D&D

DDC – Oh No

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Hungover and aching, the DDC took the portal back to the Hold and spent a da,y recovering. Thorin spent time with his father, learning more of the Clan history as miners of gold and amber. Valenia and Caeluma went hunting, caught deer, and found more troll tracks. The evening drew in and everyone settled down.

In the early hours of the night came sounds of fighting and outrage from somewhere in the Hold. People began to rouse themselves and search the halls. Valenia was first on the scene, finding a large semi-translucent troll in the Chief’s study. It was in the process of murdering Bentane, the old Lord of the Hold – Thorin’s father. Purple-hued twisted shadows accompanied it and sprung to attack – striking down guards before seeping through cracks in walls to haunt the corridors while the shadows of fallen guards began to writhe and rise in turn to hunt more of the living.

The rest of the group began to catch up and tried to kill the creature, which had a twisted violet gem embedded in its chest. They hurt it, but not before it dropped the body in its hands and turned to try and kill Thorin in turn. It taunted him, called itself Vasselack and claimed the Circle had sent him to be the Clan’s death.

Outnumbered as more of the group arrived, the spectral troll turned and ran straight through the nearest wall as the tide of battle shifted against it. Out in the corridors, more guards fell in battle with the undead shadows, until Karkanna caught up and aided Kerne in slaying them.

The creature ran through the wall next to Kerne and attacked them to clear their path out. The rest of the group had to run around the halls to catch up but managed to get there in time to save Kerne from the same fate that had befallen Bentane. The shadows were all slain, but the troll was able to continue through the walls and out of the Hold. It disappeared into the night, leaving blood and pain behind it.

In the aftermath, as survivors were patched up and non-combatants checked, there was dismay. Kerne comforted Karkanna, and Valenia directed efforts until Thorin could compose himself. Bentane’s remains were transferred to a side chapel. Before the assembled survivors, Thorin and the DDC swore to avenge Bentane and to make sure that this threat was ended.

How to do that? Well that was the question.

DDC – Ice Trolls

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Sunday’s game saw the group deciding on what to do about the revelation that trolls were moving in concert to disrupt life in the Hold’s territories. A week of scouting and research culminated in loud rumbling noises in the night, off in the distance and echoing across the valleys. With no visible source of that noise, the group decided to investigate reports of activity at an old mill site to the north west. Various lures of slaughtered animals were bringing predators down from the mountains to more civilised areas – and the mill was near the main pass towards the mines.

Before they did though, Kerne asked that they all go to Flower Town, taking Karkanna and Loris with them for a party and celebration. Kerne also had a surprise that they wanted to share. It took some persuasion to get Karkanna to acquiesce to the idea. She had spent a lot of the week fussing over Kerne while they recovered from their earlier injuries. A deputation was needed in the end to back Kerne up, like children asking if their friend could come out to play.

The group made their towards the pass to the north east leading to Flower Town. In the early stages of the approach, however, the DDC encountered four ice trolls near a rough stone circle. The two sides rushed at each other, with Caeluma being badly hurt in the initial rush. A desperate struggle raged within the snowy pass and despite the trolls’ regenerative health, the group was able to whittle down the threat in reasonably short order. However, before they could draw breath, the mound at the centre of the stone circle began to shift and collapse as something large dug its way out.

Weary, hurt, and after a rapid expenditure of energy, the DDC was shocked to see the misshapen form of a dire troll digging its way out of its grave, disturbed by all the activity. Caeluma fell beneath its claws twice, being hastily revived in the heat of battle, while Thorin went toe to toe with the creature. Blow after blow were traded, and time to heal up was bought with a frantically-cast banishment spell.

The creature’s tenacity was such that the group thought they had killed it several times, only to have it rear back up and strike again and again. In the end they were able to bring a massive flame to bear that overwhelmed it, and this time the remains caught and were consumed.

A search of the fallen trolls revealed another set of bone and iron brooches, symbol of the Circle of Rot as previous research had revealed. Within the now tumbled mass of the stone circle, a battered satchel contained gold coins, and a beautiful gold and silver brooch with the Amberhammer crest, were found. This was later identified as an old Amberhammer treasure that had been used to identify an agent of the Hold. A painting of a a previous clan queen showing her wearing it was found in the library.

The main pass itself was found to be impossible to use – the loud noise in the night had been an avalanche. Fragments of burned stone still bore the imprint of glyphs of warding that had been deliberately placed and triggered to cause it.

Returning to the Hold, and when all were relaxing and wounds tended, Karkanna asked what the surprise was going to be – which was when Kerne produced rings that they had commissioned, and asked Karkanna to marry them. We left the session there with a grand celebration and very few dry eyes in the house.

DDC – Troll Fight

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We picked up the story from last time with the group making their way across a frozen lake towards a burning trading post. Battle was joined with a group of four trolls, and at the end of the last session, Kerne had slain one of them with a deluge of acid.

This week, the remaining trolls ran for cover, running around or into the trading post, forcing the DDC to pursue them. This was the moment they found that the trolls had left concealed bear traps in their paths – a level of preparation and use of tactics not typical of troll encounters. They lost sight of two of the trolls, but the third could be seen through the trading post’s windows. Valenia and Caeluma therefore focused their efforts on shooting into the burning building with varying degrees of success.

Arwan made his way inside in pursuit and was charged by the troll he found in there – and despite weathering powerful blows stood his ground. Valenia finished the troll off with acid-infused magical arrows and just for a moment all was quiet. Arwan extinguished the largest fire in the building by summoning water – and then the other two trolls reappeared.

They had climbed onto the roof undetected and crawled over the top to try and flank the group when the damaged roof collapsed. One leapt clear and landed next to Kerne – the other fell through and landed next to Arwan. In the blink of an eye Kerne was on the ground and bleeding out, with the troll preparing to eat them. Caeluma and Arwan fought the other troll with magics that severed limbs and dropped it quickly.

Overhead map view of a burning wooden building in a snowy forest landscape on the edge of a frozen lake. Its the setting for the encounter described in this blog entry.

Valenia risked the irate troll’s claws to heal Kerne, saving their life but getting her back sliced open in the process. Inside the trading post, the fallen troll’s separated body parts began to fight on independently. For a few moments, as fast as the DDC knocked the trolls down, they or their body parts got back up and continued fighting. Then Arwan called on the gods to summon a flame strike from the heavens. The column of fire punched down through the broken roof. It incinerated the troll remains in moments. Outside, Valenia and Thorin finished off the remaining attacker with acid.

In the aftermath, the group took a short rest and investigated the wreckage. There was nothing of any worth remaining in the ruins, but each of the trolls wore two tokens. The first was a bone and iron brooch in the shape of a humanoid skull. The second was a crude silver fist wrought in silver on a silver chain.

Valenia’s investigations also found deliberately dumped animal and human remains. Blood and gore were placed to form a lure to the area, and based on the blood on the troll remains, they had been the ones placing the lures. They mirrored the gore piles found earlier in the forest trails. The DDC decided to return to the Hold to plan and research their next move.

I’ve included the map here, as well as the zipped file of the Dungeon Alchemy base file, jpeg, and text file with dynamic lighting, door, and window location details: tradingpost attack.zip

One Shot Part Two

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The chaos continued this weekend, as the reverse heist D&D caper hit the point where the plan met reality – and the silliness was wonderful. A fairy sorceror, a harengon monk, a human rogue, a halfling wizard, and a tiefling bard made their plans to deliver presents as snows fell on the neighbourhood. Nobody made the Christmas connection, or if they did they didn’t mention it – but that was fine.

All focus was on delivering presents to Valenia’s parents for the first part of the session. They were staying at a guest house, and so a distraction was needed. Between sandwiches from the pub and Cupcake’s non-stop babbling, all eyes were distracted while Fearne, Ignis, and Guiness crept upstairs, evaded a tabaxi reading in a window seat, and broke into the correct room to deliver presents.

One successful drop-off later, the group made their excuses and headed out into the gathering gloom of the evening. They hadn’t managed to get the key from Coal, so some old-fashioned breaking and entering was called for. First, however, Cupcake made friends with the mimic disguised as a bench in the front garden. Bribery and a distressing amount of rabbit droppings left a cheerful mimic promising to not raise the alarm while they wandered around the garden.

By hook and proverbial crook they made their way up to a first floor balcony, and found a way in to Thorin’s bedroom. The only sound came from a chest in the corner which was gently snoring, so everyone was very careful to tiptoe to deliver the first present and then out into the hallway.

The whole session followed a similar pattern of bypassing sleeping mimics, a sleeping wolf, and dealing with a prank-trap of a wasps nest over a door. The group met Tanglefinger too – the boggle who shares the house with the DDC – and as they framed their intrusion as part of a prank, they were able to persuade him to help and again, not raise the alarm.

Having reached the top floor and dropped off the final present on Kerne’s bed, they then escaped by way of ropes down from the top balcony – well, apart from Fearne, who fell most of the way and broke his leg. They all then hobbled back to the Clubhouse for payment and healing – and a bonus present delivery to Odif of a set of mini automatons modelled after the DDC.

All in all, a gentle and funny romp was had – with lots of laughter and silliness – what a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Next week, hopefully, the DDC return…

New NPCs

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I haven’t entirely decided the how and where of most of these, but my ongoing experiments with Heroforge have presented some interesting options that seem to have stories to tell – or at least be the conduit for stories to tell with my assorted players. I’m trying to come up with characters that can stand out vividly – or be comic relief – and so today’s small batch ranges from a Dragonborn paladin, a Halfling bartender, and a Reborn elven hunter.

In order then we have Serenidas, a Dragonborn holy warrior descended from Copper Dragons who serves the principle of justice. Yes, the pun is entirely intentional even if not entirely original. Clad in reds and yellows, he has a magical flaming sword and an enchanted shield as he brings light to dark places.

Next we have Harlan Ghallison – a Mark of Hospitality Halfling who will be taking over the inn in Flower Town and widening the scope of the entertainments and treats available to customers and people passing by. I’m envisioning the sort of wry bartender running a Wild West saloon who may or may not have his fingers in some less that legal pies.

Lastly we have Hunter Dorull – who is an elf ranger who died before completing his mission and refused to stay put – at least, that’s his story. His body may be powered by pure willpower, but what is his mission, and why is he drawn to the DDC?

As ever, these tokens and portraits are free for the stealing for your VTT of choice – and I’d love to hear of any use you put them to!

Map – Arch Above The Ruins

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I’ve been doing some more map making to wind down in the evenings – this time using Inkarnate as I get used to the layering options and thinking about the constructive layers involved in areas with multiple levels. In this case the concept was a battle location on a walkway high above some ruins below in some vaulted space underground. Depending on which way any of the various groups wander this may turn up in a session at some point as something I can just drop people into.

The map is for a 40×30 grid square on a landscape orientation for a virtual tabletop – with the main battle areas being the more brightly lit landings and walkway connecting them. The ziggurat and other buildings below could be any depth below depending on how you might want to run the encounter – anywhere from tens to hundreds of feet drop. Even now, looking at it, I’m considering how I might add a blur to the lower level so its implying a different height for the purposes of suggesting eye focus.

I’ve added a couple of lighting shades and textures to the lower level to try and suggest depths apart from the braziers on top of the ziggurat – and then added some lanterns on the walkway to make it stand out a little and draw the eye.

The types of encounters that could be run here range from being cornered by guardians, being attacked by flying predators, stand-offs threatening an object being dropped over the ziggurat’s flames, traps defending the entrance to the complex while implying what is to come later – go wild – and if you let me know some of the uses you put it to, that’ll be lovely.

Enjoy! The map is yours, freely.

DDC – In The Doghouse

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We’re approaching an endgame with the story arc for Thorin – which thankfully wasn’t too disrupted by technology this week. That meant a pretty combat-heavy session to start as we picked up mid fight with the tentacled mass of teeth that was roaming the gardens of the Hold.

In the earliest moments of the fight, people had been able to avoid or break free of the tentacles that had been trying to snare them, but then it was successful in latching on and starting to drain them of their lifeblood. This spurred a flurry of spells and the creature soon messily expired in a boneless heap.

The gates to the Hold were closed but consisted of iron grills showing a clear view into the tunnel beyond. There were signs of struggle and torn banners, but still no signs of guards, so Thorin was able to pull the gates open enough for them to slip through and approach the inner portal. Those with keen senses of smell picked up the scent of werewolves and of the dolgrims that had attacked in the night – and the door to the guardhouse was heavily scored with claw marks.

Thorin tried to throw open the inner portal as they could hear movement on the other side, but these doors were much heavier and it took him several attempts to get them open. This alerted the occupants of the room, and when the DDC broke through they were met by a small army of dolgrims and dolgaunts, while a huge ceramic eye crackling with arcane energies glared from the centre of the courtyard.

Thorin rushed into combat with the diminutive and multiarmed creatures and slew many while also getting bloodied in turn. The rest of the group were stymied however as they realised that the eye was a construct that projected an antimagic ray across the front of the courtyard. Battle was joined in earnest, with Caeluma nearly overwhelmed but saved by Arwan – while Kerne fell to the blades and bludgeons of two dolgrims that had cornered them.

On that cliffhanger, we ended the session. It led to the following quick image being produced:

Great Game Night

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Another fun games night just finished, continuing on the DDC’s pursuit of a missing alchemist which has led them to helping sprites with a spider and ettercap problem in return for passage to the Feywild.

We had a lot of character moments too, with Valenia assisting dryads in repairing damaged forest land, and young baby Odif spontaneously beginning to crawl, and to begin to talk.

More than a mascot?

As everyone has generally been speaking a mishmash of Common, Sylvan, and Draconic around him, the baby kobold is mostly calling people and objects by single-syllable names to accommodate his jaw structure. This can’t possibly end in tears…

Games Night Round-Up

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A good game this week, less roleplay and more rollplay in as much as it was dominated by a fight scene on the platform of a sky dock some sixty foot up in the air.

Sometimes you just need a simple combat session to contrast with the soul searching and verbosity of the story, and if nothing else this evening was a good illustration of how time slows down. The whole three hour game covered about thirty seconds of an extended brawl and a rapid flight up into the clouds to escape incoming reinforcements.

And that’s where we’ll pick up next week, on a flying ship powered by an elemental, up in the clouds.

What’s the worst that could happen?

More Dice Play

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It’s a bit of a busy week, so I’ve been finding it quite relaxing to arrange and shift around the various dice – especially as I may have succumbed to temptation and bought another couple of sets via Wish a couple of weeks ago.

Clicky-clacky math rocks, again…

They just happened to arrive this afternoon, so of course this prompted another rethink about how to store and display them. I’d been talking to a colleague this morning about all the dice and she suggested a glass bowl might be a nice way to do so.

Quite by chance we do have some glassware that doesn’t really get used – and one is a decorated mason jar style container that is just big enough to contain all the partial sets and single dice that I’ve accumulated. Well, it would be rude not to use it, wouldn’t it?

So, making the most of still not being able to get everyone around a physical table, I can at least do something aesthetically pleasing with the tools of my trade.