#roll20 event

[22to22]

It's my birthday

and the thing you can do to celebrate is check out Spindlewheel, a tarot-like storytelling system where you weave a story from card to card.

Spindlewheel is a unique system where the deck has as much to say about the story as you do, but the story is bespoke to you and your friends every time. Every Spindlewheel game is a constructed scaffolding for story structure, ranging from western four-act stories in Spindlewheel Classic, to tense bombastic duels to the bitter end in Meet Me In The Field of Honour At Dawn, to sorting out a trio's complicated feelings for each other in Love Machine.

The goal of Spindlewheel is to tell a satisfying story. Your character might win wealth and fame, or they might crash and burn. Both of these are victories if they fit the arc of the story you’ve told, and bring satisfaction to you as a storyteller.

How do you play? Well, I'm glad you asked!

Spindlewheel’s fundamental verb is interpretation.

Each card’s text evokes an idea.  The upright and inverse text are different. Sometimes they’re diametrically opposed; often, they’re two sides of the same coin.

Use the card as an anchor for the part of the story that you’re telling.

A card can be a person, an event, an attitude, or a physical object. Use as much as the entire card, or as little as a single word. A card is interpreted twice: once when it enters your hand, and again when you play it. It does not have to be the same interpretation.

FOR EXAMPLE: I might draw the Hearth card and Reflect that I feel like people closed their doors to me; but I might Engage that card later, declaring I won’t do the same to someone else, and play it to invite someone into my home.

It's a really excellent one shot system: it takes no prep, every setting is procedurally generated for each table, and most games are GMless. The games that are GMed are designed to support improvisation and provide coherent throughlines so the GM can focus on moment to moment play. It also works as a GM tool within other systems for when you need an ominous portent or an answer to a question where a dice roll just won't cut it.

It also makes for pretty damn good radio. Check it out on Party of One, An Atlas of the World Unknown, You Don't Meet In An Inn, Follow the Leader, and played extensively in the devlog Spindlewheel Stories where you can listen as the game takes shape over time.

Did I mention it's got an open SRD? Anyone can hack the system and sell their games. Here's a collection of people who have done just that!

Curious?

There's lots of ways to try Spindlewheel online for free! give @spindlewheelbot (by Caro Asercion) on twitter an @ for a "classic" spread inspired by the celtic cross, or a single card "vibe check"; print and play the deck with the original legacy art or play it on playingcards.io; or play it on Tabletop Playground and Tabletop Simulator.

Convinced?

Head over to www.teacabbage.com/spindlewheel to pick your digital copy of Spindlewheel on itch.io and roll20!

[alpaca-clouds]

How to make the DnD Lore more accessible

I talked on Christmas about how Wizards of the Coast and generally Hasbro are mismanaging Dungeons & Dragons. And I want to go a bit more into one of the things I brought up in that blog. Which is: The inaccessibility of the Dungeons & Dragons lore, or specifically the Forgotten Realms Lore, which technically is the main lore for the game.

To sum up, what I said in that long essay once again:

While more and more people are playing DnD, a lot of them are playing it with original worlds. In of itself that is not really a bad thing, but the reason why so many opt for original worlds is. Because one of the main reasons is that the DnD Lore is very, very inaccessible. Sure, there are several wikis out there of varying quality. But even with the good wikis, there is just the fact that not all pages are of equal quality and there is just a lot of stuff that is just stubs.

Meanwhile the official stuff is fairly useless. Sure, there are quite a few books that give you some great lore - but actually finding the book for the lore that you are looking for is pretty much impossible without once again relying on Wikis. And of course, depending on the age of some of the sources, they might also just not generally be available unless someone uploaded them to the internet archive.

And yeah, sure, Ed Greenwood is a walking encyclopedia on his world - and will answer questions on Twitter. But...

Look, here is the thing: WotC wants to make money with this. So, excuse me for saying this, but... They should put some more effort into making this accessible. Just put some people down there that make a comprehensive write up off the lore.

Or to put it differently: Make a comprehensive Wiki on DnDBeyond.

See, here is the thing. When right now I wanna find out something about, let's say, Tymora, I can totally search for it on DnDBeyond.

But then the results look like this:

So, basically it just lists me source books in which Tymora is mentioned. Which does not necessarily tell me, how much I can actually gleam about Tymora and the worship of Tymora from each sourcebook. And if I click on one of the links, this is what I get:

Which, you might notice, tells me literally nothing about Tymora.

Now, I absolutely get that WotC needs to sell all those books and all of that. But... To keep it like that makes the entire Lore and background of the world completely inaccessible.

This goes double, of course, because each of the books does not necessarily give you a comprehensive writeup of who the goddess actually is or what her timeline is.

And this goes basically for everything. There is barely any information that they make actually accessible.

So, how could WotC actually fix this?

Well, simple: Make their own Wiki - and then use the Wiki as a jump-off point to sell your stuff. It does not have to be the most comprehensive thing ever, but give a general overview of the most important stuff: A timeline and a general idea of the major events (like the Time of Troubles, the Spellplague and the Second Sundering), an overview of the pantheon, an overview of the different cities, and some major characters (like Xanathar, Dagult Neverember and so on).

Because here is the thing: When you do not have a hook, you will not get people to actually buy your books.

To keep with my example: Let's say you are a person who has just gotten into DnD. Maybe because of an Actual Play Podcast, maybe because you liked the movie, or maybe because you just come off Baldur's Gate 3. And now you want to get into playing DnD and would like to do something with that world. So, you google "Play DnD" and get obviously the official side as a first result (with Roll20 coming in second).

But... You basically get not at all a primer on the world and the different settings you can have in it. Nothing.

The "story" thingie basically just also has links to "Buy" pages. No way to properly get a good hook into the story of DnD.

Again, all on its own it is not a big issue that people make their own worlds. You could argue that it is technically a good thing, because it allows people to be more creative. But there are two things you also have to keep in mind.

New players really do have a bigger hurdle to overcome when they want to start playing - because either getting into the lore or creating their own lore does pose a challenge to start with.

More people playing in the official game world, does create a bigger feeling of community, as people work on some connected lore.

WotC wants to sell those books, which does really not work, when you do not give a good hook for them.

People are just more likely to buy a book on details of a world, if they are already kinda familiar with the book - and if they know what they are actually looking for.

This... really isn't that hard or complicated.

So, what I would do is the following:

Create an official timeline (especially as there are contradictions in the timeline as off now).

Create an official encyclopedia featuring major locations, people, religions and the general pantheon.

Use those official encyclopedia pages to link to books and adventures working with that kinda stuff to sell them.

Maybe also create some fairly short official one shots to start with. Let's just say three or four of them. Offer them for free and very clearly available on the official website. (Even with all faults I see in how Catalyst handles Shadowrun, this is something they do very well.)

Also... Just maybe create some more official content like short stories, some good content on youtube... the likes of that. Heck, create an official Actual Play that is actually set in Toril!

Is that all going to cost some money? Yeah, it is. But I would argue that this would do the game good. While there are no official numbers some fan-made polls suggest that actually most people play without any official material. Meaning the game itself right now is super accessible - but only a few people are actually interested in the official stuff. And if WotC wants to make money... Well, they need to get people interested in the official stuff.

And that is of course without going into how the shoot themselves in the foot by trying to change the open game license and what not.

To put it differently: Right now DnD is actually super popular. So popular in fact that you could argue it is pretty much mainstream. And they... just fail to make proper money off it, because they are just too dumb to understand how to actually use it in their advantage.

[somethingsomethingfrogs]

Part 1: the map

I had a map in mind, created by Azgaar's fantasy map generator, and i actually learned my lesson this time and restricted the map size to 4 regions. The problem while DMing is that I need to use multiple programs to make it work, so i'm centralizing it to Photoshop, since my players sometimes forget how dndbeyond works so using Roll20 or something similar is asking for more problems. Here is the world map (political and biomes):

I noticed that each edited map has a problem with scale/different cropping, here's how the map is supposed to look:

The entire idea is that the players reach specific locations on the map, with each biome corresponding to one of the winners (Grian - desert, Scott - plains, Pearl - woods, Martyn - coast, Scar - ravine/plains). The only problem is that editting the zoomed out map means the text is tiny, I'll try to fix it somehow. I have prepared map markers for events, with the only difficulty being that I need a higher resolution map to make them not pixely.

I'm surprised that there are people interested in this and if you have any suggestions then send them.

[lyriumheart]

hey mutuals!! im looking for 1 (one) extra person to join my dnd group

i'm going to be running a small prelude module (link here if you wanted to check it out), which leads up to doing the main module Descent into Avernus.

the above book is made for one to two person 'choose your own adventure' style, but has stuff to adjust it to a bigger party, and i'll be doing a few of my own changes just to get it to fit. that said, it's a pretty short module!

we will probably only be playing this prelude thingie for like, 3 sessions, it's relatively casual and uncomplicated, and also a good way to intro to a new group.

important infos:

it'll be starting on the 18th of May, and then sessions after that will be every other week! (so 1st of June after that, then 15th of June after that).

it will be at 7pm gmt / 3pm est / 1pm mst

we play using Tabletop Simulator (you can get it on steam). if you can't get it/run it, lmk and we can just use Foundry or Roll20 instead.

it will be done via discord voice chat

there's currently 4 other players, with one likely only staying for this prelude. they aree @miquellaslily , @subhumanself and @pucciverse . the 4th is my brother who doesn't have a tumblr lmao.

after this prelude, we're then planning on having a pre- DiA 'session 0' to see who wants to continue on to the bigger module, if anything needs adjusting, character changes, etc.

dm me here on tumblr if you wanna join and/or have any questions!!!

and we'll exchange discords + steam then too.

here's the blurb text from the prelude:

Not far west of the exciting and sprawling city of Baldur’s Gate, rests a sleepy Sword Coast hamlet. Ulgoth’s Beard is home to mostly shepherds, fishermen, and -- most notably -- the weird wizard Shandalar. Naturally, as is the case with most strange sorcerous sorts, Shandalar requires the help of an eager would-be adventurer. That’s where you come in. Your quest will take you into the fey-haunted Cloakwood on a seemingly simple mission. But what you witness in the forest will start a chain of events that will lead you through hell itself, requiring you to use all of your skills and wits to survive. Can you escape Avernus unscathed, or will you become just another lost soul in the planes of the damned?

this is staying rebloggable for ME to keep it up for the next few days but pls dont rb (unless u are the three ppl above lmao) :'3

[scorpiatumbles]

*Vibrating*

Hi folks! Been a while since I've posted The Scorpia Update, so thought nows a good time.

The last few months have been weird. Been in the process of buying a house since April, and I'm finally in there and comfy as of the end of September. I've been sorta out of it and stressed for a lot of that time, but it's all exciting. Feels like the end of one era and beginning of another.

Spinning back up at work after a week off of complete "brain turned off" was hard, but I'm managing it. Slowly been getting back into all of my hobbies again.

Feel like I'm in the best place of my life so far, really. I've met so many amazing people in the last two and a bit years or so, becoming a part of a community that means so much to me.. New house, new life stage, it's nice!

Hobbies wise, been keeping myself busy:

Back to streaming! A few bonus streams mainly, but been prepping for an ace attorney series on my channel and I'm looking forward to that. Been prepping lots of bits on the stream and making art for it, which is always fun.

My stream server has really become a bit of a hangout zone, so that's been real cozy. Running lots of little events...

Weekly movie nights back up and running -always a cozy time to watch stuff on VRChat with pals.

D&D! And lots of it. My friend has been running stuff again and I've gone from strength to strength as a DM, I think. Finally ordered a few of the books physically so I can start doing some IRL bits as well as Roll20.

Back at Art again! More frequently than I have been for a while, anyway.

So, yeah! Bit of a word dump really but.. lots to be excited about and share! Hope everyone is doing well, shark hugs for you!

[podcastingpineapple]

Palisade 29 spoilers, mostly SCREAMING through the episode

IS THIS MOTHERFUCKING GUR AND VALENCE PODCAST IN THE DESCRIPTION

We are in the fucking WAR AGAINST BRANCHED?? Just JUMP and we are IN THR FRONT LINES

I saw ONE WORD SPOILER for this episode and it was DAHLIA so i have high hopes.

I thought they would show up on Palisade but NOPE, you come to the Glorious Princept, not the other way around. Mirror this to that fucking Kesh man.

This flagship/garden city is wild!!

Liguid black, kinda like stone tight plugsuit. Had to google Jesse James Keitel, was not disapointed, they look like a princept to me.

I am excited to see what they are like. What are you like, Dahlia, how can you claim so many thrones?

"Captain Kalvin Brnine." Not me immediately liking them for using the right name, the bar could not be any lower.

"What drives you, Kalvin Brnine?"

*face down, head in hands* yeah uh-huh, hmmhmhm. Kalvin Brnine opposing Apostalos has pushed them more than a millenia of fighting the branched right yup cool cool

"That's a fucked up thing to say." YEAH!!!

"They would like us not to be human anymore."

"They do not know they are being kinda shitty, is the thing. Which is that the room changes around you. The light becomes softer. It is a living room on a warm, sunny day. This is a thing your old friend, Phrygian, could do." (I just let out the most pained wail of my life, sorry roommates.) "And it strikes you, they are not in the room, they are the room."

"Hate that." YEAH!!! SAME!! NOT GOOD!

They have become something like the branched. They fucking think that only CONFLICT and ANTAGONISM will bring change.

OH DAHLIA, YOU ARE FUCKING FULL OF SHIT! WHAT?? ONLY WAR MAKES CONNECTIONS???? DEFEATS THE NATURE OF SELFISHNESS??? Someone give them a hug or something, they grew up wrong and think this is how they can make true connections. (And also teach them how to be a cool room.)

You know what, the branched should have captured Dahlia as a baby. The farmer should've gone straight to the enemiest of enemies and be like "hello".

CAS!!! MISERI AND COR!!! INTEGRATING THEM TO MILLENIUM BREAK! THIS IS ALL I WANT. BUT THEY WOULD BE LOYAL TO DAHLIA! AAAAH, AUSTIN HAS POISONED THE WINE I HAVE CRAVED, BUT IT WOULD TASTE sOoOo SWEET~

WOOOOAH, WILD SWINGS, WILDEST OF SWINGS. "On of scale from 1 to 10 how much can I assassinate this person and still be able to- (laughter) break out?" "What!? Break out of WHAT, you are IN them??"

Hehe, read the room. Because. The princept is the room.

Ali was not even on Roll20, what a fucking powermove.

OOOOH, DAHLIA HAS BEEN LIKE THIS FOR YEARS. OOooOOooOH.

Integrity, Commitment and Dahlia in a soup... Something something Chimera?

Ah, no, it seems they are still kinda three separate beings but Dahlia can just be. A room.

"If you took action in here-" uh oh.

Reading all of these moves is hilarious!

"Hollow blood, less weight!" Fjfjjfjfgghh

THE TAPES!! WITH VALENCE AND GUUUUUUUUR!!!

Also MAGIC UP ROUTINE, PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE HIM!!?

I like how excited Austin was about the possibility of just KILLING Dahlia just outright, after teasing them for soooo loooong. I might be bit sad because they seem like an excellent antagonist.

"Anyway, the Glorious Princept is Bleeding everybody. In their throneroom."

BRNINE!! STILL IN IT!! BRNINE!!! SLASHING PRINCEPTS FACE!!!!

ARE THEY REALLY KILLING THE PRINCEPT? HOLY SHIT!!!

JaCK dE QUIDT! NEW MUSIC EVENT!

Figure wants Brnine to know. That Millenium Break can really change lives. (crying)

Figure can cry!!!

I love Cori grilling Eclectic about Leap...

Hunting cleaning their rooms, watering plants... midnight running simulations.... partial walking into the ship with baggy pants...

[Asepsis voice:] RED ALERT! RED ALERT! CAPTAIN BRNINE IS DYING!

Saffron Septet running to see what the fuck is happening...

OH COMMITMENT, POOR COMMITMENT :( searching it's elect and integrity... need another elect...

Branched, go get Commitment!!! Go get it!!

Did they forgot the tier difference on the princept fight? Eh, it was fun.

Routine joining Starioma. Best worst case scenario. Please save him. Please.

"When did we break up???" So true ali, so true, together and still toxic.

I hate that brnine/gucci ship has overtaken me.

"Did they just win??? There is only one princept." I mean kinda?

Cori is sweet. Thisbe and Brnine convo... Phrygian made the best cereal box mazes... Branched Man...

They sound SO TIRED! And there is 40 minutes left in the episode!!

Cas will become the next apokine..... oh no.... oh cas......

Gur told me about them. About... Valence?? About the tapes.

They are never going to play the rest of the eclectic-brnine -scene, huh.

Jesset texts! Emoji between a heart and a sparkle... Two hearts is ambiguous.... :) :) :) Jesset Boyfriend City is real....

"I was SURE you would've died on the combustor"... aaaaghhh she LOVES them!!

YAASS, GO SAVE THE PEOPLE FROM THE AFFLICTION SMOOOOKE!! FACE YOUR FEAAAARS, FACE YOUR REGREEEETS! Omnomnom it will be tasty!!

Big! Swings! We love it! The drama! Big! Moves! Moves that MATTER! Fuck the empire UP!! WE WILL LEAP!!

[maxmallard]

A CALL TO ALL D&D PLAYERS

Looking for an online server to satisfy that itch for adventure? Come to Edea and join the Silver Wings! A guild of legendary heroes, innovative inventors, up-and-coming warriors and much, much more!

[Online] [5E] [18+][Westmarch] Up to play DnD 5E? (Open 24/7 | Voice/Text)

What to expect: We are a small D&D 5e Westmarch community that is currently looking for both players and DMs! The Silver Wings are a guild hired by different nations and organizations and paid by them to do different jobs all the way from mundane tasks to fighting godlike beings. We are currently working on building and expanding a town around the guild to make a name for ourselves in this strange and wonderful world.

Whether you are new to DnD 5e, or a veteran, everyone is welcome here. Our friendly staff are available to answer any questions you may have, be it regarding mechanics, character creation, or story. Join us in building a rich history as we navigate this weird and wonderful land.

Guild map

Our server contains many unique features, including the following:

Level 3 start

All official and most UA content accepted!

RP, Combat, Exploration, and more: Here everything is possible from fighting goblins and swole kobolds to godlike beings. Ever wanted to throw hands with an ape the size of a skyscraper?

Extensive Downtime System: Want to learn a new skill, and cook delicious feasts between adventures? Construct elaborate traps or concoct deadly poisons? Make your own building? With our own Downtime System, all of these are possible!

A vibrant ever-evolving world. From sun-addled beaches over untamed jungles down to the deepest parts of the Underdark and up to snowy mountaintops. The world is filled with stories, people, and treasures just waiting to be discovered by you!

OzuHaruRhona, from our very own BloodBoyce

We use roll20 for games and creating character sheets. Every DM has a roll20 lobby either of their own or provided by server staff.

LGBTQ+ friendly

Optional ERP: The ERP section is gated behind a role so you don't have to interact or see it if you don't want to.

Art scene: Players often share the art they find. There is no sortage if ideas for character art. Some of our players even create their own character designs and are open to commissions, should you wish to opt for a personalised piece of your own.

Guild-wide seasonal events

Fairy Tale Bakery, one of many player-built structures. Drawn by myself

Join us if you’re ready to become part of a new growing community, indulge in epic quests, limitless exploration, community-driven roleplay, and more!

With the Silver Wings, adventure awaits!

Rhona, drawn by Potterzilla

[jaded-quill]

I wrote 2k words of Tissandier today. It got pretty intense. I dunno how much will make the final cut, but while I know the very end of the second scene needs tweaking, it might be most of it. I'm pretty happy with it so far!

I know what the next scene is, at least, and it's also a fun one, but possibly much harder to write.

I do need to step away for a few days to prep for my next D&D session. Fortunately, I don't need much prep, so as long as I spend a couple hours on D&D tomorrow, I should be good to jump on my fic whenever I get the urge.

It's a rough one for Will, but there's also some really fun stuff. (Aren't they all rough for Will? Ok, it's better than starving.)

For D&D I need to name a Dwarf, draw up an order of events for an evening of RP fun, and if I have the wherewithal, work on 2 upcoming encounters.

Why did I conceive of an encounter that operates on 3 different levels, 5 if you count the open air above and the water below, while playing on roll20? Cause I'm just that masochistic, I guess.

No, it's not a ship.

[goadventuremaps]

Hi Hi there.

During the trip, our characters entered a complex of caves that found an exit in this place, exiting through the cave at the top, upon arrival they find a snowy landscape in the middle of the forest and to their surprise they find a strange altar surrounded by ice spikes.

These crystals need magical energy to function, and they take it from whoever is standing in the center, but prevents them from seeing the events of the present, past or future from anywhere in the world.

This site was used by ancient prophets to warn people about future tragedies and thus prevent them, but it was also used for evil helping those who used it, change the course of history.

today an ancient conjuring lobri is necessary to be able to use it, in addition to the fact that only a sorcerer skilled with ice magic will be the one who must perform the ritual.

Patrons will receive for each map: high quality images, gridless versions, special version for Roll20, map tokens, color variations, versions without props. PSD of the original map, PDFs for printing the maps, behind the map images and much more.

Become A Patreon!

[dungeonmalcontent]

Hi! I really want to get Grimdark and Dangerous, but with recent events would rather not give WotC any money. Does DMs Guild give them a cut of the transaction, and if so do you have any other options to pay you for your book? Thanks!

Thank you for this ask. Because it's something I've been wanting to talk about.

To answer you question, I can really only sell Grimdark & Dangerous on DMsGuild. All sales through them also get updates and expansions (because I can't stop people that buy it from sharing it).

If that's all you wanted to know, you don't have to read the rest of this. Everything below here will probably get its own post but I'm putting it here while I have the time and right mindset.

I'm not particularly thrilled about only being able to sell on DMsGuild either, because they take a hefty 50% of the net sale and I get the rest in royalties (which also gets split with my editor who has been a major contributor; but I'm not complaining about her cut, she's more than earned it). DMsGuild has a special version of the OGL that they are under which allows more specific details of licensed content to be used, such as references to official settings like Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Ravenloft, and more. And for this, I would have to double check but I'm fairly certain, they also pay a fee to WotC to have access to this license. They also operate as a relatively easily navigated marketplace where I can share my work, and they allow me to update and expand on works for future and past purchasers.

And that last part is important, because every now and then I find a small error as I'm rereading Grimdark & Dangerous, and they build up, and then I add a new update with corrections to the purchase bundle. This is also how I plan on adding the bonus class for the 50 sales stretch goal, the monster compendium at the 200 (I think) stretch goal, and DMsGuild also prints physical copies for gold and better best sellers (which is another stretch goal I have).

But there's also the matter of the upcoming VTT market and the new OGL1.1.

Because of the move forward with the Roll20 merger and the OGL1.1 already being sent to Kickstarter, we can assume that Roll20 and DMsGuild are already on board for OGL1.1.

I am very much against the proposed OGL updates, and the potential legal ramifications it can have on the rest of the creator space (including me; even though I definitely don't make enough to pay the % cut, afaik I still lose control over my published work). That being the case, I'd still like to have my work up for as long as I can before that happens. And the more sales I generate, and everyone else of the same mindset as me generates, the more influence we have the negotiate a better OGL as a creator community. Because, if the OGL1.1 goes through, I am removing everything I've published from DMsGuild and working exclusively on different systems (most likely my own).

Now, my negotiating power is pretty low because I don't have any best seller titles and I don't have as much of a social media following as most other "published" homebrew creators. But we can also ask creators where they stand on the new OGL and respond with dollar voting against those who are not willing to refute the changes.

I hope this helps explain where I stand as a content creator who makes money from their content under a variant of the OGL, and what my plans are moving forward with new developments on the OGL.

[utilitycaster]

In a hilarious turn of events, after talking with my players I am going to be exploring the possibilities of using a VTT for map purposes, which does mean brushing off the Roll20 account I abandoned after it crashed like 300 times on my shitty grad school budget internet.

[reminder-setusername]

I don't really get how people "do things".

Every couple of months, I get the urge to "do things": go downtown for an event, or find a new online group, or something - because I generally don't do that (I basically only leave my apartment for work, groceries and doctor appointments - because I have no reason to go out for anything else).

So, I look up events - then scroll through a ton of things that aren't appealing to me or what I'm looking for. Not to mention that most things are $100 for admission - with no guarantee I'll like it.

Plus, my city suffers severe urban sprawl, so going downtown is a full-on day trip. Oh, and it's always scheduled for the nighttime - there's basically nothing for the daytime, when I'm awake (I'm sleep-deprived enough already, thank you).

It also doesn't help that I don't know what I like - only what I don't (crowds, loud noise, and generic "look at thing" activities, that feel entirely interchangeable).

So, then I try to find online things - like DnD groups on Discord or Roll20, since TTRPGs at least require interaction and that's more than most activities.

But I can never figure out that stuff - assuming I find something that fits my interests (and isn't dead, or filled with people yelling at each other), they all have the same formatting:

- Welcome to World 5795, please make a character from a vacuum, and if eldrich gods roll a nat 20, you can play with us - no guarantees you'll enjoy it though because we don't care what you're looking for, just warm bodies to roll math rocks for us.

For me, this is entirely backwards to how I create characters - starting from the concept I'm looking to explore and the dynamics of the world and other characters - then seeing which of my ideas can be incorporated into what they are making. Class and stuff doesn't matter to me at all - why is that the first thing people ask?

It's the same issue I've had with video games, and why I've only gotten into one (ESO) in the last year - my fun is creating a character that wants to engage with the world in my own way, not the "one true path". In ESO, my main character is happiest dodging the plot - and I have 6 other characters for doing the stories - in their own ways.

Anyways, what I realized, and why I'm writing this rant thing is... I realized I'd rather get into filling out job applications than look for "fun".

I mean, do you know how hard you have to work to make something more boring than job applications? How is finding fun activities worse than THAT?

Now I remember why the mood to "do things" only strikes once every few months - it sucks.

Fun is... not fun - especially when you don't get joy from being around other people - which is apparently a thing most people experience? I only found out about that at 24 - and I'm still not convinced that's a real thing.

I've never liked being around people in general - largely because they either get really invasive and assume they know me better than I do, or they just exist near me for a time, claim we're friends, and then vanish.

I think this is part of why I usually hate social media - or really engaging with anything where people know who I am or my deal. I always end up having to do what they think is fun, and it's miserable.

That's why - after seeing some YouTube stuff about Tumblr, I decided to give it a shot - anonymous, and not curated by an algorithm so I can engage with what I find fun. Turns out, not really (the description of the "for you" tab says there is an algorithm, and I only see the same handful of posts over and over), but at least I can post weird stuff like this because my personal information isn't on here - and it's acceptable to say it's none of your business!

Anyways, I guess I just wanted to melodramaticaly proclaim "fun is dead!" because, while I'm sure fun is out there, the process of finding it is worse than job applications - and I just feel like I'm watching everyone else have fun through a window, and it's easier to assume you all are tricksters, than that I'm missing out on something.

[wyrmguardsecrets]

"MG-Alliance is refusing to take responsibility for their own shittiness during 2010s RP-PvP events like bitching about MG-Horde PvP guilds tilting events in MG-Horde's favor, being caught bringing off server PvPers to RP-PvP events, complaining at MG-Horde GMs OOC during campaigns, allowing corpse camping Alliance players to spam emotes on MG-Horde players during events, getting so mad that they couldn't win PvP battles that they enforced roll20 events during campaigns. Etc." SuRe JaN. Shut up.

.

[feltedhousetrap]

Um, WoTC. Do you recall what the purpose of a tabletop rpg is? or how it is played? If not, allow me to summarize: A group of people who are or likely will become friends collaboratively sit down to have fun creating some sort of sequence of events based in the ruleset of the game in question.

When developing rules, you want them to make the above experience enjoyable for all involved. How, exactly, are you planning on training an AI on what makes a fun game and play experience? Because you cannot just make things up. And you need to have players interfacing with the rules baked into the training data. Which leaves you with a few options:

Train the AI exclusively on previous rule sets, and other games, thus making a game WITHOUT PLAYTESTING (bad idea for many reasons). a) Potentially include War Stories, thus getting some training data on typically the more extreme experiences, from the perspective of (only) the player who felt like they were being cool.

Train the AI on play by post games. This is kind of valid if you want to make a game for playing by post - I am concerned about how you got that data however, and you probably want to cater more to the live play experience.

Train the AI on recorded online sessions obtained from e.g. Roll20. This could be useful for a game meant to be run exclusively over the internet, which is OK if that is your goal. You are straying a bit from the "tabletop" idea though. Also, many people use the virtual tabletop for only the tactile parts of the game, leaving the actual RP (two thirds of "RPG"!) to take place through a separate and typically non-linked program. This means your training data is incomplete, not to mention that this mode of play likely has a higher incidence of total strangers. Oh and of course this means using live recordings of people who almost certainly did not consent.

Violate every kind of respect for privacy and train your AI on recordings of people playing in their own homes. Considering I addressed this to WoTC, I probably do actually need to tell you that this makes you a very, very bad guy who needs to be defeated.

[red-thorns]

A dream I had that I wanted to tell my DM about, so it's addressed to her. It got way longer than I'd intended. I'm glad I was able to capture so much detail, anyway. It's been a while since I've been able to hold on to a dream this vividly.

I woke up from a dream where we were playing the OotA campaign and I wasn't paying very close attention during an encounter, trying to multi-task. Also Grell Sutcliff was an NPC that you were allowing me to control. I think there was also a Petshop of Horrors character in our party. Also you had a self-insert unicornbunny avatar in our party, too. xD In any case, I was just doing basic moves whenever my turn came around, my focus being more on whatever the other thing on my desk was… that I can't even remember anymore. When I finally tuned in to the game it was because… The enemies were giving a bunch of our party members the killing blows. It was becoming a TPK. Grell died, the other anime character died… I was despairing over my favorite characters and then your self-insert died and I was like, "EVERYONE I LOVE IS DYING." I'd even forgotten about my own character, who had died like two turns ago. I was still cluing in to what was going on. Then I remembered it was Ataxia and then I remembered how much I loved playing Ataxia and how even if they died I wanted to make their death into something notable. I was like, "No…! Wait! Let's do it over!" You were kind of choked up and making those sounds of amused despair and told us, "Nope, it's too late." And I knew it wouldn't be fair to do it over anyway. My suffering here was my own fault for not putting attention towards something I actually cared about. I was really wrestling with the whole thing, feeling like I could do it over, do it better, treat it the way I truly wanted to… but there wasn't mercy for my careless behavior. I needed this hard lesson. It was interesting because we were playing over Roll20, but it was like watching a videogame. Another thing I felt like I hadn't paid attention to… when did the site update to have such amazing graphics?

Anyway, you were wrapping up some things after everyone perished. Elias had apparently been elsewhere, but he got wind of everyone's death quickly and you had him coming to loot the party members' bodies, hoping to at least gather the plot items. Technically the encounter is still going, just all of us players are watching on as you control the events. You have him rush in and gather what he can as the enemies who'd killed us are still hostile and attacking him. He barely gets away, and manages to leave the map and escape to a central hub…. nothing that exists in the real life game, but we recognized it in the dream. Through some tunnels there was this haven with a huge, mystical tree encased in stone in the center. It was kind of like our Blingdenstone, lots of factions we recruited for the Demon-banishing efforts gathered here. The tree was old and ancient and the reason it was encased was mysterious, but it's magic lent to our power and everyone revered it. So Elias, beaten but alive is bringing the important artifacts, hoping to find someone who can take up the torch of demon-banishing. …The funny and sad thing was, according to some dice rolls you had made in advance, this was the moment for another plot event. The tree in the center of the haven either broke or activated a curse (it was hard to tell which) and escaped its stone casing. We were all watching this happen like a cutscene, and it was incredible to watch. The roots lifted and the branches retracted and it slipped through the pillars and holes of the stone like an octopus. Everyone in the haven was watching in fear and awe. It began to sweep and swing wildly, some NPC's getting caught by its movements and smacked aside. The rest of the players and I were like, "Get outta there, Elias!" as it was basically another encounter.

Well, he rolled low initiative. The tree's swings were random, so it was unlikely he'd be hit. The dice did not care. That amused despair of yours was back as he got brutally murdered in one sweep from a merciless tree root. We all watched with trepidation as his limp body ragdolled on the stone ground.

There was a moment of pause as we realized there was no one left. What would we do now? You'd been controlling the entire thing, with the influence of the dice, but even you had come to a halt as you contemplated what we could possibly do. The tree was still swinging.

And that's the end of that dream.

[deck16]

This is a continuation of the campaign journal of Adventures in Lyria. The first entry is here and you can see all entries here.

Act 9: Port Cissylvania

The heroes head to a sleepy fishing town, and bring an inglorious end to General Magnus Strabo.

It was at this point I moved the game from Roll20 to Foundry. You can read more about my thoughts on this here.

Before Port Cissylvania

Garo and Zeke were all that was left in the adventuring party after the events on Silvercap Mountain. They took a well-deserved rest, leaving clean-up duties to General Salvius (first seen in Act 2).

When they woke, the General informed them that the Umbralenses (developed in Act 7) did indeed cure lycanthropy. The enemy forces were being cured.

But there was fresh trouble: a ship had come ashore on the nearby coast. The heroes were sent to investigate.

Meeting Alexandros and Surkiv

The players of Cyrus and Flutter had new characters. Taking Cyrus' place was Alexandros the half-elven drakewarden ranger. Flutter's spot was now filled by Surkiv the dragonborn path-of-the-beast barbarian. These two had been captured while defending the homelands of the boreal dragonborn, fighting against invading forces led by Magnus Strabo (mentioned in Act 7). Surkiv was native to those lands, and Alexandros was a sort-of warrior pilgrim from a distant island of dragon-worshippers.

Both of these new characters were prisoners on the very ship that Garo and Zeke have been sent to investigate. The ship had been abandoned when Alexandros' drake companion, Ion, loosened his muzzle and used his breath weapon to tear a hole in the hull.

The two prisoners were freed, and the group investigated the boat. Documents onboard suggested that the contents of the boat were items stolen by Strabo in the invasion that were being taken to his private collection. Dragonborn weapons, cultural items, dragonborn eggs, and even Alexandros, Ion, and Surkiv themselves! The heroes had a dim view of a man who would steal eggs!

Some of Strabo's men appeared on the scene: veteran soldiers from the Second Legion. These men had been sent to collect things from the wreckage. After a tense stand-off, combat ensued, the soldiers were defeated, and some even killed. Somewhat controversially, Garo dipped into the party's precious supply of diamonds to revivify them.

The Forest Hag

General Salvius urged the party to carry on to mainland Cantia. Strabo was landing there (as noticed in Act 8). His reputation suggested he would punish the local population for their recent uprising, and since the False Moon was now gone, they would have no ability to fight back.

After travelling across the channel, the party met a kobold bard called Algo, who belonged to a new player to the group. Algo had been displaced by the war, and was just trying to survive; he tagged along with the party, grateful of their protection.

The group were preyed upon by a forest hag. Feigning to be under attack by wolves, she appeared in the form of Media Bellicent, the last of a royal line of Cantia, ousted by the lycanthrope rebels. Truthfully, though, the hag's home had been taken over by the real Media Bellicent and her were-bear bodyguard. The hag tried to trick the heroes into fighting the were-bear but failed; she was killed.

The heroes learned that the hag had been working with the lycanthrope rebels, and was keeping other members of the Bellicent family captive in her basement. These poor children had perished and now haunted the basement. The heroes put these ghosts to peace by dispatching the spirits and burying the remains. Zeke, however, used his sword Asurath to "claim" the soul of the young girl Alula Bellicent; he could now summon her at will. (She was not especially powerful as a combatant but was potentially useful as a scout or distraction. During later dream-visitations to his sword's "interior", he'd find her living happily with his paternal ancestors.)

Media encouraged the party to help her defend the people of Cantia. She had a number of plans how they could help. But Garo was convinced the party could do better elsewhere. He wanted to investigate Strabo's legally-dubious personal collection, believing that it would be easier to tarnish the man's reputation and have him removed from his position than it would be to fight him and his soldiers. It would be unlikely that his replacement would be as harsh and merciless.

Media wished them luck. The party returned the Bellicent family torc (first found in in Act Two) to her. As she was of the Bellicent bloodline, she could use its full powers. Media made arrangements for the party to fly on to their next destination on the backs of griffons.

During this flight, Garo would reveal his past. His blood-line was thought to trace back to that of the god St Cuthbert. This was quite a prize, and Magnus Strabo had arranged for his daughter Katarina to marry him. It was to be an important political marriage. But Garo was not exactly into women, and he turned her down rather than live a lie. This made him something of a pariah. He threw himself into his crusader duties and tried to keep out of the public eye.

(This came as a surprise to me as DM. But it was so good, I absolutely ran with it.)

Port Cissylvania

The documents pointed the heroes to a sleepy fishing town called Port Cissylvania (Port CS). They would spend a long time here, doing various things. As I did with Act 7, I'm going to document things by “quest-chain” rather than chronologically. In reality, these stories were interleaved.

This is the map I used for Port CS. It's actually a map of Carrickfergus. If you search for maps of the place, you'll find lots of drawn art for it from different time periods.

Roster Changes

Some players would change characters during this Act.

Clever Clover the tabaxi rogue would replace Algo. Then Clever Clover would depart late in this act as the player left the game. (This was a player new to TTRPGs, and this was a tough game to join in part-way through. There was no drama in this exit!)

Trystan Valerius, a human, would replace Alexandros. Trystan was a bard at some point and a bladesinger wizard at another as his player experimented with different classes.

Myra's player returned from a hiatus to play Aden Heskin the half-elven warlock.

Flutter would make a return late in this chapter, displacing Surkiv.

And, of course, not all players were present for every adventure.

Barry the Baker

As the party arrived at Port CS, they were met by a familiar figure: Barry. Barry had joined the lycan forces on Cantia as footsoldier, though he was not a lycanthrope himself. The heroes spared him in Act 5 at Fort Nelisa, and Cyrus had given him gold so he could start up a civilian life.

Turns out, he'd done exactly that! He was now the owner of a bakery in Port CS, and his signature pastry was called the "Sticky Cyrus".

Ship Fiends

The party were approached by Karl Burr (first seen Act 4) and Felix Spurius (first seen Act 1). A Lyrian Guild Society ship -- the Absolute Advantage -- anchored offshore had been overrun by fiends. The evacuating crew had alerted Karl Burr, the local Guild representative. Karl in turn alerted Felix, as the ship was transporting a magical stone tablet and a kobold called Taklak (first seen Act 2) for him. Karl wanted the situation dealt with quietly -- without the authorities asking questions. Felix wanted Taklak and the tablet saved. The heroes leapt in a longboat and rowed across.

On the way over, an imp teleported on the party's longboat! The creature was delivering a parchment to Zeke -- a contract. This, of course, made the party quite curious, but no actions were taken. Zeke would surreptitiously sign the contract while on the Absolute Advantage, while no-one was looking.

This represented the contract in-game, made with Foundry's tools.

On-board the ship, the heroes had several run-in with devils: spiked and barbed devils, a duplicitous incubus/succubus pair, and two powerful bone devils. Surkiv brought the arrogant bone devil leader down to size with incredible grappling and pinning moves, holding the fiend down while his comrades dealt with other fiends.

The party would find a cowering kobold called Bilgewurm, one of the Absolute Advantage's crew. This poor kobold was the reason for the fiends: he had activated Felix's stone tablet (similar to the spell tablet in Act 2), summoning a fiend. This fiend forced Bilgewurm to keep activating the stone, but luckily Bilgewurm managed to escape with invisibility. Unable to swim, the poor kobold just had to hide and hope for the best.

At some point, the topic of Zeke's contract would come up. It was discussed. Most of the party disapproved that Zeke had signed it, but did not take any action. Garo quite strongly disapproved.

Ultimately, the ship was cleared. Taklak, Bilgewurm, and the tablet were recovered. Garo was not happy that the tablet was going to be studied, rather than destroyed, but Felix assured him that the local Imperial College campus had a very secure anti-magic lock-up for such things.

College Fiends

Despite being a small fishing town, Port CS had a large Imperial College campus. The wizards there enjoyed the relative isolation. Trystan was an accomplished student there.

A cambion named Laila enacted a plan to steal from the college. She wanted the fiend-summoning stone from the Absolute Advantage. She also kidnapped the college's fiend expert, Archmage Spellwatch. She used Zeke's contract to allow succubi and incubi to access the vicinity of Port CS. From there, these cunning creatures infiltrated the college and charmed or impersonated the staff.

But there was a problem: the vault where the stone was kept was protected with anti-magic to suppress any magic items kept there. Charmed agents would be un-charmed in such a field, magical disguises would cease, and her succubi and incubi allies were not powerful enough to defeat the golems that guarded the vault. So, she decided to send a charmed Felix, and then later a charmed Trystan, to lie to the heroes and have them dispatch the golems.

Laila's plans didn't work, though. The heroes managed to undo the charm on both Felix and Trystan. They proceeded to free the staff and students from charms, rooting out the fiends in their midst. The heroes suffered a lot of weird magic thrown at them by charmed and confused students and staff. At one point, Flutter separated from the group and had to fend off multiple fiends alone long enough for help to arrive, making good use of the sunbeam spell.

I made a macro in Foundry to randomly select spells. I figured students at the college would not necessarily have prepared spells for combat, but rather would have prepared strange spells related to their studies.

A final confrontation happened in the basement of the college. Laila, it turned out, was Zeke's cousin (though a distant one)! She entreated Zeke to join her so they could remake their ancestral homeland of Laconia together!

Zeke refused, a battle ensued. Efforts were made to capture Laila, but she slipped free using fiendish powers of teleportation, taking Archmage Spellwatch with her. The fight with Laila's remaining minions was a hard one, but the party managed to win out.

Burt Cobb

While attending to other matters on the island, the party would sometimes run into an older human male called Burt Cobb. Burt was guiding a group of refugee orphans who had fled the war on Cantia. He taught them to fish and generally survive.

Cobb was a devout follower of Pelor, and spoke about religion to Garo.

Museum

The heroes pursued a lead regarding Strabo, and found he had contracted a local taxidermist to preserve some dragonborn corpses. She was kind enough to draw a sketch of the person Strabo sent to do the transaction.

Using scrying magic purchased from the local branch of the Lyrian Guild Society, the heroes saw this man was on the western coast of Cissylvania Isle, along with a number of dwarves.

In hot pursuit, the party arrived at Foxtail Grotto. This was a location of historic importance, as the last emperor of Lyria was held hostage here in his youth. Strabo had funded a museum to be built here.

Foxtail Grotto, once a bandit hideout. The story was inspired by something that apparently happened to Julius Caesar.

The museum area was being carved out underground by the dwarves. An illusionist, Ellyjobell Timbers, was creating an illusory hologram-like recreation of the historic events at Foxtail Grotto. Another mage, Wyns Rand, had been paid to create a permanent teleportation circle at the site.

Supervising all this was Claduis Ensis, the man from the sketch. And with him was Katarina Strabo -- Garo's spurned fiance!

A very tense moment ensues. The party are very suspicious of Claudius, and he of them. Katarina and Garo, of course, share an awkward meeting.

During this, Surkiv and Zeke explore the museum. They find exhibits that enrage them both. Survik finds souvenired "prizes" from his homeland, including dragonborn eggs. Zeke sees an exhibit about his ancestors' failed rebellion, and finds tiefling skulls, including one of his grandfather.

This animosity turns into a fight with Cladius, but Katarina and Garo calm the situation down. The party leave Foxtail Grotto.

Cassia

The visit to the museum had clued the heroes in on the likelihood of dragonborn children being raised somewhere on the island of Cissylvania. Claudius, apparently, was routinely visiting these children who were being cared for by a figured called "Cassia". The heroes managed to learn from the orphans in Burt Cobb's care that a suspicious figure matching Cladius' description would head into a particular forest on the island.

And so the heroes went to this forest. Two faerie dragons -- Sunflare and Corona -- tried to confuse and disorient the party but failed, and the party arrived at Cassia's home. No-one was home so the party intruded to search for (and find) a number of clues.

Cassia did eventually return home, with a number of dragonborn children in tow. She was very hospitable, explaining she was a reluctant carer for the children. Though she loved them, she did not approve that Claudius was training them to be spies against their own kind. But she felt powerless: as a druid and hence part of the church-outlawed Tetrarchy, she was essentially a fugitive and owed her freedom to Strabo (and therefore Cladius).

Cassia's home was near Lake Nemi, a beautiful secluded body of water hiding a sunken temple. Inspired by a real place.

The Flooded Temple

Cassia mentioned that Strabo stored some items in the nearby flooded ruins of a temple. The heroes, eager to get some dirt on Strabo, set out. A naiad called Syrinx guided them, giving them water-breathing, and pleading with them to help her lost love Iphianassa.

The nereid Iphianassa was the guardian of the flooded temple, magically forced into the job by Cassia. In turn, Iphianassa had charmed a number of aquatic animals to guard the temple. The heroes prevailed, freeing Iphianassa from her duties, and allowing her to reunite with her love Syrinx. The party also found Strabo's stash, and apart from treasure and magical gear it contained a lot of contraband items from the Tetrarchy.

Betrayal and Capture

When the party returned, Cassia invited them to have a meal. This was a trap. The food was laced with a sedative-like poison. Moreover, Claudius had been called, and was able to make the distance in the time the heroes explored the sunken temple. Claudius led a small army of legionaries to Cassia's house and surrounded it. Cassia pleaded with the heroes to surrender, not wishing for them to die.

Poisoned and surrounded, the party had little ability to win. Some fled. Garo and Alexandros remained to be captured -- defiant not to leave.

Claudius accused Alexandros of war crimes, both further back assisting dragonborn against the legions, and more recently killing legionaries on the shipwrecked boat. By name-dropping the names of killed legionaries, Claduis tried to rile up the legionaries, but Garo countered with a speech on morality and justice, and no legionary volunteered to execute Alexandros. So Cladius did the deed himself, slitting Alexandros' throat and throwing his corpse off a nearby coastal cliff. The rest of the party watched on in horror from the tree-line.

(Alexandros' player was okay with this, as the player wanted to change from Alexandros to Trystan. Alexandros' corpse would be fished from the bottom of the cliff at an early, safe, opportunity by Zeke.)

Animal Form

The heroes would later return to Cassia's home, for reasons explained in the next section.

Cassia was devastated when her dragonborn "children" were taken away. As a powerful druid, her sadness bled into the forest around her home, turning it dark and unwelcoming. The party had to battle a malevolent fey entity called The Spirit of Lake Nemi to proceed through the forest.

The heroes arrived at Cassia's home. Corona and Sunflare sought to keep the heroes away from Cassia, and used a one-charge wand of mass polymorph to turn the heroes into small animals. Undeterred, the party worked together in their new forms to conquer the obstacles and animal guardians in Cassia's home.

I had made several stat blocks for the occasion. Stewart the cat, Bertie the snake, Cherry the crow, and Vincent the (relatively) giant crab. These were past pets of Cassia's that the faerie dragons had known. The players had to work together as these animals to navigate the "dungeon" of Cassia's home and battle some of the animals inside.

The heroes would confront the faerie dragons and break Corona's concentration to undo the polymorph. From there, they made a dark discovery: Cassia, alone in her bedroom, was dying! She had tried to take her life with a herbal poison. The heroes, working fast, cured her.

Cassia and the heroes were both victims of Magnus Strabo. The heroes convinced Cassia to help them (see more below).

Strabo's Arrival

Things were heating up in Port CS. Garo was taken prisoner for killing Strabo's legionaries. But Garo had sent for help prior, and it arrived. Not a charging brigade of mounted crusaders, but rather, a Pelorite priest named Vincent Pearson.

Meanwhile, Surkiv had decided to leave. Paying to be smuggled out by sea with the unbroken eggs from the museum, he left in the early morning.

Three large transport ships loom out of the mist. Your little boat's pilot mutters to himself as he wrenches the rudder to keep clear. Taking care to stay under the canvas, you watch the middle vessel sail past. Standing near the ship's fore is a Lyrian officer. You've seen him before, leading the forces which attacked your homeland. Stocky, balding, but still severe in his uniform. His cold gaze is directed forward, but as you pass he turns to glace at your ship. You can swear he is looking right at you, despite the distance.

Magnus Strabo had arrived at Port CS with a large number of his Second Legion troops. The heroes' investigations and interferences had given cause for the general to come sort matters out first-hand.

It was impossible to keep this from the public eye, and the eye of Port CS officials. Legal accusations were being flung both ways, essentially boiling down to Garo versus Strabo. A court date was arranged. Pearson arranged for Garo's freedom, confident that Garo was not the type to run.

Felix, who had once represented the heroes in court before (see Act 3), could not guarantee his presence. Instead he managed to get Trystan Valerius, an accomplished student at the Port CS Imperial College, to be Garo's legal representative. So began a rush for evidence and witnesses (including Cassia, as mentioned above).

Trystan and Garo had a tense meeting with Strabo in the general's war camp just outside of Port CS. It was mostly a psychological clash, each side trying to goad and rattle the other, with neither succeeding. Strabo made his disdain clear: Garo's meddling had endangered the Lyrian Republic by distracting him from his war against the lycanthrope rebels. He also expressed his dislike for the dragonborn, and wondered why Garo should champion their cause.

Some of Strabo's men had contracted lycanthropy in the battle against the rebels, and he used these men in a suicide attack on the heroes. The heroes defeated the werewolves, and spared their lives, managing to cure them with one of the Umbralenses. They were so grateful they became witnesses on the heroes' side.

Court Case

The date of the case arrived. It was a big event, the town's small temple to Minerva was packed. The local priestess acted as judge. Both sides were given access to a quota of zone of truth spell usages.

Garo takes the stand as Trystan's witness.

Strabo was represented by Aemilius Lepidus, one of his top captains. Lepuidus tried to defuse claims that Strabo was involved in an illegal war against the dragonborn by producing official orders from the Lyrian Senate. He also cited laws around prisoners of war, intelligence gathering, and other such activities.

Lepidus's next tactic was to paint a picture of Garo being an obsessed individual, hounding Strabo over minor things. He called upon Karatina Strabo, and asked questions about their failed engagement and subsequent fall from prestige. Lepidus insinuated that Garo's obsession was fuelled by a desire to see revenge upon the Strabo name.

Cladius then testified, quoting Garo's determination to bring Strabo to justice, painting those comments as obsession and fixation devoid of presumption of innocence. Cladius alleged that Garo wanted to besmirch Strabo's reputation by any means to force a legal clash.

Lepidus called Ezekial to testify invoking the zone of truth. As a known ally of Garo, Zeke's tiefling heritage and family history were used to suggest that his feelings are motivated by revenge.

Finally, Garo was called to the stand, zone of truth invoked again. Garo was forced to admit he was given no official orders to pursue Strabo, and that he had done so on his own accord. It was insinuated that this was a trivial folly, at worst a minor matter, hardly worthy of a crusader's time; all this fortifying the case that Garo was motivated by revenge.

Trystan counter-examined each of these witnesses, and when it was his turn to call, brought in a number of witnesses and submitted considerable evidence. Trystan's strategy was to paint Strabo was clearly involved with some Tetrarchy materials and affairs, which apart from being illegal were highly damaging to his reputation. If Strabo was to leave the court with a mild penalty, his battered reputation would at least mean he was stripped of rank.

(As a DM, I have notes about Lepidus' actions, and only memories about Trystans. Hopefully that explains the disparity in details.)

It was a fierce contest, but as Trystan got going, his strategy gave him bonuses in the dice-rolling mini-game that represented the court's opinion. Magnus Strabo's case fell apart as he himself took the stand under a zone of truth.

Strabo, furious as opinion turned against him, launched into a tirade that only worsened this.

"You crusaders hunt demons and undead and pat yourselves on the back for a job well done. Good for you. But do you have any idea what real war is? Have you battled the sharp teeth of a dragonborn, or the hulking mass of an orc? Have you seen hordes of them, serried arrays howling for your blood? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. I am the thin steel line that keeps these threats from the doorsteps of your churches and homes. As Naso once said, 'let them hate us as long as they fear us.'"

He gave Katarina Strabo a meaningful look. She cast a spell (word of recall) and she disappeared along with her father and his legal team.

Strabo's Coup

Moments after this disappearance, horns began to sound. Garo looked to the priestess acting as judge. She confirmed: Strabo was now an enemy of the state to be captured. The heroes sprung into action. Stepping outside, they saw that Strabo's men were launching an assault on the town!

First concern: one of Strabo's naval destroyers had flung a burning trebuchet shot at the temple! Zeke, with Flutter's help, managed to fling a fireball to deflect the shot enough to miss the building, giving enough time for everyone to get outside.

Legionaries assaulted the temple grounds, and the heroes fought to hold them back long enough for everyone at the court case to get away.

Elsewhere, the town was under strong attack. The heroes made a plan, and tackled each of the front-lines, moving as a group from one location to the next.

First they went to the harbour. Venturing to the end of the pier, Flutter used reverse gravity on the naval destroyer. It rose in the air, turning about listlessly. Flutter mercifully waited for the crew to swim away, then released the spell, causing the vessel to crash down and break. Strabo's forces lost their artillery.

Next they went to the town square. Port CS had a small garrison of elite troops, and a number of border guard, and these forces were -- for the moment -- holding back Strabo's troops in the choke-holds of the city streets. The heroes dove into the fray, helping even the odds, and allowing the local troops time to retreat and regroup. Meanwhile, Trystan summoned a magnificent mansion in the middle of the town square into which many of the town's civilians could seek shelter.

After a quick detour to help Felix, and the party headed to the town's small castle. Strabo had entered into the keep through a hole earlier punched in the outer wall by the destroyer. Local troops tried to re-take their keep, clashing with Strabo's at the front gate. That distraction allowed the heroes to mostly (but not entirely) enter without opposition.

They arrived at the Aediles' chamber. Strabo was sitting in one of the chairs normally occupied by the ruling Aediles. One of the Aediles was hurt and unconscious on the chamber floor. With Strabo was Katarina, Wyns Rand, Lepidus, and a number of soldiers.

Strabo offered a truce. He would claim that the town was set upon by lycanthropy, killing anyone in a position to disagree. In return, the heroes would stand down.

Strabo: "Come in. Let them in. There's been enough violence today. Clearly I've won. I'm not a heartless man. Why don't we hammer out an agreement? We'll go along with my story. That this town had been infiltrated by lycanthropes. I get the two Aediles, Salvius and son, and the judge at the temple here. You can go by boat or teleporter, after staying as my guest for a while to ensure you don't cause further trouble. Oh, and I want that sword. I won it fair and square. Katarina: "Garo. I made him promise to let you live. Father's right, there's been enough death today."

Of course, the heroes did not agree.

Combat broke out. The hectic fight saw some cross-interference, but largely the battle consisted of a few smaller battles or duels. Clever Clover duelled with, and defeated, Aemilius Lepidus; who died ever the loyal right-hand man to Strabo. Katarina mostly flung supporting spells, not wishing to commit to more deadly combat.

Garo shines with a powerful holy spell as the rest of the party battle around the chamber.

Flutter and Trystan had to first deal with Wyns Rand, who used his favourite tactic of casting greater invisibility and throwing high-level spells with impunity. They eventually managed to corner him, frying him with a lightning bolt. The pair also held back reinforcements from the castle, flooding the main entrance with nasty magic and dealing with those soldiers who entered via other ways.

There was a moment where Flutter used a scroll of mass polymorph to turn many of the foes into creatures. Flutter's mind must have been remembering the underwater temple, because he chose to turn them into something he'd seen there: horse-sized giant pistol shrimp. This threw the room into chaos for a while but had limited long-term effect between Katarina's dispel magic and the fact that the shrimps reverted after enough damage was dealt to them.

It was a glorious fight. Strabo's "gimmick" wasn't that he was a raw powerhouse of a boss. Rather, his wide range of abilities was meant to reflect a highly strategic thinker and master swordsman. I couldn't have done all those Recharges without Foundry to help! (All of those "strikes" could replace any of his four attacks. I know it was wrong of me to put them in the Actions area, but hey, until now no-one but me has seen this NPC sheet.)

Zeke and Garo fought Strabo. Claudius joined into this localised fight, springing from his hidden location. This was a tough battle, especially against Strabo whose attacks were debilitating.

"Was that your father who was stupid enough to seek me out on the plains of Skala? He thought a general a soft target. Even decades on I will show you just as I showed him, I can carry myself in a fight."

In the end, Ezekial managed to strike a killing blow on Claudius, knocking him out a second-story window in the process, avenging Alexandros' death. Strabo was struck down by Garo; there were thoughts to heal him but Katarina pleaded that he be allowed to die.

What officers remained in Strabo's army did not have the dedication to carry on this fight without their leader, and stood down.

The heroes had saved Port Cissylvania. Strabo's attack only cemented his nature as a villain that the court case already had exposed. The heroes were lauded, and would have a monument built to them in the town square.

Four bas reliefs are carved, each into a face of a square fountain-base in the town's main street. The designs are artful, and depict a scene's events more than any sort of realistic perspective or proportions. The work is richly detailed and features a consistent and clear style. The first image depicts the interior of the Temple of Minerva when it was used to hold Magnus Strabo's trial. Central to the scene are Trystan and Strabo. Trystan extends a hand with pointed index finger, while Strabo glowers back, resting his hand on the pommel of his sword. Around each main figure are their supporting posse, and the artist has included Ezekial, Garo, Flutter, Vincent Pearson, Katarina Strabo, and Aemilius Lepidus. A concerned judge and crowd fill out the image. The second image depicts a crowded town street. On the image's left, Second Legion soldiers clash with Evocati and Limitanei. Ezekial and Flutter support the defenders by blasting Second Legion soldiers with magic. On the image's right, an opulent tower is shown, and Trystan guides fleeing civilians inside. Garo helps carried an injured civilian toward the tower. The third image contains an image of a boat suspended above the water. Sailors fall from the boat. The artist has drawn the tilting boat firing a flaming catapult projectile to the right of the image, where Ezekial Zarken is shown blasting it with magic. To the image's left, Flutter raises his feathered arms toward the levitating boat. The final image depicts the Aedile's chambers within Fort CS. In the centre, Ezekial duels with Magnus Strabo. Garo stands behind Ezekial, glowing with holy light, weapon raised. Katarina stands mirroring this position, posture and illumination behind her father. On the image's right, Trystan whips Aemilius Lepidus, who raises a shield in defence. On the image's left, Flutter holds a Second Legion centurion and several soldiers at away from the slumped form of Aedile Daetris Meliscient with blasts of magic. Hidden away in the corner, under one of the chamber's thrones, is a pistol shrimp.

Fisherman's Festival

The upcoming Fisherman's Festival in Port CS was given extra importance this year as the town celebrated not being destroyed by Strabo. The heroes, of course, were the main celebrities.

There were some pieces to pick up before the heroes could celebrate...

The heroes would examine Cladius' body. He had a curious hidden magical tattoo, and other strange magics about him.

Alexandros, whose body had been recovered prior, was restored to life by Garo's holy magic.

Ezekial's dreams now included Claudius Ensis battling with his ancestors. Zeke theorised that the soul of Claudius was also "inside" the sword now, fitting with its behaviours in the past. This was troubling.

Cassia, who had been held in a cell due to her Tetrarchy links, had been tormented by Claudius after Strabo's forces had taken the keep. In an effort to extract information, Claudius had tortured and killed the faerie dragon Corona. Cassia left Sunflare with Flutter (becoming his familiar), and she and Alexandros took the dragonborn children and ventured by boat to catch up with Surkiv.

Strabo's funeral pyre.

Strabo's funeral was held, and many made the trip to be present, including those harmed by him such as the now-Queen Bellicent. The queen's torc had helped her hold her people together against Strabo's invasion and the aftermath of the war. Katarina spoke as his body was cremated, mentioning his impressive military career, his patriotism, but also his darker side: in battling monsters, he became as relentless as one.

This chapter comes to a close with the heroes enjoying the festival games and dancing. Ziffy (first seen Act 7) arrived from the Feywild to spend some time with Zeke. We see Flutter and Garo slowly turning around the dance floor, with the short kenku standing on the crusader's armoured boots.

The Battle Atop Arcadion's Ladder

I'll squeeze one last thing in that happened during the wrap-up period. The heroes used legend lore to learn more about Ezekial's sword Asurath.

The heroes saw an epic battle from times long past. Mortals had risen up against the fiendish tyrant Arcadion; an alliance of tieflings, elves, Cuthbertine crusaders, and others. A band of mighty heroes ascended a mountain-side staircase to battle Arcadion at the peak as a battle raged below.

(The players took the roles of these level 20 heroes. They were given pre-made characters, but could pick prepared spells as they battled. They also had secret orders, which would come into play later.)

The mighty heroes were led by the tiefling Ezekial Charillos. With him was a winter eladrin called Zephyra, a previous student of Lady Xilo with powers similar to Cyrus (first seen Act 1); a Cuthbertine crusader who looked a lot like Burt Cobb; and a druid whose name has been lost to time.

At the start of this scene, the heroes witnessed the sword Asurath being gifted to Ezekial by the drow blacksmith Celle Brimbor. The necromancer Cazna (first seen Act 5) was present an ally: her undead army kept the fiend reinforcements off the heroes' back so they could confront Arcadion without distraction.

It's at that moment that a drow pushes through Cazna's little army. She rushes up to Ezekial, a sheathed sword in hand. "I got here… in time…" she puffs. "It's here. It's ready. Asurath." She presents it to Ezekial. "A blade forged from three sources. Carburised ironwood from the Outrunner's oldest grove, near-impervious but still growing. The zinc-heavy metal of their own soul-snaring blades, to keep them from rebirth. And wrought iron from the Shadowfell, to render those trapped within despondent and calm. You must land the killing blow on Arcadion with this."

Arcadion summons a barrier, thinking he has trapped Ezekial. But the plucky tiefling replies "I'm not trapped in here with you. You're trapped in here with me!"

Eventually the heroes defeat Arcadion, and seal him within the sword Asurath.

But then those secret orders kick in. Arnus demands Ezekial hand over Asurath, claiming it is too dangerous and must be cleansed by holy magic. Zephyra, seeking to disrupt Asurath, plays the role of "referee" to this argument and tricks the pair into taking the sword, shattering it to pieces with her chaotic magic. Arnus scrambles to pick up two of the pieces before magically teleporting away. (This became in-game history, and will come into play in later acts!)