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Post by Daos on Sept 20, 2022 1:14:37 GMT -8
New session on Saturday. Here is the summary:
Session 15 - A Boy Named Sue On the morning of the 34th day since arriving in Affburgh, Zinnia woke up in Sue's bed, alone. She spent some time looking around the room, realizing there was a whole shelf of stuffed animals. She left the room, finding everyone had gone to work except Sue, who was now jobless. He was making some simple flat-jacks for breakfast.
Zinnia asks him about the stuffed animals, and Sue tells her they actually belong to Kruck. He likes to collect cute things, and he'd probably be pretty embarrassed by Sue telling her this. Zinnia is deeply amused. As they sit and eat, Sue asks a favor of her and her party. He wants to track down his dad. The only leads he has is his mom, who refuses to spill the beans to him (but maybe Zinnia can be more persuasive?) or possibly the town elder back in Greenleaf, where he was born. Zinnia agrees to this, and after breakfast the pair head back to her place.
Zinnia's party is waiting for her at home, worried as they had no idea what happened to her and why she never came home last night. Raiann mentions she overheard some guards were looking for the 'mage' who killed those men in the casino last night. Upon hearing this, Zinnia decides getting everyone out of town for a bit might be a good thing. However, Arabella freaks when she sees Zinnia's new appearance and locks herself in her room and starts some intensive cleaning of the place.
The party departs for Sue's mother's home, which is the second story over a shop called Gearson's Alchemy in the merchant district. Stepping inside, a bell over the door rings and a Gnomish man steps out to greet them, but seems to recognize Sue and allows them upstairs. Zinnia realizes that the gnome is Sue's step-father.
Upstairs, Zinnia meets Sue's mother, an Elven woman named Anais and her three Elf/Gnome daughters, Saleya (10), Emerald (7) and Nickel (5) or 'Nikki' as she is called by friends and family. Anais is happy to meet Zinnia, having heard about her from Sue. She invites the party to have lunch with them. During lunch they talk, and get to know each other, and Zinnia gets the impression that they are a happy, well-adjusted family.
After lunch, they have some tea, and Zinnia has the party take the kids out for ice cream so she and Sue can speak to Anais alone. Anais is very reluctant to say anything about Sue's father, and it takes multiple persuasion checks on Zinnia's part to drag anything out of her, but eventually they learn that his name was Belial and he was some kind of noble (he claimed to be an archduke of somewhere Anais had never heard of). She said that there was a cave not far from Greenleaf with a stone archway in it. It was some kind of portal that he would use to come and go; Anais knows this because she secretly followed him one night to see where he was going. Sue knows of the cave she speaks of; he used to go there as a child to escape the other kids when they would pick on him. Local stories say the place is cursed, so most people avoided it, but Sue always felt oddly at home there.
Anais offers one more warning, if they insist on seeking out Sue's father. He is a powerful magic user, from what she could tell, and he could be dangerous as a result.
The party reunites and boards a river boat toward Greenleaf, which is half a day away. They arrive around twilight, discovering the place to be an idyllic looking village with a windmill and a town square. One of the vendors at the square sells jewelry and Sue takes an interest in one particular gaudy looking pendant, but after he walks off Zinnia quietly moves in and buys it while he is not looking.
Sue seems a bit nostalgic for the place, although Zinnia notices the locals don't seem to react well to his presence, or Nemeia's and Raiann's, for that matter. It's a small, rural place where most people are either human or Elven.
The party heads for the cave, and once there they enter and find it strangely warm for no apparent reason. In the back of the cave is a stone arch built into the back of the cave wall itself. There are magical runes carved into the arch, which Vicavor mostly doesn't recognize; but he does see the symbol for Negative Energy. Zinnia tries casting Detect Magic on the arch, and triggers a wild surge that fills the cave with mist, but also notes it has strong Conjuration magic. Zinnia wonders if Negative Energy is the key needed to open the portal. She places her hand on the stone, and it passes through. When the others try this, they only touch stone. So Zinnia puts her arm through to keep it open, so the others can pass through. Once everyone has crossed, she steps through, as well.
Once they step through, they find themselves somewhere very different. They are on a hill, and they have a great view of a tortured, violent land, composed of ashen hills, smoking plains, crystalline fissures, and active volcanoes, while tremors and earth-breaking eruptions are commonplace. The air is distorted by the heat and plagued by hot wind hurricanes, smoke and ash. The starless void above is illuminated only by leaping flames. Molten magma seas, spouting jets of fire and oozing lava are seen and the fire itself seems alive and violent. Zinnia believes they are on the Elemental Plane of Fire, but Kelra claims they are in the Nine Hells.
Before they can digest this information, a swarm of imps attack them. The party easily dispatches them, then looks around. First, they realize there is no doorway behind them; they are stuck here. The portal was apparently one-way. Second, they notice a city on a volcano top in the distance. So they decide to head there. Kelra believes the city is Abriymoch, and they are on the fourth layer of the Nine Hells, Phlegethos.
They find a path leading to the city, but a river of lava is blocking their way. They walk up stream until they find a bridge, but fire leaps from the lava periodically, onto the bridge. The party takes turns, two at a time, running across. Each time they do, the fire seems to deliberately target them. But they all manage to avoid or block it, except Zinnia, who gets hit.
They walk for a bit, talking along the way. Sue learns that Zinnia is quite wealthy, and suggests she pay for their next date. But also laments that after the banquet, the casino and now literally going to Hell, he wasn't sure they could possibly top this. Zinnia gives him the jewelry she bought, which he greatly appreciates. Zinnia also learns that Sue knows of Augury, but deliberately avoids her when he can, because she's 'immune' to his charms.
Raiann, who is the only one really paying attention (the others are treating this as a nice outing, casually chatting and teasing each other), calls a halt. The party hears baying in the distance, and a pack of hell hounds come over a hill and start charging toward them, flame upon their breaths.
Notes Had Zinnia failed with persuading Anais, she could have instead spoken to the town elder in Greenleaf. An investigation would reveal he was quite fond of wine, so if she could secure him some, he'd spill the beans.
I realize some of you probably immediately recognized the name Archduke Belial, but Horizon is not well-versed in the deeper aspects of D&D lore, so did not. I had considered being more upfront about going to Hell, so she could better prepare for it. But I was worried she might balk and refuse to go at all. And I mean, that's reasonable; she is only level 5. But this is 5E, so Hell isn't all that dangerous, really. Not compared to 2E, anyway. For instance, in 5E, devils resist non-magical weapon attacks, but in 2E they are straight up immune to them.
It turns out that Sue likes gifts, especially shiny ones. So that gift from Zinnia was another milestone, so she's 5 for 6 now. One more to go.
I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Sept 20, 2022 12:12:34 GMT -8
Session XP: Learning Kruck's secret - 25 XP Checking in on her mother - 25 XP Meeting with Anais - 25 XP Buying Sue a gift - 25 XP Defeating imps (x5) - 166 XP TOTAL: 266 XP That puts Zinnia at 13,842 XP total, which means she needs another 158 XP to level up. Don't forget to update your character sheet, HorizonsDream .
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Post by Daos on Sept 27, 2022 12:08:01 GMT -8
I wish I could think of a way to write these things up faster; I spend so much time working on them, I don't have as much time to actually work on the sessions. Anyway, here is the summary: Session 16 - To Hell and BackWe pick up where we left off, on the evening of Day 34, in the pits of the fourth layer of Baator, Phlegethos. Three hell hounds are rushing toward the party, and they prepare to fight them off. It's a difficult battle, made all the more difficult because Zinnia kept forgetting her magical staff gives her fire resistance. At one point she fell to their fire breath, but rather than what usually happens, she stayed down, at least until Kelra healed her. After the battle, Zinnia keeps her staff at the ready from that point on. They continue on, eventually reaching the city of Abriymoch, which is massive. It dwarfs Affsburgh quite a bit, making it look like a hamlet in comparison. It's full of casinos, slave auctions, drug dens, and brothels. A real sin city, in a very literal sense. And yet, the place had an almost unnatural tidiness to it. The streets are immaculate. Armed guards patrol the streets, making sure nobody steps out of line. Imps and Spinagons fly overhead, keeping a watch on everyone and everything. Zinnia decides to ask someone for directions to an inn so they can rest. She approaches a trio of strange beings that resemble bloated, melted humanoids that are all chained to a nearby building. They don't seem capable of speaking, but appear to be in terrible pain. Vicavor, more knowledgeable about the other planes of existence, explains that these are called Lemures, the lowest rung of the Baatezu ladder. Sue suggests they check one of the casinos, although he seems pretty eager to see what the casinos are like here, in comparison to the ones back on the mortal plane. They head to the Lucky Dragon, which has an actual dragon chained to the roof, breathing fire and otherwise roaring and making a scene. It's not like any dragon Zinnia has seen before, appearing to be on fire but not in pain. It's a very upscale casino, far more luxurious than the Ruby Princess. The party are bombarded with bright lights, loud sounds and strange people. Sue enjoys it, but Vicavor looks like he's going to throw up from the constant bells, whistles and klaxons, not to mention the bright, flashing lights everywhere. Zinnia approaches the front desk, where she speaks to a blue-skinned Baatezu woman and asks about renting rooms. However, it turns out the currency here are souls, and the party only have their own to barter with. When Zinnia walks away, she realizes Sue and Nemeia are gone, so she decides to try and find them. However, her investigation check is so poor, she winds up losing Vicavor in the crowd, too! She manages to find him, pinned against the wall by a very aggressive purple-skinned tiefling woman who seems to have 'claimed' him. She does not speak Common, and nobody in the party currently can speak Infernal (Sue and Nemeia are both still missing), but Zinnia manages to communicate through miming that Vicavor belongs to her, and gets him back. With that done, Zinnia begins searching again, and once again botches her roll so badly she winds up losing Raiann instead! So, she manages to track her down, speaking to an Azer in the Draconic tongue. Raiann reports that she learned the location of Belial's palace and how to get there, so at least that wasn't a complete loss. Finally, Zinnia finds Sue and Nemeia. Nemeia has a slave collar around her neck and is in possession of a scary looking devil, and Sue is fast-talking him in Infernal. It's not clear what he says, but somehow he manages to clear things up and get Nemeia released. With everyone reunited, Zinnia decides they should just leave immediately, and head for Belial's castle. Along the way, Nemeia thanks Sue for helping her out, and Sue comments that he's pretty good at bluffing and scamming people, it's just not a skillset that most people appreciate. But Zinnia points out such skills do have a time and a place, and can be useful. The party makes a beeline for the palace, but run afoul of a pack of Spinagons on the way there. They claim to have been sent by Belial as a test, as he knows they are coming. Fortunately, they aren't nearly as difficult as the hell hounds and the party easily prevails, although at one point Zinnia wild surges and creates images of flower petals and butterflies all around her, like some kind of Sailor Moon transformation sequence. Once inside the palace, they are greeted by an albino tiefling who escorts them to Belial's audience chamber. He's a large devil, quite handsome, and sitting on a large iron throne between two pillars of flame that light up the room with a sinister red color. Zinnia attempts to be diplomatic, but Sue isn't having it and demands answers. Belial seems amused and agrees to answer them. Sue wants to know why he was abandoned, and the gist of the answer was basically, “What did you expect? I'm an archdevil.” He then asked why his mother, of all people. Belial responded that one of her ancestors made a deal with him, but wouldn't go into details due to privacy. Finally, Sue asked why in the world he named him 'Sue.' Belial answered, “If you want to make it, you've gotta be tough. So I gave you that name before I said goodbye, because I knew you'd have to get tough or die, and it's the name that helped to make you strong. You're welcome.” After a moment's thought, Sue responded that that was the stupidest @#$%ing thing he ever heard and demanded to go home. Belial chuckled and opened a portal back to Affburgh for them. Zinnia was the last to step through, but before she did she wondered if Belial could help her in her quest. He pointed out that Kyristan cannot scry on her when she is outside the mortal plane, meaning he has no idea what is going on now (and also why when Zinnia fell earlier, nothing happened; suggesting Kyristan is doing something to save her when that usually happens). He offers her a death crystal, a jagged piece of black obsidian that can seal away any kind of undead. But in return, she'll need to sign a contract. Zinnia agrees, but the contract is so thick of legalese she cannot make heads or tails of it, but figures an embodiment of Evil surely wouldn't cheat her, so she signs it in blood and accepts the crystal before stepping through the portal. She finds herself back in Affburgh, in a back alley somewhere in the merchant district. She sends the party home, and escorts Sue back to his place. They hold hands on the trip, and he confesses that although they have only known each other a short time, he has developed strong feelings for her, and she agreed. Once they reached his place, they kissed and he invited her in to spend the night, which she also agreed to. NotesVicavor's reaction to being in a casino is actually autobiographical. My father worked security in a casino for most of my adolescence. Casinos were the big thing back home, presented more as family restaurants that just happened to have gambling. So my family would often go out to dinner at a casino for special occasions. I always hated it, though. As soon as we would step inside, the lights, the sounds and the cloud of smoke (from all the cigarettes) would have me nauseous and with a headache within seconds. I don't know how people spend literal hours in those things. The sequence in the casino was pretty funny, and entirely accidental. Every time Horizon would roll investigation to find someone, she'd do so poorly she'd actually wind up losing someone. But it all worked out in the end. Also, it turns out that Sue's final milestone was recognizing his special talents and appreciating them, even if they aren't the most ethical. Once Zinnia did that, she maxed out affection with him. When presented with Belial's contract, I had Zinnia roll intelligence and she did so poorly I just said, "Yep, looks alright." Anyway, I'm sure there won't be any negative consequences in the future to signing that, so we might as well all forget about it now. I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Sept 28, 2022 12:57:01 GMT -8
We actually already leveled up Zinnia to 6 after the session, and I'm working on leveling up her companions to 5 at the moment. But might as well make it official with the XP. Session XP: Defeating Hell Hounds (x3) - 350 XP Saving Vicavor - 25 XP Defeating Spinagons (x4) - 300 XP Meeting Belial - 25 XP Making a deal with a devil - 25 XP Beginning a relationship with Sue - 25 XP Completion of adventure - 490 XP TOTAL: 1,240 XP That puts Zinnia at 15,082 XP total, which means she needs another 7,918 XP to level up. Don't forget to update your character sheet, HorizonsDream . For her level up, Horizon gave Zinnia the Lightning Bolt spell. She also got her Bend Luck ability. Now to wrap up the Affburgh arc and move on to the Glimmer Lake arc.
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Post by Daos on Oct 4, 2022 12:08:01 GMT -8
Session 17 - Wrapping Things Up We open a few days later (Day 37 since arriving in Affsburgh), and the party is having breakfast at their home. Things have been going well with Sue, and he has visited nearly every night. Zinnia has mostly stayed put, not leaving the house unless she has to (and then, in disguise) to avoid the guards, who are still looking for someone of her description. Nemeia has been busy finding a riverboat to take them up the river and toward Glimmer Lake.
During the meal, Kelra announces she and Bastian have become engaged, which shocks Zinnia. Apparently things were going much better between the two of them than she thought. The wedding is planned for the summer, and it's currently autumn, so there's still plenty of time to plan. And Bastian knows Kelra is going on a quest with Zinnia soon, but not the specifics of it.
Zinnia then tells Vicavor that before they leave, he has to tell his parents the truth about being expelled from the academy. Vicavor really doesn't want to do this, but she pushes him on the matter until he agrees. She disguises herself as a human merchant using her magical ring, and then the two head to his house. She comes up with a cover story of being named Alyssa and being Vicavor's tutor in the Divination arts.
Vivacor's parents live in a decent middle-class, two story home in the merchant district. His father is Taren, a human historian and librarian in his late fifties with salt and pepper hair and thick glasses. His mother is Raven, an elven priestess of Gonto, who looks young enough to be Taren's daughter, if not granddaughter, despite the fact she's actually older than him. She has black hair, usually tied u pin a severe bun. They find the pair in their study (a spare room they've turned into a library and work office).
The whole reason for this encounter was that Zinnia insisted that Vicavor come clean to his parents, and she was going to offer emotional support as he did so. But for whatever reason, she seemed to change her mind and instead this became about tricking his parents into thinking he was going on a field trip instead. She botches her deception check, and his parents mistakenly think they are going on some kind of couples' retreat. At first, they seem to approve, but the more Zinnia lies (badly) the more convinced them become she's some kind of deviant and their son shouldn't be involved with her. So consequently, the truth never comes out and they both just leave. Vicavor goes back home to pack, and Zinnia goes off to say goodbye to Sue.
She heads to Sue's place and knocks, and is greeted by Penelope who does not recognize her, because she's disguised. But once the misunderstanding is cleared up, she lets Zinnia inside and beckons Sue, who seems to be just waking up (being unemployed has seemed to change his sleep schedule). The two say their goodbyes, and Sue makes her promise to stay safe and return in one piece.
Zinnia then heads home and says goodbye to her mother. It's awkward and tense, though. Arabella can't seem to look directly at her, and busies herself with laundry as they talk. She just wants Zinnia to get 'fixed' and has faith in her abilities to pull that off. Zinnia insists Arabella needs to remember her suppressed memories, which only upsets her again. She forces her to promise to seek therapy at the temple to recover the memories, as Zinnia believes she will need them to face Kyristan.
With that, the party packs up their things and heads for the docks. Nemeia has arranged a boat called the Blue Crab to take the party to Glimmer Lake, no questions asked. The captain, a man named Eakins, seems a bit shady and it's implied he has connections to Augury, but he is willing to take them without question, but at a cost of 100 gold pieces a person. Zinnia pays, but then notices a group of guards coming to inspect the ship. As it turns out, Eakins has a hidden smuggling compartment in the hold, so the party stuffs Zinnia in there while the guards do their inspection. One of them recognizes Raiann and decides the ship is probably clean then, so they depart. Zinnia notices some other cargo in the compartment with her, including some small kegs of some kind of alcohol, but she decides not to question it.
Once the ship is underway, Zinnia is retrieved by Nemeia and is allowed free movement around the boat. Zinnia finds Vicavor in the guest cabin, reading. She asks him about magical suppression. He knows of some magical collars that are said to be able to suppress magic spells and abilities; usually they are used for spellcasting prisoners or slaves to keep them from escaping. They are quite common in Renosia, but not so much in Swadia.
Zinnia then finds Raiann on the upper deck, keeping a careful watch out. She teases the warrior, saying she should learn to relax. Raiann points out that, knowing their luck, some monster or river pirates or something will jump out and attack them. In any case, Raiann has felt the need to be hyper-vigilant ever since she was possessed. Zinnia sympathizes, as she was also possessed, but she hopes to cure that problem soon in Glimmer Lake. Raiann says that when she was possessed by the black dragon, Vespera, she didn't feel possessed. Rather, she felt like herself. She justified every decision she made, even attacking the party, to herself and at the time, it all made sense. Vespera's control over her was rather subtle, exploiting her own fears and insecurities and weaknesses. Raiann then brings up a chilling point. How certain is Zinnia that her decision to go to Glimmer Lake, to find Darwin...is her own? What if this is exactly what Kyristan wants her to do? Two of his apprentices are dead, and now the party is seeking out the third. Could the lich be covering his own tracks? Zinnia finds this doubtful at first; Kyristan has been very silent of late. But Raiann points out that could be because his control of her has grown to the point that he can do so subtlety, not needing to control her with brute force of will. In any case, it's not like the party has any other options. But Raiann feels Zinnia should remain vigilant, and always carefully consider the reasoning behind any of her own decisions.
Zinnia then finds Kelra and Nemeia on the deck, discussing the former's wedding. Kelra asks if Zinnia would be her maid of honor, and Zinnia accepts. They discuss some planning details (dresses, decoration, venue), and then Zinnia decides to get some rest down in the guest quarters.
Zinnia has a disturbing dream while resting. She sees herself sitting on a throne at the top of Affburgh castle, looking down at the city. The residents are all undead, and she feels accomplished and proud to rule over her own kind. She then stands up, and suddenly warps to Glimmer Lake. The actual lake, and she stands on the surface of the water, looking down at her reflection with her piercing, red, glowing eyes; she has no flesh or hair, for she is a lich. She wakes with a start, and after getting some fresh air on the deck, returns to her hammock to get more sleep.
Notes The ironic thing is, my original plan was to move ahead to Glimmer Lake for this session. But Horizon insisted that Zinnia have a chance to help Vicavor come clean with his parents. And I wasn't sure how to turn that one scene into an entire session, but I sure did my best. And then, that never happened anyway. Ah, well.
Horizon had the option of bringing Sue with her, but he had the exact same build as Nemeia (Tiefling Rogue with the Thief sub-class; they're even the same level now), so it would have been a bit redundant, and would have thinned out XP even more, so she opted not to.
I had considered having something attack them on the river boat, but ultimately decided not to. But I had Raiann lampshade it anyway.
Anyway, not much else to say. This was largely just a transitional session. Next time, we'll be starting the new arc proper.
I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Oct 5, 2022 13:22:46 GMT -8
Session XP: Discussing Kelra's wedding with her - 50 XP Meeting Vicavor's parents...sort of - 50 XP Saying goodbye to Sue - 50 XP Saying goodbye to Arabella - 50 XP Discussing arcane suppression with Vicavor - 50 XP Discussing free will with Raiann - 50 XP Agreeing to be Kelra's maid of honor - 50 XP TOTAL: 350 XP That puts Zinnia at 15,432 XP total, which means she needs another 7,568 XP to level up. Don't forget to update your character sheet, HorizonsDream .
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Post by Daos on Oct 11, 2022 0:53:40 GMT -8
Session 18 - Welcome to Glimmer Lake We open a few days later, on Day 01 of the Glimmer Lake Arc. The Blue Crab has traveled up the river to its source--the titular Glimmer Lake. It's a large lake with a small village on the shore, and a tall tower in the center of the lake, surrounded by mist. The Blue Crab docks at the village, which is quite homey and humble looking, not unlike Greenleaf.
The party disembarks and heads into the village and immediately seek out an inn, of which there is only one--the Misty Tower. It's a comfortable, cozy looking place although seemingly bereft of customers outside of themselves. The common room stands entirely empty, save for the innkeeper, a sweet and friendly human woman with long blonde hair, pulled back into a ponytail named Darla.
The party rents two wealthy rooms for a week, then ask Darla about the tower. She explains a mage named Darwin used to live there, or perhaps still does. Nobody knows. He's something of a recluse, and would only come into town every now and again to pick up supplies. But about 20 years ago, he just stopped and nobody has seen him since. Word is the tower is full of shapeshifting monsters, and nobody who has tried venturing in there has ever returned again.
Zinnia asks Darla if she knows the name of Kyristan, but Darla says she has not. But Zinnia notices a slight twitch to her eye when she says that, making her suspect otherwise. Zinnia tries to disbelieve illusion, but nothing happens. Suspicious, she and the party head out into the village to talk to the various locals. Everyone is super nice and friendly, despite the party having a Dragonborn, a Tiefling and a mysterious woman who always kept her cloak up to hide her face. They find a fisherman about to head out onto the lake to get the morning's catch, and Zinnia pesters him to row them over to the island. He's very reluctant, but she continues to press until he relents.
Once they arrive at the tower, they see it's standing on the middle of a little island. The fisherman tells them that he'll return for them when he's done for the day, so if they want to leave earlier, they'll just have to wait. Then he rows off after they disembark. The tower has no windows on the lower floors, and only small arrow slits on the upper floors. They find a single entrance, a double heavy wooden door with steel reinforcements. Strangely, they find it locked but there is no visible keyhole or padlock anywhere. Zinnia casts Detect Magic and wild surges (but it just restores any spent sorcery points, and she hasn't spent any yet, so it basically amounts to nothing) and learns there is Abjuration magic coming off the door. She has Vicavor inspect it, and he deduces it is protected by an arcane lock. He is able to dispel it, using his newly learned Dispel Magic spell.
Stepping inside, they find it completely dark and seemingly abandoned. She lights a torch with her Light cantrip to see, and finds the floor is covered in a thick blanket of dust. There's a spiral staircase in the middle of the room leading up to the second floor. They ascend to the second floor, which is just as empty and abandoned as the first. However, instead of stairs they find a levitation chute like the ones in the guild tower back in Northbank.
However, as she inspects it, a clay golem comes out of seemingly nowhere behind them (the room was empty, so it's not clear where it came from) and attacks them. There's a pitched battle and Zinnia takes several hits, but the party is able to eventually bring it down. The party is forced to retreat back to shore, and then wait for that evening when the fisherman returns to collect them. They then retire back to the inn.
While she is recovering from her wounds, Zinnia sends Nemeia and Vicavor out into town to do some digging. Nemeia doesn't find anything out, but Vicavor does make an interesting observation. In questioning the locals, he realizes that none of them (except Darla) seem to have any knowledge whatsoever about the outside world. They don't know about the recent war with Goblins that Affburgh had, they don't even know who the current king is. More over, they don't seem to have any interest in any of that stuff, either. It seems odd, as even if Glimmer Lake is fairly isolated, surely there are travelers now and again who share tales and such.
Zinnia takes the group back down to the common room for dinner. They ask Darla to make them some fried fish. When she brings the food to them, Zinnia loudly talks about how she is the 'vessel' hoping to get a reaction out of Darla; but no luck, she is cool as a cucumber. So she tries casting Detect Magic on Darla and...finds nothing at all. Disappointed, she tries asking Darla about the town. It looks like it was once bigger, and more populous, because there are lots of abandoned homes and shops on the outskirts. Darla claims this is just because the younger folk move to the cities for work, so the place has been shrinking.
Zinnia notes there are no other customers, and Darla admits they don't get many visitors. This prompts Zinnia to ask how the inn stays in business then. Darla claims to have several side-jobs she works during downtime.
Zinnia changes tactics and asks about Darwin. Did Darla ever speak to him? No, she saw him in passing as a child only. Zinnia points out Darla mentioned Darwin would buy supplies in town. So the general store owner would know him? No, he died a few years back and the store is now run by another person entirely.
Frustrated, Zinnia finishes dinner and heads back up to the rooms with the others. She was sure Darla was some kind of illusion, but couldn't sense any magic coming from her, so therefore she can't be. “Well, unless she was masked,” Vicavor added. Zinnia asks him what he means. He explains it is possible to mask or conceal magical auras with certain spells. Zinnia asks if Vicavor could dispel such magicks, and he agreed it was theoretically possible. It would depend how strong the magic is. Zinnia then starts to work on the beginnings of a plan.
Notes I was actually worried I wouldn't have enough material to last the whole session. Horizon was kind of speeding through things, but luckily I managed to just make it. I really need to try and work ahead a bit, to avoid that sort of thing. But by the time Saturday rolls around, I usually have just barely made enough material to cover the session.
Anyway, the Clay Golem was CR 9, and the party did pretty well against it, thus further reinforcing my belief that CR is nonsense. Only Zinnia took any damage, in fact. That was because she kept throwing Lightning Bolts at it, and that pissed it off. Vicavor managed to hit with a Ray of Enfeeblement and Nemeia got a globe of Darkness around its head, so it had disadvantage and only did half damage, which made the fight a lot easier. Neither of those spells having saving throws, either, so its magic resistance didn't help any. It did halve all of the Lightning Bolts thrown at it, though.
This session was largely a mystery, kind of a throwback to the original adventure in Northbank. Where is Darwin? Is Darla hiding something? What's going on with the locals?
I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Oct 11, 2022 12:02:37 GMT -8
Session XP: Meeting Darla - 50 XP Defeating the Clay Golem - 1,000 XP Investigating Darla - 50 XP TOTAL: 1,100 XP That puts Zinnia at 16,532 XP total, which means she needs another 6,468 XP to level up. Don't forget to update your character sheet, HorizonsDream .
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Matt4
Paragon
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Post by Matt4 on Oct 11, 2022 13:07:34 GMT -8
Anyway, the Clay Golem was CR 9, and the party did pretty well against it, thus further reinforcing my belief that CR is nonsense. Only Zinnia took any damage, in fact. That was because she kept throwing Lightning Bolts at it, and that pissed it off. Vicavor managed to hit with a Ray of Enfeeblement and Nemeia got a globe of Darkness around its head, so it had disadvantage and only did half damage, which made the fight a lot easier. Neither of those spells having saving throws, either, so its magic resistance didn't help any. It did halve all of the Lightning Bolts thrown at it, though. Ray of Enfeeblement does though! Not when it hits, but on subsequent turns the target has the chance of making Constitution saving throws to shrug off the effect.
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Post by Daos on Oct 11, 2022 16:36:14 GMT -8
Ah, crapbaskets. I completely forgot about that. I mean, since this game started.
I'm still used to 2E, I keep forgetting that 5E nerfed debuff spells to the point of being nearly useless. Kind of annoying, as support caster is one of my favorite classes to play.
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Post by Daos on Oct 17, 2022 13:04:58 GMT -8
Session 19 - Not What They Seem We picked up the following morning, Day 2 since arriving in Glimmer Lake. The party met for breakfast in the common room and while Darla was preparing it, Zinnia directed Vicavor to cast Dispel Magic on the innkeeper. He did so, and the image of Darla melted away to reveal an elderly human man in nice robes and a cloak. Furthermore, the image of the cozy, homey inn vanished, as well, revealing the place was time-worn and dusty, having seemingly been abandoned for years.
Darla, or rather, Darwin, tells her that if she wants him, she'll have to come get him at the top of the tower. He then teleports away, much to Zinnia's frustration. They step out side the inn and find the entire town has been abandoned, and is quite time-worn, suggesting that everyone living there had been some kind of illusion, possibly explaining why nobody in town was very knowledgeable about anything outside the town.
They manage to find an intact fishing boat (most are no longer seaworthy) and row back to the island with the tower. They find it still unlocked and open. The first floor is exactly the same. Up on the second floor, they see no sign of the clay golem they defeated the day before. Zinnia has Vicavor cast Levitate on her, then floats up the chute to the third floor and ties off some rope so the others can follow.
The third floor is filled with scattered books, papers and scrolls in every direction in a messy manner. Zinnia ignores it completely, but tells the others to stay behind and look over them, while she heads for the chute leading up to the fourth floor. However, when she tries to do this, a giant snake with a human face slithers up behind her and attacks (with it being very unclear where it came from).
The creature was very powerful, and the battle proved very difficult. At one point it took out Kelra and Vicavor with a Flamestrike spell, but fortunately Nemeia survived thanks to her fiendish heritage and force fed a potion to Kelra. Raiann then went down when it bit her and she took a ridiculous amount of poison damage. Kelra was able to get her back up again. Unfortunately, Vicavor was neglected and after failing one death save, rolled a natural 1 on another. Luckily, Kelra was able to revivify him with the diamond Zinnia procured earlier from the galeb duhr.
Eventually, the party succeeded and slew the beast. At this point, with all the fighting, gore and venom splattered everywhere, and the various spells, most of the books, papers and scrolls had been destroyed or ruined. Zinnia started going through the surviving ones, and discovered they were mostly about the vessel.
It turns out that the original plan was to create multiple vessels. Each one would have its own ability to think and act, like a person, but Kyristan would be able to possess it from anywhere in the world at his leisure. In this way, he could build an empire, with his vessels serving as his vassals, capable of acting in his name. This process required him to break a piece of his soul away to create the first vessel. Then subsequent vessels would be created by breaking that one's soul, and so on. However, when Arabella fled with the 'prototype' the plan was ruined. It is only possible to break a person's soul once, so trying it again would destroy Kyristan.
This new revelation made Zinnia wonder whether she was actually, biologically, Kyristan's daughter or if she just carried a sliver of his soul in her. The party retreated back to the inn to rest. While there, Kelra noted that the creature they fought was a Guardian Naga, and pointed out how that was weird, because such creatures are usually on the side of Good. So why was one guarding Darwin's tower? Also, they usually avoid violence when they can, but that one attacked them immediately. Zinnia reasoned it was probably charmed somehow.
Notes I had statted out Darwin as an archmage, and when Horizon brought up the idea of dispelling his illusion, I was like, "Ha, good luck." Vicavor is only level 5, after all. But he rolled a 21 on his check, and the DC was only 17. Pssh...that's 5E for you, I guess.
But anyway, between dispelling and levitating, it was good to see Vicavor being useful. He's very much a support caster, and I was disappointed by how useless he's turned out to be so far. Abjuration was one of my favorite magical schools, but it feels like 5E really nerfed it hard. And then he died, to boot. Only for like a single round, granted, but still.
That fight was pretty rough. The Naga was CR 10, which is the strongest thing I've thrown at the party so far. We had our first death, albeit temporary, as a result. So I'm guessing that's probably the threshold of survival for now. Anything stronger would likely wipe them out. But then again, an archmage is CR 12...so...I guess we'll see what happens!
Anyway, Horizon was running a bit late so the session was a bit shorter than normal.
I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Oct 18, 2022 13:02:48 GMT -8
Session XP: Exposing Darla - 50 XP Defeating the Guardian Naga - 1,180 XP Learning how the vessels work - 50 XP Learning the vessel's intended purpose - 50 XP TOTAL: 1,330 XP That puts Zinnia at 17,862 XP total, which means she needs another 5,138 XP to level up. Don't forget to update your character sheet, HorizonsDream .
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Post by Daos on Oct 25, 2022 12:48:29 GMT -8
Session 20 - Dreams On the morning of the third day in Glimmer Lake, the party woke up, grabbed their gear, and returned to the tower. They found the door still open, and the first and second floors completely bare. But when they reached the third floor, they found it bare, too. The books, the dead naga, the blood, the burn marks--all of it. It was just an empty room with a blanket of dust on the ground, littered with several footprints that seemed to be their own. Not sure what to make of that, the party proceeded to the fourth floor.
There, they found a magnificent study including a hearth with a blazing fire, telescope looking out a window, chess set, couple of dressers, and a writing desk. Nothing really seemed interesting (the telescope was pointed toward some constellations, the dressers were filled with black and red robes, black seemed to be winning on the chess set), but the writing desk contained a leather bound book. Remembering what happened the last time she opened up a book, Zinnia used detect magic to determine if it was safe first.
Sensing no magical auras from it, she opened it and discovered it was a journal. It went over the history of Glimmer lake, and how it slowly dried up over time until everyone either left or died. So Darwin created illusions of locals to keep up appearances, and drive away anyone curious about the tower by claiming it was filled with shapeshifting monsters. The town was essentially a cover, for Darwin always assumed that one day Kyristan would send someone to kill him. He seemed to imply that Kyristan might believe Darwin played a hand in Arabella's escape (and her theft of the prototype vessel). This intrigues Zinnia; it always bugged her how her mother could have escaped from such powerful men; an illusionist aiding her would explain that.
The party attempts to go up the next and final chute, when a behir attacks, seemingly from nowhere (especially odd, as it's quite huge in size and there is nowhere in the room it could have been hiding). A big fight breaks out, and Raiann comes dangerous close to being swallowed whole more than once, but the party is victorious in the end. But now they are in really bad shape again, so are forced to withdraw back to the abandoned inn.
Raiann takes the first watch, so the others try and get some sleep. That night, Zinnia dreams. She and the party burst into Kyristan's lair, finding him sitting on a throne made of bones. “This is the end, Kyristan!” Zinnia declared. “Yes, I agree,” Kyristan said, standing. “This ends here, one way or the other.” A fight breaks out, but Zinnia finds all of her magic falters. Instead of fireballs, she throws bubbles. Instead of lightning bolts, ribbons stream forth from her hands. And Kyristan kills each of her friends, one by one, before he seizes control of Zinnia's body, holding her in place while he monologues.
It's at this point Zinnia senses a presence behind her. “Yeah, this is probably how it would go,” the voice says. “Quite interesting. We weren't sure if you'd be able to dream or not.” Zinnia finds that she can move again, but Kyristan is still monologuing, ignoring the two entirely. The voice behind her is Darwin. He has invaded her dream through magic, so they can communicate without Kyristan--the real one--overhearing them.
Zinnia explains she only wants Darwin's help in restoring her body. Darwin tells her he cannot do so. Or rather, he could 'restore the illusion' that masks her true appearance (suggesting that she is supposed to look like a lich) but the moment they were in the same room together, he was certain Kyristan would seize control of her and attack him. The only way he could help her would be to either destroy Kyristan first or find a way to remove the collar around her neck. Without the collar, Kyristan could only possess her if she were within visual range. But with the collar, he can possess her at any point, and can see and hear anything she sees or hears.
Zinnia has many questions for Darwin, regardless. First, was she created or born. The answer was, a little of both. They created her, and then implanted her into Arabella. So she was born. Why did she spontaneous develop magic? That he wasn't so sure about, and admitted that was not something any of them had foreseen happening. But his guess was because her soul was a broken off fragment of Kyristan's. Could she somehow purge Kyristan's soul from hers? No, her soul is Kyristan's fragment. That would just kill her. How did Darwin remove his collar? He traveled to Rabbah and spent several years combing desert ruins until he found a genie's lamp and wished it off. Where was Kyristan now? Likely at his tower, which was over the Red Horn Mountains, about a week north of here.
Eventually, Zinnia made up her mind. She would not proceed to the fifth level of the tower, but would pack up and head back to Affburgh to do some research. But her most important priority was to first find a way to disguise herself longer than her Ring of Chameleon can do. Which Darwin felt wasn't actually important at all, but for whatever reason, Zinnia insisted that she could not do anything else before somehow acquiring a more powerful version of the ring. From somewhere.
She suddenly woke up with a start, and saw Raiann was still on watch. She almost told her everything, before suddenly remembering that Kyristan can hear/see anything she says/does, so instead just cryptically said they needed to return to Affburgh. Raiann didn't understand, but assured Zinnia that they were all behind her, whatever decision she made.
Notes This was a fairly short one, because Horizon was quite late. I guess she thought I cancelled or something, even though I never said I did? I don't know, there was some kind of miscommunication. So I had to stay up later than normal, but we managed to finish a short one, at least.
Anyway, we got a lot of answers in this one. Assuming, of course, anything Darwin said can be taken as true, at any rate. At one point, Zinnia expressed a desire to mimic Darwin and take a multi-month journey to another continent and comb the deserts hoping to find a genie's lamp, which I found a bit distressing. The whole point of that story was how impossible such a feat would be. I outright had to nix that idea. Besides, if Zinnia had a wish, she could just wish for Kyristan to be destroyed or something, so that would be fairly anticlimatic anyway.
I don't really know what's going to happen next session, so I'll have to try and prepare for multiple scenarios and hope for the best. I might have to wind up winging it a bit. Or a lot.
I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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Post by Daos on Oct 26, 2022 13:38:07 GMT -8
Session XP: Defeating the behir - 1,440 XP Dream Conversation with Darwin - 50 XP Learning how she was made/born - 50 XP Learning Kyristan's location - 50 XP TOTAL: 1,590 XP That puts Zinnia at 19,452 XP total, which means she needs another 3,548 XP to level up. Don't forget to update your character sheet, HorizonsDream .
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Post by Daos on Nov 15, 2022 20:13:22 GMT -8
It's been a couple of weeks. Horizon's been either busy or not feeling well, but we managed to squeeze in a short session on Sunday.
Session 21 - Into the Swamplands We picked up a day later, with the party returning to Affburgh via riverboat. Zinnia immediately went about on a shopping spree, and also spent some time recruiting both Sue and Bastian to help with the Vespera issue. She used the contact she acquired from carousing before (the mayor's assistant, a mage named Mai) to get a 10% discount on one magical item purchase of her choosing.
First, she bought some new armors for the party (half plate for Kelra, full plate for Raiann), and also got a long bow and arrows for Sue. She then started seeking out some magical items. She wanted a dragon slaying sword, but even with the discount, it was far more than she could afford (14,000 GP). So instead she got Raiann a simple +1 sword. She also picked up bracers of archery for both Nemeia and Sue, and got everyone a potion of acid resistance (even Raiann, who already resists acid). She used her discount on the potions, which were ironically, the cheapest of her purchases.
Once that was all settled, the party waited for the next day, then set out toward the swamplands. It took a day of travel to even reach them, and they camped that night on the outskirts before proceeding forward the next morning. Zinnia was able to find a relatively dry path for them to walk.
As they walked, Bastian and Sue spoke of what they would do with their shares of the treasure. Sue wanted to get a better place, while Bastian wanted help in paying for the wedding, which was apparently starting to spiral out of control, in terms of price. They were interrupted when they heard a strange buzzing sound getting closer. A swarm of a dozen stirges approached. Zinnia did not want to waste any spells, but tossed a fireball anyway and incinerated them all in one go.
Continuing on, they eventually came to a large mud pool. Nemeia tried to parkour across some rocks, but slipped half-way through and fell in. Zinnia used her robe of useful things to make a rowboat, so the party could paddle across and pick up Nemia on the way. When they reached her, though, half a dozen mud mephits emerged from the muck and started harrying them. The party was able to dispatch them, and then carry onward. But only after Zinnia used her Decanter of Endless Water to wash off everyone.
By late afternoon, they came upon another obstacle, a disgusting stink pit. It was the worst smell any of them had encountered. Kelra and Nemeia both wound up puking while trying to cross, but luckily Bastian and Sue, respectively, were able to retrieve them and help carry them across.
By the time evening was upon them, they came upon what seemed to be an abandoned cabin on some dry land. Well, not completely abandoned, as a pair of trolls came up from behind the cabin and attacked. Unlike the other two fights, this one proved much more difficult, especially because the trolls were apart and close to the cabin, so fireball was tricky. Also, it took Horizon awhile to remember Raiann had acid breath. But ultimately, they were successful.
They found the cabin defensible enough, so decided to camp there for the night.
Notes I honestly don't have much to say on this session. It was fun, and there were many references made to the Swamp of Sadness and the Bog of Eternal Stench.
I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
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