Purify Pilgrimage (Homebrew 5E Solo Game Summary)

[Daos]

Session 10 - In the Nick of Brine
We picked up with the party descending the stone stairs down the water temple, sans the horses and retainers, who remained at the entrance. The party arrived at a square shaped chamber, some kind of foyer, with an opening to the south and nobody around. The stranger who attacked them was nowhere to be seen, nor were there any druids to greet their arrival. There was a foot of water on the ground, however, and plenty of black vines on the walls and ceiling, seemingly slowly sucking the water dry.

Stepping through the opening to the south, they found themselves in a hallway intersection, west to east. Oceana chose east which led into a visitor's room with a coral table and chairs growing out of the ground. Sitting on the table to avoid the water were five grainy white humanoids with wings complaining about, well, everything. The humidity, the temperature, the boredom, the decor, etc.

Oceana tried to engage them in conversation, but they were incredibly rude, insulting her appearance, intelligence and anything else they could think of. Thus, she did not learn much about them, but they apparently came through a portal and could not return. Oceana splashed some water at one of them, which seemed to sting it and cause it to smell of brine. They insulted her more, trying to goad her to fight, but she just left.

Heading west this time, they came across another intersection, this one a four-way. To the north was an alcove. There are murals painted on the alcove wall, depicting the creation of Crater Lake. It shows the mountain as it was, then it exploding its top, then the crater itself being formed and filling with rain water.

Taking the south route, Oceana noticed this area was damaged. There were chunks of stone debris fallen from walls or the ceiling. The water was deeper here, too, at least three feet. She had Selena ride on her shoulders and Clover on Wyldfyre's, although this slowed them down significantly.

The tunnel opened into a massive central chamber with numerous pillars holding up the ceiling. The water here swirled slightly in a clockwise motion for no apparent reason. There were also a few pits where the water got up to five feet deep. There were passages to the west and south. Oceana decided to try west.

The west passage opened into what appeared to be a dining hall, with more coral tables and chairs growing out of the ground. Inside were five humanoid creatures, about 5 feet tall, that were featureless and appeared to be made of salt. Not saying anything, all five attacked at once. Oceana and Wyldfyre quickly deposited Selena and Clover onto a table. Individually, the creatures didn't do much damage but every time they hit someone, they absorbed some of the fluids out of their body. The party defeated two of them, when they three remaining combined, forming a larger version. This one hit much harder and was a lot tougher, but eventually the party prevailed

After reviving him, Wyldfyre speculated they were Facets, creatures from the Plane of Salt. Searching around, they didn't find anything of note in the room, so backtracked. This time they went south and reached another alcove. This one had a large, sealed stone door with two orb like imprints in it, about the size of one's head. So they backtracked again and this time went southwest, which led to a stuck door. The party managed to shove it open and found a private chamber, likely for one of the head druids. A body wearing vestments laid in the bed. It immediately got up and attacked, so the party deposited Clover and Selena on a desk and dresser.

The corpse of the druid was dried out, like jerky. Oceana assumed it was a zombie, so was shocked when it one-shot Wyldfyre, nearly killing him. It turned out it was, in fact, a salt mummy. It was a difficult fight, as it was completely immune to Nymwen's necrotic spells. However, the snooty elf was still able to save the day by conjuring five skeletons to keep the mummy distracted. A couple of them fell, but the party was able to whittle it down. After searching the room, they found a red pearl about the size of a fist. They decided to take a short rest in that room, despite the three feet of water and the corpse floating on it. But at least the room was defensible with a door that could close.

Afterward, they regrouped and headed southeast to reach an identical room with another salt mummy waiting for them. After dispatching it (the remaining skeletons were quite helpful), Oceana found an identical fist-sized pearl, but this one was blue.

The party backtracked once again to the central hall. Upon arriving, though, they heard and felt a slight rumble. Five lizard-like creatures, roughly six feet long or so, emerged from different areas in the room. They were white and rime-encrusted, and none too friendly looking. The party prepared for another fight.

My Notes
This session was 2h, 30m.

Unlike the first dungeon, where every fight was mandatory, some of the fights were skippable this time around. The dungeon was also less linear, with options on where to go and what order to take each room, and some rooms were also skippable. So it was that Oceana skipped the fight with the salt mephits, one of the easier fights in the dungeon, but blundered into the salt mummies quite early, who were actually very difficult.

Facets are a very obscure creature from 2E Planescape. I spent like a week working to converting them into 5E. It was no easy task, and ultimately it could have been pointless since the room was entirely skippable. But I think they came out alright, although I probably should have boosted their WIS a bit, because they kept failing every saving throw the party threw at them. My plan was to have them combine after two rounds, so however many were left, the harder the fight would end up becoming. There were only three, so it wasn't too bad.

The salt mummies were pretty tough, but oddly were somewhat ineffective against the skeletons. This is because their slam attacks did a little bit of thunder and large amounts of necrotic damage. The necrotic damage only affected creatures with water inside of them, so skeletons were immune. And while they are vulnerable to bludgeoning damage, thunder damage is normal to them. Consequently, they were the perfect defense for this situation. Go Nymwen.

We'll find out how well the party fares against the salt grues next time.

Anyway, I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.

[Daos]

XP is as follows:

Oceana Poole (Ancient Paladin 4)
Weathering the mephits' insults - 25 XP
Defeating individual Facets (x2) - 40 XP
Defeating Triple Facet - 220 XP
Defeating Salt Mummies (x2) - 920 XP
TOTAL:  1,250 XP

That brings her to a full total of 5,966 XP, meaning she needs 489 XP to level up.

Wyldfyre (Berserker Barbarian 3)
Defeating individual Facets (x2) - 40 XP
Defeating Triple Facet - 220 XP
Defeating Salt Mummies (x2) - 920 XP
TOTAL:  1,180 XP

This gives him a total of 3,716 XP, meaning he reaches level 4.  He gets 10 HP and +2 STR.

Selena (Dream Druid 3)
Defeating individual Facets (x2) - 40 XP
Defeating Triple Facet - 220 XP
Defeating Salt Mummies (x2) - 920 XP
TOTAL:  1,180 XP

This gives her a total of 2,987 XP, meaning she reaches level 4.  She gets 7 HP, Wildshape Improvement, Resistance cantrip, 2nd level spell slot, +2 WIS, can prepare 7 spells a day, and Shillelagh is stronger.

[Daos]

Session 11 - Churning Beneath a Swirl of Salt
We picked up where we left off, with the party being attacked by five salt grues; lizards that seemed to be made of salt. Clover and Selena were both dumped into the water; the former was left to splash helplessly while the latter wildshaped into a crocodile. Nymwen quickly realized the creatures were immune to necrotic damage, to her chagrin. But Oceana smote one of them and realized they were vulnerable to radiant damage, so Nymwen switched over to Word of Radiance. The party made short work of them after that.

After the fight, Oceana noticed a section on the east side of the main hall she had missed before. There were three orb shaped gaps in the wall, and one of them had a yellow pearl the size of a fist in it. The other two were empty. Oceana placed the red and blue pearls she found into the empty slots, and this caused the wall to slide open, revealing a secret room. Stepping inside, she found a green pearl, but this one was as big as a basketball. As she went to pick it up, something struck her from behind.

Whirling around, she faced the cloaked woman who shot at her before. Her hood was down now, so she could see that the woman was a water genasi, and clearly infected with the Rot the way Wyldfyre was. But whereas Wyldfyre was lost in a haze of despair, this woman seemed filled with hate and twisted rage. Oceana called for Wyldfyre to help, then cast Lesser Restoration. The Rot was purged and the genasi collapsed to her knees in tears, horrified by her actions and profusely apologized. Then Wyldfyre tackled her to the ground.

Oceana pulled the barbarian off her and apologized to the woman, but she seemed even more apologetic than Oceana. She introduced herself as Torrenta and explained what happened. Torrenta was born in Si'ahl up in Salt Whale. Born a Water Genasi, her parents assumed she was chosen for some special purpose by Elonna. They trained her in the church, then when she came of age she was sent to the lake to train further with the druids there. About a month ago, the Rot first appeared. It started driving everyone crazy, making them fight with each other. She resisted as long as she could, but was the last to fall to the hatred. The heart of the temple was infected first, and was closed off to try and stop the spread, but it failed to do so. She was trying to reopen it, and even got one of the keys in place before succumbing.

As the cloister room is dry and defensible, Oceana decided to bring the whole party inside and seal it up so they can take a long rest. It was a little cramped with so many people, but it worked well enough.

After the rest was complete, they filed back out and headed to the south wall of the main hall. There, Oceana placed the large green pearl into the slot and opened the way to the heart of the temple, which seemed to be some kind of portal to the Plane of Water. However, it was fully infected with the Rot, with massive wet tentacles so thick that they spilled out of the room, like when one opens a closet that's been stuffed full.

As Oceana wondered how to deal with this problem, the ground began to shake again. Turning, they saw a large golem made of salt lumbering toward them, summoned by the Rot to protect it. The golem hit hard and fast, and it seemed strongly resistant to spells and completely immune to non-magical weapons. Fortunately, Oceana discovered it did suffer one large weakness--water. Using Create Water spells and dumping the water on its head seemed to melt away parts of it, dealing large amounts of acid damage. Oceana nearly died, but Nymwen was able to revive her. Eventually, the party triumphed and the golem melted entirely.

With the golem defeated, Oceana now needed to figure out how to cleanse the heart of the temple. She tried casting Light on the vines again, but this time it had no effect beyond making them glow. She tried throwing a ball of flame at the vines, but this did nothing, either. These vines looked the same, but it was clear they were different--they were absorbing water and expelling salt, instead of absorbing heat and expelling ash. A different solution would be needed.

Oceana tried to puzzle it out. Fire was the element of passion, and the death of passion was despair, or ash. The opposite of despair was hope, or light. Water, however, is the element of compassion. The death of compassion was hate, or salt. So she needed the opposite of hate--love. But what was the element of love?

Unsure, she tried a different tact. Salt, when mixed with water, became a permanent part of it. Even though it was invisible, it was still there, affecting the water's properties, like taste. How do you extract salt from water? There was only one way she could think of--to boil the water. This would cause it to change form, into steam, leaving the salt behind.

Trying a new hunch, she threw another ball of flame. But this time at the water on the ground. The ball splashed and extinguished immediately, creating a little cloud of steam that rose up to the vines. The vines seemed to withdraw from the steam. She then had Wyldfyre and Torrenta help. Torrenta shaped the water, causing it to form a pillar beneath the mass of vines while Oceana and Wyldfyre threw as many fire globs that they could, over and over again. It took a good hour of work, but the steam produced melted away the vines enough to reveal a path toward the heart.

A figure emerged from the heart, feminine in appearance but made entirely of water. She nodded her thanks and left two gifts behind. One was a beautiful blue sapphire amulet and the other a small orb of blue glass roughly the size of one's fist. She then returned to the heart and a blast of thick steam filled the temple and beyond, completely purging the remainder of the Rot for miles around.

The pendant turned out to be a Periapt of Wound Closure, which would require attunement much like her sword. The sphere, like the previous one, melted into her hand. She then realized she could control the water around her, granting her the Shape Water cantrip.

At that point, though, the party was interrupted by a thunderous peal above and then the sound of a deluge of rain striking the temple roof. More and more water started to stream down from the stairs, filling the place. Realizing they needed to get out of there fast, Oceana led the group back to the entrance where they met up with her retainers. They then fled to the edge of the lake, with the water raising quickly. Luckily, they made it before getting sucked in. Once the rain filled the lake up to its brim, the clouds parted and the sun returned like magic.

My Notes
This session was 2h, 30m.

The salt grues were another homebrewed creature I came up with. They were a lot easier than the facets to create.

Our newest character, Torrenta, is a Nature Cleric. She is sort of the opposite of Wyldfyre in every way. She's kind, gentle and sensitive. And she abhors violence. I mostly built her for healing/support.

The golem was a tough fight. Wyldfyre was completely useless, outside of just tanking damage from his rage. Selena and Torrenta were the real MVPs, as they were both capable of creating and controlling water. Each gallon of water that hit the golem dealt 1 acid damage. So casting Create Water at level 2 would deal 20 acid damage, no save. That really wore it down quickly.

The periapt should prove useful, considering how many times Oceana has been knocked down so far. Plus, as the sole PC, her death would mean a game over, so it should help keep her alive for awhile longer, at least.

That's two holy sites down, three to go. But first, they'll need to trek all the way back to Harmony for some downtime.

Anyway, I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.

[Daos]

XP is as follows:

Oceana Poole (Ancient Paladin 4)
Defeating Salt Grues (x5) - 450 XP
Recruiting Torrenta - 100 XP
Defeating Salt Golem - 833 XP
TOTAL:  1,383 XP

That brings her to a full total of 7,349 XP, meaning she is now level 5.  And after only 11 sessions.  0_o

Wyldfyre (Berserker Barbarian 4)
Defeating Salt Grues (x5) - 450 XP
Defeating Salt Golem - 833 XP
TOTAL:  1,283 XP

This gives him a total of 4,999 XP, meaning he needs 1,501 XP to level up.

Selena (Dream Druid 4)
Defeating Salt Grues (x5) - 450 XP
Defeating Salt Golem - 833 XP
TOTAL:  1,283 XP

This gives her a total of 4,270 XP, meaning she needs 2,230 XP to level up.

[Daos]

Session 12 - Bountiful Bounties
We picked up where we left off, with the party traveling back the way they came. Days 33, 34 and 35 were completely uneventful. During that first night, Oceana attuned to her new periapt of would closure.

On the evening of Day 36, Oceana encountered a coven of druids heading toward the lake. They explained they noticed a strange steam emerge from there, and the blight has been vanishing since then, so they were heading there to investigate. Oceana confessed she was behind the purification, and they gave her three healing potions as thanks before heading on.

On the morning of the 37th day, they heard a baleful bay and spotted some kind of wolf-like creature stalking them on a nearby ridge. It looked like a large wolf but its face was almost goblin-like. It mentally projected its thoughts into Oceana's head, claiming it was sent to bring her in, but that it intended to feast on the souls of her companions. The party engaged it in combat and eventually managed to wear it down, destroying it in a burst of flame. Torrenta identified the creature as a barghest, a daemon from Gehenna. Oceana was annoyed that her bounty was not just limited to the Shadowfell.

That evening as they were setting up camp, Oceana heard the clang of metal against metal. Turning, she saw a small gnome-like creature with a hammer and pick. He had stone-like skin and small gems protruding from his face, but wore no armor. He yelled something in Sisyouan and attacked. Selena translated that he called them 'vile evil doers.' She tried to tell him they weren't evil, but offered no evidence so he seemed unconvinced. Eventually they battered him down to exhaustion, and he said even if he died, he would do so protecting his people.

After a bit of conversation, mostly through Selena translating, Oceana learned he was a Pech from the Plane of Earth. He and some of his people fled to this realm as refugees and were taking shelter in the Cascade Mountains. One day a mortal approached and offered his people aid, but warned them of an evil heaven-touched woman who hated elementals was seeking to wipe them out. So this Pech (they never asked his name) kept an eye out for her in case she ever appeared.

Oceana assured him she had nothing against his people and meant no ill will. When questioned about the mortal who told him these deceptions, he wasn't sure of much. He had trouble discerning things like race and gender among mortal races. All he knew was that the mortal was plane-touched in some way or another (definitely not earth-touched, though). Selena healed him and they sent him on his way.

During Oceana's watch, she started nodding off and so did not realize something was sneaking up on the camp until the last minute. Three serpentine lamia climbed up on a nearby ridge and started shooting arrows at the party. The party fought them from a distance, chasing one off and slaying the other two. Oceana then climbed up on the ridge alone to search them and found a note describing Oceana. The third lamia returned then, trying to use her charming gaze on Oceana, but the paladin shook it off and slew the creature.

On Day 38, they returned to the old cabin they had encountered before. Oceana was eager to move past it, not even checking the well where she had boarded up the kelpie. This turned out to be a mistake, as the kelpie had broken free and was waiting in ambush. She galloped up behind the party and attacked, grappling with Oceana. Toward the end, she even managed to charm the aasimar. But luckily the rest of the party was able to dispatch the creature before anything came of it.

The party pressed on, managing to cross the rickety bridge again and by nightfall they reached the base of the mountains and were once again in Green River Valley.

On Day 39, the passed by the farms they fought the blights at before. The blights were gone, as was the Rot. Most of the plants were still dead, but many of the farmers were returning and trying to rebuild. Oceana spoke to one farmer who explained a wave of hot steam rolled down from the mountain, killing the Rot a week ago. Since then, the place has been safe and people are returning home.

That night, the party reached the garden of Paradise. They checked in on Nate, and found he had planted his deceased dryad's acorn in his lawn, and it had since grown into a sapling with its own dryad, a small child named Leafa. Nate was now raising her as his daughter.

Oceana played with Leafa a bit, and Torrenta teased that the paladin would make a good mother some day. Oceana assured her she was just used to playing with her little sisters, that's all. She had no interest in children of her own.

They got rooms at the same inn and during the night, Oceana spoke with Selena and Torrenta (who were all sharing one room) about who this mortal that is trying to stop them might be and how they were involved with the Rot. Were they the one who created it in the first place? Torrenta explained that the Rot appeared in the heart of the temple first, at the portal. It was always locked up tight and under constant supervision, so there was no way someone could somehow break in and mess with it. This only seemed to deepen the mystery further.

My Notes
This session was 2h, 30m.

I had actually meant to add a couple more encounters in the mountains. I had in my notes plans for a Blood Hawks encounter and a Megapede one. But I guess I forgot to stat them up. When I realized my mistake, rather than trying to whip up something fast, I just ruled nothing happened those days.

The druid coven was a recycled encounter I wrote up for chapter one. Had Oceana gone through the wilderness instead of taking the road, she would have run into the druids. If she had taken the wilderness back home, as well, she would have run into them a second time and they would have rewarded her the potions as thanks for purifying the volcano. Since that never happened, I moved it up to the mountains instead.

The barghest, stonemaster pech and serpentine lamia were all random encounters, but I decided to tie them together since they happened on the same day and make them would-be assassins sent by whoever is trying to stop Oceana's quest. Pechs are of good alignment, however, so I decided he had been deceived and could be reasoned with. Ironically, this made Oceana try to do the same with the lamia, by speaking to them in several different languages before realizing they could speak in Cascadian all along, which was kind of a funny moment.

There was a bit of confusion when the party tried to knock out the pech.  Its stat block said it was immune to unconsciousness, and I don't know what that means.  Can it not be knocked out then?  Or does that only apply to sleep spells and the like?  In the heat of the moment, I just ruled that at 0 HP he was knocked to his knees and couldn't move or act (was incapacitated) but still conscious.

Anyway, I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.

[Daos]

XP is as follows:

Oceana Poole (Ancient Paladin 5)
Defeating Barghest - 183 XP
Defeating Stonemaster Pech - 183 XP
Defeating Serpentine Lamias (x3) - 100 XP
Defeating Kelpie - 183 XP
Checking on Nate - 25 XP
Playing with Leafa - 25 XP
Discussing bounties with Selena and Torrenta - 25 XP
TOTAL:  724 XP

That brings her to a full total of 8,073 XP, meaning she now needs 5,927 XP to level up.

Wyldfyre (Berserker Barbarian 4)
Defeating Barghest - 183 XP
Defeating Stonemaster Pech - 183 XP
Defeating Serpentine Lamias (x3) - 100 XP
Defeating Kelpie - 183 XP
TOTAL:  649 XP

This gives him a total of 5,649 XP, meaning he needs 852 XP to level up.

Selena (Dream Druid 4)
Defeating Barghest - 183 XP
Defeating Stonemaster Pech - 183 XP
Defeating Serpentine Lamias (x3) - 100 XP
Defeating Kelpie - 183 XP
TOTAL: 649 XP

This gives her a total of 4,919 XP, meaning she needs 1,591 XP to level up.

Torrenta (Nature Cleric 1)
Defeating Barghest - 91 XP
Defeating Stonemaster Pech - 91 XP
Defeating Serpentine Lamias (x3) - 50 XP
Defeating Kelpie - 91 XP
TOTAL:  323 XP

This gives her a total of 323 XP, meaning she reaches level 2.  She gains 7 HP, a 1st level spell slot, and Channel Divinity (Turn Undead and and Charm Animals and Plants).

[Daos]

Session 13 - Making Our Way
We picked up the following morning, Day 40. As they walk along the Fey Eye, they spot a young gnome who cheerfully waves at them. He introduced himself as Merwin Whistlefield, and he explained he was on his first quest--a quest for love. He was hoping to win the hand of a gnome girl from his homeland, Selza Wigglebranch. She had given him a quest to prove he was worthy--to find a dragon feather. Oceana questioned a lot of this before it finally dawned on her that dragons don't have feathers. But Merwin was not deterred and didn't believe her, especially after she admitted she'd never seen a dragon before. Eventually, Merwin got annoyed with Oceana's constant naysaying and parted ways with the group.

Afterward, the group discussed their thoughts on love and marriage. Nymwen admitted she'd break the world for her true love. Clover thought it was all just made up for stories. Wyldfyre agreed, citing he'd never settle down with just one person. Torrenta, though, thought the whole thing was rather romantic. Selena had no opinions on such things. Eve saw marriage as a strictly political thing, Billow was largely inexperienced, and Isles admitted he was too focused on his duties to the family to worry about such things.

The following day is Day 41. As the party walks along the Fey Eye, a large misshaped rat approached them. Riding on said dire rat was a goblin woman in a hood, bearing a strange circlet that resembled a moving red eye. She claimed to be Inx the Diviner, and offered to tell the party's future or tell the truth, but not both. The others were reluctant, but Oceana decided to give her a try and paid one pink shard to ask if she would get married within the next month. Inx performed her divination and declared that she would not. Then she rode off. Eve stated that Oceana was ripped off, but Torrenta thought it was nice to meet new and interesting people on the road.

The day after that, Day 42, they continued their travels north along the Fey Eye when they saw colorful fabric between the trees and a large, crushed basket hanging from rope. A dwarven woman approached them with a limp. She introduced herself as Gwenma Cloudcrag and explained she had invented a 'hot air balloon' and taught herself to fly it, but it crashed and she injured her ankle. She hoped the party could give her a ride to the nearest settlement to buy supplies so she could fix it. Oceana agreed, allowing her to ride Rogue Wave.

Oceana was curious and asked the woman where she came from. Gwenma replied she was from the east, which Oceana thought meant the Riverdom. Gwenma clarified she was from further east than that, so Oceana thought she meant Clearwater. As it turned out, Gwenma was from a land even further east than that, which stunned Oceana. Gwenma explained her culture, known as Rustists, who dug up Ancient One tech and rebuilt it or reverse engineered it. She spoke of Ancient tech with reverence, claiming that they had tech that let them fly through the skies and, according to legends, even fly up to the stars! Oceana was rather skeptical of that last claim. She did warn Gwenma, though, not to speak openly of Ancient tech once they reached Haven. The Elonnori aren't too keen on the idea of digging up Ancient tech.

Oceana also learned Gwenma was originally heading to the coast, as she had never seen the ocean before. She was flying north of here when she encountered a very strange atmospheric disturbance that caused her to lose control and eventually crash. It was a flying structure of some kind, covered in black vines. The vines seemed to be sucking the air in around it, creating a vacuum of sorts. Questioning her further, Oceana deduced this had happened in Ravenite territory. She also found this information troubling. If the Rot was growing in the air, how would she even reach it? Gwenma suggested that the Celestian Empire to the south might know of a way, as they were pretty advanced.

After arriving in Haven, they parted ways. Out of gratitude, Gwenma gave Oceana a coin made out of gold. Worthless among the Elonnori, but she hoped it would help her out some day on her travels. Oceana then got the party rooms at a local inn for the night while Gwenma went to the market to buy her supplies.

On Day 43, they ran into Barnabas again, with his drake pulled wagon. He was a little disappointed to see Oceana, as last time she didn't buy anything. She was pretty quick to dismiss him again, to his chagrin. But then she changed her mind and asked if he had anything new. The kobold explained his inventory is constantly changing. She again asked for a magical maul. He had one, for 500 pink shards. With a natural 20 on a Persuasion check, she managed to talk him down to 210. He was desperate to make a sale, so agreed despite taking a huge loss.

The maul, the Infernal Reckoner, was an obsidian weapon forged in the depths of Baator. In addition to dealing an extra 1d4 fire damage with each hit, it also made the user fluent in Infernal once attuned. She gave it to Wyldfyre to use.

On Day 44, they arrived in the garden of Twinrivers. Oceana quickly sought out Petal and Shen, who were having their wedding ceremony that very night. They were pleased she would make it, but Oceana had nothing to wear. Petal asked her to be a bridesmaid and provided her a dress for it.

The ceremony itself was held at nightfall. Everyone went to the local grove, and the bride and groom donned ceremonial clothing which had seeds, plants, coral shards and such sewn into them. The ceremony itself was them planting a tree together, while reciting their vows. It was symbolic of the two of them starting a new life together. After it was done, they all went to the reception to let loose and have a bit of fun.

Oceana had never attended a wedding before, so it was an educational experience for her. She revealed to Petal she might be getting married soon herself, so Petal gave her some rose seeds just in case. She also told Oceana she was always welcome there, and she thought of her as a sister. They hugged.

Later as things were winding down, a courier arrived and handed Oceana a letter. It was from Lacrest, the father of Thornen. He apparently found out about her 'murdering' his son and has sworn revenge on her. Not sure how to deal with that at the moment, she decided to worry about it another day.

The following day, Day 45, the happy couple saw the party off. They headed north, eventually crossing the large river and reaching the garden of Mudturtle. As soon as they settled in, though, Oceana learned that the Grasping Mother was back. Apparently she can only be truly slain in her lair. Oceana and her group prepared to set out and finish this, once and for all.

My Notes
This session was 2h.

This was a no-combat session, although it hadn't meant to be. I was originally going to wrap things up with the Grasping Mother sequel fight, but I was so exhausted by that point I decided to just call it there.

I realize this wasn't my best work. It was just a series of non-combat random encounters, really. I was sort of going through some stuff when I wrote all of this. But I got to work in some foreshadowing to future stuff, like the air shrine and Lacrest.

Anyway, I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.

[Matt4]

Why you think this isn't your best work? The encounters seem interesting and the marriage scene is really cute the way you described here. This seemed like a fun session.

[Daos]

I don't know, I've just felt in a real slump lately and am constantly second guessing everything I do, I guess.

[Matt4]

I'm sorry you're feeling this way.. Maybe next time you could ask Horizon how she felt about the session? If you and her both had fun, that's the only thing it matters

[Daos]

Oh, getting any kind of feedback from her is akin to pulling teeth.  "It's fine," is usually the best I can get out of her on anything.

How's the food?
"It's fine."

Did you like the movie?
"It was fine."

How was the session?
"S'fine."

Any thoughts on how Chronicles of Overmorrow is going?
"Nope."

I've learned to stop asking at this point. 

[Matt4]

Ahahah well, as long as she's not complaining I think it's fine. And I think it's always a good sign when it's the DM that has to end the session, it usually means the players were engaged and wanted to continue playing

[Daos]

XP is as follows:

Oceana Poole (Ancient Paladin 5)
Meeting Merwin Whistlefield - 25 XP
Discussing love/romance/marriage with the party - 25 XP
Meeting Inx the Diviner - 25 XP
Meeting Gwenma Cloudcrag - 25 XP
Discussing the Rustists with Gwenma - 25 XP
Attending Petal's and Shen's wedding - 25 XP
TOTAL:  150 XP

That brings her to a full total of 8,223 XP, meaning she now needs 5,777 XP to level up.

Wyldfyre (Berserker Barbarian 4)
N/A
TOTAL:  0 XP

This gives him a total of 5,649 XP, meaning he needs 852 XP to level up.

Selena (Dream Druid 4)
N/A
TOTAL: 0 XP

This gives her a total of 4,919 XP, meaning she needs 1,591 XP to level up.

Torrenta (Nature Cleric 2)
N/A
TOTAL: 0 XP

This gives her a total of 323 XP, meaning she needs 577 XP to level up.

[Daos]

Session 14 - Home Again
We picked up where we left off, with the party heading into the woods to find the lair of the Grasping Mother. After a couple of hours of traveling, they found a grove with creepy, thorny vines on the ground and dark, thick trees choking out the sunlight overhead with their canopies. There, they at last found the Grasping Mother, along with twelve of her lost children. A great fight broke out. Oceana threw herself at the mother, which earned the ire of the children. It was all Torrenta and Selena could do to keep her on her feet. Wyldfyre, however, delivered the killing blow which then enraged the remaining children who focused their fury on him. Eventually, though, the party was able to finish them all off for good. The party then returned to Mudturtle victoriously.

The next day (Day 46), they set off again. That evening, they again reached the Appleseed Inn. Oceana was immediately recognized by the patrons who insisted on paying for all of her food, drink and rooms. They all listened to her regale her adventures. She had a good time, but was disappointed to learn Ashen was not there that night.

On the evening of Day 47, the party returned to Harmony and the Poole manor. Clover and Nymwen were paid and went their separate ways. Oceana's family wasn't happy to see Wyldfyre again, but set up rooms for him, Selena and Torrenta. Delta also asked Oceana to stay a month to work out some family issues and to properly prepare for the next leg of her journey, as it will involve leaving Elonnori lands.

That said, Delta wondered...was continuing even necessary? Oceana didn't know what she meant. Delta pointed out that the Elonnori lands were safe. If the Rot harmed the Ravenites and Celestians, well...maybe that was a good thing? Oceana didn't think so, so Delta let it drop.

On the morning of Day 48, Oceana sat down to breakfast with her family while Delta and Ryver filled her in on what she's missed in the past month. The Smoke Mountain temple has reopened to the public. Tyda has reopened a smaller version of her boutique. And Moss has been engaged to Korral, the eldest Winters sister, and they would be married in the spring.

Oceana objected to this vehemently, and asked Moss on the spot if that was what he really wanted. But Moss, as a man, has little say in such things. Oceana explained she had hoped to convince the church to make Moss a knight. But the betrothal was already done; to cancel it now would be a grave insult to the Winters family. Oceana asked if Moss can become a knight anyway, but Delta pointed out that was really up to his future wife.

Delta managed to change the subject slightly, by bringing up Oceana's own need to marry. Evidently in the past month, numerous proposals have come in. Delta had put together a short list of the most wealthy and influential of them so far (about 10), but she was still hoping they can hold out for someone really good, like a prince. Oceana was not pleased by this news, and especially after learning Xarrian Shail made the cut. Still, she at least had a little more say than her brother does, as Oceana is a woman and heir, not to mention the Hero of Harmony, the Volcano Vanquisher and the Lake Liberator, as well as a Chosen of Elonna.

After breakfast, Oceana approached first her father then her mother privately and told them she wanted to learn more about 'politics.' However, neither was really sure what she meant by that, and she didn't seem to really be able to explain it. (Likewise, I myself didn't understand what she was getting at, and Horizon couldn't seem to articulate it.) This led to a couple of frustrating conversations that didn't seem to go anywhere. However, Oceana was rather insistent that she be allowed to speak to Korral privately. Delta was sure they could set something up as they would no doubt be interacting with the Winters multiple times before the wedding, but the fact that Oceana kept emphasizing that this had to be a private conversation with no supervision made her suspicious.

Afterward, Oceana sought out Torrenta. She discovered that the cleric had already befriended most of the staff and seemed to know personal details about their lives, and help them out with their duties. When questioned about this, Torrenta said she felt she needed to help out to repay Oceana's parents for their hospitality--basically the opposite attitude Wyldfyre had, who was more than happy to exploit and abuse the servants for his own selfish wants.

Oceana vented to Torrenta that she is too 'sheltered' and 'stupid' to know politics and how she wants to know more. Torrenta tried to give her a pep talk, pointing out that Oceana is chosen by Elonna and had accomplished some great things already--like restoring two temples. She already has gathered a following of folks with very different philosophies and ideologies, too. So whatever challenges lie ahead, she was certain Oceana would be able to meet them. Oceana, however, remained unsure.

My Notes
This session was 2h.

The Grasping Mother fight was pretty disappointing, again. It's a monster I got online. The first time I used her, she went down pretty fast so I thought the second time I would use her lair actions and increase her minions. But most of her abilities were related to movement in some way. She's really not designed for theater of the mind. Without a map and minis, she just isn't a very effective enemy. Oh, well. I tried. Twice. Not really much else I can do about it. It's a shame, as it is a cool idea for a monster.

I don't have much else to say about this one. Afterward, Horizon criticized me for having 'low enthusiasm' for the session. I guess I did. I was super tired and had been all week, not to mention struggling with a rather potent depressive spell. I don't really know what to do about that, though.

Anyway, I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.

[Daos]

XP is as follows:

Oceana Poole (Ancient Paladin 5)
Defeating Grasping Mother Again - 700 XP
Discussion with Delta about continuing journey - 25 XP
Discussion with family about Moss' betrothal - 25 XP
Discussion with family about her own possible betrothal - 25 XP
Discussion with parents about 'politics' - 25 XP
Discussion with Torrenta about her abilities - 25 XP
TOTAL:  825 XP

That brings her to a full total of 9,048 XP, meaning she now needs 4,952 XP to level up.

Wyldfyre (Berserker Barbarian 4)
Defeating Grasping Mother Again - 700 XP
TOTAL:  700 XP

This gives him a total of 6,349 XP, meaning he needs 152 XP to level up.

Selena (Dream Druid 4)
Defeating Grasping Mother Again - 700 XP
TOTAL: 700 XP

This gives her a total of 5,619 XP, meaning she needs 891 XP to level up.

Torrenta (Nature Cleric 2)
Defeating Grasping Mother Again - 350 XP
TOTAL: 350 XP

This gives her a total of 673 XP, meaning she needs 227 XP to level up.