tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59761873302532295672024-03-15T20:12:50.194-05:00Bugbears for BreakfastOld School Gaming Using New School RulesPatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.comBlogger785125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-43381685809728420932024-03-06T21:23:00.003-06:002024-03-06T21:24:57.093-06:00The Sudden Sea – Session 14<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[May 11 and 12 – Anomin finds the goods]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the <span style="color: #ffa400;">Hero System Fifth Revised Edition </span>(FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened December 11, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea. The PCs are refugees seeking a better life through adventuring.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sorvia of Stavros</b> – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Tharduk Lavabreath</b> – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Kadruth Worldbender</b> – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Anomin</b> – female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Islo Redgrass</b> – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Inserrant</b> – female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 11, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Evening</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">While Sorvia, Tharduk, Kadruth, and Islo were at the Crossed Arrows, watching Inserrant perform on the stage, Anomin continued her exploration of the Nicabar house and the secret passage she had found in it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin, in crow form, found herself in a small dark room and thought she was in a closet. Listening, she heard someone walking on the other side of a wall. Unable to see anything, Anomin returned to her human form and then switched into her cougar form, which could see in the dark.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">What Anomin had thought a closet was actually a small furnished room with no windows and a trapdoor as the only exit other than the secret door she had entered through. Anomin took some time to quietly search the room. On one side was a cupboard with two barrels beside it. On the other was a set of bunkbeds with a chest at their foot and a side table with a lantern and some gnomish matches. Anomin checked the barrels and found one was water and the other wine. The cupboard contained drygoods and iron rations. The chest held 4 sets of clothes: a set of male peasant garb, a male city guard uniform, a set of female peasant garb, and a female city guard uniform. Under a false bottom in the chest Anomin found a small coffer and a bag of coins.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin turned back human again and pocketed the coffer and the bag of coins <i>[with some minor fumbling due to the darkness]</i>. Anomin then returned to cougar form and started investigating the trapdoor. She was able to open it and found a shaft descending deeper than the first floor with hand grips on the side. Anomin sighed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin turned back into a human again and searched the table for the lantern and matches. She found them with little trouble and lit the lantern while pocketing the rest of the matches. She then turned into a crow, picked up the lit lantern, and flew down the shaft in a corkscrew path. The walls looked sound-proofed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Arriving at the bottom of the shaft, Anomin discovered it connected to a small passage. She followed the passage a ways until it ended at a different shaft going up. She climbed up the passage to another trapdoor with a hook on the wall adjacent to the built-in ladder.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">With some slight difficulty, Anomin hung the lantern on the hook and landed on the top rung, where she listened for a couple of minutes. Hearing nothing, Anomin carefully switched back to human form and cracked open the trapdoor. The trapdoor opened in a small area surrounded by stacks of crates. She climbed out of the shaft and looked around and up. She appeared to be in a warehouse, probably outside the town walls.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin pulled up the lantern from the hook in the shaft and set it aside. She quietly closed the trapdoor and snuffed out the lantern before turning back into a cougar. She picked up the lantern’s handle in her mouth and started looking for an exit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin quickly found an open door with two guards standing next to it. She bolted past the guards and one called for her to come back before the other asked, “Do you really want that to come back?”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once out of their line of sight, Anomin paused and looked around. She was in the small warehouse and brewing district to the north of Nomi, near the apple fields, bee hives, and fields of flowers. She turned human again and then switched to crow form so she could fly back to the Crossed Arrows, taking the lantern with her.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Several minutes later she landed in an alley near the Crossed Arrows and returned to her human form. She then returned to the Crossed Arrows and found the other adventurers inside. She quickly explained what she had found. She and Sorvia left the group at the table to go upstairs to their rented room.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once in the room, Anomin pulled out the two bags and the coffer. Looking at the coffer first, it was locked with a high quality lock. Anomin went back downstairs to get Tharduk so he could open the lock. Tharduk pulled out some tools and set about disassembling the lock, taking time to do so. It resisted him for an hour before he gave up. <i>[He took an hour of extra time for the +3 bonus but still failed the roll.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The trio switched to examining the bag from the chest. Inside it were four pouches, each marked with a different crest. Of the four, the only one Anomin recognized was the one with the County Modon crest <i>[the principality she lived in]</i>. Inside it was a mix of gold and silver coins totaling 50 gold coins, the majority in gold.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">They opened another bag and it had the same amount of coins, but these were stamped with the portrait of the Emperor of Crendia, Orion I. A third bag contained coins Tharduk recognized as minted in the Free City of Freegate, a major trade city far to the northwest and not part of the Empire. The last bag contained coins from the Kingdom of Silverloc, once part of the Empire but now independent, mostly. Anomin then opened the bag from under the bed. It contained 15 orbs of raw gold that Tharduk estimated were worth 10 gold coins each.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now very curious about what was in the coffer, Tharduk returned to it and worked hard to unlock it. This time he was successful! Inside were trade bars, larger units of money that the Merchant Guild used to settle debts between chapters or to move large amounts of wealth. The coffer contained 10 bars worth 100 gold coins each and 20 worth 50 gold coins each. Tharduk started hyperventilating slightly. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">This was not only a large amount of money, but in very suspicious forms for a merchant to have stashed away. Anomin was of the opinion that they should give the gold orbs to The Sheriff with an explanation of where they were found.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">By this point, Inserrant had finished her performance. She collected tips worth 13 gold. She and the rest of the group headed up to the rented room where Anomin, Sorvia, and Tharduk explained what Anomin had returned with. The group discussed what to do with the money. The Imperial coins would be suspicious to spend anywhere in the Syrak Alliance <i>[the other break-away part of the Empire, of which County Modon was a part of]</i> as people might think the adventurers were spies in Imperial employ. The group decided they would need to exchange the coins for local coins when they could. All agreed that the gold orbs were too dangerous to hold onto having likely come from the illegal mine.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The following discussion was about who would take the gold orbs to The Sheriff. Anomin suggested that The Sheriff really liked her, but they would need to wait until after he had his coffee in the morning. She understood it was really important The Sheriff get his coffee, even if she didn’t understand why. The group decided that the two dwarves, Tharduk and Kadruth, would take the orbs over to The Sheriff in the morning with Anomin following.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 12, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Over breakfast, the group of adventurers agreed to meet at the tannery outside town if things go bad for any reason. After they finished eating, Kadruth and Tharduk left for the sheriff’s office with Anomin unobtrusively following them as a crow.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">At the sheriff’s office, Kadruth and Tharduk walked in through the front door and one of the deputies waved at them in greeting. Kadruth stated they needed to speak with The Sheriff and the deputy pointed out The Sheriff at an adjacent desk going over some papers and taking notes. When Kadruth and Tharduk walked over to him, The Sheriff greeted them with, “What interesting things do you have for me today?”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk started by asking if there was a more private place they could speak. The Sheriff wasn’t having any of it and responded, “This is my office. We are surrounded by my deputies: what do you think would happen?" Anomin’s response was, “A misunderstanding.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk started explaining what Anomin did the previous night. The Sheriff interrupted with, “Wait. You’re admitting to what now?” In reply, Kadruth thunked the bag of gold orbs onto the Sheriff’s desk. Intrigued, the Sheriff opened the bag and looked inside. "I understand your trepidation," he said, closing the bag. He quietly listened to Tharduk tell <i>[mostly]</i> the whole story.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Are you leaving town anytime soon?" The Sheriff asked. Tharduk stated the group was leaving immediately after lunch. "So I have to wait till after lunch before taking these to the baron," The Sheriff replied. “You should definitely be out of town when I do that.” The dwarves agreed and they and Anomin left the Sheriff.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk, Kadruth, and Anomin went back to the Crossed Arrows and relayed the conversation to Sorvia, Islo, and Inserrant. Inserrant stated she wanted to go confront the ne’er-do-wells at the Courageous Plate about nearly kidnapping the two dwarves when the group first arrived in Nomi two weeks ago. Tharduk and Kadruth were good with this but Kadruth suggested they do so on the way out of town. Everyone agreed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The group of adventurers settled their accounts with Hira and left the Crossed Arrows. They walked across Nomi to the Courageous Plate. They received several friendly waves along the way over from townsfolk that recognized them for helping put out the fire at the Michelakis house.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Arriving at the Courageous Plate, they found a handful of people sitting at tables out on the veranda. Inserrant asked the dwarves if any of these people were part of the near attack. Tharduk and Kadruth looked the people over and saw no one they recognized. Kadruth answered, “Nope.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When the adventurers entered the Courageous Plate, the entire bar went quiet. Clearly there were people in here who recognized the adventurers. Kadruth walked right up to the table Theodore Damaskis had once guided he and Tharduk to and sat down at it. The rest of the adventurers followed and sat down. Tharduk and Kadruth looked around and recognized several faces in the crowd. The bartender was also looking very pale.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Eventually a server came over to the table and asks if he could help the group. The adventurers ordered drinks and then quietly drank them in the silent bar. The adventurers then paid for their drinks and Kadruth bought 3 bottles of mead for the trip. The adventurers then strode out, daring anyone to say anything. No one was brave enough to do so, looking into their drinks and otherwise avoiding any eye contact.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers left Nomi through the Brewer’s Gate and headed northwest to the Ygro Dasos forest and the Onomastike Hills.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">That Night</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The group was several miles into the forest and at the edge of the hills when they made camp. During third watch, Sorvia heard the rustling of people approaching the campsite...</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[So we did not play for a month between the last session and this one for a mix of reasons, most revolving around the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of November. My wife and I did an Orphan’s Thanksgiving where we invite friends in the area that can't have Thanksgiving with their families for various reasons to have Thanksgiving with us. The week before we had to do shopping for food and a deep cleaning of the house. The day itself was a huge pile of food and friends and some boardgames but mostly conversations with friends. Afterwards, my wife and I were exhausted so the following week we did boardgames instead of me running the Sudden Sea. I forget why we skipped the week after that, but we did eventually resume plate for this season.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[I may have given the PCs too much money during this session. Part of it was balanced by the fact that some of it would be dangerous to spend as it might draw unwanted attention. On the other hand, in the past I’ve been stingy with handing out treasure and I’m trying to avoid doing that again. That said, this isn’t D&D, so there will not be thousands and thousands of coins. The local economy is copper-based so the treasure they have represents a lot of buying power, but where are they going to spend it? Plus, several have dependents they need to take care of.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/sudden-sea-landing-page.html">Sudden Sea Landing Page</a> - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-sudden-sea-session-13.html">Session 13</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: Session 15 <i>[Not yet typed up]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-68933340082758178662024-03-01T22:45:00.001-06:002024-03-06T21:25:31.577-06:00The Sudden Sea –Session 13<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[May 4 to May 11 – Survey conclusion and cautiously back to Nomi]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the <span style="color: #ffa400;">Hero System Fifth Revised Edition</span> (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened November 13, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea. The PCs are refugees seeking a better life through adventuring.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sorvia of Stavros</b> – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Tharduk Lavabreath</b> – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Kadruth Worldbender</b> – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Anomin</b> – female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Islo Redgrass</b> – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Inserrant</b> – female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 4, 56 I.C.</b> <i>(Imperial Calendar)</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the morning, the adventurers took an inventory of the claws and fangs they were able to harvest from the bear and Nemean Lion they had killed during the night. Due to their interrupted sleep from the creature attacks, they slept in a couple hours so everyone would be fully rested. During the day they scouted and mapped more of the forest. The forest seemed more peaceful. At the end of the day they made camp and set watches. The night passed without incident.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 5, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The party resumed mapping and surveying the forest. They reached the southeastern most reach of the forest and could see the Dowr Gwernan, the river that was the official border with The Shires, about a mile away. Sorvia very much wanted to bathe and suggested the group push on to the river. The rest of the adventurers were amenable and shortly the group was setting up camp next to the river. Everyone washed and refilled their waterskins with clean river water. The night was quiet.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 6, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers moved around the southeastern arm of the forest to avoid backtracking and resumed their survey when they got back to the main body of the forest. A</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">t the end of the day t</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">hey made camp in the forest.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">During first watch, Islo heard the sound of a very large bird flying over the forest, arriving from the west and leaving to the northeast. Without seeing whatever it was, he felt it might have been either a roc or a really big manticore. He shared this information with Tharduk and Kadruth when they took the second watch, but neither dwarf heard anything unusual that night.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 7, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers continued scouting and mapping the forest. The forest was very lively on this day and Sorvia and Islo were able to supplement the group’s store of food by hunting and gathering as they went. The night passed without incident.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 8, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The scouting of the forest worked its way up the western edge of the forest. When they were on the edge of the forest they could occasionally see herds of sheep grazing on the plains to the west. Some of the largest sheep were the same size as the smallest sheep in the cyclopses’ herd. The group camped in the forest and the night was quiet.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 9, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers wrapped up scouting the forest, observing more sheep herds to the west during the day. At the end of the day they made it back to the Mesta River, the border between the Wet Marches Barony and the Barony of Nomi, where they refilled their waterskins. They set up camp and watches, but the night passed without incident.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 10, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers forded the Mesta River and marched north towards the town of Nomi. Just as they could see the town on the horizon, they stopped walking and made camp. Uncertain what their status might be here, Sorvia set up snares and tripwires around the campsite.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers spent some time discussing their options and decided it would be smart to have Anomin fly ahead and contact The Sheriff to see how things lie. Anomin agreed with this. Before she flew off, Inserrant asked Anomin to pick up a copy of her (Inserrant’s) wanted poster if one was available.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin flew off in her crow form and quickly reached the town. She flew around and above the town to see if anything peculiar was going on. She could see the partially burned Michelakis house had started repairs and that the townspeople seemed to be going about their business normally. Anomin then circled down and landed on the roof of the Post Office, across the street from the Sheriff’s Office. She observed the Sheriff’s Office for a while. The ground floor was lit up but not the upstairs and there were a couple of deputies standing on the ground floor veranda.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As it looked safe, Anomin flew down to the main doors of the sheriff’s office, landing on the veranda railing. The Bounty Board was to the left of the doors and she quickly looked the board over. None of the posters she could see were for the adventurers, so she flew inside the office and landed near a deputy she felt she recognized. The deputy saw her fly in and was about to shoo this crow out of the office when Anomin clearly asked to speak with the sheriff. This caused all activity in the office to pause for a moment.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The deputy called out, “Sheriff? There’s someone here to talk with you.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Sheriff called back, “Who is it?”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">“A crow wearing a necklace,” the deputy responded.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Sheriff could be heard to curse mostly under his breath and then called out, “Send her in.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin flew into the office the deputy gestured at - the door was open. Inside she found The Sheriff sitting behind his desk, staring at her. She landed on the back of a chair facing the desk and asked how things were. In response, he laid out a proclamation from the Baron. Anomin read it and the proclamation stated that Viktor Nicabar had been discovered to be a criminal and traitor and his property was officially confiscated by the baron.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once Anomin finished reading the proclamation, The Sherriff shared that the baron found the map Anomin had turned over quite interesting, particularly the gold mine that by rights belonged to the baron. The baron fixed that issue, which amazingly cleared up all the land disputes in that area. Agni Michelakis now had more or less complete control over the lumber business per her inheritance, even if the baron claimed the part of the land with the mine as confiscated property. Anomin asked if he still had any of the wanted posters as Inserrant wanted a copy of hers. The Sheriff opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out copies of the wanted posters and gave Anomin the one for Inserrant, folding it so she could carry it as a crow.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Sheriff then asked if they found anything in the Mykro Dasos. She gave a summation but left out the cyclopses. When The Sheriff asked if they could confirm the rumors of giants stealing sheep, her response was, “Nope. No giants.” The Sheriff stared at her but couldn’t read a crow’s facial expressions and let it go.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After polite goodbyes, Anomin flew out of the sheriff’s office and then out of town, making her way back the the encamped adventurers. Back in camp she handed Inserrant her own wanted poster, which listed her as Lady Zill with a minor reward. Anomin then shared everything she had learned and heard in town. The group decided it sounded safe to enter Nomi the next day and planned to do so.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The rest of the night passed quietly.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 11, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After breaking camp, the adventurers walked the last five miles to Nomi and entered the town through the County Gate <i>[so-called as it was the starting point for the County Road the extended east from Nomi]</i>. Sorvia wanted to get copies of the wanted posters for the group as souvenirs, Kadruth wanted to speak with Agni Michelakis, and the return mail to Mouzaki needs to be picked up, so the group splits. Tharduk, Islo, Sorvia, and Anomin went to pick up the mail. Kadruth went to go speak with Agni, hoping for a reward for helping the family out recently. Inserrant went to the Crossed Arrows to see about making some money singing at the inn.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">~*~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inserrant arrived at the Crossed Arrows and spoke with the owner, Hira. Hira quickly and correctly recognized Inserrant but kept a neutral expression when she asked Inserrant what she needed. Inserrant started with, “We're back.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Are you going to cause any trouble," Hira asked.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">“We haven't yet.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">"There was a lot of excitement the last time you were here."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">“We were more a victim of the excitement really.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Remembering Inserrant was a singer, Hira asked, "Do you want to work tonight?"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">“Of course.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The two settled down to terms and when Inserrant needed to be performing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">~*~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the way to get the mail, Tharduk and Sorvia wanted to go to the Sheriff’s Office. While Tharduk and Sorvia went in, Islo and Anomin waited on the veranda, Islo reading the various wanted posters to Anomin.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inside, Tharduk and Sorvia spoke with The Sheriff, asking if there were any possible rewards for the people they captured the last time the adventurers were in tow. The Sheriff, slightly apologetic, stated that the adventurers had captured the arsonists before an award was posted, so there wasn’t any now. He suggested the group stop by the next time they are passing Nomi and he might have something for them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sorvia asked if she could get a copy of the wanted posters the baron had posted for the group as mementos. The Sheriff reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a stack, stating the reward had been rescinded before his deputies got around to nailing up the posters, so Sorvia could take what she wanted. Sorvia also wanted to interrogate Seraphim but The Sheriff informed Sorvia that Seraphim was being kept in the baron’s jail, not his, so she was unavailable.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once Tharduk and Sorvia were done speaking with The Sheriff, the group crossed the street and went into the Post Office to pick up the return mail to Mouzaki. They were given another two-foot cube crate, but this one was heavier that the one the adventurers previously delivered.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Having done what they wanted, the four adventurers went over to the town well to wait for Kadruth to find them. While there they read the Nomi job board but found nothing that interested them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">~*~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kadruth arrived at the Michelakis household. Clean up from the fire was complete while repairs were just getting started. Kadruth found the foreman and asked to speak with Lady Michelakis. The foreman sent a kid as a runner to get the butler. After a couple minutes the kid returned with a note for the foreman. The foreman read the note and then had the kid take Kadruth over to “the other building.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The kid led Kadruth down the street south and then east along the street inside the town walls to a narrow building. The kid knocked on the front door and a servant answered. The kid explained that Kadruth was here to see the Lady. The kid then discretely coughed at Kadruth, who took the hint and tipped the kid a copper.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kadruth was led into the house by the servant to a waiting room at the back. While waiting, Kadruth noticed that the back of the house was much wider than the front.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After a few minutes, Agni Michelakis arrived, along with a couple bodyguards. Kadruth stated he was just there to see how the Lady was doing after the mail incident and the fire. Agni told Kadruth she was still surprised that her business partner, Viktor, had been such a snake in the grass. The baron publicly confiscated all of Viktor’s property as a result of the revelations under Viktor’s house. This included a large part of the logging area and the mine she did not know she once had. Apparently Viktor had been secretly running the mine for over a year, producing gold for at least half that time. No one really knew how much gold Viktor had extracted but speculation was that it had been significant.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the past week, the property markers in the forest had been re-surveyed and it was discovered the markers along her property had been moved. With the markers replaced back to their correct positions, all the land under contention was decreed hers by the baron. The person who had contested the property confessed to being paid by Viktor to file the claim, but swore he had not moved the markers. The baron had not rendered judgment on that yet, but Agni suspected the baron would be confiscating some of the man’s land as punishment.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once the two had finished discussing the outcome of things, Agni handed Kadruth a small pouch with coins in it as a gift for helping put the fire out so quickly. Kadruth thanked her for the gift and bid her good day.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kadruth then went looking for the rest of the group, eventually finding them at the town well. The group waited for Inserrant there for about half an hour before deciding to go look for her at the Crossed Arrows.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">At the Crossed Arrows they found Inserrant waiting. They went to a table and shared what they had learned. Kadruth took this time to see what kind of gift Agni had given him and found the pouch held 18 gold coins. Inserrant explained she had a gig to perform at the Crossed Arrows that night and asked that the group spend the night in town before heading north back to Mouzaki. The group agreed and rented the large room upstairs again for the night, with Kadruth covering everyone’s dinner and the room.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Later That Night</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Curious about things at the Nicabar residence, Anomin told the rest of the group she was going to check the house as a crow while everyone else listened to Inserrant's performance. The other adventurers were fine with Anomin doing this, being too comfortable back in town after camping for two weeks to follow her.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin flew over the town to the north end where the Nicabar place was located. There were a couple guards standing watch at the front and back entrances. Some of the window blinds were up and some were not, with no smoke coming from any of the chimneys. The house felt empty to Anomin.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Seeing an opportunity, Anomin flew down through the largest chimney and exited it in the kitchen. There was light dust on everything in the kitchen and some food left out had gone bad. Anomin checked the pantry and cold room and found both mostly empty.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin decided to check the rest of the house out, looking for Viktor’s bedroom. She eventually found it on the third floor at the far end of the house from where she started. She searched the bedroom, looking for secret or hidden compartments. She found a hidden compartment in the bed headboard that held a sword! One of the side tables had faint scratch marks on the floor near it. Anomin turned back into her human form and moved the table, finding a trap door underneath it. Anomin turned back into a crow and investigated the trap door. It seemed locked and she suspected that there was a latch on the other side, which would be appropriate for a quick escape.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Already down on the floor, Anomin next looked under the bed. There she found a movable panel. Pushing the panel up, she found a hidden compartment. She also heard footsteps approaching the room from the hallway. She climbed up into the compartment, which contained a small bag, and listened.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">She heard two people enter the bedroom, one asking the other if they had found something. “Not yet,” was the reply. Anomin heard the two people discover the trapdoor and attempt to pry it open. Suddenly there was the sound of wood splintering and a cry from one of the two as the trapdoor suddenly gave way and that person fell with a loud thud!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin heard the fallen person climb back up and state he was injured. The other helped him out of the trapdoor and back out of the bedroom. Anomin held position until she heard them start descending the stairs and then climbed out of the hidden compartment. She removed the small bag, which jingled slightly with the sound of the many coins inside. She then dragged the bag out from under the bed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once out from under the bed, Anomin turned human again and put the small bag in one of her belt pouches. She then turned back into a crow and descended down through the now open trap door. It descended a single story to a hidden passage along the eastern side of the house, ending at the backside of a secret door.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin opened the secret door and stepped through, finding herself in a dark closet in the adjacent building...</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[The front half of this session went quick as the PCs finished scouting the Mykro Dasos forest. The second half, back in Nomi, took more time. We stopped before Anomin finished her investigations as it was getting late.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Random fact determined this session: the major export from the Shires to other principalities is food wagons. Think “fantasy food trucks” and you are spot on.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/sudden-sea-landing-page.html">Sudden Sea Landing Page</a> - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-sudden-sea-session-12.html">Session 12</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-sudden-sea-session-14.html">Session 14</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-80940117363407297612024-02-21T07:00:00.001-06:002024-02-21T07:00:00.161-06:00The Sudden Sea –Session 12<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[May 3 – “That” turned out to be a Nemean Lion!]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened November 6, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea. The PCs are refugees seeking a better life through adventuring.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sorvia of Stavros</b> – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Tharduk Lavabreath</b> – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Kadruth Worldbender</b> – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Anomin </b>– female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Islo Redgrass</b> – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Inserrant </b>– female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 3, 56 I.C.</b> <i>(Imperial Calendar)</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Nighttime, Second Watch</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As Kadruth slowly backed into the circle of light from the campfire, a lion nearly twice as big as a bear followed him. Kadruth silently worked his mouth, trying to alert Tharduk to the lion’s presence, but he could not find his voice.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kadruth turned and ran into the campsite and cast his <i>Wall of Force</i> spell. He then finally found his voice and called out “Lion’s here!” The lion moved over to the bear carcass and snarled loudly at Kadruth at Tharduk <i>[Presence Attack]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A light sleeper, Islo was immediately awake. He grabbed his bow and fled out of the camp and into the trees. The lion snarled at the adventurers and took a bite of the bear carcass. Inserrant, in her tent, grabbed her club and did her best to not sound like lion food.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk was immobile from fear. Sorvia stood up, grabbed her bow, and fled into the trees. Anomin turned into a crow and flew up and away. Kadruth, after his brief burst of mobility was immobile from fear.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Having put some distance between himself and the lion, Islo strung his bow and took cover in some bushes. The lion took another bite from the bear carcass, giving a look at the adventures, daring anyone to stop him. Inserrant snuck out the back of her tent, noisily.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk’s will broke and he retreated from the lion. Sorvia backed up another 12 meters, arcing around to the south and keeping a line of sight on the lion. Anomin, now far away, hid in the treetops. Kadruth had a plan and decided to hold to it <i>[saved his action]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The lion decided Kadruth was challenging it and rushed the dwarf, clawing down the Force Wall and slashing Kadruth across the chest. This triggered Kadruth’s contingency Teleport spell and the dwarf teleported up into the branches above him. He attempted to cast his <i>Force Bolt</i> spell <i>[using his saved action]</i> but decided grabbing at branches to avoid a 20 meter fall to the ground was more prudent. Islo took a Quick Shot at the lion but missed <i>[due to range modifiers]</i>. Inserrant pursued the fleeing Tharduk.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The lion, temporarily satisfied, returned to the bear carcass and took another bite. Islo, once again in charge of his emotions, advanced on the lion 8 meters and shot at it again, hitting it solidly in the vitals! Surprisingly, there was no blood... Inserrant caught up to Tharduk who, ashamed of his cowardice, advanced to stand between Inserrant and the lion, ready to Block any potential attack from the lion. Anomin, feeling safer, quietly flew 10 meters back towards the camp and waited to see what happened. Sorvia braced herself and aimed for the lion’s head, but missed. Kadruth, now secure in the branches, cast <i>Force Bolt</i> at the lion and hit it hard in the kidneys <i>[technically a stomach hit, but from the back]</i>. This drew blood, stunned, and knocked out the lion!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The lion groggily shook its head <i>[it woke back up during the Post-Segment 12 Recovery and was shrugging off the Stunned effect this phase]</i>. Islo braced himself and fired a Quickshot to the lion’s body and hit...to no effect! Inserrant advanced on the lion with her club and struck it on a limb to no effect.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk ran as hard as he could to close with the lion and swung with all his strength and skill at the lion <i>[pushed his running, pushed his Strength, and put his combat levels into damage]</i>. He hit the beast but drew no blood. Anomin, seeing her friends attacking the lion, flew back to the campsite but stayed up in the trees to avoid being a lion snack. Sorvia set her bow to improve her odds at a head shot <i>[a full action]</i>. Kadruth cast his <i>Force Bolt</i> again, again hitting the lion in the kidneys and knocking it unconscious again.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo shot the lion in the head, making certain that the beast stayed unconscious.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Despite all their attacks, only Kadruth’s Force Bolts actually caused the lion to bleed. Thinking it over, the rangers thought it likely that the lion’s extremely sharp claws would likely cut itself. They cautiously moved in and manipulated its massive paws to extend the claws and cut its own throat, killing it. They then extracted one of the claws so they had a tool sharp enough to skin the beast for its nigh-impervious hide.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This session was basically a big fight with a Nemean Lion that was near impervious to the PCs weapons. The lion had 10PD/15ED Armor that only worked versus slashing and piercing attacks. Inserrant's club would have bypassed that, but her player rolled near minimum on the club damage on her only attack. This is why the cyclopses were not very scared of the lion, just cautious about it - their punches and clubs were mighty and bypassed the armor. As it was, they eventually knocked it out and then worked out a way to kill it.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/sudden-sea-landing-page.html">Sudden Sea Landing Page</a> - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-sudden-sea-session-11.html">Session 11</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: Session 13 <i>[Not yet typed up]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-45700337635926456082024-02-20T12:07:00.000-06:002024-02-20T12:07:09.292-06:00Adventures in the Green Published!<p><span style="font-size: medium;">My OD&D clone set of rules, <i>Adventures in the Green</i>, is now published and available on DriveThruRPG.com!</span></p><p>Think "OD&D, but readable" and you will understand what <i>Adventures in the Green</i> offers. The rules were reorganized to consolidate rules bits from across the original booklets where clauses and complete rules were hidden away in magic item descriptions or magazine interviews published separately. I also rewrote the rules to make them clear and concise.</p><p><b>Book I: Characters</b> is 68 pages and provides the rules for creating characters to play, equipping them, and some basics of adventuring. <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/471109/Adventures-in-the-Green-Book-I-Characters?manufacturers_id=15088">This is the link to the Book I product page</a>.</p><p><b>Book II: Conflicts</b> is 68 pages and provides the rules for combat, including naval and aerial, plus the writeups for all the monsters. <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/471111/Adventures-in-the-Green-Book-II-Conflicts?manufacturers_id=15088">This is the link to the Book II product page</a>.</p><p><b>Book III: Campaigns</b> is 66 pages and provides the rules for Referees to run campaigns plus the random treasure tables and descriptions of magic items. <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/471112/Adventures-in-the-Green-Book-III-Campaigns?manufacturers_id=15088">This is the link to the Book III product page</a>.</p><p>Each booklet is sold separately at $10 each, which I feel is a fair price for 66-68 page booklets with five years of development behind them. I've been running a test campaign parallel to the rules development, which has helped spot rules gaps (like how much light a torch provides) and eliminate typos. </p><p><i>[As a tech writer, I know by saying those words that someone will now find an obvious typo, but that is the nature of writing. Send me an email or comment here and I'll fix it and update the published PDFs.]</i></p><p>That's it for right now. I should have the next session of the Sudden Sea campaign up later this week. We've reached a stopping point, right after the players trigger a revolt and are switching back to Book 4 of the Shattered Star AP. Keep reading!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-64184703413362458932024-01-30T14:11:00.000-06:002024-01-30T14:11:33.422-06:00The Sudden Sea –Session 11<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[April 30 - May 2 and 3 – Cyclopses and bears and...what is that!?]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened October 30, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea. The PCs are refugees seeking a better life through adventuring.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sorvia of Stavros</b> – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Tharduk Lavabreath</b> – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">K<b>adruth Worldbender </b>– male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Anomin </b>– female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Islo Redgrass</b> – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Inserrant </b>– female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 2, 56 I.C.</b> <i>(Imperial Calendar)</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Just After 3:00</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Trying to discuss the cyclops sentry on the other side of a bend in the ravine without being heard, Sorvia and Tharduk were “arguing” in hand signs. Tharduk had no idea what Sorvia was trying to convey and was miserable at conveying that he did not understand. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">With no resolution in sight, Islo decided the group needed to retreat back to a place they could actually speak. He quietly walked back around a previous bend in the ravine. The rest of the adventurers went to follow when the cyclops sentry finally noticed they were there, spotting Anomin (in crow form) and the two dwarves out in the open. “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” he called out.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk answered, stating that they were trying to not be threatening, which confused the cyclops. Then Sorvia spoke up from a concealed position, agreeing with Tharduk. The cyclops saw her and asked what she was doing hidden down there. She replied, “Mapping.” The cyclops stated he did not want to appear on the map. Kadruth explained that since he is not a natural landmark, he and his sheep would not be drawn into the map. This satisfied the cyclops.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The cyclops warned the adventurers that there was a big lion in the forest that was responsible for the death of his favorite sheep, Irwin. Tharduk asked about whether or not the cyclops traded or sold wool. The cyclops said they did but his brother was better at that stuff. He also introduced himself as Nunya and said he would be right back with his brother to trade.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">While the cyclops was away, Sorvia and Anomin went back to where Islo was to bring him up to date on the conversation. Kadruth also used his <i>Force Wall</i> spell to create a ramp so he and Tharduk could negotiate with the cyclopses at eye level. <i>[That was not an intentional pun.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When the two cyclopses returned, the second one introduced himself as Inna and that their third brother, Auda, was watching their camp. Inna and Tharduk then start negotiating the price of the wool. They eventually agreed on a cost of 2 gold coins to purchase 6 cloves (42 pounds) of wool. <i>[This was a good deal for Tharduk as a clove of wool usually went for half a gold coin each.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">During the negotiations, Kadruth spoke with Nunya about the lion, trying to get the cyclopses to agree to a bounty for killing the lion. Nunya wasn’t interested as the cyclops just gave it a hit and it left them alone. Kadruth did learn that cyclopses had been in this area about a year and the lion first showed up during the recent winter.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once the trade was done, the adventurers backtracked a bit and then worked their way around the cyclops camp. Islo and Sorvia discussed what kind of lion the cyclopses were reporting but came to no definite conclusions. <i>[Neither really had an appropriate Knowledge Skill for this.]</i> They reached the western edge of the hills late in the afternoon and made camp.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Night</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The night passed quietly.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 3, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Rain clouds moved in from the east and it rained lightly most of the day. Kadruth used his <i>Force Wall</i> spell to provide protection from the rain for Sorvia so she could continue mapping the forest as the group explored. Anomin kept a look out specifically for lion tracks but saw none.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">During the day, Anomin and Kadruth noticed that the group had passed the same set of trees three times and called out Islo on it. A quick tree-climb later, they worked out where they actually were, corrected Sorvia’s notes, and resumed exploring, having only lost an hour or two of time.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Mid afternoon the rain started letting up and gradually stopped. At the end of the day Sorvia found an excellent site for a camp and the adventurers made camp there.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">That Night, First Watch</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Early in the watch, before it got too dark, Islo heard something moving through the underbrush. He fired an arrow at it, hoping to scare the creature away. Instead, the creature bellowed in response, allowing Islo to identify it as a bear! The bear's bellow awoke Sorvia and Anomin, but barely stirred the dwarves.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo waited for the bear to appear. When the angry, shaggy, brown bear marched into the camp, Islo tripped it with a trick shot. Sorvia notched an arrow and shot the bear, hitting it with a glancing blow to the head <i>[she very rolled low damage]</i>. Anomin shifted into her cougar form and charged the bear, nastily raking its forelimbs <i>[lot of Body, but light on Stun]</i>. At this point Tharduk woke up, but Kadruth continued sleeping.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo shot at the bear, piercing both of its forelimbs <i>[again, lots of Body, little Stun]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk readied his axe and shield. The bear got up off the ground and stood on its rear legs and roared <i>[Presence attack]</i>, impressing Sorvia. It then clawed at Anomin, injuring her significantly. The noise finally woke Kadruth up, but he was still groggy and complained about all the noise Anomin was making. Sorvia sank an arrow into the bear's torso, killing it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When Kadruth stumbled out of his tent, he found a very hurt cougar whining at him. He immediately set to healing her with his magic. Islo and Sorvia set to skinning and butchering the bear carcass. Once his watch is done, Islo cooked some bear meat steaks.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">That Night, Second Watch</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Midway through the watch, Kadruth was at the edge of camp collecting some wood for the fire when he saw two large gleaming golden feline eyes staring right at him from a distance of 10 meters!</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[I had not planned on having the lion show up here, but I rolled two random encounters for the night and after Islo cooked bear steaks, it seemed likely the lion might get a whiff of it and come investigate.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/sudden-sea-landing-page.html">Sudden Sea Landing Page</a> - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-sudden-sea-session-10.html">Session 10</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: Session 12 <i>[Not yet typed up]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-11967763973811158902024-01-23T16:10:00.002-06:002024-01-30T14:12:14.024-06:00The Sudden Sea –Session 10<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[April 30 - May 2 – Start scouting the Mikro Dasos]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened October 23, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea. The PCs are refugees seeking a better life through adventuring.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sorvia of Stavros</b> – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Tharduk Lavabreath</b> – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Kadruth Worldbender</b> – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Anomin </b>– female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Islo Redgrass</b> – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Inserrant </b>– female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 30, 56 I.C.</b> <i>(Imperial Calendar)</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Day</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers forded the Mesta River after a quick breakfast and then entered into the Mikro Dasos, the small forest along the border between County Modon and The Shires <i>[home of the Tolk]</i>. Once inside the forest they started exploring and mapping it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">While exploring they found several areas of damp soil that held very large footprints. Islo estimated the beings that made the footprints were 10 to 12 feet tall and walked on two feet. There was no continuous path and the tracks ranged from days old to weeks old. This seemed to suggest the rumors of sheep-stealing giants they heard in Nomi might have some truth. Islo and Sorvia made suggestions what the source might be, thinking very tall ogres or actual giants.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As the trees of the forest were much taller than the footprint makers, Anomin flew up above the trees in her crow form to look around. The only treetops in motion she saw were likely from the wind. She flew back down to the ground and reported this.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Night</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">During the second watch, Kadruth and Tharduk heard the sound of a very large cat making a kill further to the south. Tharduk checked inside the tent to verify Anomin was there and asleep. The dwarves decided the forest had at least one big predator and stayed quite alert the rest of their shift.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 1, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Day</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The group resumed exploring and mapping the forest. More giant footprints were seen off and on through the day. Anomin also found a sheep carcass that was several days dead and eaten by animals, leaving bones and some wooly pelt. No one was certain what had killed and eaten the sheep, which was worrying.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">During the afternoon, Tharduk noted that the ground was getting softer and wetter with some of the tallest trees clearly leaning. This told the adventurers that they were getting near where the forest approached the coast of the Sudden Sea.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin flew up above the trees again to look around. She could see that the forest thinned out to the east and beyond that was part of the Sudden Sea. To the southeast she could see the Dowr Gwernan, the river that was the border with The Shires. What really caught her eye was smoke from a campfire somewhere in the hills to the west. The forest wrapped around the northern half of the hills and the hills were scheduled to be scouted the next day. She flew back down to the ground and reported what she saw.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The group shared what they knew about giants. This came down to “Giants tend to live in mountain or hills, don't like plains, and tend to have cattle or sheep.” Giants were rare in the plains so none of them knew very much about them. <i>[None of the group had an appropriate Knowledge Skill.]</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Night</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">During first watch, some raccoons infiltrated the camp and attempted to steal food. Islo and Inserrant noticed the pilfering. Islo shot two of the raccoons with his bow and the rest of the raccoons fled. The remainder of the night was quiet.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>May 2, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Day</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The day dawned cool and damp with a lot of fog. Anomin flew up above the trees again to relocate the smoke in the hills but it was too foggy and she could see nothing. <i>[Failed her Perception roll.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers moved into the hills, exploring and mapping along the way. Mid-afternoon, while the group was walking through a narrow ravine between some hills, Kadruth quietly told the party to stop. Up ahead he spotted a very tall sentry with one eye keeping a lazy watch on the ravine the adventurers were moving up - a cyclops! He quietly pointed out where the cyclops was and the rest of the adventurers located it. Sorvia stopped her mapping, put away her notebook, and readied her weapons.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The group started sneaking up on the sentry with Islo several paces ahead of the rest. Once the adventurers were close enough to attack the sentry if they wanted to, Anomin flew ahead to see if there were any more. She kept low, along the floor of the ravine. This worked, and she was able to fly around a bend and then past the cyclops. She noticed he had two extra spears, a large haversack, and a stack of very large throwing rocks. He also seemed to be very bored.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Further up the ravine, Anomin discovered a side gulley containing two very large tents, a low campfire, and a small herd of large sheep. Anomin snooped around a bit. One tent was laid out for sleeping but had no cyclops in it, the other did. Anomin entered that tent and looked around. The cyclops feet were the right shape and size for the footprints seen in the forest. In addition to several spears and a haversack, Anomin saw a large sack full of something. While investigating that sack, the sleeping cyclops woke slightly, turned over, and then went back to sleep! <i>[She just made her stealth check.]</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After resuming breathing again, Anomin looked in the bag and found it was full of spun wool. Under the bag was a spinning wheel. Anomin snuck back out of the tent and then flew back to the other adventurers.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">While Anomin had been away scouting, the rest of the adventurers decided to sneak even closer to the cyclops sentry and conceal themselves as best they could. This made it slightly more difficult for Anomin to find them once she returned. Luckily, the dwarves were not very good at concealment and she found them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin landed near the dwarves but not in the cyclops’ line of sight. As close as they were to the sentry, Anomin had to use wing gestures to try and inform the dwarves there were two cyclopses. Kadruth understood her intent and turned to relay the information to Sorvia. Sorvia understood Kadruth was warning her of a second cyclops, but pantomimed “Where?” Kadruth pantomimed a bird. Sorvia understood and quietly crept back to where the dwarves were.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Meanwhile, Islo had observed the hand gestures going back and forth but did not understand any of it. On his own he decided to sneak back to the dwarves to find out what was going on. He found Anomin just around a bend, using a twig to draw a map in the dirt. From the map, Islo and Sorvia understood that the cyclopes had a camp and there was a second cyclops there, but Tharduk completely failed to understand any of it.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[There was a small bit more at the end, but it was me dictating how a PC acted and that was very wrong on my part. NEVER take away player agency just for a funny bit. I apologized when the player called me out on it - I was clearly in the wrong. At the beginning of the next session I retracted the last bit and we resumed from the point above.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/sudden-sea-landing-page.html">Sudden Sea Landing Page</a> - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-sudden-sea-session-9.html">Session 9</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-sudden-sea-session-11.html">Session 11</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-91574852951152011222024-01-10T12:50:00.000-06:002024-01-10T12:50:03.824-06:00Status Update - Beginning of 2024<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">December was busier than November at the Day Job (</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">plus the holidays</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">) and I'm just now coming off that busy period in January.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After reviewing the AdSense results I removed the ads from this blog. I never met the minimum amount for payout, in fact I barely reached 5% of that number in the time I've had the ads running. No real loss.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Monday Group (a.k.a., Super Rat) has continued playing and we just did Session 17, so I'm 8 sessions behind. I will resume writing up the session summaries this month and try to catch up a session every two weeks.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">My clone of the OD&D rules is still progressing, although slowly. I've done what should be the final editorial pass on Books 1 and 2, finishing Book 2 last week. Next is Book 3, which I want to have done no later than the end of February. After that I will put the PDFs up on DriveThru RPG for sale and then create a POD version because I want physical copies to show for my effort.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">That's it for now. My next regular post should be early next week.</span></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-36013744503250712282023-11-22T10:54:00.000-06:002023-11-22T10:54:15.660-06:00Busy Thanksgiving<span style="font-family: georgia;">First, <span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>"Happy Thanksgiving!"</b></span> to those in the US. It is a significant holiday here and one of the major family-gathering holidays. With our families scattered this year, my wife and I are hosting a get together for friends who cannot be with their families for various reasons. We should have 16 or so people with a wide range of dietary needs but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">As a result of that plus other scheduled events and games, time has been short for writing last week and will be short for this week. Saturday the 25th has been designated by me as a Day of Writing, so I plan to type up the next set of session notes and get them posted then.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">That's all I have time for right now. Later!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-87550627302582300412023-11-09T20:14:00.002-06:002023-11-14T13:47:49.450-06:00The Sudden Sea –Session 9<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[April 29 – Repercussions and Confessions]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened October 16, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea. The PCs are refugees seeking a better life through adventuring.]</i></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sorvia of Stavros</b> – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Tharduk Lavabreath</b> – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Kadruth Worldbender</b> – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Anomin</b> – female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Islo Redgrass</b> – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Inserrant</b> – female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 29, 56 I.C.</b> <i>(Imperial Calendar)</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Pre-Dawn</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Holed up in a cluster of trees outside of the town of Nomi, the adventurers had a heart to heart talk about the group’s actions over the previous several hours. No one was particularly happy that the merchant was shot dead by the two rangers, Islo and Sorvia. After a while they all come to two conclusions:</span></p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">They all agreed that murder is off the table from here on out. Self-defense is OK, but murder is right out.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">They all agree that they want to be able to go back into Nomi and no one wants to go to jail. They need to pick up the mail back to Mouzaki to complete their job. Additionally, Nomi is the only town within 20-30 miles and so the only place to buy supplies.</span></li></ol><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After discussing their options and what those options imply (they realized if they fled they would be wanted by the law). They decided to write a letter to the Sheriff explaining their side of things and have Anomin deliver it in crow form. Tharduk wrote the letter as he had the best handwriting. The letter conveyed the following: <i>[the players gave me a 3x5” card with the following bullet points.]</i></span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">We tracked Kostakis to secret rooms</span></li><ul><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Our intent was to capture and question him about the fire</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">We healed his wounds after capturing him</span></li></ul><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">We found evidence incriminating Viktor Nicabar</span></li><ul><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">A counterfeit form is enclosed with this letter</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">We have more evidence if you are willing to meet us</span></li></ul><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">We overheard Viktor state “the deputies are on to us” in regards to the fire</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Viktor walked into the secret room we were in and was shot twice</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">We immediately tried to heal him, but he was dead</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">We panicked!</span></li></ul><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once the letter was written, the group discussed where they wanted to meet with the Sheriff if he was willing. They decided the abandoned tannery outside of town on the County Road would be best. They could see the town gates from there and would have advanced warning if a group rode out to arrest them. They also worked out a plan in case the Sheriff wasn’t interested in talking - Anomin would fly in circles and then to the east if things go bad. If the Sheriff insisted on bringing more than two deputies, this would also count as things going bad. If things went well, she would fly east and then directly to the tannery.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Dawn</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The group quietly made their way back to town and hid in the abandoned tannery just as the sun rose. Anomin then took the letter and flew into town. While the rest waited, Sorvia started copying the map of the logging camp and the hidden mine.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As Anomin flew over the town walls she noticed many more guards on the walls. She could also see wisps of steam still rising from the burned building. Anomin also circled over the northern part of town to look at the Nicabar Residence. She saw many people milling around the front and back of the building, some of whom were deputies. From all the lighted windows and active chimneys, Anomin suspected the entire house was awake and alert.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Before approaching the Sheriff’s Office, Anomin landed on the roof of the Post Office across the street and observed. She saw a couple deputies out on the veranda around the front and side of the Sheriff’s Office. She could also see the Sheriff in his residence on the second floor getting ready for the day.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin glided over to one of the windows of the Sheriff’s residence and landed on the windowsill. Holding the letter with one claw, she rapped on the window with her beak. After doing this a couple times, the Sheriff pulled back the curtains and saw a crow wearing a necklace and holding a letter. He sighed and then opened the window. Anomin greeted him and asked how he was. His response was, “I haven't had my morning coffee yet and am talking to a crow.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin explained to the sheriff that she had a letter for him, explaining their side of the events last night. The Sheriff took the letter and read it, his eyebrow rising at a few points. He then looked over the counterfeit official document and eyebrows went up again. The Sheriff and Anomin then talked.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Sheriff wanted more details on the secret rooms as Viktor’s body had been presented in the wine cellar, not some hidden room. Anomin gave the Sheriff an overview, explaining she had not seen everything but knew Viktor had been in the secret rooms when he was shot. The sheriff was willing to meet with the adventurers and get complete statements, but not alone and not in the town. He stated that there were now wanted posters up for the adventurers, posted by the town guard, who answered to the Baron, not himself. Anomin felt he was being earnest and agreed to his request, stating two deputies would be acceptable and the adventurers would be waiting in the old tannery on the edge of town. Anomin then flew away, hearing the Sheriff say out loud, “I need my coffee.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin flew back to the tannery without spiraling, signaling to Islo and Kadruth that things went well. When she arrived she related her conversation with the Sheriff to the other adventurers. Islo and Kadruth resumed their watching positions to keep an eye on the town gate in case guards marched out or the Sheriff exited with more than two of his deputies.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">An Hour Later</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo spotted the Sheriff and two of his deputies exiting the County Gate. Instead of walking directly to the abandoned tannery, in full view of the town guards, the sheriff turned left and walked through the buildings outside the town walls and approached the tannery from the backside, out of view of the guards.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Sheriff and the adventurers talked. The Sheriff wanted to know about the "more evidence" and the adventurers showed him the map of Viktor’s logging operation in the hills to the west indicating a hidden mine he was working. Sorvia stated that the symbols near the map indicated the mine held precious metals and was not a simple stone quarry. The Sheriff stated Viktor ran that logging company, owning 40% of it with Agni Michelakis’ recently deceased grandfather owning the other 60% of the company and all the land. When the grandfather died, her claim to the land was challenged and now she needs to present the deed to the land in court. If she can’t, the logging business would be Viktor’s and most of the rest of the land would go to Timo Onassis, who challenged the land ownership.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After that, the Sheriff wanted to know who shot Viktor and where. He wrote down the adventurer's statements, occasionally asking questions.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">With the map as evidence and the letter as their statement, the Sheriff felt he could go to the Baron and get the adventurer’s names cleared, but it would be good if they stayed away for a little while. Tharduk stated the group had business surveying the forest to the south for monsters and would be gone for two weeks. The Sheriff said that should be enough time, but to send the crow back in before attempting to enter Nomi when they returned. Kadruth asked the Sheriff to also tell the Post Office they would return to collect the mail going to Mouzaki in two weeks and the Sheriff agreed to do so. Inserrant asked for a copy of the wanted poster with her face on it as a souvenir. The Sheriff then left and walked back into town. The adventurers exited the back and made their way south, towards the Mikro Dasos.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Sunset</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After a day of walking south through the plains, the adventurers arrived at the banks of the Mesta River and made camp.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Commentary</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Much talking and roleplay this session as the players talked their way through the situation. Depending upon the choices they made, they could have ended up outlaws. Luckily, they had made a favorable impression on the Sheriff before things went sideways for them. They still needed to navigate carefully and did so. There will be some consequences when they return, but I have not decided yet what they will be.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/sudden-sea-landing-page.html">Sudden Sea Landing Page</a> - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-sudden-sea-session-8.html">Session 8</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: Session 10 <i>[Not yet typed up]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[UPDATE: Corrected date at the beginning of the session notes from April 30 to the 29th.]</i></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-84413505609702626382023-10-29T17:09:00.001-05:002023-11-09T20:16:02.046-06:00The Sudden Sea – Session 8<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[April 29 – Secret Rooms and Murder!]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened October 9, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea. The PCs are refugees seeking a better life through adventuring.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sorvia of Stavros</b> – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Tharduk Lavabreath</b> – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Kadruth Worldbender </b>– male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Anomin </b>– female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Islo Redgrass</b> – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Inserrant </b>– female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 29, 56 I.C. </b><i>(Imperial Calendar)</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Wee Hours of the Morning</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inserrant, Kadruth, and Tharduk followed Anomin from the Crossed Arrows <i>[the inn the adventurers were staying at]</i> across the walled town of Nomi into the North Ward, where Sorvia and Islo were waiting at a secret door at the Nicabar residence. The secret door was down some steps and below street level, adjacent to a servant’s entrance in the back of the residence. They could hear in the distance the Sheriff’s deputies at the front door of the residence, arguing for admission to search for Kostakis, a sword for hire in the employ of Viktor Nikabar.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kadruth investigated the secret door for the opening mechanism, locating it easily, and opened the secret door. Behind it was a narrow passage that ended in a door. On the wall just inside the secret door were some empty cloak pegs mounted on the wall. There was also a mat for wiping one’s feet.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo stepped up and scrutinized the entry area for tracks to verify their quarry, Kostakis, had walked through here. He could tell someone had wiped their feet on the mat relatively recently, but he could not verify that it was Kostaks, just that it was likely. Islo then stated with confidence that Kostakis had definitely come this way.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kadruth then used hand signals to indicate to the rest of the party that they were moving in and to be quiet. The adventures stepped into the narrow hallway at varying levels of stealth. Once the group was inside, Inserrant <i>[in the rear]</i> looked under the mat and fiddled with the cloak pegs to see if they did anything. She found nothing doing so, but located a bar for blocking the secret door from the inside. She whispered her concern that others might show up after the adventurers. Anomin shifted from her crow form to human and then to cougar while the others agreed that barring the secret door would be the wise course. Inserrant barred the door.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers advanced down the narrow passage to the door at the far end. Islo and Anomin looked for any traps but saw little <i>[Anomin rolled terrible and Islo just made his Perception roll]</i>. At the door, Islo carefully opened it a crack and felt some unexpected resistance. Peering through, he saw the door was also moving a small wooden lever set across the opening side of the door - either an alarm trigger or a trap!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo carefully pulled an arrow from his quiver with one hand while holding the door steady with his other hand. He slid the arrow through the narrow opening and under the wooden level before lifting up with the arrow <i>[and spending two Hero Points to re-roll one of the dice twice for a better result]</i>. The wooden lever lifted up and went back into a resting position, allowing Islo to open the door safely. Before doing so, Islo took the time to peer through the cracked door to see what the room on the other side contained.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The room was empty of people as far as Islo could tell. There was a long table with bench seats in the center of the room, a freestanding cupboard on the far wall and a cabinet on the wall to the left. There was a door out on the left wall, to the right of the cabinet. The cupboard had many drawers on its upper half, a shallow counter at waist level, and two sets of cabinets below the counter. The cabinet on the left wall only had two large doors. The room was lit by candles.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Opening the door further, Islo stepped into the room. Once inside he could see a framed map of the town on the same wall as the door he had stepped through. Beside that door was a clockwork mechanism to which the wooden lever was attached. The mechanism had a bell, suggesting it had been an alarm. Islo chose to leave the mechanism alone. He then waved the rest of the adventurers into the room.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers quietly moved in and started looking around. Kadruth examined the alarm mechanism and noted it was of dwarven manufacture. He quietly shared this information and Tharduk stepped over to examine it as well. He found the quality was high and the bell likely to be very loud if triggered. Inserrant took position by the door in, to prevent anyone from sneaking up behind the group.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin and Islo stepped over to the door out of this room and listened at it but heard nothing beyond it. Kadruth started investigating the cupboard, hoping to locate a stolen deed as incriminating evidence. What he found instead was a variety of strange and interesting things, but no deed. These things included tokens of various shapes and sizes, possibly for setting on the map if the map was set on the long table.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk investigated the cabinet and, after picking the lock, found a variety of maps, all mounted to thin frames like the map of the town hanging on the wall. One of the maps in the cabinet showed Nicabar Logging and divided the forested area into various logging zones, just like the map he saw back at the Tsepi Forest logging camp. This map had a section with symbols he did not recognize and he asked Sorvia to take a look at it. She identified the symbols as the location of a mine of some sort. <i>[Note: human mapping symbols for mines are very different than dwarven symbols as dwarves don’t normally need to indicate where a mine is on the surface, just which tunnel it is off of.]</i> Sorvia carefully removed the map from its frame to ease taking it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kadruth attempted to open the cabinet doors on the lower half of the cupboard and found they were locked. He attempted to force the locks open but could not apply the necessary force without making noise. He waved Tharduk over and asked him to try. Tharduk was able to pick open the locks and found more drawers inside. These drawers held high quality paper, inks, and quills. Some of the papers are blanks identity papers, some blank property ownership papers - these are forgery templates!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As Tharduk and Kadruth started taking some of the blank documents, the other door opened! Standing in the doorway was Kostakis, who was clearly expecting someone else. He said, “Oops - wrong party,” and started to close the door. At the same time Sorvia drew and snapped off a shot at Kostakis and Kadruth cast Wall of Force to block Kostakis in and keep him from closing the door. Sorvia hit Kostakis in the stomach before he could close the door, heavily wounding him and knocking him unconscious, followed by Kadruth’s Wall of Force appearing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin moved forward and pulled the unconscious Kostakis into their room. She gets a brief view of the next room while doing so - it was some kind of sitting room with the back of a secret door leading out on the south wall.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo pulled out some cord and started tying up Kostakis, while Inserrant reported no one was approaching from the narrow passage. Tharduk grabbed some cloth from the cupboard and stuffed it into Kostakis’ mouth as a gag. Kostakis started moaning and waking up, so Sorvia whacked him over the head with her bow to knock him unconscious again.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin pawed at Kostakis but could not search him with her cougar paws. Seeing what she was trying to do, Islo then searched Kostakis’ pockets, finding some copper coins and an eating knife. Islo took those and then finished tying Kostakis up. Kadruth dropped his Wall of Force spell and then closed the door to the next room.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once Kostakis was tied up, Sorvia removed her arrow from him and Kadruth healed his wounds. This took a couple minutes, during which time others entered the next room. Anomin was listening but missed this, so it was Tharduk who noticed first and warned the group. Kadruth quietly dragged the unconscious Kostakis to the exit door. Anomin, in cougar form, took a position by the door to the next room to strike anyone who opened it. Islo took position behind the table to cover the door with his heavy bow while Sorvia did the same with hers by the map cabinet.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers could hear a few people on the other side of the door talk and then one voice called out for Kostakis, asking where he was. Thinking quickly, Anomin dropped her cougar form, switching back to human before shapeshifting into her crow form. Once in crow form, she used her mimicry to respond with Kostakis’ voice <i>[she heard it enough the previous day when he did all the talking at the ambush]</i>, stating that “he” was in this room and needed a minute. The other voice said, “I don't care we have business to discuss the sheriff is on to us.” Anomin replied that “he” would be there in a moment.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sorvia moved to the doorway out to cover the groups retreat while Kadruth started dragging Kostakis down the narrow passage. Tharduk attempted to quietly grab all the papers in one of the cupboard drawers on his way out but pulled too hard and the drawer slipped out and fell to the floor. <i>[He rolled an 18 on his Stealth check, indicating complete failure.]</i> Anomin attempted to cover by stating, “I’m coming, I’m coming,” in Kostakis’ voice, but to no avail. The door suddenly opened, showing a merchant in expensive clothes. He quickly asked, “What the hell are you doing?” followed by “Who the hell are you people?”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo and Sorvia both immediately released arrows - Islo hit the merchant in the shoulder <i>[7 Body 21 Stun]</i> and Sorvia hit him in the stomach <i>[8 Body 32 Stun]</i>. The merchant dropped to the floor, dead.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin flew into the next room seeing two rough looking men with shocked faces staring at the dead merchant. Tharduk froze in place while Islo quietly asked, “Who was that?” “I think that was Viktor,” Tharduk responded, shock in his voice. Kadruth, hauling Kostakis down the narrow passage did not hear any of this, nor did Inserrant, who was down at the secret door to the outside, unbarring it for a quicker retreat. Then Sorvia called to Kadruth, stating she just shot the merchant and maybe Kadruth should quickly come and heal him. Kadruth sighed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The toughs in the other room, finally regaining their wits, scream “Assassins!” at the top of their voice and scramble from the room through the other exit. The space beyond that door looked to be a wine cellar to Anomin who was circling in the room the toughs had just fled. Kadruth told Inserrant to go fetch the deputies before returning to the secret rooms to heal the merchant. However, once he reached the body he could tell it was too late for healing. So he started a different ritual, looking for divine aid. Inserrant went out the secret door, into the town streets, looking for the deputies who might still be in the area. Islo went down the narrow passage to protect the still unconscious Kostakis.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk, still standing where he had dropped the drawer, asked Kadruth if he could help Viktor. Kadruth received a question from He Who Protects in response to his prayer, “Was this murder necessary?” Kadruth turned to Tharduk and said, “No.” On the floor above them they can hear the household spreading the alarm and the two dwarves started to leave. Anomin, in a room full of shiny things, grabbed a rubber stamp with a shiny silver handle before flying out, following the dwarves. <i>[The crow form has kleptomania.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the street behind the house, Inserrant can hear the spread of the alarm in the house and sees lights starting to come on, spurring her to greater speeds. The other adventurers make their way to the secret door, Sorvia carrying Kostakis.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the town streets, Inserrant circled the block clockwise, hoping to find the deputies and lead them to the secret rooms. As she made it around the second corner, to the street in front of the house, she spotted the deputies surrounded by the toughs the deputies had been arguing with for access to the house. Now, however, the toughs were demanding the deputies enter as assassins were murdering people inside the house. Inserrant decided her opportunity had passed and reversed course, now looking for the rest of the adventurers.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The entire party met back up at the bridge across the Cephissus River to the main part of town. While crossing the bridge, several party members looked both ways to where the town walls crossed the river and openly wondered if there was anything blocking those at night <i>[clearly thinking about fleeing town that way]</i>. Anomin remembered the way looking clear during the day, but none of the adventurers could clearly see those portals now.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventures kept discussing what to do next. Realizing that standing on the bridge was a very exposed spot to be, they decided to head towards the Sheriff’s Office. As they were nearing the Post Office, they could hear a small group of people yelling for the sheriff crossing the bridge behind them. Suddenly on the spot and with now real plan, the group slightly panicked. Anomin did her best to be inconspicuous while flying above the area, keeping an eye on how things developed. Inserrant started quickly walking back to the inn. The dwarves followed Inserrant while Sorvia deposited the unconscious Kostakis on the porch of the Sheriff’s Office before following.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Not walking as a group, the adventurers arrived at the Crossed Arrows in dribs and drabs. Inserrant arrived first, heading immediately up to the rented room to start packing. Islo was slightly behind her and did the same, which drew the attention of the Tolk innkeeper, who was still away after the fire alarm. She was standing at the door to the inn when Kadruth and Tharduk arrived. Her sharp eyes <i>[and a 3 on her Perception roll]</i> noted that there was blood on one of Kadruth’s shoes. She asked Kadruth if he was aware he was leaving red footprints. He looked down at his boots and realized her actual question was: “Are you a murderer seeking to hide in my business and what kind of trouble are you bringing with you?” Kadruth apologized for “the mess” and took his shoes off. She recommended that perhaps it would be best if the adventures were quick to pack and leave. Both dwarves agreed with her. When Sorvia arrived with Kostakis’ blood smeared across her shoulder <i>[she shot him in the stomach and he bleed a lot before being healed, so there was plenty to transfer to Sorvia’s armor while she was carrying him over her shoulder]</i>, the innkeeper gave her a sharp look, to which Sorvia said, “I'm going to pack.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Back near the Sheriff’s Office, Anomin observed the second group of people arrive at the Sheriff’s Office and bang on the door. The sheriff came out and all of them noticed Kostakis bound up on the porch. They untied Kostakis and some talking happened that Anomin was not close enough to hear. Then the sheriff, Kostakis, and the group of people started back towards the Nicabar house. Anomin flew to the inn to update the other adventurers.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After packing and slinking out of the inn, the adventurers agreed that leaving the town was likely a good idea. Kadruth observed the town walls and the sparse guards on it. He located a good place to cross unobserved and used his Wall of Force spell to create a ramp to help the group hop the wall.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers moved away from the town until they found a spot they felt they could hide in and talk about what had just happened.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This was one of the best sessions we have ever had as a group! The players worked their characters into a moral quandary and have totally bought into the story being played out. As a GM I am so pleased with the situation and the players. The players are not as enthused about the situation their characters are in and are agonizing over the situation. I’ve been all smiles. 😀]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/sudden-sea-landing-page.html">Sudden Sea Landing Page</a> - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-sudden-sea-session-7.html">Session 7</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-sudden-sea-session-9.html">Session 9</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-74438919372366322552023-10-18T15:23:00.001-05:002023-10-29T17:10:04.296-05:00The Sudden Sea –Session 7<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[April 28 – Shopping and a Midnight Fire]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened October 2, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea. The PCs are refugees seeking a better life through adventuring.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sorvia of Stavros – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk Lavabreath – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kadruth Worldbender – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin – female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo Redgrass – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inserrant – female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 28, 56 I.C.</b><i> (Imperial Calendar)</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Afternoon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After eating a pleasant meal at the Crossed Arrows Inn, where the adventurers had a room, the adventurers decided to take advantage of the town’s Market Day to secure supplies they needed for their next job. Inserrant felt the small throwing dagger she purchased at the logging camp did not send the right message in combat and she wanted a club so others would take her seriously. Not knowing much about weapons, she took Sorvia with her for advice. After some time searching, she found a club that had leather straps wrapped around it as a grip and was polished and aesthetically pleasing. Afterwards, Inserrant wandered the market and busked in several locations, using her musical powers to encourage people to tip what they could afford. She eventually collected 10 copper and a single silver.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk put his trading skills to use and secured two weeks of travel rations for the group, more than enough for the group to travel to the Mikros Dasos, spend a week there scouting and mapping, and then return to Nomi. This cost 1 silver per person per day, shaving 2 copper per person per day, but still used up most of the group funds.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kadruth shopped among the armorers for a set of thigh armor. No one has a set available for purchase but he was able to commission a piece for 368 copper. This led him to realize that he received a good deal back at the logging camp for his armored sleeves.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Late in the afternoon, just after Inserrant finished busking in front of the Crossed Arrows Inn, an elf approached Inserrant and asked where she had learned the song she had just finished playing. Inserrant admitted she had no memories prior to fleeing the Sudden Sea. The elf introduced himself as Agosti of the Evening Eye and stated he had only heard one other sing that song before, a human bard playing for coin at Fort Agnatero on the border with Mercia. Inserrant asked what the bard’s name was and if he was a good person or not. Agosti said he called himself Arian Fireson, but believed it was an alias. Agosti felt that Arian was hiding from someone or something. Inserrant found this disheartening, not knowing why her father might be using an assumed name to hide, but it was the first clue she had of his current location.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers were also able to pick up some rumors during the afternoon. Several heard that the town of Legaries has disappeared. They were not certain exactly where Legaries was but everyone was certain it was to the south. Tharduk and the two rangers separately heard that the head of the Land Office had been recently murdered by a red-robed assassin.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">After Midnight</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">An alarm woke up Anomin and Islo. The alarm was from outside the inn, so they opened the window to find out where. The window opened onto the courtyard just inside the County Gate but the alarm seems to be coming from a part of town behind the inn. Anomin turned into a crow and flew out to get more information while Islo woke the rest of the adventurers.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Flying a widening spiral around the inn, Anomin quickly spotted the alarm and the problem - a building the next block over was very much on fire! Anomin quickly flew back to the adventurer’s room at the inn and informed everyone what was going on. She then flew back out of the window to observe the fire. Kadruth immediately bolted out of the room to go help while Islo, Tharduk, and Sorvia took a moment to don their leather armor before heading out.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Back at the burning building, Anomin spotted two figures in dark clothing exiting a third floor window on the backside of the burning building. They climbed down to the ground and then sprinted across the common courtyard at the center of this block. At the far side, they used a grappling hook and rope to climb up to the roof of that building. Anomin chose to follow them from on high as they seemed familiar but she could not see their faces to place them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kadruth ran to the burning building. It was three stories tall and had an ornate façade, the front of which was on fire on the second and third floors. <i>[NOTE: US notations, so 1st floor is on the ground.]</i> Once there he found people exiting all the nearby buildings and a bucket brigade reaching back to the well in the center of the market square. The bucket brigade was not very efficient, so Kadruth started organizing them better and focusing the water on the burning building. He used his <i>Wall of Force</i> spell to create a platform for him to stand on so he could be seen and heard better. Then he cast it again to create a ramp up to the second floor of the burning building so the bucket brigade could throw the water directly on the burning second floor.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">By this time the rest of the adventurers arrived. Inserrant gathered up any kids standing around and took them over to the well, organizing them to assist in the return and filling with water the buckets. Tharduk started gathering information about the house and witness statements, which he wrote down.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sorvia and Islo ran into the burning building to rescue anyone trapped inside. In the back of the house they found the house staff organized to rescue the house’s art and valuables. The butler stated he did not know where five members of the staff were. Sorvia and Islo went up the servant’s stairs to the second floor. The front of the second floor was on fire but it was creeping towards the back. They went up another set of stairs to the top floor and found the fire raging through the front and center of the building. They called out names of the missing servants and heard a reply near the flames. They checked a door close to the flames before opening it. There they found a young servant huddled in a corner. They hauled the servant out and retreated to the back of the building where Islo heard a cat in a closet. After grabbing the cat, the rangers and their two rescuees made their way back down to the ground floor, the third floor completely ablaze behind them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Elsewhere, Anomin tailed the two people in dark clothes as they made their way across the roof tops, heading north. At the edge of the block they two figures paused and peeked down into a street they needed to cross. Satisfied no one on the ground was watching, they prepared to jump the narrowest part of the gap.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin stealthily landed onto their target roof, her black feathers obscuring her from their sight in the darkness. One landed, she reverted to her human form and recast her transformation spell, shifting back into her cougar form. The smaller of the two people she was following made the leap across the street first, landing in front of Anomin and exclaiming at the very unexpected cougar, “Holy shit! How did you get here?” The man on the previous roof called out quietly, “What do you mean? Who’s there?”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin recognized both voices as the two people the adventurers had let go after the ambush at the edge of the forest!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin immediately attacked the woman. The woman attempted to dodge the attack but Anomin was better and clawed her across the shoulder. Anomin then released a shrill screeching noise to cow the two thieves <i>[made a Presence attack]</i>. She was very impressive. The man said, “It’s that fucking elf’s familiar. Sorry Seraphim you're on your own.” He then attached a grappling hook and line to the roof and slid down the line to the street. The woman Anomin had clawed raised her hands and said, “Don’t eat me.” Anomin made no promises.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk’s investigations identified the burning building as owned by Agni Michelakis. Amongst the witnesses he questioned, he hound an urchin who saw something but needed a little something to refresh his memory. Tharduk gave him a few copper. The kid reported he saw someone pouring something on the front of the building from the roof. The kid was of the opinion Timo Onosus, the person disputing the land boundaries in the forest, was behind the fire. The kid had a candelabra tucked under the back of his jacket that Tharduk suspected was stolen. Then the Sheriff arrived and Tharduk let the urchin slink away.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Sheriff noted that Tharduk was talking to people and making notes. He greeted Tharduk with, “I'm the one with the badge but you seem to have all the witness statements. Mind if I read them over?" Tharduk handed over his notes to the Sheriff while warning the sheriff they are in Dentugog <i>[the dwarven language]</i>. Realizing he needed more light to read the notes, the Sheriff had his deputies clear a local bakery that was open to sell to the crowds watching the fire being fought. He then ordered some food and drink from the baker and sat and read the reports while his deputies kept an eye on the crowds of people so the bucket brigade could continue to work. After reading the notes, occasionally asking Tharduk to translate a word or two, he agreed the fire looked like arson.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Back on the rooftops, Anomin struck the other woman twice, once to knock her out and once to keep her unconscious. This also bloodied the woman considerably. Anomin turned back into a human and lowered the woman to the ground using a rope. She flew down to the ground as a crow before returning to human form to carry the woman back to the rest of the adventuring group. She ran across Inserrant at the well, who commented, “You carry someone who is almost a corpse.” "I'm helping,” Anomin replied brightly.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inserrant told the oldest kid with her that they were now in charge and to keep everything going. Then the two women carried the captive, looking for the Sheriff. Along the way they ran into a very smoky Sorvia and Islo. Anomin asked Sorvia to go find Kadruth so he could heal their captive. While Sorvia did this, Inserrant and Anomin found the sheriff’s temporary outpost in the bakery. Anomin took the captive in while Inserrant waited outside.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inside, Anomin reported she had captured one of the two people responsible for the fire. The Sheriff asked Tharduk to take notes in Koine <i>[the local common tongue]</i> while Anomin related everything she had seen and done. The Sheriff looked dubious when Anomin talked about turning into a crow and a cougar, glancing over to Tharduk, who confirmed with a nod both times.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Sheriff recognized the woman as Seraphim the Hare and the description of the man sounded like Kostakis, both swords for hire and known to be currently employed by Viktor Nicabar. The sheriff carefully searched Seraphim’s body, finding weapons and several empty vials of oil with fresh residue in them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">At this point Kadruth, Islo, and Sorvia arrived and Inserrant entered the shop with them. At Kadruth’s request, Seraphim was untied but shackles were put on instead. Kadruth started his healing. While that was happening, Anomin turned back into a crow. After a couple minutes, Seraphim woke up and looked around, fully healed but shackled and surrounded. The Sheriff asked Seraphim if she had anything she wanted to tell him. She said no and glared at Anomin and Islo. She remained silent when asked where Kostakis was, so the Sheriff instructed some deputies to go over to the Nicabar house and ask Mister Nicabar where Kostakis was.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Sheriff turned to Anomin and asked if she could understand him. She answered in Koine, "Yes.” This surprised him, but he thanked her for bring in the suspect. He also thanked Kadruth for leading the bucket brigade. Inserrant asked if there was a bounty. The Sheriff said, “Not yet, but I’ll mention to Agni Michalakis that you helped.” At which point the sheriff and the remaining deputies left with their prisoner.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin led Sorvia and Islo to where Kostakis dropped to the ground on the rope, which was still there. Sorvia and Islo started following Kostakis’ tracks down the street to the market square. Anomin took a moment to fly up and retrieve the grappling hook and rope and then followed the two rangers.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The rangers were just able to track Kostakis through the market square, mostly as his were the only tracks moving away from the fire. They lost his tracks on the bridge to North Ward. They crossed the bridge and looked around, hoping to reacquire his tracks on the other side. They could just hear a large argument with multiple people on the other side of the buildings. Sorvia, having reacquired Kostakis’ tracks, followed them eastward along the river side of the block. Islo walked towards the Bee Gate, intending to turn right and follow the buildings to the other side, where the argument was. Anomin instead flew over the buildings and was the first to see the three deputies attempting to enter the main house on the block. They are arguing with some toughs and a man in quality clothes on the building’s front stairs. Anomin can see additional burly men watching the argument through the windows of the house.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin flew to the backside of the house, where Sorvia was following the tracks to stairs down to a servant’s entrance. Anomin observed that all the windows on the back side were shuttered or had closed curtains. Landing near Sorvia, Anomin spotted a secret door to the right of the servant’s entrance to the building.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">By this point, Islo had laid eyes on the argument on the front steps and backtracked to Sorvia and Anomin. Anomin pointed out the secret door to the other two. The lower landing had been recently swept, so there were no tracks to determine which door Kostakis had entered.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The trio quietly talked over the situation and decided they should report what they had to the deputies. Islo jogged back around to the front of the building to speak with one of the deputies. While the other two deputies continued to argue to be allowed in, Islo quietly explained to the third deputy what he and his companions had located. The deputy explained that the Sheriff knew of the secret door but did not currently have the authority to force the issue.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo jogged back around to Sorvia and Anomin and explained that the three of them were on their own here. Anomin told them to wait and she would go fetch the rest of the adventuring party.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This one took a while to write up, partially due to the Day Job being busy, partly the delay in getting player write-ups, but mostly due to me slacking a bit (and by a bit I mean a lot).]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[The next session is the amazing one where The Accident happens and the PCs have to...well, just come back and read the blog entry for Session 8 when I post it.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/sudden-sea-landing-page.html">Sudden Sea Landing Page</a> - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-sudden-sea-session-6.html">Session 6</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-sudden-sea-session-8.html">Session 8</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-67628442452676175452023-10-07T17:20:00.000-05:002023-10-07T17:20:45.265-05:00 The Sudden Sea –Session 6<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[April 28 – Nomi Arrival and Making Splashes]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the <b>Hero System Fifth Revised Edition </b>(FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened September 25, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea due to the sinking and flooding of ~374,385 square miles of the Plains of Syrak.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sorvia of Stavros </b>– female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Kadruth Worldbender </b>– male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Islo Redgrass </b>– male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Inserrant</b> – female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Tharduk Lavabreath</b> – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Anomin</b> – female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 28, 56 I.C.</b> <i>(Imperial Calendar)</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">12:30 PM</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The group of adventurers entered the outskirts of Nomi. The “guards” they hired could be seen riding away to the west and then south as the group walked closer to the town. Clearly they did not want to be seen nor identified by anyone in the town.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The western outskirts of the town were farmlands, a mix of private gardens and larger farms with refugee buildings along the north bank of the river. On the southbank, between the river and the town wall were poorer buildings, but still better than the ramshackle refugee buildings. The eastern outskirts north of the Cephissus River were fields of cultivated flowers and fruit tree orchards with noticeable bee hives lining the fields and orchards. The buildings they could see looked like breweries and other buildings associated with the mead production Nomi was known for. They could not see the outskirts south of the river on the far side of town other than some rooftops to indicate buildings were there. The town itself had a 10-foot tall stone wall surrounding it with a large manor house or small keep inside and the majority of the town buildings.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There was a small line at the gate and the adventurers chose to wait patiently. Tharduk pulled out his merchant credentials as the group got to the front of the line. Before he could present them, the guard saw the clearly marked crate of mail he was carrying and welcomed the group to Nomi. He gave directions to the local post office <i>[follow the street over the bridge and keep to the left in the market square]</i> and waved them through the gate.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As the adventurers walked through North Ward <i>[the small part of Nomi on the north bank of the Cephissus River, which clipped the north side of the town]</i>, a merchant sitting at a table on the veranda of The Courageous Plate, a tavern, hailed the group and Tharduk specifically. The merchant introduced himself as Theodore Damaskos and offered to buy the group drinks at the tavern for first crack at whatever news they had from other parts. <i>[The players immediately recognized him as an information broker.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers were suspicious, having been ambushed for carrying the crate of mail just over an hour ago. Tharduk saw an opportunity to possibly network with a local merchant and wanted to take Theodore up on his offer. The group decided to split up: Tharduk and Kadruth joining Theodore for drinks while the rest of the group delivered the crate of mail to the post office.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[At this point I followed the adventurers delivering the mail, so the players would have no idea what was happening to the two dwarves. I told the players of the dwarves we’d come back to them in a bit.]</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Delivering the Mail</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sorvia took possession of the crate of mail and she, Islo, Nomin, and Inserrant continued south down the main street, crossing the wooden bridge over the Cephissus River into the main part of Nomi. The bridge over the river opened to the town square, which was full of stalls as it was market day for the town. The alluring smell of food hung over the area. At the end of the first block they could see a sign hanging that displayed the crest of the County Modon Post Office.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers stood and discussed whether or not they would commit to picking up the return mail and if so, before or after they continued south to scout the Mikro Dasos. Inserrant was concerned the group would need to sign a contract to deliver the mail back to Mouzaki and return with mail for Nomi again, getting stuck running mail back and forth between the town and city. Anomin stated that picking up the return mail was part of their current contract with the Postmaster in Mouzaki, but the contract only specified they needed to return by the end of May to fulfill that. This meant they could go and do the scouting job and pick up the return mail before heading back to Mouzaki. Islo was in favor of this as it meant they would not have to carry or be responsible for the return mail while scouting to the south.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Just as they were agreeing to this plan, several of the adventurers noticed townsfolk notice them holding the crate of mail and then bolt off. Suddenly feeling a bit conspicuous, they hustled over to the post office where a rudimentary line of people was starting to form. Word of their arrival with the mail was spreading and people were queueing up for their mail already!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inside the post office was a woman behind a counter. She appeared to be reading something on the counter, but when the adventurers hailed her, she jolted and they realized she had been asleep. She immediately spotted the mail crate and perked up. She introduced herself as Stefania Spyros, Senior Postal Officer for Nomi. Sorvia handed the crate over to SPO Spyros and then asked her to sign their receipt form. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">SPO</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Spyros did so.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">SPO</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Spyros then looked around the group at the entrance to the post office where townsfolk were already lining up. Seeing that, she told the adventurers she had mail to go back to Mouzaki, but would they please come back in two hours to get it as she would be very busy for a while. Sorvia told Officer Spyros her group was staying the night in Nomi and would pick up the return mail in the morning before leaving <i>[this despite the conversation the players had just had stating differently]</i>. SPO Spyros said that would be even better.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sorvia then asked if </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">SPO</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Spyros recommended any place for the adventurers to stay, preferably one with good food. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">SPO</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Spyros said the only inn not full of refugees right now was the Crossed Arrows, down by the County Gate - the south gate of the town that once led back to the rest of the county by way of the Count’s Road. Sorvia asked about the food and </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">SPO </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Spyros reassured her by stating it was a Tolk establishment. Sorvia thanked her for the information.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As an afterthought, SPO Spyros asked Sorvia if the adventurers had any issues delivering the mail. Sorvia told her a group had waylaid them at the edge of the forest, attempting to take the box. She told SPO Spyros the person trying to stop them was named Michael Lakis and seemed to be working for a person named Victor. SPO Spyros was surprised at this and asked. “Agni Michelakis attacked you on Viktor’s behalf?” Sorvia confirmed this, which left SPO Spyros puzzled.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Note from the GM: The players believed that the talky bandit leader was someone named “Michael Lakis” as the letter he asked for should have been “addressed to Michelakis”, the players not realizing this was a single last name, instead interpreting it as two names. I did not correct them. (Big Evil Grin)]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Officer Spyros then pulled on a nearby hanging cord, which rang a bell somewhere higher up. Believing this was an announcement the mail was in to the townsfolk, the adventurers beat a hasty exit from the building. Instead of going back north to the Courageous Plate, Sorvia led the adventurers south, to find the Crossed Arrows and rent a room. The inn, a two-story building with leaded glass windows, was easy to find as it faced the County Gate and had a sign with crossed arrows hanging above the door. <i>[There was also some writing in Talodi, the language of Tolk, across the bottom but no one in the group speaks or reads that language so I did not translate for them.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inside the adventurers met the innkeeper, Hira, a slender Tolk woman. Sorvia asked for lodgings for six. Hira gave her the option of either the single large room or individual cots up on the second-floor mezzanine. Sorvia wanted the single large room and Hira told her it should be available, but she wanted to go check her registry book to verify. In the meantime, would the four of them like to sit and order lunch? Sorvia was very interested in this and agreed to do so with Inserrant and Islo close behind. Anomin was dubious but eventually agreed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dina, the human serving woman, explained the lunch menu was either a vegetable stew with a mug of bitters or boiled eggs and whey cheese with a tankard of cider. Anomin asked if there was an all meat dish <i>[she is a carnivore]</i>. Dina said there was probably still some of the roasted pork with wheat bread still available from the previous day and it normally came with </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">a tankard of beer</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">. Anomin asked for that without the bread, but Inserrant quickly spoke up, asking if she could have Anomin’s bread with her order of vegetable stew? Dina said that would work. <i>[I don’t have Islo’s order, but I’m pretty sure it was the stew as well.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After Dina left with the group’s lunch order, Hira returned to them and confirmed the large room was available for the night. She quoted them a price of 2 silver for the room and their meals were a silver each. The adventurers paid and over lunch Sorvia considered bringing some food back for Tharduk and Kadruth but decided against it.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Back at the Courageous Plate with Tharduk and Kadruth</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Theodore walked the two dwarves inside the Courageous Plate so they could have some privacy while the dwarves shared the news. Sitting over by the fire place, Tharduk and Kadruth spent the next thirty minutes sharing and discussing what news they knew of from Mouzaki. During this time, Tharduk also engaged Theodore in the conversation <i>[used his Conversation skill to elicit information from Theodore]</i>, learning that the interest in the mail was due to a land dispute after a will reading between Agni Michelakis and Maro Simirotov. The local landsman ended up asking for all original deeds be displayed to determine original boundaries and if Agni could not present hers from Mouzaki, Viktor Nicabar would get the logging business on that land as an original partner and the rest of the land would go to Maro Simirotov. Tharduk also learned about “giants” stealing cattle from local farmers to the south.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">By the time Tharduk finally ran out of things to say, the tavern had filled up with over twenty large burly humans carrying clubs at their waists. Kadruth noticed that the men were trying to not pay attention to the dwarves but were clearly keeping an eye on them. Once out of things to relate and having finished his ale, Tharduk was ready to leave but it became apparent that the large number of burly men were not willing to let the dwarves leave. Just as Theodore was saying something about the mail and the situation was most tense, a group of eight Tolk tourists burst into the bar!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Their leader saw Theodore and greeted him loudly by name, stating that the Tolk had heard Theodore had new news. The group of Tolk made their way to where Theodore and the two dwarves were sitting and started hopping onto chairs, their leader asking for the news. Tharduk and Kadruth quickly yielded their seats to the Tolk, one of whom made hand gestures at Tharduk while Theodore could not see them, suggesting that the two dwarves get out of the tavern as quick as they could. Tharduk thanked Theodore for the drinks and he and Kadruth beat a hasty retreat from the tavern. Once on the veranda, Kadruth dropped a quick <i>Wall of Force </i>spell across the front door to delay any pursuit. He heard several thumps as several someones bounced off the now immovable doors.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As the duo crossed the bridge into the main part of Nomi, they noticed many of the toughs exit The Courageous Plate through the side door. The toughs clustered on the veranda, but did not pursue the dwarves into the streets.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The dwarves headed south, keeping to the left side of the market square. They saw a noticeable crowd at the post office with several people wearing badges keeping the crowd civil. They approached one of the badge-wearers and asked about reporting an incident with the delivery of the mail. The badge-wearer identified himself as a deputy and recommended the dwarves go speak with the sheriff at his office, across the street. The dwarves thanked the deputy and made their way over to the sheriff’s office.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The sheriff and some additional deputies were sitting on the porch of the office, keeping an eye on the line at the post office. Tharduk and Kadruth stated they were part of the group that delivered the mail and needed to report some unusual happenings, including an attack outside of town and an attempted one inside the Courageous Plate. The sheriff suggested they go inside his office to discuss the particulars. Kadruth described the rest of the adventuring group to one of the deputies and asked that if the deputy saw them on the way to the Courageous Plate he tell them where the dwarves were.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inside the sheriff’s office, the sheriff sat at his desk and asked Tharduk and Kadruth to tell him what happened. Tharduk first introduced Kadruth and himself to the sheriff, who recognized Kadruth’s clan name. Kadruth attempted to evaluate whether or not the sheriff was involved with the shenanigans going on by name-dropping Theodore and making some other statements. Once he was done, Kadruth was certain the sheriff had an excellent poker face.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk then described the attack on the adventurers at the edge of the forest and then the events at the Courageous Plate, minus the specific details on how the Tolk helped the dwarves escape. Once Tharduk was done, the sheriff stated that this was worthy of an actual report and went to get some paper and ink to do so. Tharduk and the sheriff went back through the events again, the sheriff making note of what names the dwarves had and descriptions where they had no names.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once the sheriff had taken their statements, Tharduk explained the group’s travel plans. The sheriff stated it was probably for the best that the group was leaving town in the morning and suggested they make an early start of it. The dwarves agreed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As they were leaving the sheriff’s office, Tharduk and Kadruth saw the rest of their adventuring group casually entering the market square from the south and hailed them. Both sides quickly shared information, with the dwarves slightly outraged that Sorvia had the others stop for lunch before returning.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">While there, Kadruth spotted a human woman with what looked like two bodyguards. Suspecting he knew who she was, he left the group and approached her. Asking if she was Agni Michelakis. When she confirmed, he introduced himself and quickly explained that he was part of the group that had delivered the mail and that people in the employ of Viktor Nicobar had attempted to intercept the mail. Agni was clearly not surprised that someone had attempted to intercept the mail but was very surprised that Viktor was involved. She thanked Kadruth for the information and then, it being her turn to enter the post office, did so.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventuring party went back to the Crossed Arrows so the dwarves could get some food. While there, Kadruth unobtrusively entered Sorvia into his <i>Book of Grudges</i>.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[It took a little longer than expected to get this session typed up. I decided to cut back on my note taking during the game to concentrate on GMing the interactions with NPCs, relying on my players to send in notes. The party is in the small town of Nomi and so character interactions are more frequent and require more of my attention. This of course is the first time the players were lax in getting me write-ups. Sigh. As a result, this write up might be a little sketchy until I get material from my players. We’ll see.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Another note: I keep re-inventing the wheel for this part of the adventure. I named the antagonist when I wrote this up originally, but forgot that by the time the players wanted the name, so I made up a completely new name. I didn’t realize I had done that until I went to update my adventure notes and found the original name. Sigh. I did the same thing with Officer Spyros - she had a different name in my notes and for some reason I decided I had to create a new one. I just now realized I did the same thing with the name of the inn the players rented a room from - I had a name but made up a new one when they went there. Why do I keep re-creating things I already created?]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/sudden-sea-landing-page.html">Sudden Sea Landing Page </a>- Links to all the write-ups for this campaign </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-sudden-sea-session-5.html">Session 5</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: Session 7 <i>[Not yet typed up]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-81010063067596108992023-10-06T16:34:00.003-05:002023-10-06T16:34:17.996-05:00Session Notes Delayed<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> The next two sessions have happened but I ran into an unexpected snag. As I am running encounters in the town of Nomi, a certain amount of which I'm creating on the spot, I eased back on my note taking, expecting to rely upon the wealth of notes my players turn in. They do this in exchange for Hero Points that they can use to reroll a single die or adjust the result on a die up or down by one.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Over the last five session, I relied on their notes to help me get the order of events correct or get small details I might have missed. As soon as I chose to rely on them turning in notes as the basis of my write-ups, they stopped turning them in. Two of the players have a newborn they are dealing and two others had work situations become super busy to the point they don't want to look at a computer after work. One player still turns them in but doesn't make notes on things her character isn't there for and the last player hasn't been turning in notes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">That guy is now typing up notes as text messages and sending them to me, but his character is a bit delusional and the notes reflect this.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Long story short (too late!), I have most of Session 6 typed up, but not an important bit at the end of the session. I'm waiting on the player notes for some detail and then I can post it. The players should be sending their notes more on the regular after this, so once we get started I should be able to post regularly again.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">TL;DR: Sorry for the delay, material is inbound, just not here yet.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-30145278835266126372023-09-14T16:11:00.003-05:002023-10-07T17:22:26.140-05:00 The Sudden Sea – Session 5<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[April 28 – Fight Conclusion]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened September 4, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea due to the sinking and flooding of ~374,385 square miles of the Plains of Syrak.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sorvia of Stavros</b> – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Tharduk Lavabreath</b> – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Kadruth Worldbender</b> – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Anomin </b>– female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Islo Redgrass</b> – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Inserrant</b> – female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 28, 56 I.C.</b> <i>(Imperial Calendar)</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Shortly after 11:00 AM</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers were in the midst of being attacked. Islo attempted to break free from the grip of the burly rider, straining to his maximum <i>[pushed his Strength]</i>, but the burly rider held him easily.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The female rider, muttering that fighting adventurers was not what she was being paid to do, stopped fighting with Sorvia and ran over to where Tharduk set the postal box on the ground when the riders first approached. She picked up the box and whistled for her horse. Tharduk moved over to the female rider and did a Take Down, dropping her to the ground. The burly rider Crushed Islo in his grip, breaking some ribs, stunning the elf, and knocking the elf unconscious. Anomin, seeing Islo hanging limply in the burly rider’s grip, ignored the mooks near here and moved across the battle field to help Islo. The lead rider stretched his legs to get behind Tharduk and did a Leg Sweep, dropping Tharduk on the ground next to the female rider. Sorvia, shot at the female rider with her heavy bow, hitting the rider in the vitals <i>[with the use of a Hero Point]</i> but for minimal damage. The 5 crossbowmen moved their horses, three to get a shot at Sorvia around the Force Wall Kadruth was maintaining and two to close with Anomin, hoping to shoot and kill the shapeshifter. Sorvia was only hit by one crossbow bolt, but it was low in the back and stunned her. Both crossbow shots at Anomin missed. Kadruth moved close to Sorvia, and then cast another Wall of Force to protect himself, Sorvia, and Inserrant from further attacks by the group of three riders.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo stirred slightly in the crushing grip of the burly rider <i>[he recovered from being stunned]</i>. Inserrant continued to sing her song of surrender at the riders <i>[increasing the cumulative total from her Mind Control to 13]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk failed to kippup, then climbed to his feet and attacked the prone female rider. He swung with all his might <i>[pushing his strength]</i>, aiming high <i>[High Shot]</i> on the prone woman, who squirmed to avoid the attack <i>[aborted to a Dodge]</i>. He hit her in the head, wounding, stunning, and knocking her out. She lay prone on the ground. Sorvia regathered her wits <i>[recovered from being stunned]</i>. Anomin, in cougar form, attacked the burly rider holding Islo. The rider dropped the elf to dodge the attack, but Anomin caught him with a deep clawing across the chest. The lead rider, seeing he was having trouble holding Tharduk’s attention, drew his sword and attacked Tharduk with it, slashing the dwarf deeply across the leg. Four of the crossbow riders reloaded their weapons, starting to look a little concerned about how the fight was going. The fifth rider decided to go for the brass ring and rode at the postal box, attempting a grab by on it. He nearly lost his grip and completely lost control of the horse, which decided to flee post haste from the dangerous predator <i>[Anomin in cougar form]</i>, leaving the combat with its rider desperately holding onto the saddle. Kadruth moved further south, dropping the recently cast Wall of Force before recasting it for better protection from the three crossbowmen threatening Inserrant and Sorvia.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo caught his breath and woke up.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The female rider recovered from being stunned but was still prone in the middle of the fighting. Tharduk turned and punched the lead rider in the head <i>[spending a Hero Point to mover the hit from the hands (6) to the head (5)]</i>. Islo failed to kippup <i>[possibly due to fractured ribs]</i> and instead climbed to his feet. He then moved into the shelter of the two Walls of Force Kadruth was maintaining. The burly rider, in full combat frenzy wrestled with Anomin in her cougar form. She attempted to block the attack but failed and he successfully grabbed her. Sorvia stepped for a better angle and shot the burly rider in the chest. The lead rider stabbed his sword into Tharduk’s chest, stunning and knocking out the dwarf. Two of the crossbowmen moved their horses around the Walls of Force to get shots at the held Anomin and still missed. Another crossbowman shot at Kadruth, who just dodged the attack, while the last crossbowman held his action, looking unsure. Inserrant continued her singing, its effects now weighing heavily on the thoughts of the crossbowmen <i>[cumulative total now 25 on Mind Control]</i>. Inserrant called out an offer to pay the crossbowmen if they switched sides.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Post 12 Recovery happened.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo steadied his breath, drew his bow, and shot the burly rider in the vitals <i>[with the use of two Hero Points to move it from a leg shot]</i>, killing the man and releasing Anomin from his crushing grip.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk unconsciously recovered his wits while remaining unconscious. Anomin fluidly rolled to her paws, moved to the lead rider and raked him across the legs with her claws. Sorvia now shot at the lead rider who dodged the arrow <i>[aborted to a dodge]</i>. The crossbowmen ask Inserrant if the job offer is still good. She says yes, but the pay was now less. They said “That’s fair,” and surrendered. Kadruth asked the lead rider to surrender, dropping his recent Wall of Force and holding part of his action to see if the leader surrendered.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo moved to the unconscious female rider and retrieved the postal box.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The lead rider asked that he and the female rider be allowed to leave with their horses and possessions. After a little back and forth <i>[and the female rider waking up]</i>, these terms are accepted. The crossbowmen asked Inserrant what the pay was for escorting the adventurers over to Nomi. She conferred with the others and offered a silver each. They gladly accepted this arrangement. The lead rider and the female rider both mounted their horses and rode away to the west.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When they were gone, Kadruth started casting healing spells on the injured adventurers. Tharduk got into conversation with the crossbowmen and subtly pumped them for information on their employer. He is able to get a name: Viktor Nicabar.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once everyone was mostly patched up, the group with their newly hired escorts headed east.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Noon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The group approached Nomi, a small walled town that spanned the Cephissus River. The crossbowmen started getting nervous when and asked if they could get paid before entering the town. They would likely get into trouble if they were recognized and planned on fleeing southeast to The Shires. The adventurers did not begrudge them wanting to avoid trouble and paid them. Inserrant used her continuing Mind Control to have the crossbowmen forget her singing, that Anomin shapeshifts, and the details of the adventurers faces before sending them off with a silver coin each.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[So I went to go see my dad and he was in better health than initially reported. Two weeks of physical therapy and no more chemotherapy helped in the recovery from the stroke. I very much enjoyed the time I spent with him.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Back home in the Houston area, just as we were ready to have a repair guy work replace the blower fan in our Air Conditioner, which was going bad, it locked up and died. Sigh. We are working on get that fixed ASAP, but don’t know how long that will be. I hoped it would hold out until we had the repair scheduled, but no such luck.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[As to the game session, things went well. Having a break between sessions in the fight gave me time to remember that the antagonists were there to get the mail, not kill the adventurers. I wanted the female rider to do the grab by with her whip and drag the box away, but she didn’t have her horse anymore and the delay for the horse to arrive let the PCs dog-pile her and keep her from fleeing with the box. The crossbowmen were loyal until it was clear their side was losing, then Inserrant’s Mind Control hit its stride and completely undercut their will to keep fighting.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Speaking of Inserrant, I allow players to fiddle with their characters a bit during the first month or so of play. Hero System characters can be complicated and sometimes things don’t work in play the way you thought they would or you forgot things, like skills your character should have. Several characters have done minor tweaks, but Inserrant is doing a major one and will have a higher Speed and Dex going forward as a result. Her player learned that a Speed of 2 allowed for Dodges to last a long time but meant that the cumulative Mind Control was very slow to get to useful numbers. We will see how the revamp works out in the future.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/sudden-sea-landing-page.html">Sudden Sea Landing Page</a> - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-sudden-sea-session-4.html">Session 4</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-sudden-sea-session-6.html">Session 6</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-86852382049975146612023-09-05T07:00:00.001-05:002023-09-05T07:00:00.170-05:00The Sudden Sea –Session 4<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[April 26-28 – Mail Intercept]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened August 28, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea due to the sinking and flooding of ~374,385 square miles of the Plains of Syrak.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sorvia of Stavros</b> – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Tharduk Lavabreath</b> – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Kadruth Worldbender</b> – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Anomin</b> – female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Islo Redgrass</b> – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Inserrant </b>– female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 26, 56 I.C.</b> <i>(Imperial Calendar)</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">9:00 AM</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers, finished purchasing travel supplies at the company store, left the logging camp. They followed the Ladon River south, up into the valley that held the Tsepi Forest. Sorvia and Islo used their ranger skills to hunt game as the party traveled through the heavy undergrowth of the forest.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">3:00 PM</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers neared the head of the valley and found a convenient place to cross the Ladon River. The river was smaller here and Sorvia found a good ford to use. The entire group refilled their water skins before leaving the river. Once on the other side of the river they started walking up into the Onomastike Hills. This area was drier and rougher than the valley that held the forest, with noticeably fewer trees. <i>[They moved from a forested hex on the map to a hills hex.]</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">5:00 PM</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As the sun started to near the horizon, Sorvia located a good place for the group to camp. A campfire was put together and lit, protected from the wind <i>[and from generally being seen]</i> by some rock outcroppings. The group used the same watches from the night before (See <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-sudden-sea-session-2.html">Session 02</a>) and settled in for the night.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 27, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers broke camp as the sun came up on a chilly morning. The adventurers continued making their way across the hills. Once past the highest point <i>[around Noon]</i>, they descended into an area of wooded hills, part of the Ygro Dasos <i>[the much larger forest on other side of the Onomastike Hills]</i>. This slowed their movement further and by late afternoon it was time to find a campsite again while still in the forested hills.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once again Sorvia found a good, somewhat hidden campsite, for the group to use. Camp was set up and the same watches kept. <i>[I keep mentioning the hiddenness of their camp site as there were people searching the woods for travelers, but I kept rolling terrible on the Perception rolls to notice the camp</i></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 28, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">A Little After 9:00 AM</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo, who was the group’s navigator, realized he was lost an hour after the group broke camp. He asked Sorvia and Anomin for some help plotting a corrected path <i>[he just missed the Navigation roll for the day]</i>. Anomin turned into a crow and flew up above the trees to get a look around and spotted the edge of the forest and Nomi in the distance. She flew back down and relayed what she saw to Islo and Sorvia and they platted a path to the edge of the forest.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">11:00 AM <i>[or so]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers reached the edge of the forest, near where the Cephissus River, 30 to 40 meters across with noticeable flow, exited the forest. This put them a couple miles west of where they were expecting to exit the forest.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As they were getting their bearings and Sorvia was making notations for her eventual map of the expedition, all but Tharduk heard the sound of riders approaching. Anomin, still in crow form, alit on Islo’s shoulder and called out a warning about the riders. Sorvia put away her mapping tools while Tharduk set down the mail package and pulled out his merchant credentials and the job poster from Mouzaki for the mail delivery job.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Approaching the group at speed were ten riders on horseback. Anomin could see that most of the group were not expert horsemen but all were wearing leather armor with no insignia at all. This suggested they might not be any kind of officials at all. Anomin told the other adventurers this just before the riders could hear her.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The riders came to a stop before the adventurers, not right on them but closer than the adventurers were comfortable with, not knowing who the riders were. Sorvia noticed that the riders had bedrolls and other gear for being in the wilderness but was unable to share that information without the riders hearing her. One of the riders, apparently their leader, hailed the adventurers. He stated that he and his team noticed that the group was carrying a postal crate and was wondering if they could open it up so he could get a piece of mail he was expecting. He and his people had urgent business elsewhere and wanted to save time retrieving the message.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers were doubtful about his sincerity.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inserrant suggested that it would take them less time to wait and get the letter from the post office in Nomi than get raised from the dead. <i>[The PCs were a little belligerent here, but not entirely without good cause.]</i> Tharduk stalled, asking what name might be on the letter. The leader said “Michelakis” and stated he would be mighty thankful if the group let him retrieve that letter. Tharduk verbally went back and forth with the leader, learning that the riders were all employed by another who wanted the letter and had been roughing it for a while, waiting for someone to show up delivering mail <i>[Tharduk used his Conversation skill to elicit information the other would not normally have given up]</i>. Several of the riders started openly loading their crossbows at this point. <i>[Anomin said something here, which alerted the riders that the crow was not just a crow but the notes do not mention what she said.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin attempted to hop off Islo’s shoulder behind Islo and then stay low while flying around behind the riders. Her tactic mostly worked as all but one of the riders were either loading their weapons or staring hard at Tharduk. Unfortunately, one of the likely lieutenants to the leader spotted her attempt, stating “Oh no you don’t!” and threw a net at Anomin. This triggered Kadruth casting a <i>Wall of Force</i> right in front of the right half of the riders <i>[from the PC’s perspective]</i>, specifically in front of the net thrower. The net thrower was faster <i>[made the timing check by more than Kadruth]</i> and threw her net before the wall formed. Luckily for Anomin, the net just missed <i>[due to a range modifier]</i>. Anomin changed her plan and called out to the riders to surrender or face their doom. She got their attention <i>[as a crow pronouncing one's doom will tend to do]</i> but did not cause them to flee as they felt they had the upper hand. Tharduk, realizing how this was going to go, put away his merchant credentials and readied his shield. Islo held his action to see what the riders did while Inserrant started playing her zill and singing, but hit a false note <i>[actually attempted to cast her mind control spell but failed the roll]</i>. The riders finished loading their weapons and started pointing them at the adventurers in general.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo stopped waiting and fired a Tripping Arrow <i>[ranged trip attack martial arts maneuver]</i> at the horse of the biggest and burliest of the riders <i>[oddly, not the guy doing the talking]</i>. This caused the horse to rear and the rider failed to hold on, falling to the ground.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo then repeated the trick at the talker, who also dropped off his horse.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The female lieutenant goaded her horse to close with the talking crow while pulling out another net to throw at Anomin. Tharduk waited for the riders to approach. Sorvia shot and hit one of the mooks in the chest, wounding but not killing him. The big burly guy attempted to kippup and failed, then just climbed to his feet and advanced on Islo, calling out insults and threats at the elf. Anomin closed with the horses and transformed back to human form <i>[which dropped her Dexterity, so she had to wait to complete her action]</i>. The leader successfully kipped up, stating “we wanted to do this the easy way, but you chose the hard way,” and ran at Tharduk, performing a leg sweep once within range, dropping Tharduk to the ground. Anomin cast her shapeshift spell and turned into cougar, making a piercing and shrill vocalization while clawing a horse. This scared the two horses closest to her and they turned and fled, dropping their riders in front of Anomin. Tharduk attempted to kippup and failed, then climbed to his feet and readied his hand axe. Four of the crossbowmen all decided that the obvious mage was a danger and they shot at Kadruth with their crossbows. Two hit <i>[thigh and stomach]</i>, which triggered Kadruth’s prepared teleportation spell <i>[think "minor Word of Recall"]</i>, teleporting the stunned priest back into the forest, luckily missing any trees. Kadruth gathered his wits <i>[recovered from being stunned]</i>. The two mooks in front of Anomin got up and readied their swords.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo fired a Quick Shot <i>[another martial arts maneuver]</i> at the burly rider and hit him in the chest. This seemed to make the human angrier. Inserrant Finally got her voice under control and sang a song of surrender to the crossbowmen. They did not react. <i>[Inserrant’s Mind Control is very low power but has cumulative with a high cap, so eventually it will work. She also rolled low on effect.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The female rider decided that the shapeshifter was a familiar of some sort and Islo her master, so she rode her horse at Islo, attempting to run him over. Islo dodged the attempt, but the rider then slowed the horse and whipped it around to try again. Tharduk did a Take Down maneuver on the leader, dropping the man to the ground and yelling at the mooks to surrender. They paused and seriously considered this action. Sorvia shot at the female rider, hitting the rider’s arm. The burly rider ran all the way to Islo, arms wide and bellowing along the way. The leader failed to quick-stand, climbed to his feet and did a Take Away to take Tharduk’s hand axe. Anomin attacked the next mook in line, clawing the rider despite his best efforts to avoid the attack and putting fear into his heart. The crossbowmen, after taking a pause to consider Tharduk's demand they surrender, started reloading their weapons. Kadruth cast <i>Wall of Force</i> to protect Sorvia and Tharduk from the crossbowmen.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo stepped over to a better vantage point and tripped the female rider’s horse, but the rider lands on her feet. That worthy ran over to Sorvia and attempted to Disarm Sorvia, but failed. Tharduk disarmed the leader, sending his stolen axe flying somewhere into the tall grass. The leader legswept Tharduk again, dropping the dwarf to the ground. The burly guy pushed his move to close with Islo and grabbed the elf, pinning the elf’s arms. Anomin clawed the mook she was fighting, hitting the mook in the vitals and knocking him out. Sorvia attempted a High Shot at the female rider and just missed. The mook closest to Anomin had his will break and he fled the battle. The remaining crossbowmen pause again [due to Presence attacks]. Kadruth cast a ranged attack spell at the female rider and missed her. Inserrant continued to sing and play her zills <i>[but rolled terribly low again so no apparent effect yet]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[We paused the fight here as it was very late by this point and the end of the Combat Turn.]</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This session ran late as we are getting back up to speed on the combat system. I stopped it at the end of the first Combat Turn, before Post-Segment 12 Recoveries happen so we can pick up there at the beginning of next session.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[I took advantage of the holiday and no gaming plans to get this session written up, so I'm no longer lagging so far behind. Due to events happening later this week, I don't know exactly when Session 5 will get posted. Might be on time, might be late in the week - I won't know until later. I'll explain why then.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/sudden-sea-landing-page.html">Sudden Sea Landing Page</a> - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-sudden-sea-session-3.html">Session 3</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: Session 5 <i>[Not yet typed up]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-32260106956519831462023-09-03T15:47:00.000-05:002023-09-03T15:47:02.323-05:00The Sudden Sea –Session 3<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[April 25 and 26 – Against the Wendigo]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened August 21, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea due to the sinking and flooding of ~374,385 square miles of the Plains of Syrak.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sorvia of Stavros</b> – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Tharduk Lavabreath</b> – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Kadruth Worldbender</b> – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Anomin </b>– female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Islo Redgrass</b> – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Inserrant </b>– female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 25, 56 I.C. </b><i>(Imperial Calendar)</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Early Afternoon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">With Islo’s arrow in its chest, the creature struck out at the first foe it saw, Tharduk. It stepped to the dwarf to attack, moving bushes as it passed, which allowed Tharduk to know he was under attack. Tharduk attempted to block the attack and gain the upper hand, but failed due to the creature being invisible to him <i>[he did a Block maneuver but suffered a -1 penalty to OCV as the creature was invisible, which is how much he failed by]</i>. The failed block did get Tharduk’s shield in play and the creature’s attack just missed, deflected by the shield <i>[and DCV bonus from the Block maneuver]</i>. Islo took a second shot at the <i>[visible to him]</i> creature but missed widely.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sorvia spent her full phase attempting to acquire the creature as a target and finally worked it out <i>[took her two tries at making a Perception roll to succeed and work out where the creature was]</i>. Anomin did the same, but Kadrith was able work it out quicker and cast his <i>Wall of Force</i> spell, placing the wall between the creature and Tharduk. <i>[Kadruth knew where the invisible creature was but had not worked out its height yet. This will be important shortly.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The creature, not pleased with the appearance of the wall went after its source, Kadruth. Thinking he was safe 4 meters off the ground in a blind created with another <i>Wall of Force</i>, Kadruth was not prepared for the attack to come from above and was clawed on the arms. Islo attempted to trip the creature up with an arrow and succeeded. As the 8-meter-tall creature fell backwards, Islo warned Anomin it was falling at her. She dove out of the way and was just missed by the creature as it landed on the forest floor. The area of crushed plants suddenly gave the adventurers perspective on the size of the creature they were fighting and it gave them pause <i>[I drew a stick figure to scale to show where it landed on the map]</i>. Inserrant, knowing where the creature was, attempted to start up her mind control song, but was not able to hit the correct notes <i>[failed her skill check on the spell]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk stepped around the <i>Wall of Force</i> between him and the creature and hacked at it with his axe, striking it in the vitals, killing it. <i>[He did near max damage and the creature had low armor.]</i> The creature gradually turned visible as it bled out. Inserrant stepped out of “hiding” and said, “Well that wasn’t so hard.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk and Anomin set to beheading the creature as the creature was too large for the group to carry back in one piece. Kadruth used a prayer of healing to heal up the damage to his arms while Sorvia built a litter to carry the head back to the logging camp. Islo and Sorvia wanted claws from the creature and eight were harvested. Iso and Sorvia each claimed two of the claws, the rest going into a pouch in case they were useful as spell reagents.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once the head was severed and moved onto the litter, Anomin transformed into her horse form. The adventurers wanted to do something to scare away any other creatures that might show up, but none of them know what to do as they really don’t know what the creature is. Sorvia attached the litter to Anomin and the group made their way back to the logging camp. Moving was slower due to the litter and giant head.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Later Afternoon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Along the way back to the camp, the group occasionally passed or were passed by loggers going about their business. They yelled conversation back and forth that the adventurers had killed the creature and were taking it back to the camp. The loggers were pleased to hear this.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As the adventurers neared the logging camp, they saw a small crowd gathered at the gate. Nik Papadimitriou was among them to see what the adventurers were bringing back. When the head was displayed, Nik identified the creature as a wendigo. He was surprised to see it as there not supposed to be any in the Tsepi Forest.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nik paid Tharduk the promised reward, minus 1 silver for the breakfast the dwarves ate. He also declared there would be a celebration that night in recognition that the threat was gone. The loggers were excited at that and preparations got under way immediately. Sorvia suggested to Nik that the camp needed more than one set of guards but he countered that with the creature dead, the camp shouldn’t need guards anymore.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk split the reward evenly amongst the 6 adventurers <i>[81 copper each with 4 left over]</i>, giving each a split in coin and logging company script. Inserrant took her share and went to the camp company store to purchase a good throwing knife and a whetstone she convinced the agent to add in for free.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Evening</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">For the celebration dinner, the adventurers sat at the high table with Nik and the other company officers. The food was good and there was plenty of ale. Inserrant helped with the music for dancing and a good time was had by all.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 26, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Morning</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Some of the loggers stopped by Sorvia for hangover cures after drinking too much the night before.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers each purchase three days of good quality food from the company store using up much of their reward money <i>[making a point to spend all the company script]</i>. Islo also purchased an extra quiver of 24 arrows and three loose arrows to replace those lost in the fight with the wendigo. Kadruth purchased armored leather sleeves to protect his arms <i>[14 silver in cost]</i> using some of his own money <i>[left over from character creation]</i> and some of the reward <i>[all the script he received]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sorvia then planned the groups route south to Nomi. After some discussion, they settled on a path following the Ladon River upstream to the head of the valley and then cutting southeast across the Onomastike Hills to the Ygro Dasos, coming out of the forest near Nomi. They expected to arrive in Nomi about mid-day on the 28th.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[So the wendigo write-up I was using was from the Hero System Bestiary for 4th edition and was built a little more for fighting superheroes rather than fantasy adventurers. It had good defenses in general, just not versus killing attacks, which is all fantasy characters carry. I wish there had been a 5th Edition version and was surprised at the table there wasn’t one. As a note, the wendigo’s invisibility did not work “versus forest creatures” and I decided that as Islo was from a group of elves that preferred to live in harmony with nature, he qualified, so he was the only one who could see the wendigo in the fight.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[I should mention that part of the campaign rules require all magic spells to have </i>Gestures <i>and </i>Requires a Skill Roll<i> as limitations. This keeps the spells from feeling too much like super powers and maintains the flavor of Fantasy.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-sudden-sea-session-2.html">Session 2</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: Session 4 <i>[Not yet typed up]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-81191190250937247442023-08-25T16:01:00.009-05:002023-09-03T15:47:54.095-05:00The Sudden Sea – Session 2<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[April 24 and 25 – Watches and the hunt]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened August 14, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea due to the sinking and flooding of ~374,385 square miles of the Plains of Syrak.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sorvia of Stavros</b> – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Tharduk Lavabreath</b> – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Kadruth Worldbender</b> – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Anomin </b>– female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Islo Redgrass </b>– male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Inserrant </b>– female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 24, 56 I.C. </b><i>(Imperial Calendar)</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Evening</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After setting up their camp in the space allotted inside the logging camp, the adventurers worked out a schedule for watches over the night. Inserrant and Islo took the first watch, Tharduk and Kadruth took the second watch, and Anomin and Sorvia took third watch.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">First Watch</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo and Inserrant climbed up onto the roof of the camp barn as it gave them a good view of the logged areas to the south, over the camp barrier. As all the attacks on the loggers had been to the south, this seemed the best area to watch.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Their watch was quiet. They observed that 6 of the loggers were patrolling the camp in teams of two. Two loggers would circle the camp perimeter, starting and ending at the gate, where the other four waited. After a brief report, the next two would repeat the circuit, followed by the last two.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Second Watch</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Rather than use the barn roof as a watch platform, Kadruth cast his <i>Wall of Force</i> spell to create a platform for he and Tharduk to stand on. He placed this in the southwest corner of the camp, the point closest to where the last attack happened.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The two dwarves noticed that the human loggers on watch were starting to show signs of fatigue. Instead of patrolling in groups of two they started patrolling in groups of three with more time spent standing at the gate between patrols.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">About half-way through their watch, Kadruth noticed some of the taller grasses moving out in the logged area, 18-20 meters from the camp barrier. He drew Tharduk’s attention to the moving grass, but neither could see what was causing the grass to move. Kadruth attempted to cast his Wall of Force spell in front of where he thought the creature was heading twice, to make it reveal itself. He failed both times. Eventually, whatever it was seemed to leave the area with Tharduk noticing grasses moving further away. The rest of their watch was tense if not eventful.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Third Watch</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kadruth reported what he and Tharduk saw during their watch to Anomin and Sorvia when the watch changed. Anomin went over to the logger guards to warn them she would be turning into a cougar to stand her watch, so they should not panic if they saw a cougar up on the barn. When they looked skeptical, she cast the spell on herself in front of them, transforming into a cougar. This woke them up some and they accepted her warning. Anomin then padded over to the barn to join Sorvia up on the roof. <i>[This did nothing good for the mules in the barn who could smell a predator above them for the rest of the night.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anomin’s sharper eyesight <i>[and Darkvision]</i> allowed her to see a trail where the grasses had been disturbed during second watch. Something had moved by the camp and taken a look before leaving the area, heading south.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 25, 56 I.C.</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Morning</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As the sky lightened and the camp started coming awake, Anomin shapeshifted into her human form and told Sorvia about the trail. <i>[Anomin cannot talk in most of her animal forms.]</i> When the loggers opened the front gate, the two women plus Islo exited the camp and circled around to the trail. Sorvia pulled a field breakfast from one of her belt pouches of a strip of apricot leather, 2 dried figs, then small amounts of deer jerky and ate it as she approached the tracks.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The trail of tracks was obvious <i>[to the rangers and Anomin]</i>. Something large had moved though the area, large enough that the dwarves should have seen it. The tracks led off in a southwesterly direction. The two rangers started following the tracks while Anomin flew back into camp in crow form to update the dwarves. <i>[Her crow form can speak Koine, the local common tongue.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">During this time, Inserrant spent time practicing her singing and warming up her voice. <i>[She was using a spell to boost her natural singing talent for the day.]</i> Anomin found the dwarves and reported that she and the rangers were following tracks south. The dwarves agreed to follow after breakfast and catch up. Anomin rolled her eyes and flew off.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The dwarves went to eat breakfast with the loggers, helping themselves to large stacks of pancakes and bacon while promising to pay once they killed the animal attacking the loggers. The camp cook allowed this but charged their tab significantly more for their food as a result. <i>[Blown negotiation roll happened on the players’ part.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The tracks led southwest then west-by-southwest until they reached an unlogged section of the forest. The rangers were certain that the creature was alone, bipedal, and large. Neither ranger could think of what the creature might be. <i>[Mostly as neither had an appropriate Knowledge Skill. I allowed Islo to make a roll on his Area Knowledge: Green Mountains as these creatures also live there, but he only had a familiarity and rolled high.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The rangers sent Anomin back to see what was keeping the dwarves. When she arrived back at the camp, they were just finishing breakfast. Kadruth offered Anomin some pancakes, but she declined <i>[all her forms are carnivorous, even the ones not normally]</i>. Anomin reported what the rangers had discovered. One of the loggers, late to leave breakfast, overheard part of the conversation and asked if they knew what the animal was yet. The dwarves asked why and learned that the loggers had bets going on as to what the animal was. Both dwarves got in on the betting before leaving camp.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It took them 30 minutes to catch up with the waiting rangers. While waiting, Islo had hunted up some rabbits but had not cleaned or cooked them yet. Anomin, still in crow form, helped herself to the rabbit eyes. Once the group was together again, they headed into the wooded area the tracks led into. This area corresponded to Zone 3 on the logging map, an area further from the Ladon River and not yet logged.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The tracks then meandered a bit until they suddenly sped off, nearly causing Sorvia to lose them. She was able to follow the tracks as they zig-zagged a bit until they stopped at a large blood stain. Sorvia and Islo consulted and decided that whatever they were tracking had hunted and killed a medium-sized animal here. There was no sign of a carcass, and some blood drips along the trail where the tracks resumed heading south, suggesting that whatever it was was hauling the carcass. Sorvia suspected it had killed a deer. Sorvia also commented at this point that whatever they were tracking, it didn’t seem to bother hiding its tracks.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After a couple hours of tracking, the adventurers seemed to be in a deeper part of the forest. Sorvia had seen occasional marks on nearby trees suggesting the creature had three claws on its hands. The claws were at a worrisome height above her head. The adventurers could just hear loggers chopping down trees off in the distance to their left, suggesting they were in the new logging zone.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After a while the tracks stopped among a grouping of very large and old trees. Anomin flew up around the main tree. She found a deer head caught on a lower branch, but no sign of the creature itself. <i>[The creature was in a concealed bed of leaves and branches and it made its Concealment roll by 7 and Anomin "only" made her perception roll by 6.]</i> Anomin made a quick snack of the deer eyes before flying back down and reporting no sign of the creature or any arboreal trail away from this area.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers had a short discussion about what to do next. Sorvia and then Inserrant both suggested the loggers be brought in to cut down the big trees. This was declined as it would endanger the loggers. Sorvia suggested a snare to hold the creature when it descended. This sounded promising. Islo set up a snare with one of the rabbits at the base of the largest tree. He and Sorvia then concealed the trap. He them moved away a short distance and set up a small fire to cook the remaining two rabbits, hoping to draw out the creature with aroma.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">With still no sign of the creature, the adventurers decided to conceal themselves and continue waiting. Kadruth cast his <i>Wall of Force</i> spell and created a ledge around a tree about 4 meters off the ground. He asked Anomin to conceal it and she did a good job of it, joining Kadruth in the blind. Islo and Soria hid themselves expertly <i>[as rangers should]</i> while Tharduk and Inserrant hid themselves as best they could <i>[Narrator Voice: They were both totally visible.]</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">About Two Hours Later</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the early afternoon, something climbed down the immense tree it had been concealed on. The group did not notice its stealthy descent. The creature noticed the rabbit in the snare and contemptuously grabbed the rabbit, trapping one of its hands in the snare. It roared <i>[and I totally should have done a Presence Attack here]</i>. At this point, all of the adventurers knew something was in the snare, but only Islo could see it. It was very large, nearly 8 meters tall and 4 meters wide! It looked like some sort of troll or ogre, but with large, intelligent eyes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Islo shot it in the chest with his bow, causing it pain. This angered the creature, which casually broke free of the snare and popped the rabbit carcass into its mouth while looking around for its foe.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It spotted Tharduk first.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Finally ran the numbers on the surface area of the sudden sea. It has a surface area of roughly 374,385 square miles. This puts it at 96% the size of the Sea of Japan or 64% the size of the Gulf of Mexico or 39% the size of the Mediterranean Sea, depending upon which body of water you are most familiar with. For those in the US, imagine Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska sank and were flooded by sea water – that is the effect of what happened.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Sorry this was so late. Work and life were super busy and distracting. I still plan on publishing another blog entry before September 2.] </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[There will be a disruption of posting around the week of Labor Day as I need to travel to see my dad while he is as healthy as he will be for a while, possibly ever. I don't think anything is imminent, but I am now very aware he will not always be with us, a realization I was hoping not to have for at least another decade or more.]</i></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-sudden-sea-session-1.html">Session 1</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-sudden-sea-session-3.html">Session 3</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><i>UPDATE: Corrected date in second day heading from 24 to 25.</i></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-73996243340758690352023-08-21T07:00:00.010-05:002024-03-06T21:28:20.589-06:00Sudden Sea - Landing Page<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Landing page for the Session Notes for the Sudden Sea Campaign, a campaign run using the <i>Hero System Fifth Revised Edition</i> of rules.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-sudden-sea-session-1.htmlhttps://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-sudden-sea-session-1.html">Session 1</a> - Job Enquiries</span></p><p><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-sudden-sea-session-2.html" style="font-family: georgia;">Session 2</a><span style="font-family: georgia;"> - Watches and the Hunt</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-sudden-sea-session-3.html">Session 3</a> - Against the Wendigo</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-sudden-sea-session-4.html">Session 4</a> - Mail Intercept</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-sudden-sea-session-5.html">Session 5</a> - Fight Conclusion</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-sudden-sea-session-6.html">Session 6</a> - Nomi Arrival and Making Splashes</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-sudden-sea-session-7.html">Session 7</a> - Shopping and a Midnight Fire</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-sudden-sea-session-8.html">Session 8</a> - Secret Rooms and Murder!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-sudden-sea-session-9.html">Session 9</a> - Repercussions and Confessions</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-sudden-sea-session-10.html">Session 10</a> - Start mapping the Mikro Dasos</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-sudden-sea-session-11.html">Session 11</a> - Cyclopses and bears and...what is that!?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-sudden-sea-session-12.html">Session 12</a> - “That” turned out to be a Nemean Lion!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-sudden-sea-session-13.html">Session 13</a> - Survey conclusion and cautiously back to Nomi</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-sudden-sea-session-14.html">Session 14</a> - Anomin finds the goods</span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-56352542886212390932023-08-18T12:55:00.002-05:002023-08-27T19:35:24.987-05:00The Sudden Sea – Session 1<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[April 24 – Job Enquiries]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the <b>Hero System Fifth Revised Edition</b> (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened August 7, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, 30 years after the events of Tim’s Outlanders in what was known as the Crendia Campaign. The Crendia Campaign happened over 10+ years of real time, ending in 2006, four years before I started this blog.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sorvia of Stavros</b> – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Tharduk Lavabreath</b> – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Kadruth Worldbender</b> – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Anomin </b>– female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Islo Redgrass</b> – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Inserrant </b>– female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Spring</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>April 24, 56 I.C. </b><i>(Imperial Calendar)</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Having looked over the jobs listed on the Jobs Board in the Refugee Market outside the walled town of Mouzaki, the beginning adventurers decided that three of the jobs seemed to be in the same direction: south-ish from Mouzaki. The closest job was hunting a wild animal attacking a logging camp about a half-day away in the small Tsepi Forest. In that direction but farther was a job of delivering some mail to the village of Nomi, 50 miles away on the other side of the Onomastike Hills. The third job was past that at the border with The Shires, scouting for a reported monster in the Mikro Dasos.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sorvia and Islo volunteered to go talk to Sheriff Raptis and get the details on the scouting job, like what it paid and how long they had to complete it and get paid. Tharduk and Anomin volunteered to go speak with Postmaster Stefania Spyros to get the same information on the mail delivery run to Nomi. <i>[The job at the logging camp instructed those interested to speak with Chief Woodcutter Nik Papadimitriou at the camp, something the group could do on the way to the other two jobs.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tharduk and Anomin waited a bit in line to get into Mouzaki, until Tharduk showed his Certified Merchant badge and then they were waved in. The mail depot used to be one of the smallest in the County and was now the only remaining office, so it was crowded and full of people. Anomin noticed a side service window labeled “Bounties” that had no line and suggested she and Tharduk try there.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The duo made their way over to the Bounties window and rang the bell. The clerk there was caught slightly by surprise while working on something else. He had Anomin and Tharduk sign in and then escorted them back behind his desk and down a busy passage to the Postmaster’s office.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Postmaster Stephania Spyros was a human woman. Her office was full but neat, with various packages and letters arranged on side tables. Her own desk had neat stacks of reports. She was polite and explained that she needed someone to carry two months of accumulated mail from Mouzaki to Nomi, a small village on the other side of the Onomastike Hills. The delivery wasn’t urgent but was very much ready to go. The job paid one gold up front for travel expenses and nine more gold upon return with a signed receipt and whatever mail Nomi needed delivered to Mouzaki. Anomin and Tharduk would have a month or so to deliver the mail and return. Anomin and Tharduk both agree this was reasonable and their team could handle the job. Postmaster Spyros was visible pleased that there would be more than just the two of them on the job and pulled out a contract. She asked that the entire team be listed so if anything untoward happened and Anomin and Tharduk didn’t make it back but other members of the team did, they could still get paid. Anomin and Tharduk listed the entire team and then signed the contract.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">At this point the Postmaster mentioned that if the team did not return in 5 weeks, a bounty would be put out on all of them for defrauding the post. She was only slightly apologetic about this, stating that it was necessary to make sure the job got done. She then pointed to a crate that was a two-foot cube and clearly marked Property of the County Modon Post Office and told Anomin and Tharduk that was the mail they needed delivered. Anomin attempted to also pick up a very official looking, wax-sealed envelope, but the Postmaster noticed and politely explained that was not part of the mail Anomin and Tharduk would be delivering. Anomin set the fancy letter back down and the duo left.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">At the same time, Islo and Sorvia were on their way to see the Sheriff. The Sheriff’s office was also inside Mouzaki and the two rangers had to wait in line to enter the walled town. Not being merchants of any sort, it took them an hour to get inside the town.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Sheriff’s Office wasn’t difficult to find but also had a line out the door. This line moved quickly and before too long they were at the front desk facing Sergeant Greenpike. When asked what complaint the two wanted to make, the sergeant was pleased to find out that they were actually there to ask Sheriff Raptis about the scouting job. Sergeant Greenpike told the duo that the sheriff was stuck at the Count’s court at the moment and they should come back in an hour after the sheriff returned and had time to cool off. When asked for details on the job, all the sergeant could share was there were reports of people disappearing, bloody stains, and what not but the Sheriff did not have enough manpower to send anyone south to go look. Sergeant Greenpike gave the duo directions to a nearby tavern to wait at, recommending they tell the bartender she had sent them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The tavern down a side street and around a corner and named The Courageous Plate. Once inside, Islo and Sorvia realized that most of the patrons were either town guard or sheriff deputies. The bartender rather gruffly asked what they wanted here, clearly not asking for their drink order. Sorvia stated that Sergeant Greenpike had sent them. The bartender instantly became much friendlier, as did the other patrons. Islo and Sorvia ordered some ale each and cooled their heels for an hour.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Upon returning to the sheriff’s office an hour later, Sergeant Greenpike waved them over and had a lesser deputy show them to the Sheriff’s actual office. The deputy knocked on the door and then opened it slightly to announce that some rangers were there about the scouting job. Islo and Sorvia heard some glass clinking and a drawer being shut before the sheriff ordered them to be shown in.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Sheriff was still wearing his courtly uniform and remained seated behind his desk. The sheriff agreed that Islo and Sorvia looked the part and explained the job. There were reports of some sort of monster in the Mikro Dasos, the forest near the border with The Shires. With the Grand Duchy of Mercia getting froggy on the southwest border, the Count did not want the Tolk to get "worried" and send their own people to investigate and claim the forest. Sheriff Raptis needed someone to go down there, scout around for a week, and then return and report. He was willing to pay 10 gold for a detailed report of the situation. There was a bonus of 30 gold if the report came with a detailed map of the forest. There would be an additional bonus for any monster heads or trophies indicating dead monsters. The value would vary based on threat levels. Islo and Sorvia asked for copies of the reports so they knew what to look for and the sheriff had copies made for them.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Late Morning</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">All six adventurers met together in a small tavern outside Mouzaki in the refugee camp and discussed the information they had about the jobs. The jobs seemed reasonable and could be done as a series <i>[first the logging camp, then the mail delivery, then the scouting]</i>. Inserrant had concerns about not being able to abandon any of the jobs if they became too dangerous, but no one else shared her concerns. They all agreed to do all three jobs and share the wealth generated.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Afternoon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventures left the refugee camp surrounding Mouzaki just after Noon and followed a loose trail south, paralleling the Ladon River. The area immediately around Mouzaki was plowed and seeded crop land. Past that they walked several hours through grassy plains until they reached the Tsepi Forest as the sun approached the horizon. Smoke from camp fires marked where the logging camp was located.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The logging operation was on the west side of the Ladon River at the old edge of the forest. When they spotted the camp, they were slightly surprised to see a barrier of tree limbs and brambles surrounded the camp with a roughly hewn gate on the northeast side <i>[towards the river bank]</i> providing the only way in. As the group approached they could see loggers walking up to the camp from the south and entering.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When close enough to talk, a couple loggers with axes challenged the adventurers as to their business. Islo <i>[I think]</i> stated they were there about the wild animal job and held up the job poster. The loggers seemed pleased someone was here for the job and directed the adventurers to the camp office, one of the two permanent structures in the camp.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once inside the barrier, the adventurers could see that the two permanent structures were the camp office and the canteen, where the loggers took their meals. Behind those were a large number of 4 person tents, which appeared to be where the loggers slept.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The group approached the camp office where several men were talking and asked for Nik Papadimitriou. A tall skinny man said he was Nik Papadimitriou and wanted to know what they wanted. The adventurers explained they were responding to the job posted in Mouzaki about stopping the animal attacks. Nik brightened up at this. He sent the people he had been speaking to on their way and invited the adventurers into his office.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nik explained that some animal was attacking his workers and he needed someone to kill it to make it stop. The job paid 5 gp in coin and another 5 gp in company script for stopping the attacks. The adventurers stated that the pay offered was agreeable and Nik start explaining the situation in more detail.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">About eight days ago, on April 16, one of the scouts marking trees in a new logging zone disappeared. One of their boots was found two days later, with the foot still in it. On April 19th, the first group of loggers started working the zone. They spread out as is normal and started cutting down trees. After a bit, one of them screamed loud enough to be heard by several other loggers. They all rushed to the sound of the scream. They found only blood stains and the logger’s axe. This started making people nervous and the loggers don’t spread out as far any more. Work has slowed as a result and Nik asked the company to do something about the animal. Two days ago, at night, one of the loggers was killed on the edge of the camp itself, so everyone spent yesterday building the barrier and the gate around the camp and got no logging done at all. Nik used a map on the wall showing the logging zones and their statuses to show where each attack happened. Sorvia attempted to make a quick copy of the map, but it wasn’t very good <i>[she rolled terrible]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sorvia and Islo exited the camp to inspect the site where the last attack happened. Unfortunately, many people had walked through there and the branches and bramble bushes that made up the camp’s barrier wall had been drug through as well, obliterating any signs of the attack. Sorvia and Islo then had to hustle to get back inside the camp before the gate was closed for the night. Luckily, Tharduk stood in the way of the gate to make certain Sorvia and Insl were let back in.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adventurers were given a small clear area to set up their own campsite.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This campaign started with a desire on my part to return to an old campaign world. I had a rough idea where I wanted to start and the situation I wanted the characters to start in, but not much past that. I updated my character creation guidelines and the relevant documents the players would need to make their characters (languages, dwarven clan names, available martial arts, a little bit about the gods, and a map of the starting area). Doing this was like coming home. I enjoyed returning to this campaign and updating it as needed for running the game.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Starting with some guidelines for the players to create characters is how I started most of my home-brew campaigns. I create a starting situation and see what interests the players and build off in that direction, staying just far enough ahead that they don’t catch up. This campaign starts with the PCs in a refugee camp after the sudden sinking of the land and water rushing in to flood everything. They’ve just finished helping with the spring planting organized by the Count so people will have food, but feel they can do better than farming. I provided a list of jobs posted to the local jobs board and let the players pick what they wanted to do. That’s where this session starts. We’ll see where things go from here.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[I feel I should also point out that the economy is based on copper pieces, not gold like most RPGs so the payouts might seem small but are significant for the jobs.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Sudden Sea Adventures</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <i>None</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-sudden-sea-session-2.html">Session 2</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-62538118468686331732023-08-08T15:46:00.002-05:002023-08-08T15:46:46.515-05:00Hell Comes A’Glittering –Session 5<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Day 3 – Conclusion]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the D&D 5E roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened July 24, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[<span style="color: #ffa400;">SPOILERS!</span> This is part of a published adventure set, Prepared 2: A Dozen One-Shot Adventures for 5th Edition, by Kobold press.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Blaze Fulmen, Lord Auctor Braccas</b> – male tabaxi (Noble), 6th level Storm Sorcerer; NG</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Cecilia Payne</b> – female tabaxi (Outlander), 6th level Circle of Stars Druid; LN</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Joe Trade</b> – male human (Guild Artisan), 2nd level Celestial Warlock, 4th level Armorer Artificer; LG</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Donnis Dustdrifter</b> – male human (Investigator), 6th level Shadow Monk; CG</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Bjoern Bjoernson</b> – male human (Urchin), 3rd level Totem Warrior Barbarian, 3rd level Circle of Moon Druid; CN</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Min</b> – female tabaxi (Hermit), 6th level Mercy Monk; N</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Autumn</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>Day 3</b></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Late Morning</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Resume mid-fight. The gnome woman summoned a crystalline entity and Lord Blaze cast a weak Lightning Bolt at the entity just prior to this point.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Bjoern, in bear form, advanced to the gnome woman, standing on a broken display case and towering over her, and swung his great axe with rage, wounding the gnome. The crystalline entity attacked Donnis twice, missing once and hitting critically with the second attack, dropping Donnis in one blow <i>[it did 40 points of damage with a sneak attack]</i>! Donnis failed his first death save, slowly bleeding to death from the wound. Hearing the crackle and boom of a lightning bolt, Cecilia realized a fight was happening inside the shop. She used her Feline Agility to sprint over the low building and into the front door, where she shifted into her Starry Form <i>[Bonus action]</i> with the Sign of the Chalice prominent <i>[bonus to healing]</i>. Min followed suite, but being a Monk <i>[with lots of extra movement]</i> was able to arrive at Donnis’ side and use <i>Hands of Healing</i> on the downed monk, stopping his bleeding and reviving him. Joe Trader placed a <i>Strength Hex </i>on the gnome woman and cast twin <i>Eldritch Blasts</i> at her, dropping her to the floor.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the floor, the gnome woman bled. Lord Blaze Transmuted his <i>Lightning Bolt</i> into a <i>Thunder Bolt</i> and cast it at the Crystalline entity, Empowering it <i>[and rolling just under average damage on 8d6 after the rerolls]</i>, wind and lightning whipping around Lord Blaze <i>[Heart of the Storm effect]</i> and his cloak billowing dramatically <i>[bonus action to activate Cloak of Billowing – yeah, he’s a drama queen]</i>. Bjoern wildshaped into the form of a velociraptor, stepped to the crystalline entity, and multi-attacked, hitting with both claws, once critically. The crystalline entity released a cone of crystal shards, hitting Donnis and Cecilia, dropping the monk unconscious again. Donnis’s body fought to contain his soul <i>[he made his first death save]</i>. Cecilia upcast <i>Healing Word</i> <i>[using a third-level slot]</i> on Donnis to great effect <i>[healed 21 points of damage after bonuses]</i> and then drank a <i>healing potion </i>herself. Min hopped up on a display case and attacked the crystalline entity from on high <i>[gaining advantage]</i> and strongly struck the creature. Joe moved his <i>Strength Hex</i> from the unconscious gnome woman to the crystalline entity and cast dual <i>Eldritch Blasts</i> at it, hitting once.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The gnome woman bled out, her damned soul leaving this plane. <i>[She rolled a 1 on her death save, which counts as two failures. Combined with her previous failure last round, she died.]</i> Lord Blaze cast <i>Rays of Thunder [transmuted Burning Rays]</i> on the crystalline entity, dropping the thing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Bjoern rushed into the back room of the shop, following the blood trail on the floor. Joe Trader went to the gnome woman and announced she had bled out and was dead. Several members of the party were upset at this, wanting to question her further or see her on trial for her crimes. Joe collected a dagger and her rapier to turn over to the guards as evidence she was the one who was the killer. He also identified the crystalline entity as a crystalline devil.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lord Blaze followed after Bjoern, also curious about where the blood trail led. He paused at the door to the back room, observing a chest and some shelves. Bjoern was looking down a set of stairs in the far corner, where the blood trail continued. Lord Blaze called out to the others that there was a chest in the back room and that he was following Bjoern down some stairs to a basement.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Donnis walked over to investigate the chest. Inside he found six <i>potions of healing</i>. He quickly secured all six on his person, notifying the other investigators of this. Cecilia and Min spend some time not moving <i>[to recover use of their Feline Agility ability]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Heading down the stairs, Bjoern and Lord Blaze observed crystalline growths starting to appear on the walls and floor, getting more numerous as they descended. At the bottom of the stairs, to the left, they found the body of a dead human, the source of the blood trail. Ahead of them was the first room of the basement, with several side passages off to the right. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">By this time the rest of the investigators had caught up with Bjoern and Lord Blaze. As the group moved forward, they could see through the first passage on the right. It was short and led to another chamber with a long worktable on which sat six kyanite hearts. Seated at the table was a golden devil.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The devil asked, “Who are you?”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">“We’re here to stop your silver-tongued ways!” Donnis replied.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Bjoern screeched out a battlecry and the fight started!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cecilia used her Feline Agility to rush down the stairs past her allies to the entrance to the room and cast <i>Thunder Wave</i> at the devil. The devil resisted the spell itself but was knocked over by the worktable as it flipped over onto him from the force of the <i>Thunder Wave</i>. In response, the area around Cecilia sprouted large crystal that attempted to box her in but failed. <i>[This was a Lair Action, something unique to 5E D&D.]</i> Bjoern advanced and pounced on the devil, hitting critically with both claws and massively biting the devil. The devil attempted a <i>[Legendary] </i>action on Bjoern <i>[the exact effects I neglected to write down]</i>, but Cecilia’s <i>Cosmic Omen</i> caused it to fail. The Devil then multi-attacked Bjoern, hitting the barbarian twice. Donnis then circled around the devil to flank it and hit it with a <i>Stunning Fist</i>, stunning the devil. <i>[Clone DM 1 did not give the devil a Legendary Save, so this shortened the fight significantly as the devil never got to act again after this.]</i> Min advanced, struck the devil, and then unleashed a flurry of blows by focusing her <i>ki</i>. Sadly, only one hit from the flurry landed. Joe Trader moved into the room and moved his <i>Strength Hex</i> from the fallen crystalline devil to this one. He then struck the devil with his twin <i>Eldritch Blasts</i>. Lord Blaze finally stepped into the room, amongst the crystals on the floor and cast <i>Magic Missile </i>at the devil, the wind and lightning surrounding him damaging the crystals.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cecilia moved out of the crystal patch and upcast <i>Healing Word</i> on the injured Bjoern. More crystals erupted from the floor <i>[Lair Action again]</i>, this time forming a crystalline pillar between Bjoern and Joe Trader, damaging and grappling Bjoern, forcing him to revert to his human form. <i>[The damage done was enough use up the raptor’s hit points, which forced the wildshape to end.]</i> Bjoern raged and attacked the devil, missing the stunned devil completely <i>[even with advantage]</i>. The stunned devil did nothing. Donnis struck the stunned devil with his <i>Stunning Fist</i> again, stunning the devil and dropping the fiend.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">With no other foes in the basement, Lord Blaze and Cecilia left to report the situation to the Guard. Joe Trader identified the devil as a gilded devil. While waiting for the guards to arrive, the others looked around and found a Lapidary Guide marked “Property of Anni”.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once the Guard show up and took control of the building as a crime scene, the party of investigators left, going to a tavern for lunch <i>[taking a Short Rest]</i>. Afterwards, Lord Blaze played dragon chess with Bjoern <i>[who cheated but Lord Blaze never noticed]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Several Hours Later</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The group of investigators were summoned to appear before the Starosa. Once there they made a full report of their investigation with Lord Blaze doing most of the talking. The report matching up with the other reports filed on the situation, the Starosa agreed that the group had successfully completed the job and paid out 1002 gold pieces <i>[because 1000 does not divide by 6 evenly]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Outside the Starosa’s office, Lord Blaze split the bounty with the others and they went drinking.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of Adventure</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Clone DM 1 very much regretted not giving the gilded devil a Legendary Save and now understands why they are necessary for your Final Boss to have. He was honest about it and did not retcon giving it one, which was the right thing to do.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Would I play 5E again? Yes. It is a different style of D&D that has some things I like very much and some things I’m more iffy about. I very much have Monk Envy as the 5E Monks have many benefits over monks from any other edition, notably the ability to apply Stunning Fist AFTER you see if you hit or not. It makes Stunning Fist useful and not a big gamble to use. Also, monks in 5E recover ki after a short rest, so even if they have to use it to power Flurry of Blows, they recoup it much easier and faster.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[With this adventure complete, we next switch over to a new campaign of mine, reviving an old campaign world I ran for 14+ years. We also return to using the Hero System 5th Edition Revised as the game system, my favorite game system. Next week I’ll post short synopses of the player characters and the starting situation they are in. The week after that will be the session notes for Session 1.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Hell Comes a’Glittering</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/hell-comes-aglittering-session-4.html">Session 4</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: <span style="color: #ffa400;">None – Adventure complete.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-66571077785883104882023-08-04T07:00:00.002-05:002023-08-08T15:48:59.770-05:00Hell Comes A’Glittering –Session 4<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Day 2 and 3 – Further investigations and solution?]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the D&D 5E roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened July 17, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[<span style="color: #ffa400;">SPOILERS!</span> This is part of a published adventure set, Prepared 2: A Dozen One-Shot Adventures for 5th Edition, by Kobold press.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Blaze Fulmen, Lord Auctor Braccas </b>– male tabaxi (Noble), 6th level Storm Sorcerer; NG</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Cecilia Payne</b> – female tabaxi (Outlander), 6th level Circle of Stars Druid; LN</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Joe Trade</b> – male human (Guild Artisan), 2nd level Celestial Warlock, 4th level Armorer Artificer; LG</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Donnis Dustdrifter</b> – male human (Investigator), 6th level Shadow Monk; CG</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Bjoern Bjoernson</b> – male human (Urchin), 3rd level Totem Warrior Barbarian, 3rd level Circle of Moon Druid; CN</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Min </b>– female tabaxi (Hermit), 6th level Mercy Monk; N</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Autumn</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Day 2</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Evening</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After eating dinner, Lord Blaze went up to his room in the inn and smoked some of the elf weed he had confiscated. It was quite potent. Once the primary effects wore off <i>[two hours later]</i>, Lord Blaze decided to go out looking for a late night meal. Surely a trade town like this would have some sort of late night street food vendors in the bazaar. Bjoern went along, stating he “knew some places.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lord Blaze secured some food from a vendor Bjoern knew. Bjoern wildshaped into a bloodhound again and searched for scents familiar from the crime scenes or just vaguely diabolic. He found none. Once Lord Blaze was done eating, the duo went back to the inn. Lord Blaze went up to his room to sleep while Bjoern found a quiet spot in the common room and slept there.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[I was actually fishing for another attack by the murderer and hoped to be nearby to stop said attack. No luck.]</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Day 3</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The group of investigators reassembled at the nice inn (the one Blaze was staying in) for breakfast. They discussed the plan to follow Cecilia after she cast <i>Locate Object</i> to find the kyanite hearts. They would need to travel quickly as the spell’s duration was not overly long.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once breakfast was done, Cecilia pulled out the wooden heart Min had carved the day before as a go-by. She then cast <i>Locate Object</i> and let the spell extend to its fullest extent. She felt a tug to the southwest and started moving in that direction. The rest of the group cleared the path in front of her, Lord Blaze brandishing his token of authority from the Starosa.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The trail led to the gemcutter’s guildhall. The group paused but Lord Blaze was firm on advancing, stating the gemcutters would be the perfect way to change the shape of the hearts so they were no longer recognizable. Bjoern wildshaped into a bear.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lord Blaze pushed open the front doors to the guildhall, announcing loudly the group was on official Starosa business. A tall man attempted to intervene, but the group bulled past him, following Cecilia into the main workshop of the guildhall. The trail ended at a halfling woman working at a workdesk. The “kyanite heart” she was working on had a wooden core and she was applying shards of kyanite, cut to fit, to it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The tall man caught up and introduced himself as the guild leader and demanded to know what was going on. Recognizing that the spell had led them to the wrong thing, Lord Blaze immediately made apologies, explaining that they were attempting to track down a killer and had followed an incorrect lead. The man, Argus, demanded to see the token of authority while the rest of the gemcutters watched. Lord Blaze handed over the token and, after examining it, Argus announced it was authentic. He then asked the group to follow him to his office so they could stop distracting the work of the guild.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In Argus’ office, Lord Blaze explained the details of why they had arrived and what they were looking for. Argus explained that kyanite was a strong but brittle stone and required very high levels of skill to cut without fracturing. If someone cut out a kyanite heart without breaking it, they would be very skilled and there were very few in Nogvurot with that skill. There are only three shops in town with gemcutters able to do the work. He provided the names and locations of the shops and, after being asked, a letter of introduction. Joe Trade fished for information about the other guildmasters in the Nogvurot but essentially learned that they did not match their profile of the killer at all.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After the group left the guildhall, Bjoern stated that one of the locations, Kendri’s Fine Works, was in a part of the town known to do work with no questions asked. He recommended they start there. As Bjoern was the local in the group, the group followed his suggestion. The group walked along the primary streets of Nogvurot, heading first east and then north to the area near the docks. While cutting through the bazaar, Lord Blaze purchased a tasty beverage.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When the group entered the courtyard adjacent to Kendri’s, several members of the group could tell something was off. There were no animals in the area, including birds. Min and Cecilia volunteered to keep an eye on the courtyard while the rest went around the building Kendri’s was in to the entrance on the other side. Lord Blaze thought someone might try a hidden back exit when the group entered the front doors and he wanted quick people on watch. <i>[Also, if a fight started, these characters would be out of it for a period of time, so we wanted players to volunteer.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lord Blaze, Bjoern, Joe, and Donnis walked around the south end of the building. The entrance to the shop was down a narrow alley between the shop and the adjoining workshop. Both were quiet and dark with shutters drawn despite it being near Noon on a business day. The group approached the door cautiously, concerned about potential ambushes in the narrow passage.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The door to the shop proved to be locked. Joe pulled out a set of lockpicks and set to picking the lock while Donnis, Lord Blaze, and Bjoern stood and kept watch. It took Joe two attempts, but he finally unlocked the door. Bjoern cast <i>Pass without Trace</i> on the group. Lord Blaze went to enter the shop but was stopped by Bjoern who wanted to check for traps first. Once Bjoern said it was clear, Lord Blaze walked in. The room was L-shaped with the back of the room extending further to the left and out of sight. Several display cases were laid out in the back half of the darkened shop.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[There is a discontinuity here. Blaze entered and walked a diagonal line to the right wall and followed that to a broken display case. I did this for tactical reasons. The other members of the party followed as I had proven those areas safe from traps. Once we were in, Clone DM 1 realized the path taken was also the path of a blood trail on the floor that the room description in the book buried two paragraphs in, so he had missed it. We decided to retcon that we had followed the trail on purpose and that retcon is how I will describe what happens next.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The interior was dark, but Lord Blaze, as a tabaxi, had darkvision and was not bothered by it. Joe cast a <i>Light </i>cantrip on an unlit torch to provide light to the humans. A blood trail was apparent on the floor. Someone bleeding heavily had been dragged from the door towards the right wall and the back of the shop. Lord Blaze followed the trail, careful to not step in it. Donnis followed Lord Blaze into the shop.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The two paused at the first of the display cases. The glass on the case was shattered and nothing was in the display. Donnis noticed some movement off in the area to the far left, where the light from the torch did not fully reach. He made gestures to indicate this. Joe and Bjoern entered the shop, heading to the corner on the left to provide light in that area.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the light they saw a gnome woman hiding behind a display case. When she noticed the light she started talking. She didn’t seem to be talking to any one of the investigators, just out loud or maybe to herself. She stated that she had been promised the best skills in exchange for kyanite hearts. She wanted to be the best gemcutter ever. Legendary. Bjoern and Donnis talked at her some and she admitted she had to kill some people to get the hearts but her skills were now legendary. She then asked if she would be let go. The investigators, cautiously closing in, said “No.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another voice entirely, deeper and sinister, responded, “That’s unfortunate.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The gnome woman took off a necklace and tossed it down on the floor. When it landed it immediately grew into a human-sized crystalline humanoid.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The gnome woman attacked Donnis, who by now was adjacent to her, with her rapier but missed. Lord Blaze cast <i>Lightning Bolt</i> at the crystalline entity that did little damage to it <i>[due to a below average damage roll]</i> but knocked out the power at my house and the entire neighborhood!</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Actually, something else knocked out the power in the area, but it literally happened right after I announced the damage from the spell. We heard police and firetruck sirens right after, so we think someone hit a power pole. The power was out for maybe 5 minutes or so, but by the time it came back on we had decided to call it for the night. Our normal stop time was approaching and we were just about to start a fight of unknown duration so the power outage seemed to be a sign.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Oh, and the </i>Locate Object<i> spell failed because Cecilia did not know the object she was looking for as well as the spell requires. Clone DM 1 threw us a bone with the gemcutters rather than just have the spell just fizzle and fail. Solid call on his part as it rewarded creativity and moved the plot along in an unexpected direction.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Hell Comes a’Glittering</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/07/hell-comes-aglittering-session-3.html">Session 3</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/hell-comes-aglittering-session-5.html">Session 5</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-54243038943565422092023-08-03T13:16:00.001-05:002023-08-03T13:47:18.469-05:00Status Now, Writeups to Follow<span style="font-family: georgia;">I spent all my available writing time the last two weeks to get ready for running my new campaign (The Sudden Sea Campaign) for the Monday Group. This consisted of getting all the character creation guidelines written plus a listing of languages spoken in-game plus a listing of the martial arts available.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">We did Session 0 this past Monday, which was wrapping up character creation (most people had their characters mostly done but had campaign or rules questions they needed answered so they could finish. We spent a minimal time stringing together reasons for the PCs to know each other. 5 of the 6 players were able to complete their characters and send me copies. The sixth player has been swamped at work (in fact he could not attend that night because of work) and is also one of the new parents in the group. He should have a support character ready by the first game session, work and life allowing.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">We played sessions 4 and 5 of <i>Hell Comes a'Glittering</i> the last two weeks and wrapped up the adventure. I have a better grasp of D&D 5E now and some ideas on how I would have built my Sorcerer slightly differently. It was a good experiment and did the job necessary to bridge us from the conclusion of the Shattered Star, Book 3 adventure to the beginning of my "new" campaign. Clone GM One did a good job.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">My goal is to have session 4 of <i>Hell Comes a'Glittering</i> posted by Friday as I'm running my monthly <span style="color: #04ff00;">Adventures in the Green</span> game on Saturday and doing house chores (and maybe a movie) Sunday. Session 5 (the conclusion) will post next week. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Session 1 of the Sudden Sea Campaign will get written up and posted the week after that, allowing a week between when a session happens and when it gets posted. We'll see how it actually goes.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Later!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>CORRECTION: <i style="font-family: georgia;">Hell Comes a'Glittering </i><span style="font-family: georgia;">made it to FIVE sessions. I adjusted the text above to count for that.</span></div>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-29803145961173432242023-07-19T15:19:00.002-05:002023-08-08T15:49:58.634-05:00Hell Comes A’Glittering –Session 3<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Day 2 – Meeting the Starosa and initial investigations]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the D&D 5E roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened July 10, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[<span style="color: #ffa400;">SPOILERS!</span> This is part of a published adventure set, Prepared 2: A Dozen One-Shot Adventures for 5th Edition, by Kobold press.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Blaze Fulmen</b>, Lord Auctor Braccas – male tabaxi (Noble), 6th level Storm Sorcerer; NG</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Cecilia Payne</b> – female tabaxi (Outlander), 6th level Circle of Stars Druid; LN</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Joe Trade</b> – male human (Guild Artisan), 2nd level Celestial Warlock, 4th level Armorer Artificer; LG</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Donnis Dustdrifter</b> – male human (Investigator), 6th level Shadow Monk; CG</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Bjoern Bjoernson</b> – male human (Urchin), 3rd level Totem Warrior Barbarian, 3rd level Circle of Moon Druid; CN</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Min </b>– female tabaxi (Hermit), 6th level Mercy Monk; N</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Autumn</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Day 2</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Morning</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After a tasty breakfast, the group of interested people <i>[the adventurers]</i> made their way to the Starosa’s office. <i>[Note: Starosa is the title of the mayor of Nogvurot, the large town/small city the adventure takes place in.]</i> This is part of a manor on a hill in town, just east of the town’s bazaar. The guards at the gate seemed to think that the group of 3 tabaxi and 3 humans presenting themselves at the gate were some sort of adventurers and refused to let the PCs in until Lord Blaze used his persuasion skills <i>[and his title]</i>. Lord Blaze explain that the group had witnessed the attack of the bearded devils the night before and were told by the Night Watch to report to the Starosa this morning. The guards still seemed a bit dubious, but decide that obstructing nobility wasn’t the best path and let the group in, summoning some other guards as an escort.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Starosa’s office was a little bit like a throne room, with a big fancy chair on a raised dais and several guards standing around not quite discretely. The Starosa herself, Enkam, was a human woman and fairly direct. She had read the report from the Night Watch and told Lord Blaze that his group could claim the small reward for stopping the bearded devils or claim a larger reward for solving and, more importantly, stopping a series of murders happening in the town. Lord Blaze looked around at his new companions to check their interest and they all seemed interested in getting paid more, so he accepted on behalf of the group, pulling out a notebook to take notes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Over the last month and a half, a series of six murders had happened in the Nogvurot, averaging one a week. The victims were of different races, ages, genders, and social classes. The bodies had been found in out of the way places, three in back alleys and three in empty buildings, all in different parts of town. The victims seemed to have been in a ritual, possibly after their death, that turned their internal organs and eyes into a bluish crystal! Captain of the Guard Mekno was heading the investigation, but was not making much headway and the High Alchemist was very busy and not super helpful.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">At this point Donnis and Min turned and walked out to go question the Captain of the Guard. <i>[Donnis has a low Charisma and is being played as an abrupt person with little use for social niceties to reflect this.]</i> The duo were followed by a guard. Once outside the Starosa’s office, Donnis asks the guard following them to take them to Captain Mekno. The guard shrugged and did so.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Back in the office, the remaining PCs asked the Starosa questions to get more details about the victims, hoping to spot a pattern or a useful lead. There was little and the attacks seemed random. Bjoern asked if the bodies were available to examine, and the Starosa stated they were being kept in a cold room on the premises. Bjoern asked to be taken there so he could look for clues. The Starosa had a guard take him and Cecilia and Joe followed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This left Lord Blaze and the Starosa in the office. Lord Blaze offered to share what news he had heard from the previous city he had been in and the Starosa accepted his offer. Tea was brought around and a comfortable chair for Lord Blaze so the two could talk <i>[read: gossip about other nobility]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Elsewhere, Donnis and Min met with Captain Mekno in the captain’s office. The captain showed them a map of the town with the murder sites labeled. Donnis asked for and received the order the victims were found, making his own notes. The duo also learned that there were chalk marks on the ground near several of the victims but no one had copied them. Also, some of the sites were no longer preserved as they were paths people took to get through the town. Donnis immediately asked to be taken to one of the preserved sites so he could observe it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the cold room, Bjoern, Cecilia, and Joe examined the bodies of the victims. They determined that the wounds suggested the attacker was short, shorter than the bearded devils. Joe, with assistance from Cecilia, determined that the person stabbing the victims was using a slim blade, similar to a dagger, and was not very proficient with the weapon. Finally, Joe identified the type of crystal as Kyanite, a type of stone good for magical energy storage. Looking into the bodies, he also learned that the transformation not only turned their organs and eyes to kyanite, it also transformed their bones. Strangely, the only organ missing was the heart from each victim, which were removed with minimal damage to the body, indicating great skill.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Stepping outside the cold room, Bjoern cast <i>Animal Messenger</i>, providing Donnis a brief update on their findings via a local bird. Donnis and Min were at the site of the first murder when the bird arrived and stated Bjoern’s message. They questioned the guard with them to learn about the site. It was a house that was abandoned prior to the murder and had been empty for a time. A person with a key had come in to see if anything needed repair and found the body. It seemed to the guard that the victim had been murdered first and then positioned in a circle with markings before the heart was removed. Donnis investigated the still extant chalk markings and identified them as Infernal runes that spelled out “Cage the Soul”.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">At about this time, Lord Blaze finished sharing news with the Starosa. She provided him with a Coin of Authority to show that the group was on official business while investigating the murders. He left the Starosa’s office and caught up with Joe, Cecilia, and Bjoern on their way to the first murder site to meet up with Donnis and Min.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once the entire group was together again, they decided to investigate where they fought the bearded devils the previous night. As they knew how things ended for the young dwarf, they worked backwards, looking for tracks or evidence of the killer. Bjoern wildshaped into a bloodhound and followed the scent trail of the bearded devils while Cecilia and Min followed the tracks of the young dwarf, Joe providing <i>Guidance</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The young dwarf tracks went back to the amphitheater the play was in the previous night. He had left the amphitheater at the end of the play and went through the side alley to avoid heavy foot traffic on the main street. He was surprised in the alley and then fled, which is when the investigators saw him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The devil scent trail went back to the spot where the dwarf was surprised and then led up. Lord Blaze made use of his <i>boots of flying</i> to lift Bjoern the bloodhound to the nearest roof, where Bjoern picked the scent trail back up. It led along the edge of the building facing the alley the dwarf had started down, suggesting they were waiting for him to get to a more secluded spot before jumping down to attack him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tracking back from there, Bjoern followed the trail to the side of the building, where Lord Blaze had to lower him back down to the ground. From there, Bjoern followed their trail north through back alleys and side streets, crossing two major thoroughfares, until he reached the origin point, a courtyard on the north side of town near the docks. The courtyard was the location the bearded devils had been summoned and they had made a near direct line to the south side of town to find the young dwarf and attack him. This did not seem random but a planned attack.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was late morning at this point, so the group started knocking on doors of the residences around the courtyard to see if anyone had heard anything the night before. This turned up nothing useful for the investigation, but they did find a gnome who became very nervous when the group identified themselves as being on Starosa business.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lord Blaze pushed his way in and had the others search the home. Instead of evidence of demonology or any kyanite hearts, they instead found a large stash of elfin pipe weed <i>[an illegal drug in the city]</i> and smoking pipes. After some questioning, it became clear that this was what made the gnome nervous and he was expecting the group to take some of his weed and leave. Lord Blaze <i>[whose name became somewhat a double entendre at this point]</i> was the last to realize this and made a terrible attempt at subtly stealing some of the stash <i>[noticed by everyone]</i> before leaving. Bjoern, still in bloodhound form, grabbed a very fancy looking smoking pipe <i>[very expensive and very illegal]</i> in his mouth on the way out and gave it to Lord Blaze. Lord Blaze cleaned it immediately with <i>Prestidigitation</i> and then tucked it away for later use.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Back in the courtyard, Joe cast <i>Detect Magic</i> to see if there was any residue from the demon summoning. He found none, suggesting either a low level summoning spell or not a spell. Puzzling.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The group left the area and went to a nearby tavern for lunch and to compare notes <i>[and take a short rest]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Much running around and collecting facts. After we had officially stopped for the night, Min’s player suggested she carve a wooden heart as a go-by so that Cecilia could cast Locate Object and find one or more Kyanite hearts. Clone GM 1 allowed this and had her roll – it was a 25, so a very good likeness of a heart.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Clone GM 1 is doing well as a first time GM. He’s having some issues with the presentation of information being a little scattershot, but that seems to be an issue with the writing in the adventure he is running. I’ve had similar issues with published adventures and learned to either re-write them or use sticky notes to provide concise bullet point lists for easy descriptive reference. He’s also probably reading this, so “Hey, Adam!”]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Hell Comes a’Glittering</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/07/hell-comes-aglittering-sessions-1-and-2.html">Session 1 and 2</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/08/hell-comes-aglittering-session-4.html">Session 4</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-30944057817081852952023-07-11T15:43:00.011-05:002023-07-19T15:20:29.745-05:00Hell Comes A’Glittering –Sessions 1 and 2<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Days 1 and 2 – A show, an alley fight, and then a summons.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This game uses the D&D 5E roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. These sessions happened June 19 and 26, 2023.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[<span style="color: #ffa400;">SPOILERS!</span> This is part of a published adventure set, Prepared 2: A Dozen One-Shot Adventures for 5th Edition, by Kobold press.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Player Characters</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Blaze Fulmen</b>, <b>Lord Auctor Braccas </b>– male tabaxi (Noble), 6th level Storm Sorcerer; NG</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Cecilia Payne</b> – female tabaxi (Outlander), 6th level Circle of Stars Druid; LN</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Joe Trade</b> – male human (Guild Artisan), 2nd level Celestial Warlock, 4th level Armorer Artificer; LG</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">Via Roll20</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Donnis Dustdrifter</b> – male human (Investigator), 6th level Shadow Monk; CG</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Bjoern Bjoernson</b> – male human (Urchin), 3rd level Totem Warrior Barbarian, 3rd level Circle of Moon Druid; CN</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Min </b>– female tabaxi (Hermit), 6th level Mercy Monk; N</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Autumn</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Session 1 was mostly those with incomplete characters completing their characters and us stringing together a thin lattice of how we knew each other. Joe, Donnis, Bjoern, and Min ended up doing set design and security for a play in the city of Nogvurot. Blaze and Cecilia met on the way to Nogvurot, debating the value of civilization. Blaze insisted the play he was on his way to see was the epitome of civilization and he would pay for Cecilia to see it just to make his point. She reluctantly agreed.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This set of connections only lasted until Session 2 started and Clone DM 1 changed it (slightly). Ah well.]</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Day 1</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>Evening</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This is where Session 2 starts.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Having watched a culturally significant play (at least according to Blaze, Lord Auctor Braccas), a group of acquaintances were making their way to a local tavern in Nogvurot to continue their discussion <i>[read: so Blaze could continue talking about the play]</i>. Cutting through a side alley to avoid a knot of others leaving the play in the street ahead, the group heard a cry for help ahead.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Suddenly alert, the group observed a young dwarven local flee across an intersection ahead, pursued by a pair of some sort of purple elves with spears. Uttering a short oath, Joe Trade identified them as bearded devils!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Blaze channeled the storm, casting <i>Scorching Ray</i>, transmuting the spell into three bursts of lightning from his hands <i>[he used a Sorcery Point to activate his Transmuted metamagic feat to turn the fire damage into lightning damage]</i>. He targeted and hit the lead devil with all three rays, using the roiling winds his casting summoned to launch himself to a nearby roof. <i>[As a Storm sorcerer he has Tempestuous Magic, allowing him to use a Bonus action to fly 10 feet before or after casting a spell of level 1 or higher.]</i> Bjoern wildshaped into a bear before running up to the lead devil and attacked it recklessly <i>[advantage to hit in exchange for enemies gaining advantage to attack him]</i>, biting and clawing the devil. The dwarven villager continued to flee down the cross-alley. The lead devil attacked Bjoern with its glaive and beard to serious effect <i>[a total of 30 points of damage]</i>. The second devil joined in but was much less effective <i>[only 12 points of damage]</i>. Something the play-goers could not see due to the intervening buildings attacked the fleeing dwarf, causing him to cry out in pain. Joe Trade activated the <i>broom of flying</i> built into his suit of armor and flew forward and upward, catching sight of a third bearded devil standing over the prone and bleeding body of the young dwarf. Cecilia cast <i>Hold Person</i> on the lead bearded devil but it shrugged off the effect <i>[it made its save]</i>. Not defeated, Cecilia switched into her Starry Form <i>[something Druids of the Circle of Stars can turn into with wildshape]</i>, showing the sign of the Archer, and launched a luminous arrow at the devil, hitting it. Donnis stepped through the shadows, reappearing behind the bearded devils. There he cast <i>Word of Radiance</i>, the burning radiance scorching one of the devils <i>[the other made its save]</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Blaze ran across the rooftops to get closer to the fight and cast <i>Mind Sliver</i> at the lead devil, his cape billowing dramatically despite the devil resisting the spell. <i>[Blaze has a Cloak of Billowing so he can always look dramatic.]</i> Bjoern raged – biting the lead devil to death and clawing the second devil before moving to a flanking position for Donnis. The villager bled, edging closer to death <i>[failed his first death save]</i>. The flanked devil attacked Bjoern to no effect <i>[missed twice]</i>. The devil standing over the dying dwarf drove its glaive into the dwarf’s heart, killing him, before fleeing. Incensed by this, Joe flew ahead of the fleeing devil and cast dual <i>Eldritch Blasts</i>, forcing the devil back to the fight. <i>[I don’t know how he cast two of them, but they were both Repelling Blasts and each pushed the devil 10 feet back.]</i> Cecilia cast <i>Call Lightning</i> on the flanked devil and then hit it with another luminous arrow. Donnis unleashed a flurry of blows on the flanked devil, killing it, before moving to engage the devil that killed the dwarf.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Blaze pursued the remaining devil, running across the rooves of several building and leaping a 10-foor gap between two of the buildings, his cape billowing out behind him <i>[bonus action spent for the dramatic appearance]</i>. Once he stopped he could see the remaining devil and cast <i>Magic Missile</i> at it, hitting it with all three missiles. Bjoern also pursued the last devil but could not run far enough to physically close, so he activated his <i>Shadow Claw tattoo</i>, recklessly raking the devil with his attacks, killing the devil.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Joe Trade flew up for a better viewpoint and looked around to see if there were anymore bearded devils attacking people. There were not. Donnis dragged the last devil body to where the other two bodies were. Cecilia treated Bjoern’s infected wounds. The rest of the group waited for some town guards to arrive.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When two town guards arrived <i>[Bill and Ted]</i>, Blaze introduced himself with his title and explained the situation. Having a noble doing the talking made it easier for them to accept the story and they wrote down what Blaze said. Afterwards, Blaze discretely inquired if there might be some reward for ridding the town of three devils. The guards tell him to report to the Starosta’s <i>[Mayor’s]</i> office in the morning for that. Blaze thanked them and led the group off to the tavern.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once at the tavern and with drinks, the group discussed the situation and speculated who might summon bearded devils. They had no real ideas but they all agreed that devils in town was a problem and maybe they should look into it more.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">They then spent the rest of the evening discussing the play and drinking. Afterward they went to their various rented lodgings.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Day 2</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>Morning</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">An early riser, Donnis got up before the dawn and checked on his horses. He focused his <i>ki</i> to provide himself <i>darkvision [part of the Shadow Arts gained by following the Way of Shadows]</i>. He then took a short rest while eating some fruit for breakfast. <i>[This restored the ki he had just spent.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Elsewhere, Bjoern rolled out of his rented cot and made his way over to the bazaar. There he borrowed a crate and started running a game of 3-card-monte. The people shopping at the bazaar that early were more alert than Bjoern was and they noticed him cheating. He at first attempted to talk his way out of it, but talking is not his strong suite and he had to beat a hasty retreat. Once he lost his pursuers, he went to the drinking room at the inn Blaze was staying at and sipped their cheapest drink until the rest woke up.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">End of session</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Commentary</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[This session was short due to technical difficulties getting everything set up in Roll20 taking up a lot of time to troubleshoot. I’ll try to explain what is going on when people activate their powers the first time and then merely reference them later. This fight was an introduction to the situation in town and a shakedown for our characters to get the players used to what they can do and how 5E works. As a first session goes, it went reasonably well.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>[Joe Trade's player realized after the fight that he had a ranged healing power that he could have used on the young dwarf. If he had done so, the third bearded devil would have only knocked the dwarf back down to negative hit points instead of permanently killing the dwarf. He now vows to never let that happen again.]</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>Hell Comes a’Glittering</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last session: <i>None</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next session: <a href="https://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2023/07/hell-comes-aglittering-session-3.html">Session 03</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5976187330253229567.post-11273891043764244932023-06-28T15:37:00.005-05:002023-06-28T15:37:58.594-05:00Status Update - 3 Day Power Outage<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Lots has happened, but little that I wanted to happen.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A storm blew through north Houston Wednesday last week, and knocked out power to 250k households. My wife and I stayed in the house that night as CenterPoint claimed power would be restored by 2:00 AM. It was uncomfortable but bearable. When we awoke in the morning still without power, we packed up stuff to do and vacated the house and stayed at a restaurant with Wi-Fi and (some) AC until 3:00 PM. At that point we knew that power was going to be out for at least another day, so we headed to the other side of Houston where a friend took us in.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I worked remotely Friday, but that evening we drove back to our house to pick up more clothes and food from our pantry to take back with us. We expected to be at our friend's through the weekend and we could not really afford to eat out for every meal. Besides, by this point we knew the contents of our refrigerator and stand-up freezer were spoiled or spoiling and we would need to replace everything. I also went upstairs to get some books and it was well over 100 degrees up there - I was panting heavily when I came back down.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Late Saturday afternoon we received word from one of our neighbors that they had power again. Another friend drove by that night and sent of a photo showing out porch lights were on, confirming power. We did not drive back that night as we needed to let the AC cool the house, something that would take hours. The other reason was that we had moved a scheduled game on Sunday from our house to the place we were staying (our host was one of the players).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sunday, after the game, the other players helped load up our car and we headed back home. When we got there, the house had cooled off but we could tell it was not done doing so. Neither of us went upstairs to check. By the end of Sunday almost everyone had power back in our neighborhood. The only exceptions were people out of town who had trees down that CenterPoint needs removed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Monday we spent clearing out the refrigerator and part of the freezer of spoiled food. We stopped when our two trash cans were full and dragged them out to the corner for pickup on Wednesday (today) morning. I hope the trash guys did not hurt themselves.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the plus side, our insurance has a rider for food lost due to power outage and approved our claim. It won't replace everything, but it will get us back to being functional in the kitchen. A roof inspector will come around later this week to check our roof. There shouldn't be any damage, but better safe than sorry.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here are some pictures from down the street the next morning.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixT9mOLHwoYfKSggCssXliz7rAI4mzT284VcdM8_IjpuhFZVnLiBu-gnLAFH1dUijarIAILT-fSsg67-lFw-EwcApRAtWoBtPCWffjLR_zYZar1PBlhldUR_3-52fPQPIQBLI8Oqo6MXGbFxAHk0BFzBXA_mEGegM-V_juB2-JPJ7z-eOI1zyXvrIcBW0/s1754/20230622_102505.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1371" data-original-width="1754" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixT9mOLHwoYfKSggCssXliz7rAI4mzT284VcdM8_IjpuhFZVnLiBu-gnLAFH1dUijarIAILT-fSsg67-lFw-EwcApRAtWoBtPCWffjLR_zYZar1PBlhldUR_3-52fPQPIQBLI8Oqo6MXGbFxAHk0BFzBXA_mEGegM-V_juB2-JPJ7z-eOI1zyXvrIcBW0/s320/20230622_102505.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQXiPlYampoBqkUTUvKOtFH7uOasrSa28bziQhbL-4I7NLS5i9NTQ3cOJav1heG9dkPwcCzecNg8HGdr3FA99NoJ2a7bzneLymdIuRwUkQCp3mOQ5czKFtBN0x8orcPmnBj1HG-ieTR6xsAbvjuof29j8Gat5RjGkgHcwsr5a781B4Yxw72kJ2ID2Y68k/s3000/20230622_102453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2299" data-original-width="3000" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQXiPlYampoBqkUTUvKOtFH7uOasrSa28bziQhbL-4I7NLS5i9NTQ3cOJav1heG9dkPwcCzecNg8HGdr3FA99NoJ2a7bzneLymdIuRwUkQCp3mOQ5czKFtBN0x8orcPmnBj1HG-ieTR6xsAbvjuof29j8Gat5RjGkgHcwsr5a781B4Yxw72kJ2ID2Y68k/s320/20230622_102453.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikQ-LTcCL34x8ic1nbC_oI8aji9dsl9VhBotyoUlrWP7e-cI8uII2fsLNAShQO1xbaL2rd1IvP-Ih5Yqxo5Z_uGIicT3Ye_pkG8GFkniVceEbGIRu5kXoX2l6tIekmcgqbxAPQUONnS1zOoRwAENiFoQqfj2f3pigCvaMFeNko2l6bOqHMFrAZZifX8ro/s4000/20230622_102425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikQ-LTcCL34x8ic1nbC_oI8aji9dsl9VhBotyoUlrWP7e-cI8uII2fsLNAShQO1xbaL2rd1IvP-Ih5Yqxo5Z_uGIicT3Ye_pkG8GFkniVceEbGIRu5kXoX2l6tIekmcgqbxAPQUONnS1zOoRwAENiFoQqfj2f3pigCvaMFeNko2l6bOqHMFrAZZifX8ro/s320/20230622_102425.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGc04wfFn8hejjvIHQUdkUXb1fiZV21W1fy-UoXAea7x1UwtNaRT46mVQW7JSkaRuhr34zE_KwuU4RAYC9sSHDPFA8DcjFnyoqK6ewXcy1aJkBo2rdce0b-TuLssy5tp_ywwzzXKu8DfjmyOuSMGChtRJhzjcAvd3a2Oml0GCREcE_yDLvvb4JlXX8DTU/s2979/20230622_102414.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2336" data-original-width="2979" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGc04wfFn8hejjvIHQUdkUXb1fiZV21W1fy-UoXAea7x1UwtNaRT46mVQW7JSkaRuhr34zE_KwuU4RAYC9sSHDPFA8DcjFnyoqK6ewXcy1aJkBo2rdce0b-TuLssy5tp_ywwzzXKu8DfjmyOuSMGChtRJhzjcAvd3a2Oml0GCREcE_yDLvvb4JlXX8DTU/s320/20230622_102414.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>PatrickWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02083947433803227063noreply@blogger.com0