The Sudden Sea – Session 5

[April 28 – Fight Conclusion]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened September 4, 2023.]

[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.]

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 28, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)

Shortly after 11:00 AM

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 [pushed his Strength], but the burly rider held him easily.

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 [with the use of a Hero Point] 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.

Islo stirred slightly in the crushing grip of the burly rider [he recovered from being stunned].  Inserrant continued to sing her song of surrender at the riders [increasing the cumulative total from her Mind Control to 13].

Tharduk failed to kippup, then climbed to his feet and attacked the prone female rider.  He swung with all his might [pushing his strength], aiming high [High Shot] on the prone woman, who squirmed to avoid the attack [aborted to a Dodge].  He hit her in the head, wounding, stunning, and knocking her out.  She lay prone on the ground.  Sorvia regathered her wits [recovered from being stunned].  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 [Anomin in cougar form], 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.

Islo caught his breath and woke up.

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 [spending a Hero Point to mover the hit from the hands (6) to the head (5)].  Islo failed to kippup [possibly due to fractured ribs] 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 [cumulative total now 25 on Mind Control].  Inserrant called out an offer to pay the crossbowmen if they switched sides.

[Post 12 Recovery happened.]

Islo steadied his breath, drew his bow, and shot the burly rider in the vitals [with the use of two Hero Points to move it from a leg shot], killing the man and releasing Anomin from his crushing grip.

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 [aborted to a dodge].  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.

Islo moved to the unconscious female rider and retrieved the postal box.

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 [and the female rider waking up], 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.

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.

Once everyone was mostly patched up, the group with their newly hired escorts headed east.

Noon

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.

End of session

Commentary

[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.]

[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.]

[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.]

[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.]

Sudden Sea Adventures

Sudden Sea Landing Page - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign 

Last session: Session 4

Next session: Session 6

The Sudden Sea –Session 4

[April 26-28 – Mail Intercept]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened August 28, 2023.]

[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.]

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 26, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)

9:00 AM

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.

3:00 PM

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.  [They moved from a forested hex on the map to a hills hex.]

5:00 PM

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 [and from generally being seen] by some rock outcroppings.  The group used the same watches from the night before (See Session 02) and settled in for the night.

April 27, 56 I.C.

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 [around Noon], they descended into an area of wooded hills, part of the Ygro Dasos [the much larger forest on other side of the Onomastike Hills].  This slowed their movement further and by late afternoon it was time to find a campsite again while still in the forested hills.

Once again Sorvia found a good, somewhat hidden campsite, for the group to use.  Camp was set up and the same watches kept.  [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.]

April 28, 56 I.C.

A Little After 9:00 AM

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 [he just missed the Navigation roll for the day].  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.

11:00 AM [or so]

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.

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.

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.

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.

The adventurers were doubtful about his sincerity.

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.  [The PCs were a little belligerent here, but not entirely without good cause.]  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 [Tharduk used his Conversation skill to elicit information the other would not normally have given up].  Several of the riders started openly loading their crossbows at this point.  [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.]

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 Wall of Force right in front of the right half of the riders [from the PC’s perspective], specifically in front of the net thrower.  The net thrower was faster [made the timing check by more than Kadruth] and threw her net before the wall formed.  Luckily for Anomin, the net just missed [due to a range modifier].  Anomin changed her plan and called out to the riders to surrender or face their doom.  She got their attention [as a crow pronouncing one's doom will tend to do] 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 [actually attempted to cast her mind control spell but failed the roll].  The riders finished loading their weapons and started pointing them at the adventurers in general.

Islo stopped waiting and fired a Tripping Arrow [ranged trip attack martial arts maneuver] at the horse of the biggest and burliest of the riders [oddly, not the guy doing the talking].  This caused the horse to rear and the rider failed to hold on, falling to the ground.

Islo then repeated the trick at the talker, who also dropped off his horse.

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 [which dropped her Dexterity, so she had to wait to complete her action].  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 [thigh and stomach], which triggered Kadruth’s prepared teleportation spell [think "minor Word of Recall"], teleporting the stunned priest back into the forest, luckily missing any trees.  Kadruth gathered his wits [recovered from being stunned].  The two mooks in front of Anomin got up and readied their swords.

Islo fired a Quick Shot [another martial arts maneuver] 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.  [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.]

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 Wall of Force to protect Sorvia and Tharduk from the crossbowmen.

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 [but rolled terribly low again so no apparent effect yet].

[We paused the fight here as it was very late by this point and the end of the Combat Turn.]

End of session

Commentary

[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 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.]

Sudden Sea Adventures

Sudden Sea Landing Page - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign

Last session: Session 3

Next session: Session 5 [Not yet typed up]

The Sudden Sea –Session 3

[April 25 and 26 – Against the Wendigo]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened August 21, 2023.]

[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.]

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 25, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)

Early Afternoon

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 [he did a Block maneuver but suffered a -1 penalty to OCV as the creature was invisible, which is how much he failed by].  The failed block did get Tharduk’s shield in play and the creature’s attack just missed, deflected by the shield [and DCV bonus from the Block maneuver].  Islo took a second shot at the [visible to him] creature but missed widely.

Sorvia spent her full phase attempting to acquire the creature as a target and finally worked it out [took her two tries at making a Perception roll to succeed and work out where the creature was].  Anomin did the same, but Kadrith was able work it out quicker and cast his Wall of Force spell, placing the wall between the creature and Tharduk.  [Kadruth knew where the invisible creature was but had not worked out its height yet.  This will be important shortly.]

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 Wall of Force, 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 drew a stick figure to scale to show where it landed on the map].  Inserrant, knowing where the creature was, attempted to start up her mind control song, but was not able to hit the correct notes [failed her skill check on the spell].

Tharduk stepped around the Wall of Force between him and the creature and hacked at it with his axe, striking it in the vitals, killing it.  [He did near max damage and the creature had low armor.]  The creature gradually turned visible as it bled out.  Inserrant stepped out of “hiding” and said, “Well that wasn’t so hard.”

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.

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.

Later Afternoon

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.

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.

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.

Tharduk split the reward evenly amongst the 6 adventurers [81 copper each with 4 left over], 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.

Evening

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.

April 26, 56 I.C.

Morning

Some of the loggers stopped by Sorvia for hangover cures after drinking too much the night before.

The adventurers each purchase three days of good quality food from the company store using up much of their reward money [making a point to spend all the company script].  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 [14 silver in cost] using some of his own money [left over from character creation] and some of the reward [all the script he received].

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.

End of session

Commentary

[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 should mention that part of the campaign rules require all magic spells to have Gestures and Requires a Skill Roll as limitations.  This keeps the spells from feeling too much like super powers and maintains the flavor of Fantasy.]

Sudden Sea Adventures

Last session: Session 2

Next session: Session 4 [Not yet typed up]

The Sudden Sea – Session 2

[April 24 and 25 – Watches and the hunt]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened August 14, 2023.]

[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.]

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)

Evening

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.

First Watch

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.

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.

Second Watch

Rather than use the barn roof as a watch platform, Kadruth cast his Wall of Force 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.

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.

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.

Third Watch

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.  [This did nothing good for the mules in the barn who could smell a predator above them for the rest of the night.]

Anomin’s sharper eyesight [and Darkvision] 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.

April 25, 56 I.C.

Morning

As the sky lightened and the camp started coming awake, Anomin shapeshifted into her human form and told Sorvia about the trail.  [Anomin cannot talk in most of her animal forms.]  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.

The trail of tracks was obvious [to the rangers and Anomin].  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.  [Her crow form can speak Koine, the local common tongue.]

During this time, Inserrant spent time practicing her singing and warming up her voice.  [She was using a spell to boost her natural singing talent for the day.]  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.

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.  [Blown negotiation roll happened on the players’ part.]

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.  [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.]

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 [all her forms are carnivorous, even the ones not normally].  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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  [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.]  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.

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.

With still no sign of the creature, the adventurers decided to conceal themselves and continue waiting.  Kadruth cast his Wall of Force 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 [as rangers should] while Tharduk and Inserrant hid themselves as best they could [Narrator Voice: They were both totally visible.]

About Two Hours Later

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 [and I totally should have done a Presence Attack here].  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.

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.

It spotted Tharduk first.

End of session

Commentary

[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.]

[Sorry this was so late.  Work and life were super busy and distracting.  I still plan on publishing another blog entry before September 2.]  

[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.]

Sudden Sea Adventures

Last session: Session 1

Next session: Session 3

UPDATE: Corrected date in second day heading from 24 to 25.

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.