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Worldres' Zeitgeist Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Worldres" data-source="post: 9096464" data-attributes="member: 7029564"><p>I'm sorry I don't respond to each comment individually - grad school is being grad school - but I appreciate everyone sharing their responses so, so much. I am blasting you with gratitude beams from somewhere in Canada.</p><p></p><p><strong>Adventure 8, Godmind, Part 1: **** Everything, Nation Reports</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]292484[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>The one where no one is more exasperated than the DM!</p><p></p><p>Our heroes begin by determining who will be the new governor of Flint. Since we had to start this version of the campaign on <em>Digging for Lies</em>, I’m afraid we never developed a very close relationship with the “”canon choice,”” Gale. They more or less had Asrabey spirit her away in <em>Cauldron Born</em> as soon as they found her, and I never saw a good chance to re-introduce her. Oops!</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]292485[/ATTACH]</p><p><em>My players about "The Last Starry Sky"</em></p><p></p><p>Er, I say this, and then I’m going to tell you that their choice for governor, without hesitation, was Heward Sechim. He appeared in an industry tent in <em>Digging for Lies</em> for my group, so they got pretty close with him.</p><p></p><p>This was a surprise to me, actually. I thought for sure they would go for Delft, or maybe Morgan. But they saw Heward as a good middle ground between maintaining Flint’s industry and ensuring that labour in Flint was ethical (relatively, at least). They also decided that the Governor’s Mansion would become the new Head of State for Risur, so that’s the Palace now. They had some exterminators deal with the mimics, first, of course.</p><p></p><p>Gatria also decided that, as Spymaster, she deserved a coat of arms to hang somewhere in the Palace.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]292488[/ATTACH]</p><p><em>It's Gatria standing on top of Terakalyr's head! Super tasteful!!!</em></p><p></p><p>Even though the game details realistic faults of all of the Flint governors, I honestly felt like Heward was a pretty solid choice. The child labour thing might be reckoned with at some later date, but anyway, I decided that the Flint Hivemind wasn’t really necessary for my group and moved the scheduled Hivemind encounter in this adventure to Cherage, where things were more chaotic. …At least, I <em>thought </em>I moved the hivemind to Cherage <em>this adventure</em>. Um, we’ll get to that.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, time to deal with the Fey Titan reckoning across Risur!</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]292489[/ATTACH]</p><p><em>Zeitgeist_Pizza_Fire_Community_Reference dot gif.</em></p><p></p><p>So much happened this adventure that if I spent time detailing it all of it, we'd both be here all day, so here's the Fey Titan Highlight Reel:</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">THE ASH WOLF</span></strong></p><p></p><p>I decided to just let the Flaming Ziggurat of Av be the Ziggurat of Jiese from the start. Would this mess me up in Adventure 12? Yes. Don’t worry about it right now.</p><p></p><p>The party ventured into the burning forests and aggroed the Ash Wolf. They tried their normal routine of trying to talk their way out of the encounter, but only managed to infuriate him. For the first time in the campaign, I got the opportunity to one-shot a PC “dead” from full health.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, the planar arrangement prevented Cleone from permadying. The irony is utterly lost on them and I need to remember to have Nic monologue about this in the upcoming Battle of the Axis Seal. The party got the message and retreated, but it was really satisfying to put the fear of God in them, because now they’re terrified of every Fey Titan, ESPECIALLY the voice of Rot. This is good for me right now because now that they’re level 20, I’m really struggling to make them take threats seriously until I hang The VoR overhead. Uhhhhhh, I accidentally let my players have access to vigilante talents and now I can't take it back. GATRIA NOW HAS AN AC OF 54. <em>PLEASE HELP ME!!!</em> Ahem.</p><p></p><p>The players went to the Ziggurat of Jiese and played the Lizardfolk Sultan for a fool, making him think that Lanjyr was a small and unpopulated planet where they were the only survivors, and then had Harkover enchant an endless infinity loop illusion (like the one that exists on Pardwight campus) to trap the Ziggurat of Jiese in one single, eternally wrapping field.</p><p></p><p>It was really entertaining to watch, so I let it happen. I did my darnest to encourage them to let Liesl the Efreeti go home. There’s no way I was going to let them have access to Wish. They already get up to too many shenanigans.</p><p></p><p>Message me if you let your party have access to Wish. Let me know how that shook out for you.</p><p></p><p>Then they showed the Ash Wolf evidence that the Sultan and his men killed his pup, and had the party Spirit Medium reunite him, his pup, and his mate. Problem: Solved! Yay!</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]292490[/ATTACH]</p><p><em>I don't know why my players chose to use a VHS-quality screenshot for this meme but, sure.</em></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">GRANNY ALLSWELL</span></strong></p><p></p><p>This section is a bit awkward to report on because it involves indulging in the party NPC. Um, I'll be quick. basically, when I used to be a player and thus blind to the plot, I wrote that King Marcel’s mother happened to have a backstory similar to Katlin (corrupt brothel owner with shady magic powers). So, I made it canon once I became DM that Marcel’s mom <em>was </em>Katlin. The party had an interesting time learning that the King of Risur was born in a brothel, that he was almost surrendered to Granny Allswell as a baby (who openly gloated that her gremlins only narrowly missed collecting <em>The King of Risur</em>!), and that the King’s mother was plotting against the Fey Titans - and therefore had committed treason. It put Marcel in a position where he, as King, had to commit Matricide to carry out her sentence, and the party had to decide whether to let it happen. A fun little soap opera.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, the party executed almost all of the treasonous druids, but worked out a plea bargain with Katlin where, if she cooperated, the party would “protect her from the wrath of all Fey Titans,” including the King. In practice, this meant dumping her in a prison cell for the rest of her life, where she would technically be safe from Granny, the Voice of Rot, and the King.</p><p></p><p>Thanks to this bargain, the party showed Granny evidence that the Voice of Rot was plotting against her, and she was mollified by the promise that they would eventually deliver her his tongue.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]292493[/ATTACH]</p><p><em>I need you to know that I NEVER make up a meme for the sake of this thread. All of the memes I have posted were created live during a session by a player and have passed peer review. In case you didn't know that.</em></p><p></p><p>Granny Allswell owns, by the way. Top tier character. I threw my voice out so hard acting her out that I had to see a speech pathologist and she told me to never do character voices again under any circumstances. 10/10, amazing Fey Titan.</p><p></p><p>By the way, the party decided they wanted the Humble Hook to tell them Granny Alswell’s humble backstory. Not every Fey Titan, just Granny. Uhhhhhhh. I told them that before she took dominion over the mountains, she was a powerful planar traveller named Fortuna Major who got trapped in this arrangement when the Ancients locked in the planes, but she’s been kind of chill about it for the last couple thousand years. At least until she got trapped inside earth elementals.</p><p></p><p>Then someone said "that sounds an awful lot like you just made that up off the top of your head." I asked my players if they'd ever heard of tabletop RP.</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 40px"></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">THE FATHER OF THUNDER </span></strong></p><p></p><p>The Father of Thunder is also best summed up by the following table exchange:</p><p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Steph</strong>, Cleone (our technologist)'s player: So he likes challenges, huh? Let’s invite him to a lifting contest.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Me</strong>: Out of curiosity, what’s Cleone's Strength score?</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Steph</strong>: 60</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Me</strong>:</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Steph</strong>:</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Me</strong>: Excuse me?</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Steph</strong>: 60</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Me</strong>: No it’s not. Let me see your character sheet.</p><p></p><p>It TURNS OUT. That the Pathfinder Edition rules as written. FOR THE STEAMSUIT PRESTIGE CLASS. Mean that Cleone is CANONICALLY STRONGER than <em>EVERY FEY TITAN</em> when she is wearing her Steam Suit. <span style="font-size: 15px"><em><strong>I GUESS.</strong></em></span></p><p></p><p>Cleone rolled to out-lift Father Thunder (who has a strength score of 54, by the way!), succeeded, and won his respect. Mona actually agreed to [LURID DETAIL CENSORED FOR THE SAKE OF FORUM DECENCY RULES] and got the Boon of Father Thunder, sans-hirsutism. Her player is playing with the idea of her eventually having a minotaur demi-god kid, though not during the campaign. That would be awkward.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">THE VOICE OF ROT</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px"></span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">[ATTACH=full]292494[/ATTACH]</span></strong></p><p>[FOOTAGE NOT FOUND]</p><p></p><p>Oh, they didn't do this part this adventure? Uh. Next slide!</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">SHE WHO WRITHES</span></strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]292495[/ATTACH]</p><p><em>Did I post this already? Did we make this meme? I don't remember seeing this in my server, it just manifested full-formed on my desktop.</em></p><p></p><p>The party got really, really attached to Beshela - so, naturally, I was excited to pull a fast one over them and have Asrabey kill her.</p><p></p><p>But when Asrabey arrived to swear Fealty to the new King of Risur, <em>nobody </em>bought it. The party summoned Kasavarina (who is still around in my campaign) and started interrogating him. Eventually, his mask slipped, and he told the party that only the Ob was powerful enough to save the world now.</p><p></p><p>Then when Asrabey told Kasavarina to her face that his real wife wouldn't be so weak, a player vandalized our own Wiki so that every time Asrabey is mentioned, his name is spelled wrong.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, time to fight him!</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Me</strong>: Okay, everyone roll for initiative-</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>GS</strong>: No.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Steph</strong>: Nah.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Bizzy</strong>: Uh-uh.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Becky</strong>: I’m good.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Me</strong>: Uh- but- Asarabey [sic] is going to fight you.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Steph</strong>: Kasavarina could kill him on her turn alone.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Me</strong>: You don’t know that.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>GS</strong>: Even if she didn’t, we’re going to kill him on turn one.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Me</strong>: Yeah, well, I mean, I’d like to see it.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Steph</strong>: He’s not worth it.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Bizzy</strong>: Let’s just save everyone the time.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><strong>Me</strong>:</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"></p><p>The disrespect!</p><p></p><p>(This is the only time in the entire campaign that the players refused to run a fight out of character.)</p><p></p><p>The party decided they were going to send him into Flint Bay as Tribute to She Who Writhes, and use the opening as an opportunity to have Beshela commune with her master.</p><p></p><p>They DID fight She Who Writhes for a few turns. So, at least I got that.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]292496[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Then Ashima Shimtu appeared from the blood spilled during the encounter. I'm relying on a lot of verbatim player conversations this write-up, but I reached an all-time peak of my DM exasperation when this happened:</p><p></p><p><strong>Ashima Shimtu</strong>: First, a glimpse. Philosophers and policitians of several nations travel west, but toward what end, Ashima Shimtu cannot see. Second, a warning. When Ashima Shimtu gazed upon the western shore, something gazed back; she had not seen its like in this world. Third, and final, an opportunity. This island at the axis of the world-</p><p><strong>Gatria</strong>: <em>What?!</em></p><p><strong>Ashima Shimtu</strong>: ...The island at the axis of the world-</p><p><strong>Gatria</strong>: No, shut up about that! Go back to the other thing!</p><p><strong>Ashima Shimtu</strong>: ...</p><p><strong>Ashima Shimtu: </strong>The lady of the Forked Tongue has said to you that she has not seen the likes of the beings on the western shore in all of her time.</p><p><strong>Gatria</strong>: Holy S***! The Gidim have invaded URSALINA! Cancel everything! This is the only thing that matters!</p><p><strong>Me, who prepped the Axis Seal this session</strong>: [ATTACH=full]292482[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]292497[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Adventure 9, Gorged on Ruins, Part I: …Wait, what?</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]292499[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>This one went pretty close to the book, so I'll focus on the parts that were different. But even though I don't have much to say, this might be my favourite single chapter in the entire campaign. It was so satisfying to run, and everyone had a great time.</p><p></p><p>First of all, to ratchet up the stakes, I decided that the Gidim Infestation was like fungus, and that whenever it was touched, everyone in the network instantly knew where you were. I felt so clever! Then The Last of Us HBO came out several months later, and they do the exact same thing (and it wasn't even like that in the game). Where are my royalty cheques, Craig Mazin?</p><p></p><p>Because the players wrapped up Wolfgang von Recklinghausen and Andre's stories back in Act 2 (um, it would take too long to explain), I decided to have them pay for the consequences of their actions in <em>Always on Time</em> by introducing Damata’s vengeful daughter, Dabo, as the crusading menace of Ursalina, instead.</p><p></p><p>You see, 14-year-old Dabo, who <em>just </em>became an adult according to orc culture, came to learn the circumstances of her Father's suicide, and swore to exterminate The Family from all corners of the earth - starting with Ber. She recklessly struck out on her own, and ran into the Ostea-healed Sor Daeron, who saw the opportunity to mentor a young woman as a chance for him to redeem himself for murdering Launga.</p><p></p><p>And it just so happened that the party was a group of unrepentant Family shills, who had just sent Family Lieutenants into Ber to do some scouting for them! How convenient!!!</p><p></p><p>Dabo killed Dester Rathine (the Kell turncoat from <em>Cauldron Born</em>), whose corpse was left in the market as a message. The party caught up to her, and recognized Dabo and Sor immediately, in spite of their disguises. Cleone (Deva who killed Srasama, and friend of Kasavarina) and Sor Daeron screamed at eachother so loudly it alerted the Gidim Leviathan.</p><p></p><p>My player map of this event was only the highest quality, you see. If I have radio silence for more than ten seconds in this campaign my head WILL explode, so of course, my ability to draw an entire scene in ten seconds is <em>unparalleled:</em></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]292500[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>The group scattered to find the lair of the Gidim Leviathan, which, of course, had infested the Beran Bardic college (amazing set piece, by the way. The walkthrough set to creepy background music was <em>chilling</em>). Sor and Dabo protected the perimeter from reinforcements spilling into the College while the Party went down into the Depths to kill the infestation at its source. They kind of curbstomped that whole dungeon, and took possession of the Vortex Array. Which they then proceeded to never use. Sigh.</p><p></p><p>Afterwards, the party had to decide what to do with Dabo and Sor. They didn’t trust Sor not to get another child killed, so they gave him a Big Darn Speech about how mentoring one girl would never make up for what he did to Launga - <em>nothing would</em>. Several successful diplomacy checks later, Gatria got Dabo alone. She stared down the child who had killed one of her best friends and thought about ending her life then and there. But because Morgan had taught her to do more than act on her hate, she, instead, decided to alert Glaucia about Dabo and have her fairly punished for Vigilante Justice. She then wished Dabo well, and told her that, with time, she could be so much better than just an indiscriminate killer.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]292501[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Next time</strong>: We finish Gorged on Ruin! I mean, Godmind! I mean, we kill Gradiax! I’m confused, what chapter are we on?</p><p></p><p>I suppose this writeup feels incomplete this time around, but that's because both adventure climaxes happen in the next part of this mega-adventure. The writeup for which I am contractually obligated to deliver to you within the next two months, or else I have agreed to let my players cook and eat me alive. This would, at the very least, deliver me from the agonies of dissertation writing.</p><p></p><p><strong>Bonus!</strong></p><p></p><p>Enjoy our zeitgeist discord server emotes. You probably aren't too invested in our player character ones, but they still might be cute to you if you recognize the references:</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]292506[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]292507[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]292508[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]292509[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]292510[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>This one is a series, where you are meant to pick one of the characters to hold in hand. We have titled the face (which we can't take credit for drawing) "the DM":</p><p>[ATTACH=full]292515[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]292482[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]292511[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]292512[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]292513[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]292514[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>We do have a few canon character ones, though, for you to use as you please! Lya, Kasavarina, Nathan, and Xambria respectively:</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]292479[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]292480[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]292481[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]292498[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>See you next time for the climactic second half!</p><p></p><p>Who became the new Governor of Flint for you? What sequence breaking happened in your campaign?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Worldres, post: 9096464, member: 7029564"] I'm sorry I don't respond to each comment individually - grad school is being grad school - but I appreciate everyone sharing their responses so, so much. I am blasting you with gratitude beams from somewhere in Canada. [B]Adventure 8, Godmind, Part 1: **** Everything, Nation Reports[/B] [ATTACH type="full" width="641px" alt="f everything.png"]292484[/ATTACH] The one where no one is more exasperated than the DM! Our heroes begin by determining who will be the new governor of Flint. Since we had to start this version of the campaign on [I]Digging for Lies[/I], I’m afraid we never developed a very close relationship with the “”canon choice,”” Gale. They more or less had Asrabey spirit her away in [I]Cauldron Born[/I] as soon as they found her, and I never saw a good chance to re-introduce her. Oops! [ATTACH type="full" width="356px" alt="i dont understand what happened in adv 2.png"]292485[/ATTACH] [I]My players about "The Last Starry Sky"[/I] Er, I say this, and then I’m going to tell you that their choice for governor, without hesitation, was Heward Sechim. He appeared in an industry tent in [I]Digging for Lies[/I] for my group, so they got pretty close with him. This was a surprise to me, actually. I thought for sure they would go for Delft, or maybe Morgan. But they saw Heward as a good middle ground between maintaining Flint’s industry and ensuring that labour in Flint was ethical (relatively, at least). They also decided that the Governor’s Mansion would become the new Head of State for Risur, so that’s the Palace now. They had some exterminators deal with the mimics, first, of course. Gatria also decided that, as Spymaster, she deserved a coat of arms to hang somewhere in the Palace. [ATTACH type="full" alt="unsupervised_pt2.png"]292488[/ATTACH] [I]It's Gatria standing on top of Terakalyr's head! Super tasteful!!![/I] Even though the game details realistic faults of all of the Flint governors, I honestly felt like Heward was a pretty solid choice. The child labour thing might be reckoned with at some later date, but anyway, I decided that the Flint Hivemind wasn’t really necessary for my group and moved the scheduled Hivemind encounter in this adventure to Cherage, where things were more chaotic. …At least, I [I]thought [/I]I moved the hivemind to Cherage [I]this adventure[/I]. Um, we’ll get to that. Anyway, time to deal with the Fey Titan reckoning across Risur! [ATTACH type="full" width="735px" alt="pizza gif.png"]292489[/ATTACH] [I]Zeitgeist_Pizza_Fire_Community_Reference dot gif.[/I] So much happened this adventure that if I spent time detailing it all of it, we'd both be here all day, so here's the Fey Titan Highlight Reel: [B][SIZE=6]THE ASH WOLF[/SIZE][/B] I decided to just let the Flaming Ziggurat of Av be the Ziggurat of Jiese from the start. Would this mess me up in Adventure 12? Yes. Don’t worry about it right now. The party ventured into the burning forests and aggroed the Ash Wolf. They tried their normal routine of trying to talk their way out of the encounter, but only managed to infuriate him. For the first time in the campaign, I got the opportunity to one-shot a PC “dead” from full health. Fortunately, the planar arrangement prevented Cleone from permadying. The irony is utterly lost on them and I need to remember to have Nic monologue about this in the upcoming Battle of the Axis Seal. The party got the message and retreated, but it was really satisfying to put the fear of God in them, because now they’re terrified of every Fey Titan, ESPECIALLY the voice of Rot. This is good for me right now because now that they’re level 20, I’m really struggling to make them take threats seriously until I hang The VoR overhead. Uhhhhhh, I accidentally let my players have access to vigilante talents and now I can't take it back. GATRIA NOW HAS AN AC OF 54. [I]PLEASE HELP ME!!![/I] Ahem. The players went to the Ziggurat of Jiese and played the Lizardfolk Sultan for a fool, making him think that Lanjyr was a small and unpopulated planet where they were the only survivors, and then had Harkover enchant an endless infinity loop illusion (like the one that exists on Pardwight campus) to trap the Ziggurat of Jiese in one single, eternally wrapping field. It was really entertaining to watch, so I let it happen. I did my darnest to encourage them to let Liesl the Efreeti go home. There’s no way I was going to let them have access to Wish. They already get up to too many shenanigans. Message me if you let your party have access to Wish. Let me know how that shook out for you. Then they showed the Ash Wolf evidence that the Sultan and his men killed his pup, and had the party Spirit Medium reunite him, his pup, and his mate. Problem: Solved! Yay! [ATTACH type="full" alt="fey_titans.png"]292490[/ATTACH] [I]I don't know why my players chose to use a VHS-quality screenshot for this meme but, sure.[/I] [B][SIZE=6]GRANNY ALLSWELL[/SIZE][/B] This section is a bit awkward to report on because it involves indulging in the party NPC. Um, I'll be quick. basically, when I used to be a player and thus blind to the plot, I wrote that King Marcel’s mother happened to have a backstory similar to Katlin (corrupt brothel owner with shady magic powers). So, I made it canon once I became DM that Marcel’s mom [I]was [/I]Katlin. The party had an interesting time learning that the King of Risur was born in a brothel, that he was almost surrendered to Granny Allswell as a baby (who openly gloated that her gremlins only narrowly missed collecting [I]The King of Risur[/I]!), and that the King’s mother was plotting against the Fey Titans - and therefore had committed treason. It put Marcel in a position where he, as King, had to commit Matricide to carry out her sentence, and the party had to decide whether to let it happen. A fun little soap opera. Anyway, the party executed almost all of the treasonous druids, but worked out a plea bargain with Katlin where, if she cooperated, the party would “protect her from the wrath of all Fey Titans,” including the King. In practice, this meant dumping her in a prison cell for the rest of her life, where she would technically be safe from Granny, the Voice of Rot, and the King. Thanks to this bargain, the party showed Granny evidence that the Voice of Rot was plotting against her, and she was mollified by the promise that they would eventually deliver her his tongue. [ATTACH type="full" width="579px" alt="favela_faceoff.png"]292493[/ATTACH] [I]I need you to know that I NEVER make up a meme for the sake of this thread. All of the memes I have posted were created live during a session by a player and have passed peer review. In case you didn't know that.[/I] Granny Allswell owns, by the way. Top tier character. I threw my voice out so hard acting her out that I had to see a speech pathologist and she told me to never do character voices again under any circumstances. 10/10, amazing Fey Titan. By the way, the party decided they wanted the Humble Hook to tell them Granny Alswell’s humble backstory. Not every Fey Titan, just Granny. Uhhhhhhh. I told them that before she took dominion over the mountains, she was a powerful planar traveller named Fortuna Major who got trapped in this arrangement when the Ancients locked in the planes, but she’s been kind of chill about it for the last couple thousand years. At least until she got trapped inside earth elementals. Then someone said "that sounds an awful lot like you just made that up off the top of your head." I asked my players if they'd ever heard of tabletop RP. [INDENT=2][/INDENT] [B][SIZE=6]THE FATHER OF THUNDER [/SIZE][/B] The Father of Thunder is also best summed up by the following table exchange: [INDENT=2][B]Steph[/B], Cleone (our technologist)'s player: So he likes challenges, huh? Let’s invite him to a lifting contest.[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Me[/B]: Out of curiosity, what’s Cleone's Strength score?[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Steph[/B]: 60[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Me[/B]:[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Steph[/B]:[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Me[/B]: Excuse me?[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Steph[/B]: 60[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Me[/B]: No it’s not. Let me see your character sheet.[/INDENT] It TURNS OUT. That the Pathfinder Edition rules as written. FOR THE STEAMSUIT PRESTIGE CLASS. Mean that Cleone is CANONICALLY STRONGER than [I]EVERY FEY TITAN[/I] when she is wearing her Steam Suit. [SIZE=4][I][B]I GUESS.[/B][/I][/SIZE] Cleone rolled to out-lift Father Thunder (who has a strength score of 54, by the way!), succeeded, and won his respect. Mona actually agreed to [LURID DETAIL CENSORED FOR THE SAKE OF FORUM DECENCY RULES] and got the Boon of Father Thunder, sans-hirsutism. Her player is playing with the idea of her eventually having a minotaur demi-god kid, though not during the campaign. That would be awkward. [B][SIZE=6]THE VOICE OF ROT [ATTACH type="full" width="529px" alt="axis_island_summary.png"]292494[/ATTACH][/SIZE][/B] [FOOTAGE NOT FOUND] Oh, they didn't do this part this adventure? Uh. Next slide! [B][SIZE=6]SHE WHO WRITHES[/SIZE][/B] [ATTACH type="full" width="554px" alt="Asrabey.png"]292495[/ATTACH] [I]Did I post this already? Did we make this meme? I don't remember seeing this in my server, it just manifested full-formed on my desktop.[/I] The party got really, really attached to Beshela - so, naturally, I was excited to pull a fast one over them and have Asrabey kill her. But when Asrabey arrived to swear Fealty to the new King of Risur, [I]nobody [/I]bought it. The party summoned Kasavarina (who is still around in my campaign) and started interrogating him. Eventually, his mask slipped, and he told the party that only the Ob was powerful enough to save the world now. Then when Asrabey told Kasavarina to her face that his real wife wouldn't be so weak, a player vandalized our own Wiki so that every time Asrabey is mentioned, his name is spelled wrong. Anyway, time to fight him! [INDENT=2][B]Me[/B]: Okay, everyone roll for initiative-[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]GS[/B]: No.[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Steph[/B]: Nah.[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Bizzy[/B]: Uh-uh.[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Becky[/B]: I’m good.[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Me[/B]: Uh- but- Asarabey [sic] is going to fight you.[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Steph[/B]: Kasavarina could kill him on her turn alone.[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Me[/B]: You don’t know that.[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]GS[/B]: Even if she didn’t, we’re going to kill him on turn one.[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Me[/B]: Yeah, well, I mean, I’d like to see it.[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Steph[/B]: He’s not worth it.[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Bizzy[/B]: Let’s just save everyone the time.[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][B]Me[/B]:[/INDENT] [INDENT=2][/INDENT] The disrespect! (This is the only time in the entire campaign that the players refused to run a fight out of character.) The party decided they were going to send him into Flint Bay as Tribute to She Who Writhes, and use the opening as an opportunity to have Beshela commune with her master. They DID fight She Who Writhes for a few turns. So, at least I got that. [ATTACH type="full" alt="get_in_loser_She_Who_Writhes_mean_girls.png"]292496[/ATTACH] Then Ashima Shimtu appeared from the blood spilled during the encounter. I'm relying on a lot of verbatim player conversations this write-up, but I reached an all-time peak of my DM exasperation when this happened: [B]Ashima Shimtu[/B]: First, a glimpse. Philosophers and policitians of several nations travel west, but toward what end, Ashima Shimtu cannot see. Second, a warning. When Ashima Shimtu gazed upon the western shore, something gazed back; she had not seen its like in this world. Third, and final, an opportunity. This island at the axis of the world- [B]Gatria[/B]: [I]What?![/I] [B]Ashima Shimtu[/B]: ...The island at the axis of the world- [B]Gatria[/B]: No, shut up about that! Go back to the other thing! [B]Ashima Shimtu[/B]: ... [B]Ashima Shimtu: [/B]The lady of the Forked Tongue has said to you that she has not seen the likes of the beings on the western shore in all of her time. [B]Gatria[/B]: Holy S***! The Gidim have invaded URSALINA! Cancel everything! This is the only thing that matters! [B]Me, who prepped the Axis Seal this session[/B]: [ATTACH type="full" width="38px" alt="base.png"]292482[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="56px" alt="gatria.png"]292497[/ATTACH] [B]Adventure 9, Gorged on Ruins, Part I: …Wait, what?[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="berans ruined ber.png"]292499[/ATTACH] This one went pretty close to the book, so I'll focus on the parts that were different. But even though I don't have much to say, this might be my favourite single chapter in the entire campaign. It was so satisfying to run, and everyone had a great time. First of all, to ratchet up the stakes, I decided that the Gidim Infestation was like fungus, and that whenever it was touched, everyone in the network instantly knew where you were. I felt so clever! Then The Last of Us HBO came out several months later, and they do the exact same thing (and it wasn't even like that in the game). Where are my royalty cheques, Craig Mazin? Because the players wrapped up Wolfgang von Recklinghausen and Andre's stories back in Act 2 (um, it would take too long to explain), I decided to have them pay for the consequences of their actions in [I]Always on Time[/I] by introducing Damata’s vengeful daughter, Dabo, as the crusading menace of Ursalina, instead. You see, 14-year-old Dabo, who [I]just [/I]became an adult according to orc culture, came to learn the circumstances of her Father's suicide, and swore to exterminate The Family from all corners of the earth - starting with Ber. She recklessly struck out on her own, and ran into the Ostea-healed Sor Daeron, who saw the opportunity to mentor a young woman as a chance for him to redeem himself for murdering Launga. And it just so happened that the party was a group of unrepentant Family shills, who had just sent Family Lieutenants into Ber to do some scouting for them! How convenient!!! Dabo killed Dester Rathine (the Kell turncoat from [I]Cauldron Born[/I]), whose corpse was left in the market as a message. The party caught up to her, and recognized Dabo and Sor immediately, in spite of their disguises. Cleone (Deva who killed Srasama, and friend of Kasavarina) and Sor Daeron screamed at eachother so loudly it alerted the Gidim Leviathan. My player map of this event was only the highest quality, you see. If I have radio silence for more than ten seconds in this campaign my head WILL explode, so of course, my ability to draw an entire scene in ten seconds is [I]unparalleled:[/I] [ATTACH type="full" width="433px" alt="eyeball_on_a_string.png"]292500[/ATTACH] The group scattered to find the lair of the Gidim Leviathan, which, of course, had infested the Beran Bardic college (amazing set piece, by the way. The walkthrough set to creepy background music was [I]chilling[/I]). Sor and Dabo protected the perimeter from reinforcements spilling into the College while the Party went down into the Depths to kill the infestation at its source. They kind of curbstomped that whole dungeon, and took possession of the Vortex Array. Which they then proceeded to never use. Sigh. Afterwards, the party had to decide what to do with Dabo and Sor. They didn’t trust Sor not to get another child killed, so they gave him a Big Darn Speech about how mentoring one girl would never make up for what he did to Launga - [I]nothing would[/I]. Several successful diplomacy checks later, Gatria got Dabo alone. She stared down the child who had killed one of her best friends and thought about ending her life then and there. But because Morgan had taught her to do more than act on her hate, she, instead, decided to alert Glaucia about Dabo and have her fairly punished for Vigilante Justice. She then wished Dabo well, and told her that, with time, she could be so much better than just an indiscriminate killer. [ATTACH type="full" width="786px" alt="morgan_grateful.png"]292501[/ATTACH] [B]Next time[/B]: We finish Gorged on Ruin! I mean, Godmind! I mean, we kill Gradiax! I’m confused, what chapter are we on? I suppose this writeup feels incomplete this time around, but that's because both adventure climaxes happen in the next part of this mega-adventure. The writeup for which I am contractually obligated to deliver to you within the next two months, or else I have agreed to let my players cook and eat me alive. This would, at the very least, deliver me from the agonies of dissertation writing. [B]Bonus![/B] Enjoy our zeitgeist discord server emotes. You probably aren't too invested in our player character ones, but they still might be cute to you if you recognize the references: [ATTACH type="full" width="78px" alt="burgerpants.png"]292506[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="76px" alt="HMMMMM4.png"]292507[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="80px" alt="unseen court transparent2.png"]292508[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" alt="gatria 2.png"]292509[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="94px" alt="bongo hoya.gif"]292510[/ATTACH] This one is a series, where you are meant to pick one of the characters to hold in hand. We have titled the face (which we can't take credit for drawing) "the DM": [ATTACH type="full" width="79px" alt="marcel.png"]292515[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="112px" alt="base.png"]292482[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="109px" alt="gatria.png"]292511[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="106px" alt="hoya.png"]292512[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="110px" alt="cleone.png"]292513[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="108px" alt="mona.png"]292514[/ATTACH] We do have a few canon character ones, though, for you to use as you please! Lya, Kasavarina, Nathan, and Xambria respectively: [ATTACH type="full" width="129px" alt="smug lya.png"]292479[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="81px" alt="kasavarina.png"]292480[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="82px" alt="nathan.png"]292481[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="124px" alt="xi stare3.png"]292498[/ATTACH] See you next time for the climactic second half! Who became the new Governor of Flint for you? What sequence breaking happened in your campaign? [/QUOTE]
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