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Post by Daos on Jun 4, 2023 10:25:08 GMT -8
No session this week, as Horizon was feeling ill.
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Post by Daos on Jun 12, 2023 1:22:52 GMT -8
Session 15 - Conspiracy Theories We picked up on Day 55, about a week after Oceana arrived back home. Things have settled down a bit and fallen into a routine. After her daily breakfast with the family, Oceana tried to decide what to do, when Torrenta approached her. The genasi wondered if they could check out the boutiques in the garden. Although Harmony is quite small compared to Si'ahl, she heard they have very fine quality goods. Oceana agreed, so they headed out. Oceana wanted to see the new Shimmerthread Boutique anyway.
As they are heading into the garden square, though, they heard a commotion. There was a large and elaborate fountain/well in the middle of the square, and it appeared to be flooding. Oceana overhears someone in robes with a hood threw an object into the well, and ran off; the flooding started shortly after. If it continues at this rate, it will eventually flood the entire garden. Oceana isn't much of a swimmer, but Torrenta can breathe underwater. She cast Heroism on the cleric, and Torrenta dove right in.
Swimming down to the bottom, Torrenta found what appeared to be an open canteen. Oddly, water seemed to be spilling out of it (far more than should be capable of fitting into it) and that was the cause of the flooding. However, before she could reach it, a water mephit attacked.
Torrenta mostly relied on Frostbite, and it turned out the creature was vulnerable to cold. It gated in a partner, but even working together, the cleric was able to defeat them both. She then closed the canteen and swam back up to the surface. The crowd applauded and cheered, and several recognized Oceana, as well.
Oceana eventually realized how similar this whole scenario was to the Shimmerthread fire. She concluded this was the work of the Vengeful Mother cultists she allowed into the garden before. They must still be hiding somewhere in Harmony, planning their next scheme.
After Torrenta dried off (simply using Shape Water to remove the water from her hair and clothes), she handed over the Decanter of Endless Water, and the two resumed their shopping trip. They visited the new Shimmerthread Boutique, which was smaller and had less selection but it was a new start, at least. Tyda was quite happy to see Oceana and insisted on giving her a 50% discount. Oceana bought a very expensive dress for Moss' wedding and a nice but much simpler dress for casual wear. Torrenta bought a similar simpler dress, but insisted on paying full price for it.
We then jumped ahead to Day 62, a week later. Oceana nervously planted a seed in the garden along with her new spouse, Xarrian Shail. The tiefling placed a coral bracelet on her wrist, signifying their union to each other. But when Oceana looked down at her wrist, she found it was chained to a wall. She was now in a dungeon cell, somewhere deep underground. She pounded on the door, begging to be let out, but nobody answered. Slowly, the walls began to close in on her...
Oceana sat up in bed, covered in sweat. Another nightmare. She had not slept at all in the past few days, and was at the point of exhaustion. She got out of bed and went to the living room to try the couch. But the moment she let herself fall asleep, she was plagued with another nightmare--this one about the Rot choking the life out of her and her family. She again woke up with a start. It was still very late, dawn had not yet arrived but it was after midnight. She's had maybe four non-consecutive hours of sleep in the past five days.
Unable to take it any more, she decided to go see Selena. She was a dreamwalker, after all, maybe she could help. She found the gnome sitting on her bed in a meditative state. She tried to wake her up by talking, and then shaking when that didn't work. Selena snapped out of it and wondered what Oceana was doing up at that hour. Oceana explained the situation and wondered if there was something the gnome could do. Selena had an idea.
She escorted Oceana back to her room and helped her get comfortable. Selena explained she would perform a ritual that would allow her to step into Oceana's dreams. Maybe they could find out what was going on. After making the necessary preparations, Oceana went back to sleep with Selena sitting next to her, holding her hand. Again had a terrible nightmare, this time of a half dozen Meazels stepping out of the shadows and trying to choke her to death. But Selena was there, and oddly enough she was in full gear, seemed taller, more confident and powerful, and easily blasted the Meazels away as if they were nothing.
Selena explained that there was something off about this. There was some kind of outside force causing these nightmares. She wanted to try something. First, she had Oceana gear up. The paladin was able to do so simply by wishing it, and suddenly her nightgown had been replaced by her full armor, shield, weapons and gear. With that, Selena took her by the hand and stepped out of her room with her, into the hallway.
The hallway looked exactly as it always did, but everything was a strange, washed out greenish color. Selena explained they had stepped into the ethereal plane. Oceana didn't really understand, so Selena tried to dumb it down and said it was basically the dream realm, which overlapped the real world. Anything in the dream realm cannot affect the real world, usually. But some creatures can reach across the veil to do so.
The pair then return to Oceana's room. It looked like the hallway did, but Oceana's and Selena's bodies were still there, seemingly asleep. Straddling Oceana's body was a hideous creature with her hand around the paladin's throat, seemingly sucking the lifeforce from her body. Selena recognized her as a night hag.
The hag saw them come in and stood up angrily. She told Oceana that her bounty and her soul would be hers. A fight broke out. Selena seemed much stronger than normal in this realm, but the hag was still a serious threat. She managed to weaken Oceana enough to use Sleep on her, but thankfully Selena was able to wake her back up. They nearly slew the creature, but she swore she would return before planeshifting away.
Selena promised to look in on her dreams from now on, to make sure the hag didn't return later on. She helped Oceana get back into her body, where she slept until morning, her rest uninterrupted by any further nightmares.
We skip ahead to Day 69, a rather important day for the Winters are coming over to meet with the Pooles and discuss more of the details of the wedding between Korral and Moss. Oceana planned ahead and gave Wyldfyre some money and sent him off to the local brothel to keep him out of the way.
The Winters arrived shortly after. They consisted of the matriarch, Frosta, a beautiful but cold woman in her early 40s. Polite, poised, and not a hair out of place, but there was no warmth to her at all. Her husband, Cryne, did not attend. Frosta was dismissive when asked about him, claiming his presence was not necessary anyway. Next up was Korral, the eldest daughter. She looked like an older version of Eve, pretty with platinum blonde hair and blue eyes like her mother, maybe in her early twenties. She was affable enough, capable of smiling and making jokes, but it felt fake to Oceana somehow. She also seemed far more comfortable in a dress than Eve did, who kept tugging at it and seemed filled with nervous energy, eager to go home. Finally, there was the youngest, Snow, a young man just approaching adolescence. He was polite, obedient and quiet. But he seemed to always be watching and listening to everything going on around him.
The two families sat down to lunch together and to hammer out the more boring details of the wedding, like food options and floral arrangements and seating positions. Oceana tried to pay attention but it's so dull. After they finish eating, Lyre and Brook were dismissed to go play. This gave Oceana an idea and she asked if she could show Korral around the manor's garden. With a natural 20 on persuasion, she convinced Delta it was fine. Eve wanted to go, as well. Frosta stipulated that they take Snow, as well. And this, in turn, prompted her to ask to bring Moss, too. So Oceana led all four of them outside, to the back of the manor.
Once outside, Oceana started asking Korral her thoughts on the holy knights, and her thoughts on men joining them. What would she think about Moss joining them? What if Oceana could knight Moss herself? Korral answered neutrally, keeping her cards close to her chest. She basically said that as long as her husband does what he is told, sires her children, and does not embarrass the family name, she didn't much care. She also didn't believe Oceana could do something like that anyway.
Oceana was curious about her reactions to everything. None of the Winters seemed the least bit interested in her. But why else would they have agreed to marry Moss if not to be connected to her, the Chosen of Elonna, the Hero of Harmony? What's more, probing Korral further, Oceana learned that before this marriage was considered, Korral was slated to marry the youngest Harmony son (the Harmony family is the richest and most prestigious family in Harmony, as they founded the garden and named it after themselves). Oceana couldn't believe they would accept such a downgrade and came to suspect they were up to something. She also got the impression neither Korral or Snow liked her at all.
As she continued to prod and probe at Korral, Eve grew increasingly annoyed and started sarcastically commenting back in her sister's defense. Korral, however, silenced her with a look. Oceana finished her tour so asked if she could speak to her apprentice privately. Korral and Snow returned to their mother, and Moss, confused, just sort of wandered off.
Oceana tried to get more information out of Eve, who was much easier to manipulate and get upset. She didn't seem to know all that much, though.
After the Winters said their goodbyes and left, Oceana pulled her mother aside and insisted she cancel the wedding. However, Delta didn't see any reason for it. Oceana insisted that something was not right and that the Winters were somehow 'using' them, but Delta was not about to cancel a good deal just because of a gut feeling. Oceana grabbed Moss and dragged him back to collaborate her story, but he really wasn't sure what she was talking about. He had witnessed the entire conversation with Korral, but hadn't reached the same conclusion Oceana had. Delta worried that Oceana was just jealous that her brother was getting all of the attention over her for a change and dismissed any such conspiracy theories.
Frustrated, Oceana then dragged Moss off to speak to him privately. She tried to convince him that the Winters had some kind of conspiracy and weren't being honest about their true intentions. She insisted it made no sense for them to ever agree to marry Korral to someone so below her station, especially in lieu of a Harmony son. Moss isn't sure he really believed that, but he was eager to get out of this marriage, and the alternative was to do nothing and let it happen. So he agreed to help her.
Oceana convinced him he needed to get closer to Korral and get her to talk. But Moss admitted he isn't even good with lowborn women, never mind someone like Korral. So instead, she told him to try and get closer to Snow, since he was male and younger. Moss agreed to try, at least.
Oceana then went to go see Torrenta, who was hanging out in the servants' quarters, talking with those off duty. The servants got really stiff and anxious when Oceana walked in. She borrowed Torrenta awkwardly, asking to speak with her in private.
Once away from the servants' quarters (and questioning if the servants were really so uncomfortable around her), Oceana told Torrenta everything and asked for advice. Torrenta wasn't really knowledgeable about noble intrigue, but she suggested Oceana maybe try to learn more about the Winters family. Maybe she could gleam some clue if she knew more. She also admitted to having spoken to Moss a few times casually, and agreed with his assessment he wasn't good with women (noting he was fairly shy, but seemed sweet). This seemed to really intrigue Oceana.
Oceana decided she would look into the Winters and try to learn more about diplomacy and etiquette.
My Notes This session was 3h, 45m.
Since the last time we had downtime, Wyldfyre got a little quest of his own, I thought I'd do the same this time with Torrenta and Selena. And now the party has six magical items; one for each NPC and three for Oceana. Inversely, Wyldfyre was barely in this session at all.
The meeting with the Winters was interesting. It ran way longer than I had expected, but it was a lot of fun. Most of it was improvised; I had written up bios for each character and had a rough idea of what was going to happen, but most of it was directed by Oceana and I just went along with it.
Anyway, I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Jun 12, 2023 12:33:47 GMT -8
XP is as follows:
Oceana Poole (Ancient Paladin 5) Defeating Night Hag - 900 XP Speaking with Korral in the garden - 25 XP Learning Korral was slated to marry the youngest Harmony son - 25 XP Realizing Korral and Snow had disdain for her - 25 XP Convincing Moss to get closer to Snow - 25 XP Getting advice from Torrenta - 25 XP TOTAL: 1,025 XP
That brings her to a full total of 10,073 XP, meaning she now needs 3,927 XP to level up.
Wyldfyre (Berserker Barbarian 4) N/A TOTAL: 0 XP
This gives him a total of 6,349 XP, meaning he needs 152 XP to level up.
Selena (Dream Druid 4) Defeating Night Hag - 900 XP TOTAL: 900 XP
This gives her a total of 6,519 XP, meaning Selena has reached level 5. She gains a +1 to her proficiency bonus, two third level spell slots, and +7 HP.
Torrenta (Nature Cleric 2) Defeating Water Mephits (x2) solo - 100 XP TOTAL: 100 XP
This gives her a total of 773 XP, meaning she needs 127 XP to level up.
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Matt4
Paragon
Posts: 3,540
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Post by Matt4 on Jun 12, 2023 14:38:02 GMT -8
Loving the intrigue (and the fact that you had fun!)
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Post by HorizonsDream on Jun 14, 2023 2:03:51 GMT -8
Yeah, I really enjoyed the scene with Coral.
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Post by Daos on Jun 19, 2023 11:17:42 GMT -8
Horizon's work schedule has changed, so she no longer has Saturday evenings free. So sessions are being moved to Wednesday evenings instead. So next session is the 21st.
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Post by Daos on Jun 24, 2023 1:09:12 GMT -8
Session 16 - Rogue Spirit Tamer We started on Day 76. As Oceana and her team were making final preparations for the next leg of her journey, Isles approached her that morning, claiming someone was at the door who had asked to see her by name. Oceana headed down to the foyer and found Torrenta braiding Brook's and Lyre's hair. Isles opened the door and a wood elf stepped inside. He was clean-cut, snappily dressed with short brown hair, brown eyes, and brown skin. He had a longbow slung over his shoulder and a pair of short swords on his belt.
He immediately took Torrenta by the hands, declared her the most beautiful woman on the planet and offered his hand in marriage to Oceana Poole. Oceana pointed out that she was Oceana. The man put on some glasses to confirm this, then took Oceana's hands and made the exact same proclamation.
Oceana asked this man who he was, and he said his name was Lament and he was a 'rogue spirit tamer.' (Prompting her sisters to ask what a 'rogue spirit' is.) Spirit Tamers are an elite group of warriors who deal with 'spirits '(the Elonnori term for anything from another plane of existence, such as fiends, elementals and fey). Oceana recognized having a Spirit Tamer on her team would prove quite useful, but she wasn't so sure about marrying him. Rather than turn him down directly, she said it was up to her mother. Delta did promptly turn him down upon learning he was lowborn. This did not discourage him, though; he figured he would just have to prove to Delta he was worthy by assisting Oceana in saving the world. Oceana doubted that would have an impact on her mother's judgment, but didn't voice that thought out loud.
At that point, we went ahead and covered her downtime for those four weeks. She spent two weeks in research and two in carousing. First, she called in both of her contacts from the last bit of carousing. She had her criminal contact look into who was putting a bounty on her. There wasn't much to learn, but the person was called the Broker and was quite mysterious. The Broker was raising the bounty (it was up to 5,000 pink shards now) but most folk, even the more amoral ones, aren't inclined to kill the person trying to save the world. So The Broker has been focusing mostly on outsiders--creatures from other planes of existence, like elementals, fiends and dark fey. She also had her guard contact look into the Broker; but all he could confirm is that he wasn't in Harmony. But he did have a large network in numerous gardens, a sort of international crime syndicate of sorts.
For her research, she spent one week looking into the Winters family and the other looking into Lacrest. She had hoped to learn about secret meetings the Winters were having, but if they are having secret meetings, they would be...you know...secret, and so not publicly known. Instead, she did some research into the family business and learned the Winters primarily earn their fortune from enchantments. She also learned that they used to have connections to the throne, but pulled away after the queen was discharged. As for Lacrest, she learned he was mainly into imports/exports and spent most of his time on the road, traveling. He has been seen in the day, though, suggesting he is not a vampire.
For her carousing, she spent one week with the nobility and one week with the middle class. The nobility run was quite fruitful. She spent a week attending galas, feasts and ballroom dances. She made three new contacts--a butler working for the Harmonies, the youngest daughter of the Foamtide family (a very minor noble family), and a handmaid for the Winters. Her middle class run, however, did not yield anything of note.
We skip forward to Day 77. Oceana is saying goodbye to her family as her teammates ready their gear. Ryver handed her a straw sunhat he made her, but it's itchy and clings to her hair when removed. She took it anyway. Delta told her the path to take--head south on the Fey Eye until reaching the garden of Basalt, then take the road westward toward Arcadia Bay. There she can hire a boat to take her south along the coast, until she reached the Titan Forest, the next holy site; a forest said to have trees hundreds of feet tall. She also warned Oceana to be wary of the Celestians and their silver tongues and not believing any lies they tell. They also have no respect for nature and carry advanced weapons, and while not inherently violent like the Ravenites, they are still quite dangerous.
Oceana then says goodbye to Delta, who tells her that his marriage with Korral is on hold until she returns from her mission--then quietly asks her to please take her sweet time. Finally, she says goodbye to her little sisters by gifting them her Cherry Blossom Wand to play with. Then she and her team depart. This time she feels no need to hire any extra help, so sets out with Wyldfyre, Torrenta, Selena and Lement.
As they walk down the Fey Eye, southward, they appreciate the arrival of spring. The weather is warming up and the flowers and beginning to bloom. Wyldfyre privately asks Oceana if she's sure about Lement. He seemed...a bit of a pansy. Oceana assured him that Lement could take care of himself.
Nevertheless, Oceana fell back a bit to the rear to walk alongside Lement and ask how he was doing. She also asked him how he heard about her in the first place. He explained he was from Twinrivers, and was off dealing with some Magma Elementals (she suspected he might have been exaggerating this part) when she passed through. When he returned, he heard about how she saved Crater Lake and he decided to join her, but he had missed her; so he tracked her back to Harmony.
Oceana worries briefly if Lement, as someone who has trained to fight elementals, might have a problem with Torrenta and Wyldfyre. But he assured her that they were still mortals, regardless of their bloodline, and thus beyond the Spirit Tamers' purview.
Oceana then moved alongside Selena and asked how she was doing. The druid said she was curious about seeing the Celestian Empire, as she had never been there before. Oceana expressed surprise by that. Wasn't she Siyouan? Don't they share a border and a lot of history with the Celestians?
Selena explained that she didn't consider herself Siyouan. Her parents are, but one day while they were traveling to another garden, they got lost in the woods and disappeared into the Feywild. They returned a few weeks later, their memory of their time there completely wiped, but Selena's mother was now fully pregnant with her. Selena reasons that since she was conceived in the Feywild, that was her real home--and why she hoped to return there some day and why she had such a strong connection to it through her dreams.
Around this point, they heard a strange buzzing sound in the distance. A swarm of about eight giant wasps were approaching. Although they weren't too difficult, Lement went down and was paralyzed from their poison until Oceana restored him. He tried to brush off the failure as a fluke.
That evening, they arrived at the Appleseed Inn. It was, as usual, pretty busy and full of activity. Oceana saw Ashel, though, and he was waving her over to his table. She quickly dismissed her party and then hurried over to sit with him. He bought her a drink and asked all about her adventure to Crater Lake, which she told him about in full. She also told him about her new quest to reach Titan Forest. She asked where he was the last time she passed through, and he lamented that he often travels around from tavern to tavern, never staying in one place all that long. He does like to visit the Appleseed often, though, as it's a good spot in the middle of everything...and because he always hopes to run into her.
Oceana was flattered, and the two flirted a bit. She asked him if he would be willing to stop by in Harmony while she was gone and investigate the Winters for her, after telling him about her problems with them. He said he would see what he could do. She also told him about her own upcoming wedding woes. Ashel told her that she doesn't have to do whatever her parents tell her to do. He lives his life according to his own rules, and he's happier for it.
Lement showed up and started acting jealous. He tried to send Ashel away, claiming to be Oceana's fiance (something she quickly corrected him on). Ashel seemed more amused than threatened, though. After Oceana got rid of Lement, Ashel leaned in and whispered to her his room number and suggested she come up and see him later. Then he sauntered upstairs.
Unsure of what to do, as Oceana grew up quite sheltered and has never felt this way about anyone before, she sought out Torrenta (who naturally, was making friends with the serving staff).
After listening to her concerns, Torrenta pointed out that Oceana has sacrificed a great deal, and risks her life every day to keep the world safe. She deserved a little happiness wherever she could get it, and if Ashel makes her happy, she should pursue that.
Satisfied with that advice, Oceana steeled herself and went upstairs to Ashel's room. There she had her first kiss, as well as a bunch of other 'firsts.' They stayed up until it was well past midnight, before she was finally too exhausted to continue. As they lay in bed, Ashel holding her and gently stroking her hair, he asked her to abandon her quest entirely and run away with him. They could do whatever they wanted without rules or expectations, and just be happy.
Although tempted, Oceana could not bring herself to ignore the Rot. Ashel was disappointed, but suggested she at least sleep on the matter. They then drifted off.
My Notes This session was 3h.
Lement is a new companion, a Wood Elf Ranger. Specifically, he is training to become a Horizon Walker. He was pretty fun to roleplay. Following the Buffy theme of this game's characters so far, he's loosely based on Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. Horizon seemed to really like him, at any rate. However, had Oceana turned him away, he probably would have tried following her in secret for awhile, hoping for a chance to prove himself to her.
The wasps were a random encounter. I wanted to see how well Lement did in his first battle. Not great, due to some bad luck. But he'll get better, hopefully.
Also, congratulations to Oceana for punching her v-card! Ironically, Horizon later told me that she (Horizon, not Oceana) is now incredibly suspicious of Ashel despite Oceana hooking up with him. But I don't know, Zinnia hooked up with a tiefling cardshark and that worked out pretty well for her. But, we'll see what happens.
Anyway, I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Matt4
Paragon
Posts: 3,540
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Post by Matt4 on Jun 24, 2023 5:47:27 GMT -8
My reactions to reading this was pretty much this: There she had her first kiss Awww, so romantic 😍 as well as a bunch of other 'firsts.' Oh my! But I agree with Horizon, I don't trust Ashel one bit. What kind of person would ask you to abandon your plan of saving the world? D:
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Post by Daos on Jun 24, 2023 11:08:12 GMT -8
Well, to be fair, her mother suggested the same thing. After all, the Elonnori lands are safe now. At this point, she's now helping to save their enemies.
XP is as follows:
Oceana Poole (Ancient Paladin 5) Recruiting Lement - 100 XP Learning about the Broker - 50 XP Learning about the Winters - 50 XP Learning about Lacrest - 50 XP Asking Lement how he found her - 100 XP Asking Selena about her heritage - 100 XP Defeating Giant Wasps (x8) - 160 XP Flirting with Ashel - 100 XP Seeking Torrenta's advice - 100 XP Romancing Ashel - 100 XP TOTAL: 910 XP
That brings her to a full total of 10,983 XP, meaning she now needs 3,017 XP to level up.
Wyldfyre (Berserker Barbarian 4) Defeating Giant Wasps (x8) - 160 XP TOTAL: 160 XP
This gives him a total of 6,509 XP, meaning he has now reached level 5! He gains Extra Attack, Fast Movement, a +1 to proficiency and +10 HP.
Selena (Dream Druid 5) Defeating Giant Wasps (x8) - 160 XP TOTAL: 160 XP
This gives her a total of 6,979 XP, meaning she now needs 7,321 XP to level up.
Torrenta (Nature Cleric 2) Defeating Giant Wasps (x8) - 80 XP TOTAL: 80 XP
This gives her a total of 853 XP, meaning she needs 47 XP to level up.
Lement (Ranger 1) Defeating Giant Wasps (x8) - 80 XP TOTAL: 80 XP
This gives him a total of 80 XP, meaning he needs a total of 220 XP to level up.
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Post by HorizonsDream on Jun 24, 2023 20:35:30 GMT -8
To be fair, her mother even suggested that Oceana abandon the rest of her quest.
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Post by Daos on Jul 1, 2023 2:39:04 GMT -8
Session 17 - An Offal Situation We pick up on the morning of Day 78. Oceana woke up Ashel's room, wrapped up in his arms as he snoozed peacefully. She managed to gently extract herself from him, got dressed and washed up, then left him a note before slipping out of the inn with her party quietly.
The party set off to continue their journey down the Fey Eye. Torrenta sidled up and quietly asked how it went. Oceana gushed about how good it was.
However, they were interrupted when a coyote dashed out of the woods and into the middle of the road, freezing upon noticing the party. Lement stepped forward, offering to deal with the foul beast, but Oceana pulled him back and instead used her powers to speak with the animal. She learned the coyote's mate was trapped under a felled tree and he was seeking aid. She agreed to help and led the party back into the woods, following the coyote to the fallen tree. Working together, the party was able to lift the tree so the female could escape. Selena lightly healed her limp, and the two coyotes rushed off into the woods together.
That afternoon, they came across a dead body--a female human. She was completely dried out, like something had sucked all of the moisture out of her body. It reminded Oceana of her experiences at Crater Lake, with the salt elementals. She also remembered she never dealt with those mephits and wasn't sure if they escaped the flooding temple or not.
Lement offered to track the creature, and successfully did so, leading them to a dead, hollowed out tree in a clearing in the nearby woods. All of the grass surrounding the tree was also dried out. Oceana called out and a mephit stuck its head out of the hollow, insulting her. It seemed to recognize her from Crater Lake's temple.
Oceana got the mephit to explain that they all escaped the temple and flew off on their own, separating. She accused it of murder, and it claimed it was just doing what it had to survive--absorbing moisture. Oceana wondered if she had any other options than killing it. Lement said it might be possible to send it home through a portal, but they'd need to find one first. There were rumors of a 'great salt lake' to the east that might contain such a portal. The ocean might also hold one, but obviously searching the entire ocean was out.
Seeing no other options, and not wanting to risk it killing again, Oceana engaged the mephit and easily slew it. It exploded into rock salt upon death, but she managed to avoid getting hit by any.
That evening, they reached the garden of Basalt. It's a smaller garden, often little more than a rest stop between more important places. Heading to the inn, Oceana gets rooms for the party and then sees a familiar face among the patrons--Nymwen Aranathar.
Oceana asked why Nymwen was in a podunk like Basalt. Nymwen replied she could ask the same thing of Oceana. But she admitted it was for her research. There was an old ruin not far from the garden. Something the Ancient Ones called a 'mausoleum.' Like the Elonnori, the Ancient Ones buried their dead. But instead of planting a tree with them, they sometimes just...sealed the corpse up in a stone building for some reason.
In any case, Nymwen had reason to believe there was an item of interest in that mausoleum, a ring, that would benefit her research. She sensed strong undead down there, though. Despite her affinity with them, she's not great at fighting them. Oceana, on the other hand, was quite effective. Plus, Nymwen had other important studies to take care of and didn't have time to go traipsing around in a tomb. So she was willing to pay Oceana and her little ragtag team to go down there and retrieve it for her. Oceana agreed, but she wanted to wait until morning for some reason.
The next morning, Day 79, the party made their way to the location Nymwen had told them about. It was some kind of cemetery, but the graves were marked with stones instead of trees. It must have been there for centuries. In the center was a large building made of stone, the mausoleum. Approaching it, Oceana noted the doors were ajar and appeared to have been forced open from the outside. A horrid stench was emanating from within. Wary, and covering her nose and mouth, Oceana used her innate ability to create light on a torch and led the way inside. It was silent and dark. The antechamber had numerous rose petals laying on the ground, which helped a bit in counteracting the bad smell. On the far side of the chamber was a pair of stairs, each descending. Between the two staircases was a plinth with a plaque on it.
Oceana approached to read the plaque, when suddenly the petals came to life, swirling around in the air to form two swarms. They started cutting into her, as if razor sharp and started to grow redder the more blood they drew.
The party jumped to help her. The petal swarms were difficult to fight with conventional weapon, but fire seemed to work well enough. Oceana wondered if they were undead, but Lement recognized them as plants. Torrenta tried to charm them, then, but they seemed immune. Eventually, the party was able to defeat them but the wounds that Oceana and Wyldfyre took did not seem to heal, even with magic.
After the fight, Oceana was free to read the plaque. It read, "Though they die not, may her gruesome works be ever confined."
Oceana led the party down the left flight of stairs, which brought them to some catacombs. A long hallway stretched forward, with alcoves on either side containing stone coffins. Each coffin was slightly open, with no sign of any bodies (although inorganic material, like metal, was left behind). A strange human in black robes jumps out of one of the alcoves, raving about how he has first claim to the spoils because he opened the tomb.
The man, Lathar, seemed a bit like some kind of junkie. Anxious, paranoid, and clearly over his head. He claimed to be something called an atavist, a blood mage from some foreign land. He was passing through when he noticed the smell from the vampire blossoms and thought he could extract the blood from them to power his magic. But once he broke inside, he realized there was something much stronger down below. But he lacked the strength to capture it alone. (It was also clear, upon questioning, he had no idea how to capture it, either.)
Oceana tried to persuade him to help her, but he wouldn't listen. So she tried threatening him instead, and that worked better. He let them pass and they descended to a large chamber with a raised stone bier and a sarcophagus on top of it.
They stepped into the room, when three creatures emerged from the shadows. They resembled corpses with too many limbs or the wrong kind, stitched together like abominations and with organs and intestines spilling out of various holes in them. Then in the center of the room, climbing on top of the sarcophagus, was some kind of disgusting ooze like creature made of offal. A single eye floating in a tentacle looked at the party intently.
The fight proved quite difficult. The offal walkers would attempt to lasso a party member with a lasso made of intestines and then reel them closer, while the animated offal in the center attempted to strike anyone who got close with a pseudopod. The offal walkers weren't too hard and the party managed to deal with them easily enough. But the animated offal would grapple anyone it hit, then try to absorb their life essence.
Even worse, if anyone tried to heal someone or feed them a potion, the animated offal went into some kind of frenzy and focused all attacks on that person. And whenever it tried to absorb a grappled person, it would sometimes break and slurp up a healing potion if they had one on them, which seemed to empower the creature further.
One by one, each party member fell. Soon, all that remained were Wyldfyre and Lathar. It was down to the wire, but when the creature became too wounded, Lathar stopped attacking, worried they'd destroy it; he still wanted to capture it, study it, figure out how to feed off it. But Wyldfyre didn't care and managed to strike it down.
While Lathar frantically dug through its disgusting remains, Wyldfyre got everyone back on their feet with potions. While the party was distracted, Lathar disappeared. Searching the sarcophagus, they found a corpse inside of a woman in black robes. She was wearing a ring. Whatever magic it possessed protected the corpse from the offal creatures. Oceana took it, and the party limped back to Basalt.
Nymwen was disgusted by the sight of the party, covered in offal, but she was quite pleased to receive the ring and paid them 1,500 pink shards for it. The party then shuffled up to their rooms for baths and bed rest.
My Notes This session was 4h, 15m.
The coyote was a random encounter, but I figured fighting a pack of coyotes would be pretty boring and wanted to spice things up. Oceana has never cast Speak with Animals before, so I thought I'd give her an opportunity to try it out.
The salt mephit was a planned encounter, sort of just as a way to clarify the mephits escaped and were still out there in the world, somewhere. A reminder that both actions and inactions can have consequences. (Also I pointed out later that Oceana never bothered to bury the corpse or even make an attempt to find out who she was; they killed the mephit and just left. Ah, well.)
Horizon audibly groaned when Nymwen appeared. That's how you know she likes her. I also teased her a bit about waiting until morning to take Nymwen's quest--that she really wanted that one spell slot she used back (nobody had any injuries at that point). Although it turned out, every last slot really did count down there.
The vampire blossom swarms weren't too hard, but they did drain max HP as well as regular HP. They managed to drop both Wyldfyre and Oceana to roughly half their max HP, which made the following fight far harder than it might have been otherwise.
That fight at the end was brutal. And it took over an hour to finish. I remember because I thought about calling the session just before it started and we were around the 3 hour mark, but I figured we might as well finish up since it was just one fight. I had no idea it was going to take so long.
It was fun,though. Probably the most challenging fight in this game so far. By the end, most of the party was down and they went through pretty much all of their spell slots. The vampire blossom swarms, offal walkers and animated offal were creatures in a Tomb of Beasts book I picked up from Kobold Press. They were pretty disgusting and had some very interesting abilities.
All in all, a pretty good body horror adventure.
Anyway, I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Jul 1, 2023 14:12:02 GMT -8
XP is as follows:
Oceana Poole (Ancient Paladin 5) Dishing with Torrenta - 25 XP Aiding the coyote - 100 XP Defeating salt mephit (solo) - 100 XP Defeating Vampire Blossom Swarms (x2) - 280 XP Intimidating Lathar - 100 XP Defeating Offal Walkers (x3) - 100 XP Defeating Animated Offal - 833 XP TOTAL: 1,538 XP
That brings her to a full total of 12,521 XP, meaning she now needs 1,479 XP to level up.
Wyldfyre (Berserker Barbarian 5) Defeating Vampire Blossom Swarms (x2) - 280 XP Defeating Offal Walkers (x3) - 100 XP Defeating Animated Offal - 833 XP TOTAL: 1,213 XP
This gives him a total of 7,722 XP, meaning he has now needs 6,278 XP to level up.
Selena (Dream Druid 5) Defeating Vampire Blossom Swarms (x2) - 280 XP Defeating Offal Walkers (x3) - 100 XP Defeating Animated Offal - 833 XP TOTAL: 1,213 XP
This gives her a total of 8,192 XP, meaning she now needs 6,108 XP to level up.
Torrenta (Nature Cleric 2) Defeating Vampire Blossom Swarms (x2) - 140 XP Defeating Offal Walkers (x3) - 50 XP Defeating Animated Offal - 416 XP TOTAL: 606 XP
This gives her a total of 1,459 XP, meaning she reaches level 3! She gains 1 first level spell slot, 2 second level spell slots, and 7 HP.
Lement (Ranger 1) Defeating Vampire Blossom Swarms (x2) - 70 XP Defeating Offal Walkers (x3) - 25 XP Defeating Animated Offal - 208 XP TOTAL: 303 XP
This gives him a total of 383 XP, meaning he reaches level 2! He gains 2 first level spell slots, Fighting Style (Two-Weapon Fighting), and 7 HP. He learns Hunter's Mark and Absorb Elements.
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Post by Daos on Jul 8, 2023 1:06:40 GMT -8
Session 18 - Dark Waters We picked up on Day 80, with the party setting off from Basalt. They entered the land of Twin Pines and start to smell the ocean the closer they get to the shore. That night, they made camp but are ambushed--by the meazels and darklings Oceana faced before. The two groups had teamed up. The party had them on the ropes, but then Oceana turned them, and they all fled to survive another day.
The next day, Day 81, the day was largely uneventful and they reached Arcadia Bay by that evening. Oceana got to work right away, asking around the docks for a ship to take them to the Celestian Empire. However, she had little luck. Most captains refused to go that far south out of fear of pirates or even the Celestians. Apparently they are having some kind of political situation down there. The few that would accept wanted to charge her outrageous prices--five thousand pink shards, or higher!
Defeated, the party headed to the inn in the hopes of getting some rest and trying again the next day. However, after sitting down, an elderly man approached them. He claimed to be a servant of the van Dohrs, a noble family that dwelt in a small fishing community called Tawny Reach, not far from here. He had been tasked in finding adventurers for a problem. If the party was willing, his master would not only pay them 1,000 pink shards to meet him, but another 1,000 to complete the job he had. And on top of that, they would supply her a ship that would take her south. Oceana quickly agreed.
The servant offered them a ride in a worn down carriage. Oceana noted the footman's clothes were worn, too. It was a brief ride to Breakwater Hall, the van Dohr manor, which was also worn and in poor repair. Once inside, the party met with the lord, Evard von Dohr, an elderly man. He treated them to a nice meal and explained the situation.
His son and only child, Tristlen von Dohr, had gone missing two days previously. He often went on hunting trips with one of the ruffians in the settlement, but the last time he did, he came back different. He acted strangely, locking himself up in his room and avoiding people. Then one day, he just vanished. A number of shards were taken from the vault, too. Evard thus suspected kidnapping. It was clear Evard cared about his son and was genuinely worried.
Oceana promised Evard she would find his son. She started by going up to his room and searching it, but even with Lement's help, she couldn't find anything. So she asked to check out the vault, but Evard told her that only those with van Dohr blood could actually access it.
She took the party into Tawny Reach, a fishing community that was clearly on its last legs. She started at the local watering hole, the Chipped Tooth. Asking around, she actually managed to accidentally piss off most of the patrons there--turns out Tristlin is well known but not well liked! She did manage to get the bard playing to tell her a few things, though. Apparently Tristlin's 'hunting trips' are actually code for plundering sunken ships for loot over in Manglebone Bay. Last time he was seen, he and Kyppli, a young dwarf, were going on such an expedition. The bard noted that Kyppli had been acting strange, kind of squirrely, since he returned from that last trip. He directed Oceana to Kyppli's house, and the paladin decided to leave before a bar fight started up.
The party headed to Kyppli's house, but it appeared to be abandoned. Stepping inside, Oceana looked around and found nothing, so decided to leave. But luckily Lament noticed the basement was all barred up. She had Wyldfyre break down the barricade, and they found the dwarf muttering to himself with some kind of scroll in hand. “Soon, I'll forget. I'll forget,” he muttered and tried to read the scroll. Oceana stopped him and managed to persuade him to answer a few questions first.
Kyppli explains that he and Tristlin actually found the Chalice of Yvir, a legendary lost ship said to be packed to the walls with treasure. It was like hitting paydirt. But while they were exploring it, they ran into an undine. She began to sing her enchanting song, and while Kyppli managed to resist, Tristlin was entranced by it. The dwarf managed to drag Tristlin along and escape. Once they made it back to town, they both agreed to buy a magic scroll of Modify Memory for the local sea witch, Meera Vostov. They could them forget the song, as it was still haunting them to this day. He wasn't sure if Tristlin actually went through with it, though. He gave the party the coordinates of the Chalice and they left him alone to cast his spell.
Oceana led the party to meet with Meera, who lived in a ramshackle little shed on the beach. She was a green-haired woman who seemed a bit mad. She was busy searching for something, and realized it was stolen. Oceana asked about Tristlin, wanting to know if he's been here. Meera said she would tell her whatever she wanted...if she agreed to retrieve her Amulet of Water Breathing from Tristlin, who stole it. Oceana agreed. So Meera told her that Tristlin did come by a couple of days ago. He did not buy a Modify Memory scroll, though. Rather, he sunk a ridiculous amount of shells into purchasing a scroll of True Polymorph. Meera had no idea why, but did recognize that Tristlin seemed to be under some kind of charm effect. She supposed he was going to do something stupid. She suggested Oceana buy potions of water breathing (100 pink shells a pop) if she plans to go after him. Oceana got one potion for each of them, except Torrenta who could already breathe underwater.
Oceana reasoned that Tristlin was the one who broke into the vault and bought the scroll in hopes of transforming himself into an undine. Thanking Meera, she and the party rushed out.
After borrowing a rowboat from the von Dohr estate, the party rowed out into Manglebone Bay, a large bay filled with sharp rocks that led many a ship to their doom. Following Kyppli's instructions, they found the wreck of the Chalice of Yvir. Climbing inside, they saw hand and tail prints of undine, but also muddy human prints, as well. The prints led to an area submerged in water. Oceana failed to notice anything moving in the mud, and four mud mephits attacked. The party fought them off, then downed their potions, preparing to climb into the freezing cold water.
My Notes This session was 2h.
I admit, I had a hard time with this one. I've been incredibly depressed lately, for a variety of reasons, and consequently did not get much work on the game last week. And I was exhausted, physically and mentally, when it was time for the game. Horizon wanted to know if I was going to cancel, and I had a hard time answering. Because a part of me wanted to have the session, but another part of me wanted to cancel--not the session, but the entire game for good. That's how bad I was feeling.
Ultimately, we decided to push it forward a day, so had the session on Thursday, although I also wanted it to be a fairly short one. Partly because I was worried I wouldn't have the steam for a longer one, but also because I was worried I'd run out of material. Fortunately, I did feel a little better by Thursday, and hopefully the whole thing didn't annoy Horizon too much. Still, I am sorry about that. Sometimes my dark moods get the best of me, especially lately.
I had actually intended the party to finish off the darklings and meazels in that encounter, but most of them survived. So perhaps they'll regroup and try again some day.
The adventure went awry pretty early on, because Horizon kept botching her rolls. For instance, when she investigated Tristlin's room, I gave her advantage since Lement was helping, and she rolled two natural ones. When she tried to question the barkeep at the Chipped Tooth, she rolled a 2. There were several other skill checks where she rolled a 1 or 2, and it nearly derailed things but I tried to find ways around it where I could. A lot of clues were skipped, but luckily it turned out most of them weren't needed.
And hopefully I can find enough energy to work a bit ahead before the next session.
Anyway, I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Jul 8, 2023 12:28:53 GMT -8
XP is as follows:
Oceana Poole (Ancient Paladin 5) Defeating Darklings (x4) and Meazels (x3) - 200 XP Defeating Mud Mephits (x4) - 40 XP TOTAL: 240 XP
That brings her to a full total of 12,761 XP, meaning she now needs 1,239 XP to level up.
Wyldfyre (Berserker Barbarian 5) Defeating Darklings (x4) and Meazels (x3) - 200 XP Defeating Mud Mephits (x4) - 40 XP TOTAL: 240 XP
This gives him a total of 7,962 XP, meaning he has now needs 6,038 XP to level up.
Selena (Dream Druid 5) Defeating Darklings (x4) and Meazels (x3) - 200 XP Defeating Mud Mephits (x4) - 40 XP TOTAL: 240 XP
This gives her a total of 8,432 XP, meaning she now needs 5,868 XP to level up.
Torrenta (Nature Cleric 3) Defeating Darklings (x4) and Meazels (x3) - 200 XP Defeating Mud Mephits (x4) - 40 XP TOTAL: 240 XP
This gives her a total of 1,699 XP, meaning she needs 1,001 XP to level up.
Lement (Ranger 2) Defeating Darklings (x4) and Meazels (x3) - 100 XP Defeating Mud Mephits (x4) - 20 XP TOTAL: 120 XP
This gives him a total of 503 XP, meaning he needs 397 XP to level up.
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Post by Daos on Jul 14, 2023 22:41:32 GMT -8
Session 19 - The Cold and Hungry Sea We picked up where we left off, Day 81, with the party on board the partially sunken Chalice of Yvir. Having just drank their water breathing potions, they descended into the freezing waters and swam through the hall. There were numerous stalks of kelp that the party had to bypass. Oceana and Lement were immediately tangled. Wyldfyre returned to try and cut her loose, and gets entangled, as well. Eventually Oceana was able to free herself and Wyldfyre. When she went to cut Lement loose, however, she discovered he was not entangled in seaweed...but rather, in tentacles. A giant octopus emerged from hiding and attacked. They easily dispatched it, freeing Lement.
They continued down the hall and came across a single boot wrapped up in the kelp. Figuring it was Tristlin's, Oceana reasoned they were on the right path. They entered the gun deck and found swarms of tiny, glowing jellyfish. Careful to avoid them, they went to the end only to discover a dead end. Searching around, Oceana could find no other way forward--the logical path was blocked entirely by coral. Lement, however, did find a way--through the boiler. The chimney was large enough for a person to crawl through, so they opened it up and went through. Inside, they found a strip of torn cloth--more evidence someone was here recently.
The chimney must have exploded at some point in the past, perhaps why the ship sank in the first place, and opened up into another corridor that led to the captain's quarters. Inside they found sacks of strange looking eggs all over the walls and floor. Oceana also heard beautiful, haunting singing.
Moving closer, they saw Tristlin floating in the water, scroll in hand, looking dazed. Three undine surrounded him, one singing to him. Slowly, as if in a trance, Tristlin removed the amulet around his neck and started to slowly drown. Oceana and the group rushed forward to save him.
The undine, baring shark like teeth, attacked. One of the undine charmed Wyldfyre, essentially removing him from the fight. Oceana tried to place the amulet back on Tristlin, but he would simply remove it again on his turn.
Eventually, Oceana gave up and just cut down the undine that was charming him. This broke him out of the stupor, but caused him to scream in anguish, as if he had just watched someone murder the love of his life. The party was able to dispatch the remaining two undine, but the final one gave a shriek just before she died. Moments later, they heard another shriek in the distance. Then another, and another. Swimming to a porthole, they could see there were dozens of shipwrecks down there, and all of them were large undine nests. Hundreds began to swarm toward the Chalice, seeking to avenge their fallen comrades.
Frantically, Oceana and Selena searched for a way to escape, but found nothing. Fortunately, Torrenta spotted a door behind a sack of eggs that led straight out to the deck. Oceana had to forcefully grab Tristlin and drag him away from the undine corpse he clutched in his arms. The party fled back to their boat as quickly as they could before the army of undine could catch them. As they rowed back to Tawny Reach, Tristlin was completely unresponsive. He just stared out at the ocean in despair, barely blinking.
Oceana made a quick stop to drop off the amulet of water breathing to Meera (Tristlin did not even flinch at her taking it off of his neck). She asked the witch how to cure his condition, but according to Meera there was nothing to cure. He was just heart-broken. Maybe, given enough time, he would recover. But his heart was stolen by the undine and he may never get it back.
Disturbed, Oceana then returned Tristlin home. At first, Evard was overjoyed to have his son returned alive. But once it became clear that he was a very different person now, the mood became far more somber. Nevertheless, he kept his side of the deal, paying Oceana 2,000 pink shards and telling her that the Tideway would be waiting for her in Arcadia Bay to take her wherever she wanted to go.
Before leaving, Oceana looked over her shoulder to see Evard looking up at the van Dohr coat of arms, a mermaid holding out a red fruit, representing the bounty from the sea. She noted the irony of how the sea had, in fact, taken everything from this family, before heading out.
By the time the party returned to Arcadia Bay, dawn had broke. It was now day 82, and they were pretty tired. Oceana quickly found the Tideway in the docks and met the captain, a half-sea elf man named Pisces. She told him they needed transport to the Titan Forest. Pisces guessed they could get there in about 4 days or so, barring any big interruptions or slowdowns. Oceana also confirmed that he would provide a return trip, as well.
The party then crashed hard down in the crew quarters. However, after only an hour or two, they were awoken by the ship lurching from side to side. They heard feet stomping and voices shouting up above. Realizing something was amiss, they grabbed their gear and rushed up onto the deck. They discovered the ship was under attack from a pair of plesiosaurs or 'tiderippers.' One on the starboard side, one on the port side. The party split up to fight them, relying on what projectiles they had as the creatures were clever enough to stay out of melee range, relying on their long necks to bite without getting too close.
Eventually the party defeated them both and the ship was able to sail on safely. Pisces thanked them for the aid, and they returned below to get some rest.
My Notes This session was 2h, 30m.
More terrible rolls in this one. Oceana got a natural 1 on her attempt to bypass the kelp, for instance, as did Lement. Oceana also flubbed her investigation check at the boiler (fortunately Lement did better) and she and Selena flubbed their investigation checks to find an escape, but luckily Torrenta did not. It was almost becoming a recurring gag of sorts.
The True Polymorph scroll was not actually for turning Tristlin into an undine, like Oceana thought. It was actually to turn the undine he had fallen for into a human. Had he managed to break the charm and cast the spell, it would have worked. But the undine who had transformed would have brutally started attacking him for it; she was still a vicious killer, even if she was human, and she would have hated him for transforming her into a 'lesser' animal.
All of the underwater encounters were much easier than they should have been, because of a mistake I made. I scoured the DMG beforehand for underwater combat rules and couldn't find anything. Just a brief section on vision, but nothing on whether you could move and attack normally, or if magic works or how fire spells are effected. So I took that to mean those things all worked as they would on the surface, like Spongebob Style. In my defense, that really does sound like something 5E would do.
Later I learned there actually are underwater combat rules; but they're in the PHB (for some reason???) and I never even thought to look there. Ah, well. Live and learn, I guess.
Anyway, I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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