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The March of Progress: Campaign Log
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<blockquote data-quote="ratzofftoya" data-source="post: 8551849" data-attributes="member: 98819"><p><em>Session 5: Chekhov's Hedge Maze</em></p><p></p><p>We begin with our heroes catching their breath and recouperating after a harrowing battle to fend off Duchess Ethelyn's rebel soldiers as the sea wall to the Axis Island fortress grinded open, seemingly at a snail's pace, to allow in the Risuri naval forces poised to retake the island. The navy was able to enter just at the nick of time, as an insurmountable wave of rebel troops advanced on the lighthouse where the party was holed up. The navy having secured the habor, the group now had a brief moment to recharge.</p><p></p><p>While trying to enjoy a moment's rest, Ume began to feel a deep longing, almost rising to the level of a physical pull, unlike anything they had felt before. Following this feeling, Ume was drawn to the corpse of the pseudodragon the party had just defeated. This creature felt more like kin than foe, it seemed to Ume. To create a sense of closure, the party engaged in a makeshift burial ritual for the pseudodragon, though Dipnip's psionic powers almost failed him as he carried the corpse out to sea. Though the pseudodragon rather unceremoniusly fell into the harbor, Ume managed to shake off the debilitating feeling.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Eggeberticus felt rather disturbed at the sighting of the mysterious creature shrouded in smoke and wielding a flaming sword--he'd heard of similar beings in the cautionary tales of the Pentonian Church, warning believers not to cross the fey lest they draw the ire of this harbinger of vengeance, but he could not remember more. Not used to his religious knowledge failing him, Eggebrticus resolved to get to the bottom of this mystery and banish the unholy spirit. Ekthos busied himself with further technological tinkering, optimizing his Ekthoskeleton for infiltration and sneaking. He also began the work of reconstructing Mekthos of its tragic destruction at the hands of the wandering, headless automaton.</p><p></p><p>During this brief pause in the action, the party was pulled aside by Captain Smith. With his typically amiable demeanor, Smith brings up that one member of the party's predecessors, the Fox Team Four, was found decapitated. Captain Smith suspects that Brakkus did this, albeit not necessarily for nefarious reasons. Still, he holds himself forth as a potential source of confidence or counseling, one soldier to another. Brakkus declines, denying that he had done anything wrong, and Dipnip declines as a matter of principle, not being one for soulful conversation.</p><p></p><p>Before long the party is asked to resume their duties as the senior non-military leaders of this expedition. It seems that the fortress's brig has been discovered by the Risuri forces, now full of Danoran captives who were taken prisoner during the Duchess's assault. The Risuri navy has no idea what to do with these captives, whether to free them, leave them jailed, or something else entirely. On the way to the brig, the party takes note of the rather fraught state of the fortress--an ongoing seige, the second one in a week, leaves its structures compromise and the supplies rather strained. Once disabused of the notion that the correct path is torture--Dipnip and Brakkus seem to have been leaning in that direction--the party figures out that among the prisoners is one senior officer. He is a proud Danoran, in no way willing to compromise his anger at the Risuri rebels for an easy chance at freedom. But in this case, the party and the officer determined that their aims are one and the same--to rid the island of the rebels and return it to Danoran control. As such, the party agreed to let the Danorans go and even to re-arm them as a sign of good faith.</p><p></p><p>Just as they were concluding their parlay, the whole building began to shake in response to a disturbance outside. The figure from before, flaming and cloaked in cinders and smoke, had made his way to the interior fort. With the aid of a magic device, the figure appeared to bend reality itself, causing the interior wall to disappear, clearing his way through the hedge maze inside and into the central tower. The path he made tore through reality, substituting the wall for a portion of the strange, psychedelic landscape that the party experienced for a moment on their journey across the island. In an instant, the figure was gone, having launched the Risuri rebel defenders into the air, and the party had to quickly determine how best to make their way to the duchess while avoiding this powerful being.</p><p></p><p>Rather than risking a path through the dimensional rift, the party took a more practical approach, following one of the Danoran prisoners through a secret sanitation channel that led them to the bottom of the tower. The party entered and climbed the tower, noting from an upstairs window that the surrounding hedge maze had been set aflame, likely by the otherworldly assailant, who also seemed to climb the tower and rip out masonry at a whim. Once they arrived at the top, the party stood before the central chamber, overhearing a conversation. It seemed that the being was named Asrabey Varal, a figure known to the Duchess, and was somehow affiliated with The Unseen Court. He wanted to show the Court's disapproval for the Duchess's actions, though she swore that what she did would be best for both Risur and the Court, for Danor planned to destroy them. A third individual in the room revealed that he had seen Asrabey's relative, Kasavarina Varal, when she came several months back to inspect the facilities.</p><p></p><p>Despite this connection, Varal was unrelenting, and prepared to kill them both. Before doing so, he opened the doors to the tower, discovering the party. He instructed the party to leave and, when they did not, struck the duchess a seemingly fatal blow. He then escaped the room, almost impervious to the party's attacks, and leaped off of the tower in the direction of the fortress's teleportation device. Dipnip used his powers to revive the Duchess and the party quickly questioned the remaining Danoran man, who they determined to be Nathan Jierre, cousin of Lya Jierre, who, she had asked them to rescue. Nathan and the Duchess revealed that they were collaborating to stop a Danoran plan which Nathan had recently uncovered as part of his research, a plan that he was certain would drive Danor and Risur back into a destructive and potentially cataclysmic war. While the Duchess seems resigned to her fate and punishment at the hands of her brother, the King, Nathan begs not to be returned to Danor. He would be revealed as a traitor and killed summarily. More importantly, he would not be able to study Danor's plans and attempt to forestall them.</p><p></p><p>As the party walked Duchess Ethelyn back to the harbor, they decided to hide Nathan, disguising him as a soldier and putting him on a Flint-bound ship, instructing him to seek refuge with the Pentonian Church under the condition that he continue his research. Lya came to the harbor but was unable to see anything was amiss thanks to Dipnip's able deception (made possible only through his deva abilities--it was a close one!). With that, all that was left is the party's signature on a treaty returning the land to Danor and relinquishing any Risuri claim to it as a result of this incursion by the rebels. Of course, the document needed to be signed by an entity name. After some argument, the party settled on Yogurt, owing to their reliance on blessed milk for sustenance during this trying ordeal...</p><p></p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]lPvucd54GlE[/MEDIA]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ratzofftoya, post: 8551849, member: 98819"] [I]Session 5: Chekhov's Hedge Maze[/I] We begin with our heroes catching their breath and recouperating after a harrowing battle to fend off Duchess Ethelyn's rebel soldiers as the sea wall to the Axis Island fortress grinded open, seemingly at a snail's pace, to allow in the Risuri naval forces poised to retake the island. The navy was able to enter just at the nick of time, as an insurmountable wave of rebel troops advanced on the lighthouse where the party was holed up. The navy having secured the habor, the group now had a brief moment to recharge. While trying to enjoy a moment's rest, Ume began to feel a deep longing, almost rising to the level of a physical pull, unlike anything they had felt before. Following this feeling, Ume was drawn to the corpse of the pseudodragon the party had just defeated. This creature felt more like kin than foe, it seemed to Ume. To create a sense of closure, the party engaged in a makeshift burial ritual for the pseudodragon, though Dipnip's psionic powers almost failed him as he carried the corpse out to sea. Though the pseudodragon rather unceremoniusly fell into the harbor, Ume managed to shake off the debilitating feeling. Meanwhile, Eggeberticus felt rather disturbed at the sighting of the mysterious creature shrouded in smoke and wielding a flaming sword--he'd heard of similar beings in the cautionary tales of the Pentonian Church, warning believers not to cross the fey lest they draw the ire of this harbinger of vengeance, but he could not remember more. Not used to his religious knowledge failing him, Eggebrticus resolved to get to the bottom of this mystery and banish the unholy spirit. Ekthos busied himself with further technological tinkering, optimizing his Ekthoskeleton for infiltration and sneaking. He also began the work of reconstructing Mekthos of its tragic destruction at the hands of the wandering, headless automaton. During this brief pause in the action, the party was pulled aside by Captain Smith. With his typically amiable demeanor, Smith brings up that one member of the party's predecessors, the Fox Team Four, was found decapitated. Captain Smith suspects that Brakkus did this, albeit not necessarily for nefarious reasons. Still, he holds himself forth as a potential source of confidence or counseling, one soldier to another. Brakkus declines, denying that he had done anything wrong, and Dipnip declines as a matter of principle, not being one for soulful conversation. Before long the party is asked to resume their duties as the senior non-military leaders of this expedition. It seems that the fortress's brig has been discovered by the Risuri forces, now full of Danoran captives who were taken prisoner during the Duchess's assault. The Risuri navy has no idea what to do with these captives, whether to free them, leave them jailed, or something else entirely. On the way to the brig, the party takes note of the rather fraught state of the fortress--an ongoing seige, the second one in a week, leaves its structures compromise and the supplies rather strained. Once disabused of the notion that the correct path is torture--Dipnip and Brakkus seem to have been leaning in that direction--the party figures out that among the prisoners is one senior officer. He is a proud Danoran, in no way willing to compromise his anger at the Risuri rebels for an easy chance at freedom. But in this case, the party and the officer determined that their aims are one and the same--to rid the island of the rebels and return it to Danoran control. As such, the party agreed to let the Danorans go and even to re-arm them as a sign of good faith. Just as they were concluding their parlay, the whole building began to shake in response to a disturbance outside. The figure from before, flaming and cloaked in cinders and smoke, had made his way to the interior fort. With the aid of a magic device, the figure appeared to bend reality itself, causing the interior wall to disappear, clearing his way through the hedge maze inside and into the central tower. The path he made tore through reality, substituting the wall for a portion of the strange, psychedelic landscape that the party experienced for a moment on their journey across the island. In an instant, the figure was gone, having launched the Risuri rebel defenders into the air, and the party had to quickly determine how best to make their way to the duchess while avoiding this powerful being. Rather than risking a path through the dimensional rift, the party took a more practical approach, following one of the Danoran prisoners through a secret sanitation channel that led them to the bottom of the tower. The party entered and climbed the tower, noting from an upstairs window that the surrounding hedge maze had been set aflame, likely by the otherworldly assailant, who also seemed to climb the tower and rip out masonry at a whim. Once they arrived at the top, the party stood before the central chamber, overhearing a conversation. It seemed that the being was named Asrabey Varal, a figure known to the Duchess, and was somehow affiliated with The Unseen Court. He wanted to show the Court's disapproval for the Duchess's actions, though she swore that what she did would be best for both Risur and the Court, for Danor planned to destroy them. A third individual in the room revealed that he had seen Asrabey's relative, Kasavarina Varal, when she came several months back to inspect the facilities. Despite this connection, Varal was unrelenting, and prepared to kill them both. Before doing so, he opened the doors to the tower, discovering the party. He instructed the party to leave and, when they did not, struck the duchess a seemingly fatal blow. He then escaped the room, almost impervious to the party's attacks, and leaped off of the tower in the direction of the fortress's teleportation device. Dipnip used his powers to revive the Duchess and the party quickly questioned the remaining Danoran man, who they determined to be Nathan Jierre, cousin of Lya Jierre, who, she had asked them to rescue. Nathan and the Duchess revealed that they were collaborating to stop a Danoran plan which Nathan had recently uncovered as part of his research, a plan that he was certain would drive Danor and Risur back into a destructive and potentially cataclysmic war. While the Duchess seems resigned to her fate and punishment at the hands of her brother, the King, Nathan begs not to be returned to Danor. He would be revealed as a traitor and killed summarily. More importantly, he would not be able to study Danor's plans and attempt to forestall them. As the party walked Duchess Ethelyn back to the harbor, they decided to hide Nathan, disguising him as a soldier and putting him on a Flint-bound ship, instructing him to seek refuge with the Pentonian Church under the condition that he continue his research. Lya came to the harbor but was unable to see anything was amiss thanks to Dipnip's able deception (made possible only through his deva abilities--it was a close one!). With that, all that was left is the party's signature on a treaty returning the land to Danor and relinquishing any Risuri claim to it as a result of this incursion by the rebels. Of course, the document needed to be signed by an entity name. After some argument, the party settled on Yogurt, owing to their reliance on blessed milk for sustenance during this trying ordeal... [MEDIA=youtube]lPvucd54GlE[/MEDIA] [/QUOTE]
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