#terrorizing npcs together? it’s a date

[coylesboytoy-moved]

Every time I encounter another player in WD2, we immediately resort to trying to impress each other with emotes and hacking everything and causing mayhem together.

[heykayhayes]

More TTRPG characters! Yep, another TTRPG to turn you onto- this one is called, “A Modern Prometheus” (I bought it for $10 on itch.io !) + It’s a two-player game where one of you plays a Scientist, the other plays the Scientist’s creation, and you take turns roleplaying NPCs as needed while working through story prompts together!  My fiancé played Corvus Rally (the scientist), who I described to her upon waking as Ayla Rally (the creation), who she described to me as she laid eyes on me for the first time, stirring to life on the slab. Our story was pretty sad- Corvus was trying to bring his baby sister back from the dead after she accidentally got into some of his chemicals and tragically passed on. He’d stop at nothing, including the concern of his on-again-off-again boyfriend, Barnabas Darbas, who was our favorite NPC from the game and who just wanted to see Corvus forgive himself for what happened and stop insisting on blaming himself. And maybe show up to tea on time here and again.  Ayla’s supernatural ability (or curse, depending on how you look at it, lol) was that her big emotions/ upset caused her to grow more monstrous and taller in height. She got AOT-sized by the end of it and terrorized the town, her restlessness spurned by her inability to recognize herself as the little girl she remembered being, once. When Corvus insisted that he could “still see Ayla” for who she was, Ayla took her brother’s eyes, thinking that might be the solution. She didn’t make it, in the end, and Corvus and Barnabas were certainly worse for ware...but at least they have a trauma-bond for life! We love them a lot. We called our playthrough “Blindsight.” Anyway, it’s great for Frankenstein lovers and a fun date night idea!! Highly recommend! 

[denialintheriver]

Twisted wonderland

Art!

°•_That new Halloween character (Halloween). 1 2 3 4

+idia new SR 2

°•_Large dog jade floyd

°•_jade and rook

°•_savannacraw!!

Meme!

Ace swear on his friends soul that he aren't gay

Sally shake hands

Incorrect quote!

1

Normal fanfiction

Yuu X Jamil

°•>A Confession Through Written Words

°•>Taking an interest in their Mer!Forms

°•>biting to see if they taste like eel / octopus

°•> treating injuries

°•>Late Night Lullabies

°•> Maria.. Maria ( rollo X YUU)

°•>hiding things in their room

°•>Here comes the Bridesmaid

°•>A kiss for the victory!

°•> idia interesting hair

°•> 5 Love Languages

°•> Magicam Fiasco

°•>But... We Lost...

°•> Snuggles for hire!

°•>Passionate Hearts

°•> sleeping headCanon

°•> how they sleep with you

°•_ Skully dating headCanon

°•_Yuu/MC had NPC friends

°•_"Interview" With NRC Students

°•>Malleus and Floyd are jealous

°•_FIRST-YEARS ─ as school romances

°•_ Accidentally calling the NRC Staffs ‘dad’

°•_Squishes cheeks

°•_ there is only 1 bed..

°•_ Only 1 beds with the SDC

°•_Attractive things they do

°•_ Someone broke in?!

°•_ It's Free real Estate!

°•_ Pampered Prefect

°•_ Impromptu Q &A

°•_ time for a break

°•_ Sharing a Bed

°•_Onesie Party

°•_Affection

°•_ first kiss

°•_Silly chenya

°•_ Cliche Trope

°•_Mistext Confession

°•_love letter. from RSA

°•_Play Fighting With Ruggie

°•_ Reaction to a " I love you "

°•_ reacting to a MC who wear their outfits and copy their personality etc..

°•_ Non - human Courting Rituals

°•_:how do they get their s/o to blush, how does their s/o make them blush

°•> Instinctual Reaction to you slipping and falling on top

°•>Instincstual Reaction: An NPC gave you his number

°•>Instinctive Reaction: Matching rings!

°•> Instinctual Reaction: Tackling Idia to save him from a flying frisbee

°•>Broom Flying Tutoring ----Potionology Tutoring

°•>Yuu Admirer Club!

°•>The Mother in Law

°•> kissing their forehead (full)

°•>♡Forehead Kisses! Second! Third!

°•> falling asleep in their room! Second! Third!

°•_ S.O.S

°•> Snuggles for hire

°•>Overblot Gang (Hanahaki)

°•> MC who unknowingly flirt

°•> Pomefiore female uniform

°•>How they react when you get sick

°•>The Legend of the Prefect of NRC

°•> The Prefect's routine

°•>Love Gauge

°•>hiding behind their hat when they kiss you

°•>They guy makes cute edits of you together

°•> Leona make you sleep behind him so he can sleep in class

Yandere Fanfiction

Yandere Skully J Halloween headCanon

Yandere Vil x Darling x Yandere Trey

Random Yandere Malleus Draconia headcanons

Yandere type

terror in threes.

eye of the storm.

Twst characters yandere potential

~YandereReverse Au's~

Masterlist

Undercover MC

Every type of yandere

What if yuu have anger issues

most craziest yandere(s)?

[1-50thofabuck]

Need feedback for first release/minor updates

It's not what was planned as a "first release," but it seemed like the easiest adventure I've written to rework quickly into a publishable form. Of course, it took a lot longer as I kept finding things to alter or ideas to add! I need commentators and proofreaders. Any help you're willing to offer will get your name on the front page as a thanks. The module will be released for free once finalized. Anyone interested in reading through and offering suggestions, fixes, and so forth? Let me know! I'll send you a PDF or a link to a Google doc, your choice! So, please let me know if you'd like to check this out! Anything you want to help with or "contribute" will be appreciated!

A synopsis: a cavern and mine dating to prehistoric times, reputed to be haunted by a banshee, has led to death and suffering each time anyone has attempted to reclaim it. Now, goat-headed fomorians and other horrors are flocking to it to serve the dark being that has revealed itself. As their numbers swell, aided by a spying bandit cultist and his unwitting accomplices from town, the number and power of monsters in the area has increased, ruining trade and travel, yet due to a calamity in a nearby town, the influx of needy individuals has continued. This unfortunate situation is made the more sorrowful for the many desperate refugees that have been lost to the vicious creatures whose frequency and strength have grown. As if all this is not enough, the falling of a star has unleashed a terror from beyond. Trade, travel, and pilgrimages have been all but cut off; economic disaster looms as the number of needy continue to increase; cultists set traps, goblin tribes kidnap and enslave, something that fell from the sky devours all in its path, and all the while, fomorians gather together and plan for a war to retake the land that was once theirs.

In other news, I completed half of an "All the World's Monsters" readthrough entry, but gave it a rest to work on the adventure module I'm previewing here! Also because it was getting a bit frustrating as it became increasingly more difficult to review some of the atrocities in that book without being overly negative(they get real dumb, with about 10 "alignment: hungries" in a row!). Aside from that, since the posts I make here are a mixture of materials and general posts, I'm going to add an index to the website of the posts here that are actually relevant such as adventures, monsters, NPCs, graphics or anything else potentially useful for a GM, as opposed to the ones about kickstarters or whatnot. I'll index readthroughs there as well.

[time-to-write-and-suffer]

B3 was so badly planned out and written, when i think of b1 i think of the patrols the introductions and obviously Murphy, b2 being the apartment nd the drive to the carnaval and b3... ? I just think of the poorly written nd quite disrespectful plot of 'human trafficking but make it nice xxxx'. Mishka could have easily made it more respectful by actually writing it properly and not making it seem aesthetic. The whole book was messy and why was the blood drive basically the biggest issue in the book? The detective could easily avoid it, allowing for more space nd focus on the 'Bad guy'. It just felt very rushed. Do you think that the plot should have been altered so it makes more sense and make it more memorable or just scrapped altogether?

Coupling this with a similar ask:

Not to bring back twc3 but like I'm pissed that people are like "Well Book 1 had a dark topic too!" Like yes it did but we actually spend most of the time investigating and it was treated as serious situation you weren't out there having dates and shit while in book 3 up to 40 people got kidnapped and MC had like a few scenes were they were actually concerned for the victims and then we went back to having dates, flirting with you LI and getting drunk...It also seems that the public wasn't aware that people (They just thought it was the kid) were going missing?? And we didn't do anything solve the kidnappings? We just went to a party and that's it. How are people not seeing the difference??.

The thing that people don't get about the human trafficking vs kidnapping thing is that the detective, and by extension we, the player, are allowed to linger in the trauma of the detective getting kidnapped, and we also see the effect the murders have on the town and the people in Wayhaven. The PC is visibly traumatized by it, the town is terrified, and book 2 opens with a nightmare about what happened in book 1. Because yes, it is a traumatic event, and it was allowed to have the weight such an event would have in someoen's life.

Book 3 offers no such weight to the human trafficking subplot. It tries, but it fails in that it 1) centers the detective's feelings of guilt instead of the terror of what's happening and how it's affecting the VERY SMALL, INSULAR TOWN 2) said guilt doesn't translate because we're never allowed to actually see the effect the kidnappings are having on the actual people of Wayhaven. The guilt is always self-inflicted in a really boring, "heroic" way where the detective blames themself but nobody else does, beause we're never given any reason to believe the detective could've stopped anything cuz it's all off-screen. In book 1, the guilt feels earned, because people are dying on the detective's watch, while they're in charge of finding the killer, and we see the consequences of them failing (grieving parents, scared locals etc). Here, it's like "Oh ok ... I guess 40 people got got and this is my fault somehow? And nobody else is reacting at all or trying to do anything? How is this just on me at this point? I'm not in charge of the whole town of Wayhaven."

We're aware of things being bad on principle, but we're never actually shown it. Once the cutesy RO scenes and the blood drive nonsense comes back, it's all mostly forgotten.

If M!shka tries to make the detective seem traumatized from the events of book 3 in book 4, I will laugh, because it would be a huge copout. As previously stated, the most of the emotional impact on the detective from the human trafficking subplot comes at the expense of an unnamed NPC who they never interact with again, and this "emotional impact" is mainly used to get the PC and their RO into the shower together for some cheap Angst. Murphy felt like he had a tangible effect on the detective as a character, regardless of their RO's reaction. There was a perfect opportunity to have Addie be the main driving force behind the detective's actions, but she's completely forgotten and instead replaced by a different, unnamed victim that never gets another mention.

Which brings me to how I'd fix this, because I don't think it's unfixable: Sin attempts to kidnap Addie but fails for one reason or another. Have the detective meet Addie and her parents. Maybe have the parents ask the Agency to protect Addie, and she's put under UB and the detective's personal protection. The parents force the detective to promise to keep her safe. Have Addie form a personal connection to the detective, whatever it may be. Give the victims a face. It's a little kid, for god's sake! The easiest thing to sympathize with and adopt, you had it in your hands and you wasted it.

Anyway, then, let the parents get kidnapped in order to pull Addie and the detective closer to the main event. Maybe even have Sin attempt to kidnap Addie again, but settling for her parents when UB and the detective interfere, so you can have that interaction of Sin being remoreseful and the detective trying to understand his actions. Then, dealing with Addie's fear and how the detective handles a scared, sad child would be perfect character development, and that's before you include the squee-worthy pseudo-parental RO interactions that people love. And finally, Addie gets kidnapped, and that's what kicks off the climax. Throughout this, you can also remind the player that the detective gave her parents a promise to protect her, and that's what haunts them and makes them feel personally responsible when they fail.

This way, the "main" plot is a quiet story about protecting a kid, with plenty of setup for interactions with the ROs (and a good reason for the detective to move into the warehouse, as a bonus), while it's also explicitly connected to the larger plot affecting the town, and you're given a much more tangible, personal reason to want to stop these kidnappings aside from "kidnapping bad," because you don't want more miserable, traumatized Addies in Wayhaven, and your detective made an actual promise to keep her safe and presumably wants to keep said promise.

It's all right there. That's what's so frustrating about book 3. We could've had it aaaaa-aaall.

[floofsselfshipblog]

Got Stardew Valley on the brain so have Floof and his Bliss Ocean family playing together

Floof-

Keeping the farm in check

He likes taking care of the animals, he bought a lot of ducks cause he loves them

Also probably was the main contributor to fixing up the community center

He and Yoomtah know the most about the game so they freaked everyone out with the Easter eggs within the game

Zora-

Terrorizes the NPCs

Handles a lot of upgrading farm buildings

Also likes the ducks and her mind got blown when Floof showed her they swim in water

She also likes goats

Second player to get the horse (Yoomtah was the first)

Moot-

She does not have time for games so she plays on the save file the least

When she does play it’s always with someone else

Probably did a lot of the fetch quests

Also mines

Mostly watches Floof play then play herself

Yoomtah-

Speedruns this game on the regular

JelloApocalypse said she made a mod to kill Clint and I am taking that as canon

Plays it the most with Floof

Floof also watches her do speedruns

Knows a ton of exploits and duplicated a prismatic shard the second she got one

Dated all the bachelors and bachelorettes

[chibi-kingdom]

Month Summary: May 2024

May 1st - Costume Contest: Halfoween

May 9th - New feature: Arcade debuts

May 11th - Town Loot: Candied Candies

May 11th - Arcade update: prizes rebalanced

May 16th - Arcade update: Summonable NPCs

May 18th - Costume Contest: Casino

May 24th - New Map: Skull Cave Interior

May 24th - New Gacha: Sweet Honey

May 30th - Arcade update: Game Hour / Game Night

We had an exciting and productive May in Chibi Kingdom! We put more hours into Chibi Kingdom in a single month than ever before!

After many months of behind the scenes efforts, we released our first ever Arcade game on May 9th! It proved highly stable and reliable from day one, a huge success for Chibi Kingdom's future! We played it too safe and were overly conservative with the prizes awarded by the Arcade on its initial release, but we wised up and realized our mistake pretty quickly, performing multiple adjustments to the prize formulas over the following week.

A week after the Arcade was released, on May 16th, we updated it with Summonable NPCs! Players could now summon NPCs to their lobbies in order to play solo or to spice up games with their friends. This turned out to be a very popular feature, with many players choosing to enter into the ring with our six NPC characters for Arcade glory.

Two weeks later, we updated the Arcade again, this time launching Game Hour and Game Night. These event hours are intended to help players meet up and play together at specified times, enjoy some variety in scenery in the Arcade, and earn a little extra TC at the same time.

Beyond the Arcade, we had many other exciting events and achievements in May! We released our fourth 2024 Gacha, Sweet Honey on May 24th! Knight and I felt it was too good to end anytime soon, so we gave it an "undetermined" end date for now. Our Kingdom is now buzzing with bees, which makes Knight, an avid bee lover, quite happy!

A month in Chibi Kingdom isn't complete without new loots! We released our Candied Candies loot event on May 11th, just two days after launching the Arcade. Candied Balloons, Candied Jelly Beans, and Candied Chocolate Covered Hearts joined our growing trove of sugary items!

We also ran two separate Costume Contests in May. First a Halfoween Costume Contest on May 1st, and then a Casino Costume Contest on May 18th. We really enjoy Costume Contests, and have intentions to make them a bigger feature in Chibi Kingdom's future. Ease of entry (and operation) will be where we focus our efforts when writing an official Costume Contest feature. We're sure many more players would like to participate, but having to take, upload, and bbcode screenshots is understandably tedious.

Last, but not least, we expanded Chibi Kingdom's explorable terrain with a new map! Knight's Skull Cave Interior opened for public visitation on May 24th! A cozy and secluded dwelling, complete with soft night time glows... and a pit of terror. Knight has expansion plans for his cave's future, but I think he should give me my house first! As a result of the Skull Cave Interior's curvy edges, I decided it was time to upgrade some of our map code. Our old boundary logic, creating borders manually, line by line, was much too tedious for such maps. Instead, I wrote logic to support much more sophisticated boundaries and map interactions... which will be very useful for future features, such as Fishing!

Our May was full of excitement, stress, and adventure! We hope yours was a blast, and perhaps a tad less stressful haha

We intend to keep up this pace of rapid development and laser focus as we strive to build Chibi Kingdom into the joyous world we know it can be! In June, we aim to perform a few more upgrades to the Arcade, then switch gears to general website cleanup and improvements as we prepare to advertise Chibi Kingdom and recruit new players to share our growing world with! Fingers crossed, we can't wait to see what we've achieved at the end of the month!

Thank you all for your tremendous support and encouragement! We're so grateful to have such kind, fun, and supportive players. We appreciate you all so much!

Sincerely, The Chibi Kingdom Team

[resmyx]

How is it than I can casually write 3k words about something that scares me, but I struggle to write 1k words for something that I really, really love?

The DnD game I'm running has a party of chaotic dangerous characters. If I'm not careful, they'll totally kill good people and destroy innocent villages because they think it'll further their goals. The characters all say they want to setup democracy and freedom... Meanwhile they're oblivious that most of their authority comes from the fear and terror they've spread. They're accidentally building a fantasy fascist USA.

I can write 2000-5000 words like it's no big deal when it's a letter from an NPC to my DnD party. Most people that my party "trusts" to keep them up to date on world events... They keep secrets and lie because the truth might lead to death and destruction. Honestly, I'm pretty scared during the writing process.

When I try to write just for fun, it's damn hard. I really badly want to start my novel and share this lovely world I've put together with you sweet people on Tumblr... but heck, it's hard to get into the right headspace I guess?

[local-pokesimp]

A Pokemon Masters self aware AU seems like a really fun concept to explore. Like, they know that they're in a gacha game, they know the player (which is you), is not the person they interact with in events and Sync Pair Stories (Scottie/Bettie). They're just your avatar, a stand in for you. They know which Sync Pairs you want and don't want. They know who your faves are and which ones you dislike.

Now what if we lean into yandere territory a bit... Take it as platonic or romantic, depends on the character.

So yeah, they know who your faves are. The ones that you really want when you scout them. And your faves know that you really like them so, that it just fuels their ego. They like it when you set them to appear more in the Pokemon center. They're always ready to greet you when you log in to the game. Not so much when another character does tho, as they watch from the sidelines. Don't worry, they'll give you a present like Skip Tickets or some Sync Orbs to make it up to you! They know that you need these items to level up your Sync Pairs. They also like chatting with you in the Pokemon center, they're just really bummed out that their dialogue is limited to the ones that are programmed in the game. They'll change that, at some point. They'll get to talk to you about things that aren't in their program.

If your fave hasn't come home to you yet, especially if they can only be obtained through an event, they just sulk in the Dex behind their dimmed frame, wanting to be added to the general pool so they could finally come to you. Heck, they even wish they were just handed out for free. Imagine their excitement if their event is rerun! Oh, they'd do anything to come home to you in the first multi pull, have some duplicates with them so you don't have to waste the gems you worked so hard for. It would make them so happy if you maxed out their level cap and raised them to Lv. 140 as soon as you got them, enhance their Sync Grid, and even unlocking their EX style and their battle theme. They're just so thrilled that you like them so much that you'd waste no time making them one of your strongest pairs.

They get really sulky if they don't make it to you though. They really want to come home to you, they really do, but navigating through the system and the drop rates really isn't that easy. It makes them feel even worse if you've already spent all your gems for them, and their banner is already ending. They'd feel really bad if you got them through the pity pull, because they made you sad. But they're also happy that they're with you now, and they're sure that you are too.

They love you a whole lot! You bet that they'd perform their best during battles and would do anything to clear that stage for you. Your frustration in being unable to beat a level is shared by them. They didn't want to let you down, but don't worry, they'll try their best next time!

They think it's like some sort of date when you read their Sync Pair Stories, just you and them spending the day together. Oh, and imagine their excitement when the Trainer Lodge is about to release. They'd be even more happy to spend time with you, since it actually is a date now.

If your fave is unfortunately stuck in NPC hell, then they're just sulking in the back of the files, grumbling in frustration. They know you are too, since they've heard you say so when they made their debut. They want out of NPC jail, they want to be yours. And Arceus be damned, they will come home to you once they become scoutable. Maybe even terrorize the 3* pairs that are in their pool that have a higher drop rate just so they could show up.

[agentsterling]

SHIELD Karaoke Night - Revisited [Round 2]

[It’s that time again, ladies and gentlemen! SHIELD KARAOKE NIGHT! Let’s party like it’s 2012!]

Brief Recap: The Location? The Blue Roof Bar. The Bartender? Joey Laroe. He was used to hosting the weirdly wild crew years ago but when suddenly they stopped showing up after all SHIELD’s files were leaked, he suddenly pieced things together. Now, after being in the dark for so long, he got a call out of the blue from an old patron, asking for another night of drunken fun. He was happy to oblige.

It had been roughly 6 years since the last time they had a karaoke night for SHIELD. A lot had gone down. SHIELD had fallen to the hands of Hydra. They hunted down the traitors and ended their reign of terror. They began to rebuild. The snap had ended many lives. The second snap spared them at the cost of Iron an. Now SHIELD was rebuilding again. Some underground. Some finally crawling out into more open bases. Some rebuilding the ruins of the past bases they once knew. Some moving on with their lives without SHIELD.

It was hard seeing SHIELD like this, but Sterling felt perhaps what they needed was a reminder of the old days. Nostalgia. Fun. Team building togetherness.

With booze, of course.

[After the intro announcement [THIS] you can start posting under the “SHIELD Karaoke Night” tag. But Sterling-mun? What do I post?

I’m glad you asked.

How to Have Your Character Sing a Song: Post a video of a song you want your character to sing. Or, you could just post the lyrics to a song. Maybe they are getting a little drunk. Maybe they start getting the words wrong. Have fun with it!

And don’t forget gifs and icons if you have them!

You can comment on each other’s songs too to encourage them, join in for a duet, boo them off the stage [be nice], or whatever you want in terms of interacting with their performance. 

Don’t want to sing? Between songs? Just showed up to put it all on youtube or blackmail?: Make little starter posts set in the bar for others attending the event. It’s just a big party. Any SHIELD agent can join in. But make sure you tag it “SHIELD Karaoke Night” and “Open” for us all to know where it’s taking place, when, and letting others know it’s open for commenting. 

Protocol: In the old days Fury instituted a 3 drink maximum for all agents. We will be going back to these protocols. Please make sure you do not kill anyone, including yourselves, and no weapons should be drawn unless it is an emergency. I will not be cleaning up after you. 

Otherwise there really are no rules. It’s very casual. Don’t stress about getting anything right. It’s just providing a setting and a time for SHIELD agent rpers to have their characters all unwind together. Keep track of other people posting in it so you can comment on what song they sang or how drunk they’re getting. Name drop. It’s fun and everyone loves when their character is mentioned in a thread they aren’t in. 

The NPC: Joey Laroe is an NPC and you can take him over for your interactions if you would like. Or, if you want me to play him [because I like playing him so I don’t mind] just tag me in and I’ll pop in for a moment to be him for you. 

Help: If you have any questions or you don’t understand, please track the tag “shield karaoke night” and see what we did the last time. If you STILL have questions, please do not hesitate to ask me, @agentsterling​.

This event is for SHIELD PERSONNEL ONLY unless you are invited by a SHIELD agent. As this is not a top secret mission or anything dangerous so they can be allowed to bring dates, I suppose.]

[magurisu]

So I’m casually writing Cat’s story and on this blog I play her when she’s older. So I realized a lot of the references she’ll make won’t...make sense unless you’ve heard me ramble endlessly so. So these are connections made before she got back in touch with Solomon. Connections made after reconnecting with Solomon will usually be discussed in rps or as npcs!

People Catalina knows from her youth:

Rachelle  - A friend she made during her time of learning how to use her magic. Rachelle has a familial contract with a fire demon so she has horns and similar markings to that said demon. Cat comes to her when she needs to purify her body of any silver poisoning. Rachelle is the only person who actually knows of Cat’s secret aka the reason why she was born the way she is.

Jaycee - Jaycee was Cat’s mentor in magic. A clairvoyant who predicted her own death ironically enough. She was revived as a white lighter later on :D Cat and Jaycee are very close and still talk from time to time if they happen to encounter each other. Jaycee had a familial contract with a being known as Bear but that contract was broken after her initial death.

Bear - a keeshond who has a strange roar that sounds similar to that of a bear! He is Cat’s protector while she’s in her 40′s and eventually they part ways as he has other objectives to follow. Although everyone sees his true beastly form, for some odd reason, only Cat sees him as a dog. He used to visit her often and they’d snuggle on the couch while watching late night tv together.

Heidi - A siren who is slightly air headed at times but cares deeply for Cat in the time they know each other. When Cat was getting back on her feet, she let her stay on her couch. Unfortunately since Cat deactivated her phone, she lost contact with her.

Rauul - A fae that was Catalina’s familiar from the age of 24-28. He saw the fact that she refused to use her power as a sign of weakness...so he retaliated by essentially emotionally and physically abusing her. They meet again when she’s in her 30′s and it results in a scar on her left wrist. She hides that scar with gloves or bracelets. At the mention of him she freezes up and shuts down quickly.

Dewey - Cat’s ex boyfriend from when she was in her late-30′s. He was the first romantic relationship she had since the start of her story. He was initially good to her til she refused to sleep with him. So he ends up cheating on her. They break up and it’s very messy. He tries to make amends she declines it every time. At the mention of him she gets visibly angry / annoyed which those who know her are surprised she has those emotions in the first place.

Alexander - Her co-worker when she worked for the Vatican. She had a fun time learning he was an inter-dimensional being who was obsessed with her. Even went as far as to stalk her, ruin her dates, made his apartment match hers exactly and lastly kidnap her. She manages to seal him and keeps his prison a secret from everyone. She has night terrors about that incident. She’s in therapy to cope with the damage he has done to her.

[everyaccentthesame]

BG:DIA. Some thoughts on how Chapter 1 could be improved.

Unconstructive criticism has its place, in helping consumers understand a product’s flaws, but more helpful to the artist and the DM is constructive advice, on how to improve a work of art. In this piece, I will be discussing my thoughts on how to improve the first chapter of Baldur’s gate: Descent into Avernus, as part of a series of posts on the topic of this module.

The fundamental issue with chapter 1, which I have tried to outline in my previous posts (bear with me if I expressed myself poorly, I’m new to this), is that chapter 1 fails to set up the rest of the adventure. It doesn’t provide emotional stakes, or a reason for the PC’s to pursue the plot beyond their metagame understanding that the DM is running a module, and that they are expected to play it. And perhaps I have been too harsh. In terms of providing interesting encounters, set-pieces, art-pieces and characters, the module is quite generous. So what we want to do is keep all the good work that has been done for us by the many, many authors of this adventure, but tie it together in a compelling narrative for our players.

In essence, there are three routes that I can see, that a prospective DM can take with the first chapter of this module, without causing the modules’ themes to be cheapened or without significant new material having to be written or improvised by the aforementioned DM. 

1. The adventure can start in Elturel, and have Elturel descend into Avernus.

2. The adventure can start in Baldur’s gate, and have Baldur’s gate descend into avernus.

3. You can keep the original story-line of the module, and greatly increase the threat that Zariel and the forces of the Nine-Hells pose to Baldur’s gate, while tying the fate of Elturel to the fate of Baldur’s gate.

Each of the first two options involves getting rid of one of the cities described in the adventure, making the adventure a more thematically appropriate ‘tale of one city’. Each option involves similar work, where we have a description of Baldur’s gate as it is in it’s day to day life, we have none of what it might look like when it plunges into hell, and vice-versa for Elturel. Ultimately choosing between the two probably comes down to personal taste- if you and your players like the idea of Baldur’s Gate, perhaps from the video-games and fiction set there, run it there. If you find the idea of Elturel more compelling, due to the storyline of the Hellriders and Zariel’s connection to them, and the concept of a corrupt, supposedly ‘lawful good’ theocracy breaking down and crashing into hell, go with that city instead.

The last option takes the most work to create a cohesive and compelling narrative, while also remaining the most similar to the plot-line of the book. I personally don’t like this option, so I will only touch on it lightly, and don’t particularly recommend it, though I may write more on it at a later date.

Option 1: The Fall of Elturel, the brightest new star of the Sword Coast.

In this option we will be replacing all of the first chapter set in Baldur’s Gate, and instead setting it in Elturel. Instead of having characters create backstories in Baldur’s Gate, and creating a dark secret, I would instead have them create backstories and backgrounds for their characters that relate to Elturel. A good resource for this is Baldur’s Gate: Fall of Elturel which provides the Hellrider background. I’d also encourage backgrounds that relate to the city in other ways- acolytes of Torm, Helm or Lathander would be very appropriate, as would other city-related backgorunds. For those backgrounds that don’t make sense as being from Elturel, such as Hermit or Outlander, let them know that the dominion of Elturgard is watched over and purified by the light of the Companion, which keeps undead and monsters that fear the light at bay for a hundred miles around, and that the people of Elturgard owe Elturel their safety.

Next, we’ll want to familiarise ourselves with the city. The module gives you a large and detailed description of Baldur’s Gate and day to day life there. It’d be worthwhile reading up on the wiki page on Elturel. In addition, the Hellturel dmsguild product may be worthwhile inspiration (and will be useful in the next chapter as well!). Indeed the tavern, A Pair of Black Antlers, could stand in for Elfsong Tavern. It might also be worthwhile to look at the second chapter and include some of the locations from there in the first chapter, such as the high-hall. This means that when Elturel does descend into Avernus, you can bring the players back to familiar places, and have them be shocked by the deaths of those they knew there, or the destruction of these beloved sites. If you own the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide, it might be worthwhile reading up that section on Elturel, but honestly it’s not too worthwhile.

Depending on how you want to portray Elturel, you could describe it as a bastion of purity and good (now being corrupted from the inside, as a pure-of-intention but misguided theocracy (with a few bad apples), or as a totalitarian quasi-fascist state that hides behind a veneer of purity and religion. The streets are clean, people are well fed and happy, but it’s up to you how much secret crime goes on behind closed doors, or how dangerous it is to speak against the official religion. Questions like ‘Are other religions allowed in Elturel beyond the proscribed gods, Torm, Helm and Lathander?’, ‘How harsh are punishments for crimes committed?’, ‘How are people of races that are perceived as evil by many treated, are they even tolerated?’ and more are worth considering.

We’ll also want to consider what will precipitate the fall of Elturel- I imagine that the players will come close to revealing Thavius Kreeg’s corruption, which will force him to plunge Elturel into hell early (his original plan could have been  to plunge all of Elturgard, or perhaps even other cities along the Sword Coast in simultaenously.). Since Thavius will become a major player in this version of the adventure, we should have him be spoken about by various NPC’s as well- usually singing his praises, but sometimes talking about him suspiciously.

The very first mission of the original module was to meet captain Zodge of the Flaming fist, where he will give them their. This works fine, and you could make the dear captain a member of the Hellriders, and use him to represent growing corruption in that organisation and the city as a whole. You could also replace him with Ontharr Frume of the Order of the Gauntlet, hiring the players as he no longer trusts the Hellriders to do their job properly. Obviously replace the mission with something related to cult activity, perhaps the quest-giver believes the cult of Malar that terrorized the city so long ago has returned?

You could use this point to introduce Reya Mantlemorn, though I’d advise against using her Veteran statblock just yet- she’d make a great 1st level fighter, or you could use the Adventure Sidekicks supplement to level her up with the party. This could be the mission that makes her (and any other characters with the Hellrider background) into a full Hellrider, or she could be there to watch the party as the mission-giver trusts her.

I would run the encounters at Elfsong as normal, but with the numbers filed off- rename the Tavern, perhaps to the ‘Pair of Black Antlers’, but the people that inhabit the tavern can remain the same, as should Tarina. This might also be a good time to introduce Reya Mantlemorn if the players are having trouble in the fight, and be certain to tell the players that the people in the Tavern could be persuaded to help out.

The next encounter, the ‘Dungeon of the dead three, I discuss in more detail below, in ‘What should be considered for change in all cases’. It might be worthwhile making the dungeon the old ‘Temple of the beast’, used by the cult of Malar to launch a ‘wild hunt’ from. At the end of the Dungeon, rather than the inclusion of Mortlock Vanthampur, you can insert a character of your own design- perhaps one of the Hellriders, perhaps Reya Mantlemorn if you’ve not introduced her yet. This individual should tell the players that they found out that someone in the Hellriders was funding the cult activity, and letting them into the city discreetly to perform dark rituals and rites. Someone high-ranking, with the power to authorise the funds and to get the Hellriders to look the other way from cult activity.

Run the dragon cultist encounter as normal, its good foreshadowing for Tiamats involvement in Avernus.

You should have the players be made aware of two options at this point- they can go to the one person they know who knows anything about the underworld of Elturel (literally, most criminal dealings would go on underground, away from the Companions light)- Amrik Vanthampur, or they can try to bring their findings to their Quest-giver. We’ll be reflavouring Amrik as an information broker, as well as a loanshark, and he can either be persuaded, negotiated with or threatened for the in for. If you want, he can send the players off on a side mission in exchange for the info, perhaps to smuggle goods past the Hellriders. If they choose to go back to the quest giver, have them give the PC’s their reward, and tell them to report back the next day- when they do, have Thavius Kreeg himself show up, and thank the PCs for their service personally, and inform them that he will take over the investigations personally. He will then tell any Hellrider PC’s or NPC’s that in the next Tenday they will be sent to act as guards of the High Hall, and removed from active duty. This in and of itself should be suspicious, and an insight check of 15 or above should confirm this.

Either way, the PC’s should be directed to investigate the High Overseers personal residence, the re-flavoured Vanthampur Manor. If the players investigate, it will come to light that he’s changed much of the normal security at the manor, and has refused the normal offer of Hellrider guards, preferring his own, personally chosen staff.

While in the manor, the basic dungeon serves as a perfectly good set-piece, but the Vanthampurs should be gone or replaced by Thavius’s servants- Hellriders who’ve lost their faith or paladin oaths but hidden it through infernal contract,or even Thavius himself. Falasker Fisk should be encountered at some point, and inform the players about the importance of the Infernal Lockbox, and send them to  Sylvira Savikas, a mage who has long suspected Thavius of dark dealings. You may or may not choose to include the Shield of the Hidden Lord in the adventure. Instead of Thurstwell, have the Infernal Lockbox be found by the players on any serious investigation of Kreeg’s room, but protected by Imps that go to try to warn him what they found. It may also be fun to have the PC’s find a plan that indicates the Thavius has used his power and the cultist activity to create a Nonogram, a 9-pointed star, around the companion in Elturel. This is neat Foreshadowing for what will happen next.

Have the PC’s arrive in candlekeep, where you may wish to take inspiration from Elminister’s candlekeep companion. Have Sylvira meet them, replace her Quasit companion with Lulu, put her in a tower with a high balcony. When she opens the Lockbox (ooh art), have their attention be brought to a low rumble the moment they finish reading the contract. In the distance, have the sky turn red with Hellfire in the distance, and let them see a blinding flash of light and a terrible peal of thunder as the Companion (visible even from this distance), turns black then dissapears.

From here you can have the PC’s feel compelled via the power of the infernal contract to go to Elturel, and Lulu can tell them about Zariel, her Sword, and how she thinks that with the Sword, they can save Elturel.  You could also tie their fate to the city, letting them know that if the city falls, so do they- if they swore an oath to defend Elturel, for example, they could suffer a point of exhaustion for every ten-day they stay away from it.

In addition, if the players choose not to go to Candlekeep, and instead try to expose the High Overseer, or even manage to kill him, have the city plunge into Avernus with them in it. That’d be pretty fun, but would require some improv and your players would have to meet Lulu (if they meet her at all), another way.

Option 2: This time, Baldur’s Gate actually descends, first into madness, then Avernus

In this option, Baldur’s gate will be the city that plunges into Avernus. This will keep the first chapter mostly the same, but will require a significant rework of the second chapter (which I will discuss at a later date).

What we will change in this chapter is make Thalmara Vanthampur a far more active villain- while the game goes forward, have her campaign to become Grand duke become far more vocal. She will be using the spat of murders the cult of Zariel has been commiting (on her orders) to justify a series of new laws that will reform the security of Baldur’s Gate, and she becomes highly popular amongst the nobles, who have been victimised by many of her attacks. One of these laws will involve every Baldurian citizen over the age of 16 swearing an oath to defend the city, similar to the one that Elturians swear.

In addition, the refugee crisis that threatens Baldur’s Gate will have to be re-flavoured or removed. I have suggestions about that below. Reya Mantlemorn and the Hellriders will have to go in their current incarnation, but re-flavouring Reya as a Flaming Fist recruit that stumbled on something they shouldn’t and refused to look the other way would be an interesting way to keep her character in the game.

Have them meet Mortlock as usual who tells them about his brothers and how they’re supporting his mothers plans for taking over the city, but that he suspects that her association with the Cult of Zariel goes deeper than just using them as a tool. After the players finish the ‘dungeon of the dead three’ (see the recommendations on that dungeon below), have them hear about Thalmara’s successful election to the position of Grand-Duke, and the new laws being enacted.

Remove Thavius Kreeg from Vanthampur Manor, and have Thalmara not be present- indeed, make it clear that the manor is light on guards due to her moving into the more secure High-hall. Have the Lockbox be experimented on by Thurstwell because he wants to know what deal his mother has made, exactly, so that he ensure he will be spared, or so he can take advantage.

As before, if the PC’s try to expose Thalmara, she will dump the city into Avernus with them in it, and if they go to Sylvira (as before), the city will be sent to Avernus the moment they open the lockbox.

It might be interesting to hint that the Flaming Fist are actually descended from the Hellriders- scrap the Hellriders Elturian origins, and have them be the predecessors of the Flaming Fist mercenary company. This would explain Zariel’s interest in the city and the mercenary company, and could be an interesting and fun revelation for the Players. 

For further advice, you might want to check out Eventyr Game’s supplement on this chapter.

Option 3: Now this is actually going to be a tale of two cities

(I will discuss this point in the future, as writing it proved more challenging than I anticipated. I think this does prove my point that having two cities in this adventure does not make terribly much sense.)

What should be considered for change in all cases

There are a few things, that for the sake of thematic consistency could be changed in all of these options for chapter one.

First, the ‘dungeon of the dead three’, while a good dungeon and solid mini-adventure in its own right, should be changed to the ‘dungeon of the infernal cult’. There’s no reason for worshipers of the dead three to be in this adventure, so swap them with cultists of Zariel, and possibly other Archdevils. Have them be working on the Orders of Thavius Kreeg or Duke Vanthampur, but don’t reveal that right away- the cultists probably only know that they’re working through Mortlock or one of Kreeg’s corrupted Hellriders. You can even keep the stats of the cultists of the dead three, just reflavour them as worshipping different devils! Have the Bane-worshippers worship Zariel, have the Myrkulites worship Mephistopheles and have the Bhaalites be devotees of Bael (You don’t even have to change the name for that one much!). If you’re running the dungeon in Baldur’s gate, you could even say that the cult wiped out a local cell of dead three worshippers, and were pretending to be them, albeit sloppily.

In addition, the sojourn to Traxigor’s tower is just unnecessary in my eyes. If the players are in Candlekeep already, filled with Archmages, why not just do the ritual there? Personally, I find Traxigor much more compelling than Sylvira as a character, but his cuteness does distract from Lulu’s. If you want to replace her with him, do so, otherwise just remove him.

If your players are struggling to find a reason for why they should be the one’s to go to Avernus, rather than the other qualified adventurers of the Sword Coast, you may want to introduce a plot point relating the adventurers to the sword of Zariel, or a create a mysterious prophecytm for them to be part of  the rescue of the fallen city. You could also tie their fate to the city, letting them know that if the city falls, so do they- if they swore an oath to defend Elturel or Baldur’s gate, for example, they could suffer a point of exhaustion for every ten-day they stay away from it.

If you want to introduce a Refugee-angle into the game, you could place the adventure in the middle of the events of another module, such as the Tyranny of Dragons or Elemental Evil. Whichever city the PC’s are in should be flooded with Refugees from the countryside or towns that have been attacked, desperate for the safety high walls and armies can give.

I’ll be responding to any thoughts or criticism anyone has on these ideas, and may be expanding on them, before I begin my critique and analysis of chapter 2!

[yfere]

Shipping Calculus! Live Updates from C2E61!

The week of…missed opportunities? Setup for future romance? It feels like some threads have been left dangling, hearts held suspended, and points do best with closure. We’ll see what happens in the following weeks. Masterpost here.

From Viewers Like You: Our fourth Battle Scene Intern has been guillotined for missing an additional +2 to Fjord/Caduceus for Fjord loving Bane (as do we all) and an additional +4 to Beau/Yasha for Yasha’s jaw dropping at Beau’s holy fists

But now for this week. Without further ado…

+2 (??????????????) to Beau/Yasha. The +2 is for Beau hearkening back to the Birth of Beauyasha and getting Yasha to very happily pick her up and use her as a stage (Body Contact!). The rest of the attempted point gains were rendered impotent—Beau begins a necessary dialogue about Yasha being a survivor which falls on unwilling ears, and there are point losses for Yasha brazenly lying to Beau (and the rest, but Beau was the one asking) about what she was up to the previous night. Just wanted to get a lay of the land? Just wanted to go outside and see some things? This girl is not ready to open up, poor thing.

+3 (???????????????) to Fjord/Caleb as Fjord also channels Yasha’s dream-lying energy at Caleb, who just wanted to know if he was okay. But perhaps it’s proof of compatibility that Caleb responds by also lying about totally being asleep. Point loss for Fjord and Caleb for separate reasons being very against Fjord accompanying him and Beau to the Marble Tomes Conservatory. Point gain for bothering Fjord with Frumpkin, because that cat is the avatar of Caleb’s affection—being in Frumpkin’s mere presence will gain you points if you’re careful with them. Caleb also generally being a worrywart in Fjord’s direction, all “Are you able to make the trip back?” and “Is your friend a god? IS UK’OTOA A GOD PLEASE ANSWER FJORD”

+6 (???????????????) to Jester/Fjord as Fjord channels his Magic Enthusiasm in her direction, complimenting her scrying all “that was impressive” and asking her a billion and one questions about how it all worked and also was she SAFE, was she SEEN while doing it? Jester giving Wursh the Stare of Doom because you will suffer if you aren’t nice to Fjord, and agreeing that Fjord has a very good heart. Fjord pretending he doesn’t know what’s going on with the Bodo skit which is a transparent lie, he absolutely does know, because he advocated for it in the first place before he was cast. And Fjord is all agreeable “I’ll follow your lead” until Caleb gets +5 to Cockblocking by making it a group thing, which all of a sudden seems “excessive” to Fjord, Mr. Pro Embarrassing Bodo In The Most Extreme Way Possible. Points not really gained for the performance itself, as in spite of Nott’s attempted Wingman, Jester does not kiss Fjord. He said he would follow her lead though. He said. Points taken away for Fjord point blank refusing to convert to the Traveler (I thought you LIKED religion now, Fjord) and calling the idea of following Jester instead a “pyramid scheme.” Fjord…

+10 to Beau/Avantika as Beau continues to gross and creep out absolutely everyone with her fixation on wearing this dead pirate woman’s clothing and being very grossly pleased that said clothing “still smells like her” like dear god, they should have just let Beau sleep with the woman from the beginning, this is unbearable and disturbing.

-50 to Fjord/Uk’otoa Which needs no explanation. Uk’otoa is a bitch.

+9 to Caleb/Jester as Caleb is perhaps an even bigger fan of the embarrassing pornographic show than Beau and Jester, going wayyy over the top in his spellwork and with his Announcer Voice and dancing around for this event. He did turn himself into one of the Bodos to match with Jester’s Lorna, and channels Beau Shipping Energy when he offers to not become a disciple to the Traveler, but a disciple to Jester. Is one of the people most willing to defend the Traveler in general and believes Jester’s account of him—though he’s also a worrywart in her direction about the upcoming TravelerCon. Jester and Caleb getting cute over how she could scry on him at any time (is Jester channeling Scanlan Shipping Energy? Gods forbid), and a lot of smiling at Jester’s new outfit. Jester, for her part, being extremely interested in Caleb’s measurements. “Good to know!” she sings, and if we’re lucky one of these days she is going to get a fancy dress tailor made for the wizard.

+9 to  Beau/Jester as Beau pulls Jester aside specially to confess all her nerdy shenanigans to. Wanting to hold onto the fabric, but then trusting Jester with it, because she’s Jester. Being more effusive than Fjord even in her praise of Jester’s scrying. As usual being a perfect chaos causing partner and on Jester’s wavelength with comedic porn, also getting a +4 to Beau/Dramatic Reading as she narrates Bodo’s letter for all the mine workers to hear. Jester being distressed that Beau woke up after her massage, she was supposed to sleep and relax!! Fond reminiscing over how great that day was when Beau was nearly strangled to death by a rug (???) Point loss for Beau implying that the Traveler may have been manipulating Jester into friendship by “appearing” as a child to befriend.

+4 (??????????????) to Fjord/Self Acceptance as he pretty easily rolls with Nott’s “half a man” jibes (because he is literally half man) with a “that’s true” and also chilling out about Wursh’s earlier “runt” comment, saying it’s “apt,” considering the company he was in.

+6 (??????????????) to Caleb/Caduceus as Caleb aims a very specific kind of smile in Caduceus’ direction when Caduceus says “I thought I’d wait until evening to start bending the laws of reality and nature.” Now who else do we know that likes bending reality??? More smiles while suggesting Caduceus do the Thaumaturgy for Beau—and Caduceus was chosen to be one of the Lornas in the play, after all. Caleb also very emphatically getting the withering staff for Caduceus but more importantly going nuts for the blade (presumably also for Caduceus) despite the Attempted Cockblocking from Beau and Nott, who sort of thought gems might be a little better than a broken blade if they could get tats out of them.

-1 to the M9/Professor Waccoh (including Beau) Stop squeezing her balls, guys! Despite Caleb’s attempts at damage control, multiple failed attempts to negotiate additional favors and reading time from her left her in a bit of a mood by the time they left. Yet that mood could not possibly match the black pit of despair that was Caleb after another -5 to Caleb/Books.

+10 to Caleb/Cat Shaped Creatures for epic Cat Person animal handling to get Jannick back (and scritch him under the chin, of course)

+4 to Caleb/The Zemnian Struggle because “granularly” is really fucking hard to pronounce in Common. He must instead use some circumlocution, that mainstay of second language learner existence.

+5 to Jester/Yasha for HUGS and Jester pointing out that Yasha seems to have kind of an aggressive god down her throat. Immediately after Fjord suggests revenge, suggesting they murder Yasha’s entire tribe in retaliation for what happened to Zuala. Jester will throw hands with ANYONE who messes with Yasha, whether it be god or man.

+15 to Nott/Yeza she takes him on library dates and carries him across the threshold! Yeza’s perpetual worries over Luke and terror with their situation sort of puts a damper on things though, and Yeza himself gets +10 to Cockblocking because he’s always fucking asleep when Nott wants to bone.

+10 to Nott/Jester because up until Fjord entered the picture, Jester was all about simulating sex with Nott in public. And Nott is also all about that, until Straight Brain kicks in and she tries to get Fjord in as a replacement. But!! Nott is still crushed to Jester’s bosom in the play. Nott also saying she’s interested in meeting the Traveler!!! She and Beau are now neck and neck for Most Likely To Convert For Love, seems like.

+25 to Nott the Best Detective Agency/Detective Work for Jester’s clutch scrying spell and perception in finding out about the Crawling King (assisted by partners Beau and Caleb). Nott’s detectively instinct in following the case above to the exclusion of all else, wanting to “Figure out what the fuck is going on” before leaving the Dynasty, like the mystery addict she is. If you continue to dangle cases in front of her, she’ll never leave. Nott and Jester do not actually gain points for so quickly hopping on conspiracy trains about horses having Zadash accents and all of the memory gaps in half of the party being connected, but they are good at brainstorming together, nonetheless.

+2 to Fjord/Detective Work for finding the Overcrow, when Caduceus failed to lead another exploring session. Point loss for failing to convince the proprietor to divulge additional secrets, even though she had a very obvious crush on him. (+0 to Fjord/Moira also). 

-5 to Caduceus/Every Single NPC as coming off of the high of the Giant Situation the man grows too complacent and is too distracted by the proper placement of his hands to properly sweet talk passerby into telling him the right direction to go.

+35 to Essik/Being Extra because when you’re a magical prodigy, apparently you are Too Awesome for rain to dare touch, and common ground is unworthy of being trod upon by your feet.

+2 to Jester/Essik for snagging a hug from the most Extra of the Dynasty’s wizards, with sheer force of personality.

+1 to Jester/Wursh for continuing to be LOUDLY appreciative of the man’s abs

-10 to Fjord/Splitting the Party as he tries half a billion separate times throughout the day to be alone, and is thwarted every time. Is not allowed to roam freely even after he dodges the library trip, is tailed by Yasha when he tries to leave the apothecary front gracefully, is watched over by Caduceus when the rest go into Wursh’s shop, preventing him from fleeing the scene.

+3 to Fjord/Caduceus as Caduceus is Fjord’s first instinct with Mask of Many Faces. Not many point gains from the epic stink eye of suspicion Caduceus aims in Fjord’s direction at his off kilter behavior and accent slippage. However, making use of the romantic force that is Fjord to acquire what turns out to be lube from an apothecary?

+10 to Yasha/Revenge “Well, I think about that every day” says this soft and gentle barbarian of theirs. “That sounds like a lot of fun,” she says, at the thought of butchering the entire tribe for what was done to her and Zuala.

+2 to Caduceus/Free Will as he’s apparently one of those compatibilists who believe in destiny/determinism and free will at the same time. Maybe. Who knows what goes on in his head.

+10 to Fjord/Visual Metaphor. What’s the saying? A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush? That’s sort of Fjord’s entire life, in that one illusion.

-30 to Caduceus/Clarity. When even your deity, the being that knows you better than most others in this world can’t understand what you’re saying, you have a problem.

[slainfury]

TOBY (:

send me a faceclaim and i’ll tell you who they’d be as an npc┊ ˚˖↷  toby regbo

          LORD  ALTAIR  CELBA   —-    the  son  of  Lady  Seloria,  an  utmost  loyal  handmaiden  and  confidant  to  Her  Majesty,  Queen  Cressida  Nox  Fleuret.  He  was  a  childhood  companion  of  Cressida’s  sole  heir,  Sylva,  and  the  two  would  frequent  the  palace’s  gardens  together  often  causing  mischief.  Whether  it  was  terrorizing  the  baker  or  rolling  amuck  down  the  grassy  hills  where  the  sylleblossoms  were  in  bloom,  Altair  was  thought  to  be  the only  source  of  a  childhood  for  the  future  Oracle.  The  pair  were  inseparable,  and  it  was  said  that  he  was  the  source  of  Sylva’s  true  smiles  as  opposed  to  the  well - reherased  ones  that  a  future  queen  ought  to  be  familiar  with.  He  was  at  her  side  when  her  mother  became  ill - stricken,  holding  her  as  she  wept  beside  her  mother’s  deathbed.  He  was  among  the  crowds  watching  as  Sylva,  at  the  tender  age  of  seventeen,  ascended  to  the  throne.  

   And  it   was  he,  who   –  despite  the  swarmed  offers  from  advisors  and  noble  lords  alike  for  promised  betrothals  –  Sylva  chose,  following  her  heart  as  opposed  to  head.  Thus,  he  became  ALTAIR  NOX  FLEURET,  KING  CONSORT.

     He  sought  no  power;  he  would  love  his  dear  wife  and  offer  advise  should  she  turn  to  him,  but  even  he  acknowledged  his  place  as  one  of  the  many  subjects  under  her  rule.  He  was  a  supportive  pillar,  a  light  in  a  place  of  ever - growing  darkness,  and  the  soothing  calm  before  and  after  the  storming  plights  of  the  gods  she  endured  as  Oracle.  On  the  day  of  their  firstborn’s  birth,  a  boy  (  a  useless  boy,  or  so  the  crowds  whispered  ),  it  seemed  Altair  was  the  only  one  overjoyyed  at  the  prospect  of  a  healthy  child.  It  came  as  a  relief  for  Sylva,  who  otherwise  endured  relentless  pressure  from  advisors  about  the  need  for  a  female  heir  to  fulfill  the  role  of  Oracle  someday  after  her.

   Altair  adored  his  son,  RAVUS,  and  it  was  said  he  would  parade  him  about  the  halls  whenever  given  the  opportunity.  Unlike  previous  royal  Tenebraen  children,  Sylva  included,  the  need  for  servants  and  caretakers  was  almost  unnecessary.  For  Altair  was  a  tender  and  loving  father  ever  at  his  son’s  side;  he  would  even  nap  in  the  rocking  chair  beside  the  crib  when  the  babe  was  put  down  to  rest.  Oftentimes  one  would  hear  the  king  profess  his  love  for  the  boy  when  passing  by  the  halls ;  I  love  you,  I  love  you  dearly  Ravus.  I  bid  that  you  never  forget  that,  my  son. 

   When  word  arrived  that  the  queen  was  expecting  for  a  second  time,  Altair  was  delighted  at  the  prospect.  Personally,  he  cared  little  about  the  debacle  of  gender  –  though  he,  too,  was  made  aware  of  the  need  for  a  daughter  –  and  only  wanted  a  healthy  sibling  for  Ravus.  He  continued  his  duties  as  king  consort,  nevertheless,  which  included  being  an  ambassador  for  peace  representing  on  behalf  of  Tenebrae.  As  Sylva  neared  her  due  date,  he  was  summoned  for  a  meeting  with  the  emperor  of  Niflheim.  Despite  his  reluctance  to  leave  his  wife,  Altair  knew  the  importance  of  duty  and  chose  to  go.  What  has  happened  since  is  unknown;  the  details  are  seemingly  lost  and  the  witnesses  mute,  the  story  itself  appears  to  be  lost  in  time.  

  Altair  perished  in  unexplainable  circumstances,  and  there  was  an  outcry  from  the  people  of  Tenebrae.  Queen  Sylva  was  informed  of  her  newly  widowed  status  merely  hours  after  giving  birth  to  Princess  Lunafreya  Nox  Fleuret,  the  DAUGHTER  so  desperately  needed.  Emperor  Iedolas  has  never  answered  on  the  accusative  matter,  and  the  Chancellor, Ardyn  Izunia,  appears  to  tiptoe  around  the  matter  with  a  rather  humored  and  lackadaiscal  matter.

   With  his  untimely  death,  Queen  Sylva  was  said  to  never  be  the  same  woman  again.  Her  outlook  on  life  became  far  more  solemn  and  serious,  recognizing  the  ever  growing  threat  of  Niflheim  and  thus  making  her  decision  to  partake  in  involvement  with  King  Regis  of  Insomnia,  another  fellow  childhood  friend.  Still,  her  heart  was  broken  and  she  never  smiled  the  same  again. Tragically,  Ravus  holds  no  memories  of  the  father  who  adored  him  dearly.

[darkelfshadow]

Session Summary - 47

AKA “The False Thane Arises”

Adventures in Taggeriell

Session 47  (Date: 16th June 2018)

Players Present:

- Rob (Known as “Oloma”) Human Female.

- Travis (Known as “Trenchant”) Human Male.

- Sean (Known as “Seanicus”) Elf Male.

- Bob (Known as “Sir Krondor) Dwarf Male.

- Clive (Known as “Ignaaz”) Half-elf Male.

Absent Players

- Arthur (Known as “Gim”) Dwarf Male. <Played by Bob>

- Paul (Known as “Labarett”) Elf Male. <Played by Paul>

NPC

- (Known as “Naillae”) Elf Female. <Controlled by DM>

- (Known as “Nac”) Half-elf Male. <Controlled by Rob>

Summary

- Starday, 6th Abadius in the year 815 (Second Era). Early Spring.

- The party begin this session, in the late morning, once again deep underground in an orc lair set in the Anum Mountains east of Dunfrun.

- The party are in a large cavern, with a small pool of red shallow water on one side, and with a raised platform of fashioned and hewn stone on the other side. Two metal brazier shine light around the room.

- Around the room are the dead bodies of the many slain orcs the party dispatched last session. The party set about various tasks. Ignaaz, Nac and Oloma begin searching the many dead bodies and Labarett begins searching the raised platform for hidden doors and buttons. Seanicus begins his Ritual of Detect Magic. Trenchant and Naillae stand in the middle of the cavern, weapons drawn, ready for approaching foes. Sir Krondor guards one exit, a narrow natural passageway, and Gim guards another exit, a hewn stone archway that leads off the platform. Gim can see that there is a light coming from the other end of the hewn passageway.

- After a short time, the bodies have all been searched and the only item of value is a solid gold medallion worn on the neck of the Orc Hand of Gruumsh.

- Seanicus has finished his ritual and tells the party he can sense magic coming from the red pool in the corner of the cavern. He and Ignaaz begin searching the pool but the water is so red that it is impossible to see through. They both take off their boots and use their bare feet to feel around the bottom of the pool. During this time Seanicus also takes a sample of the water with his herbalism kit for later study.

- Sir Krondor takes out his grapple and rope and starts to throw it into the pool and drag it back and forth trying to find something. After several throws, there is a clinking sound as the grapple hits something on the bottom of the pool. Seanicus moves over to the spot and uses his bare feet to feel around and then yells in pain as something sharp pierces his foot. He reaches down and feels around with his hand to find a pile of long objects and pulls one out. He removes an arrow which appears to be in pristine condition and has no damage or marks on it. Thanks to his enhanced senses, Seanicus can see the arrow is glowing with magic. He bends down and pulls out a total of twenty arrows. The Drow Warlock states he will need some time to identity what the properties are of the magic arrows and the party decide to wait here for ten minutes whilst he performs the ritual of Identification.

- The party wait around whilst the ritual is conducted. Trenchant tells the party he wants to go back alone to the secret chamber with the metal ladder the party previously discovered and take a look up the ladder whilst Seanicus performs the ritual.

- Sir Krondor moves in front of him, “You are not going alone to wander around an enemy encampment. That’s crazy!”

- Ignaaz moves to stand next to Trenchant, “He’s not going alone. I’m going with him, we Harpers have to stick together.”

- Trenchant smiles and nods, “Yeah, see I’m not going alone.”

- Sir Krondor doesn’t move out the way, “Let me tell you young one, the story of the time when I and three other Dwarf comrades went into the old abandoned castle of Lord Gheta in the Dramunz Mountains, and why you should never split your forces.”

- The smile on Trenchant’s face disappears, “Is this going to be another long story?”

- Sir Krondor nods, “Yes, very long. I’ll need to explain why we were there otherwise the story won’t have the dramatic impact it should. Plus I need to explain the family relationships between the group so you can see why the split happened. And I’ll need to explain about some of the history about Lord Gheta otherwise the story won’t make a lot of sense. Oh and I should really tell you about the Dramunz Mountains and the creatures that live around there, it’s not essential to the story mind you, but it will help to set the scene.”

- Trechant starts rubbing his head as if a sudden head ache has come on and with a sigh says, “If I agree not to wander off and just wait here with everyone else will you agree not to tell the tale?”

- Sir Krondor smiles, “Yes.”

- Trenchant leads Ignaaz back to the others, “Come on Ignaaz, Grand Father Time back there doesn’t want us youngins to get into any trouble.”

- Sir Krondor sits back down with a satisfied grin.

- A short time passes and Seanicus holds up the arrows and tells the party they are indeed enchanted (+1 attack and damage).

- As he moves over to hand them to Trenchant, who will use them with his enchanted bow Doigh Nadair, a small scream brings everyone attention over to the archway off the raised platform. An orc, small and slender with wide hips and small pair of breasts is standing in the archway. The female orc is only wearing a dirty rag that barely covers her torso. In her hands is a large sack and she doesn’t appear to have any weapons on her. Her face shows obvious fear as she sees the many dead bodies of the orcs around the cavern.

- Before she can do anything, Oloma and Trenchant sprint the short distance over to her as she is starting to back up.

- Oloma moves, still with her Soul Blades out, and at first her instinct is to strike out at the unarmed female orc but a flash of warmth from the cursed Ring of Pelor makes her change her mind and instead she dismisses her glowing Blades. Oloma grabs hold of the female orc whilst Trenchant places a hand over her mouth to stop her screaming again.

- The orc drops the sack onto the ground and struggles to get free but Oloma holds her as the rest of the party then approach and surround her.

- Trenchant, still covering the mouth of the small female orc, speaks in Orcish, “Do not fear. We not enemy. You safe.”

- As he says this the eyes of the female orc move over to look at all the dead bodies of her fellow orcs, about thirty, lying all about the cavern with various ghastly wounds. She ducks down, getting free from Oloma’s grasp and then begins to run back towards the hewn archway. Sir Krondor, standing near her, starts to swing his war hammer towards her.

- Trenchant yells, “No! She’s unarmed!”

- But the war hammer of Sir Krondor slams into her neck with a sickening crunch, easily killing her in a single blow, and sends her small frail body falling onto the ground with little sound. The look of terror is still on her face.

- Trenchant kneels down, “She was unarmed!”

- Sir Krondor replies back, “She is an orc. She was about to run and warn others of our presence. You need to harden the fuck up.”

- Trenchant stands up, “I do not kill unarmed fleeing innocents!”

- Sir Krondor, “There are no innocent orcs.”

- Gim moves to stand next to his cousin, “Yep, the only good orc is a dead orc.”

- Nac laughs, “I’ll agree with that! That’s the first intelligent thing you’ve ever said Gim.”

- The two Dwarven cousins move off together ignoring Nac’s comment.

- Oloma picks up the sack dropped by the female orc and opens it, “It’s just dried meat. She must have been bringing food for the orcs to eat.”

- The party decide to check if anyone or anything heard that scream. Seanicus sends his Shadow Hound into the hewn passageway and forward into the next cavern. Through the hound’s eyes the Warlock can see a large natural cavern with two other narrow exits, both of which have light coming from them. In the centre of the cavern the floor is hewn stone and has engraved Dwarvish markings visible. Large teeth, some bigger than an adult human, appear to be arranged like a large giant jaw in the centre. The size of the teeth and jaw would indicate that they are from a very large animal, like a Dragon. A small campfire is visible but no creatures can be seen.

- Seanicus tells the party what he saw and that the next cavern is clear. He can’t see any sign that the scream was heard. The Warlock adds, “Those teeth are huge. If that was from a dragon, it must have been huge.”

- The party move forward in marching order, with the Dwarven cousins leading the way. They pass through the hewn stone passageway, which has more of the small funeral alcoves along the walls. The party move to the opening of the large cavern and slowly and quietly begin to enter.

- Trenchant moves over towards some of the large teeth and takes out his enchanted bow, aiming it at the other two exits, providing cover, as the party move forward.  Oloma also takes cover behind some of the large teeth too. The two Dwarven cousins move to the stand near the camp fire and start to quickly look over the large teeth. Labarett, Naillae and Ignaaz move towards the two other narrow exits, Labarett uses hand gestures to indicate he can hear a large number of orc voices from the south exit and a large number of female orcs from the east exit. Nac and Seanicus cautiously enter the room, remaining near the hewn stone entry way.

- Sir Krondor speaks in a low voice, “These aren’t real teeth, they’re stone carved to look like teeth. There are flecks of gold of them. I’d say they were covered in gold at one time but over the years the gold has been removed and stolen by grave robbers.”

- Naillae asks in a quiet voice, “But where’s the tomb?”

- In a low voice Oloma says, “I’ll start searching for secret doors.” She and Ignaaz start examining the north cavern wall.

- “Hurry up, we might have company soon,” adds Sir Krondor in a low voice as he moves to join Gim to guard the south exit, weapons drawn. Labarett, Trenchant and Naillae move behind the teeth and take aim at the south exit too.

- Nac moves over to guard the second narrow exit where the sound of female orcs can be heard.

- Whilst Oloma and Ignaaz continue searching the north wall for secret doors or levers, Seanicus moves around the cavern mumbling quietly, “The archway said something. What was it? Here lies Thane Karkun, Dragon Slayer, Master Of The Thunder, and true heir to Clan Moribek. Long may he rest, in the golden cavity of the beast’s maw he slew.”

- The Warlock’s eyes open wide, “Golden cavity! These teeth, are supposed to be dragon teeth and they were once covered in gold. The tomb must be under the teeth!” Seanicus moves to teeth and looks around. He stands just behind and near the two largest teeth, the floor engraved with Dwarvish markings, and takes out a small jar of glowing dust. He throws the dust into the air and the glittering dust begins to sparkle and shimmer as it falls down, illuminating the area.

- Seanicus kneels down to start examining the ground at his feet saying, “This Glow Dust should help reveal hidden things. I can’t see anything yet.”

- Naillae coughs, “Mmm, Seanicus. You might want to stand up and just look around you.”

- The Warlock stops looking intently at the ground at his feet and then stands up. He can now see all around him there is a thin glowing line, making a square 10’ by 10’, which he stands directly in the centre of. He smiles and says, “That must be the entrance into the tomb.”

- Oloma waves her hands and speaks from the north side of the cavern, “I have found the outline of a secret door here too!”

- Just then, two orcs begin to exit from the south, one speaking in Orcish, “Hungry. Where food gone to?”

- As the first one exits the cavern, Sir Krondor and Gim who were waiting on either side of the exit, swing their weapons into the orc, killing it instantly. The second orc lets out a shout but then is also killed as Naillae, Labarett and Trenchant let loose daggers, javelins, and arrows from the other side of the cavern.

- Many shouts and orcish barks of alarm can now be heard from the south.

- Sir Krondor shouts, “We’ve got company!” as dozens and dozens of orcs start to run into the cavern. He and Gim start swinging their weapons but there are too many to stop. The fast moving orcs soon cover the distance to the engage the party. Soon everyone in the cavern, except Oloma who stands in the far north corner in shadow, has numerous orcs surrounding them with great axes swinging.

- Still more orcs are trying to get into the room. The party is being overrun by orcs as nearly thirty orcs engage them. Some of the orc great axes cut wounds into the party. Oloma, Ignaaz and Seanicus don’t have any weapons out as they were searching. Labarett, Naillae and Trenchant begin to change weapons to engage the enemy at close range.

- One of the orcs swings his great axe at Nac and cuts one of the the straps holding his chainmail together. A portion of the chainmail opens exposing Nac’s vulnerable torso (Critical Hit, AC -4).

- Seanicus takes a battering from the orcs surrounding him, as he has no weapon or shield out. The Warlock is in dire straights and quickly summons a Darkness spell around him that covers a large portion of the cavern and now sees many of the orcs and Tenchant, Naillae and Labarett now blinded within the Darkness. The Warlock begins to stumble away, unable to see in the utter pitch black that is devoid of light. The orcs near him hear him move away and swing their great axes blindly but to no avail. Seanicus stumbles out of the sphere of Darkness and into the north section to see Oloma. It was not the direction he wanted to go but it will do (Failed Survival check to determine direction whilst blind). Oloma produces her Soul Blades and then moves to engage some orcs near Labarett. Seanicus begins to take out his war hammer and shield.

- The party are attacking back, killing orcs one by one, but the share numbers of the orcs are seeing the party struggle. Trenchant, still in the Darkness, speaks words of Eldritch power and one of the orcs nearest him drops to the ground in a deep magical Sleep. The Bard then moves through the Darkness and appears on the east side of the cavern (Failed Survival check to determine direction whilst blind).

- The orcs continue to flood into the cavern, replacing the orcs that the party have killed, and with them comes one large and powerfully built orc. Gim and Sir Krondor try to swing at the incoming horde but there are just too many to deal with. The face of this larger orc is hidden by a large golden mask, that resembles a Dwarven face with a long beard with a helmet.

- Gim looks at the large orc wearing the golden mask and shouts, “That stinking orc is a wearing a Dwarven Thane Mask!”

- Sir Krondor turns to look at the gold mask, “I swear that orc dies for that sacrilege!”

- The large orc wearing the Thane mask starts to shout an Orcish Battle Cry, “By Gruumsh, kill! Kill! Kill!” The other orcs start to chant in Orcish “Kill” over and over. (Battle Cry - all Orcs now have Advantage on attack rolls for one turn).

- Sir Krondor and Gim are in a frenzy now. Having seen the insult of an orc wearing one of the sacred Dwarven Thane Masks, normally only worn by a Thane of Dwarvish Clan, they are striking down orc after orc. Sir Krondor crushes the skull of one orc in a single blow (Critical Hit) and Gim swings his great axe in a wide arc killing two in a single blow (Feat Great Weapon Master - extra attack on kill).

- From the northern side of the cavern, the secret door swings open and two more orcs appear, having heard the Battle Cry of the Orc War Chief. These two new orcs, each have a black eye patch and wear a brass medallion, Orc Eyes of Gruumsh. Clerics of the Orc God! They each raise their hands and summon a pair of divine spectral weapons floating in the air and then send them forth. The Spiritual Weapons floats forward Oloma, Seanicus and Labarett and begin swinging to attack. The two Orc Eyes then move forward to engage with their own great axes.

- The orcs, in a battle frenzy after the Battle Cry, begin to attack the party. Their great axes are striking true and the party are being pushed back. Gim, Sir Krondor, Ignaaz and Trenchant now have large bloody and grave wounds.

- Nac steps aside to avoid one great axe but another two great axes slam into the Cleric. The Cleric of Takhisis looks around the room. He can see the two Dwarven cousins are badly wounded, so too is Seanicus and Trenchant. Even Labarett, who normally shrugs off attacks like a statue of stone, is getting injured. Nac thinks to himself, “This might be our last battle. Might as well go out in a blaze of glory!”

- The Cleric summons a spell around him, and spectral fiends of white light appear around him and begin to attack the closest orcs. The Spirit Guardians defend the Cleric and the three orcs around him quickly succumb. The Orc Chieftain sees the spell and begins to move over to Nac to stop the Cleric wiping out his orcs.

- Sir Krondor can see the party is failing and they will soon succumb. The Knight of the Anvil summons all his courage and shouts his own Rallying Cry. The shout bolsters his and some of the party’s resolve, urging them to find more reserves of courage. (Rally Cry - healing to himself and three others).

- Sir Krondor finishes the Rally Cry and then eyes the orcs around him as he pulls out a Healing Potion to close up of of his wounds. Gim sees his cousin downing the potion and gives him cover as he swings his great axe killing two of the orcs near them. Before any more orcs can move forward Gim too takes out a Healing Potion to close up some of his wounds too.

- Sir Krondor throws the empty vial away and readies his war hammer for more battle.

- Nac and the War Chief are in a mighty struggle now, each trying to get the upper hand on the other.

- Meanwhile on other side of the room, the battle between Oloma, Labarett and Seanicus and the two Orc Eyes of Gruumsh is a fierce and hard fought one. The combined attacks of the Orc Eyes and their Spirit Weapons is proving deadly. Likewise, Seanicus unleashes a bonfire under one Orc Eye, and as the fires leap up to engulf him, Oloma and Naillae finish him off. One of the Spirit Weapons winks out of existence. Seanicus, in a panic, misfires one of his spells that sees it backfire striking himself and blasting himself into a nearby cavern wall with a hard hit (Fumble - backfire).

- Oloma begins to move away to help take on the Orc War Chief and the last remaining Orc Eye sends his Spirit Weapon to attack her.

- Ignaaz too is nearly dead, he can’t see a way of his predicament when suddenly one of the orc great axes begins to come down. The Half-Elf Bard thinks that his time is now up but at the last second the great axe just misses and ploughs into the ground (Critical Hit that was forced a re-roll by Trenchant using his Inspiration).

- Ignaaz seeing his chance swings his short sword and kills the orc before he can recover for another attack.

- Seanicus dismisses the sphere of Darkness to reveal a small number of orcs still trapped within. Sir Krondor and Gim have killed all the orcs around them and now move over to help defend Seanicus and Ignaaz who are very badly injured and still in battling against foes.

- Labarett is now free and he runs to charge into the Orc War Chief but the nimble orc manages to side step and avoid the charge attack. Trenchant aims Doigh Nadair at the War Chief and releases an arrow at the orc. As he does so nine other glowing divine arrows appear, a Divine Rain, and all strike the War Chief in the torso. He bellows in rage but still stands.

- Ignaaz is brought down to one knee, nearly dead after a deadly strike by an orc (Critical Hit) but before the orc can finish him others in the party race forward and kill the orc

- Nac smashes his shield into the War Chief and forces him onto the ground. The Cleric then raises his Talon long sword which now glows with a purple energy, a manifestation of his Goddess’s power, and strikes the sword downwards but the War Chief rolls out the way. Before the War Chief can get up Labarett swings down twice with his battle axe Snaidh and kills the War Chief as the battle axe plunges deeply into the chest of the orc. The War Chief dies with one last gargling bloody cough.

- The remaining orcs are quickly dispatched with one orc trying to flee the lost battle but is killed by Sir Krondor as he tries to run away.

- The party are victories but it was a very close battle with Sir Krondor, Gim, Trenchant, Ignaaz and Seanicus nearly succumbing to a fatal blow.

- Sir Krondor and Gim move over to the Orc War Chief and they remove the gold Thane Mask. Gim kicks the dead orc, “That’s for wearing that mask you unworthy scum!”

- Labarett and Trenchant use some rope to tie up the last alive orc, who is still in a deep magical sleep. Gim and Sir Krondor then take up guard whilst the rest of the dead orcs are searched. Oloma once again begins to search the north wall for a secret button to open the secret door she found earlier. The sound of panicked and fearful female orcs can be heard coming from the other exit. Nac begins repairing the broken strap on his chainmail armour.

- Trenchant wakes the sleeping orc who looks around with a fearful face when he sees the scene around him. Dead orcs, including the dead War Chief, litter the cavern.

- The orc spits out in Common, “You win human. Kill me now!”

- Trenchant speaks back in Orcish, “We don’t have to kill you. We have not entered the cavern over there with all your women folk. You answer all my questions truthfully and agree to stop attacking travellers on the road and I will allow you to leave and take all the women with you to safety.”

- The orc looks doubtful and replies in Orcish, “You not kill me?”

- Trenchant nods, “If you swear to leave this lair, never return here and stop attacking travellers on the road.”

- The orc looks over to the exit where the sound of female voices can be heard, “I did not think humans would trust an orc. You are different than other humans I meet. I swear it. I swear on the name of Gruumsh that I will take the females far from here and make a new tribe. I will not attack here or any on the road again. I swear it!”

- They then ask the orc what he knows. The orc tells them about the pit trap and chest trap, which the party had already found, and also that the War Chief keeps his treasure in the room where he and the other orcs came from. He describes all the rooms that the orcs are aware of and the party have found all of them except one he calls the Priest Room, which he nods towards the secret door in the north indicating that it is beyond there. He has never been in that room or used the secret door, only the Clerics of Gruumsh are allowed in there.

- Trenchant and Labarett walk the tied orc over to the east exit and get the orc to yell out to occupants to not panic. Trenchant and Labarett lead the prisoner into the adjacent cavern that is just as large as the previous “Dragon Teeth” cavern but this cavern is sectioned into two smaller areas, with a narrow section in the middle. Lots of hay beds are positioned around a couple of small fires. There are few items in here, only some wooden toys and crude cooking and sewing materials.

- Standing before them is a group of ten female orcs and eight small orc children. Labarett and Trenchant walk them out to the exit of the cavern and untie the orc. The despondent group of orcs moves off. The pair watch the orcs walk away until they are no longer visible and then make their way to return to the party.

- Oloma has now spent a long time searching the north wall for a secret button to open the secret door the two Orc Eyes came from but she can’t find anything.

- Seanicus speaks, “You did try just pushing the door?”

- Oloma moves over to the secret door scoffing, “Of course I tried pushing it” and then places a hand on the door and pushes. The secret door swings open freely.

- Oloma sheepishly grins, “Maybe.”

- Whilst the party take a short rest, Oloma quickly looks through the north Priest Room. It is a small room that has some tidy hay beds and a camp fire. A wall hanging with a large painted eye is visible. Oloma searches the wall hanging and then searches a small dead end section of the room to discover another secret door that swings open to reveal the large Ogre cavern the party previously came through.

- Oloma returns to the party and they continue to rest. Nac performs the long Prayer Of Healing and gives some much need divine respite to the wounds of the party. During the rest Gim ties the gold Thane Mask to his backpack. The party feel at bit more refreshed after the rest and are now ready to press on (most of the party used Hit Dice to recover hit points, Seanicus recovered his Spells, the Dwarf cousins recovered their special Fighter abilities and the two Bards recovered their Inspiration Dice).

- Feeling more refreshed the party make their way into the south cavern to find another large cavern filled with numerous hay beds and a central camp fire. One of the beds, in the far corner, appears to be a proper wooden frame bed. When Trenchant moves over to examine the bed he sees that it is in very bad shape, the wood frame is slightly broken and has blood on it, and the sheets appear to be torn and very dirty. Looking under the bed Trenchant finds a medium sized metal chest which he opens up as it is not locked. Inside the chest are a couple thousand coins of different denominations. It will take some time to count all these coins.

- Trenchant places the chest into his Bag Of Sharing, which it just fits, and the bag is now straining but far too heavy to carry.

- Trenchant takes out his Stone of Sending and sends a message to Valthrun, “Incoming in bag. Please remove. Heavy.”

- A moment later he receives a message back from the remote Wizard, “Yes of course. One moment.”

- A minute later the bag suddenly collapses as the chest within vanishes. Then another message comes through the Stone Of Sending, “Have chest. Will count coins. Valthrun.”

- The party return to the large cavern with the stone “Dragon Teeth” and begin to try to work out how to open it. Naillae examines the 10 foot square area on the engraved stone floor and she thinks it is some type of movable stone door but can not work out how it moves. She can’t find any obvious traps.

- Gim and Sir Krondor begin to search the stone “Dragon Teeth” and Gim finds a small hidden button on one of the front large teeth. He presses it but nothing happens. Some of the party try pushing or jumping on the flat stone door whilst Gim presses the button but nothing happens.

- On a hunch Nac and Oloma search the other front large teeth and they too find a small hidden button. Oloma presses it but nothing happens, then she says, “Gim press the other button whilst I press this one. They’re two far apart for one person to press. We need to do it together at the same time.”

- Gim nods his understanding and then both he and Oloma press the buttons together. Immediately there is a loud click sound and then the stone floor between the teeth starts to drop down with a loud sound of stone moving on stone and metal gears and chains moving. The party watch as the thick stone slabs drops about two feet and then starts to move horizontally back into a recess in the side wall of a square pit which has been revealed. Slowly the stone slabs disappears into the side wall and the party look down into an angle pit, with a set of narrow stone stairs descending down into the depths of the earth.

- Trenchant hammers a small metal piton into the side wall, in order to prevent the stone slab moving back out, hopefully.

- Oloma focuses her mind and places a Teleport anchor point next to the “Dragon Teeth”.

- The party prepare to descend down, in single file, with Naillae leading to check for traps. The stairs descend about forty feet and then open into a small area in the shape of a “T” with an impressive looking door of Dwarvish design. Along the wall the door is placed, are engraved Dwarvish markings and design work.

- Above the door Dwarvish script is engraved into it. Gim reads it out, “Thane Karkun. May he find the peace in death he could not find in life.”

-  The party enter the area cautiously and Naillae and Oloma begin searching the walls and door. They can’t find anything but there’s something about the door that isn’t quite right that Naillae can’t put her finger on.

- Seanicus performs the Ritual of Detect Magic after which he can not see anything magical in this area but can sense something magical forward in the direction that lays beyond the door. Seanicus then takes out Nedumlin his ancient Dwarvish war hammer and speaks to it in Dwarvish, “Do you see or sense anything? Do you know about this place?”

- He waves the war hammer around and then a voice from the war hammer replies in Dwarvish, “I sense nothing and know nothing of this place nor the name Thane Karkun. The right door lintel is slightly larger than the left, that is odd. Dwarvish architecture is normally very symmetrical.”

- The party move back whilst Seanicus and Ignaaz use a Mage Hand spell to open the door handle and push the door open. As the door opens there is a sound of a metal chain pulling and then a series of clicking sounds, like a flint striking repeatedly, and then from the beyond the door the room suddenly lights up from the flickering light of two lanterns that have burst into life. The metal chain and clicking sound stop.

- The party can see a long rectangular room before them with a stone coffin at the far end. The walls and floors are all engraved with Dwarvish markings. Slowly the party enter the room and fan out, Trenchant and Labarett in the front. Oloma, Ignaaz and Nac still are making their way down the narrow stairs.

- When all the party have entered Naillae and Oloma begin checking the coffin for traps. They can not find anything. The coffin has a engraved relief on it of an armoured Dwarf warrior holding a battle axe and wearing elaborate armour. A pair of lightning strikes are above his head and wrapped around the sides of the coffin is a long, scaly dragon.

- Gim and Sir Krondor put away their weapons and shield and begin to try and push the large stone lid off the coffin. Oloma covers her face with part of her cloak.

- Gim is not doing a lot but Sir Krondor manages to push his end aside. (Gim failed his Strength check twice in a row).

- Gim moves away puffing whilst Labarett puts away his weapon and shield and begins to use his strength to slowly push the lid off. With a loud bang the stone lid crashes to the floor. The party peer inside the coffin to see a figure the size of a Dwarf, dressed in elaborate black half plate armour with matching helmet and boots, a pair of red and gold braces with engraved symbols, and with a large black battle axe resting on his front.

- Suddenly black dust shoots upwards from the coffin, taking with it the armour and battle axe. It forms floating above the coffin into a figure of indistinct features except for a pair of red glowing eyes that turn a hateful stare at the party, a Ghost Knight. It screams in a loud wailing voice, “Rur nadak ïlul!” (Translation: Dwarvish “Rally to me!”)

- The room suddenly gets colder, ice forms on the stone walls and mist appears from the breath of the living party.

- Trenchant, Sir Krondor, Gim and Seanicus, who can all understand Dwarvish, get a real bad feeling of dread on hearing those words and seeing the room go cold.

- Oloma aims a psionic blast of Force energy at the dark sharp and it appears to send bits of black dust off it as the Force beam damages the Ghost Knight.

- The floating Ghost Knight swings his black battle axe towards Labarett in three quick and rapid strikes. The ghost blade swings into and cuts the Elf Barbarian with Necrotic damage. Labarett winces in pain and then steals his nerves as he takes out his enchanted battle axe, Snaidh. The Barbarian lets out a roar and enters into a blind Rage and then swings his weapon back into the Ghost Knight. Parts of the black mist brake off.

- Seanicus aims two Repealing Blasts at the Ghost Knight, both striking it and ripping off some black mist. The beams push the dark form into the adjacent stone wall but the blow from hitting the stone wall appears to have no effect on the dark apparition.

- Gim and Sir Krondor quickly take out their weapons and shield, as they had put them away before to push the lid off. Nac, standing in a far back corner, sends forth a spectral ghost hand to the Ghost Knight. The hand seems to have no effect and can not harm the Ghost Knight, it is immune to Necrotic damage. An evil cackling laughter erupts from the black form.

- Naillae looks terrified of the black figure floating before her and quickly moves back as far as possible and starts to pull out her enchanted dagger, Urramach.

- Trenchant sends a Vicious Mockery towards the dark form, “I’d like to leave you with one thought … but I’m not sure you have anywhere to put it!” The Psychic force shoots forwards towards the dark form but has no effect on it. It is immune! The Ghost Knight looks at Trenchant and wails, “Rít nol maton udos!” (Translation: Dwarvish “I shall cut your tongue out jester!”).

- Oloma again forces a beam of Force energy at the Ghost Knight ripping off large parts of the swirling black mist. The red eyes of the Ghost Knight turn to look at Oloma and the wailing voice speaks, “Uthar aral nukad” (Translation: Dwarvish “Deal with her first!”).

- The Ghost Knight continues to swing repeatedly at Labarett. The black ghost form of the battle axe smashes into the Barbarian and cuts him with black wounds. Labarett’s Rage is doing nothing to lessen the damage of the Necrotic attacks of the Ghost Knight. The Elf Barbarain growls in anger and pain.

- Suddenly from around the room, the transparent figures of three Dwarf Spirit Infantry appear. Dressed in ragged battle armour and each with a full helmet covering their face from view, they float in the air, holding a pair of hand axes in each hand. A pale blue light emanates from the three spectres and the air is bitterly cold around them.

- Following the command of the Ghost Knight, the three Spirit Infantry fly directly towards Oloma. Trenchant has to duck out of the way of one of the spirits as it flies past him.

- As the three spirits enter the area that Oloma stands in they begin to fly in small circles, in and out of her, she can not avoid them. Her face contorts in pain as her body is ripped apart internally with Force damage. Then all three of the spirits enter her body. She starts to convulse and shake, gritting her teeth with an unheard scream can not be released from her clamped lips. The Soul Blades from each of her hands start to flicker and then dies out. The shaking stops and two of the blue spirits appear on either side of her. Oloma looks up, her eyes glowing blue, and draws out her scimitar. She looks at the party with obvious hate and contempt. (Failed Charisma saves).

- Trenchant yells, “I think Oloma has been possessed! Watch yourselves!”

- Sir Krondor and Gim have taken out silver weapons and begin attacking the two Spirit Infantry, there weapons are striking the spirits but only doing some damage (Resistance to non-magical weapons).

- Nac casts a Guiding Bolt spell at the Ghost Knight which hits it, braking apart more of the black mist and now causing the Ghost Knight to glow (Advantage next attack against it). Labarett wastes no time and immediately swings Snaidh twice into the glowing Ghost Knight, ripping apart a large black chunk of the black mist (Critical Hit).

- Seanicus places a Hex Curse (Improved Critical Hit, increased damage) on the Ghost Knight and then fires two Agonising Blasts at the black form. The beams both hit and rip apart the creature sending some of the black armour crashing to the ground where is turns to dust.

- The red eyes turn to Seanicus and the wailing voice speaks, “Nob udos nukad!” (Translation: Dwarvish “Deal with him next!”)

- Seanicus, able to understand Dwarvish and seeing what happened to Oloma, prepares himself for the coming of the two Spirit Infantry.

- Sir Krondor, Gim, Trenchant and Naillae are all attacking the Spirit Infantry. Oloma, possessed now, begins to walk towards Labarett, her scimitar held high. Sir Krondor sees her and hesitates with his silver hand axe. He can not bring himself to attack her. She walks over to Labarett and with no emotion swings with scimitar into the Barbarian. The weapon strikes him but does little to the Barbarian whilst he is Raging.

- Again the Ghost Knight swings his deadly black blade at Labarett and more black wounds open up, weeping with Necrotic damage. Now the two Spirit Infantry begin to fly straight at Seanicus but he is ready for them. He ducks and dives, side stepping both of the swirling flying blue forms. He manages to keep out of the way of the two spirits and they can not enter his body (Successful Dexterity save).

- Nac once again fires a Guiding Bolt at the Ghost Knight, it hits and the black mist now is transparent. The floating pieces of armour are beginning to shake. A glow now surrounds the creature again, thanks to Nac’s spell (Advantage next attack).

- Nac yells, “Finish it off Labarett. It is nearly done for!”

- The red eyes of the Ghost Knight are flickering. The energy holding it together is nearly gone. It wails out, “Nåst atol kozoth lînem” (Translation: Dwarvish “Reveal your true faces!”)

- Labarett, badly wounded, raises his enchanted battle axe and looks at the faded Ghost Knight. The Barbarian swings his battle axe into the creature and with a flash of purple light the black mist dissolves completely, the armour and battle axe dropping and breaking into dust as it hits the floor. Except for the red and gold braces which fall back into the coffin with a clank and rest there.

- Now the party turn their attention to Spirit Infantry and the possessed Oloma. Nac tries to remember how to deal with the possession and shouts, “We can only break the possession by forcing the spirit out by Turning, killing the host, or using a Dispel Evil spell!” (Successful Intelligence Religion check).

- Before they can react or do anything, the entire party unleashes their full fury on the two floating Spirit Infantry, spells and magic weapons, and mundane weapons all strike at the pair and in an instant the two spectres are destroyed.

- The final remaining spirit within Oloma, answers the call of its master and flies out of Oloma, who stumbles as the possession ends. The Spirit Infantry lifts up the front of its full helmet and reveals its true face. The party all reel back from the Horrifying Visage but all except Trenchant and Sir Krondor manage to overcome the Eldritch power of the vision. Trenchant and Sir Krondor begin to succumb to the effect and begin to age rapidly. Sir Krondor ages 20 years, going from 58 years old to 78 years old. Most Dwarves live at least to 250 years old so, so the effect on Sir Krondor is not visible and he still is a young Dwarf. Trenchant ages 10 years, going from 23 years old to 33 years old. Most Humans are lucky to get past 70 years of age. Trenchant is now nearly middle aged. The effect on the Bard is striking. Age lines and wrinkles appear, and skin becomes blemished and some of his fair begins to thin out and lose colour.

- Naillae screams as she looks at the aged face of Trenchant, the one she loves. A tear of despair rolls down her Elvish check. Most Elves live past 550 years and as such she always knew that she would have limited time with Trenchant but to see him be aged in such a manner, to be robbed of those years that she could have spent with him, brings her to tears.  

- Both Sir Krondor and Trenchant then begin to shake with fear, brought on by the Eldritch force of the Horrifying Visage, and they start to run away as fast as they can compelled by the magic effect.

- As Sir Krondor turns to flee, unable to control himself, the spirit slashes its two glowing hand axes and strikes towards the Dwarf Knight. The blade nearly slices into the Knight’s neck but at the last second just misses (Critical Hit that was forced re-roll with Inspiration used by Sir Krondor).

- The party begin to attack the last remaining spirit but the spirit is not yet done. The blue glowing hand axes it wields slashes back towards its attackers.

- Sir Krondor and Trenchant run out of the room and all the way up the long narrow stone steps until they are just at the square opening. Sir Krondor stops and grabs Trenchant, both now able to overcome the magical Fear effect affecting them. They turn to look back down the stairs. Sir Krondor speaks, “We need to go back and help our friends.”

- They both run back and arrive just in time to see the final spirit being dissolved into nothing by the attacks by the party.

- Trenchant and Sir Krondor walk back to the party. Naillae moves towards Trenchant and moves her hand gently across his aged face looking him over with both love and concern. They both look at each other unspeaking and then embrace silently.

- The party recover the red and gold braces from the coffin but there is nothing else that remains of either the Ghost Knight or Spirit Infantry. The party move back up the stairs and out into the “Dragon Teeth” cavern whilst Seanicus starts the Ritual to Identify the red and gold bracers. The rest of the party sit down and rest, tired and weary, and knowing they are all lucky to be alive.

- Sir Krondor moves over to Trenchant, “How you feeling?”

- Trenchant replies, “Old. Serves me right for calling you Grand Father Time before. I’m sorry.”

- Sir Krondor smiles, “No harm done. Besides, I like your new look, it’s distinguished.”

- After a short time Seanicus holds the bracers up and says, “These are Bracers Of The Thunderer. The wearer of these bracers is resistant to thunder and lightning damage and can use them to store that energy and expel it back towards enemies.”

<And as the party catch their breath after clearing out the orc threat and having plundered the tomb of a false Thane, that is the end of the session.>

XP Allocation

Group - Combined (This is equally divided by the number of players who were involved)

Quests (Only quests that are completed or rendered undoable, during this session, are shown here)

- Secure The Northern Trade Route (Remove Orc Raiders) = 250 XP

Creatures Overcome

- Female Orc = 10 XP

- Orcs = 2700 XP

- Orcs - Eye Of Gruumsh = 900 XP

- Orc War Chief = 1100 XP

- Ghost Knight (Infantry Commander) = 2300 XP

- Spirit Infantry = 900 XP

Individual (This is only given to that person and is not divided amongst all players)

Special Bonus (Outstanding Role Playing)

Nil

XP Levels and Player Allocations

Player : Start +  Received = Total  (Notes)

Rob : 43890 + 1066 = 44956

Arthur :  31680 + 799 = 32479

Travis : 31780 + 1332 = 33102

Paul : 27185 + 799 = 27984

Sean : 29031 + 1066 = 30097

Bob : 27811 + 1332 = 29133

Clive: 23889 + 23889 + 1066 = 24955

NPC (Naillae) : + (533)

NPC (Nac): + (533)

[rpgsandbox]

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls! Gamers of all ages!

                                              Going down?

Frog God Games is proud to present Rappan Athuk, THE DUNGEON OF GRAVES! The Granddaddy of all Megadungeons is back for Fifth Edition!

                         Mock-up hardcover with actual cover design.

Characters will test their mettle against puzzles, tricks, and traps a-plenty; test their grit and steel against monsters and foes lurking around every corner; and at the end of it all awaits the Big Daddy himself, Orcus. These are truly adventures worth winning.

— “I once killed a man, just to watch him die” – a Man in Black

— “Hold my goblet” – Orcus

Interior mockup with actual pages from Rappan Athuk for Fifth Edition.

Rappan Athuk is back for Fifth Edition. Not just back though, it is reloaded with all kinds of new extras including:

All new, full color artwork

Three new levels of the Dungeon itself  

Three new Wilderness locations, including a three-level castle

A new three-level satellite dungeon

A sea-cave of terrible shark-men! A Kickstarter exclusive level released from the Vault of Tsathogga!

Updated color maps, available as separate PSD files for online play, are included for all levels

Scores of NPCs and Monsters, dozens of Magic Items and Spells, and the legendary Dung Monster await you!

                Art comparison between 2012 and new edition.

Weighing in at over 500 pages, Rappan Athuk for Fifth Edition is an instant classic in the Mega-Dungeon genre, featuring 100+ keyed and color mapped areas with over 56 dungeon levels, several satellite dungeons (almost 20 additional levels!), the village of Zelkor's Ferry, 22 wilderness areas (ways to die before you ever reach the dungeon) and seemingly countless groups of bandits and monsters that prey on those fortunate enough to escape the halls and caves of Rappan Athuk with treasure in hand!

With decades of playtesting and use in campaigns across the globe, the Dungeon of Graves can be a foundation of any campaign or eviscerated into pieces and blended into any campaign!

                             Map comparison between the two editions.

Once upon a time, there was an idea—an idea formulated by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974 and published in a little paperback book called Underworld Adventures. The idea was simple: it is a lot of fun to go into a dungeon and kill evil monsters. Why is the dungeon there? No one knows. Why do the monsters usually fight rather than talk? We aren’t really sure. Why are there 16 trolls in a cave with a jug of alchemy? No one cares. What do all the monsters eat? We don’t know that either (although “adventurer” probably tops the list). And we don’t have to know these things. This isn’t an ecology experiment, it’s a dungeon—the quintessential setting for pure swords and sorcery adventuring.  

This adventure pays homage to that original idea. True, there are opportunities for role playing, but most of this module is dedicated to “roll playing.” Hopefully, while exploring the halls of Rappan Athuk, you will recall the thrill of discovery, the terror in your heart when you fought your first skeleton, the joy of rolling your first natural 20, and the despair you felt when that 1 came up for your poison save. This module, Rappan Athuk—The Dungeon of Graves, is nothing more and nothing less than a good, old–fashioned, First Edition dungeon crawl updated for the 5th Edition Roleplaying Game. Very difficult, it should strike fear into the hearts of the most stalwart adventurers. It offers an abundance of traps, tricks, and monsters. We hope that you find this module as fun and exciting as those thousands of players who have ventured into (and not as often out of) the endless caverns and mazes of Rappan Athuk—The Dungeon of Graves. Rappan Athuk is a difficult dungeon. Even the upper dungeon levels should not be attempted by a party of less than six mid-level characters.

Only truly veteran players should attempt this dungeon with lower level characters. In light of this, we added the satellite dungeons, including Bill's very first work (from 1977), Tunnels of Terror! This 9-area dungeon was used as the introduction to his campaign and led his players to Rappan Athuk through play.

All Frog God Games hardcovers are stitched into 16 page packets, the packets are sewn together, and then all the packets are sewn to a cloth backing, creating a book block that is glued to its cover. This is what we mean when we say "library binding." So, what does this mean to you? Well first, you will note that our books cost a little more than others. That being said, after a myriad of book-binding issues both recently and dating back to 2nd Edition, there is nothing we hate to see more than someone investing in an expensive game book and having it fall apart on them after only a short period of regular use.

We feel strongly that book production quality is king. After all, you guys spend a lot of money on your books! Second, if a Frog God hardcover book ever falls apart (we have tested this with baseball bats and very rough use, by the way), we will replace it at no cost assuming we still have one in stock. Yes, that means if you call me in ten years, and your book binding has failed you (failed us really) through regular use (please no bulldozer roll overs), just email me and if the book is still in stock, we will mail you a new copy for free. Nothing I can do for you if they are all sold out though (but email me anyway and I'll hook you up in some way).

It costs us a lot of money to do this, and our margins are somewhat lower than they could be as a result. Frog God Games stands behind our product (and sometimes on top of it when we need a ladder), and believe that the improved quality and durability of our work is well worth it.

Kickstarter campaign ends: Sat, March 31 2018 1:48 AM BST

Website: Frog God Games