats. Although at this point I kind of suspect we're the only group playing this in D&D 4E.

Lvl 20 +4
(5 @ level 20 if wielder trained in Religion)
Artifact Weapon (the bonded wielder can change the weapon to any Light or Heavy Blade as a minor action)
Critical +1d12 fire damage per plus.

Current Status (with Vesta): Pleased.

Property (all)
The weapon can only be bonded to one creature at a time, and typically only an eladrin or someone who follows eladrin philosophy and religion. Only the bonded wielder can use the weapon’s powers.

Property (all)
If this weapon is ever used to harm innocents, the wielder immolates, taking ongoing 20 fire damage each round until they fall unconscious or five minutes pass. The sword teleports away, and will never serve them again.

Property (all)
You gain a +2 item bonus to Acrobatics and Religion checks.

Property (neutral)
All damage dealt by this weapon is fire damage.

Property (neutral)
Damage dealt by this weapon ignores the first 5 points of a creature’s fire resistance.

Property (satisfied)
The bonded wielder can teleport the weapon to her grasp as a minor action from any distance across the world.

Property (satisfied)
The item bonus to Acrobatics and Religion checks increases to +5.

Property (satisfied)
Damage dealt by this weapon ignores the first 10 points of a creature’s fire resistance.

Power (pleased) – Flaming Dervish
Six ethereal arms appear around you, echoes of the Blades of Srasama aflame in each hand. You spin, and the echoes spin with you, lashing out at all who threaten the Goddess and her people.
Attack – Daily – Weapon – Close Burst 2
Targets: All enemies in the burst
Attack: Weapon vs Reflex
Hit: 4W+(attribute) fire damage, and you push the target 5 squares.
Miss: Half damage, and you push the target 1 square.

Property (pleased)
Damage dealt by this weapon ignores the first 20 points of a creature’s fire resistance.

This has felt a lot more thematic and resonant, and during the fight with Asrabey we got to see the powers of his Blade of Srasama, which are different (a fire blast and a persistent fire wall). Of course, Vesta is a Swordmage and needs to keep his off hand free, so he probably won't be wielding both blades, but it would be interesting if he could somehow find all eight...

After the battle, they asked the druids and sorcerers what exactly Asrabey had told them, allowed them to collect their unconscious compatriots, and brought them up to speed on the Risuri perspective on current events. The druids, being Risuri Vekeshi, already knew who Vesta was, and had definitely not expected to be going up against him in this battle (which contributed to the PCs' efforts to get them to stand aside), so they were pretty interested to hear the difference between Asrabey's take on the Ob and theirs.

During the conversation, rivulets of blood from the ground began to run toward the sea, and a simulacrum of Ashima-Shimtu slowly assembled itself... we stopped there, so I still have some time to decide what she's actually going to say to them. Not much point in talking about the Gidim leviathan, the riders in Drakr, or the stuff in Crysillyr, since the PCs already know all of that. I still don't feel like I have a great handle on how I want to do the Crysillyr sequence, specifically how to nudge them to revisit the Crypta Hereticarum to recover the journal of Triegenes, so I may just have Ashima-Shimtu dangle that carrot herself.

 

[hirou]

Although at this point I kind of suspect we're the only group playing this in D&D 4E.

Technically, you aren't alone! But my group entered another hiatus at the first act of adventure 12