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Post by HorizonsDream on Nov 15, 2022 21:11:21 GMT -8
During the game, as the reference to the Swamp of Sadness, Jaded called out "Atreyu!", and I said "It wasn't Atreyu that died in the Swamp of Sadness. It was his horse!" For the life of me, I couldn't remember the name of the horse then, but I remember now. It was Artax.
As for the Bog of Eternal Stench, I think both of us said, multiple times "Smell Bad!" Of course, then I remembered what while everyone else was complaining about the smell, Sir Didyimus took a big whiff and said "The air is sweet and fragrant..." which made me giggle.
The Neverending Story and Labyrinth were two of my favorite movies when I was a kid (actually they are still some of my favorites), so I really had a good time with this session just from the references alone.
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Post by Daos on Nov 17, 2022 23:21:26 GMT -8
Whoops, almost forgot about this. Session XP: Defeating stirges alone (x12) - 300 XP Defeating mud mephits (x6) - 43 XP Defeating trolls (x2) - 514 XP TOTAL: 857 XP That puts Zinnia at 20,309 XP total, which means she needs another 2,691 XP to level up. Don't forget to update your character sheet, HorizonsDream .
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Post by Daos on Nov 20, 2022 12:54:12 GMT -8
Had a session on Saturday:
Session 22 - Evening Star We picked up the following morning. Zinnia woke up and discovered Raiann was already awake, dressed and ready to go, staring out the window into the marshlands. As the others got up and got ready, Zinnia approached Raiann and asked if she was okay. Raiann told her that the dragon is waiting for them. She can sense it out there. Zinnia is a bit disquieted by the remark.
Once the party was ready, they exited the cabin and Raiann led the way, as if she knew where she was going. They reached a large clearing in the swamp, with no trees, but lots of mud and muck, but the land was still relatively solid. They heard the sound of loud flapping, and soon after Vespera arrived, landing before them.
Vespera spoke in a voice both so deep they felt it in their bones, but also strangely sibilant. She told them she had been waiting for them, that she knew they would eventually show up. And she was looking forward to taking revenge on them for killing her offspring. Zinnia asked why she sent her offspring off to the city in the first place, but the question seemed to enrage the dragon and she attacked.
The battle was long and grueling. Raiann and Bastian tanked, while Sue and Nemeia fired arrows, Zinnia blasted with fireballs and lightning bolts, Vicavor enfeebled and Kelra healed. Ultimately, however, the party was victorious and Bastian delivered the killing blow.
Although the party was pretty much spent by that point, Raiann suddenly said, "This way!" and rushed off, forcing the others to chase after her. As if by some kind of instinct, she led them straight to the dragon's cave, which was filled with its treasure hoard. Raiann explained that as soon as the dragon died, her final thoughts were about the hoard, and their connection allowed Raiann to learn its location.
Searching through the hoard, they found the following: 17,000 gold pieces, 240 platinum pieces, 6 art objects (all worth 750 gold each), and finally a potion of storm giant's strength.
The party gathered up all of the treasure and made their way back to Affburgh. Zinnia went on another shopping spree, spending pretty much the entire hoard to pick up the following items: Circlet of Blasting, Flame Tongue, Mace of Disruption, Periapt of Wound Closure, and a Wand of Magic Missiles.
Notes Based on the length of the summary, one might think this was a very short session. But in fact, it ran a little long. It's just most of it was spent either fighting the dragon or shopping for magical items.
When the fight started, I had Raiann roll a WIS save, and she got a natural 20. So she was not mind-controlled by Vespera. I had meant to have her make a roll every round, but I forgot after the first one.
I kept waiting for Horizon to have the party down those acid resistance potions she picked up last time as soon as the dragon started to approach, to the point that I was even stalling for awhile (you hear flapping...the flapping gets louder...you see the dragon arriving...the dragon lands...) Turns out, Horizon completely forgot she had them, and the party didn't even drink them until the second round of combat as a result (except Kelra, who never bothered, so that means they still have one potion left). Fortunately, the dragon only used her breath weapon once, and failed to recharge it after that.
Horizon reasoned that black dragons are probably resistant to acid damage. But she was wrong--they are, in fact, immune to it entirely. But it never came up; outside of Raiann's breath weapon, I'm not sure the party even has any acid attacks.
Bringing Bastian along made a really big difference. He's quite strong, in both offense and defense. So much so that Horizon wants to bring him along to fight Kyristan, too. Sue, unfortunately, was fairly useless. Most of his attacks missed. Just bad luck, really.
I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Nov 21, 2022 14:18:06 GMT -8
Session XP: Defeating Vespera - 1,643 XP Completion of Adventure - 1,600 XP TOTAL: 3,242 XP That puts Zinnia at 23,552 XP total, which means she levels up! Welcome to 7th level. She needs 10,448 XP to level up again. Don't forget to update your character sheet, HorizonsDream . I was about to say, is this the level you get Bend Luck? But that was actually last level up. You have just never used it. This level up gets you access to 4th level spells, though.
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Post by Daos on Nov 29, 2022 14:50:52 GMT -8
I recently looked up when this game started, because I was curious as to whether we were getting close to the one year mark yet, and it turns out we passed it like half a year ago. I can't believe Wyld Times is a year and a half old. Time really does fly. But we're getting near the end soon. The plan is to hopefully wrap it up and start planning the next game before Horizon goes out of state next month. Then I can work on the new game while she's away, and hopefully have it ready by the time she returns. Maybe I can actually find a second player for it, too, but we'll see. Session 23 - In the Frog's ThroatWe picked up the day after the shopping spree. Zinnia passed out the magical items she procured. The Circlet of Blasting went to Nemeia, the Flame Tongue went to Bastian, the Mace of Disruption and the Periapt of Wound Closure went to Kelra, and the Wand of Magic Missiles went to Vicavor. With that all taken care of, the party boarded a riverboat to Glimmer Lake. This time they rode legitimately, and not hiding from the law, so it only cost them 10 gold per person instead of 100 like last time. Once on board, everyone split up so Zinnia decided to check on them individually. First, she checked on Raiann, who was down in the guest quarters, relaxing on a hammock. Zinnia was concerned, because Raiann is usually the hyper-vigilant one. Raiann explained that with Vespera dead, she didn't feel the need to stay so alert all of the time. She admitted that she has had bad dreams since Vespera possessed her back in the constables' keep. Further, she had felt Vespera poking around in her head. So she felt the need to stay vigilant to avoid falling prey to possession again. Zinnia was upset that Raiann never told her about this, but Raiann insisted she had it under control and she didn't want to add more to Zinnia's plate. And anyway, it all worked out fine, didn't it? Zinnia wasn't mollified by this. Next, Zinnia checked in on Nemeia, who was up at the ship's bow, leaning against the railing and kind of looking out at the horizon. The two talked a bit about Raiann (Nemeia revealed that apparently Raiann had been having 'night terrors' and again Zinnia wondered why nobody told her) but they also discussed the future. Zinnia had spent months on this quest to find her father, even before she recruited the rest of the party into it. But what happens when it's over? Zinnia admitted she never really thought about it, and isn't one to ponder much beyond the next day. But she considered remaining an adventurer for awhile. Nemeia was game to continue on with her, if that's the case. She's ready to support Zinnia no matter what she decides. They hugged and Zinnia reminded Nemeia she is like a sister to her. Zinnia found Kelra and Bastian on the starboard side, again discussing their upcoming wedding that spring. Zinnia learned they had already spent the entirety of their share of the dragon's hoard on catering and entertainment alone. They also weren't sure about living arrangements; Bastian wanted them to live in his family's castle, but Kelra wanted to stay close to her father. But they had plenty of time to work out those details before the big day arrived. Next, Zinnia sought out Vicavor, who was at the ship's aft section. He was practicing quick drawing his new wand, and was quite embarrassed when Zinnia caught him. He admitted he always wanted a wand of his own, as it made him feel like a real mage instead of just a student. Zinnia pointed out that he had helped slay a dragon; he was clearly not a student anymore. But he felt like since he never graduated from the academy, he lacked the prestige and respect from his peers that he would have otherwise gained. He also admitted he had expected his family would decide his future for him; including who he would marry and what he would do for a living, and once they learned he was expelled, he wasn't sure what would happen to him. Zinnia hinted that he could join her polycule with Sue, which freaked Vicavor out a bit and he ran off, blushing bright red. Shrugging it off, Zinnia found Sue at the helm, chatting with the captain. She asked what they are talking about, and Sue revealed he was just bored and making chitchat to pass the time. They were discussing the various things the captain had run afoul of on his trips up and down the river, like bandits. The captain recognized Zinnia as the Hero of Affburgh, and asked her to tell some stories of her adventures. She spoke a bit about her earlier quests, and Sue listened quietly, as he had not heard these stories before. When she was done, he offered to meet her down in the boiler room for some alone time. However, they don't get very far before they hear shouting up on the deck. Getting dressed hastily, they rush upstairs to find a squadron of bullywugs threatening the crew and other passengers with spears. Zinnia casts Ice Storm and wipes all of them out save one. That one survivor croaked loudly, as if calling for help. That was when a giant elephant-sized frog-like creature, a froghemoth, emerged from the water and landed on the deck. The party fought with the creature, and Raiann actually got swallowed whole at one point. Zinnia quickly realized it resisted both flame and electricity, but the latter did slow it down, at least. Nemeia tried out her new circlet, but missed all three of her scorching rays. Eventually, Bastian gave the killing blow and Raiann was able to crawl out of its gullet, covered in mucus. The final bullywug watched in awe and horror. Zinnia tried to scare it off, failed, but Raiann managed to succeed and it hopped back into the water. Vicavor explained that bullywugs often revere froghemoths. The captain mentioned that the bullywugs usually live in the nearby swamplands, but lately they've started to migrate to the river. Zinnia puts together that the death of the dragon, Vespera, meant they had to find a new guardian. She briefly wondered if the bullywugs would fear her name from here on, as she has managed to slay two of their gods in a row. Once Raiann was cleaned up, Zinnia and Sue sneaked back down into the boiler room, and later on, everyone got some rest as night fell. The following morning, the riverboat reached the end of the line, Glimmer Lake. As the town came into view, the party could see movement of people in the town again. Zinnia wondered if maybe Darwin renewed his illusion. She also filled in Sue and Bastian on how the whole town was populated by illusions previously. Once they reached the docks and began to disembark, however, she realized something was very wrong. The whole town reeked of decay. Kelra grasped her shoulder tightly, looking tense. She could sense them. They weren't illusions. They were zombies. The town was swarming with them. And they were led by one creature in particular--a zombie lord. NotesExcept for the fight at the end, this was mostly a roleplaying session. I wanted to give Zinnia a chance to talk to everybody before things started ramping up, because there might not be time later on. Mostly the characters discussed their future, to help set up possible epilogues when the game concludes. The zombie lord showing up is something of a running gag in my games. Horizon's very first character death was to one, so I like to have them show up every now and again just to make her nervous. I don't think she has to worry much, though. Instant death mechanics aren't really a thing in 5E. I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Nov 30, 2022 14:23:49 GMT -8
Session XP: Discussing Raiann's new attitude with her - 50 XP Discussing the future with Nemeia - 50 XP Discussing Bastian's and Kelra's wedding with them - 50 XP Discussing the future with Vicavor - 50 XP Discussing her past adventures with Sue and the captain - 50 XP Defeating Bullywugs (x5) single-handedly - 250 XP Defeating the Froghemoth - 843 XP TOTAL: 1,343 XP That puts Zinnia at 24,895 XP total, which means she needs 9,105 XP to level up again. Don't forget to update your character sheet, HorizonsDream .
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Post by Daos on Dec 5, 2022 23:47:39 GMT -8
Had a session over the weekend:
Session 24 - Redthorn Mountains We picked up where we left off, with the party in Glimmer Lake, which was now filled with zombies led by a zombie lord. A big fight broke out. The party didn't hold back, with Zinnia throwing fireball after fireball at oncoming zombies, incinerating most of them. Kelra also made good use of Destroy Undead and her Mace of Disruption to wipe out more. By the time they finally finished off the zombie lord, they had slain over two score of zombies total (48 precisely, I believe). The town was completely quiet now. They retreated to the abandoned inn to rest for the night. Zinnia realized that Kyristan figured out Darwin was here and sent the zombies to take care of him.
The following day, they set out for the Redthorn Mountains. It was a two day journey to reach the base of the mountains. They discover that the mountains are blood red, as their name suggests. Vicavor tells a story about a massive war that took place here back after the Carnage War, where the blood soaked the mountains and left them permanently red.
They find a goat trail leading up the mountains, and it's fairly easy to walk. Things go well, until around nightfall, when Zinnia suddenly feels a terrible pressure on the inside of her skull. Kyristan speaks to her, asking why she was here. Zinnia claims she's just adventuring, but he doesn't buy it. He knows what she's after, and he approves of her coming to him. But he wants her to arrive alone. So he's going to have to do something about all those allies of hers.
Kelra warns of more undead approaching, as a gaggle of ghouls descend upon them from all directions. The party fights off eight of them, but more and more keep coming. Zinnia realizes the mountain is swarming with them, perhaps in the hundreds. She urges the party to run down the path to reach their destination, but the ghouls seem to know where they are at all times and keep attacking. Things get hard after Zinnia wild surges and a fireball explodes at her feet. Fortunately, she, Nemeia, Sue and Vicavor had resistance to fire (Zinnia's magic staff, Vicavor's Absorb Elements spell, and Nemeia and Sue are tieflings). After fighting off another eight, Raiann mentions that they can't keep this up. Vicavor and Zinnia brainstorm and realize that the reason the ghouls keep finding them is that Kyristan can see and hear through Zinnia. They put a blindfold on her and try to get off the main path. Zinnia is dragged around, blind, with no idea what is happening. Eventually the party seem to find somewhere safe to rest, but she keeps the blindfold on.
Throughout the night, the party keeps watch, but Zinnia remains literally in the dark. She tries to sleep, but her dreams are plagued with Kyristan taunting her, telling her that he will find her, no matter where she hides.
The following morning, the party resumes but avoids the main path and keeps Zinnia blindfolded. Raiann and Bastian lead the way, over some difficult terrain that takes up most of the day. It's tough footing and keeps them at a slow pace, but they manage to avoid any ghoul patrols. However, when twilight begins to arrive again, they hear the sounds of fighting up ahead. Nemeia scouts and reports a mysterious figure in all black is fighting off some ghasts. Zinnia sends the others to help. There's only about five of the ghasts, but the mysterious figure handles himself well and with the party's help, the ghasts are dispatched easily.
The mysterious stranger, as it turns out, is none other than Xanros! He places a simple green gem pendant around her neck and explains that she is now safe and no longer needs the blindfold. The reason he disappeared awhile back was to help her on her journey. He called in some favors and did some research, and learned of a pendant that magically prevents others from accessing your mind. It essentially counteracts the collar around her neck, and while Kyristan could still possess her if she were in his direct line of sight, he won't be able to control her from a distance, or listen through her ears or see through her eyes. By the time he secured the magic pendant, Zinnia had already left the city so he attempted to catch up with her, but was swarmed by undead trying to find her.
Zinnia practically swoons at the idea of her former lover going through so much trouble and risking life and limb to help her in her greatest time of need. Oddly, though, Sue seems rather put out by Xanros' appearance and mutters something in Infernal that Nemeia replies to (but Zinnia cannot understand Infernal, so it's not clear to her what was said).
Xanros claims he knows of a cave nearby they can hide out in for the night, and he's discovered through his scouting of a path they can take that isn't watched as closely as the main one, but is easier to traverse than the one they were walking. It should take them straight to Kyristan's lair. The party went with him to get some rest until dawn.
Notes As expected, zombie lords are considerably less lethal nowadays. They completely removed their 'save or die' ability, so the danger was fairly minimal.
The blindfold sequence was fun, because I could only describe things to Horizon based on sound, smell or feel. She had no idea what was happening around her, beyond guessing based on clues like quick whispers from her companions.
The wild surge was pretty funny. It basically went like this:
ME: Okay, Zinnia unleashes a fireball... HORIZON: Yaaay! ME: ...centered on herself. HORIZON: Wait, what?
The wild surge mechanic is fun, but it is so rare. Unless Horizon chooses to use Tides of Chaos, it sometimes can be several sessions before we see another one. Back in 2E, wild magic was far more complicated, granted, but it happened a lot more frequently. In 5E, there's only a 5% chance of surging after casting a spell. I personally feel that's not terribly wild at all, but maybe that's just me.
Of course I had to bring back Xanros one last time before the game ends. Who doesn't love the awkwardness of Zinnia having her ex-boyfriend and her current boyfriend in the party at the same time?
I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Dec 6, 2022 13:16:37 GMT -8
Session XP: Defeating Zombie Lord - 257 XP Defeating Zombies (x48) - 343 XP Completion of Quest (Return to Glimmer Lake) - 1,035 XP Defeating Ghouls (x16) - 457 XP Defeating Ghasts (x5) - 281 XP Reunion with Xanros - 50 XP TOTAL: 2,423 XP That puts Zinnia at 27,318 XP total, which means she needs 6,682 XP to level up again. Don't forget to update your character sheet, HorizonsDream .
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Post by Daos on Dec 11, 2022 15:19:51 GMT -8
Finished the game last night. Decided to stay up late and just wrap it up in one go. I'll get the summary up when I can, but next week is going to be hectic, so it might take a bit longer than normal.
Horizon has rolled up her new character and is working on her backstory and such now. My hope is to have the new game ready by early February.
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Post by Daos on Dec 17, 2022 13:32:31 GMT -8
Whew, took me a whole week to finally type this up, but here we go:
Session 25 - Confrontation with Kyristan We pick up the following morning, inside the cave Xanros found for them. After everyone gets ready, Zinnia decides to make use of her new amulet to tell the group everything. Including about the death crystal she got from Baator. If she could just touch Kyristan with it, it would seal him away and he'd be powerless forever. And since he had no idea about it, she could hopefully get the jump on him.
The party set off, with Xanros taking the lead to help lead them to the tower without being caught by the roaming undead. While they traveled, Sue pulls Zinnia aside and asked if she really trusted this guy. Nemeia had told him Xanros was Zinnia's 'ex' and he assumes he was her 'ex' for a reason. Zinnia says she does trust him, but Sue finds it suspicious that he just showed up and oh-so-conveniently with the solutions to all of their problems at hand. Zinnia decides to remain 'cautiously optimistic.'
However, it seems Xanros' pendant is working. The undead roam around aimlessly, trying to find Zinnia but they no longer know where she is. As long as they stay out of sight, the undead cannot seem to find them. Xanros leads them successfully to the tower. It's at this point Zinnia remembers the specific words Darwin spoke to her. That Kyristan's tower was 'over' the mountains, not 'on' the mountains. He meant it literally. The tower floated about fifty feet off the ground, seemingly by magic. A small pack of ghasts seem to patrol the area directly beneath the tower. The party moves in and gets the jump on them. However, a concealed banshee joins them. Nevertheless, the party is successful and defeats them.
Now, however, they face another problem. How do they get up to the tower? Zinnia forgot how to levitate, and while Vicavor knows, he doesn't have that specific spell prepared today. Fortunately, Xanros has a solution. He has a scroll of levitation in his pack, something he picked up from some bandits he raided awhile back and figured it might come in handy some day. Zinnia uses the scroll to lift up with some rope, which she ties off so the others can follow her.
Once everyone is together on the front stairs, they search the front door and then open it, revealing a foyer. As they step inside, the door on the other side of the room opens and a group of blood zombies emerge--zombies covered in a thick shell of blood that protects and enhances them. They are difficult, as they drain the blood of those who melee them, healing themselves in the process. But ultimately, the party is able to defeat them all.
They move to the next room, which is a long dining hall. There is a table in the middle with about twenty chairs, but it looks unused and dusty. The wall is lined with fancy candlesticks jutting from the wall. A handful of wights burst into the room from the door on the other side and attack. During the fight, Xanros tries to quietly convince Zinnia to step over to one of the candlesticks with him. She refuses, and he attempts to grapple her, but she fights him off.
Once the wights are routed, more show up and the fight renews. This time, Xanros is able to convince Zinnia. He tells her that he can lead her directly to Kyristan while he is focused on the dining hall. He'll never see her coming, she can get the jump on him, and that way, none of her friends are ever in any danger, either. So she goes with him, and he tugs on a candlestick and opens a secret passage for them.
A little nervous, Zinnia follows Xanros, wondering how he knows the layout of this place so well. He takes her down a secret hallway that opens up another secret door into the hallway just outside of Kyristan's chamber. They peek in through the door and see him scrying with a crystal ball on something, seemingly unaware of their presence. Xanros tells her to sneak over and touch him with the crystal, and he'll cover her with his crossbow if things go badly.
Zinnia begins sneaking up toward Kyristan but as she's about half-way there, he raises his hand and she suddenly feels her whole body freeze. “That's far enough,” he says. He looks over at her and says, “Xanros, take the crystal.”
Zinnia mentally screams as Xanros walks up to her, takes the death crystal from her sack, then smashes it on the ground, destroying it. “It's nothing personal,” he tells her. “But he pays really well.”
Outraged by this betrayal, Zinnia manages to break free from Kyristan's control and hurl some magic missiles at the lich. This...slightly annoys him, at best. So he orders Xanros to stab her. He is reluctant, but Kyristan assures him she'll survive the attack; but it will make her easier to control. Zinnia pleads with Xanros to stay his hand, and at first it seems to work. But Kyristan warns Xanros he will die if he does not comply. Xanros stabs Zinnia, she retaliates with a shocking grasp spell, and he stabs her again. The second time, she goes down.
But this time, she does not lose consciousness. She remains awake for the whole thing. Her body, of its own accord, reaches out and grabs Xanros and starts draining the life essence from him, healing her own wounds but leaving him a dried up husk. He falls dead at her feet, and she has now lost all trace of her humanity. She looks like Kyristan--skeletal, with glowing red lights for eyes. Kyristan now has full control over her. All she can do is scream mentally at him (which he admits is pretty annoying).
Kyristan tells her that this is her fate--what she was created for. Her very souls is nothing more than a fragment of his own, and as such she is merely an extension of himself.
It's at this point the rest of the party bursts in, having fought their way here. They stop in stunned silence, seeing Zinnia's strange new form and Xanros corpse on the ground, not sure what is happening or what they should do. Kyristan takes advantage of their surprise by making Zinnia begin to cast a spell. He is going to use her body to slaughter her friends!
In a panic, Zinnia frantically tries to think of something--anything--she can do. It then dawns on her that if Kyristan can control her because their souls are connected...maybe that connection works both ways? With a monumental effort of will, she pulls a 'I'm not trapped in here with you, you're trapped in here with me' moment. Kyristan is caught off guard, not expecting this level of resistance. Their minds merge, and Zinnia gains access to his thoughts and memories. She learns the location of his hidden phylactery and gets full access to his spell list. Kyristan recovers from the shock and begins fighting back, so Zinnia knows she has little time. She makes Kyristan cast Planeshift on himself, banishing him to the Positive Energy Plane. In a flash, he is gone. She feels the connection between them severed.
The rest of the party is confused, not sure what just happened. Zinnia tells them it's okay, and reveals a secret passage into a lower chamber underneath Kyristan's throne. Down below she finds his hidden phylactery and has Kelra smash it with her mace of disruption. They also gather up all of the treasure down there, as well.
While gathering up the loot, Zinnia spots a ring and has a sudden flash of memory from when she joined minds with Kyristan. She 'remembers' that when Kyristan built her, he deliberately removed an important component that would allow her to control her magic fully. It was to prevent her from growing too powerful, should he ever lose control of her. She puts the ring on and finds that she can now fully control her magic again.
However, she also realizes she can use this ring to initiate one last wild surge--one that could make her flesh and blood, but it would use up all of her remaining power. She'd never be able to use magic again, unless she went to an academy and studied the normal way. However, she could also just stay a lich, remain immortal, and with the ring's power, become the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Nothing could stand in her way; she could rule the world, if she so wished.
Zinnia weighs the choice carefully. Is it worth giving up all of her power to be normal? Ultimately, she decides that it is, and drains the ring's power for one final surge. Her form changes, and she looks normal again. But now she really is half-elven. She is stunned by all of the strange sensations she never knew were normal, like the beating of her own heart. The others are surprised and she explains what just happened.
With that, they gather up the rest of the treasure and start back toward Glimmer Lake, and eventually, Affburgh.
Epilogues Raiann - She got a job as a sellsword and continued adventuring for a time, but would also work as Zinnia's personal bodyguard whenever she needed one. Overall, she stayed by Zinnia's side although she never married or even showed any interest in romance with anyone, for that matter.
Nemeia - She wound up taking over Arabella's business when Zinnia got tired of it. She always stayed by Zinnia's side and wound up developing a sort of sibling-like relationship with Sue, as well. She never married, although did have a few long-term relationships but never had kids, out of fear they would turn out to be tieflings like her.
Kelra - Kelra and Bastian get married and have seven kids. They live together in Bastian's castle, and Kelra has built a temple there where her father can work, so he can be close with the family. Kelra and her family visit Zinnia during the holidays every year.
Vicavor - He eventually came clean to his parents about being expelled,and they took it about as well as he expected. However, despite cutting him off, it didn't really matter. He had learned to be self-sufficient by then, and continued living with Zinnia and doing various odd jobs until finally landing a job as the mayor's advisor. He also eventually joined Zinnia's and Sue's new polycule and even learned to loosen up a bit, although he always remained the uptight one of the trio.
Zinnia - She takes over her mother's business at first, but finds it isn't for her and eventually turns it over entirely to Nemeia. She tries going to the magical academy to learn magic the slow way, but again, finds it's just not her cup of tea. One day, though, a young man approaches her with pink hair and a beard of feathers. He explains he learned of the concept of wild magic from stories about her, but needed help controlling it. Although she no longer could call upon the magic anymore, she was able to help teach the young man how better to control it. And it seemed he was not the only one. Now that the word had gotten out that it was possible to use wild magic, many young spellcasters turned to it, trying to master it. Soon, Zinnia has an entire class she basically teaches.
She never marries, but she does start a polycule with Sue and later, Vicavor. Sue winds up moving in, and eventually she has two kids--one with each. A half-elf from Vicavor and a tiefling from Sue. Since she essentially furthered Belial's progeny in this way, her contract with him was technically fulfilled. And so, she led a long and fulfilling life, until eventually--like all mortals--she passed on to the next realm.
Notes There were a number of ways this could have gone, and I tried to prepare for them all. I knew facing a lich directly at their level was a no go.
The necklace Xanros gave Zinnia was completely non-magical, and had she thought to scan it with a detection spell, she would have seen it had no aura. This meant everything she said aloud after putting on the necklace was heard by Kyristan. So he knew about the death crystal. Had she chosen not to say anything about it, he would have not seen that coming. Theoretically she could have got close enough to him to use it, sealing him away forever. In this ending, Zinnia would have remained a construct wild sorcerer, but she could have returned to Darwin and had him fix the illusion hiding her true appearance.
The reason the pendant seemed to work is Kyristan ordered his undead to pretend not to know where she was, to complete the illusion. But he knew the whole time.
Had Zinnia refused to trust Xanros' plan, or continued to fight him off, things could have played out a lot differently, too. Having the whole party present when they confronted Kyristan likely would have resulted in a few deaths, unless things were played very carefully. If a fight broke out, it would not have ended well at all for the party.
In the event Zinnia was possessed, there were basically two ways out. The first was the path she did wind up taking--to figure out that if Zinnia and Kyristan share a soul, possession could work both ways. I dropped a few subtle hints about it with Kyristan, but wasn't sure Horizon would pick up on them and considered this the less likely of scenarios to play out. The other one was for her to deliberately stop controlling her wild magic. The way I see it, rolling for a wild surge is an attempt to control the surge. A natural 1 means you failed. But she could choose not to control it, and surge every time she cast a spell, if she wanted. This could have turned the tides against Kyristan, as there is no telling what might have happened. However, Zinnia wound up using most of her spells before she reached Kyristan (a pretty terrible strategy, if she had to actually fight him!). She had her cantrips (which don't surge) and maybe a couple of 1st level spell slots left, and that was about it.
I knew as soon as I started writing the final scenarios that I wanted Xanros to return and for him to be a traitor. That's the thing about bad boys...they're, well, bad. The only thing was I wasn't sure how trusting Zinnia would be about the whole thing. As Sue pointed out, it was awfully convenient he just happened to show up at the right time, with all the tools they needed, and with seemingly insider knowledge on the layout of everything. The biggest plothole, that I was sure Zinnia would pick up on but she didn't, was that Xanros didn't know Zinnia's full story. She never told him everything, or her direct connection to Kyristan and how he could spy on her with it. In any case, he got what was coming to him in the end.
The decision to have Kyristan planeshift to the Positive Energy Plane was pretty clever, in my mind. He only has the one spellslot for that spell, so he would need a long rest to recover it. Sending him somewhere else could have resulted in him resting and then returning. But the Positive Energy Plane ensures he won't live that long. That constant exposure to positive energy would completely unmake him in a matter of rounds. And by sending him to another plane, it stopped him from wrestling control away from Zinnia again, because as we previously established, his connection to her does not extend beyond planar boundaries.
The final decision was probably the biggest one. Had Zinnia chosen to keep her powers and her lichdom, it may have eventually corrupted her. Absolute power, etc., etc. Even had Darwin restored the illusion, she'd still have negative energy flowing through her body, and her epilogue would surely have come out very different even she did manage to keep a lid on her ambitions.
Overall, I think she probably got the best possible ending for this game. I let Horizon narrate her own epilogue, as a result. And that closes the chapter on Zinnia Ballana and her Wyld Times.
XP is unnecessary, as this is the end, but I'll go ahead and write it up anyway, in case Horizon ever decides to transfer the character into a different game some day. I'll try and get it up by tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Dec 18, 2022 11:47:50 GMT -8
Session XP:
Defeating Ghasts (x5) - 281 XP Defeating Banshee - 137 XP Defeating Blood Zombies (x10) - 563 XP Defeating Wights (x6) - 525 XP Besting Kyristan - 3,300 XP Completion of Quest - 870 XP Won a Happy Ending - 500 XP TOTAL: 5,8360 XP
That puts Zinnia at 33,494 XP total, which means she needs 506 XP to level up again.
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Matt4
Paragon
Posts: 3,545
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Post by Matt4 on Dec 19, 2022 15:47:58 GMT -8
I still have to read the last couple updates, but I'm curious, what's her new character?
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Post by Daos on Dec 19, 2022 18:13:03 GMT -8
She actually turned it in just last night. I just got off a super long work shift, so I haven't been able to go through it completely yet. But she's going to play an Aasimar Paladin. Dame Oceana Poole (she has the Knight background). She's a sort of flighty, cheerleader type--think Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She believes she has been chosen for a special destiny, by Elonna, to save the world and has no idea what she's getting herself into.
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Post by HorizonsDream on Dec 19, 2022 19:50:55 GMT -8
Well, I'm not really sure she completely believes that she is "the chosen one", but her parents certainly think she is. It is my first time playing a paladin, in any edition, so I thought I would try it out.
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Matt4
Paragon
Posts: 3,545
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Post by Matt4 on Dec 20, 2022 10:38:43 GMT -8
I love the name and the Buffy-esque vibes v.v
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