#daggerheart pc

[resolart]

character sheet for my new daggerheart pc miss kitty! got to play a lil last weekend and it’s been soooo fun so far 💕

[acharliek]

Anyone else constantly making new daggerheart PCs? Just me? Cool

Anyways this is Kaine, a goblin ranger because rangers are my favourite class (idc that they're boring leave me alone) and I wish I could play them one day but alas I'm the forever DM/GM so probably won't happen 😂 still fun to play around with the character creation tools tho

[nixnuevo]

local Silly Guy daggerheart pc

[alliekitaguchi]

random things i want to see in future cr campaigns:

travis/marisha as brother and sister (yes, this is because i believe in power of brjeau)

liam o'brien warlock build

travis willingham cleric build

liam/travis pc romance

sam riegel druid build

laura/ashley as twin sisters (this is inspired by oppy and sweetpea from daggerheart, yes)

travis willingham wizard build

LIAM/SAM PC ROMANCE

ashley johnson bard build

ASHLEY JOHNSON FIGHTER BUILD

someone else playing a monk because they're so op i literally don't care who but please for the love of god give me another monk

marisha ray rogue assassin build

LIAM/ASHLEY PC ROMANCE

[luckyjak]

I have made the mistake of reading reddit, and there is a lot of speculation there that Critical Role, as a company, is gearing up to Nuke Exandria and replace it with Daggerheart. Which I am all for, personally, but that's not this thread.

One chain of comments is that the PC's previous characters would become the gods of this new world--i.e., Vax would become the god of death, Jester a God of Chaos, ect. And someone said Caleb as a God of time.

No no no no no.

*Essek's* the God of Time. Caleb?

Caleb is the god of *change.**

Caleb is the god of hearth. He is the god you pray to in the cold dark of winter to keep your family warm. He is the god of light and fire and hope. He is the god of no more children on pyres, of a difference thinner than a razor.

He's a god of redemption.

They say, at the Church of Widogast, that everyone is capable of redemption. That it is never too late to change.

A popular story at the church is that even a shadowed hand may find its way to the light through Widogast, although there are none alive now who know the origin of that phrase.

[utilitycaster]

(well, my feelings on Laudna are documented but I do think Imogen is a great character)

Oh! I found your blog rather recently but did you write Laudna meta early on? Or did you mean when the recent Delilah stuff went down?

I do not want to go too far into it and I suspect some of it is untagged (I have to find a way to tag for myself and not for the main character tags when writing crit) but in short: Laudna just...isn't a well thought out character. At every single Q&A panel and 4SD Marisha's summary boils down to "I wanted to make someone creepy, and then I thought 'what about a sun tree corpse, and what if her patron was Delilah'" and it it kind of stops there. When you couple it with the fact that Imogen was terrified of having any conflict with her until it became the only option, it really was like...I know Delilah was a big part of her backstory but Laudna did very little with her until episode 77 of the campaign. Like, for reference, Fjord had already helped fulfill 2/3rds of what his patron wanted and then broken his pact, gone without powers for almost 4 episodes, and found a new patron by pretty much exactly that point. There was almost no engagement with what it means to be a sorcerer (which Imogen covers skillfully even with all the new stuff that was thrown at Laura) and it was very little with an anticlimatic payoff for warlock (which, see Fjord, but also I'm not a big fan of Yu and at least they covered that concept adeptly).

Like...I remember at an early panel Marisha said "I don't want to think anymore" and the thing is like...it shows. Made a nonromanceable character and then said yes when romance came up. Didn't initially plan to take more warlock levels (already undercutting the idea of Delilah having much of a hold on her). Envisioned her character would be over her trauma and then extremely wasn't.

There's PCs I've disliked far more, or had more trouble with - Laudna's never been unlikeable. But she's always been just...profoundly disappointing until I gave up on her not being disappointing and decided she'd be there and do some cool things occasionally and never contribute a lot in the way of story.

For what it's worth, and this ties back to some of my thoughts on Campaign 3 generally, I do think that the CR cast could do another campaign in D&D in Exandria and it could achieve the heights of (pick C1 or C2 depending on personal preference; mine is C2 but I respect a C1 answer). But it requires a real session zero. I think the cast counts their mini playtests as a session zero, and I get it, because with the main cast there's not that same need to set personal boundaries or lines and veils because they know each other. But there isn't that same full-group planning. They've been releasing their Candela and Daggerheart session zeroes and just put out their Moonward one as well, and they talked extensively about the Calamity and Downfall planning sessions, and it's just...again, it shows. I think C1 and C2 work because, as I said in my post just now about Marquet, the characters sort of set the world and the campaign came from them. Once you have a more set plot in a more solidified world, I think you need to have that kind of group discussion, and they didn't, and Laudna especially feels indicative of that because I think a few pointed questions and Marisha would have realized there needed to be more to work with.

[charonarp]

Small Update (positive / ramble)

I'm literally working on two documents for this freaking project omfg

One is called "Minecraft Diaries: D&D 5e", which was semi-shared earlier, which is to focus on the primary stuff like locations, races/species, important figures, etc.

The other is called "Minecraft Diaries: Expanded Guide", which is literally meant to be a guide on how to go about making your own region, your own important figures (like Irene and her Divine Warriors), and whatnot.

Some info might not be entirely accurate. I'm mainly depending on the wiki for knowledge, which...isn't a lot, tbh. I've already rewatched season one at least a month ago, and that took...a while. My job certainly ain't making binge watching easy lol.

Combining info from MCD and Diaries Rebirth is certainly a choice...but honestly, Diaries Rebirth is easier for me to go back to than to rewatch three whole seasons of MCD...even though I want to...

Like...why am I doing this? I'll never get to DM it lol, but you know what? Other people might. I think it'd be wonderful if other people get into it. If not, oh well!

Daggerheart is definitely helping with this process tho, and I've been taking some inspiration from AFK Journey for some things (that game has me in a chokehold).

From now on, I'll be using the tag "mcddnd" for future updates, cuz why not. It's not an actual tag, so it'd be easy to find updates I guess. (I'll still use the main tags, but I gotta use a tag so that stuff is organized somehow, ya know?)

If you got any suggestions, lmk! It'll certainly help out tbh. I don't really have anyone to bounce off of, so I'm kinda going solo on this lol.

Honestly, I might just scratch off trying to make custom NPC sheets for characters like Gene, Zane, etc... I like making character sheets, but PCs and NPCs are SO different and honestly, making NPC sheets hurts my brain lol. Which is sad, because I was hoping to add NPC sheets in the main document should anyone want to add the actual characters into the game.

Like...I was working on Gene's stuff, but I don't know how to keep things balanced, nor do I recall everything about Gene. Man, working on homebrew is hard.

[encyclopediacr]

Last month at the wiki — March 2024

Every month, we highlight significant work done in the previous month by our editing community at Encyclopedia Exandria. This one is a LONG one, so fair warning...

March 2024 saw the creation of 83 (eighty-three) new mainspace articles! A bit more on why so many later, but first here's a selection of ten of them. You can find more at the 50 newest pages report.

Zora Manning, Lightkeeper for the Circle of the Crimson Mirror

Nokari, Lightkeeper for the Circle of Tide & Bone

Isle of Serenity, island in the Glass Sea

Nymph, type of fey

Pyre, sect of the Ascendancy

Ashley Middlebrook, producer at Critical Role Productions

Ruidian glass, material found on Ruidus

Rashinna, leader member of the Volition

Gaz Tomo, member of the Volition

Vezoden Amerai, champion of the Strife Emperor

So, why so many new articles? We created individual articles for every episode of Midst! Using information we already had in list of Midst episodes, we were able to create episode articles painlessly, programmatically, and promptly with Python magic. We've also made updates to our episode infobox for Midst to document airdates for the re-releases and for subscribers, illustrators for the video versions, and appendices links. Now that we've got individual articles, the summaries on the list were made more concise to provide different levels of summarization and to make appendices links easier to see. Work is also underway on the individual articles, including more robust summaries (now that they're standalone rather than in a table), appendices summaries, and illustration galleries. You can check out the articles for Unrise, Switcheroo, and Tempest for a peek at what we're aiming for and slowly moving toward.

Character infoboxes now have a place for movement speeds, making it easier to do thought experiments about which PC will win in a race. Also, we've historically had explanatory notes for multiple stats or DCs in a hover. We've changed our best practices to instead place these into a footnote formatted similar to references so that these notes can be accessed by mobile users.

The character infobox was also updated to handle stats for systems other than Dungeons & Dragons. We've added new items for Daggerheart (we're still getting a feel for what should be included), and we have options for a full custom stat array. This allows us to better handle Daggerheart characters in the future, should we see more of them, but also to better handle PCs in past one-shots who were not well-serviced by the less flexible stat handling. We've also inserted new fields to properly reflect Daggerheart's Community and Ancestry character options.

As always, check out our Candela Obscura coverage. Newfaire has been updated with more points of interest from the core rulebook. We've also got a lengthy bibliography of interviews related to the show on top of our regular coverage for this month's continuing adventures of the Circle of the Crimson Mirror.

[hoarding-stories]

The Daggerheart oneshot pcs:

Kexson Peros

Oppenheimer "Oppy" Betabean

Bunnie

Sir Dante Terrapin

Xarlo Grandall

Pango Small

Sweetpea Betabean

[ultraflavour]

Character-first Fantasy TTRPGs

Games like Lancer, Gubat Banwa, ICON, Draw Steel, Daggerheart, even Fabula Ultima sometimes get described as "4E Inspired."

I think that's true in a broad sense, but there's something deeper that connects all of these games that 4E doesn't have, and that's a respect for the narrative journey of the characters.

None of the games I've listed have the traditional "Death Saving Throw." You never have to tear up your character sheet because a Skeleton got a lucky Crit in the first combat of the game, and the Bard didn't have Healing Word prepped.

Each of these games either give the player mechanical choices to choose how close to death their character ever gets (Lancer, Daggerheart, Draw Steel) or they make the consequences of defeat entirely narrative (Gubat Banwa, ICON, Fabula Ultima).

World-first vs. Character-first

I was having difficulty putting this categorization to words until I read a post from makapatag, the author of the aforementioned Gubat Banwa. In that article, he lays out a way of thinking about OSR games as being "World-first," as opposed to games like D&D, Exalted, and Lancer which are "Character-first." In World-first games, the character is never so powerful that they can override the dangers of the environment. They have to adapt to the setting to survive.

I understand the allure of this type of play, especially from the GM's standpoint. But at the same time, I find that I am most comfortable when I am at least sharing in the direction of the narrative. When the game has rules that put the players' characters in the driver's seat of the narrative, it lessens the burden on the GM to tell a story, but expects more of the players in return.

Bizarro-OSR

So in this way, "Character-first Fantasy" works as a sort of "Anti-OSR," a celebration of powerful PCs running roughshod in a fantastical sandbox. Not exactly a "New School Renaissance" though, because these ideas aren't necessarily new.

I think this style of play describes how a lot of people approach D&D 5E, since it has a lot of rules that describe abilities and spells that make the players increasingly harder to corral as they gain levels.

At the same time, I think games like 5E and Pathfinder have their feet planted too far in the past to consider either of them to be truly a part of this genre. Both have very punishing death mechanics that can turn seemingly easy encounters into painful death spirals that lead to torn-up character sheets.

The Only Time I Was Ever Happy

I can't stress enough just how much it changed the game to play a Warforged for the first time in D&D 4th Edition. In that edition, Warforged have a rule that they can never roll lower than 10 on their death saving throws. That meant that unless they were being actively attacked while knocked out, they would never just "bleed out."

When I didn't have to worry about losing my character, I could take risks that I thought a "Superhero" would take. It led to me getting my ass beat mercilessly, on many occasions, but I think that's what a hero would do: They would take on any amount of suffering if they believed it would make the world a better place for the people they loved.

Power Fantasy?

You could maybe classify this style of game as being strictly based around Power Fantasy. But I think it's more about the rules supporting the player's exploration of their concept than strictly being about overpowering every obstacle put in front of you.

In any game that is trying to tell the story of a character, there have to be ups and downs. I don't think it's either necessary, or even good for the players to always win. But as long as the mechanics of the game aren't punishing you for being defeated, you have more freedom to push yourself for the sake of the narrative.

Some people derisively refer to this style of play as "Superhero" fantasy, and I don't think that's necessarily incorrect, but... It's also fun. There's nothing inherently wrong with letting your players romp around in giant robots, as long as they acknowledge the responsibility they've just been handed.

When you play in a very punishing adventure or system for the first time, you realize quickly that farting around will get you killed. Enjoy sitting out the rest of the adventure because you tried to do a skateboard trick over that Iron Golem, smarty pants.

It makes that feeling of power in a more Character-centric game that much more rewarding. But you also realize just how hard it is for the GM to keep you reeled in. In these games, it's very important for open collaboration between the GM and the players. It's really hard for the GM of a Character-centric game to plan a narrative when the players can constantly kick down the walls of the setting that are supposed to be constraints to them.

Rules-Medium?

One of the biggest changes D&D made in the leap from 4th to 5th was an overhaul of the rules that left a lot more room for narrative improvisation than 4th Edition or even Pathfinder.

That's not to say that these games necessarily need a rules-light approach. The important thing connecting them is that the rules support the fantasy that the characters represent. If my character is good at fighting, I want mechanics that help to reflect that in the game world, without resorting to handwaving.

For this reason, I think a lot of more "fiction-first" games in the PbtA or FitD mechanical genre get disqualified here. They tend to focus a lot on the narrative consequences of the interactions between the characters and the setting, and frame the players' powers less as "tools to conquer the setting" and more as "prescriptive ways to move toward your goals in a narrative-appropriate way." Does that make sense?

For a true rules-light approach to this budding genre of ttrpg, I would check out any game in the LUMEN system family of games from Spencer Campbell at Gila RPGs. I'm excitedly anticipating my Kickstarter copy of Infinite Revolution from Gwendolyn Clark to arrive, I think that game is going to really kick ass.

Well, Anyways

I wrote a lot of this on not a lot of sleep. My mind has been racing, trying to put a lot of these ideas to words. The aforementioned blog by makapatag really helped to put a lot of my thoughts about the current (and future) state of Fantasy into focus.

It's entirely possible, also, that this idea is not new. I'm sure there's someone out there who has had the same thought as me, and my lazy ass never actually tried to find their writing. Instead I just wrote it out again, because I'm a huge PIECE OF CRAP.

Anyways, sleepy tea is kicking in, good night.

[littlebosslady7]

do you hear percy in most of Taliesin's PC?

No

Campaign 2: Molly, Cad, and Kingsley.

One-Shots: No with Jamie Wrenley, Bobby Socks, and The OwlbearMan

Campaign 3: With Ashton, no

LA by Night: Carver's just a sexy, maddening vampire. So no

Yes

Daggerheart: Percy as a Medieval Turtle Knight person.

Candela Obscura: Leo Amicus: Percy in an AU as a fancy and fabulous gay bachelor.

For a reminder, Percy is canonically bisexual.

[chieftwitelon]

before I say anything I just want the record to show that I am ride or die for bells hells, I love those bitches, I cried real tears when Fearne, Orym, and Laudna went down.

That being said, I am beginning to solidify a nagging feeling that C3 is an ending for Exandria. Matt wants to break this world and get all of the PCs involved across campaigns, this is so clear to me after all of this Daggerheart content. I love that plan, I want Imogen and Fearne to give in to predathos and embrace the power and reckon with it. I want Laudna by the end of this campaign to scare Delilah. I want Orym to do what he thinks is best and save the world no matter the personal cost. I want to explore more of Ashton and FCG's pasts. I want Chetney to die in the most ridiculous circumstances possible.

And when all is said and done, I cannot wait to leave Exandria as we know it behind and embrace Daggerheart.

[pippastrelle]

I think I'm using an older test packet because that's the one on my computer but I'm having a ball converting CR PCs to Daggerheart! The abilities are evocative and fun to choose from, especially with a character in mind.

I never thought I'd be the type to read a whole TTRPG manual but I read most of the Daggerheart one in a day and I'm genuinely thinking I might buy the physical book in 2025.

[utilitycaster]

i know you've talked about some of the weaker points in the planning or prep for this campaign but the more I think about it, the more bizarre 'pulpy' feels as a description for this campaign if Matt knew it was going to be The Moon Plot. Some of the characters leaned into the pulpy descriptor but I feel like MOST of the pulpiness comes from the characters vs the plot, and a lot of the pulpier traits are the parts that seem to be the problem points. I wonder if there was a better word to pitch?

yeah...it's hard because it is very action-focused, which is pulpy, but I think it's hard to create a D&D PC that's "pulpy". Honestly I still think the way to go was to be like "hey, this is going to be a very action-focused campaign with a that won't focus a ton on character backstory-based arcs. Also there will be a lot of lore, so at least one of you should make an intelligence-based character."

I also just think that Matt should have prepped Laura and Taliesin more on the Apex War, like just told them outright what their characters would know from having lived it, and given them a few key figures within it, even if they hadn't specifically created those characters. Like, again, I run Netherdeep and I just straight up told my brother, who does not watch CR and who plays a former Aurora Watch character from Asarius, who Verin was during our initial sessions, because he would know this, so then when they met Verin he recognized the name and could then make checks to recall more. Basically, you know how Matt and Laura met and he told her the deep Raven Queen lore? He should have done that with Imogen and Ashton about Otohan on a very cursory level before the game started. As I said, they really could have kept most of the current party's concepts intact and made a few small changes and it would have been transformative. Like literally just slightly different character creation instructions and a single two hour session zero (a REAL ONE. NOT A PLAYTEST. ONE LIKE THE CANDELA, DAGGERHEART, AND MOONWARD ONES.)

[grigori77]

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 66

Stray Gods? Ooooh ... yeah, that does look pretty cool. And yeah, shout-out indeed to our own girls on board! And ... oh boy, here we go ... Sam's singing ... great ... and it's bloody awful as always ... that's it, Sam, make my ears bleed ...

Yes, last Candela Obscura ep coming SOON ... but I heard it's only the FIRST story, apparently there are more on the way?

Oh sweet, Daggerheart? Cool. Can't wait ...

And so we begin. Again. And I'm like STUPID excited about this one ...

Yay! Zephrah! Sweet! I've missed this place ...

And yes, Orym is home ... I'm so happy for our boy ... super nostalgia for him ...

Wow, that's a SHIT roll for Chetney's sense of smell, Travis ...

Strength Save? Already? Gah ... roll good, guys ...

It fucken wimdy ... and now we're losing THREE OF OUR PEOPLE!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

Oh, so it's just a welcoming committee? Sort of?

Yes! Hello Orym, yes, he's a welcome defuser of tension, definitely.

Maeve? Half-elf? Wait ... HIS SISTER?!!! Really? Awesome! Awwwww ... hello, cutie! :3

Take forms? Oh, so she's a druid? Cool! I mean yeah, of course she is, but still ... COOL!!!

There's a Nexus close? Crap ...

Whoa ... Maeve was AT THE BATTLE!!! Okay then ... and now it's all fucken CRAZY ... yeah, it would be ...

No communication with Whitestone? Crap ... but not unexpected ... and folk got scattered? Again, not a surprise ...

YOUR mom ... oh, so she was WILL's sister ... yeah, I get it. But slso awwww ...

No, I'm ahead of you, FCG. They're IN-LAWS.

Yeah, he was in love, very much ... and my heart's breaking all over again just remembering ...

Matt once again reminding us that Zephrah is one of the most beautiful places in all of Exandria ...

Maeve (regarding Laudna): "Is that her? She looks cooler than I thought." Awwwww ... :3

More reunions ... yeah ... awkward ... but yeah, hello Leeta ...

Red dragon? Thordak, yeah ... cool ... Nice trip down Campaign 1 memory lane ...

KEYLETH!!! Yay!

FCG tries to bow and just faceplants cuz he ain't got knees ...

Ouch ... that's gotta hurt ... that looks NASTY ...

Oh yeah! THE Staff! Nice!

Yup, just as we thought, it's that nasty shit poison again ... a remedy? Blue Perennium flower? Oh boy ... no, not LIKE THAT!!! Matt is irritated by the smutty jokes that now ensue and I don't blame him ... oh, how many PCs is he gonna kill for this? XD

So this COULD heal her? Oh yes ... so ... quest time again, maybe?

It grows in places marked by strife? Hmmmm ...

So there are THREE others hurt like her? Two dozen more dead? Ouch ...

The last thing SHE saw ... yeah, OF COURSE it was Vax ... this is gonna be hurting her WAY worse than her wounds ...

The white light? Hmmm ... so what, Illianna might have sent them all away to SAVE THEM? Interesting ...

Ah yes ... so here we go ... revealing Imogen's connection indeed ... Keyleth: "But you're here to help?" Oh yes ...

So the Ruby Vanguard are OPENLY recruiting now? That can't be good ...

Orym: "I've been struggling with the blood in my eye for weeks now. I've never been so fucking angry!" Oof ...

Keyleth: "Sometimes it's just what you need, so don't let go of that anger. Learn how to use it."

Orym: "I promise you I'll give you every last breath to make this right."

Keyleth: "Together we'll rain the fury of every power in Exandria down on these ... shitheads."

Get hold of the toxin, reverse engineer an antidote? Smart, Chetney, smart.

Yeah, Keyleth never really had that much to do with the gods, generally.

"The Ascension and the Sealing". Oh yeah ... so cool ...

Letting the Voice of the Tempest rest, then ...

Laudna: "We dropped the airship." Leeta: "That was you? That was GREAT!!!" Yeah ... :3

Ah yes, finding out what happened after they all got shunted away at last ...

27 ... Whispers! Yay! What's Leeta hiding, Fearne?

Wait, MOLES? Really? Like another Bor'Dor situation? Hmmmm ...

Thollo? Okay ...

The Scattered War of Gwessar? Intriguing ... so the Grey Valley is ... a creepy, fucked up place ... sounds about right. And apparently this is the SAFEST place for them go look for the flower? Ye gods ...

Liam: "We all know what you WANT to hear, Travis Willingham." XD

The Hishari helmet? Intriguing ... oh, here we go, then ... so Ashton COULD finally get some answers after this? Cool ...

So, going to meet Orym's mum ... sweet ...

Home sweet home! Cottagecore? Cute! :3

Awwwwwwwww ... she's the sweetest mum ever, hi Alma! Oh yeah, she DOES know Fearne already. And she's definitely fascinated by FCG ...

Oh yeah, Laudna does love her some biscuits ...

Oh, intriguing, the possibility that Chetney might hit on Alma ... XD

Such a lovely cosy place, I love it ...

Muffins? Really? Cool ...

No stealing stuff, Fearne. "I would never steal from a mother." Okay then ...

Yum! Freshly baked goodies! Yay!

Alma: "I worry about you, Orym. You carry a lot of weight on your face."

Whoa ... the Ashari have means to delay births to prevent babies from becoming Ruidusborn? Intriguing ...

Alma:"Just don't be a hero if you don't have to." Orym: "I just do what I have to, mom."

So Orym was a truly TINY baby? I mean OF COURSE he would have been ... awwww, the cavalcade of baby memento-based embarrassment for Orym, I love it ... XD

Recipes to go for FCG? Adorable ...

Chetney's carved a little wooden Orym for her? That's so cute ... is this Chet flirting? Wait ... Orym ACTUALLY HAD C-POP toys when he was little? Oh my gods ...

Orym: "Did you invent Optimus Prime?" Chetney: "I killed him, too." LOL

FCG trying to work out if Orym looks a little like Chetney ... 4 perception roll? Yeah ...

To Torth's shop for fresh armour, now ...

Sage and herbs in the metal AS IT'S BEING TEMPERED?!!! Intriguing ...

Old Fanny Z? Hmmmm ...

Oh, this place looks FASCINATING ... oh, and Fanny is too ... wow ... oh yeah, she is just FABULOUS, definitely ... XD

Fanny: "Anti-hero chic?" Oh yes ... that's perfect Ashton, definitely ...

Marisha: "Whitestone's for lovers, Zephrah's for fuckers." LOL

Meanwhile Laudna's flying Pate on a string like a kite. Pate: "Hey, there's a big hawk up here, circling! I think he wants to be friends!" O.O

Big-ass backpack? Okay ... so they need to fill THIS with the flowers ...

Oh boy ... a shit ton of healing potions ... NEVER a good sign of things to come ...

Whoa ... so Orym's fighting style is like THE regimental style of Zephrah? That's so cool ...

Maeve can do the tree portal thing too? That's so cool!

Matt: "And we're gonna go to break!"

Oh, so they're actually Blue Perennum flowers? Ah ... so basically Matt dug his own grave there ...

Liam: "I'm just glad we don't have to find some Taintweed." Snort ...

Always nice to get to see a pair of Jesters drawing little cartoon dicks in the air ... XD

Back to the game ... and the Grey Valley ... hmmmmm ...

The smell of ash and BURNED FAT?!!! That's not, like, foreboding at all ...

The whole place is COMPLETELY monochrome ... fascinating ... in a really creepy way ...

Perception check for blue flowers ... 30? Fucking hell Orym ... no joy, though. Not here ...

FCG doing a Divination spell on the inside of Orym's shield to find the way from the Changebringer ... oh ... is it working? Intriguing ... cool, another genuine divine visitation ... ooooooh ... and a marker? Cool ... go west, young man!

Chetney trying to get a read on the burned fat smell ... what ... a Religion check? Hmmmm ... oh, it's a smell of demons? Oh shit ... not great ...

Hello again, Pate ... he turns invisible and goes looking for possible demons and blue flowers ...

Single file, to hide their numbers ... and Pass Without A Trace? Okay ... sneaky sneaky ...

Lightning split trees? Yeesh ...

Bits of tarnished metal? Hmmmm ... that's suspicious ... not fresh, at least, but ...

So it's a helmet ... with a skull still in it? Not good ...

Nothing inherently fancy about any of it ...

Pate sees fuck all ... with a Nat 1 ... oof ...

FCG casts Death Ward on Orym in order to make sure they can get him back to his mum ...

Something's flying in ... TWO somethings, in fact ... bug and black ... black SMOKE?!!! Oh hell ... they don't spot thd party, but ... creepy ...

Chetney climbing a big rock to get a look round ...

Smells like a volcano? Lovely ... that's not a good sign ... and part of the forest is smoking ... great ...

Everybody's doing Pate impressions while Matt looks stuff up ... it's adorable. XD

Oh, the TREES are smoking? Hmmmm ...

FCG casts Owl's Wisdom on Fearne? Intriguing ...

Orange glow under the tree bark? Hmmmm ... FCG casts Detect Thoughts ... nothing in particular ...

Some kind of potential damage site? Hmmmm ...

An ash MARSH?!!! Seriously? Urgh ... hard going now ... no surprise there ...

Back onto solid ground without incident ... phew ... or not ... some kind of ancient battlefield now ... lovely ...

Something got badly charred here ... and there's some kind of dark crater? Hmmm ... AND there are flowers ... okay ... is it a trap?

Bollocks ... turns out Pate is colourblind ... THAT'S not exactly useful for finding the flowers ...

Pate land on the bush ... and falls into it. "They're thorny!"

Chetney goes in to try and see what's what ... and starts doing an English accent when he finds himself interacting with Pate.

So THESE are the flowers ... BINGO!!! Chetney starts cutting blooms, also casts Hunter's Bane just in case ... and he gets a little prickle of SOMETHING ... hmmmm ...

Oh fuck ... some of the bodies start moving ... great, it's undead time ... and there's something else there too ...

Okay, this thing definitely SOUNDS like a demon ...

Chetney pretends he doesn't actually see this thing znd starts to nonchalantly walk away ... yeah, this thing ain't convinced at all ...

Oh yeah ... "Roll initiative." HERE WE GO!!!

Battlemap time! Wow, that shit is BLEAK!!!

Top of the round, then ...

Here come the undead! Aaaaaaaah! Chetney's under attack ... crap, and he is now GRAPPLED ... oh shit, they're Ashari! It's some of the missing warriors!

Chetney: "Nuke us!" FCG: "I'm a healer! I don't Nuke!" Chetney: "Bring the falling fire!"

FCG casts Compulsion and they both FAIL!!! Now they're dragging Chetney through the nasty ashen mud ...

Imogen's up ... Laura has a very dubious plan ... Watery Sphere? Interesting ... she tries it on the demon ... a strength save? 17 plus more ... nuts ... then she uses her Telekinetic Shove to try snd free Chetney ... nope, it's like FREAKISHLY strong ...

The demon just SINKS INTO THE GROUND ... andnow it's FUCKING CLOSE to them all ... CRAAAAAAAP!!! A Soul Rend Vortex? WHAT THE FUCK?!!!

38 points of Necrotic damage to Orym and FCG, 19 to Fearne ... ouch!

Ashton RAGES!!! YEAH!!! Yeah, he's making some crazy gravitational wave as he charges the thing ... Density Well? So cool ... BOOM!!! 18 points of bludgeoning damage AND it's knocked prone ... AND some fire damage? 8 points! Nice .. but it's fiendish, so not yhat much of zn effect ... another attack ... another 19 points of damage because it's BIGGER than he is? Awesome ...

Orym performs a Disarming Attack to free Chetney ... yes! Success! AND 11 damage on the undead! Second hit ... only 8 points more? Not so good ...

Oh man ... Orym KNEW this guy? Crap ...

Chetney wolfs out ... he charges and while taking damage from the undead (8 Necrotic) as he moves away, inflicts LESS damage on the demon within ice attack than he'd like ... hmmm ... how CAN they kill this thing?

Fearne speaks Infernal? Of course she does ... "Stop it!" And here comes Mister ...

Laudna casts Mirror Image on herself, then ... oh man, that is HORRIFYING ... oh! Hey! It's the wolf! Laura is DEEPLY impressed! Matt: "That's your girlfriend!"

Here we go ... the wolf attacks the demon ... 14 piercing damage! Nice!

Oh crap ... now there are creepy shadow wraiths coming out of the marsh... great ...

A TOTAL MISS on Imogen! Phew ... now Ashton ... Erratic Defence? What is THAT?!!! Cuts it down to 11 points of Necrotic damage, but Fearne's fancy aura softens it ... now he's just chucking one of the wraiths around ...

An attack on FCG ... but Silvery Barbs from Laudna AND Fearne's spell saves the day AGAIN!!!

Undead longbow attack? Really? Both miss, though ... but the other one hits Orym with its sword ... crap!

Orym strikes back HARD!!! 15 points of damage! Nice ...

Spiritual Weapon from FCG ... a chainsaw? Really? Crazy ... attack on the undead! 7 points of radiant damage? Hmmm ... not THAT impressive ...

Imogen tries to get the Watery Sphere to actually DO SOMETHING this time ... okay, that's more like it ... ooh ... 4th Level Lightning Bolt AND it's Quickened by Ashton? Wow ... double hit INCLUDING the demon ... okay ... NINE D6 OF DAMAGE?!!! Fucking hell ... 24 points ... wow ...

Demon boy VANISHES again and reappears in front of Fearne? NO!!! Shit ... 10 slashing damage PLUS 13 Necrotic? Oof ... second attack CRITS ... 13 slashing and 21 Necrotic? AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! Damn, that hurts ...

Soul Rend? Crap ... EVERYBODY but FCG has to save ... oh man, this is all round SO BAD ... pain all round, but SOMEHOW Fearne still maintains her concentration ...

Ashton hits HARD on one of the wraiths ... POW!!!

Orym jumps over Mister and charges in to pull Bait and Switch on Fearne, then attacks the demon! POW!!! 18 points of damage all round! Oh shit ... another Ashari inside the demon? Not good ...

Chetney tries to just JUMP attack the demon ... in the end just GRAPPLES it ... okay ... second attack then ... still not that heavy with the ice damage ... hmmm ...

Fearne casts Daylight right on its chest ... oh shit! Oh, and that HURTS IT BAD!!! Nice! AND it repels EVERYTHING!!! Okay, then!

Mister chucks some flaming shit! XD 7 points of damage ... meh ...

FORM OF DREAD!!! YES!!! Always awesome ... Laudna sends Pate into the Watery Sphere and then twins a Shocking Grasp through him ... NAT 20!!! Oh shit! Pate: "Special delivery!" She electrocutes the guy ... and gets the HDYWTDT!!! Nice ... oh shit ... TWO kills? Way to go, dead girl!

Now the wolf attacks the demon again ... 11 damage! Sweet!

Undead attack on Fearne! Crap ... Laudna casts Silvery Barbs, but it still hits ... 12 slashing damage! Double crap ... and she's unconscious! NO!!!

FCG casts Mass Cure Wounds! Phew! 16 points all round! Nice! Fearne's back up!

Buzzsaw attack from FCG! Oh, Divine Strike? No ... ALMOST killed that zombie ...

Imogen chucks a 4th Level Witchbolt at the demon ... 42 points of damage ... and she gets the HDYWTDT!!! YESSSSSSS!!! Oh yeah, she full on LIGHTS THIS FUCKER UP!!! Oh yeah, the demon is TOAST.

For the sake of brevity, Matt lets the rest of the thralls die ... yeah, seems fitting ...

Orym finds a fading spirit within the demon's body ... oh man ... it's tragic, but bittersweet ... at least he gets to put her to rest in the end.

Ah, they at least found enough flowers before they died to fill a 3rd of the satchel ... cool. Meanwhile Orym's looking for personal effects, then performs last rites in the Ashari manner.

Moody, mournful wind ... hmmm ...

Matt: "And that's where we're gonna end the night."

All round, EVERYBODY is in awe of Ashley saving the day so it wasn't a TPK ...

[endyillustration]

anatomy pages for my daggerheart katari pc, vispa.