Session 2015-09 Part II: As told by Roland Red Oak

Several weeks later….

We came together as a group after reflecting upon adventures in Orlane we decided to go to the Mount of the Red Door to tackle a demon that the group had run into earlier and fled. Milo, Draven, Quasi, Borg, Thagmar and myself headed into the mount. We returned to the room where the demon was found. The group burst in prepared for the worst, Draven blasted the demon with a powerful spell and the demon disappeared in a puff of smoke. Much to the groups relief the demon turned out to be an illusion. The illusion was guarding a small treasure that we recovered.

The group decided to head to the lower level after the confronting the demon illusion. After descending a stair case we came across a large number of metallic skeletons that immediately charged our group. Quasi jumped into action and quickly fired his bow and he absolutely destroyed two of the skeletons at the start of combat. The group waded into the battle and took down the remainder of the skeletons.

The group continued down a hallway until we found a large room that had six columns, all made of different metals, and labeled with different high sullian words. The ceiling contained a mural of the stars in the sky. While beautiful we were unable to determine the use of the room.

We left the room and entered a smaller room filled with broken furniture and a long table. During the search of the room Quasi found a small nook that contained a small magic scroll of mirror image.

Just down the hall from the broken furniture room we came across a small room that contained multiple shattered statues, there were at least six smashed statues crumbled upon the floor. There was one statue still intact, a rather squat and ugly thing. Draven walked up to it and poked it in curiosity, which was a bad idea as the statue sprang to life and clawed him across the face. Leaving bloody tracks across his face. The group sprang into action with everyone chipping in to bring down the gargoyle with Milo delivering the killing blow.

After recovering from the shock of being attacked by a statue, the group focused and continued our search of the area. We went through several non-descript rooms and hallways, all of which are filled with broken furniture and various debris. The group finally entered a room covered in some type of crude graffiti and contains five large sacks with some type of creature inside as we heard moaning and saw movement in the bags. One of the creatures escaped the bag and some type of humanoid monster emerged and it immediately attacked Quasi. Luckily he avoided the blow and the group fell upon the creature. After taking a massive amount of damage, Milo finally dropped the creature. Shaken after the encounter the group decided to leave the remaining bags alone.

We left the room and entered a small room with four columns that contained four glass pillars that contains each of the four primal forces of nature (fire, water, air, and earth). The floor was covered by a tile mosaic of a planet. Once again we were unable to determine the function of the room so we moved on.

The next room we moved into was oblong in shape and contained 6 large pillars each constructed of a different metal. We move on and found a third room with over a dozen glass tubes with dials and other metal attachments. All of which were broken or smashed. Standing guard at the only exit of the room was four large and burly humanoid creatures, while not overly friendly they were not openly hostile. Unable to convince the creatures to let us pass, the group decided to leave the room.

We explored a little further and decided that we would need to return to town to resupply and plan our next steps.

Session 2015-09 Part I: As told by Roland Red Oak

From the journal of Roland Red Oak, acolyte of the Karlsburg druid circle.

We met with Remme who along with Eben; discussed the surrounding area, recent events in the area, and agreed to support the quest to recover our friends and remove the evil from the land. He gifted to Draven a Globe of Invulnerability wand and lent us his familiar Whiskers the Weasel. At this point, Eben went into detail about the cave where he was tortured and tempted by the snake god and recounted his nightmares of his time spent in her presence. After hearing this destressing news the cousins, Nengan and Tsiakune told the group that they felt this evil was beyond them and decided to continue on their journey. We wished them well. The group now consisted to myself, Thagmar, Quasi, Borg, Milo, Draven, and two torch bearers hired from the town. Eben decided to stay with Remme to recover from his ordeal.

After the cousins left, the group headed into the swamp. During the two-day trek Quasi took down the largest (fattest) dear I have ever seen in my life! We ate like kings for the rest of the trip.

On the second day of the trip we came across an earthen/mud dyke that had been built to hold water out of small cave. The group decided to stake out the entrance and camp for the night, watching for any indication that the cave is inhabited. During our camping, Quasi decided to scout the area out and came across a second entrance with stairs. The group decided to enter through the secondary entrance. The stairs were covered with a slimy coat of muck and slime which caused the lead footed barbarian to slip and bounce noisily down the rest of the stairs. He came to rest in the center of four very angry guards who viciously stabbed him multiple times with spears while he attempted to recover from the fall. Borg charged to the defense of his fellow warrior and splattered two of the guards in a most stomach churning manner. Roland and Thagmar cleared out the remaining guards.

I have to note that everything here is covered in a very smelly slime/mud combination that is pretty awful. The room at the bottom of the stairs had a stuck door that took several attempts from a clearly embarrassed Thagmar and Borg to open. When the door finally opened it revealed a very large room with about 3 feet of muddy water covering it. Quasi quickly gapped one of the guard’s bodies and tossed it into the room, it was quickly devoured by a giant frog. The group decided that discretion is the better part of valor and left the frog alone.

The group went down another hall, branching off the main entrance and found room with a mud pit in the middle. The group edged our way around the pit and headed into a room with a locked door (Thagmar & Borg used their “key” again). We found a nicely decorated room, during our search two guards burst through a door to the north and attacked immediately. Quasi connected with a viscous blow on the female guard who pretty much laughed it off. Just as the group was settling into the fight a new warrior joined his fellow guards in attacking us. Quasi and I took down the first two guards (me with a spell and him with his sword). Borg killed the final guard but not before taking a horrible wound.

The group explored the surrounding area and found a large locked chest. Borg (maybe light headed from blood loss) tried to pry open the lid and hit a chest. He took a massive blast of lightning from a trap, it through him across the room leaving him in a twitching, smoking heap on the floor. The group decided to rest and let Borg recover from his shock.

One of the guards survived the beating the group gave him, we decided to interrogate him in an attempt to find our missing friends. Milo took the lead but his voice cracked in the middle of acting tough and lost all chance of intimidating the bound guard named Benn Griff. The group left him shackled to a bed in the barracks.

Once Borg recovered, the group decided to continue searching the cave complex. We found multiple tunnels and rooms that were filled with mud. The group decided to avoid the mud filled passageways that caused a lot of back tracking. During our exploration we entered a room to be attacked by a group of cultists. As the battle hit a fever pitch, Vroc burst into the room and joined the cultists. Borg and Quasi were slaughtering the cultists left and right, taking out 6 of them in total, when Vroc vomited acid at the group. Luckily Thagmar and Borg were able to avoid the majority of the acid vomit. Milo killed the last cultist and Quasi knocked Vroc unconscious.

The group bound Vroc and took him into the swamp. We set up camp a good distance from the cave entrance and recovered from the day’s trails. We awoke the next morning and left the torch bearers with Vroc bound and in their care.

We returned to the tunnel system and retraced our steps to the where we had left off and found a large wooden door with a large “X” branded into the center of the door. Thagmar moved everyone away from the entrance and opened the door, immediately music began to play, Milo shouted “It’s a TRAP!” and the group fled from the area.

We explored the rest of the first level, crossing several halls filled with mud. The mud was so deep that Thagmar was forced to carry Milo while Borg carried Draven (much to the dwarf’s embarrassment). We eventually found a large room filled with stagnate water and crocodiles. A horrible life and death struggle ensued with the group emerging victorious, searching the area revealed a shallow draft row boat that we could use to traverse the flooded cave. We used the boat until we found a landing several hundred yards later, the muck contained deep foot prints made by what Qausi guessed where lizardmen. Eventually we came upon another locked door that Thagmar and Borg opened with their “universal key”. Inside we found a large group of lizardmen who immediately attacked, delivering viscous blows to both Borg and Thagmar. Each member of the group held their own, taking down multiple lizardmen with Draven finishing off the last one by crushing his opponent’s skull with his war hammer.

After the gruesome battle, the group decided that a short rest had been earned to catch our breath and plan our next move. We decided to head to the lower levels and see if we can find our last missing group member, the squire, and put an end to this evil once and for all.

When we got to the second level we found a massive cave filled with very deep mud and what seemed to be stepping stones leading to three exits. Quasi stealthily scouted the halls as the group slowly and carefully crossed the stones. Qausi came back to the group and explained that two of the tunnels ended in mud or water with the third ending at a door. The group approached the door and heard the mumbling of what we assumed where captives from the town. What we found was horrible, perversions of the natural order called casket corpses who were immune to mundane weapons (Quasi had the knowledge of these creatures). We changed our tactics to deal with these horrors; Thagmar guarded Quasi who used his silver arrows to pepper the advancing hoard, Milo pulled his silver rapier, while Draven and myself slung spells. Draven used a very effective Ghoul Touch spell that dropped one of the advancing hoard. Borg used a magical weapon to cleave one of the monsters in half. Milo and myself killed the remaining monsters.

After finishing off the last of the monsters we heard muffled cries for help coming from a room behind the door at the back of the room. After breaking down the door the group found several hostages from Orlane, including the merchant’s wife and two teens. Unfortunately, without the aid of thief we were unable to open the locks. We assured them that we would return once we recovered the key to the cells.

The group reluctantly left the prisoners and continued down the hallway with a new task, find the key to release the prisoners. We came upon a door at the end of the hallway that was not latched. Inside we found a wight, 2 cultists, and a female (wizard or cleric) waiting to ambush us. However, they were so unprepared that we surprised them! Draven shouted a dwarven battle cry and charged the wight, smashing it with his Warhammer. Thagmar took down the female mage/cleric with mighty blow after she had cast a very damaging spell upon him. Then something I have never seen before in my entire life. Milo started hurling insults at the cultists and apparently hit the mark on one of them as he turned a deep purple color, his face contorted in rage, and then he grabbed his chest and collapsed on the ground dead! Borg killed the wight and the group finished off the rest of the group.

After the battle; Milo, Quasi, and myself went to rescue the villagers with the keys we found on the cultists. We freed the villagers and armed them with the few extra weapons we had and sent them to our hidden camp in the swamp, they left reluctantly. Once we let them out, the group got together and we rested to recover from the taxing battle.

During our rest Quasi started searching the room and paid particular attention to a giant snake statue at the back of the room and found a secret passage. The passage led to a large cave with several glowing rock columns supporting the ceiling. Sitting in the middle of the cave was the terrifying snake god that has been terrorizing the surrounding countryside. Worshipping the snake god was a young human male. Milo immediately identified him as Squire Robin, aid to Froc.

Borg let out a rumbling battle cry, charged headfirst into the room, and took a massive swing at the snake god. The creature moved like lightning and dodged the attack. Quasi on the heels of Borg caught the snake god off guard and landed a brutal blow. Draven used the Globe of Invulnerability wand but was not able to protect the entire group and Borg was left vulnerable. The snake god worked her charms and bewitched Borg, turning him into her puppet. While the snake god was distracted with Borg, Thagmar delivered a devastating blow that visibly weakened the “god”. Quasi and Milo attempted to restrain our friends who had become the snake god’s puppets.

Despite doing significant damage to the snake god the group appeared to be in dire straits when a surprising ally joined our side, Vroc! He had shaken off the snake god’s control and had rushed to join his allies. He cast a Protection from Evil spell in an attempt to free Borg and Squire Robin. His attempt was unsuccessful.

Quasi and Milo continued to hold off our former companions as the snake god returned her attention to the group. As she lunged at Thagmar he landed a devastating blow to her neck, she reared back in horrible pain, and Draven blasted her with a magic missile spell killing her. With the snake god’s death her hold on our companions and the town of Orlane faded and our friends awoke from their nightmares.

The group took a deep breath and searched the rest of the complex for any stragglers but everyone had either fled or returned to normal. We found a large stash of coins and lost gear. Unfortunately, this included the gear of Anders confirming our fears that he had died here.

The group returned to the camp in the swamp and headed back to town, we filled Remme in on our adventures and the death of the snake god. He told us she was a Naga and thanked us for saving the town. Our friends returned we decided to return to Karlsburg and reflect on our adventures.

Jungle: Movement and Clearing

Movement

• Jungle: 1/2 mile per hour; 1/2 mile per 2 hours if clearing.
• Cleared Jungle: 1 mile per hour.

• Stealth mode: in uncleared jungle x3 times as long; x2 times as long in cleared jungle. Cannot be clearing jungle.
• Search mode: x2 times as long.

Clearing

Per hex cleared, roll d20 on roll of 1 or 2, clearing weapon gains 1 dull mark.

Dulled Weapons

Reduce damage by 2 per dull mark. If weapon receives enough dull marks that (non-modified) damage cannot be greater than 0, weapon becomes worthless.

Repairing Dulled Weapons

A successful DC 15 with smith's tools will remove 1 dull mark.

New Weapon 

Machete 12 gp; 1d6 damage; 2 lbs; light, Dulls only on a 1

Drama Cards Changes

The Drama Cards (see here) have been a big hit. I just have one issue with the current mechanic. Currently and understandably only the more powerful cards are being used as the players can only use so many cards in a session and there is no downside from using a more powerful card over a lesser one.

So for now I'm making the following changes. Per session usage is no longer based on number of cards but on points. There are four categories of cards: copper, silver, gold, and platinum. To use a card costs a number of points based on the category: copper: 1, silver: 2, gold: 3, and platinum: 4. The number of points each PC has depends on his level.

I'm sure the players will be a little disappointed.

Character Level	Max # of Drama Cards in Hand Per Session	# of Points Per Session
1-2	4	2
3-4	5	3
5-6	6	4
7-8	6	5
9-10	7	6
11-12	8	7
13-14	8	8
15-16	9	9
17-18	10	10
19	10	11
20	12	12

Session 2015-07-12: As told by Roland Red Oak

July 12, 2015 Session Notes:

From the Diary of Roland Red Oak, acolyte of the Karlsburg druid circle.

A few days ago I hired a local mercenary, named Thagmar, to help shepherd pilgrims to the holy oak grove a couple of miles from Karlsburg. During our travels he told me of the group of adventurers he had joined and that some of their number had gone missing. It wasn’t until he mentioned the town of Orlane that I became interested. Archdruid Ferdinand had confided in me that our circle had not heard from the Orlane Temple of Desonia for some time and he was becoming concerned. When I approached him with Thagmar’s information, I was told to accompany him and any fellow adventurer’s we could gather and head to Orlane to investigate the town.

Before we left, Thagmar introduced me to, two of his companions. A halfing bard named Milo and a dwarven mage named Draven over a fine dinner and ale from a local tavern. During our conversation they both shared Thagmar’s concern for their missing companions and we agreed to set off first thing in the morning. Before retiring for the evening our small group was approached by an elven bounty hunter named Ouasi and his half-orc shield bearer (pack mule?) named Borg. They had overheard us talking about going to Orlane and the bounty hunter stated that they were seeking a local bandit who may have fled in the direction of Orlane and they asked to accompany our group. We agreed and retired to our rooms for the evening. (Strangely, the bounty hunter and his companion chose to sleep in a tent instead of a warm bed in the inn. Too each their own, I guess).

It should be noted that the bounty hunter and his friend purchased a large amount of silvered weapons; they seem to be expecting A LOT of trouble. Should I be concerned? Are we walking into a werewolf den or does he just like shiny things, like a magpie?

As we traveled down the road we over took a pair of travelers on the road to Orlane, a monk named Nengan and his cousin Tsiakune. They had been wondering the land looking to help the good people of Karlsburg in any way they could. Once introductions were made, we all agreed to continue on our journey.

We arrived around dusk at the town of Orlane from the west; from there we approached the Golden Grain Inn. A small establishment, populated with local farmers and merchants. We spoke briefly with the inn keep and asked about the missing adventurers. The inn keep assured us that the group had not been through the town. The rest of the patrons were also unfriendly and seemed in a stupor. However, we did learn the location of the local constable, a general store, and the location of the Temple of Desonia.

We decided to pay the constable a quick visit and see if he would be more helpful than the rest of the town folk we had met so far. His name was Donavon and he seemed normal enough, when asked about our friends he stated that the he was unaware of any travelers and they could have easily perished in the swamps around the town. Very upset and concerned the group left the office, that is when Milo informed us that he felt the constable was lying. A feeling of unease had settled on the group, deciding to not confront the marshal we visited the general store instead.

When we entered the general store we were greeted by the proprietor, Trawler. When asked about our friends he stated that he had not seen any such group. Once again detecting a liar, Milo attempted to bribe Trawler for information. At this point, events turned for the worse as three thugs emerged from the rear of the shop with loaded crossbows pointed at the group. Thagmar tensed for battle and uttered a low menacing growl as he prepared to launch himself at the crossbowmen. However, Nengan suddenly appeared in front of Trawler and his hand burst into flame, eyes glowing with fire and fury, he threatened to burn the old man to ash if they didn’t back down. I am not sure if it was the sight of the monks wrath or the armored form of his cousin that convinced him, but the group backed down. Sufficiently cowed by the experience, Trawler confided in the group that our missing friends had been through the village about 10 days ago and had visited the temple and had not returned. The group gathered our gear and headed to the temple.

We arrived at the temple just prior to closing and found an acolyte in the main entrance. Milo confronted the priest and “convinced” him that it would be in his best interest to take the group to the high priest. The acolyte took the group to the top floor, when we entered the first room, he attempted to flee. Milo leaped up and cracked the priest in the back of the head, dropping him to the floor like a sack of flour. Thagmar attempted to move the unconscious priest out of the entrance and somehow triggered a trap causing eight skeletons to charge the group from the back of the room. A short but furious battle ensued with the group eliminating the skeletons; of note, was the ferocity that Thagmar fought with. He downed three of the undead with mighty swings of his axe. 

After the battle Milo woke the priest and “convinced him” (personally I never knew haflings could be so terrifying) to take the group to the high priest. Shaking in his robes and being frog marched by Negen, the acolyte led the group towards the high priest. I could not believe what I saw next, a torture room, in a sacred temple of Desonia! I was so angry that I struck the acolyte for blasphemy and surely would have run him through if not for the sudden appearance of eight lizard men like creatures.

The battle opened with the group dropping four of the foul creatures in the opening moments of combat. What appeared to be a quick scrimmage, turned into a near route when two more joined the attack, the high priest and a dragonborn warrior. Thagmar, Milo, and Draven immediately recognized Froc, one of their missing companions. However, Froc did not recognize them and quickly vomited a thick stream of acid that struck both Borg and Quasi (the damage was horrible). Additionally, the coward acolyte found his spine and attacked Draven from behind. Combined with Thagmar succumbing to a command spell and fleeing the area, the group looked in dire straits.

Just as things appeared to turn for the worst, Milo put Froc to sleep with a spell and just as quickly the battle turned in our favor. Especially, when Draven blasted the high priest with a witch’s lightening spell. Even after the high priest succumbed to his wounds, Draven continued the assault. Quasi standing over the very dead and very crispy high priest summed things up the best with, “I think he is dead now.” Of note was Negen, the monk slaughtered three of the lizard men with a combination of fire and steel.

The group having witnessed to many horrors and being bloodied from the recent encounter decided to recover and take a short rest. After binding our wounds and catching our breath we decided to check the high priests quarters (in addition to being a snake worshiping blasphemer he is an incredibly messy house keeper). We found strange carvings on his desk of “snake mother” and “crocodile has many teeth” repeated over and over again in a shaky script.

During our search of the quarters Milo found a secret door that led to a secret room. Dominating the room was a giant statue of a jade snake with a woman’s head. Chained to the wall was Tiefling male named Eben and a young female held in a cage. Eben informed the group that he had been part of the group that visited the temple with Froc, Vroc, and Anders. He informed the group of the ill-fated expedition to the temple and how they had been captured. The young woman explained what had been happening in the town since the snake worshippers had come. Eben and the young woman rested in the high priests chambers and kept an eye on the acolyte while the group finished exploring the temple.

The group returned to the second floor to finish exploring the temple in an attempt to find the source of the corruption and evil that had permeated the city of Orlane. A trap door on the first floor led to narrow, dark tunnels underneath the temple. Quasi scouted ahead of the group and just as he rounded a corner a very large beast thing jumped from the shadows and attacked, Quasi parried the first blow but was struck with a vicious follow up attack. The group joined the battle and after flurry of attacks the monster dropped after being run through from behind by Tatsumi.

The group ventured deeper into the tunnels when Quasi stopped the group because he had identified some shrieking mushrooms. The group silenced them before they could raise an alarm. This allowed us to sneak up on a final group of the lizard men, we made quick of the defilers.

Unfortunately we could not find the source of the corruption, so we gathered up Eben, the female captive, the acolyte, and Froc (tightly bound and muzzled) and left the temple to find a hermit named Ramme that had helped the original group. Ramme explained that the original group was taken to the swamp, minus Anders (no one knows what has happened to the thief, has he escaped?). Ramme pledged aid when we are ready to venture into the swamp.


Thanks to Chris for writing it.

Drawing a weapon

From the Player's Handbook page 190:

You can also interact with one object or feature of the environment for free, during either your move or your action. For example, you could open a door during your move as you stride toward a foe, or you could draw your weapon as part of the same action you use to attack.

And from pages 190 & 191:

Standing up takes more effort; doing so costs an amount of movement equal to half your speed.

So my thinking is that as a trained adventurer surely one could draw a weapon as quickly as getting up off the ground. So here is what I'm going to rule regarding drawing a weapon.

Anyone can draw one weapon as a free action as stated above. If character has already used their free action and wishes to draw a weapon that they are proficient with, they may use half their movement speed to draw that weapon. If a character has less than half of their movement remaining or the they are not proficient with the weapon they wish to draw, then they must perform the Use an Object action as normal. 

You may also use your Bonus Action - should you have one - to draw any weapon.

Modification to Ranger

Favored Enemy

Whenever performing an attack with a weapon against your favored enemy you add your Wisdom modifier to the damage roll. At 14th level you add double your Wisdom modifier to the damage roll.