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Tolamaker's Burning Sky
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<blockquote data-quote="Tolamaker" data-source="post: 9053812" data-attributes="member: 7031495"><p><strong>Sessions 58 & 59: Back and Off Again</strong></p><p></p><p>The group decides that they don't want to return to the monastery if Su Pli is going to be there, assuming that some sort of treachery will play out due to his involvement with Torrent's transformation. They discuss ways to get out of the Valley of Storms, and decide to use a spell that Eluriah has not used before: Transport Via Plants. Waiting until midnight, they teleport through a tree into their Seaquen treehouse, terrifying Lurog out of his slumber. Much like last time, Aripos and Corban are knocked out int he travel by the flames. They manage to calm the false ettins down enough to lead them to Seaquen, where Kieran and Simeon leave them in the hands of Paradim Dogwood in order to revert them back to normal. Simeon is troubled by the apparent betrayal on behalf of the monastery, but is grateful that they were able to retrieve an Orb of Storms. "I will conduct what divinations I can. In the meantime, rest."</p><p></p><p>The party all go about their week doing odd jobs, when Aripos has a string of bad luck while robbing an Auyang jewelry store. He's caught by the proprietor, and sent to the town jail. Suddenly, everyone scrambles to find legal information and testimony that can save Aripos, but he is still fined 800 gold and sentenced to community service, largely to continue his current adventuring duties on behalf of Seaquen. When they meet with Simeon at the end of the week, he is furious that Aripos would steal from the very people he is trying to protect. Aripos doesn't apologize, and claims he was cursed, "because I've never been caught before." He plans on creating a new identity for returning to Seaquen so that he doesn't have to deal with the local guards tailing him.</p><p></p><p>Simeon tells the group that he received word from Su Illgon that he was sorry for their need to depart. "He said that he had known that his brother was secretive, but never to this extent." Simeon then tells them that divinations have revealed that there is a Ragesian Legion as well as a contingent of Shahalesti soldiers around the perimeter of the firestorm above Castle Korstull. He doesn't know if they are avoiding each other or working together "Which while unlikely, seems less and less far-fetched the more webs we untangle."</p><p></p><p>The group teleports to Eluriah's druid grove in Sindaire, where the yearly Fire Festival is going on. They leave Gwenevere behind, and meet up with Gruz once again, who has barely begun his life as a Count of Dassen, and is already happy to get out of his hall. They partake in party games, including spicy chili eating, walking on coals, and drinking contests. Eluriah briefs her Archdruid about what she has faced, and the Archdruid warns her that the fires around Castle Korstull "are nothing natural. Fire is necessary for the cycle of life, but that thing brings only death."</p><p></p><p>Resolution for myself going forward is to go back to single session updates. I end up leaving a lot of details out when I do these every other session.</p><p></p><p>Eluriah Wind Walks the group to the spot that Simeon divined would be safe from patrols. The storm is enormous, stretching miles across and miles into the air, with blood-red rain scouring the landscape of any life or vegetation. Activating the Orb of Storms, they conjure a wind that drives back the storm, and begin making their way in. Corban notices that the trail behind them is staying clear of caustic rains longer than they should, so others may be able to follow them in.</p><p></p><p>They travel for hours into the storm, when they see a pillar of fire swirling above what can only be Castle Korstull. They come in close, hearing the sounds of the undead still shuffling about in their defenses. Corban sends out a raven as a scout, and determines that the undead are not intelligent. The raven also sees three wagons taking shelter underneath the stone statue of a bear's skull. As the party gets ready to enter the castle, black lightning strikes down at them, and skeleton soldiers rise with fires in their eyes.</p><p></p><p><strong>Post-session thoughts</strong></p><p>It felt good to be back in the game after a month off. These two sessions were pretty RP heavy, especially thanks to the god-awful rolls on behalf of Aripos for his thievery. He only needed to get a single roll above 13 on the die in order to not get caught, and all four rolls were under 10. A little distracting for me, I'll admit, but the group had a lot of fun coming up with fake case law stuff, alongside arguing that Aripos is technically a child by gnome standards.</p><p></p><p>I'm looking forward to Castle Korstull now that the first combat has started. I think dungeon-crawls have a way of keeping a party focused. Something about having their characters out on a map at all times makes things feel a little more real, in my opinion. These two sessions were more setup, but I can't wait to get started for real.</p><p></p><p><strong>Changes to the module</strong></p><p>In the module, teleporting at midnight is supposed to remove only 2 out of 40 d6s. It's strange Wayfarer techniques that are supposed to cut it in half. Considering that the party now has access to Wind Walk, which can travel hundreds of miles in a day, I don't think it's too much of a change that anything will go crazy. Plus, they're still taking a lot of damage, so there's no chance of them getting the jump on anyone important using this method.</p><p></p><p>The Fire Festival was added because Eluriah's player suggested it, and was pretty fun.</p><p></p><p>I removed a fight with Ragesians outside the firestorm, because no information is learned in the fight, and it mostly seemed to be filler. They're going to be able to controll their long/short rest patterns in the dungeon, so I figure it's not too terrible to leave one fight out at the beginning. I'll likely be running things mostly by the book once in, because most of my editing in other adventures is whether to keep or get rid of a fight. In a dungeon, with so much more emphasis on exploration and resource management, I'll likely leave it all in, both as reward and punishment for their conduct.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tolamaker, post: 9053812, member: 7031495"] [B]Sessions 58 & 59: Back and Off Again[/B] The group decides that they don't want to return to the monastery if Su Pli is going to be there, assuming that some sort of treachery will play out due to his involvement with Torrent's transformation. They discuss ways to get out of the Valley of Storms, and decide to use a spell that Eluriah has not used before: Transport Via Plants. Waiting until midnight, they teleport through a tree into their Seaquen treehouse, terrifying Lurog out of his slumber. Much like last time, Aripos and Corban are knocked out int he travel by the flames. They manage to calm the false ettins down enough to lead them to Seaquen, where Kieran and Simeon leave them in the hands of Paradim Dogwood in order to revert them back to normal. Simeon is troubled by the apparent betrayal on behalf of the monastery, but is grateful that they were able to retrieve an Orb of Storms. "I will conduct what divinations I can. In the meantime, rest." The party all go about their week doing odd jobs, when Aripos has a string of bad luck while robbing an Auyang jewelry store. He's caught by the proprietor, and sent to the town jail. Suddenly, everyone scrambles to find legal information and testimony that can save Aripos, but he is still fined 800 gold and sentenced to community service, largely to continue his current adventuring duties on behalf of Seaquen. When they meet with Simeon at the end of the week, he is furious that Aripos would steal from the very people he is trying to protect. Aripos doesn't apologize, and claims he was cursed, "because I've never been caught before." He plans on creating a new identity for returning to Seaquen so that he doesn't have to deal with the local guards tailing him. Simeon tells the group that he received word from Su Illgon that he was sorry for their need to depart. "He said that he had known that his brother was secretive, but never to this extent." Simeon then tells them that divinations have revealed that there is a Ragesian Legion as well as a contingent of Shahalesti soldiers around the perimeter of the firestorm above Castle Korstull. He doesn't know if they are avoiding each other or working together "Which while unlikely, seems less and less far-fetched the more webs we untangle." The group teleports to Eluriah's druid grove in Sindaire, where the yearly Fire Festival is going on. They leave Gwenevere behind, and meet up with Gruz once again, who has barely begun his life as a Count of Dassen, and is already happy to get out of his hall. They partake in party games, including spicy chili eating, walking on coals, and drinking contests. Eluriah briefs her Archdruid about what she has faced, and the Archdruid warns her that the fires around Castle Korstull "are nothing natural. Fire is necessary for the cycle of life, but that thing brings only death." Resolution for myself going forward is to go back to single session updates. I end up leaving a lot of details out when I do these every other session. Eluriah Wind Walks the group to the spot that Simeon divined would be safe from patrols. The storm is enormous, stretching miles across and miles into the air, with blood-red rain scouring the landscape of any life or vegetation. Activating the Orb of Storms, they conjure a wind that drives back the storm, and begin making their way in. Corban notices that the trail behind them is staying clear of caustic rains longer than they should, so others may be able to follow them in. They travel for hours into the storm, when they see a pillar of fire swirling above what can only be Castle Korstull. They come in close, hearing the sounds of the undead still shuffling about in their defenses. Corban sends out a raven as a scout, and determines that the undead are not intelligent. The raven also sees three wagons taking shelter underneath the stone statue of a bear's skull. As the party gets ready to enter the castle, black lightning strikes down at them, and skeleton soldiers rise with fires in their eyes. [B]Post-session thoughts[/B] It felt good to be back in the game after a month off. These two sessions were pretty RP heavy, especially thanks to the god-awful rolls on behalf of Aripos for his thievery. He only needed to get a single roll above 13 on the die in order to not get caught, and all four rolls were under 10. A little distracting for me, I'll admit, but the group had a lot of fun coming up with fake case law stuff, alongside arguing that Aripos is technically a child by gnome standards. I'm looking forward to Castle Korstull now that the first combat has started. I think dungeon-crawls have a way of keeping a party focused. Something about having their characters out on a map at all times makes things feel a little more real, in my opinion. These two sessions were more setup, but I can't wait to get started for real. [B]Changes to the module[/B] In the module, teleporting at midnight is supposed to remove only 2 out of 40 d6s. It's strange Wayfarer techniques that are supposed to cut it in half. Considering that the party now has access to Wind Walk, which can travel hundreds of miles in a day, I don't think it's too much of a change that anything will go crazy. Plus, they're still taking a lot of damage, so there's no chance of them getting the jump on anyone important using this method. The Fire Festival was added because Eluriah's player suggested it, and was pretty fun. I removed a fight with Ragesians outside the firestorm, because no information is learned in the fight, and it mostly seemed to be filler. They're going to be able to controll their long/short rest patterns in the dungeon, so I figure it's not too terrible to leave one fight out at the beginning. I'll likely be running things mostly by the book once in, because most of my editing in other adventures is whether to keep or get rid of a fight. In a dungeon, with so much more emphasis on exploration and resource management, I'll likely leave it all in, both as reward and punishment for their conduct. [/QUOTE]
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