All things must come to the end, and such is the case with the weekly summaries of the Dungeons & Dragons games I run at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't already aware of these two games, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube or jump to the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog to explore the story of Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing, and/or go over here to read the tale of Colonial Caerdia: Blossom Fall.
While I've enjoyed retelling these stories over the past year and a half, I've found that it takes up a large amount of my time every week - in fact, it reached a point where I was spending more time writing up the recaps for the games than I spent actually planning the games. So, though it saddens me that I'll no longer have a continuous record of the events in the games, I've decided that my time could be better spent elsewhere.
That said, the games will still be continuing, so perhaps I might periodically throw up a more concise summery of what has occurred in the story. We'll see what happens.
In the meantime, to fill the gap in your D&D entertainment, I offer you this new filmed D&D game that's also being put on by the Devil's Bench. For now, it's just a pilot, but it goes well, who knows what it could become? Either way, it's certainly something fun to watch.
Showing posts with label once upon a tabletop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label once upon a tabletop. Show all posts
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Friday, June 21, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 72
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
8th-9th of Waning Fall, 1AL
Patrick has just crumpled to the floor, unconscious and bleeding out from a double-handed axe blow from Logan, who appears to be quite delighted by this circumstance. The rest of the 3rd Watch leap into action, taking out Logan before he can do any more damage. Extang pours a healing potion into Patrick while Logan is securely tied and placed on the floor with the immovable rod inside his armor. This done, they settle down to wait through the night so Patrick can remove the latest curse Logan has clearly gotten himself entangled with.
When Logan wakes up, he immediately begins struggling to escape, but his efforts seem futile - so he refocuses his attention on breaking his armor so he can wriggle out of it. He succeeds on breaking the first strap while T'Zaric has flown out of the castle's tower to investigate a campfire - which turns out to have one humanoid-looking person cooking their lunch, which doesn't seem to be a problem, so he returns to the tower. When her turns his watch over to Quib, he informs the bard of the fire, then heads off to sleep.
Out by the fire, an elven ranger named Somolor sees a strange shape fly out of the castle, hover over him, then fly back to the tall, central tower. So he packs up and goes to investigate - using his magic to allow him to jump his way up onto the balcony, where he skulks around the outside, observing the strange happenings within, wondering about the context.
While Quib is guarding, Logan manages to break another strap, but Quib hears it and rushes over. Bound hand and foot, all Logan can do is try to headbutt Quib as he adjusts the positioning of the immovable rod so Logan is once again immobilized. Frustrated, Logan begins subtly working at the ropes binding him.
When Quib hands the watch over to Extang, he tells him about the broken armor, which Extang uses his magic to mend. He's more active in his watch, going out onto the balcony and hopping down to the roof, but doesn't see anything concerning since Somolor proves adept at avoiding him. Then, as he's returning to check up on Logan, he walks in just as the ropes snap.
He casts a spell, sending fire to burn Logan and waking the others, but Logan deactivates the immovable rod, jumps up, and hurries out onto the balcony - where he drops the item over the edge. Angered that someone would throw away a magic item, Extang charges at Logan, throwing him from the balcony and jumping off after, casting featherfall on himself so he can slowly drift down to the ground.
In response to this, Patrick, still half-asleep, uses his cloak to try to teleport to the ground - and misjudges by a lot. He appears in mid-air, crashing to unconsciousness not far from where Logan does the same. Quib also runs out, jumping off the balcony and featherfalling himself for a safe descent.
T'Zaric is left alone in the tower until Somolor runs in, demanding to know what's going on. T'Zaric says it will take to long to explain, learns that Somolor has some healing magic, and requests that the elf lets him carry him down to the ground to heal his friend. Somolor agrees, but part way down, Quib tells the two of them to drop, assuring them he'll cast featherfall on them. T'Zaric tries to reinforce this by telling Somolor to jump down, but Somolor doesn't like the look of that fall and is very uncertain about these people. Once again invoking his jumping magic, he leaps off of T'Zaric and back onto the balcony. T'Zaric follows after, apologizes, and convinces the elf to come down again - but this time, part way down, T'Zaric turns himself into mist, allowing Somolor to fall. Quib catches him with a spell, and he drifts down to the ground beside Logan - who he heals.
As Logan wakes up, Extang breathes poison in his face, taking him out again, and instructs Somolor to revive Patrick instead - which he does. Patrick makes sure Logan is stable, then they all get back to completing their rest. Extang spends the remainder of his watch trying to enlighten Somolor on the situation.
As evening falls, they're feeling at least mostly refreshed. Patrick removes the curse afflicting Logan, and Quib says Logan is never allowed to have an axe again. Quib then teleports up into the tower, where T'Zaric slept, bringing with him a diamond ring they found. The two of them agree that saving the petrified Fiaeorri is worth more than the rather high value of the ring, and they crush the diamond into dust so Quib can use some of it to turn Fiaeorri back to flesh and blood - but it doesn't work.
Now turning their interests to the orb in the tower's hidden attic, which T'Zaric believes can be used to control the castle's movement, the entire group is brought back up into the tower. Patrick, upon hearing T'Zaric's recounting of what interacting with it was like, volunteers, and finds himself touching what he believes to be the very large and slow mind of the castle. After a few interruptions, in which he discovers that time is passing far faster than he thinks, he spends six hours communing with the consciousness.
While this is going on, Extang tries to determine a way to save Fiaorri, arriving at the conclusion that he must somehow return her soul to her body from the cursed axe. Quib wanders lower in the tower, finding that he recognizes the lowest level. Seeing no orcs, he makes his way to the library, then to the baths - where he takes a bath before returning to the others.
Patrick emerges from his reverie imparting the information he received as he interprets it. The castle is hurting and wants someone to take care of it, and to be repaired. The group accepts this information, but decide to sleep through the night before moving onward, as it's been a really rough day and they'd like to fix their sleep patterns.
And that's where this week's game session ends. While the game is continuing on, this is also where the recaps of the game will be ending. To read more about it, you continue to this blog post.
You can find the previous episode here.
8th-9th of Waning Fall, 1AL
Patrick has just crumpled to the floor, unconscious and bleeding out from a double-handed axe blow from Logan, who appears to be quite delighted by this circumstance. The rest of the 3rd Watch leap into action, taking out Logan before he can do any more damage. Extang pours a healing potion into Patrick while Logan is securely tied and placed on the floor with the immovable rod inside his armor. This done, they settle down to wait through the night so Patrick can remove the latest curse Logan has clearly gotten himself entangled with.
When Logan wakes up, he immediately begins struggling to escape, but his efforts seem futile - so he refocuses his attention on breaking his armor so he can wriggle out of it. He succeeds on breaking the first strap while T'Zaric has flown out of the castle's tower to investigate a campfire - which turns out to have one humanoid-looking person cooking their lunch, which doesn't seem to be a problem, so he returns to the tower. When her turns his watch over to Quib, he informs the bard of the fire, then heads off to sleep.
Out by the fire, an elven ranger named Somolor sees a strange shape fly out of the castle, hover over him, then fly back to the tall, central tower. So he packs up and goes to investigate - using his magic to allow him to jump his way up onto the balcony, where he skulks around the outside, observing the strange happenings within, wondering about the context.
While Quib is guarding, Logan manages to break another strap, but Quib hears it and rushes over. Bound hand and foot, all Logan can do is try to headbutt Quib as he adjusts the positioning of the immovable rod so Logan is once again immobilized. Frustrated, Logan begins subtly working at the ropes binding him.
When Quib hands the watch over to Extang, he tells him about the broken armor, which Extang uses his magic to mend. He's more active in his watch, going out onto the balcony and hopping down to the roof, but doesn't see anything concerning since Somolor proves adept at avoiding him. Then, as he's returning to check up on Logan, he walks in just as the ropes snap.
He casts a spell, sending fire to burn Logan and waking the others, but Logan deactivates the immovable rod, jumps up, and hurries out onto the balcony - where he drops the item over the edge. Angered that someone would throw away a magic item, Extang charges at Logan, throwing him from the balcony and jumping off after, casting featherfall on himself so he can slowly drift down to the ground.
In response to this, Patrick, still half-asleep, uses his cloak to try to teleport to the ground - and misjudges by a lot. He appears in mid-air, crashing to unconsciousness not far from where Logan does the same. Quib also runs out, jumping off the balcony and featherfalling himself for a safe descent.
T'Zaric is left alone in the tower until Somolor runs in, demanding to know what's going on. T'Zaric says it will take to long to explain, learns that Somolor has some healing magic, and requests that the elf lets him carry him down to the ground to heal his friend. Somolor agrees, but part way down, Quib tells the two of them to drop, assuring them he'll cast featherfall on them. T'Zaric tries to reinforce this by telling Somolor to jump down, but Somolor doesn't like the look of that fall and is very uncertain about these people. Once again invoking his jumping magic, he leaps off of T'Zaric and back onto the balcony. T'Zaric follows after, apologizes, and convinces the elf to come down again - but this time, part way down, T'Zaric turns himself into mist, allowing Somolor to fall. Quib catches him with a spell, and he drifts down to the ground beside Logan - who he heals.
As Logan wakes up, Extang breathes poison in his face, taking him out again, and instructs Somolor to revive Patrick instead - which he does. Patrick makes sure Logan is stable, then they all get back to completing their rest. Extang spends the remainder of his watch trying to enlighten Somolor on the situation.
As evening falls, they're feeling at least mostly refreshed. Patrick removes the curse afflicting Logan, and Quib says Logan is never allowed to have an axe again. Quib then teleports up into the tower, where T'Zaric slept, bringing with him a diamond ring they found. The two of them agree that saving the petrified Fiaeorri is worth more than the rather high value of the ring, and they crush the diamond into dust so Quib can use some of it to turn Fiaeorri back to flesh and blood - but it doesn't work.
Now turning their interests to the orb in the tower's hidden attic, which T'Zaric believes can be used to control the castle's movement, the entire group is brought back up into the tower. Patrick, upon hearing T'Zaric's recounting of what interacting with it was like, volunteers, and finds himself touching what he believes to be the very large and slow mind of the castle. After a few interruptions, in which he discovers that time is passing far faster than he thinks, he spends six hours communing with the consciousness.
While this is going on, Extang tries to determine a way to save Fiaorri, arriving at the conclusion that he must somehow return her soul to her body from the cursed axe. Quib wanders lower in the tower, finding that he recognizes the lowest level. Seeing no orcs, he makes his way to the library, then to the baths - where he takes a bath before returning to the others.
Patrick emerges from his reverie imparting the information he received as he interprets it. The castle is hurting and wants someone to take care of it, and to be repaired. The group accepts this information, but decide to sleep through the night before moving onward, as it's been a really rough day and they'd like to fix their sleep patterns.
And that's where this week's game session ends. While the game is continuing on, this is also where the recaps of the game will be ending. To read more about it, you continue to this blog post.
Thursday, June 13, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 71
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
8th of Waning Fall, 1AL
The 3rd Watch have found themselves split up, with T'Zaric closed away in the secret attic room he found, examining some type of orb, Extang attuning to an item on the top floor of the tower, along with Patrick and Logan, and Quib and Fiaeorri running down to the next level of the tower, chasing an orc, only to find an additional six orcs waiting in the room below. The orcs swarm in of Fiaeorri and Quib, some of them summoning up magical spears to attack as well. Back upstairs, Extang knows he's almost finished bonding with his item, but he, Logan, and Patrick also spot some movement out on the balcony. Extang sticks to his work, but Logan and Patrick head down the stairs, responding to a call from Quib saying he and Fiaeorri were surrounded.
T'Zaric, only having heard a muffled call, makes his way out of the secret room to investigate what is happening. He arrives just in time for the tower's doors to swing open, followed by orcs rushing into the room to attack him and Extang, also accompanied by floating spears. He begins fighting back, as does Extang, who has finally finished bonding to the magical bracelet. They navigate around the room, often with the help of spells, allowing for some fireballs, but the orcs are relentless. T'Zaric goes down to a lucky blow, and the orcs move in on Extang, pinning him into a corner.
Down below, the fight is going fairly well, in spite of overwhelming odds. Quib has most of the orcs dazed, but more orcs have been coming up the stairs - one on a dire wolf, and another big orc on a dangerous, ice-breathing winter wolf. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that they are fighting for their lives. Quib, hearing fighting upstairs, is able to break away from the fight to discover where T'Zaric and Extang are and is able to revive T'Zaric, then teturns below when he sees that T'Zaric and Extang clearly have the situation handled.
T'Zaric and Extang do seem to have the situation in hand, with all but one of the orcs getting killed off, and Extang using the magic bracelet to start the last one turning to stone before the two of them head down the stairs to join the others - where they find that Fiaeorri has climbed up on the back of the winter wolf beside to slay it, ignoring the hits coming from the huge orc astride the wolf. As they watch, Fiaeorri swings around the orc to drive her rapier into the skull of the wolf, and it crashes to the ground.
Over on the stairs, Patrick is glowing with radiant light and holding back the orcish reinforcements, but there's only so much one person can do. He falls, but Logan is quick to get to his side to revive him. Extang then turns Fiaeorri into a dire wolf and Quib into a t-rex - cramped in this small space. With the extra endurance of these creatures, the group take down the orc chieftain and finally clear the room of orcs. Silence falls, and it seems no more reinforcements are coming.
Fiaeorri, heavily wounded, makes her way back upstairs to the glass cabinet and the treasures within. T'Zaric similarly goes upstairs, heading straight for the orb. He tries to pick it up and... loses himself, becoming - or believing he's become - something much larger, feeling quite lonely and distressed with some sort of itchy, filthy pests running around inside him and hurting him, but also with a hint of hope that something has been found to end this problem.
Downstairs, the rest loot a fair amount of treasure from the orcs, including a probably magic greataxe which is given into Logan's care, as well a magical, glowing shortsword that has caught Quib's eye. Then they head back upstairs to use Extang's bracelet to access the cabinet - where they find Fiaeorri pressed up against the glass, gazing covetously within, and made entirely of stone. They rush to her side, trying to find what could have caused this, and find that though she is stone, there is blood running from a wound gashed in her arm. Patrick heals this, but he's used up all his spells and there's nothing else he can think to do to help her currently.
Noticing the absence of T'Zaric, Extang hops up into the room above and finds him with his hands pressed against an orb on a stand, staring into the orb, but not moving. He pulls T'Zaric away, who manages to snap out of his reverie. They return to the others, open holes into the cabinet through the stonework, and fetch out the various treasures held within. They each sit down with an item they believe to be magical, learning their secrets and their properties.
However, none of them are paying attention to the fact that Logan has gone back to the room downstairs, alone, and is bonding with the axe without having any idea what it may be. An hour passes, and the group hear a strange sound, like metal being dragged along stone. Scrape-thump. Scrape-thump. Scrape-thump.
Logan appears at the top of the stairs, dragging the axe behind him. He takes the haft in both hands and swings it around, bringing the blade down on Patrick, who crumples to the ground.
And that's the end of this week's game session. Find out more next week in Episode 72.
You can find the previous episode here.
8th of Waning Fall, 1AL
The 3rd Watch have found themselves split up, with T'Zaric closed away in the secret attic room he found, examining some type of orb, Extang attuning to an item on the top floor of the tower, along with Patrick and Logan, and Quib and Fiaeorri running down to the next level of the tower, chasing an orc, only to find an additional six orcs waiting in the room below. The orcs swarm in of Fiaeorri and Quib, some of them summoning up magical spears to attack as well. Back upstairs, Extang knows he's almost finished bonding with his item, but he, Logan, and Patrick also spot some movement out on the balcony. Extang sticks to his work, but Logan and Patrick head down the stairs, responding to a call from Quib saying he and Fiaeorri were surrounded.
T'Zaric, only having heard a muffled call, makes his way out of the secret room to investigate what is happening. He arrives just in time for the tower's doors to swing open, followed by orcs rushing into the room to attack him and Extang, also accompanied by floating spears. He begins fighting back, as does Extang, who has finally finished bonding to the magical bracelet. They navigate around the room, often with the help of spells, allowing for some fireballs, but the orcs are relentless. T'Zaric goes down to a lucky blow, and the orcs move in on Extang, pinning him into a corner.
Down below, the fight is going fairly well, in spite of overwhelming odds. Quib has most of the orcs dazed, but more orcs have been coming up the stairs - one on a dire wolf, and another big orc on a dangerous, ice-breathing winter wolf. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that they are fighting for their lives. Quib, hearing fighting upstairs, is able to break away from the fight to discover where T'Zaric and Extang are and is able to revive T'Zaric, then teturns below when he sees that T'Zaric and Extang clearly have the situation handled.
T'Zaric and Extang do seem to have the situation in hand, with all but one of the orcs getting killed off, and Extang using the magic bracelet to start the last one turning to stone before the two of them head down the stairs to join the others - where they find that Fiaeorri has climbed up on the back of the winter wolf beside to slay it, ignoring the hits coming from the huge orc astride the wolf. As they watch, Fiaeorri swings around the orc to drive her rapier into the skull of the wolf, and it crashes to the ground.
Over on the stairs, Patrick is glowing with radiant light and holding back the orcish reinforcements, but there's only so much one person can do. He falls, but Logan is quick to get to his side to revive him. Extang then turns Fiaeorri into a dire wolf and Quib into a t-rex - cramped in this small space. With the extra endurance of these creatures, the group take down the orc chieftain and finally clear the room of orcs. Silence falls, and it seems no more reinforcements are coming.
Fiaeorri, heavily wounded, makes her way back upstairs to the glass cabinet and the treasures within. T'Zaric similarly goes upstairs, heading straight for the orb. He tries to pick it up and... loses himself, becoming - or believing he's become - something much larger, feeling quite lonely and distressed with some sort of itchy, filthy pests running around inside him and hurting him, but also with a hint of hope that something has been found to end this problem.
Downstairs, the rest loot a fair amount of treasure from the orcs, including a probably magic greataxe which is given into Logan's care, as well a magical, glowing shortsword that has caught Quib's eye. Then they head back upstairs to use Extang's bracelet to access the cabinet - where they find Fiaeorri pressed up against the glass, gazing covetously within, and made entirely of stone. They rush to her side, trying to find what could have caused this, and find that though she is stone, there is blood running from a wound gashed in her arm. Patrick heals this, but he's used up all his spells and there's nothing else he can think to do to help her currently.
Noticing the absence of T'Zaric, Extang hops up into the room above and finds him with his hands pressed against an orb on a stand, staring into the orb, but not moving. He pulls T'Zaric away, who manages to snap out of his reverie. They return to the others, open holes into the cabinet through the stonework, and fetch out the various treasures held within. They each sit down with an item they believe to be magical, learning their secrets and their properties.
However, none of them are paying attention to the fact that Logan has gone back to the room downstairs, alone, and is bonding with the axe without having any idea what it may be. An hour passes, and the group hear a strange sound, like metal being dragged along stone. Scrape-thump. Scrape-thump. Scrape-thump.
Logan appears at the top of the stairs, dragging the axe behind him. He takes the haft in both hands and swings it around, bringing the blade down on Patrick, who crumples to the ground.
And that's the end of this week's game session. Find out more next week in Episode 72.
Saturday, June 08, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 70
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
7th-8th of Waning Fall, 1AL
To escape a a dangerous battle, the 3rd Watch have teleported themselves out of the castle where they were surrounded by orcs - however, they all teleported as pairs in different directions into the night. They all hear the howl of wolves, and know that the orcs and their dire wolves are out seeking them.
Patrick and Logan simply decide to run, continuing to the north, which was the direction they teleported out of the castle. They run until the castle is long out of sight and they find an outcropping of rocks where they settle down to hide.
To the southeast of the castle, Extang and Quib also decide to run, but they decide to run all night to get back to the white house of rock, which they believe to be the most sensible place to go and where the others are sure to head. It's an exhausting journey, but they make it - finding Ruby the giant firebeetle in excellent health and locking themselves in before going to sleep.
T'Zaric carries Fiaeorri up into the air, and they begin a slow and silent circuit of the castle - however, the rest of the 3rd Watch are gone by the time they arrive near them. They widen their circuits, but still find no signs of their friends. The howls of the wolves eventually die away, with still nothing found. Suddenly, T'Zaric gets a magical message in his mind from Patrick, telling him he and Logan are safe and where they are, though they haven't heard from the others. T'Zaric and Fiarorri make their way over to them, Fiaeorri using her shorter range messaging spell to determine when they get close, and the reconvene. They set watches - though the leave one watch empty rather than allowing Logan to take a turn - and sleep into the day. Then Patrick contacts Extang and, learning that he and Quib are back at the white house of rock, the groups heads there to rendezvous and recuperate - pointedly giving the castle a wide berth.
Upon arriving back, deep into the night, they send a message to the council back in Port Noble to update them on their situation before heading to sleep. In the morning, Extang heads out to connect the mote he previously dug to the river - but as he gets closer to the river, he spots the shape of the castle on the far bank. He makes his way back to the others, telling them, rather nervously, what he's found. They had been planning to rest longer before tackling the castle, but they've decided that they can't risk it with the castle right here. They're ready to attack - all except Patrick, who wants to offer the orcs a chance for peace.
The other's aren't keen on this idea, but Extang pulls out his cards to do a reading - which tells them that offering peace is a good, noble, and honorable thing to do. So, they decide to let Patrick try, but they prepare for the worst. T'Zaric will go along with Patrick, ready to teleport him to the the balcony of the castle's tallest tower, where they will be met by the others - who will be flying up there either as or on the backs of giant eagles.
The eagles and their riders depart, getting themselves into position. As they fly above the castle they spot eight orcs down below, patrolling the castle's rooftop. They begin circling the tower, waiting to see the results of Patrick's efforts.
Patrick and T'Zaric approach the castle, remaining as far as they dare. Patrick amplifies his voice and makes his peace offering - the clear reply is a volley of javelins from the orcs on the roof. As Patrick passes out, T'Zaric grabs him and teleports up to the tower balcony as planned, where the eagles drop off Fiaeorri and Quib as they swoop down at the orcs - four of which remain to fight while the rest head through doors into the towers. Quib revives Patrick while the others cast spells down at their enemies. Javelins from the orcs make Extang lose his concentration on the spell keeping him and Logan in eagle form - luckily Quib is quick enough to cast featherfall on Logan, who has quite a long drop below him. However, in spite of their difficulties, they take down the orcs.
Extang and Logan search the orcs for treasure, then turn back into eagles to fly up to the tower's balcony, where the others have disappeared inside. In the tower, there are stairs leading down, a battered desk and chair, empty bookcases, a pile of ash, and a glass display case. The display case immediately attracts attention, as it's filled with various treasures. However, Quib identifies the glass as an ancient material known as dragon glass, which is believed to be indestructible, and there is no way of opening it or otherwise getting inside. However, they do quickly notice that there is no glass on the back, against the stone wall, and they believe they can access it from the balcony surrounding the tower.
Extang pulls out a magic bracelet that, after using a spell it has the ability to cast, will allow them to change the shape of stones, hopefully allowing access to the display case. However, he needs to take an hour to get in tune with the item first. So, he settles down to do that, while the others begin scouring the room for anything else of interest - and Quib takes a quck trip down the stairs to find an empty bedroom. They find nothing until T'Zarinc, flying along the ceiling, notices the catch of an extremely well-hidden trapdoor. He opens in up and flies into a little attic room with nothing other than a strange orb resting on a pedestal. He touches it, but nothing happens, so he settles down to ritually cast a spell to detect good or evil forces.
However, before the the spell is done - or Extang has finished with the bracelet - Fiaeorri hears the distinctive noise of someone trying to be quiet on the stairs. She begins sneaking down, but retreats when she finds a pair of orcs coming up the stairs, silently signaling the others. Quib, Patrick, and Logan all position themselves by the stairs with Fiaeorri, and they pounce when the orcs come into sight. One of them, driven by Quib's spell, charges into the room and is slaughtered, while the other turns and heads back down the stairs. Fiaeorri and Quib give chase, with T'Zaric closing the trapdoor to the little attic room so he can examine this orb in private.
As Quib and Fiaeorri round the corner of the stairs into the room below, they discover that that room is now full of orcs.
And that's where this week's game session comes to an end. Check back next week to find out what happens in Episode 71.
You can find the previous episode here.
7th-8th of Waning Fall, 1AL
To escape a a dangerous battle, the 3rd Watch have teleported themselves out of the castle where they were surrounded by orcs - however, they all teleported as pairs in different directions into the night. They all hear the howl of wolves, and know that the orcs and their dire wolves are out seeking them.
Patrick and Logan simply decide to run, continuing to the north, which was the direction they teleported out of the castle. They run until the castle is long out of sight and they find an outcropping of rocks where they settle down to hide.
To the southeast of the castle, Extang and Quib also decide to run, but they decide to run all night to get back to the white house of rock, which they believe to be the most sensible place to go and where the others are sure to head. It's an exhausting journey, but they make it - finding Ruby the giant firebeetle in excellent health and locking themselves in before going to sleep.
T'Zaric carries Fiaeorri up into the air, and they begin a slow and silent circuit of the castle - however, the rest of the 3rd Watch are gone by the time they arrive near them. They widen their circuits, but still find no signs of their friends. The howls of the wolves eventually die away, with still nothing found. Suddenly, T'Zaric gets a magical message in his mind from Patrick, telling him he and Logan are safe and where they are, though they haven't heard from the others. T'Zaric and Fiarorri make their way over to them, Fiaeorri using her shorter range messaging spell to determine when they get close, and the reconvene. They set watches - though the leave one watch empty rather than allowing Logan to take a turn - and sleep into the day. Then Patrick contacts Extang and, learning that he and Quib are back at the white house of rock, the groups heads there to rendezvous and recuperate - pointedly giving the castle a wide berth.
Upon arriving back, deep into the night, they send a message to the council back in Port Noble to update them on their situation before heading to sleep. In the morning, Extang heads out to connect the mote he previously dug to the river - but as he gets closer to the river, he spots the shape of the castle on the far bank. He makes his way back to the others, telling them, rather nervously, what he's found. They had been planning to rest longer before tackling the castle, but they've decided that they can't risk it with the castle right here. They're ready to attack - all except Patrick, who wants to offer the orcs a chance for peace.
The other's aren't keen on this idea, but Extang pulls out his cards to do a reading - which tells them that offering peace is a good, noble, and honorable thing to do. So, they decide to let Patrick try, but they prepare for the worst. T'Zaric will go along with Patrick, ready to teleport him to the the balcony of the castle's tallest tower, where they will be met by the others - who will be flying up there either as or on the backs of giant eagles.
The eagles and their riders depart, getting themselves into position. As they fly above the castle they spot eight orcs down below, patrolling the castle's rooftop. They begin circling the tower, waiting to see the results of Patrick's efforts.
Patrick and T'Zaric approach the castle, remaining as far as they dare. Patrick amplifies his voice and makes his peace offering - the clear reply is a volley of javelins from the orcs on the roof. As Patrick passes out, T'Zaric grabs him and teleports up to the tower balcony as planned, where the eagles drop off Fiaeorri and Quib as they swoop down at the orcs - four of which remain to fight while the rest head through doors into the towers. Quib revives Patrick while the others cast spells down at their enemies. Javelins from the orcs make Extang lose his concentration on the spell keeping him and Logan in eagle form - luckily Quib is quick enough to cast featherfall on Logan, who has quite a long drop below him. However, in spite of their difficulties, they take down the orcs.
Extang and Logan search the orcs for treasure, then turn back into eagles to fly up to the tower's balcony, where the others have disappeared inside. In the tower, there are stairs leading down, a battered desk and chair, empty bookcases, a pile of ash, and a glass display case. The display case immediately attracts attention, as it's filled with various treasures. However, Quib identifies the glass as an ancient material known as dragon glass, which is believed to be indestructible, and there is no way of opening it or otherwise getting inside. However, they do quickly notice that there is no glass on the back, against the stone wall, and they believe they can access it from the balcony surrounding the tower.
Extang pulls out a magic bracelet that, after using a spell it has the ability to cast, will allow them to change the shape of stones, hopefully allowing access to the display case. However, he needs to take an hour to get in tune with the item first. So, he settles down to do that, while the others begin scouring the room for anything else of interest - and Quib takes a quck trip down the stairs to find an empty bedroom. They find nothing until T'Zarinc, flying along the ceiling, notices the catch of an extremely well-hidden trapdoor. He opens in up and flies into a little attic room with nothing other than a strange orb resting on a pedestal. He touches it, but nothing happens, so he settles down to ritually cast a spell to detect good or evil forces.
However, before the the spell is done - or Extang has finished with the bracelet - Fiaeorri hears the distinctive noise of someone trying to be quiet on the stairs. She begins sneaking down, but retreats when she finds a pair of orcs coming up the stairs, silently signaling the others. Quib, Patrick, and Logan all position themselves by the stairs with Fiaeorri, and they pounce when the orcs come into sight. One of them, driven by Quib's spell, charges into the room and is slaughtered, while the other turns and heads back down the stairs. Fiaeorri and Quib give chase, with T'Zaric closing the trapdoor to the little attic room so he can examine this orb in private.
As Quib and Fiaeorri round the corner of the stairs into the room below, they discover that that room is now full of orcs.
And that's where this week's game session comes to an end. Check back next week to find out what happens in Episode 71.
Friday, May 31, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 69
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
7th of Waning Fall, 1AL
Spurred onward by the bold knowledge that orcs were fleeing from them, the 3rd Watch decide to press on into the castle. The first descend the stairs they found into the lower regions of the castle, where they're surprised to find a number of dead orc not killed by them - and killed before they ever found the castle, as far as they can tell. They press on down the corridors, finding a room full of barred cells that Extang and Quib recognize. Something about this place fills Logan with dread and he begins looking everywhere for brains on legs.
They know that there's an entrance into a secret room on the far side, but they can't find a way to open it. Extang teleports through to open it, and they retrieve their immovable rod that has been holding the hatch shut. They head back out, exploring down a tunnel, finding another room with a summoning circle, then a room with statues of dueling wizards in opposite corners. While some of the others attempt to figure out what's going on, Logan gets bored and blunders through the room, dragging along Patrick who tries to stop him. As he crosses between the stone wizards, a blast of fire fills the room, spilling out into the halls and burning everyone.
After this, they advance with far more caution. Extang is able to mar the runes enchanting the statues, allowing them to pass through into the passages in beyond. After a little more exploring, they come across the corpses of some monsters that they did kill, and they realize they're close to the area where they were first transported down into these dungeons. They decide that they want to go back to the upper levels, but they need to rest and treat their wounds first, so they retreat to the secret room to do that. Then they head back up and quietly head across the wide hall in the direction they had seen orcs fleeing. They progress through two rooms and out into a hallway with multiple branches and more rooms. They find a room that looks like it had some kind of meal that had been interrupted, then progress down a hall towards a door in a curved wall, with a stone circle containing the image of a flame above the door.
Everyone else backs off while Extang begins ritually casting his detect magic spell, but before he finishes it, the door opens. The orcs inside seem a little surprised to find them, but several of them charge out of the room to attack anyway - and someone in the room sounds a horn that echos through the hallway and brings more orcs charging in from behind, surrounding them and trapping the 3rd Watch in the hallway.
The first wave of orcs is cleared fairly quickly, giving the group a bit of maneuvering room and opening a path for retreat, but more monsters come rushing in to replace the fallen. The battle is getting rough, but doesn't seem to be going too badly, until more orcs arrive from their retreat route - riding dire wolves, on one on the back of a large white wolf with a painful icy breath. Quib manages to stun some of the orcs and wolves, and T'Zaric is able to take out a number of them with a fireball, but it doesn't seem to be enough. Patrick falls unconscious, and the 3rd Watch decide that it is once again time to retreat. Extang calls this out and gets himself to Quib's side, and Quib teleports them out of the castle. Logan revives Patrick, who, seeing T'Zaric grab Fieaorri and teleporting away, uses his magic cape to teleport himself and Logan out into the dark of night.
And that brings an end to this week's game session. Come back next week to find out what happens in Episode 70.
You can find the previous episode here.
7th of Waning Fall, 1AL
Spurred onward by the bold knowledge that orcs were fleeing from them, the 3rd Watch decide to press on into the castle. The first descend the stairs they found into the lower regions of the castle, where they're surprised to find a number of dead orc not killed by them - and killed before they ever found the castle, as far as they can tell. They press on down the corridors, finding a room full of barred cells that Extang and Quib recognize. Something about this place fills Logan with dread and he begins looking everywhere for brains on legs.
They know that there's an entrance into a secret room on the far side, but they can't find a way to open it. Extang teleports through to open it, and they retrieve their immovable rod that has been holding the hatch shut. They head back out, exploring down a tunnel, finding another room with a summoning circle, then a room with statues of dueling wizards in opposite corners. While some of the others attempt to figure out what's going on, Logan gets bored and blunders through the room, dragging along Patrick who tries to stop him. As he crosses between the stone wizards, a blast of fire fills the room, spilling out into the halls and burning everyone.
After this, they advance with far more caution. Extang is able to mar the runes enchanting the statues, allowing them to pass through into the passages in beyond. After a little more exploring, they come across the corpses of some monsters that they did kill, and they realize they're close to the area where they were first transported down into these dungeons. They decide that they want to go back to the upper levels, but they need to rest and treat their wounds first, so they retreat to the secret room to do that. Then they head back up and quietly head across the wide hall in the direction they had seen orcs fleeing. They progress through two rooms and out into a hallway with multiple branches and more rooms. They find a room that looks like it had some kind of meal that had been interrupted, then progress down a hall towards a door in a curved wall, with a stone circle containing the image of a flame above the door.
Everyone else backs off while Extang begins ritually casting his detect magic spell, but before he finishes it, the door opens. The orcs inside seem a little surprised to find them, but several of them charge out of the room to attack anyway - and someone in the room sounds a horn that echos through the hallway and brings more orcs charging in from behind, surrounding them and trapping the 3rd Watch in the hallway.
The first wave of orcs is cleared fairly quickly, giving the group a bit of maneuvering room and opening a path for retreat, but more monsters come rushing in to replace the fallen. The battle is getting rough, but doesn't seem to be going too badly, until more orcs arrive from their retreat route - riding dire wolves, on one on the back of a large white wolf with a painful icy breath. Quib manages to stun some of the orcs and wolves, and T'Zaric is able to take out a number of them with a fireball, but it doesn't seem to be enough. Patrick falls unconscious, and the 3rd Watch decide that it is once again time to retreat. Extang calls this out and gets himself to Quib's side, and Quib teleports them out of the castle. Logan revives Patrick, who, seeing T'Zaric grab Fieaorri and teleporting away, uses his magic cape to teleport himself and Logan out into the dark of night.
And that brings an end to this week's game session. Come back next week to find out what happens in Episode 70.
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 68
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
6th-7th of Waning Fall, 1AL
After stealing Raim's Book of Secrets, T'Zaric makes his way north until he reunites with Patrick, Fiaeorri, and Logan. They are a bit concerned that he has the book, and admits to taking it without permission, but he assures them that he's just checking it out while everyone is resting.
They wait until the middle of the afternoon when two giant eagles suddenly start bearing down on them. They begin attacking them, but then the birds arrive and turn out to be Extang and Quib. Quib is very angry about the book having been taken from him, but T'Zaric happily and willingly hands it back.
The 3rd Watch then form a plan to head back to the white house of rock and wait while Logan and Quib recover from their lasting injuries while T'Zaric flies out every day to keep an eye on the doings of the orcs in the castle. They set out, only travelling until evening before making camp for the night, hoping to get back onto a more regular sleep routine. However, while Logan - his mind still functioning at a fraction of what it once was - is standing guard on the second watch, he suddenly notices a castle about 100 feet away from their camp that wasn't there before. It certainly looks a lot like the castle the group was in before.
Curious about the castle and the warm light emitting from the open drawbridge, he goes to investigate. He arrives and looks inside, seeing four orcs - who also see him and rush in to attack. Logan responds by imbuing his weapon with thunderous power to do as much damage as he can to his assailants, as well as making a loud noise that wakes up all of his allies.
Startled into wakefulness, and confused by the nearness of the castle, the rest of the 3rd Watch quickly determine that Logan is missing - and that he's most likely one of the figures fighting in the castle entrance. They charge in, Patrick and and Fiaeorri in the lead aided by a haste spell from Extang. While the battle begins outside the gate, it soon flows into the hallway inside as more orcs arrive. It's a hard battle, and even the heavily-armored Logan takes some severe hits, but eventually the battle seems to die down - though not for too long, as Extang - the only one left outside - takes some hits from above - either the wall or one of the towers. He alerts the others and T'Zaric flies out, drawing fire and, in doing so, learning the location of the assailants. He launches a fireball through an arrow slit in one of the towers, seeming to end the fight for now.
He returns to the others, where they spend their brief respite collecting coins from the dead using their magic to heal their wounds - but they don't believe this is over yet. Patrick wants to flee, but most of the others want to press on. Fiaeorri begins setting traps to hinder those chasing them should they choose to flee.
Then they spot a group of furtive orcs dashing across the far end of the hall. They head up to investigate, Fiaeorri in the lead, but the orcs are out of sight by the time they get there. Fiaeorri scouts down the route the orcs came from, finding a hall, a room with smashed bed frames and chests, and a room filled with tables and benches with a door leading to stairs heading downwards.
And that is where this week's game session ended. Check back next week for Episode 69.
You can find the previous episode here.
6th-7th of Waning Fall, 1AL
After stealing Raim's Book of Secrets, T'Zaric makes his way north until he reunites with Patrick, Fiaeorri, and Logan. They are a bit concerned that he has the book, and admits to taking it without permission, but he assures them that he's just checking it out while everyone is resting.
They wait until the middle of the afternoon when two giant eagles suddenly start bearing down on them. They begin attacking them, but then the birds arrive and turn out to be Extang and Quib. Quib is very angry about the book having been taken from him, but T'Zaric happily and willingly hands it back.
The 3rd Watch then form a plan to head back to the white house of rock and wait while Logan and Quib recover from their lasting injuries while T'Zaric flies out every day to keep an eye on the doings of the orcs in the castle. They set out, only travelling until evening before making camp for the night, hoping to get back onto a more regular sleep routine. However, while Logan - his mind still functioning at a fraction of what it once was - is standing guard on the second watch, he suddenly notices a castle about 100 feet away from their camp that wasn't there before. It certainly looks a lot like the castle the group was in before.
Curious about the castle and the warm light emitting from the open drawbridge, he goes to investigate. He arrives and looks inside, seeing four orcs - who also see him and rush in to attack. Logan responds by imbuing his weapon with thunderous power to do as much damage as he can to his assailants, as well as making a loud noise that wakes up all of his allies.
Startled into wakefulness, and confused by the nearness of the castle, the rest of the 3rd Watch quickly determine that Logan is missing - and that he's most likely one of the figures fighting in the castle entrance. They charge in, Patrick and and Fiaeorri in the lead aided by a haste spell from Extang. While the battle begins outside the gate, it soon flows into the hallway inside as more orcs arrive. It's a hard battle, and even the heavily-armored Logan takes some severe hits, but eventually the battle seems to die down - though not for too long, as Extang - the only one left outside - takes some hits from above - either the wall or one of the towers. He alerts the others and T'Zaric flies out, drawing fire and, in doing so, learning the location of the assailants. He launches a fireball through an arrow slit in one of the towers, seeming to end the fight for now.
He returns to the others, where they spend their brief respite collecting coins from the dead using their magic to heal their wounds - but they don't believe this is over yet. Patrick wants to flee, but most of the others want to press on. Fiaeorri begins setting traps to hinder those chasing them should they choose to flee.
Then they spot a group of furtive orcs dashing across the far end of the hall. They head up to investigate, Fiaeorri in the lead, but the orcs are out of sight by the time they get there. Fiaeorri scouts down the route the orcs came from, finding a hall, a room with smashed bed frames and chests, and a room filled with tables and benches with a door leading to stairs heading downwards.
And that is where this week's game session ended. Check back next week for Episode 69.
Saturday, May 18, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 67
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
6th of Waning Fall, 1AL
Having taken a rest in their secret room down below the castle, after Patrick having alerted the entire building to their presence, the group that has gone out tell T'Zaric and Fiaeorri about their findings. T'Zaric is very interested in the Book of Raim that Quib has bonded with, but he accepts the group's decision to not give it to him as they don't know what's going on with him right now. It doesn't help when he briefly becomes his smoky self in an attempt to negotiate for the book to be given to "the vessel", but even that part of him accepts no as an answer.
The talk turns to safely getting out of the castle. Between T'Zaric, Quib, and a magical cloak Patrick found, they believe they are able to teleport everyone out of the castle, but first they need to know where the ground is so they don't accidentally teleport themselves into the ground. The best solution they have is to go back to the library - which had windows - and they want to do that anyway to retrieve more books.
T'Zaric gets sent ahead to stealthily scout the way, with Quib going with him up into the circular room to point the way. However, when they open the door, they discover that there are orcs already waiting for them - and orcs begin pouring down the stairs and into the room from the other door as well.
Hearing the ruckus up above, Patrick grabs Logan and tries to teleport out - but he miscalculates the height and merely injures them, which means it is now impossible to get everyone out. Extang and Logan rush up to join the fight, and Extang turns them both into giant apes to hold off the orcs. They whittle down the numbers, but there are so very many of them, and more coming.
T'Zaric flies back down the trapdoor, grabs Fiaeorri, and teleports out - aiming high in the air to make certain they make it safely. He lowers her to the ground, then begins flying back towards the castle, guessing from positioning that his friends are in the central tower - but he isn't certain he'll arrive in time to be of any help.
Patrick and Quib work towards keeping everyone alive, and Patrick comes up to join the fray - but the ape forms are whittled down, and the group is starting to get hurt. Desperate for an escape, Quib pulls out one of the spell scrolls they found and makes a passage out the north wall of the tower. Beyond appears to be some sort of overgrown greenhouse - but there are still orcs between them and the hole. So he casts a spell, dazzling nearly all the orcs in the room, and Patrick as well, before running out - followed by Logan and Extang pushing the dazed Patrick ahead of him while hitting the room with a fireball as he reaches the exit, incinerating most of the remaining orcs - but not all. Those that remain close in on him - with more rushing in from the door - and take him down to unconsciousness.
T'Zaric arrives back at the castle just in time to see his friends emerging through the wall into the space below the glass dome - and to see a gigantic bird rising from the overgrown foliage below the broken glass covering the greenhouse area. He hits it with some magic missiles, drawing his friends' attention to his presence, but the bird doesn't even seem to care. It shuffles over to the group, unable to spread its wings in the space, and takes Partick down with a snap of its beak while slashing a talon across Logan's armor.
Quib revives Extang, apologizes, than grabs Patrick and teleports up onto the roof beside T'Zaric. Terrified of this enormous bird and acting purely on instinct, Logan jumps into the air and casts a spell that blips him up onto the glass above - which cracks, but doesn't break. Extang staggers to his feet, blasts the circular room with another fireball, clearing out the remaining orcs inside - though there are still more coming - and runs back down the trap door, closing it behind him and barring it with the immovable rod.
Up on the roof, Quib says he's going back for Extang and T'Zaric offers to go along. Patrick is revived and Quib casts featherfall on him and Logan, telling them to regroup with Fiaeorri and get away from the castle - which they do. Then he teleports himself and T'Zaric down into the secret room below the tower, where they need take a good long rest before they're able to teleport all of them out and join the others, who have stopped to wait a couple miles away.
While Quib and Extang are sleeping, T'Zaric stealthily swipes Raim's Book of Secrets from Quib - then vanishes.
And that's the end of this week's exciting game session. Where has T'Zaric gone and what will Quib and Extang do when they wake up to discover the missing book? Find out next week in Episode 68.
You can find the previous episode here.
6th of Waning Fall, 1AL
Having taken a rest in their secret room down below the castle, after Patrick having alerted the entire building to their presence, the group that has gone out tell T'Zaric and Fiaeorri about their findings. T'Zaric is very interested in the Book of Raim that Quib has bonded with, but he accepts the group's decision to not give it to him as they don't know what's going on with him right now. It doesn't help when he briefly becomes his smoky self in an attempt to negotiate for the book to be given to "the vessel", but even that part of him accepts no as an answer.
The talk turns to safely getting out of the castle. Between T'Zaric, Quib, and a magical cloak Patrick found, they believe they are able to teleport everyone out of the castle, but first they need to know where the ground is so they don't accidentally teleport themselves into the ground. The best solution they have is to go back to the library - which had windows - and they want to do that anyway to retrieve more books.
T'Zaric gets sent ahead to stealthily scout the way, with Quib going with him up into the circular room to point the way. However, when they open the door, they discover that there are orcs already waiting for them - and orcs begin pouring down the stairs and into the room from the other door as well.
Hearing the ruckus up above, Patrick grabs Logan and tries to teleport out - but he miscalculates the height and merely injures them, which means it is now impossible to get everyone out. Extang and Logan rush up to join the fight, and Extang turns them both into giant apes to hold off the orcs. They whittle down the numbers, but there are so very many of them, and more coming.
T'Zaric flies back down the trapdoor, grabs Fiaeorri, and teleports out - aiming high in the air to make certain they make it safely. He lowers her to the ground, then begins flying back towards the castle, guessing from positioning that his friends are in the central tower - but he isn't certain he'll arrive in time to be of any help.
Patrick and Quib work towards keeping everyone alive, and Patrick comes up to join the fray - but the ape forms are whittled down, and the group is starting to get hurt. Desperate for an escape, Quib pulls out one of the spell scrolls they found and makes a passage out the north wall of the tower. Beyond appears to be some sort of overgrown greenhouse - but there are still orcs between them and the hole. So he casts a spell, dazzling nearly all the orcs in the room, and Patrick as well, before running out - followed by Logan and Extang pushing the dazed Patrick ahead of him while hitting the room with a fireball as he reaches the exit, incinerating most of the remaining orcs - but not all. Those that remain close in on him - with more rushing in from the door - and take him down to unconsciousness.
T'Zaric arrives back at the castle just in time to see his friends emerging through the wall into the space below the glass dome - and to see a gigantic bird rising from the overgrown foliage below the broken glass covering the greenhouse area. He hits it with some magic missiles, drawing his friends' attention to his presence, but the bird doesn't even seem to care. It shuffles over to the group, unable to spread its wings in the space, and takes Partick down with a snap of its beak while slashing a talon across Logan's armor.
Quib revives Extang, apologizes, than grabs Patrick and teleports up onto the roof beside T'Zaric. Terrified of this enormous bird and acting purely on instinct, Logan jumps into the air and casts a spell that blips him up onto the glass above - which cracks, but doesn't break. Extang staggers to his feet, blasts the circular room with another fireball, clearing out the remaining orcs inside - though there are still more coming - and runs back down the trap door, closing it behind him and barring it with the immovable rod.
Up on the roof, Quib says he's going back for Extang and T'Zaric offers to go along. Patrick is revived and Quib casts featherfall on him and Logan, telling them to regroup with Fiaeorri and get away from the castle - which they do. Then he teleports himself and T'Zaric down into the secret room below the tower, where they need take a good long rest before they're able to teleport all of them out and join the others, who have stopped to wait a couple miles away.
While Quib and Extang are sleeping, T'Zaric stealthily swipes Raim's Book of Secrets from Quib - then vanishes.
And that's the end of this week's exciting game session. Where has T'Zaric gone and what will Quib and Extang do when they wake up to discover the missing book? Find out next week in Episode 68.
Friday, May 10, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 66
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
5th-6th of Waning Fall, 1AL
We left the 3rd Watch in dire straits last week, with three of their own fireballs having blasted a round room full of orcs - two of which hit parts of their own group, resulting in the cloud-formed T'Zaric falling to the floor, unconscious and turning back into his half-elven form. Two orcs are still standing. However, Quib is quick on the ball, using his magic to revive T'Zaric and finish off one of the charred orcs, wile Fiaeorri rushes in to take out the last one. Panting and worn out, they loot the corpses and take short break - after some chastising of T'Zaric who has no idea why he's being told off.
Determining the T'Zaric needs some time to figure out what's going on in his head, he and Fiaeorri decide to spend more time puzzling over the strange mechanism on the door while the rest head upstairs to continue their exploration if this castle. In the charred room, they have three ways to go - up some stairs, or through a door to either side. They choose the door to their right and follow a long hall down to a library, where they encounter four orcs around a bonfire made of books. Extang, wanting this to be over quickly - especially since Quib goes ahead and gets mobbed by the orcs - drops a fireball in the library, while the intelligence-lacking Logan charges forwards, unleashing all his might to smite one of the orcs attacking his bird-like friend. Partick, horrified by Extang setting books on fire, summons up a sleet storm that puts out the fires and deals considerable damage to the orcs. The orcs are finished off, ant the group moves on into the library, hungrily perusing the books.
Most of the books are in a language they can't identify, but they do find a number in languages they understand - primarily encyclopedic or historical in nature. They also find a number of spell scrolls, some blank books, and one particular blank book that appears to be magical. They decide to spend some time in the library, but first Extang checks the three doors leading out - finding a room full of shelves, tables, and broken glass, a hallway - with an orc patrol just passing - and a room full of steaming baths. A lone orc appears to be taking a bath.
Extang decides to attempt to be chummy with the orc, intending to get into the bath and chat with him - hoping that by pretending that's he's supposed to be there he'll get along fine with the orc. Unfortunately, the orc has other ideas and charges at him, swinging the axe he had beside the bath. However, it doesn't land a hit before getting killed.
The group take their break, and Quib attempts to identify the book - but finds that it's beyond his understanding. He does figure out that he can magically bond with it, however, so he requests the extra time to do so, hoping that doing so will reveal its secrets - which it does. He come to understand that this is Raim's Book of Secrets - an artifact that once belonged to a god. However, in attempting to glean secrets from the book, he finds his mind coming under a great deal of psychic pressure.
Once learning of the book, the other briefly discuss if they should tell T'Zaric about it, as he worships Raim. They decide it's probably a good idea, but they have more exploring to do first. While Quib and Extang are dealing with Logan, Patrick heads off ahead and opens the door to the hallway - right in the face of an orc patrol. Acting reflexively, he casts a spell that blasts them away from him - as well as making a sound loud enough that it can probably be heard throughout the entire castle - before retreating to his friends' sides. The orcs are killed quickly, but not before one of them opens the door on the other side of the hall and shouts something in.
They decide it's time to retreat, and run back to the hatch and the secret room below, closing the hatch and locking it shut with their immovable rod. They cower below for a bit, waiting for orcs to attack from anywhere, but when the orcs don't come they settle down for a good long rest, hoping that things will have calmed down when they venture out again.
And that brings this week's game session to an end. Check back next week to find out what happens next in Episode 67.
You can find the previous episode here.
5th-6th of Waning Fall, 1AL
We left the 3rd Watch in dire straits last week, with three of their own fireballs having blasted a round room full of orcs - two of which hit parts of their own group, resulting in the cloud-formed T'Zaric falling to the floor, unconscious and turning back into his half-elven form. Two orcs are still standing. However, Quib is quick on the ball, using his magic to revive T'Zaric and finish off one of the charred orcs, wile Fiaeorri rushes in to take out the last one. Panting and worn out, they loot the corpses and take short break - after some chastising of T'Zaric who has no idea why he's being told off.
Determining the T'Zaric needs some time to figure out what's going on in his head, he and Fiaeorri decide to spend more time puzzling over the strange mechanism on the door while the rest head upstairs to continue their exploration if this castle. In the charred room, they have three ways to go - up some stairs, or through a door to either side. They choose the door to their right and follow a long hall down to a library, where they encounter four orcs around a bonfire made of books. Extang, wanting this to be over quickly - especially since Quib goes ahead and gets mobbed by the orcs - drops a fireball in the library, while the intelligence-lacking Logan charges forwards, unleashing all his might to smite one of the orcs attacking his bird-like friend. Partick, horrified by Extang setting books on fire, summons up a sleet storm that puts out the fires and deals considerable damage to the orcs. The orcs are finished off, ant the group moves on into the library, hungrily perusing the books.
Most of the books are in a language they can't identify, but they do find a number in languages they understand - primarily encyclopedic or historical in nature. They also find a number of spell scrolls, some blank books, and one particular blank book that appears to be magical. They decide to spend some time in the library, but first Extang checks the three doors leading out - finding a room full of shelves, tables, and broken glass, a hallway - with an orc patrol just passing - and a room full of steaming baths. A lone orc appears to be taking a bath.
Extang decides to attempt to be chummy with the orc, intending to get into the bath and chat with him - hoping that by pretending that's he's supposed to be there he'll get along fine with the orc. Unfortunately, the orc has other ideas and charges at him, swinging the axe he had beside the bath. However, it doesn't land a hit before getting killed.
The group take their break, and Quib attempts to identify the book - but finds that it's beyond his understanding. He does figure out that he can magically bond with it, however, so he requests the extra time to do so, hoping that doing so will reveal its secrets - which it does. He come to understand that this is Raim's Book of Secrets - an artifact that once belonged to a god. However, in attempting to glean secrets from the book, he finds his mind coming under a great deal of psychic pressure.
Once learning of the book, the other briefly discuss if they should tell T'Zaric about it, as he worships Raim. They decide it's probably a good idea, but they have more exploring to do first. While Quib and Extang are dealing with Logan, Patrick heads off ahead and opens the door to the hallway - right in the face of an orc patrol. Acting reflexively, he casts a spell that blasts them away from him - as well as making a sound loud enough that it can probably be heard throughout the entire castle - before retreating to his friends' sides. The orcs are killed quickly, but not before one of them opens the door on the other side of the hall and shouts something in.
They decide it's time to retreat, and run back to the hatch and the secret room below, closing the hatch and locking it shut with their immovable rod. They cower below for a bit, waiting for orcs to attack from anywhere, but when the orcs don't come they settle down for a good long rest, hoping that things will have calmed down when they venture out again.
And that brings this week's game session to an end. Check back next week to find out what happens next in Episode 67.
Friday, May 03, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 65
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
5th of Waning Fall, 1AL
As the 3rd Watch continue their adventure, they find themselves split in deciding what they want to do next. So, while Fiaeorri and T'Zaric are focusing on solving the puzzle wheel on the huge doors, the rest explore the secret room. There isn't much to be found there. Quib climbs the narrow ladder and begins to open the hatch at the top, but retreats the moment he hears gruff voices from above. Extang then, with Logan and Quib close behind, opens the door on the far end of the secret room, which opens up into a large room filled with barred cells and hallways going off to either side. Extang traipses out to investigate the cells, but finds himself being charged by a madly flailing orc. He retreats to the doorway, but the sound appears to have attracted another orc, as well as some spiky, hunched, one-eyed humanoid creatures - three from each of the hallways to the sides.
Quib stuns the three spiky creatures to the left while Extang promptly retreats to the doorway, where Logan takes up a defensive position, and prepares to attack anything that gets near. He does so when the first orc follows him, which collapses to the ground in the flames of his magic. However, as if falls, there's a shimmer in the air beside it and a brain on four stubby legs appears. It rakes its claws across Logan's armor, then releases a screech that causes him to go slack, swaying where he stands.
Terrified by this little brain, Extang releases a fireball, which kills the brain, but also takes down the other orc - which causes another brain to appear. When Logan fails to recover from whatever it was the first brain did, he and Quib drag Logan back into the secret room and close the door, where they are met by the rest of the group coming to see what is going on. No matter what they try, Logan isn't snapping out of his dazed state.
Not wanting to risk more interactions with those creatures on the other side of the door, Extang and T'Zaric re-open the door, blasting the area beyond with fireballs and killing everything out there. After a search of the caves, and harvesting the eyes from some of the creatures, all attention is turned back to Logan. Patrick is unable to do anything for him and suggests rest as the only possibility. They strip Logan's armor and settle him down to sleep, but before they join him, they go to perform a couple last experiments on the door in the other room, where they have discovered that pressing the ruby in the center of the wheel seems to produce magic to harm them, and also seems to block their magical attempts to bypass it. T'Zaric hears a mysterious voice suggesting that they are missing a piece of the puzzle.
Fiaeorri is the first up after they have rested, and she wakes up Patrick who she had asked to prepare his spell for speaking with the dead. They have a brief conversation with the big skull in the room, hoping to learn about the puzzle door, however it doesn't seem to know anything about it, and ends up informing them that it is a beholder and that they should be worshiping it.
During the conversation, Logan wakes up - and while he's recovered a little, he appears severely lacking in intelligence, to the point where he doesn't seem to understand language. They tie a rope around him for his own safety. Then T'Zaric wakes up, and he's returned to his old half-elven appearance, can't seem to fly anymore, and he seems to have lost a good chunk of his memory.
After much concern and puzzling, the group decides to ascend the ladder into the room above with the orcs. Fiaeorri goes up first, flinging open the hatch (she's angry because T'Zaric no longer seems to share her passion for killing) to see a room with eight orcs in it. Quib pops up, attempting to dazzle them with his magic and only stunning one of them, before dropping back down into the room and pointing up the ladder and saying there are bad things up there.
Fiaeorri decides that this was, perhaps, not the best idea and also retreats, covering the opening with an illusion - which is destroyed a moment later as Logan stupidly sticks his head up through it, who is followed by Extang who rushes up to blast the orcs in the room with a fireball. The orcs close in on them, attacking, and two of the orcs begin casting spells. Patrick tries to heal his friends while T'Zaric... T'zaric, after a moment of inaction, turns back into his smoky state and flies up into the room, releasing a devastating fireball that finishes off half the orcs, but also hits himself and all of his friends, the fire billowing down into the hatch below. The startled Logan falls down the stairs while Fiaeorri rushes back up to help.
Extang, hoping to duplicate T'Zaric's impact, and figuring that if one of them is risking hitting friends it's fair to reciprocate, sets off another fireball - though he aims it so it doesn't go down into the room below. Once the fire and smoke have cleared, two of the orcs are still standing - and T'Zaric has fallen from the air, unconscious, and returned to his half-elven form.
And that's where this week's game session ends. Join us next week to discover how all of this will turn out in Episode 66.
You can find the previous episode here.
5th of Waning Fall, 1AL
As the 3rd Watch continue their adventure, they find themselves split in deciding what they want to do next. So, while Fiaeorri and T'Zaric are focusing on solving the puzzle wheel on the huge doors, the rest explore the secret room. There isn't much to be found there. Quib climbs the narrow ladder and begins to open the hatch at the top, but retreats the moment he hears gruff voices from above. Extang then, with Logan and Quib close behind, opens the door on the far end of the secret room, which opens up into a large room filled with barred cells and hallways going off to either side. Extang traipses out to investigate the cells, but finds himself being charged by a madly flailing orc. He retreats to the doorway, but the sound appears to have attracted another orc, as well as some spiky, hunched, one-eyed humanoid creatures - three from each of the hallways to the sides.
Quib stuns the three spiky creatures to the left while Extang promptly retreats to the doorway, where Logan takes up a defensive position, and prepares to attack anything that gets near. He does so when the first orc follows him, which collapses to the ground in the flames of his magic. However, as if falls, there's a shimmer in the air beside it and a brain on four stubby legs appears. It rakes its claws across Logan's armor, then releases a screech that causes him to go slack, swaying where he stands.
Terrified by this little brain, Extang releases a fireball, which kills the brain, but also takes down the other orc - which causes another brain to appear. When Logan fails to recover from whatever it was the first brain did, he and Quib drag Logan back into the secret room and close the door, where they are met by the rest of the group coming to see what is going on. No matter what they try, Logan isn't snapping out of his dazed state.
Not wanting to risk more interactions with those creatures on the other side of the door, Extang and T'Zaric re-open the door, blasting the area beyond with fireballs and killing everything out there. After a search of the caves, and harvesting the eyes from some of the creatures, all attention is turned back to Logan. Patrick is unable to do anything for him and suggests rest as the only possibility. They strip Logan's armor and settle him down to sleep, but before they join him, they go to perform a couple last experiments on the door in the other room, where they have discovered that pressing the ruby in the center of the wheel seems to produce magic to harm them, and also seems to block their magical attempts to bypass it. T'Zaric hears a mysterious voice suggesting that they are missing a piece of the puzzle.
Fiaeorri is the first up after they have rested, and she wakes up Patrick who she had asked to prepare his spell for speaking with the dead. They have a brief conversation with the big skull in the room, hoping to learn about the puzzle door, however it doesn't seem to know anything about it, and ends up informing them that it is a beholder and that they should be worshiping it.
During the conversation, Logan wakes up - and while he's recovered a little, he appears severely lacking in intelligence, to the point where he doesn't seem to understand language. They tie a rope around him for his own safety. Then T'Zaric wakes up, and he's returned to his old half-elven appearance, can't seem to fly anymore, and he seems to have lost a good chunk of his memory.
After much concern and puzzling, the group decides to ascend the ladder into the room above with the orcs. Fiaeorri goes up first, flinging open the hatch (she's angry because T'Zaric no longer seems to share her passion for killing) to see a room with eight orcs in it. Quib pops up, attempting to dazzle them with his magic and only stunning one of them, before dropping back down into the room and pointing up the ladder and saying there are bad things up there.
Fiaeorri decides that this was, perhaps, not the best idea and also retreats, covering the opening with an illusion - which is destroyed a moment later as Logan stupidly sticks his head up through it, who is followed by Extang who rushes up to blast the orcs in the room with a fireball. The orcs close in on them, attacking, and two of the orcs begin casting spells. Patrick tries to heal his friends while T'Zaric... T'zaric, after a moment of inaction, turns back into his smoky state and flies up into the room, releasing a devastating fireball that finishes off half the orcs, but also hits himself and all of his friends, the fire billowing down into the hatch below. The startled Logan falls down the stairs while Fiaeorri rushes back up to help.
Extang, hoping to duplicate T'Zaric's impact, and figuring that if one of them is risking hitting friends it's fair to reciprocate, sets off another fireball - though he aims it so it doesn't go down into the room below. Once the fire and smoke have cleared, two of the orcs are still standing - and T'Zaric has fallen from the air, unconscious, and returned to his half-elven form.
And that's where this week's game session ends. Join us next week to discover how all of this will turn out in Episode 66.
Thursday, April 25, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 64
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
5th of Waning Fall, 1AL
The 3rd Watch have a late start to the day in the dark hallways beneath the castle they found. On their first foray out of the strange room that brought them down here, they took the hall to the right. This time, Fiaeorri suggests heading to the left. They Head down the tunnel, where they find a door to their left, leading into a large room with a door just visible on the opposite wall at the far end of the room. Extand sends his bat familiar in to check out the room - only to have it killed as some sort of strange rain begins.
In spite of having seen the rain, the floor isn't wet and there's nowhere in the ceiling for it to come from. They wait for Extang to ritually cast a spell to detect magic, and he can see that the ceiling is magic. They begin discussing what to do about this, but they don't get far before Logan charges across the room. The rain starts again, but he makes it to the door and opens it before being knocked to the ground. T'Zaric teleports across to the hallway beyond and manages to toss him a rope and pull him out of the rain.
The rain, which seems to switch between different types of elemental damage, vanishes without a trace. They begin considering other ways to get across the room when Fiaeorri runs out into the room, triggering the rain again and falling down halfway across the room. Patrick runs out to save her, and also falls down. T'Zaric trows a rope to Fiaeorri while Quib runs out and teleports himself and Patrick out of the room to the hallway with T'Zaric. Fiaeorri grabs the rope and is pulled in by Logan and T'Zaric. Seeing that he's the last one on this side of the room, Extang teleports halfway across the room and runs the rest of the way out.
Relatively safely on the other side, they continue through twisting and branching tunnels, often deciding which way to turn with the flip of a coin. They find a room with three creatures that look like floating brains with beaks and tentacles, which promptly attack. Then three more attack from behind, grabbing Patrick. Quib and T'Zaric rush to the rescue, but Quib's spell makes the creature holding Patrick run away - dragging Patrick with it. Partick is so terrified he bursts into a radiant light that hurts all the creatures close to him, but himself as well.
The creatures are slowly eliminated, and the room searched - revealing only rotted wood and rusted metal debris. They backtrack to take another route, and find another room with a summoning circle on the floor. Further up, the hall turns, but Extang notices some magical runes along the base of the walls using his detect magic spell. T'Zaric flies down the hall alone to scout ahead. Just as the corner behind him gets out of sight, something triggers. Suddenly, a big metal ball comes roaring down the hall and crashes into him. He dodges the brunt of the blow, but it still hurts a lot. He books it for the end of the hall, where he can see a magical portal and a corner to dodge around. He gets hit again as the ball crashes by again before he makes it around the corner. He sees the ball pass by one more time before the portal vanishes.
At the other end, the group sees the portal open and the ball go rushing past three times before the portal closes again. Pressing up against the wall in the direction T'Zaric went, Fiaeorri is able to make magical contact with him, learning that he's very badly injured, but still alive. She gets him to describe the halls and doors around him, and he offers to teleport back, but she suggests another option first, believing there may be a way to circle around and meet up with him. The group tries this, but upon the layout of the pathways being different than they expected, they head back and get T'Zaric to teleport over to them after all.
They then return to the path that they'd just explored to open a door to the new room, where Fiaeorri immediately sees a large number of what are probably pit traps covering the floor. Extang enters the room, poking around with his 10 foot pole hoping to trigger any traps without getting hit. Fiaeorri tries to guide him, but he doesn't see what she's trying to point out, so he falls into a pit-trap - but his belt of feather-falling lets him safely drift down, and his magical boots make it easy for him to jump out again. He combs the entire room, falling into many pits, but also finding the safe places. He also stumbles upon a pressure-plate that flares radiant energy through the whole room, hurting him and Fiaeorri - who backs out of the room. Extang finishes the job, with a clear safe path to the far door marked, then rejoins the rest of the group in the hallway.
There, they take a brief rest to tend their wounds - though Extang takes the time to re-summon his familiar, as an owl this time. They then move through the room, to the hall beyond, with another debris-filled room behind one door, and a huge, marble-floored room behind the other. They carefully enter this room, seeing another door on the far side, and to their left a huge pair of metal doors. In the center of the doors is inset a large ruby, surrounded by seven rings of stones, each carved with a variety of symbols and able to be turned. Below this whole structure is engraved in draconic, "Left to right, middle to top, reverse the bottom, then press and stop."
Most of the group immediately set to figuring out this puzzle, but Patrick takes a look around the rest of the room and finds a secret door. He needs to get help to find the mechanism for opening it, and then they decide not to open it right away - well... most of them do. Extang opens the door himself, and finds a dusty room filled with benches, a number of empty glass jars, and with various strange tools hanging from the walls. On a table in the middle of the room sits a large skull with a single large eye-socket, and a gaping, sharp-toothed mouth.
And that bring this week's game session to an end. Return next week to discover what happens in Episode 65.
You can find the previous episode here.
5th of Waning Fall, 1AL
The 3rd Watch have a late start to the day in the dark hallways beneath the castle they found. On their first foray out of the strange room that brought them down here, they took the hall to the right. This time, Fiaeorri suggests heading to the left. They Head down the tunnel, where they find a door to their left, leading into a large room with a door just visible on the opposite wall at the far end of the room. Extand sends his bat familiar in to check out the room - only to have it killed as some sort of strange rain begins.
In spite of having seen the rain, the floor isn't wet and there's nowhere in the ceiling for it to come from. They wait for Extang to ritually cast a spell to detect magic, and he can see that the ceiling is magic. They begin discussing what to do about this, but they don't get far before Logan charges across the room. The rain starts again, but he makes it to the door and opens it before being knocked to the ground. T'Zaric teleports across to the hallway beyond and manages to toss him a rope and pull him out of the rain.
The rain, which seems to switch between different types of elemental damage, vanishes without a trace. They begin considering other ways to get across the room when Fiaeorri runs out into the room, triggering the rain again and falling down halfway across the room. Patrick runs out to save her, and also falls down. T'Zaric trows a rope to Fiaeorri while Quib runs out and teleports himself and Patrick out of the room to the hallway with T'Zaric. Fiaeorri grabs the rope and is pulled in by Logan and T'Zaric. Seeing that he's the last one on this side of the room, Extang teleports halfway across the room and runs the rest of the way out.
Relatively safely on the other side, they continue through twisting and branching tunnels, often deciding which way to turn with the flip of a coin. They find a room with three creatures that look like floating brains with beaks and tentacles, which promptly attack. Then three more attack from behind, grabbing Patrick. Quib and T'Zaric rush to the rescue, but Quib's spell makes the creature holding Patrick run away - dragging Patrick with it. Partick is so terrified he bursts into a radiant light that hurts all the creatures close to him, but himself as well.
The creatures are slowly eliminated, and the room searched - revealing only rotted wood and rusted metal debris. They backtrack to take another route, and find another room with a summoning circle on the floor. Further up, the hall turns, but Extang notices some magical runes along the base of the walls using his detect magic spell. T'Zaric flies down the hall alone to scout ahead. Just as the corner behind him gets out of sight, something triggers. Suddenly, a big metal ball comes roaring down the hall and crashes into him. He dodges the brunt of the blow, but it still hurts a lot. He books it for the end of the hall, where he can see a magical portal and a corner to dodge around. He gets hit again as the ball crashes by again before he makes it around the corner. He sees the ball pass by one more time before the portal vanishes.
At the other end, the group sees the portal open and the ball go rushing past three times before the portal closes again. Pressing up against the wall in the direction T'Zaric went, Fiaeorri is able to make magical contact with him, learning that he's very badly injured, but still alive. She gets him to describe the halls and doors around him, and he offers to teleport back, but she suggests another option first, believing there may be a way to circle around and meet up with him. The group tries this, but upon the layout of the pathways being different than they expected, they head back and get T'Zaric to teleport over to them after all.
They then return to the path that they'd just explored to open a door to the new room, where Fiaeorri immediately sees a large number of what are probably pit traps covering the floor. Extang enters the room, poking around with his 10 foot pole hoping to trigger any traps without getting hit. Fiaeorri tries to guide him, but he doesn't see what she's trying to point out, so he falls into a pit-trap - but his belt of feather-falling lets him safely drift down, and his magical boots make it easy for him to jump out again. He combs the entire room, falling into many pits, but also finding the safe places. He also stumbles upon a pressure-plate that flares radiant energy through the whole room, hurting him and Fiaeorri - who backs out of the room. Extang finishes the job, with a clear safe path to the far door marked, then rejoins the rest of the group in the hallway.
There, they take a brief rest to tend their wounds - though Extang takes the time to re-summon his familiar, as an owl this time. They then move through the room, to the hall beyond, with another debris-filled room behind one door, and a huge, marble-floored room behind the other. They carefully enter this room, seeing another door on the far side, and to their left a huge pair of metal doors. In the center of the doors is inset a large ruby, surrounded by seven rings of stones, each carved with a variety of symbols and able to be turned. Below this whole structure is engraved in draconic, "Left to right, middle to top, reverse the bottom, then press and stop."
Most of the group immediately set to figuring out this puzzle, but Patrick takes a look around the rest of the room and finds a secret door. He needs to get help to find the mechanism for opening it, and then they decide not to open it right away - well... most of them do. Extang opens the door himself, and finds a dusty room filled with benches, a number of empty glass jars, and with various strange tools hanging from the walls. On a table in the middle of the room sits a large skull with a single large eye-socket, and a gaping, sharp-toothed mouth.
And that bring this week's game session to an end. Return next week to discover what happens in Episode 65.
Friday, April 19, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 63
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
4th-5th of Waning Fall, 1AL
Patrick and T'Zaric, having decided that it was too dangerous for their friends to go to an orc-inhabited castle all by themselves, follow the odd trail of the rest of the 3rd Watch and find themselves, in the middle of the night, reconvening with the rest of the group at the castle's drawbridge just as Fiaeorri creaks open a door... then gets pulled inside by something.
The group rushes through the door, finding Fiaeorri already pretty beaten up by four orc - but the tide of battle quickly turns and the orcs are cut down and subsequently searched for treasure - revealing a collection of several different kinds of coins.
The room the battle dragged them into has some battered chars and a broken table, but also a door on the far side. Logan peeks through this and finds an empty room with some destroyed chests and some broken, mattress-less beds.
Feeling ready to go on, they head back out into the wide, well-lit hallway. They know the doors across from them lead to some sort of kennels, but they aren't concerned with that right now, as the canines inside lack the thumbs required for opening doors. However, further up the hall there are four double-doors to investigate. Fiaeorri moves ahead of the group to carefully listen at and examine each of these. Finding nothing, Extang follows behind, sending his bat familiar inside each room to scout - the first room on the left is a large room with mostly damaged and destroyed benches, chairs, low tables, a tarnished mirror on one wall, and double-doors at the far end. The next rooms on both the right and left are smaller, but similarly attired rooms, both with double-doors at the far end. The final door on the right leads into a hall with a double-door at the far end, and a door to the right.
Determining there are no hidden enemies, the entire group heads into the first, larger room. Extang asks for some time to ritually cast a detect magic spell, which they give him while they wander around the room, checking the new doors for sounds from the other side and to ensure it isn't trapped, and searching for anything valuable. When the spell is done, Extang says that he can detect some magic from the new doors - which Quib promptly attempts to push open. The doors don't open - however, the doors they came through slam shut and Extang sees a flare of magic shoot through the whole room, then vanish.
Quib rushes across the room and flings open the doors - discovering a dark, dank hallway beyond, which is definitely not the hallway that was there before. He tries the other doors again, but they still don't open, and nothing changes. They're no longer certain where they are - or if they're even on the same plane of existence. Taking a gamble, T'Zaric teleports himself 500 feet straight up and finds himself above one of the castle's towers - though farther from the castle's entrance than where he estimates they were inside. Gauging the distance, he believes the group is below ground level, and he teleports back down to report this.
Relieved that they're at least still on the correct plane, the begin very carefully exploring this new, dark, dank place. They choose to go right down the hallway, which carries on for some time before turning left at an open doorway to a room. The room is empty, but there's a circle of odd markings on the floor. Extang's detect magic spell has worn off, so he wants to cast it again, and T'Zaric wants to take the time to use a magical scale that allows him to cast a spell to detect particularly good or evil beings - so, the group pauses.
However, partway through the spell, they are attacked by flaming-eyed, fire-breathing dogs coming from further down the hall. The 3rd Watch leap into battle, fighting back, and find, coming out of the darkness, two more enemies. These green floating heads have one eye, but they have four smaller ones on eye-stalks sprouting out of them from which they shoot beams of magic. Though it is discovered that the hounds are immune to fire, and Logan and Fiaeorri get temporarily paralyzed by the beams from the floating green creatures, the battle is won and everyone survives.
Some eyes are harvested from the green creatures, identified as spectators with the help of Quib's former-master's notes, and T'Zaric and Extang return to casting their ritual spells. Extang's spell reveals that the circle of runes on the floor are magical, though their magic is dormant, and of the school of conjuration. He and Quib then put together their heads and are able to work out that this circle can be used to summon creatures from multiple planes of existence, though they have no idea how to make it work.
Patrick suggests that they could really use some sleep, and everyone agrees. They make their way back to the room that first brought them down here, close themselves in, and bed down for the night. When they wake up, T'Zaric, with his uncanny sense of time, is able to tell them that it's late in the morning.
And that's where this week's game session comes to an end. Join us next week as the 3rd Watch continue their explorations of this castle in Episode 64.
You can find the previous episode here.
4th-5th of Waning Fall, 1AL
Patrick and T'Zaric, having decided that it was too dangerous for their friends to go to an orc-inhabited castle all by themselves, follow the odd trail of the rest of the 3rd Watch and find themselves, in the middle of the night, reconvening with the rest of the group at the castle's drawbridge just as Fiaeorri creaks open a door... then gets pulled inside by something.
The group rushes through the door, finding Fiaeorri already pretty beaten up by four orc - but the tide of battle quickly turns and the orcs are cut down and subsequently searched for treasure - revealing a collection of several different kinds of coins.
The room the battle dragged them into has some battered chars and a broken table, but also a door on the far side. Logan peeks through this and finds an empty room with some destroyed chests and some broken, mattress-less beds.
Feeling ready to go on, they head back out into the wide, well-lit hallway. They know the doors across from them lead to some sort of kennels, but they aren't concerned with that right now, as the canines inside lack the thumbs required for opening doors. However, further up the hall there are four double-doors to investigate. Fiaeorri moves ahead of the group to carefully listen at and examine each of these. Finding nothing, Extang follows behind, sending his bat familiar inside each room to scout - the first room on the left is a large room with mostly damaged and destroyed benches, chairs, low tables, a tarnished mirror on one wall, and double-doors at the far end. The next rooms on both the right and left are smaller, but similarly attired rooms, both with double-doors at the far end. The final door on the right leads into a hall with a double-door at the far end, and a door to the right.
Determining there are no hidden enemies, the entire group heads into the first, larger room. Extang asks for some time to ritually cast a detect magic spell, which they give him while they wander around the room, checking the new doors for sounds from the other side and to ensure it isn't trapped, and searching for anything valuable. When the spell is done, Extang says that he can detect some magic from the new doors - which Quib promptly attempts to push open. The doors don't open - however, the doors they came through slam shut and Extang sees a flare of magic shoot through the whole room, then vanish.
Quib rushes across the room and flings open the doors - discovering a dark, dank hallway beyond, which is definitely not the hallway that was there before. He tries the other doors again, but they still don't open, and nothing changes. They're no longer certain where they are - or if they're even on the same plane of existence. Taking a gamble, T'Zaric teleports himself 500 feet straight up and finds himself above one of the castle's towers - though farther from the castle's entrance than where he estimates they were inside. Gauging the distance, he believes the group is below ground level, and he teleports back down to report this.
Relieved that they're at least still on the correct plane, the begin very carefully exploring this new, dark, dank place. They choose to go right down the hallway, which carries on for some time before turning left at an open doorway to a room. The room is empty, but there's a circle of odd markings on the floor. Extang's detect magic spell has worn off, so he wants to cast it again, and T'Zaric wants to take the time to use a magical scale that allows him to cast a spell to detect particularly good or evil beings - so, the group pauses.
However, partway through the spell, they are attacked by flaming-eyed, fire-breathing dogs coming from further down the hall. The 3rd Watch leap into battle, fighting back, and find, coming out of the darkness, two more enemies. These green floating heads have one eye, but they have four smaller ones on eye-stalks sprouting out of them from which they shoot beams of magic. Though it is discovered that the hounds are immune to fire, and Logan and Fiaeorri get temporarily paralyzed by the beams from the floating green creatures, the battle is won and everyone survives.
Some eyes are harvested from the green creatures, identified as spectators with the help of Quib's former-master's notes, and T'Zaric and Extang return to casting their ritual spells. Extang's spell reveals that the circle of runes on the floor are magical, though their magic is dormant, and of the school of conjuration. He and Quib then put together their heads and are able to work out that this circle can be used to summon creatures from multiple planes of existence, though they have no idea how to make it work.
Patrick suggests that they could really use some sleep, and everyone agrees. They make their way back to the room that first brought them down here, close themselves in, and bed down for the night. When they wake up, T'Zaric, with his uncanny sense of time, is able to tell them that it's late in the morning.
And that's where this week's game session comes to an end. Join us next week as the 3rd Watch continue their explorations of this castle in Episode 64.
Saturday, April 06, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 62
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
3rd-4th of Waning Fall, 1AL
The 3rd Watch is setting out to continue securing the area around the white stone building so the new settlement, but Patrick - irritable an unhappy about not being able to save everyone - opts to stay behind, and T'Zaric flies off to do his own thing. Fiaeorri leaves Ruby behind with Patrick and the other four head off - first going to the cave that's an hour away that T'Zaric mentioned having dangerous-looking creatures residing in it.
Reaching the cave, the group stand near the pool while Extang sends his snake familiar inside, magically observing through its eyes. The familiar gets a ways inside the cave before the ground begins to tremble, then something bursting out of the ground kills it. Around the same time, a large, stony-skinned creature bursts out of the ground outside the cave, leaping into the air and piling into Quib and Logan.
It is a strange fight for the group, with the tough creatures frequently retreating into the ground, making it hard to fight them. Fiaeorri keeps to her word to not use Renn in this fight - sticking to her bow to prove that the sentient sword holds no sway over her. However, after much maneuvering, and waiting for the next eruption of dirt, they manage to slay the beasts.
Fiaeorri does a cursory sweep of the cave, looking for anything that was missed when earlier members of the 3rd Watch cleared lions out of this cave, but finds nothing more interesting than the child-like drawings on the walls that depict monsters destroying cities and people fleeing. On their way out, they take a brief rest while Fiaeorri sets a trap on the cave entrance.
They briefly head back to the white stone building before setting out towards the castle T'Zaric had spotted. They find the river and follow along it, keeping their eyes open for a good place to cross. As evening begins to fall, they are surprised by an enormous crocodile that comes charging out of the water - but Extang quickly banishes it to another plane of existence long enough for them to get away.
They camp for the night and continue on in the morning, crossing the river with a magical whistle of flying and boots of jumping. After a few more hours of travel, they come to a copse of trees where they can see the castle in the distance, as well as a small group of figures outside it.
Deciding to wait until nightfall, the group makes camp for the rest of the day while sending Extang's familiar - re-summoned as a fluffy white bat - to fly over the castle and report back on its findings. The bat returns, relating the hexagonal shape of the castle with a tower at each point, as well as a taller tower in the middle. There are also two semi-circular courtyards on either side of the central tower - one covered in glass with a hole through it. Though there is no moat, there is a lowered drawbridge at the front of the castle, and outside is a group of five orcs.
Throughout the day as they rest, those on watch occasionally see the orcs on guard change, but other than that the day and night pass uneventfully. Around midnight, they go into action. First, Fiaeorri and the bat do stealthy circuits of the castle, finding no other entrances other than the drawbridge at the front. There are still five orcs outside, bu Fiaeorri is so confident in how well hidden she is that she takes a peek inside - seeing a long, torch-lit corridor with doors off to either side, and a trap that is extremely obvious to her well-trained eyes.
She retreats and regroups with the others, and they hatch a plan to take care of the five orcs outside the castle. Extang magically digs a pit while Fiaeorri and Quib work to conceal it, then the four hide in the woods while Extang uses the light from his magical gem to attempt to lure in the orcs. After some time, they see that their plan appears to be working. Four orcs are attempting to sneak up on the trees - two fall in the pit, and the group attacks, quickly killing the two above ground and moving on to finish off the two in the pit. However, there were five orcs, not four...
Fiaeorri sneaks in ahead of the others, though with them close enough behind to support her if needed. The final orc seems to be watching the castle as much as the direction of the trees, but Fiaeorri manages to sneak up on him without trouble. Unfortunately, Renn, unwilling to be stabbed into something, once again thwarts Fiaeorri's attempts to attach the creature, and her second attack glances off its armor. Her friends rush in to finish it off, but not before the orc begins to cry out. Fiaeorri drags the corpse over to the side of the castle, where Extang quickly buries it with his magic.
They wait, but no more orcs come out, so they head in - Fiaeorri warning the others of the trap, then disabling it. She then tries to see under the first big double-doors on the right, but is only able to see dirt and dry grass, so the bat familiar is sent crawling underneath. Extang, watching observing through its eyes, can see what looks to be an L-shaped stable, with very large wolves in the stalls that wake up and start paying attention to the bat. Extang instantly blinks the familiar into its pocket dimension, then brings it back at his side, telling the others what he saw.
Fiaeorri turns her attention to the smaller door on the other side of the hall. This one has no such spaces to peek through, so she very carefully and quietly eases the door open to peek inside... but, apparently the hinges haven't been oiled in a while, and she hears a grunted, "Huh?" from inside.
And that brings an end to this week's game session. Find out what's behind the door in two weeks in Episode 63.
You can find the previous episode here.
3rd-4th of Waning Fall, 1AL
The 3rd Watch is setting out to continue securing the area around the white stone building so the new settlement, but Patrick - irritable an unhappy about not being able to save everyone - opts to stay behind, and T'Zaric flies off to do his own thing. Fiaeorri leaves Ruby behind with Patrick and the other four head off - first going to the cave that's an hour away that T'Zaric mentioned having dangerous-looking creatures residing in it.
Reaching the cave, the group stand near the pool while Extang sends his snake familiar inside, magically observing through its eyes. The familiar gets a ways inside the cave before the ground begins to tremble, then something bursting out of the ground kills it. Around the same time, a large, stony-skinned creature bursts out of the ground outside the cave, leaping into the air and piling into Quib and Logan.
It is a strange fight for the group, with the tough creatures frequently retreating into the ground, making it hard to fight them. Fiaeorri keeps to her word to not use Renn in this fight - sticking to her bow to prove that the sentient sword holds no sway over her. However, after much maneuvering, and waiting for the next eruption of dirt, they manage to slay the beasts.
Fiaeorri does a cursory sweep of the cave, looking for anything that was missed when earlier members of the 3rd Watch cleared lions out of this cave, but finds nothing more interesting than the child-like drawings on the walls that depict monsters destroying cities and people fleeing. On their way out, they take a brief rest while Fiaeorri sets a trap on the cave entrance.
They briefly head back to the white stone building before setting out towards the castle T'Zaric had spotted. They find the river and follow along it, keeping their eyes open for a good place to cross. As evening begins to fall, they are surprised by an enormous crocodile that comes charging out of the water - but Extang quickly banishes it to another plane of existence long enough for them to get away.
They camp for the night and continue on in the morning, crossing the river with a magical whistle of flying and boots of jumping. After a few more hours of travel, they come to a copse of trees where they can see the castle in the distance, as well as a small group of figures outside it.
Deciding to wait until nightfall, the group makes camp for the rest of the day while sending Extang's familiar - re-summoned as a fluffy white bat - to fly over the castle and report back on its findings. The bat returns, relating the hexagonal shape of the castle with a tower at each point, as well as a taller tower in the middle. There are also two semi-circular courtyards on either side of the central tower - one covered in glass with a hole through it. Though there is no moat, there is a lowered drawbridge at the front of the castle, and outside is a group of five orcs.
Throughout the day as they rest, those on watch occasionally see the orcs on guard change, but other than that the day and night pass uneventfully. Around midnight, they go into action. First, Fiaeorri and the bat do stealthy circuits of the castle, finding no other entrances other than the drawbridge at the front. There are still five orcs outside, bu Fiaeorri is so confident in how well hidden she is that she takes a peek inside - seeing a long, torch-lit corridor with doors off to either side, and a trap that is extremely obvious to her well-trained eyes.
She retreats and regroups with the others, and they hatch a plan to take care of the five orcs outside the castle. Extang magically digs a pit while Fiaeorri and Quib work to conceal it, then the four hide in the woods while Extang uses the light from his magical gem to attempt to lure in the orcs. After some time, they see that their plan appears to be working. Four orcs are attempting to sneak up on the trees - two fall in the pit, and the group attacks, quickly killing the two above ground and moving on to finish off the two in the pit. However, there were five orcs, not four...
Fiaeorri sneaks in ahead of the others, though with them close enough behind to support her if needed. The final orc seems to be watching the castle as much as the direction of the trees, but Fiaeorri manages to sneak up on him without trouble. Unfortunately, Renn, unwilling to be stabbed into something, once again thwarts Fiaeorri's attempts to attach the creature, and her second attack glances off its armor. Her friends rush in to finish it off, but not before the orc begins to cry out. Fiaeorri drags the corpse over to the side of the castle, where Extang quickly buries it with his magic.
They wait, but no more orcs come out, so they head in - Fiaeorri warning the others of the trap, then disabling it. She then tries to see under the first big double-doors on the right, but is only able to see dirt and dry grass, so the bat familiar is sent crawling underneath. Extang, watching observing through its eyes, can see what looks to be an L-shaped stable, with very large wolves in the stalls that wake up and start paying attention to the bat. Extang instantly blinks the familiar into its pocket dimension, then brings it back at his side, telling the others what he saw.
Fiaeorri turns her attention to the smaller door on the other side of the hall. This one has no such spaces to peek through, so she very carefully and quietly eases the door open to peek inside... but, apparently the hinges haven't been oiled in a while, and she hears a grunted, "Huh?" from inside.
And that brings an end to this week's game session. Find out what's behind the door in two weeks in Episode 63.
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 61
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
37th of Waxing Fall - 2nd of Waning Fall, 1AL
Half of the 3rd Watch are on the roof of the white stone building, while Fiaeorri is unconscious in the mouth of a t-rex, Patrick is asleep in the building's basement, and Logan is in the doorway, going into an uncontrollable rage, with one t-rex cramped inside the building, and another right outside the door. The situation looks dire, even as Patrick wakes up and rushes up the stairs to join the fight.
In spite of everyone's best efforts, Fiaeorri breathes her last breath moments before the t-rex holding her in its mouth is taken down. The second one is killed shortly thereafter, but Logan continues to fight - and he's between Fiaeorri and Patrick, who can bring her back to life. Luckily - if it can be called that - Logan is pretty battered from the fight, and they are able to knock him unconscious in time for Patrick to get to Fiaeorri's side.
Patrick pulls out the diamond T'Zaric had bought for him, casting his spell and watching as the diamond crumbles and is consumed. Fiaeorri gasps in a breath and jerks back to consciousness, alive again. She rushes off behind the building, to get away from the t-rexes and to get alone to think.
The group takes Logan's axe away from him and hides it in the bag of holding before reviving him and, once again, trying to figure out what is going on - convincing him that a wyvern flew off with his axe. Patrick has some suspicions, but he needs to wait until the morning to prove them true. Slowly, the 3rd Watch get back to sleep - though, first, T'Zaric and Patrick check in with the very shaken Fiaeorri. With the help of a spell from Patrick, she, too, is able to get to sleep.
The next day, the first thing Patrick does is cast a spell to remove curses on Logan - who suddenly no longer wants his powerful magic axe. Patrick also convinces Fiaeorri to let him cast the spell on Renn, her talking sword, and it breaks her bond with it. Fiaeorri, on the other hand, still wants the sword, and begins re-bonding with it - promising not to use it in the next battle to prove that it doesn't have some kind of hold over her like the axe had over Logan.
The group makes a plan for over the next five days. T'Zaric is going to fly in a series of circles each day to cover as much of the surrounding terrain as possible, searching for threats in the area. Meanwhile, Extang will use his magic to dig a defensive trench in a large circle around the white stone building, guarded by Logan, and Quib will be enhancing the quality of the land with Fiaeorri as a bodyguard while Patrick stands guard at their home base.
On the first day out, T'Zaric reports back that he discovered a decrepit castle that seems to be inhabited by orcs, which sparks a lot of interest in the group - along with the certainty that they must deal with this threat. However, they decide to continue on with their plan first.
The fourth day is the Fall Festival and Fiaeorri takes the the day to pray to her goddess, Pagslas, whose holy day it is. In the evening, the group gets together while Patrick casts a spell allowing him to ask five questions of one of the dead goblins - Ilk. He asks how the goblin died, and the goblin protests that he isn't dead, and is sure he would remember if he'd died. So Patrick asks what was the last thing the goblin remembers doing, which was sleeping, which prompts the question about what was happening before sleeping - which was fighting over food with B'yeta. Frustrated, Patrick asks if Ilk was doing anything else before going to sleep, other than fighting with B'yeta. The goblin corpse replies that it was waiting for friends to return. Patrick asks who the friends are, and he gets a list of former 3rd Watch members, and Extang.
Patrick rounds on Extang, telling him off for abandoning the goblins here. Extang tries to explain that there were too many other things going on to worry about the goblins - who refused to go to Port Noble because of fear of the Soggy Alliance - but Patrick is to distraught over the loss of life that may have been prevented if people had come back to check on the goblins more frequently. He expresses these thoughts to T'Zaric and Fiaeorri, both of whom express that death is part of life. Later, Logan tells him that it isn't possible to save everyone - that the needs of the many often outweigh the needs of the few, and the 3rd Watch did the right thing in protecting the thousands of the settlement rather than worrying about two goblins they believed could take care of themselves.
On the fifth day, Extang's trench is completed, the surrounding lands have magically enhanced fertility, and T'Zaric, on his way home, comes across a cave by a pond an hour away from the white stone building which contains some sort of large creature that, evidently, can burrow underground. He reports this back to the rest of the group upon arriving back, and they begin laying their plans for continuing their mission to secure this region for the construction of a new settlement.
And that's where week's game session ends. Find out what happens next week in Episode 62.
You can find the previous episode here.
37th of Waxing Fall - 2nd of Waning Fall, 1AL
Half of the 3rd Watch are on the roof of the white stone building, while Fiaeorri is unconscious in the mouth of a t-rex, Patrick is asleep in the building's basement, and Logan is in the doorway, going into an uncontrollable rage, with one t-rex cramped inside the building, and another right outside the door. The situation looks dire, even as Patrick wakes up and rushes up the stairs to join the fight.
In spite of everyone's best efforts, Fiaeorri breathes her last breath moments before the t-rex holding her in its mouth is taken down. The second one is killed shortly thereafter, but Logan continues to fight - and he's between Fiaeorri and Patrick, who can bring her back to life. Luckily - if it can be called that - Logan is pretty battered from the fight, and they are able to knock him unconscious in time for Patrick to get to Fiaeorri's side.
Patrick pulls out the diamond T'Zaric had bought for him, casting his spell and watching as the diamond crumbles and is consumed. Fiaeorri gasps in a breath and jerks back to consciousness, alive again. She rushes off behind the building, to get away from the t-rexes and to get alone to think.
The group takes Logan's axe away from him and hides it in the bag of holding before reviving him and, once again, trying to figure out what is going on - convincing him that a wyvern flew off with his axe. Patrick has some suspicions, but he needs to wait until the morning to prove them true. Slowly, the 3rd Watch get back to sleep - though, first, T'Zaric and Patrick check in with the very shaken Fiaeorri. With the help of a spell from Patrick, she, too, is able to get to sleep.
The next day, the first thing Patrick does is cast a spell to remove curses on Logan - who suddenly no longer wants his powerful magic axe. Patrick also convinces Fiaeorri to let him cast the spell on Renn, her talking sword, and it breaks her bond with it. Fiaeorri, on the other hand, still wants the sword, and begins re-bonding with it - promising not to use it in the next battle to prove that it doesn't have some kind of hold over her like the axe had over Logan.
The group makes a plan for over the next five days. T'Zaric is going to fly in a series of circles each day to cover as much of the surrounding terrain as possible, searching for threats in the area. Meanwhile, Extang will use his magic to dig a defensive trench in a large circle around the white stone building, guarded by Logan, and Quib will be enhancing the quality of the land with Fiaeorri as a bodyguard while Patrick stands guard at their home base.
On the first day out, T'Zaric reports back that he discovered a decrepit castle that seems to be inhabited by orcs, which sparks a lot of interest in the group - along with the certainty that they must deal with this threat. However, they decide to continue on with their plan first.
The fourth day is the Fall Festival and Fiaeorri takes the the day to pray to her goddess, Pagslas, whose holy day it is. In the evening, the group gets together while Patrick casts a spell allowing him to ask five questions of one of the dead goblins - Ilk. He asks how the goblin died, and the goblin protests that he isn't dead, and is sure he would remember if he'd died. So Patrick asks what was the last thing the goblin remembers doing, which was sleeping, which prompts the question about what was happening before sleeping - which was fighting over food with B'yeta. Frustrated, Patrick asks if Ilk was doing anything else before going to sleep, other than fighting with B'yeta. The goblin corpse replies that it was waiting for friends to return. Patrick asks who the friends are, and he gets a list of former 3rd Watch members, and Extang.
Patrick rounds on Extang, telling him off for abandoning the goblins here. Extang tries to explain that there were too many other things going on to worry about the goblins - who refused to go to Port Noble because of fear of the Soggy Alliance - but Patrick is to distraught over the loss of life that may have been prevented if people had come back to check on the goblins more frequently. He expresses these thoughts to T'Zaric and Fiaeorri, both of whom express that death is part of life. Later, Logan tells him that it isn't possible to save everyone - that the needs of the many often outweigh the needs of the few, and the 3rd Watch did the right thing in protecting the thousands of the settlement rather than worrying about two goblins they believed could take care of themselves.
On the fifth day, Extang's trench is completed, the surrounding lands have magically enhanced fertility, and T'Zaric, on his way home, comes across a cave by a pond an hour away from the white stone building which contains some sort of large creature that, evidently, can burrow underground. He reports this back to the rest of the group upon arriving back, and they begin laying their plans for continuing their mission to secure this region for the construction of a new settlement.
And that's where week's game session ends. Find out what happens next week in Episode 62.
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 60
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
34th-37th of Waxing Fall, 1AL
The 3rd Watch have just completed a strange and grueling battle with wyverns where Logan turned against them, but he seems to have recovered. He describes his experience as his vision going red and he just wanted to kill everything, but that he's better now. Though Patrick is furious with him, the rest of the group accept this with little concern and are ready to continue on - which they do.
Their journey to secure a route to a new settlement location continues through the savanna for the rest of the day. In the afternoon of the following day, they notice a large, mixed herd of animals crossing their path. Fiaeorri notices a black panther lying down, seemingly watching the herd - but, strangely, it also has a humanoid head visible other its side. Fiaeorri creeps closer and is surprised to find that it's their old friend Dugg the gnome with his new companion, Shirley the panther. He claims to be there, watching a show, and points to the herd.
Just then, a speck detaches from the head of a passing brontosaurus and plunges towards the ground. The speck appears to be attached by a rope to the brontosaurus's neck, as the is suddenly pulled downwards, slowing the speck's fall - then the speck detaches from the rope and vanishes into the herd. A moment later, there is an enraged bellow, and a rhinoceros comes charging out of the herd, crashing to the ground, dead, right beside the group. On its back is Shend, the dwarven ranger who was part of the original 3rd Watch, his swords driven into the beast.
It's a fairly short reunion. Shend and Dugg aren't interested in taking them to the white stone house where they plan to establish the new settlement, but they are a bit interested in this attack by the Soggy Alliance. Shend mentions that he may carry this news to Kalon, an elven druid, and check in at Port Noble. The herd passes, the pair of rangers head off into the jungle, and the 3rd Watch continue onward.
Late in the afternoon of the next day, the 3rd Watch arrive at their destination - the white stone building with the weather-worn statue on top. Fiaeorri decides to sneak in ahead of the group to ensure it's safe, and finds herself getting splashed by smashing vials of acid that had been set up as a trap on the door. She enters, determined to find any other traps in the area, and finds two long-dead goblins inside, with "You're next, murderer" written on the floor in their blood. This is of some concern to the group, as these two goblins were friendly with some of them. Extang searches the lower part of the building for clues, but, finding none, they decide to wait to find out more until tomorrow when Patrick can prepare his spell to speak with the dead.
In the meantime, they begin making plans for how to set up defenses in the area, and take the goblin bodies outside for a burial. Extang begins cleaning out what he can inside the building and notices a scraping sound as he's sweeping out the straw bedding the goblins had used. He calls Fiaeorri over for a look, and they find a broken dagger with the three leaves of Pagslas in its pommel. Knowing this is Fiaeorri's goddess, he suggests she keep the dagger.
They set their watches for the night and head off to bed, with T'Zaric and Quib deciding to sleep in the copse of trees some distance from the building - though T'Zaric had to assist Quib in making his nest. During his first watch, Extang wakes up Patrick and brings him to the fresco of a city at the top of the stairs. The dragonborn breaths his poison breath on the fresco, which opens to reveal a hidden room beyond containing a pedestal upon which rests the great sword once wielded by Balasar. Extang gives the sword to Patrick, along with a magical gem that will allow it to be used as a focus for his spells. He then goes on to tell Patrick the full story of his experiences in the 3rd Watch, with a particular focus on Balasar's death and the exploration of his memories that led to it. With that done, he re-seals the room and sent Patrick back to sleep, returning to his watch.
Out in the trees, during the third watch, T'Zaric is dozing when his attention is suddenly drawn by the vibrations in the ground. He scans the area and spots a pair of t-rexes settling down to sleep outside the white stone building. Alarmed, he quietly wakes up Quib, using minor illusions to communicate what he has seen. It takes a moment for Quib to understand, but when he does, he climbs onto T'Zaric's back and they fly up high in the air to hatch a plan. Heading some distance away, Quib then creates a very convincing illusion of a rhinoceros, bellowing and wounded. As planned, the t-rexes awaken with a roar and storm off after the distraction.
With the exception of Patrick, the rest of the 3rd Watch wake up and rush to the doorway to see what is happening, but they can't make out anything in the night. Then they hear the wings of something taking flight above them and flying off into the night, in the direction of the other sounds they are hearing.
Over by T'Zaric and Quib, the t-rexes catch the illusion, and are confused as to what it is. They turn to head back to where they were sleeping, but Quib and T'Zaric confuse them with some more illusions - until spikes begin flying out of the night sky at them, followed by a winged, spiky lion-like creature. Giving up on their illusions, Quib teleports himself and T'Zaric back up above the white house of rock - where Extang has jumped up onto the top of the weathered statue, the light of his magical gem shining out into the night.
T'Zaric flies down to Extang's height while Quib drops down to the roof with a spell that slows his falling. In come the lion-creature, flinging spikes, and, down below, the t-rexes come charging in towards Fiaeorri and Logan on the ground - until they suddenly turn into a pair of turtles thanks to a spell from Extang, accompanied by a shout to pick them up.
While Extang, T'Zaric, and Quib finish off the lion-creature on the roof, Logan and Fiaeorri pick up the turtles -Logan getting a nasty bite in the process. Logan takes his turtle inside, but Fiaeorri wants to see the dead creature on the roof - so she tries to climb up - dropping the turtle in the process, which gets injured enough to return it to it's true t-rex form, inadvertently pushing Fiaeorri up onto the roof in the process.
Logan runs as far into the building as he can, putting down his turtle, and runs back to the doorway to face the other t-rex just as it bites down into Extang - causing him to lose his concentration on the spell keeping the other t-rex as a turtle. Extang manages to get out of the t-rex's mouth with a minor teleport spell, but it continues to bite at those on the roof while bashing at Logan with its tail, all the while the other t-rex, cramped inside the building, is attacking Logan from behind.
Many spells and blows are landed - except by Fiaeorri, who can't seem to overcome her her sword Renn's desire to not be stabbed into things. Her mental battle falls silent as she's scooped up into the t-rex's mouth, teeth sinking into her and causing her to lose consciousness. Meanwhile, in the building's doorway, Logan has just lost his self-control battle and begins to fly into a rage...
And that brings an end to this week's game session. What will happen next week? Find out in Episode 61.
You can find the previous episode here.
34th-37th of Waxing Fall, 1AL
The 3rd Watch have just completed a strange and grueling battle with wyverns where Logan turned against them, but he seems to have recovered. He describes his experience as his vision going red and he just wanted to kill everything, but that he's better now. Though Patrick is furious with him, the rest of the group accept this with little concern and are ready to continue on - which they do.
Their journey to secure a route to a new settlement location continues through the savanna for the rest of the day. In the afternoon of the following day, they notice a large, mixed herd of animals crossing their path. Fiaeorri notices a black panther lying down, seemingly watching the herd - but, strangely, it also has a humanoid head visible other its side. Fiaeorri creeps closer and is surprised to find that it's their old friend Dugg the gnome with his new companion, Shirley the panther. He claims to be there, watching a show, and points to the herd.
Just then, a speck detaches from the head of a passing brontosaurus and plunges towards the ground. The speck appears to be attached by a rope to the brontosaurus's neck, as the is suddenly pulled downwards, slowing the speck's fall - then the speck detaches from the rope and vanishes into the herd. A moment later, there is an enraged bellow, and a rhinoceros comes charging out of the herd, crashing to the ground, dead, right beside the group. On its back is Shend, the dwarven ranger who was part of the original 3rd Watch, his swords driven into the beast.
It's a fairly short reunion. Shend and Dugg aren't interested in taking them to the white stone house where they plan to establish the new settlement, but they are a bit interested in this attack by the Soggy Alliance. Shend mentions that he may carry this news to Kalon, an elven druid, and check in at Port Noble. The herd passes, the pair of rangers head off into the jungle, and the 3rd Watch continue onward.
Late in the afternoon of the next day, the 3rd Watch arrive at their destination - the white stone building with the weather-worn statue on top. Fiaeorri decides to sneak in ahead of the group to ensure it's safe, and finds herself getting splashed by smashing vials of acid that had been set up as a trap on the door. She enters, determined to find any other traps in the area, and finds two long-dead goblins inside, with "You're next, murderer" written on the floor in their blood. This is of some concern to the group, as these two goblins were friendly with some of them. Extang searches the lower part of the building for clues, but, finding none, they decide to wait to find out more until tomorrow when Patrick can prepare his spell to speak with the dead.
In the meantime, they begin making plans for how to set up defenses in the area, and take the goblin bodies outside for a burial. Extang begins cleaning out what he can inside the building and notices a scraping sound as he's sweeping out the straw bedding the goblins had used. He calls Fiaeorri over for a look, and they find a broken dagger with the three leaves of Pagslas in its pommel. Knowing this is Fiaeorri's goddess, he suggests she keep the dagger.
They set their watches for the night and head off to bed, with T'Zaric and Quib deciding to sleep in the copse of trees some distance from the building - though T'Zaric had to assist Quib in making his nest. During his first watch, Extang wakes up Patrick and brings him to the fresco of a city at the top of the stairs. The dragonborn breaths his poison breath on the fresco, which opens to reveal a hidden room beyond containing a pedestal upon which rests the great sword once wielded by Balasar. Extang gives the sword to Patrick, along with a magical gem that will allow it to be used as a focus for his spells. He then goes on to tell Patrick the full story of his experiences in the 3rd Watch, with a particular focus on Balasar's death and the exploration of his memories that led to it. With that done, he re-seals the room and sent Patrick back to sleep, returning to his watch.
Out in the trees, during the third watch, T'Zaric is dozing when his attention is suddenly drawn by the vibrations in the ground. He scans the area and spots a pair of t-rexes settling down to sleep outside the white stone building. Alarmed, he quietly wakes up Quib, using minor illusions to communicate what he has seen. It takes a moment for Quib to understand, but when he does, he climbs onto T'Zaric's back and they fly up high in the air to hatch a plan. Heading some distance away, Quib then creates a very convincing illusion of a rhinoceros, bellowing and wounded. As planned, the t-rexes awaken with a roar and storm off after the distraction.
With the exception of Patrick, the rest of the 3rd Watch wake up and rush to the doorway to see what is happening, but they can't make out anything in the night. Then they hear the wings of something taking flight above them and flying off into the night, in the direction of the other sounds they are hearing.
Over by T'Zaric and Quib, the t-rexes catch the illusion, and are confused as to what it is. They turn to head back to where they were sleeping, but Quib and T'Zaric confuse them with some more illusions - until spikes begin flying out of the night sky at them, followed by a winged, spiky lion-like creature. Giving up on their illusions, Quib teleports himself and T'Zaric back up above the white house of rock - where Extang has jumped up onto the top of the weathered statue, the light of his magical gem shining out into the night.
T'Zaric flies down to Extang's height while Quib drops down to the roof with a spell that slows his falling. In come the lion-creature, flinging spikes, and, down below, the t-rexes come charging in towards Fiaeorri and Logan on the ground - until they suddenly turn into a pair of turtles thanks to a spell from Extang, accompanied by a shout to pick them up.
While Extang, T'Zaric, and Quib finish off the lion-creature on the roof, Logan and Fiaeorri pick up the turtles -Logan getting a nasty bite in the process. Logan takes his turtle inside, but Fiaeorri wants to see the dead creature on the roof - so she tries to climb up - dropping the turtle in the process, which gets injured enough to return it to it's true t-rex form, inadvertently pushing Fiaeorri up onto the roof in the process.
Logan runs as far into the building as he can, putting down his turtle, and runs back to the doorway to face the other t-rex just as it bites down into Extang - causing him to lose his concentration on the spell keeping the other t-rex as a turtle. Extang manages to get out of the t-rex's mouth with a minor teleport spell, but it continues to bite at those on the roof while bashing at Logan with its tail, all the while the other t-rex, cramped inside the building, is attacking Logan from behind.
Many spells and blows are landed - except by Fiaeorri, who can't seem to overcome her her sword Renn's desire to not be stabbed into things. Her mental battle falls silent as she's scooped up into the t-rex's mouth, teeth sinking into her and causing her to lose consciousness. Meanwhile, in the building's doorway, Logan has just lost his self-control battle and begins to fly into a rage...
And that brings an end to this week's game session. What will happen next week? Find out in Episode 61.
Friday, March 15, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 59
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
32nd-34th of Waxing Fall, 1AL
It's the final day before the 3rd Watch head out to secure a route to the location they are meant to find for a new settlement - though they've already decided that the familiar white stone building they discovered long ago is the perfect location. They go about, doing their last minute preparations before leaving. In the evening, Extang asks T'Zaric about how he got the very expensive diamond he gave Patrick for his healing spells, and is surprised and confused when T'Zaraic is very forthright about keeping treasure for himself. This sparks an argument between the two, with Extang insisting that the rest of the group have pooled their resources, and T'Zaric saying he isn't willing to give up his financial independence.
Patrick leaves to go home and talk to Saul, letting him know he's going off to secure a location for the new settlement and learning that Saul is intending to live in the new settlement, even if it means leaving the ocean side - he says he's too old to be living in an area under the constant threat of war. Patrick then pays a brief visit to the graveyard to pay his respects to the mysteriously murdered dragonborn before going home to sleep - where he asks the strange being known as Yaella who appears in his dreams every night if she knows what has happened to the greatsword once wielded by Balasar - but he derives little from the cryptic response.
Fiaeorri also leaves, the argument not long after, seeing that Logan and Quib are just going to sleep. She arrives at the graveyard shortly after Patrick's departure, seeking to ensure that no one else speaks to the corpse of the blue dragonborn she murdered. Unfortunately, as she was avoiding the funeral and there were many deaths in the raid on Port Noble, she doesn't know which grave is correct - since everyone is too busy to engrave the headstones. She decides to spend the night sleeping hidden in the graveyard on the off chance the widow shows up, waking up early to sneak back home.
In the morning, they set out. There is a bit of debate over if they should walk or fly, but they decide to walk as they're meant to be securing a route - with T'Zaric flying overhead, of course, to look for nearby threats. They choose to follow the coastline, skirting the jungle, to save some time as well as to find a better route for wagons, before heading inland. On the second day out, they find themselves heading into savanna grasslands with the jungle to the south of them. They see no apparent threats so far, but they do see a lot of the local wildlife wandering in distant herds. Extang, spotting some towering brontosauruses, decides to use his magic to turn into one. Quib teleports himself and Logan up onto the brontosaurus's back, then climbs up to ride on the head.
After they have been walking for some time, those on the ground notice the shredded corpses of some creatures on the ground. Before they have much of a chance to wonder about this, four screeching wyverns take flight from the trees of the jungle and start towards them. The very odd battle starts off well, with a fireball from T'Zaric blasting a couple of the wyverns as they charge in, Patrick summoning up a storm and calling down lightning, and Fiaeorri hitting one with an arrow. As the wyverns get close enough, bronto-Extang whips one with his tail, Logan hits one that targets him with his axe, and Quib uses a spell to send one tumbling to the ground, rolling with laughter.
Then the battle turns a bit strange. As Fiaeorri tries to stab the downed wyvern with Renn and has to win a battle of wills with the rapier just to bring herself to attack - followed by the sword telepathically complaining to her about being stabbed into things and getting covered in gross ichor. Up on bronto-Extang's back, Logan gets hurt by one of the wyverns and flies into a rage, attacking what's closest to him - including the brontosaurus he's standing on.
Quib manages to use a spell to turn Logan's attentions away from Extang, but the paladin keeps attacking wildly in a blind rage, casting the powerful magic from his axe and hitting friend and foe alike. Fiaeorri finds that she's having trouble hitting anything with the distracting Renn screeching complaints inside her head, so she finally cleans the blade for a bit of peace and quiet.
One by one the wyverns fall - one in a dazzling display of electricity from Renn that electrifies Fiaeorri as well as the target - but when all the enemies are dead, Logan keeps fighting. He leaps off the back of the brontosaurus, landing a blow on Fiaeorri and knocking Patrick unconscious. T'Zaric wraps Logan in an illusion of being inside a cave and tells the others not to attack him - but that doesn't stop Extang from reverting to his own form and making a magical hole form under the paladin, of Quib from making the axe grow so hot that Logan drops it.
Miraculously, however, being isolated in that illusory cave seems to calm Logan down, returning him to his usual self. The rest of the 3rd Watch storm over, demanding to know what was going on. Patrick tries to convince Logan to part with the axe, but Logan finds himself unwilling to part with it...
And that's where this week's game session ends. Check back in another week to see how events unfold in Episode 60.
You can find the previous episode here.
32nd-34th of Waxing Fall, 1AL
It's the final day before the 3rd Watch head out to secure a route to the location they are meant to find for a new settlement - though they've already decided that the familiar white stone building they discovered long ago is the perfect location. They go about, doing their last minute preparations before leaving. In the evening, Extang asks T'Zaric about how he got the very expensive diamond he gave Patrick for his healing spells, and is surprised and confused when T'Zaraic is very forthright about keeping treasure for himself. This sparks an argument between the two, with Extang insisting that the rest of the group have pooled their resources, and T'Zaric saying he isn't willing to give up his financial independence.
Patrick leaves to go home and talk to Saul, letting him know he's going off to secure a location for the new settlement and learning that Saul is intending to live in the new settlement, even if it means leaving the ocean side - he says he's too old to be living in an area under the constant threat of war. Patrick then pays a brief visit to the graveyard to pay his respects to the mysteriously murdered dragonborn before going home to sleep - where he asks the strange being known as Yaella who appears in his dreams every night if she knows what has happened to the greatsword once wielded by Balasar - but he derives little from the cryptic response.
Fiaeorri also leaves, the argument not long after, seeing that Logan and Quib are just going to sleep. She arrives at the graveyard shortly after Patrick's departure, seeking to ensure that no one else speaks to the corpse of the blue dragonborn she murdered. Unfortunately, as she was avoiding the funeral and there were many deaths in the raid on Port Noble, she doesn't know which grave is correct - since everyone is too busy to engrave the headstones. She decides to spend the night sleeping hidden in the graveyard on the off chance the widow shows up, waking up early to sneak back home.
In the morning, they set out. There is a bit of debate over if they should walk or fly, but they decide to walk as they're meant to be securing a route - with T'Zaric flying overhead, of course, to look for nearby threats. They choose to follow the coastline, skirting the jungle, to save some time as well as to find a better route for wagons, before heading inland. On the second day out, they find themselves heading into savanna grasslands with the jungle to the south of them. They see no apparent threats so far, but they do see a lot of the local wildlife wandering in distant herds. Extang, spotting some towering brontosauruses, decides to use his magic to turn into one. Quib teleports himself and Logan up onto the brontosaurus's back, then climbs up to ride on the head.
After they have been walking for some time, those on the ground notice the shredded corpses of some creatures on the ground. Before they have much of a chance to wonder about this, four screeching wyverns take flight from the trees of the jungle and start towards them. The very odd battle starts off well, with a fireball from T'Zaric blasting a couple of the wyverns as they charge in, Patrick summoning up a storm and calling down lightning, and Fiaeorri hitting one with an arrow. As the wyverns get close enough, bronto-Extang whips one with his tail, Logan hits one that targets him with his axe, and Quib uses a spell to send one tumbling to the ground, rolling with laughter.
Then the battle turns a bit strange. As Fiaeorri tries to stab the downed wyvern with Renn and has to win a battle of wills with the rapier just to bring herself to attack - followed by the sword telepathically complaining to her about being stabbed into things and getting covered in gross ichor. Up on bronto-Extang's back, Logan gets hurt by one of the wyverns and flies into a rage, attacking what's closest to him - including the brontosaurus he's standing on.
Quib manages to use a spell to turn Logan's attentions away from Extang, but the paladin keeps attacking wildly in a blind rage, casting the powerful magic from his axe and hitting friend and foe alike. Fiaeorri finds that she's having trouble hitting anything with the distracting Renn screeching complaints inside her head, so she finally cleans the blade for a bit of peace and quiet.
One by one the wyverns fall - one in a dazzling display of electricity from Renn that electrifies Fiaeorri as well as the target - but when all the enemies are dead, Logan keeps fighting. He leaps off the back of the brontosaurus, landing a blow on Fiaeorri and knocking Patrick unconscious. T'Zaric wraps Logan in an illusion of being inside a cave and tells the others not to attack him - but that doesn't stop Extang from reverting to his own form and making a magical hole form under the paladin, of Quib from making the axe grow so hot that Logan drops it.
Miraculously, however, being isolated in that illusory cave seems to calm Logan down, returning him to his usual self. The rest of the 3rd Watch storm over, demanding to know what was going on. Patrick tries to convince Logan to part with the axe, but Logan finds himself unwilling to part with it...
And that's where this week's game session ends. Check back in another week to see how events unfold in Episode 60.
Saturday, March 09, 2019
Lark's Landing, Episode 58
Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
7th-32nd of Waxing Fall, 1AL
The 3rd Watch are home at Port Noble, trying to get back to life as normal after the attack while they wait to hear what the council decides to do next. Fiaeorri takes some time to form the magical bond she needs with her new sword for it to work, and is surprised to hear a voice speaking in her head. The sword, Renn, is delighted to have a new owner, as the last one kept stabbing it in things.
Extang returns from his excursion where his attempts to go on a solo mission in giant eagle form resulted in him barely surviving an encounter with a flying draconic creature. He decides to spend some time learning all Feryon knows about dragons.
An announcement comes from the council, along with a vote. They explain that they didn't know the complete accuracy of their information, but that the attack seems to have come from a group known as the Soggy Alliance, who apparently have killed off anyone living within two or three days of the coast for so long that the coast has been avoided for several generations by sentient creatures. They also make it publicly known that there are spies reporting on Port Noble, known only as Koa-Toa, and that any information on them should be given to the militia or the council. Finally, they share that this attack was referred to as a 'small raid' and that it's unknown if the Soggy Alliance can be negotiated with, as one of the reasons given for the attack was for sport.
The vote they are given offers three choices on how Port Noble can respond to this threat: fleeing inland to establish a new settlement, digging in and remaining at Port Noble, or splitting their population in two with some staying in Port Noble and some heading inland to build a new settlement. They also get to vote on if Port Noble - should they stay there - should focus on defending itself, or if they should try to hunt down this Soggy Alliance. After a lengthily discussion (which Fiaeorri vanishes part way through to consult with Gregor), most of the 3rd Watch vote to split the population, and all of them vote to take a defensive stance.
It's a few more days before it is announced that the majority of the populace voted for the same course of action, and Port Noble begins its preparations for establishing a second settlement. Patrick, wanting a quick warning system in place in case either of the settlements is attacked, tries to find another cleric that can send magical messages across long distances like he can, but doesn't succeed - however, he gets inspired to make a scroll of the spell that someone in the settlement he isn't in can use. He even convinces the council to take care of some of the funding. In addition, he commissions some new armor from Gorbosh.
It will take some time for the scroll and armor to be complete, but there are some other concerns that the group decide to take care of in the evenings after they are finished with their various tasks. They have realized that Merara, an old sailor who took care of the orphans, established the fishing industry, and used to be on the council, is missing along with her house-raft. After she fails to respond to a magical message, they try to detect her body with Patrick's magic, while Extang polymorphs into a giant eagle so they can travel faster to get the most of the ten minutes Patrick's spell lasts for. They have no success, however, they come to another realization - they could use this to find the body of the blue dragonborn who went missing at the same time as Balasar's murder. They need to wait until the next day before they can do it, but not only can they put the dragonborn's widow's mind at ease, they can use magic to speak with the corpse and discover the identity of his murderer.
That night, Fiaeorri sneaks of to speak to Gregor again, this time asking for help. She explains how a year ago she murdered a blue dragonborn to help someone fake a suicide - but the fake suicide turned into a real murder and suddenly there were two bodies. She had buried the body, but now there is a chance it might be found, and she needs the body eliminated before the murder can be traced back to her. Gregor agrees to have this taken care of, and Fiaeorri describes the location of the body as best she can remember.
The next evening, the whole group goes out again, this time seeking the body of the dead dragonborn. Fiaeorri is very surprised when they find the body in a completely different place than she remembers burying it, and hides in the trees while the others are digging up the body.
Once the body is retrieved from its shallow grave, Patrick uses his magic to question it, learning that the last thing the dragonborn did before dying was follow a human woman into the jungle to help with something. He describes the woman as best he can, but it's a fairly vague impression; it could be any number of women in Port Noble. He didn't see how he died, other than a strip of metal coming out of his chest. However - and this was important to Patrick to learn - it was a clean death and he didn't suffer.
Fiaeorri sneaks off to demand of Gregor why the body was moved to such a stupid place - only to learn that the body was never found in the first place, as she had given the wrong location. Fiaeorri asks for advice on how to deflect the situation should suspicion and proof point to her, and recieves some - with the final option being to eliminate those who are suspicious of her. Gregor even offers the help of the rest of the True Daughters of Pagslas should it come to that - though Meglin, on bodyguard duty, objects, thinking Fiaeorri should clean up her own mess or pay for her own mistakes.
The rest of the group deliver the corpse to his widow, who is finally put at her ease, though she's confused about why her child was threatened to be killed if she didn't stop searching for her husband if he was dead. The 3rd Watch refuse the offered reward and report their findings to the council, who aren't particularly interested at the moment with everything else that is happening.
Everyone returns to their various tasks. Over the next ten days, Patrick finishes the spell scroll he is making. Extang is given a very sarcastic map by the cartographer, Saifon, who he then then begins taking cartography lessons from. Fiaeorri questions her sword and learns a little more about their attackers, including that they are part of something called the Deepmer Alliance and that the swords former owner was frustrated that the alliance doesn't provide enough sport. And the group gets a visit from Stor, offering them their choice of the newest jobs from the militia - one to find these koa-toa spies, and the other to find and secure a location for the new settlement. The group unanimously agrees to take the latter job. However, they don't head out right away - they wait an additional ten days so that Patrick's new armor will be ready for him.
And that brings an end to this week's game session. Come back next week to see what happens in Episode 59.
You can find the previous episode here.
7th-32nd of Waxing Fall, 1AL
The 3rd Watch are home at Port Noble, trying to get back to life as normal after the attack while they wait to hear what the council decides to do next. Fiaeorri takes some time to form the magical bond she needs with her new sword for it to work, and is surprised to hear a voice speaking in her head. The sword, Renn, is delighted to have a new owner, as the last one kept stabbing it in things.
Extang returns from his excursion where his attempts to go on a solo mission in giant eagle form resulted in him barely surviving an encounter with a flying draconic creature. He decides to spend some time learning all Feryon knows about dragons.
An announcement comes from the council, along with a vote. They explain that they didn't know the complete accuracy of their information, but that the attack seems to have come from a group known as the Soggy Alliance, who apparently have killed off anyone living within two or three days of the coast for so long that the coast has been avoided for several generations by sentient creatures. They also make it publicly known that there are spies reporting on Port Noble, known only as Koa-Toa, and that any information on them should be given to the militia or the council. Finally, they share that this attack was referred to as a 'small raid' and that it's unknown if the Soggy Alliance can be negotiated with, as one of the reasons given for the attack was for sport.
The vote they are given offers three choices on how Port Noble can respond to this threat: fleeing inland to establish a new settlement, digging in and remaining at Port Noble, or splitting their population in two with some staying in Port Noble and some heading inland to build a new settlement. They also get to vote on if Port Noble - should they stay there - should focus on defending itself, or if they should try to hunt down this Soggy Alliance. After a lengthily discussion (which Fiaeorri vanishes part way through to consult with Gregor), most of the 3rd Watch vote to split the population, and all of them vote to take a defensive stance.
It's a few more days before it is announced that the majority of the populace voted for the same course of action, and Port Noble begins its preparations for establishing a second settlement. Patrick, wanting a quick warning system in place in case either of the settlements is attacked, tries to find another cleric that can send magical messages across long distances like he can, but doesn't succeed - however, he gets inspired to make a scroll of the spell that someone in the settlement he isn't in can use. He even convinces the council to take care of some of the funding. In addition, he commissions some new armor from Gorbosh.
It will take some time for the scroll and armor to be complete, but there are some other concerns that the group decide to take care of in the evenings after they are finished with their various tasks. They have realized that Merara, an old sailor who took care of the orphans, established the fishing industry, and used to be on the council, is missing along with her house-raft. After she fails to respond to a magical message, they try to detect her body with Patrick's magic, while Extang polymorphs into a giant eagle so they can travel faster to get the most of the ten minutes Patrick's spell lasts for. They have no success, however, they come to another realization - they could use this to find the body of the blue dragonborn who went missing at the same time as Balasar's murder. They need to wait until the next day before they can do it, but not only can they put the dragonborn's widow's mind at ease, they can use magic to speak with the corpse and discover the identity of his murderer.
That night, Fiaeorri sneaks of to speak to Gregor again, this time asking for help. She explains how a year ago she murdered a blue dragonborn to help someone fake a suicide - but the fake suicide turned into a real murder and suddenly there were two bodies. She had buried the body, but now there is a chance it might be found, and she needs the body eliminated before the murder can be traced back to her. Gregor agrees to have this taken care of, and Fiaeorri describes the location of the body as best she can remember.
The next evening, the whole group goes out again, this time seeking the body of the dead dragonborn. Fiaeorri is very surprised when they find the body in a completely different place than she remembers burying it, and hides in the trees while the others are digging up the body.
Once the body is retrieved from its shallow grave, Patrick uses his magic to question it, learning that the last thing the dragonborn did before dying was follow a human woman into the jungle to help with something. He describes the woman as best he can, but it's a fairly vague impression; it could be any number of women in Port Noble. He didn't see how he died, other than a strip of metal coming out of his chest. However - and this was important to Patrick to learn - it was a clean death and he didn't suffer.
Fiaeorri sneaks off to demand of Gregor why the body was moved to such a stupid place - only to learn that the body was never found in the first place, as she had given the wrong location. Fiaeorri asks for advice on how to deflect the situation should suspicion and proof point to her, and recieves some - with the final option being to eliminate those who are suspicious of her. Gregor even offers the help of the rest of the True Daughters of Pagslas should it come to that - though Meglin, on bodyguard duty, objects, thinking Fiaeorri should clean up her own mess or pay for her own mistakes.
The rest of the group deliver the corpse to his widow, who is finally put at her ease, though she's confused about why her child was threatened to be killed if she didn't stop searching for her husband if he was dead. The 3rd Watch refuse the offered reward and report their findings to the council, who aren't particularly interested at the moment with everything else that is happening.
Everyone returns to their various tasks. Over the next ten days, Patrick finishes the spell scroll he is making. Extang is given a very sarcastic map by the cartographer, Saifon, who he then then begins taking cartography lessons from. Fiaeorri questions her sword and learns a little more about their attackers, including that they are part of something called the Deepmer Alliance and that the swords former owner was frustrated that the alliance doesn't provide enough sport. And the group gets a visit from Stor, offering them their choice of the newest jobs from the militia - one to find these koa-toa spies, and the other to find and secure a location for the new settlement. The group unanimously agrees to take the latter job. However, they don't head out right away - they wait an additional ten days so that Patrick's new armor will be ready for him.
And that brings an end to this week's game session. Come back next week to see what happens in Episode 59.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)