Fangs of Vulgoth: Session #1

Posted on November 21, 2020 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes arrived in the town of Rukesti and met the vampire-slaying family of Armand Vanator. Now they hope to explore the town, heal and re-arm, and plan their next foray into danger!

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the human Eldritch Knight – Level 4
  • Ward the human Gloom Stalker – Level 4
  • Rainen the dwarf Beast Master – Level 4
  • Hugo the human Knowledge Cleric/Time Wizard – Level 4
  • Asmund the human Divine Soul Sorcerer – Level 4

Breakfast

Waking up in the attic bunkroom in the Vanator House, the team shared what they had learned from Armand’s books. This included knowledge of local wildlife, the history of the Dalca Royal family, and the lore around Shifters. Then everyone went downstairs for waffles!

As the meal wrapped up, there was a pounding on the door. Asmund opened the door to discover a rotting corpse of a man shouting something about “heretics!” And several townsfolk had already arrived with crossbows to deal with this creature.

A brief battle ensued! Asmund commanded the zombie to flee, and the townsfolk fired a few bolts at it. Then the rest of the team emerged from the house. Asmund knocked the zombie prone, Drew smashed it, Hugo sliced it, and Rainen stunned it. But then Armand Vanator himself stepped out with “Roxana”, a huge crossbow covered in silver designs, and shot the zombie dead.

But not before the team demanded to know who it was. And it said… “Irina the Inescapable!”

The party was baffled at how this Templar kept coming back to attack them. So they geared up and headed out to explore the town of Rukesti.

Nose Job

First stop, the local Temple of Virune. Here they met Sister Xenia, the nun who was abducted by vampires from Frostwell. She revealed that she was saved by the Vanators and then settled in Rukesti, where there was a shortage of clergy. She wore leather armor on her wrists and neck, as well as a heavy belt of stakes and knives. A battle nun!

After making a donation to the Temple, Drew went into a back room with Sister Xenia who proceeded to pray over him to restore his severed nose.

Shopping!

Meanwhile, the team went out shopping! They visited Dmitri the smith, and Hugo left his breastplate to be repaired. They visited the tailor, where Ward and Rainen commissioned new outfits from a very serious couple. And they visited the apothecary, a grim old man who no one seemed to like, especially when they learned his potions were actually expensive.

They did however learn that the apothecary would pay them for blue rose petals, which he needed for his potions.

But soon Drew’s nose had regrown, although not exactly the same as before, and he was ready for adventure!

Armand Again

The group swung back by Vanator House where Armand was lovingly cleaning his Roxana. He gave Hugo a book about the undead, and offered to train Ward in vampire hunting.

But then everyone went out again to get a drink.

At the sign of the Weeping Widow

At the local pub, the team met the brewmaster Cosmo (and heard of his sister Cosma, who invented the Cosmopolitan). Drew learned there was a local named Oskar who would fight for money. Cosmo offered them three popular beers, and also winked that they might want to come back after dark to try something stronger.

Asmund started making tea with magic, which made everyone in the bar very nervous. The team tried to assure everyone this was holy magic, and when Asmund started babbling about Virune, Cosmo took it to mean Asmund was a bit touched in the head but harmless.

The day was waning, and Drew wanted to meet Oskar so…

Rumble in the Living Room

The team found Oskar’s house and met a little old bald, bearded man of 73 in a cute sweater who invited them and shooed his cats off the furniture to give everyone a seat. Drew challenged the old codger to a fight, and Oskar was pleased as punch to oblige. The tiny man stripped off his little sweater and shirt to reveal the glistening abs of a young Brad Pitt in Fight Club.

Roll initiative!

Over the next minute or two, the fighter and pensioner bludgeoned each other with bare fists. Drew was barely holding on, but Hugo and Rainen both healed him when no one was looking, and Hugo casted spells to give Oskar disadvantage once or twice. So after a very long bout, little old Oskar eventually slumped onto the couch and conceded the match.

Asmund saw Hugo casting spells, but did not intervene.

Oskar then went to the kitchen, got his cookie tin, and gave Drew ten shiny silver pieces. And then revealed that he too saw Hugo and Rainen casting spells to cheat, but didn’t say anything.

Bed Time

With darkness falling, the party hurried back to Vanator House for dinner. The town was already locking up for the night. At dinner, Armand revealed that he was very concerned about his children, who had gone out Hunting two days ago and still hadn’t returned. And he would appreciate if the PCs would go looking for them.

Ward wanted to go immediately, in the dark, but Hugo and Rainen were out of spells and Drew was badly injured, so they decided to sleep and head out in the morning.

And that’s where we ended!

DM Notes

This was a low-key session bopping around town. But we had a ton of fun. The players enjoyed exploring the town, meeting locals, and getting some business done. I think Drew is very excited to have a nose again. And everyone enjoyed the boxing match with old Oskar.

With the holidays coming up, it’s hard to know when the next session will be, but hopefully soon!

Posted in session report | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Kraken Corpse Delve: One-Shot

Posted on November 7, 2020 by Joe

What happens when three adventurers venture down into a (mostly) dead leviathan to close a time portal to a desolate future? (Spoilers: A lot!)

Play time: 3.5 hours

Heroes:

  • Azuda the dragonborn barbarian (Level 3)
  • Hen of the Flock the tabaxi rogue (Level 3)
  • Bangclang the goblin paladin (Level 3)

Tower of Tentacles

While wandering the wilderness, our three heroes chanced upon a vast mud flat, a dried out lake bed dotted with flowers and crabs. In the center of it, they spied a leaning stone tower wrapped in giant motionless tentacles. Flashes of light, smoke, and screams in the upper window drew them closer.

Inside the tower, a violet smoking fox ran past and told them not to interfere. It ran upstairs where a battle was raging. The party went up and found a strange woman killing these foxes with blasts of lightning. She was tall, golden-skinned, starry-eyed, and had tentacles for hair and fingers. This was Ajerel.

She claimed to be from the future (the end of the world!). She had come back in time to find a way to keep the sun from going out. But her sister, Xeyal, didn’t want her to change history and was sending dream-beasts to stop her.

Unfortunately, Ajerel had left open the time portal to the future somewhere down below. Would the heroes go down into the earth and close the portal to stop Xeyal and her dream-beasts? If they did, they could keep the head-sized diamond that was holding the portal open.

Ka-ching!

Bangclang asked for proof of Ajerel’s story. The stranger placed her tentacled fingers on his head and gave him a vision of the desolate, sun-less future. This also gave him a weak telepathic gift. He was on board!

Into the Limbs of Doom

Climbing down through the foundations of the ancient tower, the team emerged on a strange chitinous mass surrounded by giant petrified insectoid legs. An old man nearby explained that he was a chitin miner, chipping off valuable pieces of kraken chitin to sell.

The group began exploring beyond the legs and found huge curling fins long since turned to stone. Pierced through one fin was a black harpoon. Hen climbed up but was unable to pull the harpoon free. Then Azuda and Bang smashed the thin stone structure and brought the whole thing down. Hen took a few lumps and shocks, but they had the Ebony Harpoon!

Moving on, they discovered a cluster of giant crab claws. Under one, a smoking violet fox struggled to get free. It spoke with Xeyal’s voice, offering them anything they wished if they would go capture Ajerel and bring her back. The heroes shrugged and let the fox go free, but did not turn back.

They did inspect the blue coral on the giant claws, and knocked some off. Azuda recognized them as having a steroidal effect, so Bang ground them up into powder for use later.

Beyond the claws, the heroes came to the edge of the kraken corpse and found a rock wall covered in silver bones. Hen touched the bones, which immediately began struggling free of the wall. Moments later, a skeletal silver swordfish was flying toward them. The fight was brief by violent, with many tail lashings and nose-spearings. But Azuda shattered the creature and Hen claimed the silver sword-nose as her rapier.

Then they went back to the claws and climbed down to the next level.

Among the Aperatures

The party climbed down to a massive funnel filled with cold sand. On one side of the funnel was a woman with scales, fins, and a tail, her flesh seemingly glued to the funnel. Bang poked her a few times and she woke up, claiming to be Remora and acting very confused about the lack of water around her. She began to panic, begging the heroes to take her to water.

At first, the group was concerned and helped to peel the suckerfish mermaid off of the dead funnel. But when they couldn’t provide water, she went into a frenzy. The group dashed away, leaving the creature impaled on a javelin.

They then found another edge of the leviathan where a rocky cave led them to a deep well of salty water. A bright white light flared up from the bottom. They tried to lower the harpoon into the water, but the salt made it float. Then they decided to bring Remora to this well.

So they pulled the javelin out of her and dragged to her to the water. The vicious mermaid was in poor shape, barely fighting back, but as soon as she slipped into the well she began to recover. The group belatedly yelled at her to bring them the white light from the bottom of the well, but she didn’t answer. Instead, she began to swim down. Halfway down, a swarm of tiny creatures detached from the walls of the well and attacked Remora, but she reached the bottom alive. She seemed to move the white light around, and then swam away into an unseen passage.

Annoyed, the group began looking for another way down into the kraken. They found the feathery fern-like structures of the gills, which were crawling with white worms. Hen of the Flock tried to eat a worm, but it screamed at her, injuring the whole party. She threw it away.

The party then found the huge drumhead of the kraken’s eye. Bangclang deftly split it open, and three Rapid Eye Monsters spilled out. Speaking with the voice of Xeyal, they demanded that the heroes stop coming down and go up to find Ajerel and prevent her from changing history. Again, Xeyal offered the heroes anything they wished. When the party refused, the REMs attacked at high speed. With much spearing and stomping, the creatures were defeated and the heroes proceeded down into the gaping eye socket.

Belly of the Beast

Sliding down into the stomach of the kraken, they found a shallow pool of cold acid, which was uncomfortable for the unshod dragonborn and tabaxi. They also spied an open tunnel leading farther down…just past a dozen large lumps.

As they tried to cross the stomach, the lumps rose up to attack. Pickled pirates, pickled kettle crabs, and a pickled War Snail lurched into battle. Hen put four of the monsters to sleep, and Azuda and Bang began cutting down the rest. The War Snail belched a plume of blue fire, which scorched everyone, but Azuda and Hen chopped the creature to pieces. Bang found some money and an ivory ring in a saddle bag on the War Snail’s shell.

Hen saw that there were other organs nearby, but they chose not to risk any more battles. So they continued down…

Chambers of Pearl and Jade

The first room was small, round, and studded with thousands of pearls. As the heroes inspected the space, a new creature crawled up from the next chamber. The eye-less Night Terror lunged at them, but Azuda leapt clear and Hen jumped onto its back to stab at the gaps in its armor. With the creature wounded, Bangclang was able to finish it off with a quick prayer and a divine smite!

The second room was even smaller, and the walls were covered in shark jaws all entombed in black jade. They saw lights and sounds coming from farther in, and a violet smoking fox ran past them.

The third room was the smallest yet. Here they found the rippling time portal held open by a giant diamond embedded in the floor. Through the portal, they saw Xeyal, a golden-skinned woman with starry eyes and tentacle hair standing on a blasted hellscape.

One last time, Xeyal begged them to stop Ajerel from changing history and offered them anything they wished as reward. She even invited them to step through the portal and see the future world if they wanted. But when Azuda crept toward the portal, Xeyal stepped through to defend the diamond and keep the portal open. She blasted the heroes with lightning, but Hen was able to sneak up and steal the diamond away. The portal closed!

Shocked and dismayed, Xeyal summoned another Night Terror and the heroes were barely able to defeat it. By this point, everyone was sorely wounded and Xeyal made a desperate dash for the door. The group allowed her to leave, and the strange woman vanished.

The time portal was closed and the giant diamond was theirs. Huzzah!

DM Notes

This was a fun little one-shot. A straight-up dungeon delve with a simple goal and lots of strange gross monsters and environments. Everyone had a good time, and I didn’t need to do much thinking on my feet. Moving room to room, it was pretty easy to just worry about what was right in front of us, with no larger story or NPCs to track.

There were lots of funny moments as the group poked and prodded strange creatures and objects, some of which were very useful and some of which were just gross and weird. Another great game night!

Posted in session report | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Campaign Transition!

Posted on October 29, 2020 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes slayed (slew?) the witch queen Dama Zhadna and freed the village of Frostwyck. Now they hope to tie up a few loose ends and continue their long journey home…

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the human Eldritch Knight (4)
  • Ward the human Gloom Stalker (4)
  • Rainen the dwarf Beast Master (4)
  • Hugo the human Knowledge Cleric (1), Time Wizard (3)
  • Asmund the human Divine Soul Sorcerer (4)

Petty theft

Back in their own humble cabin, the heroes settled down for a few more hours of sleep. Drew stood a lonely watch, and heard a creature approaching from the forest. He dashed out and hurled his spear, drawing first blood. But the intruder turned and ran.

Drew quickly chased it down and captured a frightened one-eyed thief. Dragging it back to the cabin, he and Hugo determined that it was a simple creature, frightened, and essentially harmless. After making sure that it hadn’t stolen anything, Drew gave it a Goodberry and let it go.

Last Rites

In the morning, Drew went to tell Brother Vanya that the witch was dead and Ray had died a hero. The little priest was suspicious, but gathered his courage and followed Drew into the woods to confirm his story. But when they found Ray’s grave, the burnt wreckage of the witch’s walking cabin was completely gone. Still, the violent marks in the ground convinced the priest that something did happen here. He agreed to give Ray his last rites.

Rainen later pointed out that Ray, who hated the Temple, would have hated this.

Floater

As Drew returned to his companions, there was a bit of commotion at the pond. Several villagers began hacking at the ice, and soon pulled an old man’s frozen corpse from the water. No one knew who he was.

Meanwhile, Ward headed out to visit the hunter Andrei. He too saw the hubbub on the frozen pond. Andrei was mostly recovered from his wound and eager to head out, perhaps to go hunting with Ward. But Ward merely gave him his bow and a few arrows, and wished him well.

Goodbyes

The group headed over to Yurikai’s invisible tower to say goodbye. The wizard appeared in the guise of the woman Renata at first. But then he invited everyone inside and changed into himself when the group began talking about their mystwood weapons and the Eldritch Eyes that empowered them.

Yurikai displayed his mystwood longsword and its Necrotic Eye. There was a bit of haggling that ended with Yurikai taking the Fire Eye and Ward taking the Necrotic Eye. Yurikai remarked this was a good trade for him, as fire is potent against vampires. The heroes rolled their eyes (because they are heading to vampire territory), but hoped the Necrotic Eye would still be good.

As they left, Yurikai commented that the body in the pond was probably Boris, the old man who had been turned into the vodnik. Unfortunately, his soul must have been restored while he was still down in the freezing waters. So he drowned moments after being freed of the witch’s curse. Oh well!

Loose ends

The team then made a quick stop at Nina’s house and spoke to her guardian Petya. Ward realized that she had an Eldritch Eye as well… in her eye socket. The violet eye gave her headaches, so she was willing to trade it for the green Poison Eye. And now Ward had the gray Necrotic Eye in his dagger and Rainen had the violet Psychic Eye in her hammer.

Lastly, the heroes returned to the wreckage of the bard barge, and found it entombed in green ivy and moss. Inside Ward found Shaela’s dead body resting peacefully in the greenery.

And finally, it was time to leave Frostwyck!

Campaign 2: Fangs of Vulgoth!!!

Heading southeast, the team agreed it was time to take their chances passing through the vampire lands instead of risking passage through the Temple-controlled roads. They reached the crossroads and turned toward the ominous sign for “Torescu”. Rainen remarked that in her experience, “Vampires have proven more reasonable than Temple priests.”

For several hours, they headed down the snowy road through the quiet forest. Suddenly two figures came running through the trees, one chasing the other. The first figure was thin and pale, and partially on fire. The second was tall and dressed in wild furs. As the flaming vampire rushed toward him, Hugo tried to freeze him in time. But just then, the pursuer reached out with a crackling whip of energy, caught the vampire by the neck, and beheaded him in midair. The burning remains floated slowly down through Hugo’s spell.

The group then met Asmund, a very talkative fellow who made it quickly clear that he worshipped Virune and loved killing vampires.

So much for quietly crossing the vampire lands!

Scratching post

A short while later, Rainen and Sasha led the group to a massive tree that had been scraped of its bark and sprayed with urine. Ward identified the marks as those of a bear and a tiger, but of unnatural sizes. Rainen also noticed the tracks on the ground, that these huge beasts had oddly shaped feet.

Rukesti

The group finally sighted a town in the distance. Asmund identified it as Rukesti, a place he had heard of but never visited. Hugo immediately recognized the name Rukesti from his spellbook and found a reference to an Oracle nearby. He was intrigued!

They crossed over a small bridge decorated with vampire skulls and entered the town proper. Here they discovered more sturdily built houses with solid roofs covered in wooden spikes. Small children were sweeping dust from those roofs. The homes also had locked doors with the symbol of Virune on every one. Also, the houses all had narrow arrow slits instead of windows.

Lots of people were bustling about, and the weary travelers saw signs of cattle, poultry, a tailor, a smithy, and other welcome marks of civilization. But as the sun continued to set, the townsfolk very rapidly began heading indoors. Every door was locked shut with many metal locks. They asked a boy where they could find an inn, and he told them to go to the Vanator House, the large estate in the middle of town.

Vanator House

A fussy, well-dressed butler hurried out to greet the heroes. After inspecting Sasha (the dire wolf) with a silver ring, he allowed her to stay in the stables and ushered everyone inside. The house proved to be large and beautiful, but old and worn. Small weapons, knives and wooden stakes, hung scattered among the coats in the foyer.

The butler, Geoffrey, brought them water and beer, and went to summon their host. Moments later, they were greeted by Armand Vanator, a distinguished older gentleman who spoke proudly of his vampire-slaying career and studies, and displayed his peg leg. They also met Armand’s son Carlos, an energetic young man with a passion for cooking and baking, and also vampire slaying.

In addition to learning about the local blacksmith, and that Armand had other vampire-hunting children, they learned that Sister Xenia was here in town! The same Sister Xenia who went missing from Frostwyck.

And lastly, Armand revealed that in addition to being plagued by vampires, these lands were also the hunting grounds of Shapeshifters, yet another faction of murderous monsters.

After a substantial supper, Armand gave the group a short tour of the basement, including his library, wine cellar, and armory. The heroes practically drooled at the sight of so many weapons, although Hugo quickly determined that only a few of them had any magical blessing. Ward requested, and received, some silver-tipped and ironwood-tipped arrows.

Bed time

With some light reading materials in hand, the group retired to the bunk room on the top floor for the night. They noticed that their new friend Asmund had some bizarre tattoo-like markings on his skin. And as the night set in, they fell asleep to the sounds of distant crossbows twanging and voices crying out over the spiked roofs of Rukesti.

DM Notes

No combat this time, but everyone had a blast. Negotiating for Eldritch Eyes proved popular, and the players all speculated about the possible Eyes and mystwood weapons that they may not have found, as well as the mysterious “Timberwolf” whom they never met.

The introduction of the new character Asmund went smoothly, and everyone (especially his player) seems very happy with the addition.

More importantly, everyone was super excited to arrive in a “real” town with lots of people and shops and opportunities to learn things, and buy things, and meet people. Apparently being stuck in a boring dead-end village for a while has made them appreciate the “finer” things in life! They love Armand Vanator, and already have a long list of things they are excited to do in and around town. So I’m feeling great and really looking forward to sinking my fangs into the new campaign.

Posted in session report | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Witches of Frostwyck: Session #12

Posted on October 24, 2020 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes discovered the invisible tower and met the witch-lord-in-hiding Yurikai! They also found his hidden soul-box and leveraged it to get Yurikai to agree to help them defeat Dama Zhadna once and for all! Maybe.

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the human Eldritch Knight (4)
  • Ray the human Lore Bard (4 )
  • Ward the human Gloom Stalker (4)
  • Rainen the dwarf Beast Master (4)
  • Hugo the human Knowledge Cleric (1), Time Wizard (3)

More plans

The party had a long hard talk about whether they could really trust Yurikai to help them defeat Dama Zhadna, and whether he might betray them during the battle, and where they should hide his soul, and whether someone should stay behind to guard the soul. Many options were raised and shot down in quick succession. In the end, they decided to stay together and hide the soul-box very close to the battle.

They also agreed that Ray (being the weakest fighter) would go with Yuri into the spider-house while Ward hid the soul-box nearby and Rainen negotiated with the witch to buy time.

Close reading

While studying his wizarding book, Hugo discovered a passage that mentioned the village they were currently stuck in, Frostwyck. The passage said:

“On the road shortly after leaving Frostwyck, we encountered a kind and gentle soul, and his fierce protector. They slaughtered a vampire as way of introduction, and thus was our welcome into the forbidding lands ruled over by Castle Torescu.”

What did this mean?

Dream time!

During the rest before the battle, three heroes experienced intense dreams.

Rainen dreamed that she met the three dead druids in a beautiful forest, and they told her to learn from their mistakes, to not fight to protect things, but to protect life, and to protect her own life as well.

Hugo dreamed of his stolen time-pendant, now huge and offering three views. One, a clear view of a mass of black-green flesh full of yellow eyes. Two, a misty view of a black-green dragon with yellow eyes flying into the night sky. Three, a black-and-white view of a small lump of flesh climbing up through a cave.

Drew dreamed that Dama Zhadna offered to restore his nose if he gave her Yurikai’s soul-box.

Go time

As midnight approached, the party headed into the woods. Ward buried the soul-box in a secret location. Yuri and Ray went off to hide by themselves. And Rainen summoned the witch.

A dense fog enveloped the area, a fence of flaming bones appeared in a wide ring, and a log cabin walked into the ring on its enormous spider legs. A blue flaming skull drifted in from the fog, and a tiny crone rode her walking chair of human bones out of the shadows.

Dama Zhadna immediately sniffed out the nearby soul-box and offered the three visible heroes (Rainen, Hugo, and Drew) whatever they wanted for it. She offered an escape from Frostwyck. Rainen bantered around several ideas, such as more skill with a bow, or more intelligence, and so succeeded in distracting the witch for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, Yurikai teleported Ray into the hideous, dark, reeking cabin. While Yurikai worked to keep them hidden from the witch’s spells and alarms, Ray began searching for the stolen souls of the Dama’s minions. One by one, he found the ugly bottles and released souls of various colors. Gold, violet, black, green.

Sometimes, he jostled the countless jars and pans on the shelves, but each time he caught them before they could make too much noise. Unfortunately, a giant viper slithered out from under the bed. Before it could strike, Ray cast Bane on it, just before Yuri hissed at him not to cast any spells in the cabin!

Dama Zhadna immediately sensed the magical intrusion in her cabin, and attacked!

Roll initiative

A wild battle broke out! On one side, our heroes plus Yurikai. On the other side, Dama Zhadna, her fence of bones, her spider-house, and Nikita the flameskull. Drew and Hugo rushed forward, followed by Sasha and Rainen, all hurling spells and weapons and fangs.

The tiny crone fought back with flying bones, a wand of dried flesh, and a rusty sickle. Hugo suffered an ugly scratch on his hand that festered and dealt doubling damage each round. Ward unleashed massive damage with his flaming arrow attacks from his hiding spot in the woods.

The Dama found herself smashed again and again, her bone chair barely able to dodge the blows. She slashed at Sasha’s muzzle and tried to cripple Drew with cursed screams, her huge cabin stomped on the heroes from above, and Nikita strafed the heroes with blue rays of fire.

Cabin fever

Back up in the cabin, Yurikai summoned his gray sword and battled the giant viper while Ray continued smashing jars and glasses in search of more imprisoned souls. He freed a blue soul, which whisked down straight into the flameskull, Nikita! Freed of the witch’s power, the undead wizard’s head flew cackling away from the battle, firing off a few last blasts at the witch herself as he made his escape.

By now, Dama Zhadna was barely clinging to life. She lay on the ground amid the shattered bits of her bone chair, ensnared by huge razor-sharp vines. Drew moved in for the kill.

Just then, Nikita’s escape was blocked by the sudden appearance of a new combatant! Bruno the vampire emerged from the mist to fulfill his agreement to help the heroes, and promptly dealt a few devastating blows to the newly freed Nikita.

Endgame

Drew stomped on the immobilized witch, and then smashed his Eldritch spear into her back. Her body exploded in a shower of bone fragments, insects, and foul earth. In that moment, the giant viper shriveled up into a tiny snake in Yurikai’s hand, and died. The flaming bone fence snuffed into darkness and clattered lifelessly to the ground.

And the spider-house collapsed… onto the heroes right below it.

Ray and Yurikai crashed down inside, while Rainen and Drew were buried under the rubble. Sasha was able to drag herself free, thanks to her great size. Ward shouted for Bruno to let Nikita alone as he raced to help Rainen and Drew.

Yurikai climbed up through the ruins of the cabin and stepped out onto the snow, only slightly worse for wear. Ward, Hugo, and Sasha pulled Rainen free, and then worked together to dig Drew out, who was barely clinging to life.

It then took several more minutes to find Ray in the wreckage… and they found him lifeless. Rainen and Hugo tried to bring him back, but it was too late. Ray was gone.

Aftermath

With Yurikai’s assistance, the party buried Ray nearby. They distributed some of his belongings, but buried his bagpipes with him. Hugo also gathered up the witch’s wand and sickle, and discovered that he needed to cauterize the festering wound on his hand before it killed him.

They also dismissed Bruno, who flew away in bat form. In the distance, they heard a strange wolf howl, and Sasha howled back. Drew attacked the wreckage of the witch’s house with Ray’s eldritch dagger, setting it on fire.

The group then returned to their empty cabin in town with Yurikai to have a few drinks and collect their thoughts after the battle. They decided that, in the morning, they would tie up a few loose ends in town, and then move on southwards toward home.

DM Notes

This was a great climax to the campaign. There was tons of planning, teamwork, character moments, social challenges, mechanical challenges, and of course combat.

I was a little worried when the players spent the first 40 minutes discussing plans, I didn’t want to run out of time! But everything worked out fine.

The combat itself was definitely chaotic and complex. I had to run Yurikai, Dama Zhadna, Nikita, the house and fence, the viper, and Bruno, and I actually had several more minions waiting in the wings (if their souls had not been freed). It felt like everyone got to do something unique and interesting. There were lots of spells and weapons and weird effects. The rolls were extreme, tons of highs and lows. Ward and Drew were huge martial damage-dealers. Rainen and Hugo were massively effective support casters. And Ray was clutch, up in the cabin, freeing the souls of the minions.

The death of Ray was fitting and logical, and seemed to “feel right” to everyone. He was the most squishy character, and so the most likely to die in any fight, but here he got to shine all the way until the end.

Campaign Note

This marked the end of Witches of Frostwyck. We then continued with the same characters and transitioned into a new campaign: Fangs of Vulgoth!

Go to the next session

Posted in session report | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Witches of Frostwyck: Session #11

Posted on October 10, 2020 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes met with the witch-lord Dama Zhadna and learned how to escape from Frostwyck, discovered the true nature of the one-eyed thieves and their many-eyed master, and then accidentally turned most of the villagers of Frostwyck against them… Oops.

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the human Eldritch Knight (4)
  • Ray the human Lore Bard (4)
  • Ward the human Gloom Stalker (4)
  • Rainen the dwarf Beast Master (4)
  • Hugo the human Knowledge Cleric (1), Time Wizard (3)

Plans, shmlans

The team had a hard chat about how Brother Vanya (and Ward) had just turned the entire town against them. Ray suggested a plan in which he impersonated Vanya and went about town acting crazy to discredit the priest, but this was voted down. Instead, they would return to the magically protected cabin and try to get in, once and for all!

Around noon, they walked up to the cabin and knocked on the door, but again there was no answer. Ward and Ray made their saves, so they remained interested in the cabin. There was a flurry of ideas about how to gain access using the chimney. Put the turtle Kali inside? Put the Ever-Smoking Bottle inside?

Unseen problems

Drew climbed up the back of the house and discovered that the smoke coming from the chimney was an illusion, but more interestingly, the cabin itself had invisible walls that went up much higher than the appearance of the cabin itself!

Drew did the only thing logical. He attacked the invisible walls. The resulting burst of Force energy from his Eldritch Spear flung him off the chimney, but Hugo caught him in a bubble of slow time. This led into a brief discussion about Hugo’s faulty sense of time. He felt they had been in Frostwyck for weeks or months, but it had only been seven days. His magic book was clearly affecting his mind.

Spirits of the departed

Just then, there were cries of alarm in the village. Three huge spectral creatures emerged from the east woods and began walking slowly through the town. These ghosts resembled a gigantic bear, elk, and boar.

As the spirits of the dead druids passed through the cabins and villagers (who came out to see and ran away to hide in equal numbers), the group found themselves in the path of the boar. As it swept over them, they felt a sudden warmth and calm, as well as a newfound strength and insight (leveled up to L4!).

More climbing

More determined than ever to get inside the magic cabin, Ray began climbing the walls, getting 10 feet up the invisible exterior before he remembered all the plans about putting things in the chimney. He dropped the Ever-Smoking Bottle into the chimney, and a plume of thick smoke billowed out. For a minute or so. Then the smoke stopped. And everyone realized they should have held the bottle at the top and used a cloth to plug the chimney and thus smoke out anyone inside. Oh well.

Ray then tried to continue his climb, but slipped and Hugo came to the rescue with a second bubble of slow time to catch him.

Ward shot an arrow at the cabin’s timber wall, which was about as effective as you’d think it would be.

And now, finally, the team pulled out the Lantern of Revealing and used it to discover that this magic cabin was actually a magic tower! A tower made of log cabins stacked impossibly on top of each other, stretching up five stories into the sky!

Errands

Baffled by the discovery of the tower, the team took a break to visit the tannery. Falina had left their leather armor and fur cloaks outside for them, but refused to speak to them or even open her door. So they armored up and moved on.

As they crossed the village, they passed a group of children who were playing “hero”. Each of them yelled out that they were Drew, or Ward, or Rainen. It was adorable.

At Brother Vanya’s house, the team shoved their way inside. Taking no guff from the frightened priest, who continued to accuse them of using unholy magic (which they did) and making deals with vampires (which they did), they “purchased” the priest’s incense for Hugo, and then left.

Ward tied a rope to an arrow and fired it up at the real roof of the invisible tower, where it seemed to stick. And then Drew began climbing the entire tower, determined to gain access through the thatching. (Ward’s arrow-bound rope pulled free with a single tug.) As Drew knelt on the roof, trying to tear it apart, the front door of the tower opened and a woman called out, “All right, all right, that’s enough, please just come inside.”

Inside the tower

Everyone immediately asked if the woman resembled Marta. Was this her missing sister Elisa? But no, she did not resemble Marta at all. She introduced herself as Renata, a magic-user of some sort who lived here in hiding and rarely went outside. Renata had no interest in the village, or Dama Zhadna, and just wanted to read her books and study her spells and be left alone in peace.

She served up a tray of tea. Those who drank it found it odd, but Ray suddenly felt like he was intruding on this nice lady and tried to convince his companions to leave. Then Rainen noticed a frog sitting on a side table, and Hugo detected Transmutation magic on it. Rainen kissed the frog, but nothing happened. The team continued to press Renata about her powers, and accused her kidnapping/transforming Elisa, and eventually…

Yurikai

Reaching the end of their patience, Renata vanished and Yurikai appeared. The witch-lord thanked them again for setting him free, and in return for Rainen’s kindness he gave them the frog and said she would turn back into Elisa as soon as she left the tower.

Rainen immediately left the tower and the frog turned into a very confused young woman. Rainen offered her cloak and escorted Elisa back home to a tearful (and confused) reunion with her sister Marta. Ray also stepped outside. And then Rainen and Ray both promptly forgot everything that happened inside the tower.

Hugo, Ward, and Drew continued to press Yurikai. They asked for magic weapons, and spellbooks, and a tour of the tower, and help against Dama Zhadna. But Yurikai was not forthcoming, and they left. Hugo and Drew promptly forgot everything that happened inside the tower. But Ward remembered!

Ward tried to convince the group they had just met Yurikai, but they were skeptical.

Frozen assets

Returning to Marta’s house, everyone was warmly welcomed inside. Hugo once again detected magic, including a hidden item on Marta’s person and something under the floor. They told Marta that “Old Yuri” may have killed her father after he made a “soul-box” for the old man. She found this hard to believe, but was happy to let Hugo search the root cellar.

Under the meat and vegetables, Hugo found a plug of ice. Ray came over to help melt the ice. His bardic magic made Hugo’s holy chain flicker and flare over and over again. Marta and Elise were very concerned about this, but the group convinced them this was all holy magic. Soon the ice was melted and Hugo pulled out a small gray wooden box. They couldn’t open it, but they were certain that this was Yurikai’s soul-box.

Grab him by the box!

As soon as the group stepped outside, they were met by a beautiful woman that only Ward recognized. “Renata” restored everyone’s memories of their experience in the tower, and then begged them to come back inside to negotiate for the soul-box.

Once inside the tower, Renata again became Yurikai and he bargained earnestly for his soul. The team demanded that he help them defeat Dama Zhadna, and he eventually relented and agreed. He also supplied them with some potions and vials, and they agreed to confront the witch that night. Yurikai’s role will be to teleport into the walking cabin and smash the soul-bottles to weaken Dama Zhadna. So everyone settled in for an early rest and prepared to wake before midnight for the Big Showdown.

And that’s where we stopped.

DM Notes

I hope everyone enjoyed this session. It was a little chaotic! There were a lot of discussions, and plans, and attempts, and failures. But they also surged ahead in discoveries! The invisible tower! Yurkai! Elisa! The soul-box!

This could have gone a very different direction. If they had gone to Marta’s house first and found the soul-box, they might have gone off to make a deal with Dama Zhadna and left the village this session!

Hopefully everyone enjoyed all the payoffs to their hard work. They got a lot of answers, and a new ally, and are ready for a big fight. They have a plan! It could work!

The next session will be the climax of this campaign. There are lots of pieces on the board. The stakes are high. I have absolutely no idea what the outcome will be!

Lessons learned: My players are generally very respectful of the NPCs, and would much rather talk through an interaction than use magic or brute force to get what they want. In a similar vein, they have tried to get into the magic cabin three or five separate times now, and each time they knocked, talked, hit the walls, and climbs the walls. It was only on this last attempt that they used any magic to reveal/counter the obviously magic obstacle in front of them. Should I avoid magic stuff in the future? Create more social triggers and options? Food for thought!

Go to the next session

Posted in session report | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Witches of Frostwyck: Session #10

Posted on September 30, 2020 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes killed an undead Templar, buried two lost friends, rescued Brother Vanya from a vampire, and headed home feeling pretty good about how well they had handled a complicated situation. Yeah, about that…

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the human Eldritch Knight (3)
  • Ray the human Lore Bard (3)
  • Ward the human Gloom Stalker (3)
  • Rainen the dwarf Beast Master (3)
  • Hugo the human Knowledge Cleric (1), Time Wizard (2)

Cold Hard Truths

On the dark walk home, the group was attacked by a hail of icicles from above. They took cover in the trees, but Brother Vanya took an icicle to the knee. The wound looked bad, but Rainen healed him. Then Drew used a sleep spell on the attackers, who all promptly fell out of the trees. The elemental ice pucks crashed to the ground and shattered into pieces.

As they reached Frostwyck late in the evening, Brother Vanya asked Hugo how he came to have the chain-sickle weapon from Templar Irina. Hugo said that Dama Zhadna had sent an undead Irina to attack him, and he had taken the weapon after defeating this zombie abomination.

The young priest then insisted on going home alone, despite their offers of company and protection.

The Witching Hour

Back in their cabin, the heroes discussed the dangers of heading south on the Temple road versus the newly discovered road through vampire territory. Ward tried to read some of Hugo’s wizarding book, and failed. Then Drew took the first watch, guarding their cabin and Vanya’s, but didn’t see anything.

Meanwhile, Ray had another nightmare courtesy of Dama Zhadna. Again, she invited him to come speak to her, and this time… he did! Sneaking out into the woods, Ray said the witch’s name three times at midnight. A ring of bone-torches appeared in a thick mist, and then a cabin on bony spider-legs walked into the circle. The flaming skull of Nikita appeared. Finally a small chair of bones stepped out of the cabin’s shadow, revealing the shriveled witch clutching her wand and sickle.

After the standard taunting (which I loved doing!), Dama Zhadna laid out her terms. If Ray and friends could find and bring her Yurikai’s soul-box (so she could control him), then she would let them leave the village. In addition, if Ray took her sickle with him to kill vampires for her, she would (eventually) release Shaela from her power. (The sickle would punish him if he didn’t stay on task.)

The witch then returned to the shadows, and her house walked into the mist. The torches and mist vanished, and Ray returned to the cabin.

Hijinks

During Ward’s watch, he saw Brother Vanya stepping out into the freezing night air. But the ranger slipped on the ice and scared the priest back inside before learning what the little fellow was up to.

During Rainen’s watch it began to snow, and she didn’t notice anything of interest. But in the morning, Hugo discovered his magic necklace had been stolen. The thatched roof was disturbed and there were tracks outside!

Ray told the group of his meeting with Dama Zhadna and the two deals on the table.

Marta’s Story

Hugo suggested they talk to Marta again, since she was the last person to see Yurikai in town, and her father was a skilled craftsman (who might have made the soul-box). He and Ray met with the grieving woman and learned that she found “Old Yuri” standing over her father’s dead body, so she chased him and beat him into the woods. Somehow the old man didn’t die, so she chained him up in a cellar and left him there to rot.

Hugo also detected Marta’s magic necklace (a gift from her mother) and something in the cold cellar under the floor! Marta pointed out the cabin that Old Yuri used to live in, and they left.

Poor Cyclops

The rangers insisted on tracking the thief who took Hugo’s necklace, so everyone took off into the woods. They eventually found a strange crack in some rocks, and then discovered a one-eyed creature trying to hide in a cave. They tried to talk to it and pursued it, but the hideous thing just shoved itself deeper and deeper into the narrow rock crevices out of reach.

Hugo cast Comprehend Languages and Ray then Suggested that the creature serve him, so they were able to get the deformed (and now crippled) cyclops to come out and explain a few things. They learned that the creature was once human but was then transformed by something it called “The Darkness”. Also, it had stolen the necklace and given it to The Darkness by throwing it into the crack in the rocks.

Hugo then tossed his familiar Kali the turtle into the crack, which obliterated Kali and summoned up a fleshy mass with floating yellow eyes. This again!? Ward poked the mass, but only got a headache for his trouble.

Risky Business

Returning to town, the group made a cunning plan. Ray sent the one-eyed creature to try to break into the “magic cabin” that they couldn’t open. Rainen spotted a group of Concerned Citizens having a heated discussion with Brother Vanya. Ward hurried over to try to calm folks down and distract them from the hideous creature sneaking through the village.

In the brief exchange that followed, the villagers revealed they no longer trusted the heroes. Brother Vanya told them that they were using “unholy” magic, and had a pet monster wolf (Sasha), and made deals with vampires, and were almost definitely involved in killing the holy Templar Irina. Ward…pretty much admitted that this was all true.

Just then, a scream! Someone had seen the monster trying to break into the cabin. Everyone scattered, some people running for safety, others running for weapons. Ward joined the hunt for the monster, again trying to make nice with the locals. Killing the one-eyed thief proved easy. Ward tried to claim that a pack of these creatures had killed the High Templar, but as soon as the villagers saw how scrawny the creature was, they refused to believe him.

They demanded that the heroes get out of their village!

Loose Ends

Meanwhile, Drew also tried to get into the magic cabin again, but only got another headache. Ray, Hugo, and Rainen went to look at Old Yuri’s old house, but found nothing of interest there.

When Drew and Ward returned, a wild debate erupted. What to do now? Make a deal with Dama Zhadna? Make a deal with the vampires? Leave the village? Fight the villagers? Kill Brother Vanya???

And that’s where we stopped.

DM Notes

Wow. Okay. So. The big highlight for me was in the first half when I got to FINALLY roleplay Dama Zhadna in her meeting with Ray. LOVED IT. My favorite NPC yet. So creepy! And we finally got to put all the beans on the table. What does the villain want? CHECK!

The business with the one-eyed creature was super unexpected, but amazing. The PCs learned a bunch about these creatures and a little about their master. And the business of all the heroes’ less-than-savory actions are finally leading to some serious consequences with the poor villagers of Frostwyck. I’m looking forward to watching the group chat between sessions as the players try to reach an agreement about to what do about this mess!

Go to the next session

Posted in session report | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Witches of Frostwyck: Session #9

Posted on September 26, 2020 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes hunted a tiger, made a sacrifice to a pond monster they’ve never seen, negotiated with the local tanner for some furry outfits, and discovered that their favorite nervous priest had gone missing again…

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the human Eldritch Knight (3)
  • Ray the human Lore Bard (3)
  • Ward the human Gloom Stalker (3)
  • Rainen the dwarf Beast Master (3)
  • Hugo the human Knowledge Cleric (1), Time Wizard (2)

Another long night!

Before going to bed, there was a spirited debate about just what the heck is going on around here?! Is Dama Zhadna behind everything? Do we just attack her now? And what about Brother Vanya, what’s going on with him and those vampires? Can we make an ally with the legendary cursed wolf monster that we haven’t met yet?

Nothing was decided and everyone went to sleep while Ray and Drew kept the first watch. They soon heard someone sneaking up on the cabin, so they gave chase and the strangers ran off into the woods. Sasha (Rainen’s dire wolf) refused to chase, and stayed to protect the cabin.

During Hugo’s watch, nothing bothered the cabin, except for Drew’s horrible odors. But Ray had a terrible dream in which Dama Zhadna told him the only way to escape the village was to come to her, tonight, alone, and make a deal! Ray awoke shortly before midnight (the witching hour!) and spoke to Hugo about it. Ray was sorely tempted to go off on his own to talk to the witch, but decided not to.

During Ward’s watch, he failed to climb a tree and then later heard more creatures sneaking up on the cabin. They were more of the one-eyed humanoids who keep trying to steal magic items all over the area. He gave chase and shot one in the back, but all three of them escaped into the forest. Drat and curses!

Rude awakening

As everyone was getting up and discussing the night’s events, Rainen sensed trouble outside with Sasha. She emerged from the cabin just in time to see a large muscular woman punching the giant wolf in the face. The woman had dead white eyes, rotting black wounds, and wore two brown dresses that were much too small for her. It was Irina the Inescapable! Back from the dead!

The undead Templar charged into the cabin, knocking Rainen flat. She lunged at Ray (who dealt the killing blow in their battle with her) and started choking him as she grimly gloated about all the people she had killed, including the druids.

During the wild fight in the cabin, Sasha dragged Rainen outside to safety. Ward fired his burning arrows into the Templar’s back. Drew pulled Irina off Ray and hurled her across the cabin. Ray filled the room with illusory tears as he sang and played his Instrument of Illusion. Hugo slashed with his radiant chain-sickle and Rainen bound Irina to the floor with piercing thorns.

As Rainen hurled her axes and Drew smashed away with his Eldritch Spear, Hugo dealt the killing blow with his Temporal Blades (time-based magic missiles). Irina’s undead body rapidly decayed and her skeleton crumbled all over Drew.

Huzzah!

The druids

Fearing that Irina might be resurrected again somehow, possibly by Dama Zhadna, Drew grabbed the Templar’s bones and the group headed east to check on the druids. Along the way, Ray told everyone about his dream-message from the Dama, and that she seemed to know a lot about him and his mission to help the oppressed bards of Vulgoth. They all discussed ways they might bargain with Dama Zhadna, but since the witch only seems to like souls and torture, they weren’t sure what they could offer her.

Near the ruined observatory, they discovered that the two remaining druids were dead. They both showed signs of being strangled and beaten, and their familiar brown dresses were gone. Rainen was heartbroken at the loss of their only true allies, and led the effort to gather wood and build a funeral pyre, hoping to place the druids beyond the Dama’s reach. Drew also placed the bones of Irina in the flames to destroy those as well. As the flames consumed the bodies and smoke spilled out of the cave, Rainen prayed.

On the way back to Frostwyck, Ward and Rainen noted the abandoned ranger lodge and discussed the idea of training new rangers to restore the Ranger Guild. They noticed that the lodge door was closed, and they remembered leaving it open, so they went to investigate, but found nothing amiss. The entire group then took a short rest inside to recover from the fight with Irina. During the rest, Drew heard a cough, but thought little of it.

Frostwyck

Returning to town, Drew checked in on the hunter Andrei, who was very friendly with the now-saviors of his village. But he had not seen Brother Vanya since the day before yesterday. They looked around the priest’s house but saw no clues of what had happened to him. Rainen found some of Vanya’s clothes and had Sasha pick up his scent. And soon the dire wolf was on the trail, loping…back east!

Two hours later, as the sun set, everyone was back at the ranger lodge where the destroyed door was once again back in place. Sasha whined and growled. Brother Vanya was here!

What is going on in this lodge???

For the second time in one day, Drew smashed down the lodge door and found the interior exactly the same as before. They ignited their Lantern of Revealing, which revealed nothing. Nothing on the ceiling. Nothing on the roof. No trap doors or hidden cellar.

In a rage of frustration, Drew grabbed the filthy old mattress and yanked it off the bed. And there, lying under the slats, was a terrified Brother Vanya in the grasp of a very angry and familiar vampire. (Vanya is the one who coughed when the group was resting here earlier!)

The vampire burst into bat-form and tried to flee, but Ward hurled a net at him and he tumbled to the floor, reverting to humanoid form. But instead of leaping into battle, the group leapt into…conversation!

Vampire stuff!!!

The vampire Bruno calmly explained that he served Dragoslava Torescu, the countess of the north and queen of all vampires. She lives in Castle Torescu, to the south in the mountains, which also happens to control one of only two passes through the mountains.

Dragoslava is collecting priests of Virune (alive!) for some dark purpose, but Bruno did not know the details. One of his associates kidnapped Sister Xenia just before the group arrived in town.

He was also being inconvenienced by Dama Zhadna’s curse that was trapping everyone in the area. But Bruno, as an immortal vampire, was willing to wait it out. The group was not.

In exchange for not killing the outnumbered vampire, the group demanded the return of poor Brother Vanya and a promise of help from Bruno when the group inevitably attacked Dama Zhadna. Bruno reluctantly agreed. They also spoke of willingly giving Bruno three priests (Vanya, Hugo, and Ward) and asking for an introduction to Dragoslava. And then the party headed home!

And that’s where we stopped.

DM Notes

This was a pretty great session. I think we’ve found a really good rhythm. We got some mystery, some creepy dreams, some personal relationships and plans, and a short-but-deadly combat that had really intense emotional and narrative stakes. It also took me virtually no time at all to prepare, so another plus!

By keeping the campaign focused on the same people and relationships, and making them evolve over time, especially beyond death, I think we’re all much more invested (and intrigued!) about what will happen next.

I have to say, none of this is unfolding as I had guess it would. AT ALL. And that’s a very good thing! I’m enjoying the crap out of this campaign. For instance, I thought Irina would have stayed alive to chase and torment the party for much longer. I thought the druids would be party allies. I did not think the vampires would be party allies. Shows what I know!

I think we’re getting close to the end of the campaign. But I’m a pretty bad oracle, so who knows?!

Go to the next session

Posted in session report | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Witches of Frostwyck: Session #8

Posted on September 17, 2020 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes spent a little time in the village of Frostwyck before heading out to confront a suspected witch, who was both not a witch and not alive, and then agreed to investigate a new threat down at the river, who turned out to be an old (and dead) friend…

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the human Eldritch Knight (3)
  • Ray the human Lore Bard (3)
  • Ward the human Gloom Stalker (3)
  • Rainen the dwarf Beast Master (3)
  • Hugo the human Knowledge Cleric (1), Time Wizard (2)

Shaela lives!

Everyone was stunned to see that the hunched, filthy, discolored figure emerging from the wrecked barge was none other than Shaela the druid! In the tense exchange that followed, Ward and Ray learned that Shaela had been resurrected by Dama Zhadna. The witch had the druid’s soul in her spider-house, and Shaela was charged with killing anyone who set foot in the river. She indicated a dead Kormish reaver trapped in the ice.

Shaela still had her memories. She remembered Ray, and her death. She didn’t want to hurt anyone, but she knew she had little choice in the matter. Ray asked her to bring him the body of the dead reaver, and Shaela summoned a massive thorn to lift the corpse and drop it on the river bank. Ray promised to try to help Shaela, and she let everyone leave in peace.

I loot the body

While there, Ray looted the dead reaver for some manly clothes, armor, and weapons. Hugo and Ward also looted the barge, and discovered it was full of musical instruments and puppets, including enchanted bagpipes!

Hugo also detected magic from higher up the slope. The party soon found a dead humanoid creature with one huge eye impaled on a mass of thorns, with three items: a flask, a smoking pipe, and a flute.

So much magic!

After a brief rest, our heroes headed east to hunt the Vulgoth tiger that killed poor Rufina.

Clash of the Titans

Ward easily tracked the monster to its lair. The tiger’s cave was completely veiled by thick, dirty icicles. Drew shattered an opening with his Eldritch Spear. Within moments, the sleeping beast had awakened and charged out!

Ward loosed flaming arrows and knives. Hugo and Ray blessed and buffed their companions. Rainen hurled an axe and Drew speared away. But the big battle moment was when the Vulgoth tiger and the dire wolf Sasha tore each other apart, fang and claw! Ward dashed in for the fatal blow, with one last flaming arrow to the heart.

Bloody Afternoon

The party needed to get the tiger carcass back to Frostwyck so they could sacrifice the meat to the vodnik in the pond and save the village. But the body weighed a ton. There was talk of building a sledge and dragging it.

Ultimately, they decided to skin and butcher the beast. Sasha tore out the organs and ate them. Rainen expertly removed the hide. And then the rangers separated the meat from the bones. Four hours later, they were done, and the sun had set.

Hugo passed the time praying over his holy chain-and-sickle. Drew also harvested the tiger’s skull to wear over his own face to hide his missing nose. Ray kept an eye on the wolves gathering in the woods as he tended to Sasha’s wounds.

With darkness closing in, the group moved the meat into the tiger’s cave and settled in for the night. They threw the intestines and bones into the woods to keep the wolves at bay. The night passed quietly, with one exception.

During Ward’s watch, a severed human hand skittered into the cave, up his leg, and tried to crawl inside his mouth. He failed roll after roll to get rid of the pest, until finally, screaming and flailing, he threw the hand into the fire. The others awoke just in time to not believe his crazy story.

Meaty saviours!

In the morning, they carried their meat back to Frostwyck. The villagers greeted them as heroes and quickly sacrificed most of the meat into the pond to placate the vodnik. They directed the party to the tannery where they dropped off the tiger hide and commissioned a few cloaks and sets of leather armor from Falina.

Hugo returned to the cabin to continue praying all day over his weapon. Drew perfected his tiger skull mask, and went to check on Marta, who was still grieving her missing sister Elisa. He also visited the cabin protected by magic, but was still unable to enter.

Meanwhile, Rainen went to check on Brother Vanya, but was not able to find him. Fearing the worst, she wondered if the vampires had returned. She also visited the wounded Andrei and learned that Vanya had been around yesterday. She also visited Oleg, the large old man at risk of being sacrificed to the vodnik. But he was fine, and she left despite his many pleas for her to come in and make herself comfortable.

As night settled in over Frostwyck, Hugo finally finished his 24 hours of prayer and attuned to the holy chain weapon. It grew lighter in his hands, and its magical properties were unlocked.

And that’s where we ended.

DM Notes

This was a great session. It really felt smooth and easy. I barely had to prepare anything. The players did a great job interacting with Shaela and avoiding an unnecessary battle there. Then they pivoted to a quick and exciting hunt, followed by a bit of hard work and logistical problem solving. We wrapped up in town with a bunch of social encounters that were fun as well as productive. I couldn’t have asked for anything more, and I’m extremely excited for what’s about to happen next. Because it’s a lot.

A whole lot.

Go to the next session

Posted in session report | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Witches of Frostwyck: Session #7

Posted on September 12, 2020 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes rescued a young priest from a nest of vampires, and discovered a few ancient secrets and treasures! They headed home, hoping to have a quiet night to recover…

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the human Eldritch Knight (3)
  • Ray the human Lore Bard (3)
  • Ward the human Gloom Stalker (3)
  • Rainen the dwarf Beast Master (3)
  • Hugo the human Knowledge Cleric/Time Wizard (3)

Midnight madness

Everyone settled in for a solid night’s rest in the abandoned cabin in Frostwyck. Ward took the first watch, climbing a tree to survey the area. He detected an intruder in the woods, so he climbed down and set a bear trap near the cabin. Unfortunately, the trap made a horrible squealing noise and the intruder never came near.

Then Rainen came out to sit the second watch while weaving a small basket. Inside, Ray and Hugo awoke to discover Brother Vanya vomiting live eels all over the floor. The eels wriggled out under the door and slithered into the freezing pond.

Drew took the third watch. He was barely paying attention when the flaming skull of Nikita floated up. Nikita thanked him for killing all the vampires hiding out in his ruined tower. He noted that Drew had lost his nose, so the two of them became “No Nose Bros”. Drew learned a little more about Nikita and his relationship with the dreaded witch Dama Zhadna, including how to summon her: Go into the woods at midnight and say her name three times, and she will appear. Easy to do, hard to survive.

As dawn approached, Rainen dreamed of a wood-skinned angel with green leafy wings. The angel summoned a giant white wolf to destroy a monster with many yellow eyes, telling her to “Protect Vulgoth.”

More mysteries

The group woke and told Brother Vanya that his nightmares about vomiting eels were all too real, and the poor fellow ran home. They then began a new religious debate about Virune and the Temple. Hearing some noise outside, they emerged to discover a huge white wolf, Sasha, the wolf they fed at the hunter’s lodge a few days ago. She arrived to be Rainen’s beast companion (dire wolf!).

Over by the pond, the villagers were again angrily debating the need to make a sacrifice to the vodnik, the monster in the water. The vodnik attacked Andrei last night when he went to pee in the water. The group went to Andrei’s house to confirm the story, and also traded him a copper samovar for some arrows.

Then they went to check on Marta, who they found grieving her missing sister Elisa. But Rainen refused to give up hope. She asked for a cloth that smelled like Elisa and used Sasha as a bloodhound to track the scent. Sasha led the group to a nearby cabin, and while smoke rose from the chimney, no one responded to their knocks. Drew attacked the door, but could not open it. Then Ray, Ward, and Rainen suddenly felt that the cabin was perfectly normal and they wanted to leave. Hugo and Drew still suspected that some strange magic lurked inside, but they agreed to leave for now and go witch-hunting!

Let’s get Rufina!

Following a trail west, they headed out in search of the rumored witch Rufina. Along the way, Sasha and Rainen smelled the faint scent of a corpse.

The trail led to a poorly tended cabin with a large rabbit hutch. Inside, a little girl told them to go away, and when the group tried to push their luck, a sudden wind and dark clouds convinced them to back off. In the woods, Sasha led them to the long-dead corpse of a woman, seemingly killed by a tiger. Everyone suspected this was Rufina. Drew carried the corpse back to the cabin and started digging a grave (out of sight).

Strangers with spells

Ray charmed the little girl in the cabin and convinced her to come outside and talk. Little Nina was filthy, but otherwise fine, and wanted to pet the giant wolf. Then Ray broke the news that her mother was dead, and Nina freaked out. Her distress summoned a strange protector: a pale woman riding a stag emerged from the forest and threw up a wall of wind to shield Nina from the group.

This stranger, Petya, said that she was a sorceress who protected Nina since her mother was killed by a tiger. The group convinced her that they meant no harm to Nina, and Petya answered a few questions. She revealed that the vodnik in the pond was a cursed creature made by Dama Zhadna, and that another new Zhadna-creature had recently appeared at the river nearby.

The group debated their many open quest lines, including killing Dama Zhadna, killing the vodnik, and killing this new river monster. They suggested many plans. Eventually they decided they would try to defeat as many of Dama Zhadna’s servants as possible before trying their luck against the witch-lord herself.

They were about to go hunt the tiger as a sacrifice for the vodnik when Petya mentioned that the river-creature was living in the nearby wreckage of a skald barge… so the bard Ray changed his mind and swung the vote another way.

Let’s get the river-monster!

Heading down to the river, the team soon found the rotting wreckage of a brightly painted barge on the river bank. Ward found some strange humanoid foot prints nearby. Hoping that the river-monster might have left, he ran up to the barge and leapt on board.

In response, two glowing green orbs emerged from the cabin to hover and hum, while a disturbing cackling laugh echoed up from below. A small figure hobbled up on deck, her hair falling out, her ears and nose drooping, her skin green and mottled… and a horrible black gash across her throat.

Ward recognized the strangely altered appearance of the halfling druid Shaela, who died on the prison barge the night they escaped into the forest!

And that’s where we ended.

DM Notes

This was a great session. There was tons of excellent roleplay between the PCs about their backgrounds and motivations and goals. They all got to interact with different NPCs having weird problems and crises. We moved the needle on a bunch of open mysteries: Marta’s missing sister, Nikita and Dama Zhadna, the vodnik, Rufina the supposed witch, and now the supposedly dead Shaela!

And there wasn’t a single combat.

Next time there will be high-stakes encounters, most prominently with Shaela. What happened to her? Is she still alive? What did Dama Zhadna do to her?

Go to the next session

Posted in session report | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Witches of Frostwyck: Session #6

Posted on August 29, 2020 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes fought a deadly High Templar, lost a druid friend, destroyed an ancient Observatory, and returned to the village only to discover that their friend the young priest had been kidnapped and dragged into the woods!

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the human Eldritch Knight (3)
  • Ray the human Lore Bard (3)
  • Ward the human Gloom Stalker (3)
  • Rainen the dwarf Beast Master (3
  • Hugo the human Knowledge Cleric/Time Wizard (3)

Vampires Galore

Having found Brother Vanya in the clutches of a vampiric-looking woman in a ruined tower, the heroes quickly rushed in. Hoping to save the priest, Drew plunged into the dark space as his companions filled the doorway. And that’s when the second vampire appeared from the shadows. Chains rattled above, and humanoid figures crawled on the ceiling.

The following battle was chaotic and deadly. Drew tried to put the vampires to sleep, but only poor Brother Vanya passed out. This left the two Vampire Thralls and six Vampire Wretches on the ceiling free to attack! They converged on Drew, biting and tearing at the mighty fighter.

Ray Suggested that the Thrall woman lie prone on the floor, and she did! A series of attacks from the whole team soon killed her, and she exploded into dust. But the Wretches swarmed around Rainen and Hugo, biting and clawing wildly. Ward succeeded in snarling the remaining Thrall in a tangle of vines, trapping him against the ceiling for a few moments. Hugo unleashed spell after spell to Slow his foes and Shield himself. Magic blades flashed and flew, and burning arrows sliced through the shadows like tracer fire.

Then many things happened. Drew fell unconscious. The Thrall tried to capture Hugo, but sensing his own imminent death, released the cleric and leapt up through the ceiling to flee into the sunny woods, burning and roaring in pain. Ward chased the burning vampire, but the creature turned into a bat and escaped into the sky. Meanwhile, the Wretches tore down Rainen, and then Hugo, all while chanting, “Virune! Virune!”

Things were looking grim!

But then Rainen and Drew made massive Death Saves, popping back into the world of the living (but playing dead on the floor!). And one by one, they took out the remaining Vampire Wretches.

It was a long and dangerous battle, but everyone survived (all with single-digit HP). Brother Vanya helped with the healing, and everyone took some time to rest and recover.

Wounds!

Unfortunately, three of our heroes fell to zero HP, which means they had to roll on my custom Wounds table:

  • Rainen’s injuries resulted in permanent and painful nerve damage, giving her disadvantage on all Acrobatics checks.
  • Hugo suffered a broken nose, whose sinister appearance gives him disadvantage on all Persuasion checks.
  • But poor Drew, who was most savagely clawed and bitten by the vampires, lost his entire nose! And now he has disadvantage on all Perception checks.

The search for a new nose for Drew starts now!

Treasure

Searching the ruined tower revealed a number of hidden goodies. Ward and Drew found a ring, fur hat, and key on their own. Hugo detected magic to help them find a pair of boots under the floor and something on the roof. Ward went upstairs and found the scorched skull-less skeleton of Nikita, and under it, a third Eldritch Eye! This one was green (Poison). Rainen placed the Green Eye in her mystwood hammer and it was instantly empowered by the arcane item.

Meanwhile, Ray and Hugo debated the merits of worshiping Virune and embracing different types of magic. They went back and forth on whether Virune was evil, or just being used by an evil Temple. Hugo revealed that he was on a personal quest to master Time Magic, and while this might not be holy, it was very important to him.

Brother Vanya looked at the copper ring that Drew found. He identified the rose design on it as the crest of the Torescu family that ruled the mountains to the south at Castle Torescu. The ring also had a small needle that pointed inward at the wearer, so Drew did not put it on.

Hugo identified the other items as a Hat of Vermin, Boots of the Winterlands, and Mystery Key.

Into the Woods

During their rest, Ward stood watch up on the roof. At one point he heard a strange rumbling to the south. Later, he spotted something moving in the distance, but he couldn’t see it through the trees.

Having rested and recovered a little, everyone wanted to get back to the village before sunset. But as they headed into the forest, Rainen continued to glimpse signs of movement behind them. Something was definitely following them. She tried to relate this to the rest of the group, but the ensuing game of telephone garbled her report and the team almost stopped to set up an ambush before she could straighten things out.

Home again, home again

Back in Frostwyck, the group invited Brother Vanya to stay with them, just in case the surviving vampire tried to abduct him again. They discussed all the problems in the area, and seemed to identify the magic barrier and the vampires as two separate and unrelated threats.

Rainen went out to gather herbs and Ward went out to hunt rabbits. Hugo took a few hours to pray over the chain-sickle of Irina the Inescapable, hoping to master it as his own weapon soon. Everyone had a lovely supper and settled in for the long night ahead.

And that’s where we stopped!

DM Notes

The vampire battle ran WAY longer than I had planned/hoped. It ended up being something like 2.5 hours for one combat! That’s nuts. On the upside, the players seemed to like how dynamic and deadly it was. But I’m sure they were feeling the fatigue just as much as I was by the end of it. Lessons learned, definitely make the creatures hit harder (to be dangerous) but die easier (to be quick about it).

I was surprised that no one went outside, either to escape the vampires or to lure them out to a fiery doom. Hugo briefly considered attacking the ceiling to let the sunlight inside (great idea!) but he chose not to.

Now that we are back in the village, we’ll probably have more interactions and investigations and less combat for a session or two (or maybe not, who knows!).

Go to the next session

Posted in session report | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment