WotBS Tolamaker's Burning Sky
Fuzzybear
Explorer
(also my own thoughts as our group just went through this)
For the Indomitability fight, with Kazyk still outstanding, I did something a bit different that I think went down really well. Since Kazyk and Indomitability have a deal of sorts, and my PCs were pretty firm going in on fighting after freeing him, I had Kazyk focus more on killing off seela singers to really ratchet up the moral tension instead of upping the combat difficulty directly. This forced the party to make decisions dynamically on what sacrifices were worth making and how much was too much. It forced some good moments from them trying to get the singers to stop after planning on fight and ended with nearly half the singers dead between Indomitability and Kazyk before they let the trillith leave. Then they could focus on Kazyk, who realized he wasn't going to get the help he wanted finishing off the party.
I think it made the fight less of a death concern with both Indomitability and Kazyk rampaging against PCs, but turned up the pressure on the group to make a snap decision in the heat of the moment on the value of the seela lives.
Your experience may vary of course depending on your group's dispositions and thoughts though.
For the Indomitability fight, with Kazyk still outstanding, I did something a bit different that I think went down really well. Since Kazyk and Indomitability have a deal of sorts, and my PCs were pretty firm going in on fighting after freeing him, I had Kazyk focus more on killing off seela singers to really ratchet up the moral tension instead of upping the combat difficulty directly. This forced the party to make decisions dynamically on what sacrifices were worth making and how much was too much. It forced some good moments from them trying to get the singers to stop after planning on fight and ended with nearly half the singers dead between Indomitability and Kazyk before they let the trillith leave. Then they could focus on Kazyk, who realized he wasn't going to get the help he wanted finishing off the party.
I think it made the fight less of a death concern with both Indomitability and Kazyk rampaging against PCs, but turned up the pressure on the group to make a snap decision in the heat of the moment on the value of the seela lives.
Your experience may vary of course depending on your group's dispositions and thoughts though.
Tolamaker
Adventurer
There are a lot of ways to explore relationships between people who are functionally immortal compared to humans. That sounds super interesting.
Yeah, they read Bhurisrava's journal, but pretty much ignored the upriver hints. I think part of this was that our elf player was absent the day they read the journal, so she didn't push for it like she might have.
So here is where I part the curtain to reveal that this recap is actually about a month behind the real campaign. I will just say I completely agree that this is more interesting than how it actually played out, mostly because I completely forgot that Indomitability teams up with Kazyk.
emeraldbeacon
Adventurer
Even compared to elves, fey are greatly long-lived... the awkward love triangle dance between the three might have been going on for a century or two before Anyariel's untimely death, followed only a few years later (practically the blink of an eye for "functionally immortal fey") by the fires.
Tolamaker
Adventurer
I'm combining these two into one post, because the Indomitability fight took up a majority of each one.
Session 11
The party returns to the Seela Village and tell Tiljann about their plan. Tiljann says she'll do what she can to make sure the Song of Forms goes on. The party inspects their magic items, and discovers that Aripos' necklace allows the wearer to speak and understand spoken Sylvan. The cord found at the shrine is an Ancestry Cord, a religious item used to ensure that those to be wed are not related. The mace found in the shrine also allows a single casting of cure wounds per day.
Through the night, Aripos keeps watch, and a sleepless Crystin comes out and tells her that Vuhl, the dissenting seela, "lies all the time," and that they shouldn't trust anything he says. During Eluriah's watch, she sees a tendril of smoke that appears to move backwards, when she investigates, she finds nothing. Diashan comes out and sits with her, saying nothing.
In the morning, the group goes to talk with Gwenivere to see if she can help them go underwater. Her powers are diminished, but she agrees to convince the Merrow of the lake to not attack them. At the edge of the lake, the party prepares for Mishka to swim under and pull out the sword. Eluriah takes up overwatch atop the singing tower, Gruz hides behind a seela hut, Orwin buffs Mishka's axe, Aripos tries to act as a distraction by singing the Song of Forms.
Mishka dives under, and guided by Gwenivere, is able to avoid the wrath of the fearsome looking Merrow. Gwenivere points her to an orange glow that coalesces into Indomitability, a great fiery stag struggling against the forested greatsword plunged through its heart. He commands Mishka to free him, and she takes hold of the sword, and pulls it out... of the lake bed, not Indomitability. In a surge of boiling water, Indomitability rushes out to kill the singing seela. Mishka rides along, holding on to the sword's hilt.
Above, the prepared party unleashes their attacks, whittling away at Indomitability. He cries traitor, and attempts to revoke his boon. Orwin loses his, but Eluriah keeps a hold on hers. Mishka is finally able to free the sword, just as an imp whispers in Orwin's ear to give them the military intelligence. Orwin refuses, and gets a stinger in the gut for his trouble. Soon, Kazyk teleports in and viciously attacks Orwin and Mishka are getting the brunt of the damage.
Session 12
Orwin is poisoned and bleeding at the hands of the devil Kazyk, when the imp stabs its stinger into his neck and brings him down. Torrent retaliates by skewering the imp, and Tiljann is able to resuscitate Orwin before he gets taken out again. Aripos manages to let fly the slaying bolt that puts Indomitability down, and a spark of Indomitability places itself within Aripos. With Indomitability defeated, the group is able to rally and finish off Kazyk, with Torrent hooking him through the skull.
The party takes their spoils as the fires around the forest begin to dwindle, and the seela join in the Song of Forms, as the song morphs from mournful to a chorus full of hope. A newly sprouting Timbre emerges from the trees and retrieves her heart from Anyariel's sword. She says she won't entrust it to a mortal again. Mishka tries to convince Timbre that she shouldn't be afraid to love again, but Timbre says that happiness can wait until the work of renewing the forest is done.
Digging into Indomitability's body, Eluriah finds a mass of tentacles, and recognizes it as the same stuff she caught a glimpse of the night before. She doesn't know what it is, but convinces Mishka eating eldritch viscera would be a bad idea. After a rest, the party decides to travel up the lake to see what Burisrava was talking about in his journal. They find a waterfall and a shrine guarded by Nell, a gray unicorn who has been guarding burning elves. He is ecstatic to meet the ones who ended the suffering in his forest, and after the party helps the leaves return to their village, gives them a few tokens. Three feathers will turn into enormous boats for a day. Three scales will turn into dragons that can fly for a day. He also gladly offers Mishka a hair from his mane.
Back at the lake, Tiljann wants to join them to see the world, and Diashan doesn't want to be left behind for the Ragesians. The party heading towards Seaquen grows larger and larger. As Eluriah walks the forest, tending to the ravaged plant life, Aripos and Orwin each take a dream seed. In their dreams, they see visions of elves and orcs and goblins and fire. Somewhere in the dream, a creature smells them, and begins to investigate...
Post Session(s) Thoughts
These two sessions went mostly well, with my only real regret being the final fight with Indomitability. Keeping watch and seeding hints about Vuhl was fun as well. The only reason Eluriah caught a sign of the tendril was because of a nat 2 Stealth roll on my part, tying with her passive Perception. The group did a good job planning out their attack, and they remembered my single mention of the merrow from a session or two ago, so I was happy to let them get past that encounter with some fun roleplay with Gwenivere again. I was glad to return to her, because I worried she had been rushed by pretty quick last session.
The lake bed was also a good time. I feel like one of my weakness is giving a sense of atmosphere, but I actually felt good about describing the oppressive darkness, followed by the forboding firelight of Indomitability. Mishka's player rolls extremely well, so I was happily surprised when she only pulled the sword partway out, and it made for a very dramatic beginning of the fight.
However, that's where I felt like I let things drag on a bit. I let Indomitability get trapped by the players far too easily, and I should have focused more on wreaking havoc on the seela than bashing my antlers against two people resistant to fire damage. Once Kazyk and the imp arrived, things got much more interesting. I legitimately thought I was going to kill Orwin, and was preparing a "what are your last words" moment for him between sessions. Indomitability died rather anticlimactically, and then everyone was able to focus fire on the devils. Similar to Inquisitor Boreus, Kazyk never had a need to use any of his magic items until it was too late, so the party gets a lot of loot. So, some things I'd like to do over, but in the end a good nerve-wracking fight.
There was one huge mistake on my part, and that is that I accidentally clicked on Indomitability's "Rejuvenation" ability, which put the text in the chat. Not usually a terrible thing, but it specifically refers to him as a trillith, so I panic-clicked attack five times in a row to make it move up. I was honest with my palers and just asked that they not read the ability.
I was also surprised they remembered the journal, and got to meet Nell. Mostly a fun RP thing at this point, but hey, they get some tokens out of it. And then we ended with another surprise, just as I was saying they could level up, and Aripos and Orwin say they eat the seeds. Fun stuff awaits. I think I'll give them a different vision, considering they've sussed out most of the fire's origins.
Changes to the Module
I'm pretty sure any changes were mistakes on my part. I forgot that Deception wouldn't be able to transform either, so I decided that he could just run away far enough to not hear the song of forms. When they finally identified the necklace and I read the description, I realized Aripos shouldn't be able to understand anything except Sylvan. Ah well. I'm fairly certain Timbre was supposed to die in the fires as well, but I wanted to give a more quick and ready sign that the forest was deeply wounded, but would survive.
I simplified the tokens so that each feather made a boat, and each scale made a drake, purely so I could remember them easier. I didn't reveal the Living Blade's new level five abilities. I just had Mishka's player write down to keep note of when she takes fire damage. H'andrea (or maybe H'andrea) will likely be the one to reveal that ability.
Session 11
The party returns to the Seela Village and tell Tiljann about their plan. Tiljann says she'll do what she can to make sure the Song of Forms goes on. The party inspects their magic items, and discovers that Aripos' necklace allows the wearer to speak and understand spoken Sylvan. The cord found at the shrine is an Ancestry Cord, a religious item used to ensure that those to be wed are not related. The mace found in the shrine also allows a single casting of cure wounds per day.
Through the night, Aripos keeps watch, and a sleepless Crystin comes out and tells her that Vuhl, the dissenting seela, "lies all the time," and that they shouldn't trust anything he says. During Eluriah's watch, she sees a tendril of smoke that appears to move backwards, when she investigates, she finds nothing. Diashan comes out and sits with her, saying nothing.
In the morning, the group goes to talk with Gwenivere to see if she can help them go underwater. Her powers are diminished, but she agrees to convince the Merrow of the lake to not attack them. At the edge of the lake, the party prepares for Mishka to swim under and pull out the sword. Eluriah takes up overwatch atop the singing tower, Gruz hides behind a seela hut, Orwin buffs Mishka's axe, Aripos tries to act as a distraction by singing the Song of Forms.
Mishka dives under, and guided by Gwenivere, is able to avoid the wrath of the fearsome looking Merrow. Gwenivere points her to an orange glow that coalesces into Indomitability, a great fiery stag struggling against the forested greatsword plunged through its heart. He commands Mishka to free him, and she takes hold of the sword, and pulls it out... of the lake bed, not Indomitability. In a surge of boiling water, Indomitability rushes out to kill the singing seela. Mishka rides along, holding on to the sword's hilt.
Above, the prepared party unleashes their attacks, whittling away at Indomitability. He cries traitor, and attempts to revoke his boon. Orwin loses his, but Eluriah keeps a hold on hers. Mishka is finally able to free the sword, just as an imp whispers in Orwin's ear to give them the military intelligence. Orwin refuses, and gets a stinger in the gut for his trouble. Soon, Kazyk teleports in and viciously attacks Orwin and Mishka are getting the brunt of the damage.
Session 12
Orwin is poisoned and bleeding at the hands of the devil Kazyk, when the imp stabs its stinger into his neck and brings him down. Torrent retaliates by skewering the imp, and Tiljann is able to resuscitate Orwin before he gets taken out again. Aripos manages to let fly the slaying bolt that puts Indomitability down, and a spark of Indomitability places itself within Aripos. With Indomitability defeated, the group is able to rally and finish off Kazyk, with Torrent hooking him through the skull.
The party takes their spoils as the fires around the forest begin to dwindle, and the seela join in the Song of Forms, as the song morphs from mournful to a chorus full of hope. A newly sprouting Timbre emerges from the trees and retrieves her heart from Anyariel's sword. She says she won't entrust it to a mortal again. Mishka tries to convince Timbre that she shouldn't be afraid to love again, but Timbre says that happiness can wait until the work of renewing the forest is done.
Digging into Indomitability's body, Eluriah finds a mass of tentacles, and recognizes it as the same stuff she caught a glimpse of the night before. She doesn't know what it is, but convinces Mishka eating eldritch viscera would be a bad idea. After a rest, the party decides to travel up the lake to see what Burisrava was talking about in his journal. They find a waterfall and a shrine guarded by Nell, a gray unicorn who has been guarding burning elves. He is ecstatic to meet the ones who ended the suffering in his forest, and after the party helps the leaves return to their village, gives them a few tokens. Three feathers will turn into enormous boats for a day. Three scales will turn into dragons that can fly for a day. He also gladly offers Mishka a hair from his mane.
Back at the lake, Tiljann wants to join them to see the world, and Diashan doesn't want to be left behind for the Ragesians. The party heading towards Seaquen grows larger and larger. As Eluriah walks the forest, tending to the ravaged plant life, Aripos and Orwin each take a dream seed. In their dreams, they see visions of elves and orcs and goblins and fire. Somewhere in the dream, a creature smells them, and begins to investigate...
Post Session(s) Thoughts
These two sessions went mostly well, with my only real regret being the final fight with Indomitability. Keeping watch and seeding hints about Vuhl was fun as well. The only reason Eluriah caught a sign of the tendril was because of a nat 2 Stealth roll on my part, tying with her passive Perception. The group did a good job planning out their attack, and they remembered my single mention of the merrow from a session or two ago, so I was happy to let them get past that encounter with some fun roleplay with Gwenivere again. I was glad to return to her, because I worried she had been rushed by pretty quick last session.
The lake bed was also a good time. I feel like one of my weakness is giving a sense of atmosphere, but I actually felt good about describing the oppressive darkness, followed by the forboding firelight of Indomitability. Mishka's player rolls extremely well, so I was happily surprised when she only pulled the sword partway out, and it made for a very dramatic beginning of the fight.
However, that's where I felt like I let things drag on a bit. I let Indomitability get trapped by the players far too easily, and I should have focused more on wreaking havoc on the seela than bashing my antlers against two people resistant to fire damage. Once Kazyk and the imp arrived, things got much more interesting. I legitimately thought I was going to kill Orwin, and was preparing a "what are your last words" moment for him between sessions. Indomitability died rather anticlimactically, and then everyone was able to focus fire on the devils. Similar to Inquisitor Boreus, Kazyk never had a need to use any of his magic items until it was too late, so the party gets a lot of loot. So, some things I'd like to do over, but in the end a good nerve-wracking fight.
There was one huge mistake on my part, and that is that I accidentally clicked on Indomitability's "Rejuvenation" ability, which put the text in the chat. Not usually a terrible thing, but it specifically refers to him as a trillith, so I panic-clicked attack five times in a row to make it move up. I was honest with my palers and just asked that they not read the ability.
I was also surprised they remembered the journal, and got to meet Nell. Mostly a fun RP thing at this point, but hey, they get some tokens out of it. And then we ended with another surprise, just as I was saying they could level up, and Aripos and Orwin say they eat the seeds. Fun stuff awaits. I think I'll give them a different vision, considering they've sussed out most of the fire's origins.
Changes to the Module
I'm pretty sure any changes were mistakes on my part. I forgot that Deception wouldn't be able to transform either, so I decided that he could just run away far enough to not hear the song of forms. When they finally identified the necklace and I read the description, I realized Aripos shouldn't be able to understand anything except Sylvan. Ah well. I'm fairly certain Timbre was supposed to die in the fires as well, but I wanted to give a more quick and ready sign that the forest was deeply wounded, but would survive.
I simplified the tokens so that each feather made a boat, and each scale made a drake, purely so I could remember them easier. I didn't reveal the Living Blade's new level five abilities. I just had Mishka's player write down to keep note of when she takes fire damage. H'andrea (or maybe H'andrea) will likely be the one to reveal that ability.
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RangerWickett
Legend
Congrats. Any plans on seeding the situation in Dassen as the party heads south to Seaquen?
Fuzzybear
Explorer
I was worried about this when we ran this recently. I decided the make it so that Indomitability did not provoke reaction opportunity attacks when charging just for this purpose. I know it is a bit cheesy, but it made him more threatening in rampage mode because of less chip damage without making him a bigger sack of hp than he is.
Really nice work by the party though all around! They ended up making it to everything in the end even if in a different order than anticipated! Well done all around.
Tolamaker
Adventurer
So, with thanksgiving and an unexpected cancellation, we're almost caught up to real-time. But no, at the time the next session came around, I was reading the "Monastery" chapter, so I had that on my mind when I actually gave them the vision. I mixed a little history with a little future-sight. The druid has expressed interest in cultivating the "dream poppies," so they might end up having more in the future as well, so I plan on using the seeds as veeery weak Legend Lore spells, where I get the chance to just give them messages that don't make sense until they happen.
If you're talking about in general as they travel, then the most I plan on seeding is the idea that Dassen isn't exactly a powder keg, but its not all sunshine either. I want to give the feeling that there are Dasseni who wish that they were still eight lands, not nine duchies. Comments about Steppengard and the Ragesians will depend on which lord's land they're on.
Tolamaker
Adventurer
Unnecessary Dassen Changes
New Dassen map to go along with my renaming of the Lords and Ladies. Having every noble have the same name as their land felt off, but I liked their names, so I usually renamed the land after a nearby landmark. I also wanted a few more dwarves, and changed a gender or two.
King Steppengard (human) rules Steppengard. He carved out this land, he sure as hell is going to name it after himself.
Duke Gallo (human) rules Nasham
Lord Rego (human) rules Churnett
Lady TImor (human) rules Glaskeel
Lady Dene (human) rules Idemmer
Lord Iztorun (dwarf) rules Iz
Lady Magda (dwarf) rules Megadon
Lady Namin (human) rules Namin (formerly Tunda)
Lord Dashgoban (dwarf) rules Otdar
Edit: This is the map I showed my players, so I also removed plot locations they wouldn't know are important yet.
New Dassen map to go along with my renaming of the Lords and Ladies. Having every noble have the same name as their land felt off, but I liked their names, so I usually renamed the land after a nearby landmark. I also wanted a few more dwarves, and changed a gender or two.
King Steppengard (human) rules Steppengard. He carved out this land, he sure as hell is going to name it after himself.
Duke Gallo (human) rules Nasham
Lord Rego (human) rules Churnett
Lady TImor (human) rules Glaskeel
Lady Dene (human) rules Idemmer
Lord Iztorun (dwarf) rules Iz
Lady Magda (dwarf) rules Megadon
Lady Namin (human) rules Namin (formerly Tunda)
Lord Dashgoban (dwarf) rules Otdar
Edit: This is the map I showed my players, so I also removed plot locations they wouldn't know are important yet.
