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Post by Daos on Feb 12, 2023 13:28:12 GMT -8
So last night, we had our first session for the new solo 5E game I put together using my Chronicles of Overmorrow setting.
No idea how much anyone here will care, but I intend to post summaries and XP here just because having it where it's easy to publicly reference makes things easier for me. So feel free to ignore this thread if you aren't interested.
Anyway, I'll start working on the summary and XP and hopefully get that up in the next few days.
In the meantime, the basic premise is: Oceana Poole is a young Cascadian noblewoman, the second child (but eldest daughter) of the Poole family in the garden of Harmony, in the nation of Rain Mountain. The Pooles are fairly minor noble humans of little wealth or influence. So they felt incredibly blessed when their firstborn daughter and heir turned out to be an aasimar. Surely this was a blessing from Elonna herself. Oceana was raised very sheltered and protected--never once leaving the Poole manor in her entire life. Her parents felt she had a great destiny, and they wanted her to be ready for it. So she was trained in the ways of the knight, much like her mother.
Just before her 22nd birthday, Oceana had a dream. More like a vision. Elonna herself appeared before her and warned her of a terrible blight covering the land. This blight, known as The Rot, had infected the five holiest sites to Elonna and were spreading from them. Eventually, the Rot would cover the world, choking out all life. Oceana was charged with traveling to each of the sites and cleansing them, destroying the Rot.
After telling her family of this vision, she then spent the next year in training and preparing. Now, she is ready to set out toward the first site--a nearby volcano known as Smoke Mountain.
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Matt4
Paragon
Posts: 3,540
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Post by Matt4 on Feb 12, 2023 15:13:47 GMT -8
I don't know why, but I can't take the name Oceana Poole seriously. I keep imagining an old Miriam Margolyes-lady type who likes to make innuendoes and bake meat pies.
I'll still read her adventures though.
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Post by Daos on Feb 12, 2023 15:43:45 GMT -8
Haha, well, I've never been great with naming conventions. In my 2E, setting, I cheated and just randomly declared each nation used naming conventions of real world places. So Calabria used Italian names, and Swadia used German names, and so on. So you roll up a Swadian knight and maybe they are named Hans or Helga or something.
I tried to go a different route here, and be more creative, and came up with elemental based names for the Elonnori tribes. Cascadians have water based names like Rayne, Misty, Ryver, and so forth. So Oceana Poole may sound strange to our ears, but it would be a perfectly normal name in that land.
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Post by HorizonsDream on Feb 12, 2023 17:42:38 GMT -8
Since I'm the one who named my character, I'm going to say I kind of like the name. It isn't for everyone though. I picked a name that meant an element in the other Overmorrow game, so I picked a name that was a little on the nose for this game.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 12, 2023 18:57:05 GMT -8
As you’ll recall, I’m named “April Showers.” Nothing wrong with the name Oceana to me.
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Post by Daos on Feb 14, 2023 12:37:42 GMT -8
Okay, here we go. Session 01 - Journey to Smoke MountainOur story begins at Poole Manor, in the garden of Harmony in the nation of Rain Mountain. Oceana's family has thrown her a farewell party as she prepares to set off on her quest to save the world. They are saying their goodbyes in the foyer. She starts with her younger sisters, the twins, Brooke and Lyre. They are ten years old with light brown hair put up in pigtails. Brooke asks if she can have Oceana's room and Lyre asks if she can be heir if Oceana fails her mission. Oceana, mildly annoyed, complains to her mom, then gives them both a hug goodbye. She then speaks with her older brother, Moss. He's 26 years old with long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was her sparring partner as she learned swordplay, and the two have always been close. He warns her to be careful as things are different in the outside world. Even Smoke Mountain, while Cascadian and Elonnori, is still another country and might treat foreigners differently. He suggests she stick to the main roads and stay safe. He also gifts her with his first dagger, Mister Pointy, that he got (and named) when he was ten. She then says goodbye to her father, Ryver. He is in his early to mid forties with short brown hair, and is basically a house-husband, although the servants do most of the cooking and cleaning. He is on the verge of tears that his little girl is all grown up and off to save the world. He gives her a small pouch of cookies that he baked himself...for the first time. They appear rather irregularly shaped and taste fairly bad, but Oceana thanks him nonetheless. Next she speaks to her mother, Delta. She is a knight in her mid-forties with shoulder-length curly blonde hair that she often ties up when in battle, but for now, it hangs freely. She tells Oceana to remember that she is representing the Poole name out there, and also informs her that she has arranged for a squire and two retainers to accompany Oceana on her quest. The squire in question is one Eve Winters, the second daughter of the illustrious and wealthy Winters family. Because Eve is so important, Delta stresses to Oceana to keep her out of danger, even though technically she is supposed to be training the girl to be a knight. Oceana is quite displeased with all of this. She doesn't want to babysit a squire and some helpless commonborn while trying to save the world. Delta also gifts Oceana with her old shield, a beautiful blue coral shield (+1) to help keep her safe. She also gives Oceana some shards to hire some additional help at the local tavern. The two retainers Oceana is to take with her is their old butler, Isles and one of their grooms, a young girl named Billow. Oceana knows Isles well. He's been with the family for decades. He also helped tutor her when she was a child, for all the good it did. Isles is an older man in his early fifties with thinning, grey hair and a large pair of spectacles. He has no weapons or armor, aside from an old club at his side, and is smartly dressed for a commonborn. He tells her he looks forward to working with her, and he will help out with any diplomacy matters, as well as lend her his considerable book knowledge. Oceana is considerably less enthused. Billow is a 16 year old commonborn girl with green eyes and hair. She's shy, awkward and tends to ramble when she's nervous--which is all of the time. She is one of the house grooms, charged with caring for their horses and other mounts. She tells Oceana she picked a good horse from the stables for her to ride. What's a knight without a horse, after all? Oceana sets off with her horse, groom, and butler to the local tavern and searches for some extra muscle to hire. She winds up hiring Morelia, a wood elf druid; Na'Krasha, a half-orc barbarian; Wisteria, a rock gnome wizard; and Edith, a rock gnome cleric. Morelia seems friendly if not a bit absent-minded, and carries a satchel of potions with her. Na'Krasha is huge, intimidating with a big axe, but is fairly friendly and often seems bored. Edith is sweet and innocent with a head full of gorgeous red hair. Wisteria is tense, agitated, like someone who hasn't slept in days and is entirely fueled with caffeine. Next, they pick up Eve, who is waiting for them at the garden gate with her own horse. She complains that they made her wait. She is quite young, perhaps 15 or 16, with very long, straight brown hair and brown eyes. She is quite lanky and awkward, as youths of that age often are, even with the fancy breast plate and rapier she has. Eve immediately starts ordering around Isles and Billow, which annoys Oceana. She asks 'Miss' Winters to stop, and Eve corrects her that she is 'Lady' Winters, so Oceana refers to her as 'Squire' Winters instead. With her full regiment readied, Oceana could now proceed to Smoke Mountain. There were two paths she could take. She could cut through the wilderness and go there directly; it's only around 20 miles away. However, the forest and hills she'd need to cross would be dangerous, full of monsters, bandits and who knows what else? Or she could take the long way around, using the Fey Eye road--an ancient road dating back to the Ancient Ones--around 100 miles or so. She opts to take her brother's for the latter. The morning of the first day is fairly boring and quiet, so to pass the time, Oceana chats up her new companions. She learns Morelia comes from a family of magic users, and specializes in potion making. She was training at a local grove, but decided to take a break and travel for awhile to learn some new things on the road. Na'Krasha was a prison guard, but grew so bored with just standing around watching people in cages, she quit and decided to try being an axe for hire for awhile. She loves to fight, and is hoping they'll run into some monsters or bandits or something. Edith grew up on a farm, but hoped for something more in life. Specifically, she hoped to find a handsome suitor, like a noble or wealthy merchant, but alas, she never has. Instead, she helps others find their matches instead. Wisteria attends an academy down south in the Celestial Empire, and this whole quest is part of her final assignment in one of her classes. She apparently isn't very good at her studies, and crams and stays up late all of the time to compensate. Oceana also spoke with Eve, who revealed she was ordered to take this squirehood by her parents, but she is skeptical Oceana can teach her anything she doesn't already know. As the second daughter of her family, she was not eligible to be heir, so she could choose a life at the grove or as a knight, and she chose the latter. Night begins to fall, so they find a relatively open space near the road and set up camp. As they are doing so, Oceana discovers that her pack has been opened. She finds Eve munching on her cookies, and spitting them out, calling them awful. Oceana snatches them back and tries to punish the girl by quizzing her on her academics. But Oceana is not great at academics, so this backfires on her as Eve knows more about such things than she does. As this is happening, Oceana becomes vaguely aware of some movement in the brush. Grabbing Na'Krasha, she goes to investigate while telling the rest of the party to protect her retainers. As they get closer, a feathered man-sized creature called a Wicked Claw (Deinonychus) leaps at Oceana, but she's able to block it with her shield. Na'Krasha easily cuts the creature down. The second day they wake up and move out. That afternoon, they cross paths with a merchant caravan heading north. Oceana hails them and asks where they are going. They tell her they are traveling to Si'ahl in Salt Whale from Twinrivers in Rose Valley. They ask if Oceana has heard any rumors from the north they should be wary of, but she has not. They then part ways, and Oceana continues her journey. As evening falls, they see a roadside inn known as the Apple Seed. They decide to spend the night there. It's a fairly large place, full of colorful travelers, pilgrims, soldiers, guards, and merchants. Oceana sees a handsome tiefling who waves her over. He introduces himself as Ashel and offers to play a game of cards with her. Oceana tells him she doesn't know how to play, and he offers to teach her. Suspecting a con, she politely passes. Instead, she heads to the innkeeper, a human woman who is having a conversation with Morelia. The druid is trying to convince her to buy a potion. The innkeeper does, but upon drinking it, her skin turns bright pink. With some quick words, Oceana is able to calm the innkeeper down and assure her that it was a temporary effect. She then got rooms for them all for the night, and meals for her and her retainers. She also asks the innkeeper if she's heard any rumors out of Smoke Mountain. The innkeeper tells her it's been eerily quiet lately; not a single pilgrim, druid or traveler has come from there in the past week or so. She also hears a rumor that Ravenites are raiding the north again. Oceana decides to check up on her other companions. She finds Edith mediating a lover's spat. Na'Krasha is at the bar, menacing a couple of off-duty guards who had a few too many drinks. Wisteria is near the hearth, complaining that she's cold. She tries to 'improve' the fire with a spell, but Oceana accidentally distracts her and she sets fire to the floor. She runs off in a panic, and Oceana quickly stomps out the fire before it spreads. It's at this point that Na'Krasha starts brawling with the off-duty guards, and a full bar fight starts to break out. But Oceana is able to calm them down by promising to buy a round of drinks. Exhausted, Oceana sits with her retainers and eats, then heads up to bed before anything else happens. In the afternoon of the third day, they come across a river with a bridge over it. However, the bridge is being blocked by five bandits. They insist on anyone crossing paying a toll of 10 pink coral shards, which was pretty outrageous. Oceana intimidates them, with Na'Krasha's help, into letting the party pass anyway. They back down quickly, especially at the sight of the massive half-orc. On the morning of the fourth day, they reach the base of Smoke Mountain. As they begin to climb the hiking trail to the top, Oceana notes how...deserted it seems. Isles, who has been here before, comments that it is odd. Usually the place is swarming with pilgrims, druids, and priests. It's also often patrolled by fire elementals. But there is nobody around at all. Even when they reach the temple entrance at the top, there is nobody around. Billow ties off their horses outside. They enter the temple, which is built into the mountain itself, carved from the stone into a cave system. They immediately notice strange, pulsating black vines spreading over the walls, ceiling and floor. They seem to be, from what Oceana can tell, sucking the heat out of place. Isles notes that it feels cooler than he remembers. Although still quite warm, it's closer to 60 F/16 C instead of 80 F/26 C like normal. They follow the tunnel into a visitor's chamber. There are obsidian benches, and buckets that Isles said were usually filled with cool water to help with the visitors not used to the heat, but they were all bone dry now. This is also where the druids would greet visitors, but again, there is nobody around. The place seems to be falling apart, too. Oceana notes three sinkholes in the ground, maybe one to two feet across. There's also a ledge that overlooks the heart of the volcano. The lava is about 300 feet down, but Oceana can barely see it. The black vines are all over the place, choking out the light and heat of the lava. Isles notes that the main worship center is deeper into the volcano, and is much closer to the lava. So Oceana notes they should push on, deeper into the temple. However, before they can, Oceana hears a flapping sound. Five giant sootwing moths emerge from the sinkholes, their wings spreading ash everywhere. A fight breaks out. Oceana, reasoning that since these things live in a volcano they are probably accustomed to the heat, warns the party to avoid fire spells. The fight is tough, but Wisteria, trying to follow Oceana's advice, unleashes an ice spell that instantly kills four of the moths. Unfortunately, she is so distracted by her victory that the final moth unleashes a cloud of ash that burns and blinds her. Fortunately, Oceana charges in and finishes off the last moth. My notesThis session ran 2h, 40m. I decided I want to start keeping track of that sort of thing. There were some minor difficulties, as my internet died for the whole game. Not a huge deal, although it meant I couldn't play music on my laptop from Youtube. Wyld Times was run entirely on pen and paper, but I keep all of my notes on my laptop for this game. This led to a few minor growing pains, as I wasn't used to it. Instead of shuffling through papers, I was scrolling through files. But I think I can make some adjustments to make things easier next time. Oceana's family were created by Horizon, although I did take the liberty of fleshing them out a bit. The twins were a bit spoiled, and are quite young, so neither took the whole thing very seriously and mostly were thinking of themselves. Mister Pointy was a Buffy reference. I sprinkled them throughout after Horizon compared Oceana to Buffy. I initially pictured Ryver as something of a house-husband, but then realized he probably had servants to do all of the cooking and cleaning and child-rearing for him, so I decided he was actually pretty bad at all of those things. I liked the idea of the servants looking on in horror as Ryver made a complete mess of the kitchen making his cookies. And giving a level 1 character a magic shield right away might seem a bit much, but as Horizon is soloing the game, I figure I don't have to worry too much about things like balance. Besides, if she dies, the game's over. Isles, Billow and Eve are all Buffy references, too. Specifically to Giles, Willow and Dawn. I almost used Xander instead, but I felt Giles was more interesting. Anyway, Eve has the Noble statblock and the others have the Commoner stat blocks, so they really aren't any use at all in combat. My plan is to introduce a number of potential NPC recruits for the party. Although Horizon can only take 4 on any given mission, and the rest stay at her home (which is basically her base of operations). This gives me some more freedom in exploring different classes, sub-classes and races that I would otherwise not have if she had four permanent party members like last time. However, until she does recruit enough people to fill a party, I decided she could hire hirelings from taverns. I just used the statblocks from Ginny Di's characters. Edith, Na'Krasha and Morelia all appeared in the last game, although Wisteria did not. I did not tell Horizon who she was hiring, only telling her their class. So she had no idea who she was going to get. She was worried she'd get stuck with Augury or Nymwen, though. Lucky her, they're all Good alignment except Na'Krasha, who is CN. I actually rolled up encounters for both the road and the wilderness, as I wasn't sure which path she would take. The road was safer, but the wilderness was faster. The Fey Eye was a real world reference, as this game takes place in fantasy Washington. Flip it around, and it becomes Eye Fey--a reference to I5 or Interstate 5. The Wicked Claws return! I haven't used them since my old Fate Weavers game, which was my secondary 2E setting after Lost Souls. But yes, dinosaurs exist and roam the wild in this world, so I finally have a chance to use them again. This one was a random encounter. The caravan was another random encounter. There wasn't much to it, although the party could have bought some rations from them if they had wanted. It was just a bit of world building, although it did reference the Overmorrow game. I haven't really nailed down exactly when this game is happening in comparison to Overmorrow. I had initially thought to have them begin on the same day, but realized that might create problems since pbp games are so slow. If Oceana gets far enough ahead, it might lead to spoilers for Overmorrow. So I don't know, we'll see. I'm keeping it a bit ambiguous for now. The inn was a planned encounter. It was mostly to set up little scenes with each party member, to flesh them out a bit, and to offer possible rumors. It was a lot of fun roleplaying the various fires (at least one literal) that Oceana had to put out. The bandits were another planned encounter. There were lots of ways to handle them. Could have fought them, intimidated them or persuaded them to stop. They were actually farmers who were forced into the role of banditry to survive after the Rot took their farms. I'm quite proud of the dungeon I came up with for Smoke Mountain. It was a lot of fun to work on. I even got to do some homebrewing, as you'll soon see. Initially, I had assumed Oceana had been here before as part of her paladin training.. A lot of my descriptions said things like, "You remember it being hotter here" or "There were way more people here last time you were here". But Horizon specified in-game that Oceana has never left her manor before today, having been incredibly sheltered, so instead I decided Isles has been there before. Makes sense that Delta would have visited and taken some retainers with her. After the OGL debacle, I picked up a few Kobold Press books and that's where the Giant Sootwing Moths came from. This was the party's first real battle as a group (the Wicked Claw was really just Oceana and Na'Krasha, with the others protecting the retainers). It wasn't overly tough, but they did struggle a bit. Edith is designed solely for healing/buffing; she has no attacks at all, except an unarmed attack at a penalty. She did help with an Bless spell, though. Morelia got to show off her gardening sheers weapon (a sort of reflavored shillelagh). Na'Krasha is a powerhouse, of course; she didn't even need to rage to hold her own. And it was probably overkill to have Wisteria cast Rime's Binding Ice, but it was getting late and I was tired and wanted to wrap things up, and it was the only non-fire attack spell she had readied. Next time, we'll delve deeper into the temple. What happened to all the people here? How can Oceana stop this (Horizon asked if her dream included instructions on exactly how to purify the site, and I told her it did not, so she'll have to figure that out on the fly)? What else is lurking in the depths of this volcano? Tune in next time to find out! I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Feb 15, 2023 14:33:23 GMT -8
XP is as follows: Saying goodbye to family - 10 XP Setting boundaries with Eve - 10 XP Getting to know Morelia - 10 XP Getting to know Edith - 10 XP Getting to know Na'Krasha - 10 XP Getting to know Wisteria - 10 XP Getting to know Eve - 10 XP Attempting to punish Eve - 10 XP Defeating Wicked Claw - 40 XP Speaking with caravan - 10 XP Calming down the innkeeper - 10 XP Putting out Wisteria's fire - 10 XP Breaking up Na'Krasha's brawl - 10 XP Intimidating the bandits - 10 XP Defeating Giant Sootwing Moths (x5) - 50 XP TOTAL: 220 XP That brings Oceana to a full total of 220 XP. So she needs 80 XP to level up. Don't forget to update your character sheet, HorizonsDream.
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Matt4
Paragon
Posts: 3,540
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Post by Matt4 on Feb 16, 2023 13:00:48 GMT -8
The last part really pulled me in, I'm intrigued by this Rot mystery.
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Post by Daos on Feb 16, 2023 18:50:42 GMT -8
I don't want to give anything away, but I think I have some interesting stuff in store regarding the Rot and its origins.
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Post by Daos on Feb 20, 2023 23:38:43 GMT -8
Session 02 - Drinking Strength from Immortal Fire We pick up where we left off, right after the Sootwing Moth battle. The party decides to push onward. Descending deeper into the mountain, they reach some kind of barracks for the druids and priests that live here. The place is starting to fall apart, with fissures and sinkholes opening up all around them. There are ten cots, all occupied with bodies. Oceana uses her divine sense and determines they are undead, and sure enough, all ten of the druids get up and attack, now ash zombies. Edith is able to disintegrate about 70% of them, and the party easily picks off the remaining ones.
Examining the remaining bodies, Oceana wondered how the druids became like this. There was evidence of Rot on them, but so far the tendrils they had seen had not moved or attacked them. So how did they get infected?
They descend deeper and discover a large dining hall, with tables and chairs. However, seven ash mephits are tearing the place apart, looking for food, and complaining the whole time about it. Oceana addresses them, asking where they came from. They said they came through the portal in the volcano's heart. But Oceana knows that portal leads to the Plane of Fire, not the Plane of Ash. She tells them she intends to cleanse the temple, which they don't seem to like. So they attack.
The mephits prove difficult, as they keep blinding the party with their ash breath, but ultimately the party defeats them all. Oceana calls for a short rest before they continue on.
They descend the next set of stairs which lead to a large, solid stone door. Opening it up reveals a rush of cold air. They step inside to find themselves in a sort of walk-in freezer, kept cold due to magic. There is tons of preserved food and drink in here, untouched by the creatures outside, as it's far too cold for them. There is also a door on the other side.
However, inside the pantry they find a man huddled up in the corner. He is large and muscular, but has red skin, ash white hair and coal black eyes, nails and teeth. At first, Oceana thinks him a tiefling, but he has neither horns or tail. He seems pretty out of it, muttering to himself in Inlander. Na'Krasha translates, saying he is speaking gibberish, talking about the cold, failure and how 'they can't get to him here.'
Oceana approaches him for a closer look. She finds his skin is hot, like he has a fever. He also has black tendrils on his body, smaller versions of what she saw in the caves. She has Morelia uses a Detect Poison and Disease spell, and she confirms he's sick with something, although she has no idea what.
Unsure of how to help him, Oceana decides to have the party take a long rest. It's very cold here, but it's safe, as none of the monsters will get near it. Morelia uses Produce Flame to try and keep them warm as they rest.
When they finish, she uses her lay on hands ability to try and Cure Disease on the man. This seems to work, as he seems to regain his senses. He reveals he speaks Cascadian, although he has an Inlander accent. He tells her he is a fire genasi, and his name is Wyldfyre. He was born in Lava Sands and his flame-touched blood was seen as a blessing from Elonna, so his tribe trained him to be one of their greatest warriors. Then he had a vision from Elonna about a year ago, telling him he should head to Smoke Mountain for spiritual training. Oceana notes how eerily familiar all of this sounds to her.
Wyldfyre explains that the Rot just appeared one day, starting at the volcano's heart and quickly spreading to the rest of the temple. The druids weren't sure what to do about it, but then they just stopped caring. About anything. They seemed to give up on life itself, and just let the vines take them. Wyldfyre tried to fight it, but he eventually succumbed, too. But as he gives off far more heat than most people, he managed to survive long enough to reach the freezer. The cold seemed to slow the Rot a bit. This is the only reason he didn't become an ash zombie like the others, although given enough time, he probably would have.
Oceana muses over what all of this means. Wyldfyre says that in his culture, Fire is the element of passion and strength. But when Fire burns too hot, it can burn out and die. Then it becomes Ash--the element of despair and apathy.
Oceana asks if he would be willing to join her quest to stop the Rot. Wyldfyre replies he would like to offer some payback. He has a large two-handed obsidian hammer and seems eager to dish out some violence. So, he joins the party.
They head for the next room, which is the forge. Wyldfyre mentions his hammer was made here, and it's also where they made the other obsidian weapons and items for the temple. But currently, the forge is cold and the leftover weapons are corrupt and damaged. Three ash grues (essentially lesser elementals) appear and move in to attack the party.
Wyldfyre goes into a rage, his eyes turning blue and his whole body beginning to smoke as if he were on fire. The grues prove particularly dangerous, as they have an ash breath that drains the life out of people; and anyone killed by it will rise again as an ash zombie. But fortunately the party prevails, largely in thanks to Wisteria using her ice magic to keep the grues from ganging up on them.
From here, they reach the final and deepest chamber, at the heart of the volcano, and also the main worship area. There is an obsidian altar and pews, and there is a ledge they can look down and see the lava from that's only 30 feet below. The vines are thickest and largest here, pulsating as they drain heat from the volcano's heart.
Oceana also notices three volleyball eggs over by the altar, covered in Rot and ash. Wyldfyre recognizes them as drake eggs and reasons the mother likely laid them before the Rot set in, but the eggs have been corrupted now. Oceana wants to find some way to restore them, but Wyldfyre just smashes them with his hammer.
Not sure how to purify the area, she tries praying to Elonna at the altar. She is granted a vision of sorts, but all it tells her is that Ash is a Death element, and she needs a Life element. Doing her best to recall her religious studies, she remembers that the world is surrounded by six elemental planes--Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Life and Death. Where each Element meets, they create a new Element. For instance, Fire and Air create Smoke, while Fire and Earth create Magma. However, Life and Death touch all of the elements, as well. Where Death touches Fire, it creates Ash. But where Life touches Fire, it creates Radiance.
Oceana tries calling upon her divine bloodline and lights up the altar. This causes the black vines to retract a bit away from it. Feeling she's on to something, Oceana moves toward the lava pool. However, just then, something bursts from the lava, attacking them--a massive ash elemental. Wyldfyre recognizes it as the temple's fire elemental guardian, now corrupted into something else.
A massive fight breaks out, and the party is just able to hold on thanks to Wisteria's ice magic, and Edith and Morelia focusing on keeping everyone standing. In the middle of the fight, Oceana breaks away to try casting Light on the vines, thinking this would instantly end the fight. However, she soon realizes that the process will take hours, and so turns back to the battle.
Once the elemental is vanquished, Oceana is able to turn her full attention to casting Light on the vines. It takes several hours to clear enough space that the lava is mostly visible again. At that point, the sun comes out and dawn arrives, which greatly speeds the process.
After the heart is cleared, the heat really picks up. The earth trembles, and the lava bubbles, and a beautiful humanoid figure made out of fire emerges from the lava. She nods her head in thanks to Oceana, then tosses two balls of flame down beside her, before sinking back into the lava. Oceana is not sure who that being was, but suspects it was Elonna herself. Wyldfyre believed it was just the spirit of the volcano.
The two balls of flame morph and solidify into physical objects. One becomes a sheathed long sword and the other into a perfectly spherical red crystal about the size of a fist. Curious about the crystal, she picks it up. It melts into her hand, forming into a small fist-sized flame. But it does not burn her. She closes her hand around it, and it vanishes. But she finds she can will it to reignite at will. Oceana can now cast the Produce Flame cantrip.
She then picks up the sword. It has a beautiful gold and brass inlaid hilt. Drawing it from the sheath, she finds it has a pure black obsidian blade, but seems as strong and light as her own coral blade. On a whim, she activates her new cantrip while holding the sword, and the blade ignites. She can distinguish it at will. She realizes it is a Flametongue Sword.
It's at this point the lava bubbles again, and this time a beam of pure white light bursts from the center and fires directly into the sky. The light spreads over a large distance, at least a hundred miles if not more, and any Rot it touches immediately vaporizes. This cleanses the entire temple and surrounding area, as well.
At this point, there is nothing left to do but begin the journey back to Harmony.
My notes This session ran just over 4h. I'd be legitimately surprised if anyone got the reference the session title makes.
Perhaps too late, during the ash zombie battle as I sat and rolled initiative for the hirelings and the zombies, I realized I probably should have done this ahead of time, as it would have saved a lot of time. I'll try and remember to do this next session. Anyway, the ash zombies were taken from the Lost Mines of Phandelver. Basically regular zombies, but with an annoying ash burst when they took damage. Thanks to Edith, the fight wasn't terribly hard, though.
The ash mephits were fun. They were originally from 2E, including their constant complaining. Aside from an ash breath weapon, they also had the ability to use Leomund's Lamentable Belaborment. This spell no longer exists, so I swapped it with a simple Bane effect as 5E does tend to keep things simple. But the basic idea is that they moaned and groaned so much it actually drained a person's vigor and kind of bummed them out.
Wyldfyre was the first recruitable companion of the game. I had fun making him and playing him. I had originally intended to give him an Australian accent and even practiced one for a few days, but it just wasn't working. Turns out I just can't do accents. I did have him drop a few Australian slang terms (at one point he called the women in the party 'sheilas'). Like in the last game, I allowed Horizon to roll for him and direct him in battle.
The ash grues were an invention of mine. I don't think 5E has grues, but 2E did--but only for the primary elements, so I had to homebrew ash grues on my own. I think I did alright. They had a dangerous ash attack that, if it killed someone, they would reanimate as an ash zombie an hour later. Fortunately, nobody died. Morelia had an alchemy jug and dumped water on one of them, which actually did quite a bit of damage.
The drake eggs might have seemed a bit random. Well, that was my fault. What was supposed to happen is that an ash drake would have attacked, and the eggs would have been found afterward. But I guess I forgot to actually stat out the drake. When I went through my notes, there was no stat block for it. Whoops. I decided to keep the scene of Wyldfyre smashing them, though, as I felt it gave him some characterization. Just as well, we were running late and there had been enough combat already, so the loss of the drake battle didn't hurt anything.
The ash elemental was also homebrewed. It's strongest attack was an ash flurry that was sort of a rechargeable (like a dragon's breath weapon) AoE attack centered on itself with a 5' range. Anyone in that range would suffer heavy fire and necrotic damage. Oceana resists necrotic damage, and Wyldfyre resits fire damage. Nevertheless, the two nearly fell several times if not for Edith and Morelia constantly buffing/healing them. I believe Wyldfyre delivered the final blow, which wasn't on purpose but was rather narratively appropriate, since he got his revenge.
The concept of the Elements, Para-Elements and Quasi-Elements is from 2E's cosmology. I believe 5E got rid of the idea of Para-Elemental and Quasi-Elemental planes for some reason, which is a shame, because I always thought they were pretty cool. So I reworked them in my mythology here. Positive Energy + Fire = Radiance, Negative Energy + Fire = Ash. I also liked the themes of Fire being passion, Ash being apathy and Radiance being hope. As someone who has felt a lot of burn-out lately, and struggled with depression my whole life, these themes really resonated with me, if nothing else.
Is giving a Flame Tongue and an extra cantrip to a 1st level character a bit much? Probably. But it's a solo game, so I'm not really worried about balance. In fact, erring on the overpowered side is probably for the best, since if Oceana dies, it's game over. I liked the idea of Oceana learning elemental cantrips for each temple she cleanses to show her progress, even though that's not something a Paladin usually gets. And I know Horizon really liked Bastian's Flametongue last game, so I knew she'd appreciate Oceana getting one.
Next session, the party returns to Harmony to rest, resupply, and do some downtime stuff.
I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Feb 21, 2023 12:14:32 GMT -8
XP is as follows: Defeating Ash Zombies (x10) - 50 XP Defeating Ash Mephits (x7) - 70 XP Recruiting Wyldfyre - 100 XP Defeating Ash Grues (x3) - 112 XP Defeating Ash Elemental - 150 XP TOTAL: 482 XP That brings Oceana to a full total of 702 XP. So reaches level 2. Don't forget to update your character sheet, HorizonsDream.
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Post by Daos on Feb 23, 2023 2:15:06 GMT -8
Just realized I totally forgot to do Wyldfyre's XP, too. Defeating Ash Grues (x3) - 112 XP Defeating Ash Elemental - 150 XP TOTAL: 262 XP This gives him a total of 262 XP, meaning he needs another 38 XP to level up. Remind me to print out his character sheet for you before the next session, HorizonsDream.
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Post by Daos on Feb 28, 2023 2:53:14 GMT -8
Session 03 - Political Intrigue We picked up where we left off, on Day 5, the temple having just been cleansed. The party retreats to the entrance where it is a bit cooler, then take a short rest to heal and so Oceana can attune to her new Flametongue. They then depart, heading back to the Fey Eye for the journey back to Harmony.
The day passes largely without incident. That evening, while searching for a suitable camp site, Oceana spots a nice, flat area of earth sheltered from the elements on one side by a craggy bluff. A wide, but shallow river runs alongside it. There’s a strange, sulfurous smell in the air. Moving in closer to investigate reveals a few rivulets of water emerging from the rocky bank that are steaming and very hot to the touch. Where these rivulets join the river water, different arrangements of large rocks have formed small pools of various temperatures, some of which are deep enough to sit in comfortably. Oceana immediately recognizes that these are natural hot springs.
There are also a couple of black toads with coal-like bumps and a soft red glow to them hanging around. Curious, Wisteria goes to pick one up, and it leaps away from her and into one of the pools, causing a thick cloud of smoke to emerge. Wyldfyre recognizes these as smoke frogs, and notes they are harmless, but they emit a lot of smoke if they get wet. He chases off the rest.
The women are all eager to take a hot bath, and Wyldfyre is eager to watch. Which causes the women to all change their mind and decide maybe they don't need a bath after all. Oceana tries to get him and Isles to give them privacy. Isles is quickly to comply, but Wyldfyre doesn't see what the big deal is. Na'Krasha gets bored and decides to scout ahead up river, to make sure there's nothing dangerous up there. The rest of the women give up on baths, so Wyldfyre decides to strip naked and hot in the springs himself. Either embarrassed or scandalized, the women all look away (except Edith who seems a bit impressed with what she sees).
Oceana sets up camp, and Na'Krasha returns claiming to have found a crashed wagon and half a skeleton. Oceana gathers Edith and Wyldfyre (forcing him to dry off and put his clothes back on) and follows Na'Krasha out to find this wagon. They travel upriver, along the bluff that shelters the campsite, and find the wreckage of a wooden wagon that appears to have fallen from atop the bluff. There is a partial skeleton of a long-dead humanoid amongst the wreckage. Oceana investigates the wreckage up close and finds two crates of amber glass bottles packed in straw. Most of the bottles are broken, but three remain intact and full of liquid. Oceana collects all three and takes them back to camp.
Once there, she shows them to Morelia and asks her to identify them. She confirms that all three are booze, but different types. Oceana sips one and gains a HP back. Morelia further is able to identify that they are Goodberry Brandy (10 doses--well, 9 now--and each one will restore 1 HP), Fey Gin (gives darkvision for 1 hour, as well as makes your eyes glow green) and Sweet Candor, which puts you under a Zone of Truth effect for ten minutes.
Oceana puts the potions away for now, and sets a watch for the night.
Day 6 arrives and they set out again. The morning is uneventful, but in the afternoon they come across a patrol of 10 armed guards wearing Smoke Mountain colors. They stop and question the party on who they are and what they are doing. Oceana hesitates to tell them the whole truth, and simply says they are pilgrims who visited the volcano and are now heading home to Rain Mountain. Smoke Mountain and Rain Mountain have good relations (their leaders are sisters), so the guards let them pass and wish them luck.
That evening, they come across the Appleseed Inn again. Oceana notices upon entering that Ashel is no longer there. The people are abuzz about the light that was seen over the volcano and what it means. Some thing it a good omen, but others see it as a premonition of bad things to come. This time Oceana takes the opposite approach, and openly tells the entire common room that she was there and cleared away the Rot. The people cheer for her and start buying her drinks, and the innkeeper even lets them stay for free that night.
On the morning of Day 7, they set out again and soon come across a group of ten pilgrims heading north. Oceana asks them about where they are going and such, and they seem oddly stand-offish. They answer vaguely (“North”) and curtly. They seem to be en route to Harmony, like she is. She prods them a bit, but they don't seem interested in conversation. Oceana thinks there is something shady about them, but she can't put her finger on it. So she has her group fall back and follow them from a bit of a distance. The pilgrims pick up their pace, trying to put more distance between them. Oceana lets them go, and proceeds normally. That night, they find a place to make camp.
On the eighth day, they return to Harmony. Once reaching the manor, Oceana's family pays Na'Krasha, Edith, Wisteria and Morelia and those four move on. Wyldfyre is in it for the long haul, though, and sticks around. However, Delta and Ryver aren't crazy about him. He's an uncouth Inlander and commonborn to boot. Lyre asks if he's Oceana's boyfriend, and the very thought nearly make her parents have fits. Oceana tries to assure them that he is chosen, like herself, and thus vital to her quest. So very reluctantly, they set him in one of the guest rooms. One of the smaller guest rooms.
Wyldfyre doesn't seem to mind, though. He grew up living in tents and huts; the Poole manor is like a palace as far as he's concerned.
Her parents also convince Oceana to take a week to prepare before setting off again. She could spend that time training, resupplying and planning. She agrees.
On Day 9, Oceana sent Billow, Isles and Eve out to get training, paying for all three of them. Wyldfyre sticks around the manor, though, driving her parents nuts--possibly intentionally, it's hard to say with him. That morning as she sat and had breakfast with her family, a missive arrived for her. When Oceana notices it has the royal seal on it, she actually drops it on the table in surprise.
After calming herself, she opens the letter and reads it. It is from the queen of Rain Mountain, Meera Wyntergreen. She asks Oceana for an audience at the Misty Breeze Inn after dark, which seems quite unusual. Delta is dead-set against Oceana going. She points out that Meera has been discharged by the church (essentially, ex-communicated) and is likely hoping to use Oceana's budding reputation as a religious hero to help get herself reinstated. Oceana feels it's a bad idea to cross a queen, but Delta insists that pissing off the church is far worse for the family.
Despite this, Oceana sneaks out that night and heads to the Misty Breeze to meet with Meera. She is escorted to a private room by royal guards that are disguised to look like common folk. The guards search her first and temporarily take her weapons (she tried to conceal Mister Pointy, but they found it anyway).
The Misty Breeze was something of a low-class inn, not the sort of place one would expect to hold audience with a queen. In one of the nicer and larger rooms, Oceana met with Meera. She was a personable, friendly woman who spoke to Oceana as if she were an old friend. She congratulated her on her recent success with Smoke Mountain, and wished her well on her continuing journey. She also told her she had her sister (the queen of Smoke Mountain) reoccupy the volcano until the druids could return to it.
Nervous, Oceana finally asks why the queen is moving incognito like this, and meeting her in secret. Meera explains that her discharging from the church was purely political. The church wants to choose her heir; currently, she has none. And if she's discharged, she cannot get married and produce one. They're essentially trying to coerce her into stepping down so they can appoint their own hand-picked leader. Meera laments that these days, everyone is always looking to bolster their own political advantage. She can't really trust anyone, but she feels she could trust a hero, like Oceana, who is not concerned with such matters. She wants Oceana to help support her, to get the people on her side, so the church will have no choice but to re-instate her. In doing so, the Wyntergreens and Pooles would enter a formal alliance, and the Pooles would greatly benefit from this once Meera was back to her full power. Of course, Oceana would be allowed to continue her quest, but during her times back home, she could do things for Meera, such as attending a ball she is planning to throw in about a month's time.
Oceana decides she would rather remain politically neutral, and not get involved. She apologizes to Meera but turns down her offer. Meera remains cordial, but the warmth she showed earlier evaporates. After collecting her weapons, she practically runs home, terrified assassins were going to jump out of the shadows at her.
On the 10th day, she confesses to her mother what she had done. Delta is upset, but relieved to hear that Oceana turned down Meera's offer. Oceana admits Delta was right about everything. Delta tells her they could consider her punishment after she finished saving the world. Due to Delta's stern demeanor, it is not at all clear whether she is kidding or not.
On Day 11, after having breakfast with her family, Oceana's parents approached her and suggested maybe she spend today shopping for any supplies she would need for her next quest. Rations, tents, new gear, etc. And maybe she could take Wyldfyre with her. For the whole day. Please? He had been making a mess and harassing the servants and they really needed a break from him.
Oceana finds Wyldfyre in the kitchen, and indeed he is harassing the servants and making a mess of things. She drags him off to the merchant district. She knows the trip will take about a month to get there and back, but they will be stopping at a few large gardens along the way, so they don't need too much. She gets some rations and a tent, as well as some healing potions.
On their way back to the manor, Oceana heard screams and saw a large plume of black smoke. The pair hurried closer to find a boutique that was on fire. A small crowd had collected outside, and listening in, Oceana learned that some Vengeful Mother cultists had started the blaze before running off, and that the shopowner and her daughter were trapped inside.
Realizing that his heritage would help protect him from the heat and flame, Oceana asks Wyldfyre to go in and rescue them. But he can't really see any reason to risk himself over people he has never met. Oceana points out that doing so would make him a hero, but he doesn't understand what good that does him. She then points out that, as a hero, people might give him free stuff. Like how Oceana got them free room and board the other night at the Appleseed Inn. That and a successful persuasion check convinces him, so he goes in. But not before Oceana casts Heroism on him.
Inside the blazing showroom, he spots the source of the problem--a fire mephit setting things aflame. The two engage in battle. Wyldfyre is resistant to fire, so the creature relies on its slashing claws, until he finally rages and becomes resistant to that, too. These two resistances, plus the constantly regenerating temporary HP from Heroism, are what keep him alive through the fight.
Once it's dead, it explodes into fire, which Wyldfyre also resists. He moves on to the backroom and finds the shopkeep and her child cowering behind a crate near a large window, as a second mephit terrorizes them. Wyldfyre engages with the mephit, eventually taking it down, too. He then breaks the window and pushes the crate in front of it to make a sort of ladder, then ushers the two out. They escape just before the building collapses.
Shortly after they return to Oceana, the bucket brigade shows up to put out the fire. But the damage is done; the shop is destroyed. Nevertheless, the shopkeep--Tyda--and her eight year old daughter, Kelpie, are very grateful. Albeit, still in shock. Feeling for them, Oceana hands Tyda 75 pink coral shards to help her back on her feet. She and Wyldfyre then head back to the manor.
The following day, Day 12, Oceana receives a letter from Tyda and Kelpie (written by the former, but there were some crude drawings of Wyldfyre fighting a demon by the latter) thanking her for saving them. Tyda didn't recognize Oceana at first, but later realized she was the hero everyone was talking about, and wants to expression her appreciation for that, too, and promises she will pray to Elonna daily for Oceana's success.
On Day 13, Oceana has breakfast with her family again and Delta announces some important news. They have received several offers from some prominent families for Moss' hand in marriage. Moss seems unenthused by this news, but also resigned to his fate.
As a man, Moss does not stand to inherit anything as a noble, but rather his main value to the family is providing a good alliance with another family through marriage. He's 26 now, which is unusual; he probably should have been married off long before now. But the Pooles are such a minor and uninfluential family that they have never received any offers before. Not any good ones, at any rate. For a long time, the family was far more focused on Oceana, the heir, that Moss began to hold out hope he might not ever get married. His dream was to one day become a knight instead.
But it seems that Oceana's recent fame has changed things. Now the offers are rolling in, and Delta is hoping to narrow it down to a handful of potential candidates soon. Moss is forlorn about it, and Oceana is genuinely sympathetic toward him. She tries to think of something she can do. It occurs to her that if she had made an alliance with Meera, she could have had the queen make him a knight on the spot. But alas, that bridge has been burned.
Later on, it dawns on Oceana that, as heir, once she finishes her quest, most likely getting her married--to continue the family line--will be her parents top objective. And she isn't sure how she feels about that.
My Notes This session lasted about 2h, 45m.
The hot springs were a random encounter. We could have had a hot springs episode, if Wyldfyre hadn't creeped everyone out. Oh, well. At least Oceana got a couple of nifty potions out of it.
The guard patrol was another random encounter. Not much to it, although had Oceana told them about Smoke Mountain and what happened, they could have moved in to reclaim the place quickly. But it wouldn't have made much difference.
The pilgrims were a planned encounter. All of them were secretly Vengeful Mother cultists, only posing as pilgrims. I had both Oceana and Wyldfyre roll Insight checks to see if they could realize their accents kept slipping (they were Inlanders), but throughout this entire session, Horizon had great difficulty rolling anything higher than a 6. In fact, I started yelling out '6!' every time she rolled just to see how many times I proved to be right. Anyway, because the cultists got away, the boutique fire took place.
I think Horizon was as surprised as Oceana to receive a letter from the queen. Something I thought was interesting about Oceana is she is a noble (albeit, a minor one) but incredibly sheltered. Meaning she has no idea how politics work, or how to navigate courtly intrigue. So I had to lean into this, of course.
Anyway, making or not making a deal with Meera was a pretty big deal. It would have massively affected the rest of the game, either way. There were benefits and downsides to both. Despite Oceana claiming she was 'remaining neutral' and 'not taking a side,' that technically wasn't true. She sided with the church, whether she meant to or not. I later pointed out that likely her parents were working with them anyway, so she was not as apolitical as she believed. Pissing off the queen will likely have consequences down the road, as we'll eventually see. It remains to be seen whether it was the right choice or not; Oceana flubbed a lot of insight and history checks, but in a way, it sort of made sense. Oceana is not trained in such things, and is unused to dealing with other nobles outside her family.
The boutique encounter was a way to give Horizon a chance to play Wyldfyre alone. Although Horizon assured me she was well familiar with Barbarians thanks to Rada, her character from Princes of the Apocalypse, I still thought it might be a good idea for some practice. Especially as she did not have him rage until I pointed out that he would take less damage that way. (He likely would have not survived if not for raging, fire resistance and the Heroism spell all working together. That would have been awkward!)
I wanted to make sure Oceana's family weren't just bumps on a log, but had their own stuff going on. Horizon did go through the trouble of creating such a large family, after all. The twins are young, so there's not much for them to do, but I had Ryver and Delta focus on how much they didn't like Wyldfyre (which was pretty fun to play out) and gave Moss the marriage storyline. As the Elonnori are matriarchal, I thought it would be interesting to do the 'young woman wants to be a warrior, not get married off' trope but with flipped genders.
Anyway, we'll continue the downtime next session, and probably start the second quest, as well.
I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Feb 28, 2023 11:41:03 GMT -8
XP is as follows:
Oceana Poole (Paladin 2) Convincing her family to let Wyldfyre stay - 10 XP Secretly meeting with Meera - 10 XP Turning down Meera's offer - 10 XP Confessing to Delta - 10 XP Convincing Wyldfyre to play hero - 10 XP Donating to Tyda and Kelpie - 10 XP TOTAL: 60 XP
That brings her to a full total of 762 XP, meaning she needs another 138 XP to reach level 3.
Wyldfyre (Barbarian 1) Defeating Fire Mephits (x2) - 200 XP TOTAL: 200 XP
This gives him a total of 462 XP, meaning he is now level 2. He gains 10 HP, Reckless Attack (whenever you attack with a STR based weapon you can choose to have advantage to hit, but at the cost of giving the enemy advantage to hit you until your next turn) and Danger Sense (you gain advantage to DEX saves against effects you can see).
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Post by Daos on Mar 7, 2023 2:53:30 GMT -8
Session 04 - Southward BoundWe pick up a couple of days later. This is Day 15, to be exact. The day itself is uneventful, but that night, Oceana has a strange dream. She dreams she is walking around in some kind of forest wilderness, but it's alien and strange. Rivers flow up, perspective is all messed up, and the wildlife is not like any she's seen before. She immediately realizes, although she's never been there before, that this must be the Fae Plane. A mysterious figure, tall and slender, approaches her. The figure is cloaked with the hood up, obscuring their features. In a feminine voice, the figure says, “Welcome, Oceana Poole.” She introduces herself as Selena, a druid and dreamwalker. Selena has heard of Oceana's exploits and believes she can assist; that Elonna herself wants her to, in fact. Believing someone like that could be of great use to her, Oceana agrees to meet with her in the morning, in person. On the morning of Day 16, Oceana prepared for the next leg of her journey. As she is beginning breakfast with her family, a servant interrupts to say that someone is at the front door to see Oceana. She goes to see, but when she opens the door, nobody is there. Until she looks down. A petite forest gnome is standing there shyly, with a tangle of partially braided red hair, sunkissed skin and a button nose. Oceana immediately thought she was adorable. And was surprised to learn this was, in fact, Selena. Selena explains that in dreams, one often projects their idealized self. Oceana can't quite pin her accent, so asks her where she's from. Selena claims her parents are from Marsh Bay, but that herself was born in the Fae Plane. Oceana makes a note to ask her about that later, but goes ahead and introduces her to Wyldfyre before returning to breakfast. (At this point, we took care of some off-screen stuff. It was decided that Oceana spent her week's downtime carousing in the poorer parts of the garden with Wyldfyre, and during that time made two contacts--one with a garden guard and another with a criminal--and she might be able to call upon them at some point in the future. We also went over the training her retainers got. It was only a week, so it wasn't much. All three got 2 extra HP. Billow learned Druidcraft, Isles learned Mending and Eve learned Polish, an ability that lets her spend a long rest shining a piece of equipment that will grant it a temporary +1 buff). With the downtime complete, Oceana says goodbye to her family once again. Ryver has knitted her a blanket to keep her warm. It's itchy and looks awful, but she takes it anyway. Delta brags that Moss will be meeting some of his potential suitors soon, including Korral, the elder Winters sister. She also advises Oceana to once again stick with the Fey Eye, and take it as far south as Paradise, before veering off eastward through the Cascade Mountains to reach Crater Lake. It should take two weeks or so to get there, and another two weeks to get back. Oceana collects her retainers, Wyldfyre and Selena. Before leaving the garden, she also hires two hirelings to help her on the quest. They are Clover Whitthorn, a halfling bard and Nymwen Aranathar, an elven cleric. They set off on the Fey Eye, southward. As they begin their journey, Oceana tries to engage Clover and Nymwen in conversation to get to know them better. Nymwen is a raven-haired woman that dresses mostly in black, save for her white gloves. Her voice is annoyingly high-pitched, and she seems to look down at everyone else around her. Oceana asks her why she is adventuring, and Nymwen claims she needs the shards for research. When Oceana asks her what she is researching, Nymwen tells her she 'wouldn't understand' the complexities and outright implies Oceana is too dumb to even try. Clover attempts to tell Oceana in her entire life story, and does so completely in rhyme. (Indeed, everything she says is in rhyme, almost annoyingly so.) Apparently she was born in a traveling circus, her parents both trapeze artists who were tragically killed in a performance accident, leaving her orphaned. But the other carnies raised her to be a true performer herself. Her natural charms, beauty and talent attracted the eye of a handsome noble man. Alas, he was betrothed to another, a hateful, jealous woman who knew she could not compete with Clover in either looks or talent, so she abused her power to try and have Clover arrested. She fled, and is now looking to improve her reputation, as well as earn shards and allies, so she can return and rescue her one true love. Oceana got the distinct feeling that most of that story was complete crap. Nymwen doesn't think much of it, either. She criticizes Clover, claiming she can't possibly even know what 'true love' really is. This intrigues Oceana, who asks Nymwen if she does know what true love is. Nymwen is evasive, but eventually claims she has researched love poetry extensively. Oceana then speaks to her retainers about their training, and how it went. Eve is dismissive, basically acting like she already knew most of it and she didn't learn anything much. Calling her bluff, Oceana insists she takes the lead then. Even does so happily. Oceana also offers to let Selena ride with her, as her little gnome legs are having trouble keeping up. That afternoon, they come upon a patrol of Rain Mountain soldiers. Upon realizing who Oceana is, the soldiers insist on a thorough search through their belongings for contraband. Just a routine inspection, of course, but the queen is insistent they remain vigilant against any and all threats. At the mentioning of the queen, Oceana figures out what is happening, but doesn't see much of a way out of it, so agrees. They waste an entire hour of the party's time pawing through their gear before finally letting them go on their way. When night finally falls, they make camp off the road. The next morning begins Day 17. After breaking camp, the party resumes their journey. The morning is uneventful, but in the afternoon, a flock of dull wings (pteradons) swoop down at the party, looking for a meal. Unfortunately, Eve is still in the lead, and they all swarm her. The fight is not easy, largely because the party is somewhat lacking in ranged attacks and the dull wings are diving in and out of range. Even refuses to disengage, even after Oceana orders her to several times. Clover is able to buff up the whole party, Wyldfyre rages and throws javelins, Oceana casts Shield of Faith on Eve and then hurls orbs of flame, Nymwen uses some kind of necrotic energy attack and Selena tries to mostly heal up Eve. Between all of the buffing and healing, Eve manages to stay on her feet. When the fight ends, Oceana is pissed and orders Eve to the back of the group again. But Eve feels quite triumphant and that she proved she is ready for more responsibility. That evening, the Appleseed Inn comes into view again. Again, the party splits up once inside. Oceana sees that Ashel is back, dealing cards again. He waves her over. He says he has heard all about her heroic exploits, referring to her as the Hero of Harmony and the Volcano Vanquisher. He asks for the full story, and Oceana tells him everything. He hangs on her every word, then asks what she is doing next. She tells him about going to Crater Lake to cleanse it, as well. He wishes her luck and hopes she'll return when she's done to tell him all about it. Oceana isn't sure, having very little experience with people outside of her family, but she starts to suspect Ashel is flirting with her. At around that point, Clover climbs up on a table and starts, unprompted, singing a song about her heroic (and single-handed) defeat of a flock of dull wings so numerous as to block out the sun. Oceana rolls her eyes. Oceana asks Ashel about his game, which he calls Twenty-One. She asks him to teach her, so they play around. She bets 2 pink shards and manages to win. They play a second round, and this time she bets 4 pink shards but loses. But Ashel lets her keep her winnings. Oceana thanks him and goes to check on the others. Wyldfyre is flirting with a barmaid. Nymwen is having a conversation with some off-duty guards about an incident nearby with a farm being attacked by walking corpses. Nymwen seems very interested in this report. Oceana asks her why, and again she simply claims its research. Finally, there's Selena, whom Oceana can't find anywhere. She eventually spots her sort of hiding in the corner, too nervous around so many people. She grew up in the wild, usually alone, and isn't accustomed to crowds. Oceana takes her by the hand and leads her to the bar to get her some food. She also orders food for the others and rooms. After convincing the innkeeper, she gets a 50% discount for all of it. My NotesThis session was only 2h, 15m. Selena is the second henchman to join the party, and Oceana seemed to take a real shine to her. Whether due to her adorable appearance or her shy demeanor, I can't say for sure. But I'm glad she likes her. And now the party has a decent healer. We also got two new hirelings. Again, Horizon didn't know who they were until she hired them, all I told her was their class. I think she audibly groaned when she realized she had recruited Nymwen. Well, at least she didn't get Augury. But it's fun to roleplay them both. Although I can't rhyme on a dime, so all of Clover's dialogue is third person, because I'm not even going to try and stick to that gimmick. The encounter with the guards was something I threw in there just to remind Horizon of the consequences of turning down the queen. Seems like she's not soon to forget that spurning. The pteradons were a random encounter. I hadn't expected the fight to be as tough as it was, but it turns out the party has very limited ranged attack options. For instance, Oceana threw her spear and that was pretty much it for her; after that she had to rely on Produce Flame. Selena had no ranged attacks at all; she did try Faerie Fire at one point but it only affected a single pteradon, the rest all made their saves. Anyway, maybe that's something they can remedy at the next garden they visit. Ashel returns. And could a possible romance be brewing? An aasimar and a tiefling? Talk about forbidden fruit! Anyway, not a whole lot happened; Horizon was running late, so we didn't have a very long session, but I have some interesting stuff planned for next time. Including some homebrewed stuff I'm eager to try out. I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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