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Tolamaker's Burning Sky
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<blockquote data-quote="Tolamaker" data-source="post: 9286439" data-attributes="member: 7031495"><p><strong>Sessions 80, 81, 82 - The Storm Breaks Back</strong></p><p></p><p>Returning to Seaquen, the party hands over Katrina and Inquisitor Etienna over to the Lyceum. Simeon's eyes light up when he sees that they have brought the torch back to the Lyceum, and says "This will turn the tide. We cannot thank you enough." While Simeon and the Wayfarers take time to figure out the inner workings of the Torch, the party goes their own ways for a while. Eluriah travels back and forth with the newly freed Ycengled elves, working to reinvigorate the forest after decades of decay. Corban begins work attempting to learn more of the scimitar he discovered, but is unable to find anything in the libraries. He spends his time carving a teleportation circle into the treehouse. Mishka goes into the makeshift Lyceum dungeons to speak with the Inquisitor, to see if the vision of her father in a Ragesian prison was true, or just taunts from 41. Her attempts to intimidate the Inquisitor fail, who laughs in her face, and she breaks the Inquisitor's arm, being separated in a moment by a wall of force from Kiernan, who kicks her out of the dungeon.</p><p></p><p>Aripos and Niel decide that they need to steal back Aripos' fines from his earlier trial for burglary. THey successfully sneak into the treasury, but while escaping into the night, a strange chill fills the air. In the treehouse, frost forms over the newly carved bark as Eluriah returns from another Ycengled trip. Mishka is traveling from temple to temple, making every offering she can to ensure her father's safety, when the night air freezes with the onslaught of blizzard, and elementals form from the ice and snow.</p><p></p><p>The party, though separated, are able to defeat the elementals around them, and spend the rest of the night regrouping to defend Seaquen. In the morning, the devastation is widespread, but was contained. in the halls of the Lyceum, assorted allies from across the continent gather as Simeon informs them that they believe this attack was the result of a new weapon by Ragesia: an obelisk of eldritch ice, powered by kidnapped mages. He explains that with the combination of Katrina's help, and an imprisoned inquisitor, they have finally been able to decipher the spy missives that the Stormbreakers brought to them at the beginning of the year. "The information is old obviously, but it gives us enough to know where they are being held, and some ideas of their capabilities. Coupled with our own new weapon," Simeon gestures to the Torch brought forth, eliciting gasps and mutters from the crowd, "we finally have the means to strike back. To take the fight to them!" </p><p></p><p>Monks representing the East and West winds come forward and present a mask that speaks with the voice of Psi Lu, the master of the West Wind. He informs them that he would be happy to provide air reconnaissance with his "magnificent air ship." Simeon trepidatiously agrees, though the party confirm to one another that they will keep an eye on him. Kiernan comes forward, and with the aid of several illusions, lays out the map for the Scourge Fortress, detailing where troops will land, and where the Stormbreakers will go to take out the magical shield that will prevent them from leaving. The fortress is deep within Ragesian territory, near their northern border, so the Torch is their only hope in and out.</p><p></p><p>The next day, the assembled armies of Dasseni soldiers, Sindairese clans, a contingent of wind monks, and Gate Pass refugees gather to the north of Seaquen. Simeon hands the Torch to the party to do the honors, and they raise the Torch together and strike it to the ground. A firestorm erupts around them, almost a mile wide, and in a rush of heat the armies are deposited on the snowy mountainside. Gathering their wits, officers and soldiers under the direction of General Xava begin marching to the gates of the valley, where alarm horns and the glitter of spells are already waking. With a word of encouragement (and several fly spells) from Simeon, the Stormbreakers take to the sky and make their way to the center of where they believe the Eye of the valley is. Below, they see streaks of fire burn from the gates, spattering over shields of light thrown up by Timor mages.</p><p></p><p>In the valley, once their flight runs out, it is remarkably empty. They are able to sneak their way to an outpost, and Aripos lands a near-killing blow on a wyvern rider about to begin patrol. However, an inquisitor on a flying mammoth manages to disrupt their ambush, and the party is put on their back foot when Gruz is almost gored to death (with a nasty crit from the mammoth). While the party dispatches most of the guards, one soldier makes her way into a cave, which is heavily guarded by sigils of faerie fire (negating Aripos' greater invisibility he had just popped), and walls of fire. Finally, Eluriah is able to spot the final sigil that would have stunned one or more of them, and they make their way in to see a perfectly mirror-smooth ice lake. In the ice behind, a shimmering form appears: a withered old man with fine clothing, and a sneering face. He taunts them, and when it is clear they have no intention to run away, he grins, and drops the illusion that has made the cave appear far smaller, revealing soldiers and monsters at his disposal. </p><p></p><p>One of the combatants is another Wayfarer, who brings in one of her compatriots close in to do damage, but Corban intercepts with his own Wayfarer teleportation, freeing Eluriah from being ganged up on. Gruz takes to the air to avoid the burrowing remorhaz, and fires eldritch blasts out. When a monstrous aboleth bursts forth from the ice, Mishka rushes forward to intercept it, evading its psychic enslavement with the boon of Madness' protection. Aripos takes pot shots at an ice demon who trades psychic information for gold, and the evil Wayfarer grabs Eluriah and takes her to a winter wolf and the reemerging remorhaz. The thrilling conclusion comes this week!</p><p></p><p><strong>Post Session(s) thoughts</strong></p><p>These three sessions were fun, for different reasons. Interrupting the downtime with a combat encounter where they were all split up, seeing the fruits of their labor in the different peoples gathered as part of the army, and the sheer variety of enemies at the Eye have all been a hit. I also enjoyed telling them straight up that they would get no long rests during this mission, and I think that halfway through the Eye fight they're getting a taste of what that means. And I spent two rounds with the remorhaz doing nothing because I started burrowing for safety, but then couldn't catch up with anyone until Koren literally teleported Eluriah into place.</p><p></p><p><strong>Changes to the Module</strong></p><p>I moved the blizzard attack to before the big meeting on a whim, because it had been nagging at my head that it felt very strange to go to a meeting where you're briefed about a weapon that the enemy is developing, and then they attack with that weapon just after you learn about it. Switching up the order seemed like a better way of proving the danger, and then explaining why they needed to destroy it.</p><p></p><p>I have maintained my strategy of putting enemies one encounter level higher than recommended, and it still is working well. I think this whole adventure will be a real test of that, because right now at the Eye, it feels like a good challenge. It will be interesting when we're 3-4 sessions deeper near the end of the module.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tolamaker, post: 9286439, member: 7031495"] [B]Sessions 80, 81, 82 - The Storm Breaks Back[/B] Returning to Seaquen, the party hands over Katrina and Inquisitor Etienna over to the Lyceum. Simeon's eyes light up when he sees that they have brought the torch back to the Lyceum, and says "This will turn the tide. We cannot thank you enough." While Simeon and the Wayfarers take time to figure out the inner workings of the Torch, the party goes their own ways for a while. Eluriah travels back and forth with the newly freed Ycengled elves, working to reinvigorate the forest after decades of decay. Corban begins work attempting to learn more of the scimitar he discovered, but is unable to find anything in the libraries. He spends his time carving a teleportation circle into the treehouse. Mishka goes into the makeshift Lyceum dungeons to speak with the Inquisitor, to see if the vision of her father in a Ragesian prison was true, or just taunts from 41. Her attempts to intimidate the Inquisitor fail, who laughs in her face, and she breaks the Inquisitor's arm, being separated in a moment by a wall of force from Kiernan, who kicks her out of the dungeon. Aripos and Niel decide that they need to steal back Aripos' fines from his earlier trial for burglary. THey successfully sneak into the treasury, but while escaping into the night, a strange chill fills the air. In the treehouse, frost forms over the newly carved bark as Eluriah returns from another Ycengled trip. Mishka is traveling from temple to temple, making every offering she can to ensure her father's safety, when the night air freezes with the onslaught of blizzard, and elementals form from the ice and snow. The party, though separated, are able to defeat the elementals around them, and spend the rest of the night regrouping to defend Seaquen. In the morning, the devastation is widespread, but was contained. in the halls of the Lyceum, assorted allies from across the continent gather as Simeon informs them that they believe this attack was the result of a new weapon by Ragesia: an obelisk of eldritch ice, powered by kidnapped mages. He explains that with the combination of Katrina's help, and an imprisoned inquisitor, they have finally been able to decipher the spy missives that the Stormbreakers brought to them at the beginning of the year. "The information is old obviously, but it gives us enough to know where they are being held, and some ideas of their capabilities. Coupled with our own new weapon," Simeon gestures to the Torch brought forth, eliciting gasps and mutters from the crowd, "we finally have the means to strike back. To take the fight to them!" Monks representing the East and West winds come forward and present a mask that speaks with the voice of Psi Lu, the master of the West Wind. He informs them that he would be happy to provide air reconnaissance with his "magnificent air ship." Simeon trepidatiously agrees, though the party confirm to one another that they will keep an eye on him. Kiernan comes forward, and with the aid of several illusions, lays out the map for the Scourge Fortress, detailing where troops will land, and where the Stormbreakers will go to take out the magical shield that will prevent them from leaving. The fortress is deep within Ragesian territory, near their northern border, so the Torch is their only hope in and out. The next day, the assembled armies of Dasseni soldiers, Sindairese clans, a contingent of wind monks, and Gate Pass refugees gather to the north of Seaquen. Simeon hands the Torch to the party to do the honors, and they raise the Torch together and strike it to the ground. A firestorm erupts around them, almost a mile wide, and in a rush of heat the armies are deposited on the snowy mountainside. Gathering their wits, officers and soldiers under the direction of General Xava begin marching to the gates of the valley, where alarm horns and the glitter of spells are already waking. With a word of encouragement (and several fly spells) from Simeon, the Stormbreakers take to the sky and make their way to the center of where they believe the Eye of the valley is. Below, they see streaks of fire burn from the gates, spattering over shields of light thrown up by Timor mages. In the valley, once their flight runs out, it is remarkably empty. They are able to sneak their way to an outpost, and Aripos lands a near-killing blow on a wyvern rider about to begin patrol. However, an inquisitor on a flying mammoth manages to disrupt their ambush, and the party is put on their back foot when Gruz is almost gored to death (with a nasty crit from the mammoth). While the party dispatches most of the guards, one soldier makes her way into a cave, which is heavily guarded by sigils of faerie fire (negating Aripos' greater invisibility he had just popped), and walls of fire. Finally, Eluriah is able to spot the final sigil that would have stunned one or more of them, and they make their way in to see a perfectly mirror-smooth ice lake. In the ice behind, a shimmering form appears: a withered old man with fine clothing, and a sneering face. He taunts them, and when it is clear they have no intention to run away, he grins, and drops the illusion that has made the cave appear far smaller, revealing soldiers and monsters at his disposal. One of the combatants is another Wayfarer, who brings in one of her compatriots close in to do damage, but Corban intercepts with his own Wayfarer teleportation, freeing Eluriah from being ganged up on. Gruz takes to the air to avoid the burrowing remorhaz, and fires eldritch blasts out. When a monstrous aboleth bursts forth from the ice, Mishka rushes forward to intercept it, evading its psychic enslavement with the boon of Madness' protection. Aripos takes pot shots at an ice demon who trades psychic information for gold, and the evil Wayfarer grabs Eluriah and takes her to a winter wolf and the reemerging remorhaz. The thrilling conclusion comes this week! [B]Post Session(s) thoughts[/B] These three sessions were fun, for different reasons. Interrupting the downtime with a combat encounter where they were all split up, seeing the fruits of their labor in the different peoples gathered as part of the army, and the sheer variety of enemies at the Eye have all been a hit. I also enjoyed telling them straight up that they would get no long rests during this mission, and I think that halfway through the Eye fight they're getting a taste of what that means. And I spent two rounds with the remorhaz doing nothing because I started burrowing for safety, but then couldn't catch up with anyone until Koren literally teleported Eluriah into place. [B]Changes to the Module[/B] I moved the blizzard attack to before the big meeting on a whim, because it had been nagging at my head that it felt very strange to go to a meeting where you're briefed about a weapon that the enemy is developing, and then they attack with that weapon just after you learn about it. Switching up the order seemed like a better way of proving the danger, and then explaining why they needed to destroy it. I have maintained my strategy of putting enemies one encounter level higher than recommended, and it still is working well. I think this whole adventure will be a real test of that, because right now at the Eye, it feels like a good challenge. It will be interesting when we're 3-4 sessions deeper near the end of the module. [/QUOTE]
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