Scion: Requiem for the Fallen Cities, Session 3

 After speaking with Keegan, the troupe calls it a night and the next morning gets in touch with Francesca "Frankie" Gutierrez at her restaurant. She's adamant that Keegan is responsible for Ben's death, but the band had already spoken to him, and they didn't feel like Keegan was the one that did it. The also were told that Jessica was living with Ben and decided to follow up with her after they ended their meeting with Frankie.

The band didn't have any luck getting Jessica to return their calls, so they reached out to Elena to see if she could help and Connal decided to consult his raven, which only said "Battlestar Galactica". This led nowhere, but Elena called them back and let the band know that Jessica was in a nearby Starbucks. This led to many groans. They spoke to Jessica briefly in the cafe. She was clearly distraught and seemed genuine in her care for Ben, explaining that he took her in off the streets and was like a father figure to her. 

Jessica suggested they walk to a nearby park and talk further, where she revealed she had seen Ben get killed by a large metal mummy-looking thing. She had brought him a scroll that he said was for summoning something and when the thing appeared, she grabbed the scroll and Ben's journal and took off. Inspection of the scroll turned up no magic associated with the thing, and it was actually a ritual that would allow "separation of self". Jessica also revealed to the heroes that one of the reasons Ben took her in was that she was a Scion of the Titan, Aten, and he knew the others in his band wouldn't stand for one of their "enemies" living among them.

As she talks to them, an explosion of light occurs nearby and there stands the 12' tall creature she had described to them. At the same time, some of the sand creatures from before also coalesce and a single corpse-looking humanoid with terrible burns all over its body. Arne and Yrsa begin to pick off the smaller guys from range while Cahir and Connal engage in hand to hand with the large statue thing. Realizing that most of the baddies are moving toward Jessica, Alex gets her motivated to run for Cahir's men at their van. 

A knockdown drag-out fight occurs, and everyone (except Alex) takes some licks. Cahir's men begin to fire on the sand things when they get close behind Alex and Jessica, and they take Jessica into the van while Alex peels off toward Cahir's Relic car. Imbuing a point of Legend into it and coaxing its spirit to do what he needs, the car roars to life and Alex steers it right toward the construct, crashing onto it and doing enough to finish the thing off. 

Elena arrives on the scene ahead of the rest of LVPD and tells the Band that they need to get out of there and she'll smooth everything over with a cover story that she's gotten from witnesses. Everyone picks up what she's putting down and though Cahir has to leave his car, they all get out of there, which is where we left off for the night.

Cast of Characters
Alex Saito, Heroic Scion of Tsukiyomi - Taylor
Arne Berg, Heroic Scion of Skadi - David
Cahir MacMannus, Heroic Scion of The Morrigan - Chris
Connal MacMannus, Heroic Scion of The Morrigan - Jon
Yrsa Vinter Strand, Heroic Scion of Skadi - Sam

Notes
• This combat ran loooong. I'm not sure what's causing us so many problems when it comes to smooth combat in this system, but we've not hit our stride yet. Other rolling periods seem smoother, but Storypath seems clunky to us. It's really bugging me, because the group are WoD/Storyteller vets.
• I condensed the story once they hit on Jessica. I had a lot more prepared, but I didn't feel a need to drag it out further. They will have time to explore some other parts of it once they dig into Ben's journal some and talk with Jessica more.
• I was expecting the group to be at Legend 2 at the end of this session. I might need to step up the opportunities for them to accomplish deeds. Yet another growing pain with the new system.

A Little Jaunt to Khardtha

 This week, Angela was unable to attend and run her Emerald Spire campaign, so I took the reins and had everyone roll up first level Pathfinder 1e characters while I looked for a published adventure to run. I settled on Patrick Wetmore's Anomalous Subsurface Environment; the party was created and off we went.

I decided on a whim to set the game in my own campaign setting and had our adventurers start in the town of Marstad, close to the western border of Gyr. An entrance to an underground complex had recently opened on the side of a nearby hill and the local government had hastily erected a gate over the opening and posted guards in the event that anything came out. A local mining interest and several members of local government were offering coin to those who explored, and a ragtag group was assembled for the mission.

Spoilers ahead for Anomalous Subsurface Environment!

The group were surprised to find that a long flight of stairs led down from the entrance and the structure was relatively clean and in good repair when they got to the base of the stairs. They first entered a room to their right which contained the skeletonized remains of a humanoid with scraps of clothing and bits of paper. One of the sheets of paper had a note saying they had been trapped in this complex and were being fired upon when trying to escape. The adventurers pocketed the note and moved on.

The group then went down a hall opposite the room they had just checked and came into a large hall almost knee deep with bones with a few passageways leading off and what appeared to be a large stone sarcophagus lying open at the far end. They first check a room on their right which is empty and mark the door leading out of the other side of it for further exploration and backtrack into the bone hall, moving toward the sarcophagus. Suddenly, a screech like a woman's scream erupts from a passage ahead of them and they rush in, fortunately holding the incoming albino humanoids in a chokepoint where they're able to hold their own long enough to force their aggressors back. The explorer's abandon this direction, not wanting to walk into what could be a trap and go back to the large hall. There, they finally make it to the sarcophagus and find it empty. Several small alcoves lie above it on the wall, but nothing can be gleaned, and it is marked for further experiments later if something can be found to fit in the alcoves.

Going back to the empty room from earlier, they move past the door on the opposite side and check another room, which seems to have rusty and dry rotted tools, then onto a room with a clump of lichen covering what appeared to be a complete humanoid skeleton, but below the fungus was only the hips and legs of a skeleton composed of tarnished silver! How the lichen mimicked the shape of the torso, head, and arms was a puzzlement, but a switch on the wall was manipulated by Malar and found to turn on an overhead light and open a secret door when pushed in. Another secret door was found at the end of a short hall and progress was made into a small empty room with a door leading out on the other side.

Traversing through the door and into a short hall brought them to an oddly pastoral scene. Four wooden statues of three-eyed gnomes with conical hats topped with large garnets sat in a circle in the middle of a large trapezoidal room. Woodland murals covered the walls and fake shrubs dotted the floor here and there. During inspection, one of the statues was touched and all four sprang to their feet and began to attack the party! The fight was hard, and the wooden warriors hit hard, but in the end the heroes prevailed and decided to head topside to report their findings and come back more prepared. 

We called it there and may pick this back up if we have another Friday night where the group is short a player.

Cast of Characters
Malar Harken, Human Unchained Rogue 1 - David
Brunus Kegstand, Dwarf Barbarian 1 - James
RiRun, Catfolk Fighter 1 - Sam
Jobin Goldbloom, Halfling Sorcerer 1 - Taylor

Notes
• I didn't incorporate much of the setting into the game, as we wanted to get going fairly quickly. If we play it again, I'll be able to put more effort into expanding what the nation of Gyr is like, etc.
• I was converting ASE as I went and probably erred on the easier side when it came to monster stats. I wanted the players to have fun and feel like heroes. My goal wasn't to TPK, even though the wood golems could have easily done that without me boosting them any more.

Tyrant's Grasp, End of Book 4/Start of Book 5

 I'm not sure what session number we're on, so I'll just pick this one up with the number of the book we're in for each post title starting next session.

Also, my apologies to Sam because she narrated this marvelously and it felt fast and loose and didn't feel like it lost steam, but I have no frame of reference for any of the NPCs and I can't find my notebook with names of people (even the PCs), so I only know Tar-Baphon's name. I'll try to revise this post at some point once I find all my information. 

This will be a terrible recap. Thankfully, it was a short session since we decided to go shopping.

Arazni had informed our heroes that they had found the means to teleport directly to face the terrible Tar-Baphon and did so as soon as possible, but the battlefield was stacked against those who would oppose the Whispering Tyrant and Arazni whisked us away to another place. We arrived in a lush jungle, surrounded by nature on all sides and some very large crocodiles not far from where we landed.

Quickly moving away from the ancient reptiles, we were met with an elderly woman named something like Miriam who began to speak to us in a strange language. A little bit of magic later and we were able to communicate, and she offered to take us to her village. The place turned out to be a very large (and well stocked city). We entertained conversation with her, and she let us in on some local info and turned us loose to rest and recover, which we spent shopping for the rest of the night.

Cast of Characters
Teemuk, Human Pyrokineticist 12 - Me

Notes
•That's all I'm going to put, character wise. I know the classes of everyone, but I can't remember anyone's names right now. I never seem to have problems with them when we're actually at the table.
•This is a terrible recap, as stated before. Really, this is all on me, but also it was a lot of exposition as it was the end of one book and start of another. I just lost my notebook with my game notes.

Scion: Requiem for the Fallen Cities, Session 2

 If anyone is paying attention, you're correct that you've seen this campaign name before. A game slot came open and I have been wanting to run Scion 2nd Edition for a while, so I asked the gang if they wanted an entirely new chronicle or to pick up an older one. We decided to revive an older run with the updated rules and Taylor set to work converting his old character while David pretty much remade his with a little more depth and took some joke elements out. The rest of the lot made completely new characters because they weren't in the original run. You can read what happened in the previous chronicle here.

Photo by Mike Mezeul

Tom Begay, a scion of Yolkaiestsan, had continued his lightning storm to call other Scions to the area. His band wanted to bolster numbers because they believed with the increase in sightings of things both paranormal and mythical, that the titans were poised to make a move against the children of the gods. Alex was already staying in Las Cruces and had made contact with Tom on a tip from Steve Sherwin before that group disbanded.

Having all just recently gotten their visitations and hints that they needed to seek out lightning, the four other Scions converged on Las Cruces and started poking around the White Sands National Monument, not far from the city, to figure out what was going on. Tom recognized them for what they are and gave them the run down, though he didn't have as much information, having been somewhat distant from his band since he was working at White Sands. He told the band that he would get in touch with his own group and send word that he was sending them to Las Vegas to meet, so that the more experienced Scions could inform these newcomers about the "coming war."

They agree, exchange phone numbers and go off to their respective lodgings for the night. The next morning, however, they are attacked in the parking lot of a motel as they're preparing to take off by some grayish humanoids seemingly made of sand. The heroes sustained just a little damage before being able to disperse the sandy beings to a cheering crowd of onlookers who thought maybe they were a traveling show or tv or movie stars practicing in the lot. The PCs made their goodbyes to the assembled crowd and headed for Las Vegas.

Along the way, the band would periodically see people out of the corner of their eye on the side of the road, colored ash gray or in the sepia tones of sand but would disappear from sight when looked at directly. Then, another weird thing happened when they stopped about two hours outside of Vegas and noticed that the sky had two suns; one that hung at the midday position and one in the correct spot. Only the Scions seemed to notice this, as Cahir's goons couldn't even see the noon sun.

The group traveled on into Las Vegas, heading to a pin dropped on their phones with no seeming source. They arrive shortly after to a large estate in a nice neighborhood. The house is in the Mediterranean style, with columned porticos and large courtyards. They are met at the gate by two of Tom's band: Shelley, a local politician, and Elena, an LVPD detective. They tell the band they asked to meet here because one of their number, a Scion of Ra named Ben, has been killed, apparently on the eve of his apotheosis, and they are investigating. Since another pair of eyes wouldn't hurt, they ask the PCs to look around and then they can compare notes.

The inside of the house would be relatively spartan if it weren't for the dearth of Egyptian relics seemingly on every surface. Everything is neat and has its place, which makes the next scene all the more striking. The door to the study from the hall is open, but a key is in the lock, showing it was opened willfully, the French doors leading to the balcony are torn asunder. One is completely off its hinges on the floor and the other barely hangs from the frame. Blood is splattered all over the room, as well as a little pine resin here and there. There is shattered furniture strewn about the room and small flecks of healthy flesh near the balcony doors, though if it's from the victim or the assailant is anyone's guess.

Alex checked out the security system, but didn't tamper with it, while the rest of the group went outside into the courtyard and down to the entry gate following a trail that Arne had picked up. The trail eventually ran cold, almost as if whatever it was had just disappeared completely, so Yrsa Read the Runes to seek what their next course of action would be. They knew answer lay in three women and a man so they went back to Shelley and Elena to learn about some people they had mentioned earlier that they felt bad interrogating about Ben's death because they're all close.

The PC band gets contact info for the four and decide to contact a man named Keegan, a Scion of Lugh, since he's the only one not considered part of Ben's band and seemed like a rough character. They find him playing basketball at a park and pull him aside for questions while Connal takes his place on the court, needing to get some energy out. Keegan is forthcoming with his answers and freely admits that he and Ben had physically fought very recently, but that is just how they were. He pointed his own finger at a woman named Jackie, because she was jealous of the newest member of Ben's group.

We left off here. It was getting kind of late and was a great stopping place. Hopefully, this short interview will make the players think of some questions for the others next time.

Cast of Characters
Alex Saito, Heroic Scion of Tsukiyomi - Taylor
Arne Berg, Heroic Scion of Skadi - David
Cahir MacManus, Heroic Scion of The Morrigan - Chris G
Connal MacManus, Heroic Scion of The Morrigan - Jon G
Yrsa Vinter Strand, Heroic Scion of Skadi - Sam

Notes
•David and Samantha chose Skadi completely separately, so this was a pretty odd coincidence. Jon and Chris wanted to play brothers (because being real brothers isn't enough) and went with The Morrigan for aesthetics.
•Sam really carried the fight with the sand things. She was really the only player rolling consistently enough to damage the things repeatedly.
•Bonus points to anyone spotting either the overall theme I'm going for or know where I'm pulling some of the scenario from.

The Emerald Spire, Session 7

This session took place on the 21st of this month, but I forgot to post about it then, so I'm doing it now and have sessions from the 22nd and 27th to post.

When we picked up, we had just put down a cult of Norgorber that had holed up on the 2nd underground level of the ruins. We tied up who we could and tried to get some rest in a secure chamber, but a curious grick interrupted our night. Once Hilde was able to rouse our captives, she negotiated the terms of their release and promised any who repented and wished to enter society a clear way in. 

Only one of their number agreed to allow us to help them turn things around, but the rest of the cultist/bandits vowed to leave the place. This left their leader, a strong-willed woman who would see no reason, so the group decided to turn her in to the Hellknights at Fort Inevitable. And so, we set off for the 6-hour trek back to town with a hopeful convert and a cult leader.

Along the way, a quick encounter [that I can't actually remember the monster of now] slowed us only a little and we were back home before too late. Our first stop was the Citadel, where we met with Lady Drovust, the commander of the Hellknights and de facto leader of Fort Inevitable. We turned over our prisoner, though Dai Lu made clear her ideas about what she thought the outcome would be with the cultist and how she felt about it. Drovust thanked the party for the information they gave her and "gifted" them with a house in town that was all but falling apart in return for what the group has already accomplished and future tasks yet to be named. The band said they would hold to this agreement but would not assassinate people for the Hellknights.

With some of the money that had been gained on adventures, a fund was set aside to begin repairs and we hired the cultist who said they wanted to reform, giving them room and board for free and a little coin of their own if they agreed to begin getting the house in a livable condition.

We left off there. It was a short session, but sets us up better in town and we're prepped for our next expedition down into the lower levels of The Emerald Spire!

Cast of Characters
Barael Orphanbane, Tiefling Paladin 2/Oracle 2 of Sarenrae - James
Dai Lu, Human Summoner 4 - Me
Finley Inox, Fetchling Rogue 4 - Sam
Hilde, Aasimar Warpriest 4 of Shelyn - Taylor
Marigold of Summer, Halfling Zealot 4 - David
Medgi Bienmer, Halfling Spiritualist 3 (Retired) - Sam

Notes
I joined this game at level 2, after I came back from my amputation, so my character would be the noob of the group, but Sam decided to retire her old character after session 5. I'll have to ask her why later; I can't recall her reason.

Numenera: Those Who Move Clouds, Session 1

When a Shadow of the Demon Lord campaign I was running came to a close, I had everyone vote on what would I would run next, from games on The List (almost 100 different campaign ideas I have on the back burners). It was a close run between Deadlands and Numenera, but Numenera won out and we started the campaign on alternate Saturdays over Discord. 

Awgere

Our campaign starts in Awgere, a coastal aldeia (village) off the Sere Marica known for its salt harvesting operations. The PCs have found themselves in Awgere for their own reasons, becoming acquainted through work or other means. One balmy evening, right as the sun starts to set, an explosion echoes from the marsh nearby the settlement. Many people rush to the scene, fearing the worst for their fellow residents. The PCs arrive to an already gathering crowd to find the remains of a person badly mangled from a localized explosion.

No one gathered could identify the individual, and pieces of scrapped numenera and other devices led Yanusen to believe that a reaction from gathered cyphers had caused the explosion until a device was found that was still functional. Upon activation, the device played an audio message stating "Transmission complete. Mission failure." Interested in what this mission could be, the rest of the group ask Yanu to see if he can get more from the device, which he easily does after manipulating it for a few moments. "Secure objective: Mazen. Return to Astaria rendezvous. Payment upon completion."

This alarmed everyone, especially Mazen, who became even more alarmed when the party decided that the best course of action was to head toward Astaria, putting them closer to whatever group wanted them captured! Plans were hastily made to make the trek overland and after collecting pay and informing those who needed to know where they were going, seeding false information in case anyone was feeding Mazen's pursuers intel, they headed for Astaria on foot.

A more inland route is chosen and the group set off, their travel the first day takes them into the grasslands inland from the coast and they pass a few aldeia until later in the day when they decide to rest at the next one they encounter. The party spots a dead man slumped on the porch of a small hut. He had been dead for just a short time, and some sort of black substance had been placed under his skin from a puncture between his shoulder blades. Finding they could do nothing for the man, they move on. Just down the road, they come across a chimney-shaped building with robed and hooded residents that pass them on the road as they enter a place called Jutte.

Trummel

A man named Trummel greets them as they enter Jutte, asking what their purpose is and offering information if they need anything in the town. He points them to a hostel and the market square for lodging and food and answers a few questions about crime in the area. He answers a question about the hooded people they saw before and bids them well, letting the PCs go about their way. Trummel meets them in the morning and walks them to the edge of town as they leave, making small talk.

Once far from the safety of the aldeia, the group see an oorgolian kneeling on the road ahead, petting two broken hounds he has with him. When it stands, it points to Mazen stating "Give us that one and nobody gets hurt," stating again that Mazen is the one it's after and projecting a hologram of their likeness to confirm. Mazen and their companions balk at this and after a short exchange, Asimra charges into battle. The oorgolian pleads with Mazen to come along peacefully throughout the encounter, but its voice becomes more digitized as the fight wears on, as if encoded. One statement too many and the alien explodes just as he's about to say something else, shredding the sole hound left standing and leaving the group pincushioned with shrapnel.

With the mercenary and his hounds defeated and another clue pointing to Astaria, the band are left pondering what lies ahead as they mend their wounds before setting off again.

Cast of Characters

Mazen,  A Swift Nano who Controls Gravity (Sam)

Yanusen,  A Calm Nano who Commands Mental Powers (Taylor)

Asimra, A Strong Glaive who Works Miracles (Chanz)

Errol, A Graceful Glaive who Fights with Panache (Rachele)

Raide, A Strong-Willed Glaive who Rides the Lightning (Brenden)

Lincoln Ford Mercury, A Strong-Willed Nano who Works Miracles (Chris G)

Notes: 

1. Playing this game on Discord allowed for some of the people not in our normal group to play and made it easier for some of the players who had scheduling conflicts to participate, but attendance has still been an issue. I've called off games a few times before, and we settled on playing Wilderlands when we can't get four players for a session so we don't have a dry week of gaming.

2. I lean quite a bit more into the sci-fi than I think is intended. Assumptions are made that people aren't idiots and terms and basic knowledge would spread at least a little. This might be colored by having played Torment: Tides of Numenera?

Wilderlands 4, Session 1

The crew couldn't all assemble for our bi-weekly Discord game of Numenera on the 22nd of April, so I asked if we wanted to pivot to a back-up game so we didn't have a dry week of gaming. Getting answers in the positive, the group began to make first-level Pathfinder characters to play in my take on the Wilderlands setting.

The group started their careers in my homebrew town of Bugbear Falls, a fortified site on the far eastern reaches of the territories held by Viridistan, the fabled City-State of the World Emperor. Having newly made their individual ways there after hearing the promises of wealth and fresh starts in the territory made by the Emperor's court to any willing to explore and tame the marches.

Sitting in the local tavern, The Desecrated House, the newly chartered adventuring guild, the Glorious Slayers, decided to take on a job before their funds started to run out, so they looked at local postings. There were three notices on the board outside the bank/pawn broker:

• Unbreakables estate clearance! Inquire inside!
• A return of a bracelet belonging to Elle, from the river by the Hermit's Shack.
• Rubbings from the fey gate to the east of town. See Syl the Sage for details.

Both of the jobs outside of town seemed appealing and they quickly settled on getting the rubbings, heading to the shop of Syl the Sage. A slate outside reads "Walk-Ins Welcome: Readings, Debates, Research, Taxidermy." The troupe enter and find the small woman surrounded by books, mumbling about proving someone wrong. After introductions are made and business rates discussed, Gregor speaks up and negotiates the terms of the job posted previously. Syl gives them charcoal and paper and sends them on their way.

Once down on the River Road, the party can see the top of the gate, a beautifully carved relief on a cliff face depicting two trees, their trunks covered in runes, branches meeting to create an arch. The fey gate, as it is known, has no opening. A blank rock face is all that greets the party as they approach and take out the supplies to begin making rubbings.

Shortly, however, the party is interrupted at first by one, then another small, blue humanoid coming out of the rock wall as it shimmers and ripples before them, speaking an odd language. They look perturbed, but Echo also speaks the Sylvan tongue and can communicate. They inform her that the adventurer's "kind" had not paid their debts and that they should leave immediately. The little ones seem to personally feel like taking rubbings isn't going to hurt anything and warn the PCs to be gone by the time they come back with their master, at which point they walk back into the gate.

Our heroes speed their efforts and begin to feel immense heat coming from the gate and hear loud, clanging footsteps. They gather their supplies and beat a trail out as quickly as possible by the time whatever is coming reaches their side of the gate, being out of sight and on the River Road back to Bugbear Falls to collect their reward, 10 gold coins and a future research of their choice for free!

Cast of Characters

Gregor and Victoria Palesun, Human Spiritualist 1 and Phantom (Taylor)

Echo Tovun, Elf Magus (Eldritch Archer) 1 (Rachel)

Taric, Human Barbarian 1 (Brenden)

Baila, Halfling Rogue 1 (Rachele)

Notes: You'll notice there are four PCs in the cast, but only two mentioned in the actual body of the session. That's because the players for Taric and Baila left early in the session. I had planned a combat for the session, as well, but put that off when the only two characters left were a Spiritualist and a Magus.

Edit: Changed some names as I've come to rediscover my notes.

Bleep Boop! Achievable!

Last night's session was a milestone for my group. Though we have completed a Pathfinder Adventure Path in the past (Wrath of the Righteous), this was the first one we completed with me in the DM's seat.

A few years back, I decided I would run the APs in order, starting with Rise of the Runelords. That one wrapped up in the fifth book, with the characters' lives ending in Runeforge, the magical research center created by the Runelords. Curse of the Crimson Throne came to its conclusion during play of the third book under Arkona Manor when the party fell to the claws of Sivit, the darksphinx. After that, the group (down a couple of players, I'll add) failed saves against Drow sleep poison and were quickly outmatched by Depora at the end of the first book, bringing our Second Darkness run to a close.

Then, we started Legacy of Fire. The opening felt weak, though the action and story were compelling enough to keep play going. There were times when the story fell flat, not supporting the overall narrative, and focus was lost a little. There were times I had to bolster or scale back the number of encounters to keep things exciting/stop the game from becoming a slog. Despite this, after 41 sessions since 2017, we completed the Adventure Path.

I only hope my players had fun through the campaign. Something about the end rang hollow to me, but I can't place it. It's not that they didn't have to fight for the win, it's not that I don't think they were rewarded with a bad campaign (or Dungeon Master!). I keep going back to the denouement. Legacy of Fire's epilogue isn't as satisfying to me as the three previous APs'.

We talked about it as a group after we finished, and everyone seemed ok with it. Sometimes it's a curse being the DM, when you read and know more about it all. It does feel good to not TPK in one of these and actually see it to the end, though Jhavhul did his best to try to change that.

The Council of Thieves is next in the series, but it's been requested that Forgotten Realms 2 be next. Looking forward to that!

Leaving Whiterock to be Wrathfully Righteous

Upon further investigation into the happenings on the level of the dungeon we were on in Castle Whiterock, Taylor found out we were not, in fact, on a level where we would be thrown into an underground arena that is mentioned in the adventure, so he decided to call the game, citing that the orcs that captured us would just feed us to, well, themselves.

Though the campaign was fun, and I felt like it was gaining momentum as we delved deeper, the call made sense, and opened up a slot for the next game in our rotation (we're usually two or three games out in planning, though we drop random stuff in time to time), meaning that Sam would be picking up her Wrath of the Righteous adventure path for Pathfinder!

We last played this campaign in July of last year, and had attained 13th level and 5th Mythic Rank. Going back through my archives, I was surprised to see I never posted about this campaign, but the past couple of years have not given me many opportunities to do so, and the sessions are so rich with content that I don't feel I would do them justice. Here's my attempt to pick it up, at any rate, and we begin in the Midnight Isles, realm of the Demon Lord Nocticula...


After a reunion between Triel and Iridai, upon invitation we made our way to the Vault of Graves for an audience with Nocticula. However, befitting her fiendish nature, the demon queen set the shades of her lessers on us in the antechamber, stalling our advance just a short time before we were able to vanquish three and Triel took control of the fourth.

The Demon Queen, Resplendent

As we entered the main area, we saw shelves rising 50 feet or so, filled to the brim with scrolls and tomes. This scriptorium was guarded by two fly-headed demons, who we vanquished and then made our way past to Nocticula's chambers, where we were greeted by the sight of her reclining on a bench. I must admit, I have never looked upon the visage of one who rules what is basically a divine realm with my own eyes. Though I, myself, and Triel are both of divine providence, I must admit to being stunned and speechless when my eyes fell upon this dread queen. I noticed some of my companions were similarly dumbfounded, which makes me wonder if it was a spell of some sort or perhaps the fact that we met in her domain which added to the effect. We may never know unless we meet her again.

The conversation with Nocticula was tense. I remained silent, mostly due to my hatred for her kind, but also because she offered us what we wanted directly, and I felt no need to interject. She also granted us a "boon" in the form of a warrior that Iridai seemingly knew, but we turned down her other gifts, knowing that they would be tainted somehow by her demonic influence.

Despite the dangerous prospect of trusting someone of her persuasion, Nocticula agreed to withdrawing from a business operation with the demon lords Deskari and Baphomet, and also told us of a mining operation that the two were allowed to run on one of her islands, which we whisked away magically to when our audience was finished. Triel and myself teleporting there, with Druss leading the other two through a portal the fiend had offered to facilitate our travel. Though I could find no deception in her eyes or voice about this portal, I couldn't bring myself to jump at the gifts of one from the Abyss.

Arriving at the Isle under circling flocks of vrocks was unnerving, but we all converged in time to see a shape rushing at us from the sky, a celestial body defiled with beheading, with its skin flensed from its body. This Heavenly corpse rushed at us, but Triel's magic seized control of it and forced it under her will. I secretly wished for her to have blasted it to ash to rid reality of this atrocity, but it is small relief to know that under this control, at least this holy being's body will die in just cause and in battle against those who would commit this type of atrocity.

Our ventures took us further upstream, where we encountered more undead abominations. These, the wailing spirits of the cursed fallen, led by a powerful knight of the grave. Though they proved slightly troublesome, we eventually won out and claimed the barge they had been guarding.

I shall return with words on this soon...


Cast of Characters
Hal' bin (Human Cleric 8 of Iomedae/Exalted 5|Mythic Heirophant 6) - Me
Triel (Drow Wizard 13|Mythic Archmage 6) - Taylor
Druss (Dwarf Barbarian 13|Mythic Guardian 6) - David
Iridai (Nagaji Sorcerer 9/Dragon Disciple 4|Mythic Archmage 6) -  Jon
Tusk (Half-Orc Barbarian 13|Mythic Champion 6) - G2

Edit: I had typoed "orcs" in the first paragraph to "orcas". Funny, that.

Forgotten Realms II: Legacies of the Past, Series 2.1

Friday night, I revived a campaign I haven't ran in ten years, with a group featuring only one of the players from that game a decade ago.

Some might ask why I'd do such a thing? Surely, the balance and chemistry would be thrown off? Does the player from the old group even remember his character or what was happening? Can the new group possibly capture some of that same dynamic that made the old campaign successful? Can you even remember where you were going with the campaign, and can you reignite that dynamic that made the old campaign successful?

The answers are easy enough: Paul really wants to see this out to its end, plus it sounds fun. Probably, but that can be recreated. Not really, but with lots of exposition and two weeks to study his character and classes, he's getting up to speed. I'm hoping the new group creates its own dynamic that will make this new part of the campaign successful. I keep meticulous notes, and had all my old work saved, so I know where I was going, but can I jump back in and get a solid dynamic going? Hell, I'm gonna give it my best!


And so we begin...
There's a fair amount of exposition and hammering out some details before we get started. This was made easier by only having half of the group present, so after we do some short prologues and catch everyone up to what happened in the old campaign, then I let the players choose when we would get into the game.

Some of the exposition follows, for those who want to play along at home...
Disclaimer: If you stumbled across this post and decided to read due to setting, and you are a Forgotten Realms purist, you might want to stop right now. My realms is set in 1395 DR, before any of the 4th or 5th Edition material was published, and absolutely wrecks canon in places. You have been warned!

·                     The intrepid heroes of the old campaign were whisked to the Monastery of the Omniscient Eye in the Sunrise Mountains. (A huge shared temple of all gods/goddesses of knowledge in any form, including those who normally wouldnt work together on principle of alignment. (Shar, Oghma, Milil, Savras, Gond, etc.)

·                     There, it is revealed that the Illumians are a dying race magically created thousands of years ago by a culture they do not recall to safeguard knowledge and put the knowledge they do have to use in making Abeir-Toril safer and to keep magic proliferate.

·                     At the Monastery, the PCs unlocked the truth behind their items(and statted them), decided who would continue on the quest, and equipped themselves to be appropriate for their level so that the challenges aren't increasingly harder than the PCs could muster against.
·                The 8 Great Evils were revealed as riddles and rhymes to be interpreted how the PCs found fit, though each is very much a specific person/entity, and all are truly evil.
·                     The PCs will set out on their quest to rid the world of the Evils, thus fulfilling their purpose as bearers of Thenadae's Legacy Items. 

After hitting the bullet points and going over a recap of the last session played with Paul, we went through a short prologue for each character, which is where the campaign picks up.

Jörmun's Prologue
After his battlelust getting the best of him during a job in his long stay in Waterdeep, Jörmun is forced to leave the city, becoming a wanderer again in his life, searching out battle, gold, and magic.

Some time later, during his travels, an agent of his employer in the City of Splendors, a man he for the first time realizes is an elf, despite multiple dealings, intercepts him and offers him a tip on a lucrative venture where there is promised to be much treasure and many chances to prove his might in battle.

This is all the Uthgardt needs to agree, and the man gives him an amulet that will guide the northerner in the right direction. Without hesitation, the warrior begins the long trek on foot toward adventure, arriving nine days later in Enialani Deshu.


Harlequin's Prologue
Harlequin has it easy. After touring with a troupe of entertainers, she has settled back in working for a noble family that pays her well. This day, however, when she enters the estate for her nightly performances, she is met with the man of the house, who takes her aside and explains that her father has need of her talents this day.

Art by Carla Arlecchino

It is explained by Harlequin's father that a veteran friend, and powerful Chessentan noble, named Telamon has asked for his aid in completing a quest that Telamon, himself, must give up for the time being. The old naval officer realizes that he is too old to take up this quest, but believes that his daughter has the life experience and potential to achieve great things and so decided to contact Harlequin and ask for her to do this thing for him, and to know he would never ask this of her if he didn't feel there was great need.

Harlequin accepts and her father bids her gather everything she feels she will need and meet him at their home, which she does and is introduced to a mystic whom asks if she is ready, then whisks her to Cormanthor via teleport as soon as she begins to answer. The mystic then bids her good luck and teleports away again just as quickly, leaving the young woman to guess where to go.

Shortly after entering the city, she makes contact with Telamon and his group before they depart, and he thanks her for taking up this quest in her father's stead. He then introduces her to Melody and makes preparations to leave.


Melody's Prologue

Art by Nekoart on Twitter

Telamon, Hapheth, Jack, Melody, Ajax, Logos, and Aeshoon (most of the original group) are traveling into Cormanthor to Enialani Deshu, the grand city that was rebuilt over fallen Myth Drannor. On the way in, they are met by elven sentinels clad in glassteel armor and weilding exotic blades and masterfully crafted bows. These elves bid them well on their travels, and sometimes accompany the party a short while before continuing their patrols.

Before reaching the gates, Telamon gets a Sending explaining that his city-state (Luthcheq) is in danger of civil unrest and possibly invasion if he does not return and exert control. He asks for Ajax and the rest of his followers to accompany him, except for Aeshoon, whom he asks to help recruit others to take up the quest, vowing that he will return if given the opportunity. Jack says that he will travel east with Telamon, but admits that his destination is the Great Dale, where he hopes to get the relationship with his daughter on track. Hapheth offers to help Telamon, also saying that he will return to the quest if the opportunity later presents itself. The majority of the band depart, leaving behind the lich Thenadae's prophesied items that will help the heroes defeat the Eight Great Evils after Telamon and others put out calls to various agents to send worthy persons to Cormanthor.


The Group Forms and Starts Out
Melody and Aeshoon wait, first greeting a Chessentan woman by the name of Harlequin who teleports in that afternoon and is greeted by Telamon before he departs, as she is the daughter of an old friend, then almost a tenday later being joined by a Uthgardt calling himself Jörmun.

After greetings, the two new recruits are given the basics of what the items that make up Thenadae's Legacy do. More abilities are introduced to the characters once they lay claim and a short attunement ritual is completed. Jörmun chooses Hapheth's cape and Harlequin takes Jack's boots, leaving Aeshoon's silvered tanto blade, Telamon's helm, and Darden's belt, though the latter item is still with it's original claimant.

Aeshoon explains that Darden had a lead on where they needed to go next to face one of the evils, but had only left a note, and had taken off on his own to arrive there first, saying he would wait at Enailai Deshu for a short time before moving on, and that if he had already gone, they should meet with the Tradesmaster of the Elven Court, and that he would be able to provide them more information.

The four go to meet the Tradesmaster, who in his graciousness does not turn them away when they enter his chambers armed and armored, despite the proper company in attendance. Tradesmaster Ivellios Vyshaan introduces the group to his wife, Siloqui, an air genasi named Ithagan, who is introduced as "Captain of Her Majesty's Spell Archers", an earth genasi named Fraught, who is introduced as the Vyshaan's head of security, and the High Mage of Cormanthor, Eraevan Teshurr, and his companion, Maresa.

The Tradesmaster goes on to explain that he had met with Darden two tendays ago, and that the dark elf indicated that he would be going to a location in the Dagger Hills, just on the edge of Daggerdale, to enter a chamber leading to the drow outpost of what used to be known as Szith Morcane and on to Maerimydra. Ivellios goes on to explain that he doesn't know what could be in those locations now, but that he was part of an adventuring band, that included Ithagan and Fraught, that cleansed that place of the drow menace more than twenty years ago, though as he understands it, some rogue bands of drow and fey'ri were destroyed in the area during the Reclamation Wars.

Ivellios then pulls out a map of the region and shows the group where Darden was to enter the Underdark, and bids them luck on their travel, offering fresh mounts for the journey, should they so choose. The group declines when Melody suggests she can get them there faster, and they decide to leave that afternoon, with Aeshoon staying behind to greet any others who may show up to take on the quest and guide them on their way.

Jörmun is reluctant to climb aboard at first when Melody shifts into the form of a giant bat, but reasons that flying is basically the only mode of travel he hasn't used before, and climbs onto the wildshaper. Harlequin is quick to mount the bat, finding it no more unusual that someone can turn into a bat than some of the arcane tricks she has already seen in her travels, and thus with a few spells cast for even more expedience in their trip, they take to the sky.

Five hours into their flight, however, several figures can be seen rising into the air in pursuit...


Cast of Characters
Harlequin Jacinta, Human Jester 13 - Angela
Jörmun Gand, Barbarian 11/Frenzied Berserker 2 - Taylor
Melody Proust, Half-Drow Druid 5/Mistress of Many Forms 8 of Shiallia - Paul
Aeshoon, Illumian Fighter 4/Cleric 9 of Oghma - Chris' cohort (retired)
Ajax, Human Fighter 12 - Ritchie (retired)
Darden (Zszfrynvyll Noqurden), Drow Ranger 7 of Silvanus/Fighter 2/Tempest 1 - Ritchie (retired)
Hapheth Hesaad, Greensnake Shinomen Naga Abjurer 9/Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil 2 - Eric (retired)
Jack Grimes, Human Scout 7/Thief-Acrobat 4/Artificer 3 - Zack (retired)
Telamon, Karsite Human Human Paragon 3/Fighter 4/ Knight 5 - Chris (retired)



So, with one session under my belt on this campaign, I thought things went well. There were a lot of tangents, but it's not always easy to get into the thrust of a game when you're down half the group. I caught myself stalling a couple of times during the game, partially because I didn't want to get into combat, though I ended with a random encounter about to happen.

I'm not sure if this new group of players (new to this campaign) will take well to the Legacy Item rules. There seemed to be some dislike of the costs, but maybe it will grow on them once they can customize them to their own liking with further ritual unlocks.

All in all, I'm excited for the next session, and I've already done quite a bit of prep!

Adventuring in the Shadow of the Demon Lord, part 2

As I had mentioned in the next to last post, our group was short on numbers that weekend and we decided to try out Taylor's latest purchase, Shadow of the Demon Lord. We had already finished one adventure the hard way (by dying), and since David had shown up and we'd only burned through two hours of the night, the group set off on character creation, except for Angela, who asked if she could play her Clockwork again. I said yes, saying this could, theoretically, be hundreds of years after Taylor's adventure was set, since we weren't really using the setting stuff on these trial runs.

Warning: The body of this post contains spoilers to the Shadow of the Demon Lord module A Year Without Rain!

Not having anything prepared and not wanting to wing something while learning a system, I decided to go on Shwalb Entertainment's site and purchase one of their modules. After looking at the starting level tiers for each, I decided on A Year Without Rain, which noted that it was for Starting/Novice characters. This seemed like a good place as any to start, and help me get a feel for how the company constructs scenarios.

I asked everyone to give me how long they had been in Asylum, the village where the adventure starts in, asked them to give a quick description of where they would like to start out in the town, discussed some interesting characterization points for the characters, and off we went.

It all starts just as the sun begins to rise, when an older couple out for a walk come across a body face-down in the road. For such a small town, any event draws attention and many people crowd around, mumbling this and that, guessing who the body could belong to, even placing wagers on identity and cause of death. Samyra, the town's mayor by default, shows up and begins to organize the scene, turning the body and discovering it belongs to a cowherd that lives just outside of town. Known to be a mean drunk, he was easy to ignore and never caused much harm, so it is surprising to find him dead, especially when, upon closer inspection, he seems to have had all the moisture removed from his body.

Samyra asks for volunteers to go out to Braidon's shack and see if anything is amiss. The PCs eventually get assigned when nobody really steps forward, by virtue of standing closest to the body when Samyra looks up. They leave immediately, and come to the cabin a short time later to see it covered, inside and out, with chalk drawings depicting terrain not local to these parts and a beautiful woman with flowing hair. Paul's Changeling realizes just now that he has a locket with a picture of this same woman, and wonders if maybe this is why he was drawn to this new town. Nothing is out of the ordinary, other than the drawings, so they head back and report what they know, then retire to their own devices.

On the following day, a second body is found. This of the seamstress Glyssandra, apparently dead in the same circumstances as Braidon. The group goes back to their duties as a posse looking into these incidences and find that Malery was the one to find the body, so they talk to her. She's very stand-offish until someone asks what kind of contact the two women had previously. When Malery admits the seamstress was doing a job for her, the group turned the heat on and pressured her enough that she admits to hearing a laughing voice and seeing the figure of a woman descending into the well at night.

The posse immediately ask for a few things from Samyra to descend into the well and make their way, finding a small passage off to the side of the shaft which leads to old doors with the seal broken. Undeterred, the four of them head in and work their way through a small maze of passages, killing some large spiders, a magical construct made of living sigils, and a few dastardly traps before finally hearing the giggling they had been told of before and seeing a shadowy figure charge toward them. The posse fly into battle with the bound demon, but in the end, though they fought bravely, they were no match for the minion of evil known as The Laugher in the Well.


Thoughts on A Year Without Rain
Though we all enjoyed the module, I must offer a word to those who wish to use A Year Without Rain as a beginning module: This thing can be HARD. The lead up takes a bit of tying everything together, and unless your group really is on top of their game and asking the right questions, they could falter in the early stages and a string of deaths could begin piling up bodies.

One crucial piece of advice I have for anyone wanting to run this module is also to consider letting their players hit Level 1 when they can get the Malery reveal. You might not feel it fits the pacing of Shadow of the Demon Lord to level mid-adventure, but The Laugher is no joke, and she can easily chew up a group, even if you have someone dedicated to using the Distraction mechanic the whole fight and everyone else swinging away at her (like my group.)



Now, I'd read good things about this game, but never expected it be as good as all the hype I'd seen for it expressed. Combat was simple, fun, and only slow because of poor rolls throughout the session. Overall, we were all impressed with the simplicity and flavor offered by Shadow of the Demon Lord, and have since played a campaign that's now on a short hiatus. I've even been working on a Dark Sun hack for it, but that's for later.

Master of the Fallen Fortress - A Friday Night One-Shot

This post has been sitting in my drafts for quite some time, so I decided to clean it up a little and put it out, since it was mostly done, anyway.

On some past Friday, I was set to run my ongoing Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder game (yes, the same one I had been posting about in the past), but various circumstances conspired against enough of the group showing up for us to be comfortable enough with running it, since the adventure EL was currently ~14.

Taylor, Angela, and I decided to play something, anyway, and Taylor downloaded the Free RPG Day module, Master of the Fallen Fortress. Angela made a Human Fighter and I cobbled together a Dwarf Ranger, both 1st level, and we started the adventure in media res, with our characters outside the ruined siege tower.

We made our way toward the tower, but are set upon by a small pack of three wild dogs, but we quickly dispatched them and made our way inside via a hole in the wall, only for myself to be covered in webs and then power my way out. The giant spider that provided the web then pressed the attack and charged Mira as she made her way through the opening, whereupon the warrior made good use of her earthbreaker to end the creature's life. In an adjacent area, we found the remains of someone's pet dog, that we took the bejeweled collar off of and headed up to the second level of the tower, climbing in from the outside.

There, we encounter a friendly little lizard that almost immediately tries to electrocute us, which eventually draws the attention of two pungent lizard-like beings, that attempt to put an end to our quest to find a little treasure and glory. The fight goes poorly for us, and we're forced to
leave for civilization to rest up, heal our wounds, and plan for another assault on the ruined tower. Almost a week later, we trudge back to the place and after giving the ground floor a cursory once-over, we head back up to the second level.

Shortly after ascending, we come across more (or the same?) of the nasty reptile people, but make relatively short work of the situation, then blunder right into the path of a mechanism that hurls javelins. I'm a little fuzzy as to our course here, but I believe we crawled up to the next level onto a ledge, but could see no egress, so we went back and backtracked to a central spiral stair we had seen before and came out in a large chapel area, obviously dedicated to Nethys, the god of magic. This place was guarded by two skeletons lit afire with eldritch power, but we were (barely) able to defeat one of the things, if memory serves, before we were made to turn back and again spend time at our homes, recuperating.

Our third foray into the tower met us with more opposition from the lizardy beast-men, but we managed to press through by the skin of our teeth and met with a human by the name of Balenar Forsend, who claimed to be a member of the Pathfinder Society. Though we (I, anyway) distrusted him, he healed some of our wounds and pledged to help us complete our task in the moldering keep, simply for the experience of it!

We returned Balenar's things - that we had liberated from the Troglodytes (as the Pathfinder called them) - and waited while he composed himself before venturing further up...this time to come face to face with one of these Troglodytes that could command magic! The thing also had a large pet lizard, the color of fresh snow, with a long snout filled with teeth! Battle was commenced, and after a long fight, we prevailed against the vile master of this ruin, despite his calling of a swarm of vermin and his brutish unnatural companion.

We took our spoils, dividing them as we saw fit and bade Balenar well on his travels, retiring to home and speaking of never doing a fool thing such as "adventuring" again.


Cast of Characters
Mira Silvano, Female Human Fighter 2 (Angela)
Whurvark Moonoath, Male Dwarf Ranger 2 (Buddy)

Adventuring in the Shadow of the Demon Lord, part 1

This past Friday, we were down a couple of players, so we had decided that Paul would run his game. He then thought he might be late getting to the session, so asked Taylor to bring something. That something was his new book, Shadow of the Demon Lord, and we set to make characters.

We delved into the quick but immersive character creation and had everything done within probably fifteen minutes, with Taylor walking three of us through the process. Other than your race, rolls determine everything about your character, but none of us felt like we ended up with a bad character in the end. The gear and traits provided by these rolls really set up who you are when circumstances or decision forces you to adventure/survive in the world, and we were able to pick up on the cues we were given and roleplay fun characters. The feel of the characters is definitely reminiscent of Warhammer Fantasy, which was a nice change of pace from our usual Golarion-based characters in the Pathfinder games. In the end, we ended up with a Goblin, a Dwarf, and a small Clockwork that could fly, each with their own quirks and professions.

Taylor had actually written a homebrew scenario for our trail run of the game, setting us accompanying a caravan to a distant city. The caravan was attacked at about the midway point and the three PCs were taken by the assailants and placed in a cell in a stone building. My Goblin (whose name was Poop - a name suggested in the race section, I might add) and Paul's Dwarf (I don't remember the names of his or Angela's characters, sorry) were able to rattle the rusted bars of the cell loose and make good our escape with our clockwork friend. A guard heard us and burst through the door, brandishing a sickle.

We took down this guard (a Cultist from the book) and made it further in, toward what we expected was the way out. Upon climbing up a ladder to a trapdoor, we encountered more Cultists and explored some other doors leading off from this area. One was filled with the viscera of several bodies that had been flayed, dissected, or otherwise experimented on. The opposite door had mold and slime and my goblin trekked in to look for anything useful, turning up a goblet and some delicious soggy apples!

I can't recall if this was on the same level, but we also found a room wherein the caravan master we had been traveling with was strung up with chains that were stretching his shoulders and hips as far as they could go. The mechanism was set up with pulleys and the weight was balanced on a narrow metal bar. Angela's Clockwork flew in and inspected the mechanism and reported how it worked to the Dwarf and Goblin, at which point the Dwarf moved in, triggering a tripwire and unbalancing the weight and pulling the poor human apart before our eyes. The Dwarf gained a point of insanity for the realization that he was the reason behind the man's death.

Upon climbing up further, we entered a chamber with a Cultist that was performing a ritual. We tried to speak to her, but she did nothing but berate us and scream for our heads, then soundly thumped us once the Dwarf was targeted by a powerful spell and my Goblin suffered a spell crit sending me to 0 maximum health.

Thus ended the careers of those adventurers, but we had only spent two hours in character creation and playing the adventure to the point where we wiped. David had shown up by then, and we decided to play out a second adventure, which I volunteered to run to familiarize myself with the system.

That's for the next post, though!

Rise of the Runelords, Fall of the Lords of Fort Rannick

And so, after 51 sessions carried out over the course of 3 years (not including the year and change hiatus), my Rise of the Runelords campaign came to an end.

I hadn't posted about it since the group fell to Xanesha, here, but in the sessions since the game came back, a lot of things happened. Many of the original characters returned (except for Hyrum and Natasha, and we never saw Elspeth again) because Vic was able to shake Xanesha's charm and dump the bodies of his comrades at the Abadaran church. Some more people joined our group for good, and some came and went, and with them, their characters.

Along the way, our heroes fought against the hideously mutated Kreegs and burned their compound to near uselessness, they liberated Fort Rannick from the merciless ogres that had taken it over, and were granted titles and the land surrounding the fort for their efforts.

The Lords of Rannick then left their lands in the hands of their trusted stewards to venture to their hometown of Sandpoint, where they were able to thwart a raid by stone giants, and then chased the giants to the place from which they had planned to launch an invasion of the lowlands. Our heroes took the fight to the leaders of this faction of giants and destroyed them, but confirmed what they had suspected for some time: there was a greater threat behind the giants; a tyrant of old who sought his return to the physical world and the reclamation of his old kingdom. This was Karzoug, the Runelord of Shalast, perhaps one of the most powerful wizards to have ever lived!

Being called and returning to Sandpoint after a short respite at home, our band descended into a portion of the ancient ruins under the town that had been blocked til this point. There, they uncovered a written passage hinting at a font of arcane knowledge belonging to the Runelords, hidden in the mountains to the north, and they made their preparations from Sandpoint and headed to the spot they would uncover this Runeforge. There, however, they were beaten back by the ancient white, Arkrhyst, who made its lair in the cavern that housed the entrance to Runeforge. After traveling back to safety and recuperating, they made a second attempt at the dragon, this time summoning help, and were able to slay the beast.

Then they made entry into Runeforge. Though they were able to identify the passages matching the various entries associated with each Runelord's realm of power, they decided to work clockwise and systematically explore the arcane secrets therein. Their first challenge came in the form of a trap cleverly designed to trigger multiple Mirrors of Opposition. After defeating their clones, the group pressed in further and were felled by the six simulacrum copies of the wizard Vraxeris, and their devastating spell onslaught.

Cast of Characters
Walt Thrune, Chelaxian Human Cleric 12 (Merciful Healer) of Sarenrae - Paul (deceased)
Rissi Scuttle, Ratfolk Alchemist 12 - Angela (deceased)
Vic Alvaraz, Varisian Human Fighter 12 (Mobile Fighter) - David (deceased)
Indigo, Chelaxian Human Paladin 5/Holy Vindicator 8 - Taylor (deceased)
Thrask, Orc Barbarian 11 (Invulnerable Rager) - Jon
Trink Peacepath, Vanara Monk 10 (Qinggong)  - Sam (deceased)

With only one PC technically surviving, due to the player's absence, I called the game.

This was a tough campaign, and one that seemed to really ratchet up in difficulty when the campaign enters the 5th book of the series. There was some discussion about deaths and the larger number of characters contributing to less gold share and thus, being slightly behind the curve, when it came to power level. I do agree to those points, but I also saw certain things like item hoarding to be just as detrimental. The difficulty of the adventure as written had also taken a turn that, at least in my opinion, is hard to prepare for when things had been at a certain level before.

Overall, I don't have any major complaints, and other than Taylor thinking the path perhaps too bland (which is very legitimate, as Rise of the Runelords doesn't - nor was it intended to - bring anything new to the table), I don't feel that the players do...or at least they haven't been voiced.

If anyone who happens to read this was considering running Rise, I would say go for it. Since it's a published campaign, you'll have to fill in quite a few of the gaps in the story, but I felt like I was given the tools to do that with the material as presented. The Paizo forums are also full of great ideas for enhancing the campaign.

This was a very fulfilling campaign, and I'm sure we'll be telling stories from it for a long while.

The Defenders, Vol. 2, Issue 22 - He Got The Stuffing Knocked Out Of Him

The heroes rush out toward the bay, attempting the best they can to help those in danger under the flying rock and magma from the newly formed volcano and determine the source of this new (un)natural menace.

Stormhome.

After deciding that anything they do on the surface won't be able to affect the volcanic activity, they immediately try to find an outfitter that adventurers would use and begin to question him about the surrounding territory, most notably any tunnels below the city, even if they might connect to the local sewers. The man tells them that there are more than a few natural sea caves in the surrounding region, and sketched them a map of the ones he could recall on the spot.

The heroes spend many hours searching through caves, but finally find one that ranges deep and leads out under the bay, and eventually connects to larger tunnels, much older and, though eroded, showing signs of having been worked in ages past.

Further they went until they were ambushed by chill shadows, intent on stealing the life force of the band! Though the undead were dispersed, the Scarecrow lay dead, so the group gathered their fallen comrade and made their way back to Stormhome with the thought that they must return to those tunnels, as they felt they were on the right track.

Next Issue - Meeting Your Destiny!




Cast of Characters
Jean Grey, Elan Psion (Kineticist) 12|Wilder 12  - Angela
Bennet du Paris [Exodus], Human Psion (Nomad) 12|Spellthief 5/Cerebrex 7 -Taylor
Kurt Wagner [Nightcrawler], Lesser Tiefling Rogue 3/Fighter 8/Swashbuckler 1|Totemist 2/Wizard 3/Umbral Disciple 2/Telflammar Shadowlord 4/Soul Caster 1 - David 
Kitty Pryde [Shadowcat], Human Wizard 10|Ninja 10 - Sam
Sean Cassidy [Banshee], Dragonfire Adept 7/Green Lantern† 3|Bard 10 - Paul
Johnathan Blaze (Phantom Traveler) [Ghost Rider], Flaming Bone Creature 2/Warlock 7|Fighter 5/Lasher 4 - G2
Dr. Isaiah Crane [Scarecrow], Sorceror 6|Cleric 6 - Jon (deceased)


Bonus Feature: The Green Lantern prestige class
When Connar died, Paul had tossed around a few ideas, but nothing seemed satisfying to him. Ultimately, he settled on Banshee, but asked if I would be ok with him also being a Green Lantern. Since the Lanterns are an organization and not a unique individual, I said yes and began developing a prestige class. 

My goal was to reflect some of the classic powers of the Green Lanterns, but not make them a highly exclusive organization and stifle one's character development if they wanted to try to join. It came across with the right flavor, I think, but perhaps not as powerful as a player might like. Paul and I were both happy with the class, so he ran with it, and seemed to enjoy it immensely.

The Green Lantern

Lantern battery and power ring.

Prerequisites: Base Will save +4
Concentration 10 ranks
Iron Will feat

Hit Die: d8
Base Attack Bonus: Medium (As Cleric)
Saves: Good Will, Poor Fort and Reflex

Abilities: 1st level - Fear Vulnerability (Su) A Green Lantern's greatest fear is fear, itself. Upon taking the first level of this class, and only while wearing their power ring, the character suffers a -4 penalty to saves versus fear-based abilities and spells. In addition, the Reactive Shield ability is ineffective against attacks that have a primary or secondary effect that can cause a fear effect, and Willful Weaponry and other abilities of this class automatically fail against creatures that have a fear aura.
Fly (Sp) The Green Lantern can fly, as the spell, except with a continuous duration. Move action to reactivate if dispelled. Caster level equal to character level.
Lantern Battery When a Lantern is first accepted to the ranks of the order, they are given a magical lantern that not only stands as a symbol of the order, but also functions to charge the magic of the Lantern's power ring. The power ring must be charged at this battery once a week, and the battery must be charged at the Great Battery twice a year. Since the lantern battery is so important to their continued power, most Lanterns take great pains to hide their personal batteries.
Power Ring  Upon entering the ranks of the Green Lanterns, the character is gifted a power ring. This ring is the medium through which the character channels the powers of this prestige class, and loses all abilities of this class if the ring is ever taken off or is sundered. The Lanterns guard their rings viciously, and a Lantern that loses or has their ring destroyed loses much face, and may be cast out of the order.
Reactive Shield (Su) 3+Wis modifier times per day, the Green Lantern may raise a physical manifestation of their will as an immediate action to grant themselves +4 shield bonus to AC against one attack.

2nd level - Reactive Shield (Su) Also grants a cover bonus against spells and effects that allow a Reflex save and can have their effect reduced due to cover, such as fireball.
Willful Weaponry (Sp) As a standard action, the Green Lantern may create a weapon formed fully of force and powered by the will of the character. This effect is similar to the spiritual weapon spell, except that any weapon type can be chosen, and the weapon begins as medium and the weapon formed is one size category larger with each Green Lantern level beyond 2nd.

3rd level - Passengers (Su) The Green Lantern may take any number of other creatures along when flying, but each one imposes a 5' penalty to speed of the fly ability. Size of the creature does not affect this ability, and all creatures move at the adjusted speed of the Lantern's fly.
Reactive Shield (Su) When using reactive shield, the character may use either of the previously gained abilities, or may instead choose to gain spell resistance equal to 5+character level against a single spell that they are aware of.

4th level - Believable Survivability (Su) Starting at this level, the power ring also acts as a necklace of adaptation.
Reactive Shield (Su) The Lantern may, instead of previous abilities of reactive shield, choose to gain the benefits of the spell globe of invulnerability. This use of the ability acts just as the spell, except the effect only lasts until the start of the Green Lantern's next turn. Caster level is equal to character level.
Sustained Flight (Sp) The character can push the limits of their flight at this level, gaining the abilities of the overland flight spell. This ability works just like that spell, except it has a duration of 2 hours per Green Lantern level per day. This duration can be broken up, but each use eliminates 10 minutes of duration, no matter the length of use.

5th level - Reactive Shield (Su) The effects of the spell turning spell also become available. This ability works in all ways like that spell, except it lasts only until the start of the Lantern's next turn. The caster level of this effect is equal to the Lantern's character level.
Shared Survivability (Su) All creatures affected by the passengers ability are also under the effects of the believable survivability ability.
Will Into Existence (Su) At this level of mastery of their own will, the Green Lantern may create, from sheer willpower, structures and simple machines - such as a bridge or pulley-driven elevator - that can take up no more space/volume than five continguous 10' squares. This structure cannot be used as weaponry, but can be used to hinder movement or trap another creature. All structures created with this ability have walls/structure Wisdom modifier inches thick, have hardness of 5+Wisdom modifier, and hit points equal to the Lantern's Wisdom score per inch.


That's all the crunch for the prestige class. I would be interested in hearing comments and criticism on the design, if anyone has opinions.

I might post the fluff I had created for it soon. My Defenders version of Eberron is pretty rich with lore that I created that I haven't shared with anyone before.
 

The Defenders, Vol. 2, Issue 21 - Leavin' On An Airship, Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again

Arriving in Sharn, the group immediately splits up to look into gaining all the answers they can. Bennet makes for the Asteroid to speak to Magnus, Kurt and the others go to Xavier's School and there meet Banshee, a colleague of the Professor and member of the Lanterns. Banshee has been alerted to Charles' extended disappearance by Wesley Dodds, the man left in charge of the School until the Professor was able to return.

Dodds had prompted Banshee to stay until the group made contact, but fortunately they had come to him. Long discussion, shared notes, and new research leads the team at the School to come up with some leads that they might want to follow.

Meanwhile, Bennet gets to the Asteroid and after some posturing with the Juggernaut, speaks with Magnus about the happenings in the Mournland, asking if Magnus had a part in anything, or if he knew who would, then begins talking about the Destiny Arms and what more they know. It's agreed that the giants need to be stopped and after getting no further, Bennet departs for the School.

Another day is spent in Sharn while everyone wraps up what they are doing and they are greeted by a familiar face. T'challa is also in Sharn and offers a little bit of information and a ride to Stormhome aboard his airship. From there the party wishes to embark for the Frostfell, where the League and the Defenders supposedly went when both groups came up missing.

When they get closer to Stormhome, however, the skies are darkened and thick with smoke and lightning. Off in the distance, it can be seen that a volcano has formed in the bay outside the city!

Next Issue, A Fearful Demise!


Cast of Characters
Jean Grey, Elan Psion (Kineticist) 12|Wilder 12  - Angela
Bennet du Paris [Exodus], Human Psion (Nomad) 11|Spellthief 5/Cerebrex 6 -Taylor
Kurt Wagner [Nightcrawler], Lesser Tiefling Rogue 3/Fighter 8/Swashbuckler 1|Totemist 2/Wizard 3/Umbral Disciple 2/Telflammar Shadowlord 4/Soul Caster 1 - David 
Kitty Pryde [Shadowcat], Human Wizard 10|Ninja 10 - Sam
Sean Cassidy [Banshee], Dragonfire Adept 7/Green Lantern† 3|Bard 10 - Paul

†Green Lantern is a custom prestige class that you will be able to see soon. I need to compile it and make it presentable from my handwritten notes. Look for it in one of the next couple of write ups for this game.


As a final note here, my janky notes I take for games might be off in some way or another. If any of my players ever wants to set me straight on anything, they are more than welcome.