Sudden Sea - Landing Page

Landing page for the Session Notes for the Sudden Sea Campaign, a campaign run using the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition of rules.

Session 1 - Job Enquiries

Session 2 - Watches and the Hunt

Session 3 - Against the Wendigo

Session 4 - Mail Intercept

Session 5 - Fight Conclusion

Session 6 - Nomi Arrival and Making Splashes

Session 7 - Shopping and a Midnight Fire

Session 8 - Secret Rooms and Murder!

Session 9 - Repercussions and Confessions

Session 10 - Start mapping the Mikro Dasos

Session 11 - Cyclopses and bears and...what is that!?

Session 12 - “That” turned out to be a Nemean Lion!

Session 13 - Survey conclusion and cautiously back to Nomi

Session 14 - Anomin finds the goods

Session 15 - Unexpected guest and return to Mouzaki

Session 16 - Shopping, Shares, and Commissions

Session 17 - Caravan Guard Work, Lights, and Prisoners

Session 18 - Anomin vs. Calliope and Interrogations

Session 19 - Expected Ambush - Part 1

Session 20 - Expected Ambush - Part 2 and Return to Mouzaki

Session 21 - Clouds gather over Mouzaki

The Sudden Sea – Session 1

[April 24 – Job Enquiries]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened August 7, 2023.]

[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.]

Player Characters

Sorvia of Stavros – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)

Tharduk Lavabreath – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally

Kadruth Worldbender – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom

Anomin – female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon

Islo Redgrass – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)

Via Roll20

Inserrant – female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer

Spring

April 24, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)

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.

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.  [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.]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Late Morning

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 [first the logging camp, then the mail delivery, then the scouting].  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.

Afternoon

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.

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 [towards the river bank] providing the only way in.  As the group approached they could see loggers walking up to the camp from the south and entering.

When close enough to talk, a couple loggers with axes challenged the adventurers as to their business. Islo [I think] 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 [she rolled terrible].

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.

The adventurers were given a small clear area to set up their own campsite.

End of session

Commentary

[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.]

[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 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.]

Sudden Sea Adventures

Last session: None

Next session: Session 2

Hell Comes A’Glittering –Session 5

[Day 3 – Conclusion]

[This game uses the D&D 5E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened July 24, 2023.]

[SPOILERS!  This is part of a published adventure set, Prepared 2: A Dozen One-Shot Adventures for 5th Edition, by Kobold press.]

Player Characters

Blaze Fulmen, Lord Auctor Braccas – male tabaxi (Noble), 6th level Storm Sorcerer; NG

Cecilia Payne – female tabaxi (Outlander), 6th level Circle of Stars Druid; LN

Joe Trade – male human (Guild Artisan), 2nd level Celestial Warlock, 4th level Armorer Artificer; LG

Via Roll20

Donnis Dustdrifter – male human (Investigator), 6th level Shadow Monk; CG

Bjoern Bjoernson – male human (Urchin), 3rd level Totem Warrior Barbarian, 3rd level Circle of Moon Druid; CN

Min – female tabaxi (Hermit), 6th level Mercy Monk; N

Autumn

Day 3

Late Morning

[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.]

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 [it did 40 points of damage with a sneak attack]!  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 [Bonus action] with the Sign of the Chalice prominent [bonus to healing].  Min followed suite, but being a Monk [with lots of extra movement] was able to arrive at Donnis’ side and use Hands of Healing on the downed monk, stopping his bleeding and reviving him.  Joe Trader placed a Strength Hex on the gnome woman and cast twin Eldritch Blasts at her, dropping her to the floor.

On the floor, the gnome woman bled.  Lord Blaze Transmuted his Lightning Bolt into a Thunder Bolt and cast it at the Crystalline entity, Empowering it [and rolling just under average damage on 8d6 after the rerolls], wind and lightning whipping around Lord Blaze [Heart of the Storm effect] and his cloak billowing dramatically [bonus action to activate Cloak of Billowing – yeah, he’s a drama queen].  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 [he made his first death save].  Cecilia upcast Healing Word [using a third-level slot] on Donnis to great effect [healed 21 points of damage after bonuses] and then drank a healing potion herself.  Min hopped up on a display case and attacked the crystalline entity from on high [gaining advantage] and strongly struck the creature.  Joe moved his Strength Hex from the unconscious gnome woman to the crystalline entity and cast dual Eldritch Blasts at it, hitting once.

The gnome woman bled out, her damned soul leaving this plane.  [She rolled a 1 on her death save, which counts as two failures.  Combined with her previous failure last round, she died.]  Lord Blaze cast Rays of Thunder [transmuted Burning Rays] on the crystalline entity, dropping the thing.

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.

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.

Donnis walked over to investigate the chest.  Inside he found six potions of healing.  He quickly secured all six on his person, notifying the other investigators of this.  Cecilia and Min spend some time not moving [to recover use of their Feline Agility ability].

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.  

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.

The devil asked, “Who are you?”

“We’re here to stop your silver-tongued ways!” Donnis replied.

Bjoern screeched out a battlecry and the fight started!

Cecilia used her Feline Agility to rush down the stairs past her allies to the entrance to the room and cast Thunder Wave 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 Thunder Wave.  In response, the area around Cecilia sprouted large crystal that attempted to box her in but failed.  [This was a Lair Action, something unique to 5E D&D.]  Bjoern advanced and pounced on the devil, hitting critically with both claws and massively biting the devil.  The devil attempted a [Legendary] action on Bjoern [the exact effects I neglected to write down], but Cecilia’s Cosmic Omen 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 Stunning Fist, stunning the devil.  [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.]  Min advanced, struck the devil, and then unleashed a flurry of blows by focusing her ki.  Sadly, only one hit from the flurry landed.  Joe Trader moved into the room and moved his Strength Hex from the fallen crystalline devil to this one.  He then struck the devil with his twin Eldritch Blasts.  Lord Blaze finally stepped into the room, amongst the crystals on the floor and cast Magic Missile at the devil, the wind and lightning surrounding him damaging the crystals.

Cecilia moved out of the crystal patch and upcast Healing Word on the injured Bjoern.  More crystals erupted from the floor [Lair Action again], this time forming a crystalline pillar between Bjoern and Joe Trader, damaging and grappling Bjoern, forcing him to revert to his human form.  [The damage done was enough use up the raptor’s hit points, which forced the wildshape to end.]  Bjoern raged and attacked the devil, missing the stunned devil completely [even with advantage].  The stunned devil did nothing.  Donnis struck the stunned devil with his Stunning Fist again, stunning the devil and dropping the fiend.

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”.

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 [taking a Short Rest].  Afterwards, Lord Blaze played dragon chess with Bjoern [who cheated but Lord Blaze never noticed].

Several Hours Later

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 [because 1000 does not divide by 6 evenly].

Outside the Starosa’s office, Lord Blaze split the bounty with the others and they went drinking.

End of session

End of Adventure

Commentary

[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.]

[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.]

[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.]

Hell Comes a’Glittering

Last session: Session 4 

Next session: None – Adventure complete.

Hell Comes A’Glittering –Session 4

[Day 2 and 3 – Further investigations and solution?]

[This game uses the D&D 5E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened July 17, 2023.]

[SPOILERS!  This is part of a published adventure set, Prepared 2: A Dozen One-Shot Adventures for 5th Edition, by Kobold press.]

Player Characters

Blaze Fulmen, Lord Auctor Braccas – male tabaxi (Noble), 6th level Storm Sorcerer; NG

Cecilia Payne – female tabaxi (Outlander), 6th level Circle of Stars Druid; LN

Joe Trade – male human (Guild Artisan), 2nd level Celestial Warlock, 4th level Armorer Artificer; LG

Via Roll20

Donnis Dustdrifter – male human (Investigator), 6th level Shadow Monk; CG

Bjoern Bjoernson – male human (Urchin), 3rd level Totem Warrior Barbarian, 3rd level Circle of Moon Druid; CN

Min – female tabaxi (Hermit), 6th level Mercy Monk; N

Autumn

Day 2

Evening

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 [two hours later], 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.”

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.

[I was actually fishing for another attack by the murderer and hoped to be nearby to stop said attack.  No luck.]

Day 3

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 Locate Object to find the kyanite hearts.  They would need to travel quickly as the spell’s duration was not overly long.

Once breakfast was done, Cecilia pulled out the wooden heart Min had carved the day before as a go-by.  She then cast Locate Object 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  [Also, if a fight started, these characters would be out of it for a period of time, so we wanted players to volunteer.]

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.

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 Pass without Trace 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.

[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.]

The interior was dark, but Lord Blaze, as a tabaxi, had darkvision and was not bothered by it.  Joe cast a Light 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.

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.

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.”

Another voice entirely, deeper and sinister, responded, “That’s unfortunate.”

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.

The gnome woman attacked Donnis, who by now was adjacent to her, with her rapier but missed.  Lord Blaze cast Lightning Bolt at the crystalline entity that did little damage to it [due to a below average damage roll] but knocked out the power at my house and the entire neighborhood!

End of session

Commentary

[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.]

[Oh, and the Locate Object 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.]

Hell Comes a’Glittering

Last session: Session 3 

Next session: Session 5

Status Now, Writeups to Follow

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.

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.

We played sessions 4 and 5 of Hell Comes a'Glittering 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.

My goal is to have session 4 of Hell Comes a'Glittering posted by Friday as I'm running my monthly Adventures in the Green game on Saturday and doing house chores (and maybe a movie) Sunday.  Session 5 (the conclusion) will post next week.  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.

Later!

CORRECTION: Hell Comes a'Glittering made it to FIVE sessions.  I adjusted the text above to count for that.

Hell Comes A’Glittering –Session 3

[Day 2 – Meeting the Starosa and initial investigations]

[This game uses the D&D 5E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened July 10, 2023.]

[SPOILERS!  This is part of a published adventure set, Prepared 2: A Dozen One-Shot Adventures for 5th Edition, by Kobold press.]

Player Characters

Blaze Fulmen, Lord Auctor Braccas – male tabaxi (Noble), 6th level Storm Sorcerer; NG

Cecilia Payne – female tabaxi (Outlander), 6th level Circle of Stars Druid; LN

Joe Trade – male human (Guild Artisan), 2nd level Celestial Warlock, 4th level Armorer Artificer; LG

Via Roll20

Donnis Dustdrifter – male human (Investigator), 6th level Shadow Monk; CG

Bjoern Bjoernson – male human (Urchin), 3rd level Totem Warrior Barbarian, 3rd level Circle of Moon Druid; CN

Min – female tabaxi (Hermit), 6th level Mercy Monk; N

Autumn

Day 2

Morning

After a tasty breakfast, the group of interested people [the adventurers] made their way to the Starosa’s office.  [Note: Starosa is the title of the mayor of Nogvurot, the large town/small city the adventure takes place in.]  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 [and his title].  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.

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.

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.

At this point Donnis and Min turned and walked out to go question the Captain of the Guard.  [Donnis has a low Charisma and is being played as an abrupt person with little use for social niceties to reflect this.]  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.

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.

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 [read: gossip about other nobility].

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.

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.

Stepping outside the cold room, Bjoern cast Animal Messenger, 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”.

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.

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 Guidance.

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.

The devil scent trail went back to the spot where the dwarf was surprised and then led up.  Lord Blaze made use of his boots of flying 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.

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.

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.

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 [an illegal drug in the city] 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 [whose name became somewhat a double entendre at this point] was the last to realize this and made a terrible attempt at subtly stealing some of the stash [noticed by everyone] before leaving.  Bjoern, still in bloodhound form, grabbed a very fancy looking smoking pipe [very expensive and very illegal] in his mouth on the way out and gave it to Lord Blaze.  Lord Blaze cleaned it immediately with Prestidigitation and then tucked it away for later use.

Back in the courtyard, Joe cast Detect Magic 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.

The group left the area and went to a nearby tavern for lunch and to compare notes [and take a short rest].

End of session

Commentary

[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.]

[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!”]

Hell Comes a’Glittering

Last session: Session 1 and 2 

Next session: Session 4

Hell Comes A’Glittering –Sessions 1 and 2

[Days 1 and 2 – A show, an alley fight, and then a summons.]

[This game uses the D&D 5E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  These sessions happened June 19 and 26, 2023.]

[SPOILERS!  This is part of a published adventure set, Prepared 2: A Dozen One-Shot Adventures for 5th Edition, by Kobold press.]

Player Characters

Blaze Fulmen, Lord Auctor Braccas – male tabaxi (Noble), 6th level Storm Sorcerer; NG

Cecilia Payne – female tabaxi (Outlander), 6th level Circle of Stars Druid; LN

Joe Trade – male human (Guild Artisan), 2nd level Celestial Warlock, 4th level Armorer Artificer; LG

Via Roll20

Donnis Dustdrifter – male human (Investigator), 6th level Shadow Monk; CG

Bjoern Bjoernson – male human (Urchin), 3rd level Totem Warrior Barbarian, 3rd level Circle of Moon Druid; CN

Min – female tabaxi (Hermit), 6th level Mercy Monk; N

Autumn

[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.]

[This set of connections only lasted until Session 2 started and Clone DM 1 changed it (slightly).  Ah well.]

Day 1

Evening

[This is where Session 2 starts.]

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 [read: so Blaze could continue talking about the play].  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.

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!

Blaze channeled the storm, casting Scorching Ray, transmuting the spell into three bursts of lightning from his hands [he used a Sorcery Point to activate his Transmuted metamagic feat to turn the fire damage into lightning damage].  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.  [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.]  Bjoern wildshaped into a bear before running up to the lead devil and attacked it recklessly [advantage to hit in exchange for enemies gaining advantage to attack him], 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 [a total of 30 points of damage].  The second devil joined in but was much less effective [only 12 points of damage].  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 broom of flying 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 Hold Person on the lead bearded devil but it shrugged off the effect [it made its save].  Not defeated, Cecilia switched into her Starry Form [something Druids of the Circle of Stars can turn into with wildshape], 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 Word of Radiance, the burning radiance scorching one of the devils [the other made its save].

Blaze ran across the rooftops to get closer to the fight and cast Mind Sliver at the lead devil, his cape billowing dramatically despite the devil resisting the spell.  [Blaze has a Cloak of Billowing so he can always look dramatic.]  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 [failed his first death save].  The flanked devil attacked Bjoern to no effect [missed twice].  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 Eldritch Blasts, forcing the devil back to the fight.  [I don’t know how he cast two of them, but they were both Repelling Blasts and each pushed the devil 10 feet back.]  Cecilia cast Call Lightning 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.

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 [bonus action spent for the dramatic appearance].  Once he stopped he could see the remaining devil and cast Magic Missile 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 Shadow Claw tattoo, recklessly raking the devil with his attacks, killing the devil.

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.

When two town guards arrived [Bill and Ted], 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 [Mayor’s] office in the morning for that.  Blaze thanked them and led the group off to the tavern.

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.

They then spent the rest of the evening discussing the play and drinking.  Afterward they went to their various rented lodgings.

Day 2

Morning

An early riser, Donnis got up before the dawn and checked on his horses.  He focused his ki to provide himself darkvision [part of the Shadow Arts gained by following the Way of Shadows].  He then took a short rest while eating some fruit for breakfast.  [This restored the ki he had just spent.]

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.

End of session

Commentary

[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.]

[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.]

Hell Comes a’Glittering

Last session: None

Next session: Session 03