DND Blog

A place to keep DND session recaps, from various campaigns.

The Thirteenth Session

September 8, 2018, Campaign: Wildfire

We return to Bugboldir, go shopping, and set off for Ofinor.

  1. From Bugboldir to Kingalore
  2. Theren's nightmare
  3. Wights
  4. Belmac's Gauntlets
  5. Kingalore
  6. Shopping, Reasearch, and Planning
  7. On to Ofinor
  8. Next session

We're in a tavern in the port town of Bugboldir; it's morning.

Fulwin has arranged for a cart; Marina and Corbin and Almira will travel with Fulwin and us.

Ship really wants to get rid of the hydra hide they acquired yesterday. Ship asks the tavern-keeper if there are any tanners in Bugboldir; the keeper says yes. Ship takes the Bear and Belmac with. Belmac tries to help with the haggling; there's no real advantage to haggling over an inexpertly-skinned hydra skin. We gain 50gp for the Party treasury.

From Bugboldir to Kingalore

We set forth in our travels. On our way out of town we hear about an undead creature that has been roaming the hills near Bugboldir. It disappeared for a day.

We travel the lush coastal plains headed towards the mountains; eventually leaving sight and smell of the shore. Time for camping for the night; we're one day into a three-day trek. Belmac takes first watch, Zoltar second, Theren third, Ship fourth.

Theren's nightmare

Belmac rolls a natural 1 for his perception check. So does Zoltar. And Theren. Theren becomes drowsy, and falls back into his normal sleep-trance. He has terrible nightmares, and it begins much like his last dreams ended. Images of his hometown, with wilted plants and dying landscapes. It continues. It seems dark; where the day normally was is just dim greyness. Night is extra dark. THe day is short and the night is long. In the dream, he approaches the city, and gains a sense of meotion from his patron, Dolthir, the Chexblade. Approaching the city, where he would normally feel confidence and power from his patron he feels fear. As he steps through the empty, unguarded gates of Offinor, he sees bodies. All kinds of bodies of all races, all kinds of decay. And the last image he sees is his father standing atop a balcony on the keep, looking out over the city. With a 14 perception, he can't make out many details in the dream, but there's an enormous tower presiding over the city, with a wave of energy pulsing from there. And his father is watching that.

But. As the dream comes brutally to the end, he sees that a group of six undead are invading the camp. Ship and the bear are in a tree. Belmac's armor is doffed, he's also being attacked by a visibly-stronger one. The bear rolls a natural 1 initiative; it sleeps through the entire fight. Theren, shaken by the ba ddream, has 4 intiative.

Wights

  1. Round 1
    1. Special Undead attacks Belmac, doing 23 damage. He yelps and wakes up, waking the whole crew. It attempts to grapple him while he's prone; he succeeds.
    2. Wight #1 attacks Marina, misses with its longsword.
    3. Wight #2 misses Zoltar with its longsword.
    4. Wight #3 attacks Theren and hits for 8 with a longsword.
    5. Wight #4 attacks Marnoc for 9 with a longsword. He uses his reaction to cast Wrath of the Storm; #4 fails the Dex saving throw and takes 2d8=8 damage and is pushed back 10 feet.
    6. Wight #5 attacks Corbin for 5 with a longsword.
  2. Round 2.
    1. Belmac gets up and equips his gauntlets. He uses his bonus action for Primal Strength to attack and bonus attack, doing 14 damage to the creature that attacked him. And then he Action Surges, for more damage.
    2. Wight #1 attacks Marina, she dodges the first and takes the other.
    3. Ship casts Hail of Thorns and does 14 to Wight #4, and climbs up the tree to 15 feet off the ground.
    4. Corbin stands up and makes anunarmored attack against Wight #5, misses, misses again in her drowsiness.
    5. Funky Creature attacks Belmac, crits for 12d6 = 33 damage, leaving Belmac at 2 HP. "Woo, I'm still up!" And then it makes its second attack, which downs him.
    6. Marnoc stands up and uses Healing Word on Belmac, and then uses his holy symbol to cast Turn Undead, which generatues 5 failures and 1 pass. They're all above CR 1/2; the 5 who failed, the wights, spend their next minute (10 rounds) running as far away from him as possible. Marnoc's doing this because Belmac got surprised and downed.
    7. Marina moves away from Wight #1, over next to Belmac and The Creature. Because of Turn Undead, the wight gets no attack of opportunity. Her first attack misses, the second hits with a Stunning Strike and succeeds in dazing it. It looks stunned, but it isn't. And it takes a considerable amount of damage.
    8. Fulwin casts Cure Wounds on Belmac, for 12 points of healing.
    9. Zoltar stands up and casts Magic Missile at 5th level for 7d4 + 7 = 24 damage.
    10. Wight #2 flees 60 feet away from Zoltar, who stabs it in the butt for 2 damage. It's no longer scareed as a result. It attacks Zoltar for 9 damage and does 16. This is Zoltar's first melee attack in the entire campaign.
    11. Wight #3 flees 60 feet. Theren doesn't take his attack of opportunity.
    12. Wight #4 looks heavily damaged; #4 flees 60 feet.
    13. Wight #5 flees 60 feet; Corbin does not engage.
    14. Theren stands up and casts Hexblade Curse on the creature and follows it up with two Eldritch Blasts, the first of which hits.
    15. Almira runs up behind the creature and stabs it with a dagger; she hits and does 6 damage.
    16. The bear, snoring, scares itself awake.
  3. Round 3.
    1. Belmac gets up, attacks and bonus attacks, extra attacks, total 26 damage. He doesn't recognize the figure.
    2. Wight #1 flees.
    3. Ship shoots at the creature and misses.
    4. Corbin prioritizes the Empress Marina over Zoltar, so she moves over next to the creature and attacks, and misses.
    5. The creature attacks Belmac for 24 damage and downs him again. And then it attacks him again. He's at two death fails.
    6. Marnoc moves over next to Belmac and casts Spare the Dying, stabilizing him. But if he gets hit twice, he dies.
    7. Marina casts Fairy Fire on the creature, giving everyone advantage on attacking it.
    8. Fulwin Cure Wounds Belmac for 9 HP.
    9. Zoltar casts Shatter on bone, in a 10-foot radius a little offset from Wight #2, dealing 4d8 = 20 damage. Wight #2 looks slightly above half-health.
    10. Wights 3, 4, 5, continue booking it.
    11. Theren Hexes #2 and Eldritch Blasts it for 9 damage.
    12. Almira stabs and misses.
    13. Bear jumps out of thetree onto the ndead. It takes 5 points fall damage, and pancakes the creature prone before clawing it for 5 damage.
  4. Round 4.
    1. Belmac wakes up, attacks, bonus attack, extra attacks for 22 damage magical slashing.
    2. Wight #1 continues fleeing.
    3. Ship shoots it for 5 damage. The bear misses a claw attack.
    4. Corbin attacks it and hits, for max damage. She plants a longsword in it; its green eyes glow and it looks at Belmac, says "be back" and then Belmac curbstomps it.
    5. The creature dies.
    6. Marnoc casts Sacred Flame on #2 for 14 damage, killing #2.

One wight down; it has some crummy armor and a decent longsword. The other creature has tattered leather armor and no weapons. Belmac dumps its body in the fire and goes back to sleep.

Ship and the bear go back to sleep, delegating the watch to Marnoc. The night passes without incident, and we get the benefits of a long rest.

Belmac's Gauntlets

Belmac's gauntlets speak to him; they say "he will be back." "Who was he?" "You know him quite well." "Was he your previous owner." "Yes." "What can you tell me about him?" "That creature is a revenant. it will seek you to the end of the earth, for revenge." "What does it take to kill him?"

Marnoc sees Belmac talking to his hands, gathers up everyone and says Belmac's lost it.

"There are several ways of breaking the curse. Dying is one. High-level magics will remove the curse; it's a pact on your head that needs to be broken." "how'd I do that." "You'd need to find somebody with a deep spiritual connection that could be used to remove this."

"Hey Belmac, you okay there? It looks like you're talking to the mittens." asks Marnoc.

"Yeah. Let's move on." he says. He doesn't tell us about the mittens.

Another day passes without incident; the night passes without incident.

The third day passes; we pass by the weird town that had no one there. The stump where the basket of vegetables was is empty.

Kingalore

We come to the gates of Kingalore. Belmac shouts, "Hello!" Marnoc stands on the cart and shouts, "Captain marnoc, requesting permission to dock!" He rides it out. The guards don't give us any fuss, as they see Fulwin's with us. Belmac flips them off. "Do you know who I am?!" They shake their heads no.

Fulwin and Marina jump off the cart and say that they'll go to the Guild quarter to arrange things. Corbin goes with. Marnoc says we should go with them to collect the money.

Almira starts trying to slink off towards an alley, with a 21 stealth check, Ship makes a 27 and follows with 18 stealth level. To Ship, it seems like this is the first time that Almira has been in a city that she hasn't been a slave in. It looks liek she's just trying to live her life.

Belmac notices that Ship is missing; Theren tells that Ship is going off to follow a loose end. The bear snorts in agreement. The Party follows Fulwin and Marina into the Guild Wuarter, where the military and politicla buildings are. THey enter the big commerce building in the center of the quarter. Fulwin says that they will go inside and get the gold; he asks how much he had promised; Belmac says it was 500gp each. Marnoc sighs and agrees, against his instinct to inflate it. Fulwin goes inside and returns with 300 platinum. Belmac says that we'll bein town for the next couple days, staying at his cousin's place, the Bashful Walrus.

Fulwin says that Theren is probably most-affected by the news that he just received; Theren asks what's up. All trade caravans from the city of Ofinor have ceased. Scouts and trade groups sent there have not returned. Fulwin says that maybe it would be in the best interests of the Elemental Collective for the party to investigate it, but Fulwin might not have the money to commission it.

The 300 platinum are split across the party; everyone gets 60 platinum.

Belmac says that Theren and Marnoc need to follow him; the bear and Zoltar follow. THey all ehad to the Temple of Noidesop. He explains that the revenant wants to kill him for the Bear Claw gauntlets — "I have spoken with the mittens." — and that he needs to go to the church and see if anyone can remove the thing. "Would Remove Curse work?" asks Marnoc. "No, there's a pact, kinda like what Theren has with his sword, between the revenant and something else." Marnoc asks, "So why do I need to go with?" "You're a priest of Noidesop." The idea is that Marnoc could/would claim Belmac as his acolyte. Belmac walks off towards the temple quarter. Marnoc asks if we should leave the cart behind; Belmac really doesn't care. Marnoc wants to keep it since we'll need it to go to Theren's dad's place. Belmac is proficient in animal handling; Marnoc wants to go to the Bashful Walrus first and get a drink and visit Belmac's brother. The Bashful Walrus stores the cart and horses for 5gp.

Belmac says he doesn't want to talk to his cousin yet. "If you insist," says Marnoc. It's extremely late at this point. But the same greeting brother from the fourth session is there, and he recognizes Belmac and Marnoc and the bear. Cassandra is around; as is High Priest Hawk. There's chickens beheaded on the altar. "Home sweet home," says Marnoc. Belmac wants to find the high priest, and goes looking for them. Marnoc asks if there's a place where he and his acolyte could sleep for the night; the priest who answers doesn't understand what Belmac's role is in the church. "A very angry paladin" suggests Belmac. "A chosen barbarian." Theren suggest "he brings the wrath of thegods." "I defend the faith with the wrath of the Sea God," says Belmac.

"We could put you up in the paladin's quarters," says the priest.

"Yes, preferably the soldier's quarters, with as many soldiers as possible around us," says Marnoc.

"with as many soldiers as possible…" asks the priest.

"It's a personal problem that we need to talk to the high priest about," says Marnoc.

The priest goes off; and eventually returns with High Priest Hawk, who looks like had been getting ready for bed. Hawk greets them; Belmac and Marnoc and Hawk go off to Hawk's chambers. Marnoc says that Theren and Zoltar and the Bear would go to the Bashful Walrus. They do. Theren uses the Sending Stone to tell Ship to meet them back at the Bashful Walrus.

The Bashful Walrus looks like it's doing very well, compared to the last time we were there. All the glasswar ena dsilverware are new; it's got fine curtains. Compared to the run-down piece of shit it used to be, it's a high-class establishment. And it's busy. But food is free for us.

Belmac tells Hawk about the revenant attack, and explains the gauntlets and the pact. Hawk says that the person attacked by the revenant almost always falls; the revenant is single-minded. They'll resurrect within 24 hours in the nearest dead body they can find from where they were killed; they can use any dead body. Hawk thinks that maybe a fae being would be able to remove the pact, with a good deal. Marnoc says maybe Solar Balaar would be able to do it. "I completely misread this situation, Belmac, I'm sorry; I thought you came here to make an oath," says Marnoc. Hawk is intrigued by Belmac's ability to channel the rage of the guard. They go to the training ground; Belmac uses one of his Rage charges of the day, being hit by a ray of light, and his veins glow with rage. Hawk is impressed; it's like a paladin's Divine Strike but useful for more than one attack. Hawk says that he's welcome to train here, but Belmac says since he's not a paladin, just a defender of the faith, he might gain any benefit. He's just a zealot.

Hawk says he'll ask other priests if there are any fae spirits around that might be contacted, but warns that they will try to trick and deceive Belmac. Religous benedictions are exchaanged; and Marnoc and Belmac go off to the Bashful Walrus.

Ship followed Almira. Almira wanders around; tries to beg for a bit but isn't really successful. She is trying to make a life for herself. Ship uses the sending stone to ask Theren if Brarhead hiring. Brarhead says that they have Ailee the Sverfneblin working, but business has been up and he could hire.

Ship waits for Almira to be unlucky for a few minutes; Ship tells Almira that Ship knows a guy who's hiring. Almira asks, "you shure?" "He's hired a friend of ours before." "Okay." "Let's go get drunk." "O. kay?" They go to the Bashful Walrus, and Ship introduces her to Ailee and Brarhead.

Belmac walks in and Brarhead welcomes him greatly. Ailee has been a wonderful boon to business, and brought in higher-money clientele. There are still dwarves in Brarhead's bar, but there are a lot more humans and elves. Belmac is surprised; Brarhead is more surprised. Brarhead says that dwarves are asshole customers; they don't tip.

The Bear wanders around, looking for Goofy Goblin and food; people shoo it away.

Belmac orders some of the homebrew stuff, which is still manufactured in limited amounts by Brarhead, though it's not in as much demand as possible. The standard fare in the place is now cheeses and fruit; but Brarhead keeps chicken in stock.

We take a night's rest.

Marnoc heads down to tavern for breakfast, and finds Belmac asleep on the bar. He scared off three or four of the elves last night, Brarhead doesn't really care. Ship and the bear are down there eating breakfast. Marnoc pays Ship their share of Fulwin's platinum, 60 platinum.

Marnoc and Zoltar go off to the church, to research the Fae. And Marnoc gets his hammer silvered. Marnoc finds books of stories of the fae, not close to Kingalore. THere are forests where there have been fae sightings on the road to Ofinor, some distance from the main road to the northeast. The Lorona forest.

Shopping, Reasearch, and Planning

Belmac, Theren, Ship and Bear go off to visit Solar Balaar's Bazaar. "Welcome, friends!" Belmac takes a plate of cheese.

Ship asks about things that would increase the bear's damage. The options are all 1500gp:

Ship asks if Solar Bolar can identify the poisons that Ship bought in the Florian Technocracy. Solar Bolar identifies 50gp poison is +2d6 poison damage, the 300gp poison is +8d6 poison damage with a saving throw.

Belmac asks about:

Theren asks:

Belmac starts to take off his armor; Solar Bolar stops him and foof and the armor is done. Belmac gives Solar Bolar 500gp.

With Zoltar and Belmac's monetary assistance, and Theren's Scroll of Dissonant Whispers, Theren and Ship buy a Frost Brand and the Campaign Hat of Limited Spell Duplication. As they leave the store, they run into Marnoc, who shows off his shiny silvered hammer. He notices Belmac's new armor; Belmac is happy to show off armor that shows that he can't be hit critically. The bear's hat is fancy.

Marnoc looks for any stores that seem to be doing poorly because of reduced trade; he doesn't have much success.

Marnoc tells Belmac about the forest of the fae, 6 days into our travel to Ofinor. Belmac is happy.

Theren wants to talk to the Guildmasters to find someone who would commission us to go solve the problem in Ofinor. Back at the dinner session in a previous session, Zoltar was talking to the agricultural commissioner then.

Tod tells us that the Mining Guild is the largest and most politically important one. The Brewers' Guild is next largest, followed by the Merchants' Guild. We go to each Guild House and leave notices at each one saying to ask for Theren at Brarhead's Bashful Walrus, who is the exiled prince of Ofinor and would be interested in opening new trade.

Marnoc buys a cartful of wheat for 10 platinum, to take to Ofinor, hopefully to sell at a huge markup.

That night, no one contacts us at the Bashful Walrus, not even Fulwin.

On to Ofinor

s/Ofinor/Affinore/

The first day's travel passes uneventfully through rocky and hilly terrain, with no trees.

That night, Belmac takes first watch; Zoltar takes second, Theren third and Ship fourth. The night passes uneventfully.

The second day's travel is through rockeir terrain. As we come to a gorge, Ship notices a Hill Giant clumsily hiding behind a boulder off to one side of the trail. Ship waves to it and calls out, "Hello!"

The giant pops up and shouts, "Hey! You! Kill you!"

"No," shout Ship.

"Kill you! Food!" shouts the giant."Hongry" it shouts.

Belmac stops the wagon; Theren casts Elemental Weapon on Belmac's hammer as Belmac draws it and jumps off the wagon. "Are you sure you want to fight us?" shouts Belmac, trying to intimidate us.

The giant rolls a rock down the hill; it clips Belmac.

  1. Round 1.
    1. Belmac moves up and noices that there are a couple of other hill giants sitting behind a bigger rock wall. He uses the dodge action. The other two shout noises.
    2. The Bear moves up 30 feet and uses the dodge action.
    3. Ship casts Spike Growth between the two hidden ones. They don't notice it.
    4. Giant #1 moves up to Belmac and attacks, and misses both times as Belmac dodges. Belmac spits at him.
    5. Theren Hexblade Curses Giant #1 and Eldritch Blasts them, but his spell splashes off the hill giant's blubbery hide. The second Eldritch Blast hits.
    6. Zoltar casts Fireball in a spot that hits all three giants, but misses Belmac. It's a DC 15 saving throw; one passes at 15, one fails at 1 and one fails at 0. The fireballs do 29 to both of the hiding giants, the front one deceives half damage.
    7. Giant #2 moves 40 feet towards the cart, then runs up to Theren, taking 8d4 = 20 piercing from the field of thorns.
    8. Marnoc pulls out his holy symbol and casts Call Lightning on Giant #3 for 9 damage and Channel Divinity for a bonus 30, pushing the troll back 10 feet for another 4d4=10 from the spikes.
    9. Hill Giant #3 picks up the biggest boulder he can find and throws it at Marnoc with a 27 to hit and 24 damage, which is a DC 15 to dodge; marnoc takes half damage. Then he runs out of the circle, taking another 30 spike damage as he moves out of the circle next to Belmac.
  2. Round 2.
    1. Belmac Rages and Action Surges, doing a bunch of damage to both trolls.
    2. Bear does 6 slashing.
    3. Ship shoots #3 for 13; the bear claws #2 for 7 damage.
    4. #1 makes two greatclub attacks against Belmac, who parries them for 5 net damage.
    5. Theren uses his recently-purchased Frost Brand greatsword to make two strikes at #2 with an icy blade, doing 16 and severing the troll's leg. The troll collapses. Theren moves up next to #3 and critical hits for 6d6=21 damage, who also collapses, and dies. That's two trolls down.
    6. Zoltar casts Scorching Ray on #1 for all three bolts, with a critical hit and a critical hit and a miss for 8d6=39 damage; the troll's head explodes.

Marnoc calls off the storm.

Next session

Before we leave, Ship needs to try to pull the teeth from the hill giants, to sell later.

We're two days into our weeklong journey to Ofinor.

The Thirteenth Session - September 8, 2018 - Ben Keith