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The party finds a giant sword as well as several ingots of pure platinum on their stolen boat, both stamped with a coat of arms featuring a fanged skull… Ricky, Fidget and Ash are keen to simply sell them and pocket the money, but Corrio, Azure, and Crush oppose… not simply for moral reason, but also because they don’t want whoever owns the well-used sword to come looking for them. But after debating, it’s decided they shouldn’t leave the items in the boat, since they’ll likely be stolen by wandering vagabonds anyway, since they’re unable to lock or secure the boat.
While traveling the party is attacked by dire boars, but Corrio’s magic allows him to tame the beasts, giving the party some temporary mounts. The path they’re following surprisingly leads them to the small town of Transmere, where the party was headed in the first place. Once there they learn there’s no proper post office, and Azure helps Corrio to decipher a coded message left by Duncan to reveal that the dropbox is hidden in the deepest depths. After asking around town, they learn this is the nearby swamp. Crush is the natural choice to enter… not only for being a Tortle, but because his powers as a Storm Herald has given him the ability to breathe fully underwater. Deep in the swamp he finds a the dropbox guarded by a water elemental who appears in the form of a merfolk with long claws, fangs, and an eel-like body. The pendant left by Duncan is proof enough that they’re allies, and Crush brings the dropbox to the surface.
The group finds a private room in the local tavern to open the dropbox, finding several letters addressed to each of them.
Crush’s letter was originally written for both him and his sister, Crash. It also reveals that Grimveil is more than Duncan’s last name… it’s an ancient order working to oppose the Depraved Gloom and their sinister plots across the world. Both Azure’s Father and Corrio’s Mother were originally members of the Grimveils, but Azure’s father chose to return to civilian life when his wife became pregnant and the Depraved Gloom targeted his unborn daughter with poisons. Azure was even born sickly, which led to her training with the unusual art of the Astral Self to compensate for her weakened body. His Grimveil pendant is the same one that Azure now carries. Corrio, meanwhile, learns that his Mother died while battling against the Depraved Gloom, not in a foolhardy battle as his father let him believe. Her recovered pendant is stored in the drop box as well, heavily damaged and stained with blood.
Perhaps most shocking, Ricky and Crush learn that Ricky’s Aunt Gilly, who co-founded the Starlight Children’s Home with Crash, has been a member of the Grimveils this entire time. Many of the orphans had been rescued by Duncan, and despite them only knowing her as a strict schoolteacher with no unique battle capabilities and no spell-casting ability beyond the spells granted as part of the Halfling Mark of Hospitality, she also was a member of the Grimveils. A distressing letter from her implies that she’s on the run from the Depraved Gloom, hiding somewhere in the Capital City Estearia in the country of Estea. However, her protective pendant is also found in the dropbox.
Ash is given the least information… although Duncan does inform her that more information can be found based on the elaborate ring she wears on her ring finger hidden by her long gloves… the ring itself was supposedly made somewhere in the nearby country of Kurei Midori within the Jade City. Examining the ring Ash is hit with another memory… remembering being given the ring by a masculine figure somewhere under a well-maintained willow tree under a starry sky.
Determined to clear their name first, the party resolves to continue their search for the Chicken Footed house, with plans to make their way to Estearia to rescue Gilly and learn more about the Grimveils and their conflict with the Depraved Gloom.
Crits for Breakfast will start tonight at 4:30PM PST, and you can be sure to catch it all by subscribing to twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
As for the recap, the party finds themselves in a lot of danger, but some fast thinking and clever words prove more powerful than weapons and muscle...
The party continues the chase against the Depraved Gloom, heading south of Transmere on their trail. However, the path eventually collides with a wide, fast rushing river, and the bridge across has been shattered. While the party debates what to do next, they’re caught off guard by a large, mutate Brutish human. The Brute nearly knocks several of them into the fast rushing water, but in the battle they realize it’s weak to fire, with Ricky finishing it off using Heat Metal on a javelin embedded in its side by Crush.
Collecting the creature’s head as proof, the party investigates the body of the Brute, discovering a strange glowing crystal filled with Necrotic energy embedded in its side. Ricky Idenitfies its corrupting power as the source of the Brute’s mutation. As they make their way back into town they run into a wandering guard, who’s in the town of Transmere along with a retinue of guards searching for the party after their violent jail break. In order to clear their name, especially after learning the Depraved Gloom were manipulating the city guard in Yarland’s Fork, the party turns themselves in, where they are then delivered to a Paladin captain. His magic allows him to read the note exonerating the party, with the Brute’s head and corrupting crystal further proving their innocence. Still, the party is guilty of killing city guards during their escape, although a combination of persuasion and deception from both Ricky and Ash reduces the party’s sentence to a 100 gold fine for the guards’ families.
Things take a sharp turn, however, when the Paladin Captain produces a strange wand which is able to detect the presence of the Undead, making clear that any undead will be struck down on sight. As the paryt holds their breath, a quick cast of False Life is enough for Ash to fool the wand, passing, if only temporarily, for a fully living being. The party has enough time to stop by the blacksmith’s shop, which serves as a post office for the small town, where a letter from Hitha Coldforge is waiting for them. Unfortunately she hasn’t been able to uncover much, but the party still writes her to inform her of everything they’ve learned and let her know that they’re planning to go to Esterea to search for Ricky’s missing Aunt Gilly. Surprisingly, Ricky is most opposed to venturing in that direction, instead prioritizing Crush and Azure’s next scheduled battle further South. Although his true motivations are much more private…
Making their way back North of town to go back to the main river way, the party takes pause as an overwhelming sensation of dread has them instinctively seeking cover. As they watch, a villager is accosted by an extremely tall man with red eyes, long black hair, and heavy armor… and a massive sword on his back matching the one found by the party in their stolen houseboat. The tall man chooses not to harm the villager, but does casually knock over a carriage filled with a half-ton of stone. There’s a brief debate about what to do now that they seem to have found the owner of their stolen goods, with Crush briefly considering simply throwing the sword into the depths of the nearby swamp, but eventually the party decides to continue carrying their stolen goods, since destroying them only risks upsetting the original owner further.
It doesn’t take long, however, for them to encounter the Tall Man on the road. Crush returns the sword and Fidget returns the bars of platinum… Crush manages to avoid lying, but is still not persuasive enough to calm the Tall Man, but Ricky manages to step in. Seemingly unafraid of the giant warrior, he’s able to talk him down where he reveals his name to be Savine, although he still won’t say more than that. Content to get his possessions back and clearly annoyed with the party, he nonetheless leaves without further conflict as the party is left to continue their journey to Esteria.
We'll be starting soon tonight at 4:15 PM PST! As always, subscribe to twitch.tv/afterdisbooty to see what happens next, but for now here's what happened last time:
A storm comes, leaving most of the party in a sour mood, although for Crush it’s liberating and comfortable as they travel. As night falls, Ricky uses the power of his Dragon Mark to summon a Tiny Hut for the party to rest in and get out of the rain. Crush, however, chooses to take first watch, attempting to commune with the storm overhead. During this, however, he’s approached by a dangerous Shadow, which saps him of strength, but his silvered greataxe is able to make short work of the lost soul. While still keeping watch Crush meets a traveling male human seeking shelter from the rain, offering to let him into the Hut. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that Ash had set up an Alarm spell, which their new visitor sets off. Azure especially can’t seem to get back to sleep, and opts to take the next watch.
While everyone else sleeps, Azure sees a Ghost approaching the hut. Despite the protection of the Tiny Hut, the Ghost’s frightful presence (which isn’t technically a spell) hits Azure hard enough to not only induce fright, but also to age her 30 years, causing some of her fur to turn white as she becomes over 50 years old. As a monk she can quickly clear herself of the frightened condition, warning the party to avoid the sight of the Ghost, with Crush taking the initiative to cover their guest’s eyes. Ash defeats the Ghost using the silver head of her cane, but Azure is still left artificially aged. Corrio knows that Azure needs a Greater Restoration spell within 24 hours, or the effects will become permanent… unfortunately, Corrio isn’t yet capable of such a powerful spell. Luckily, their human guest is aware of a nearby temple, and the party braves the stormy night to seek out an experienced Cleric to heal Azure.
By morning they arrive at a small temple surrounded by flowers. Once inside they find the Elven woman, Vanessa, who Corrio bonded with… and who Ricky insulted in Lore’s Hamlet. She reveals herself to be a priestess of Sune, Goddess of Love and Beauty. With Ricky apologizing for his previous actions, Vanessa cures of Azure of her advanced age. Although Vanessa invites the party to stay for lunch, knowing that Ash is unable to enter the temple, they opt to instead continue on the road. Before they can leave, however, they meet a trio of the tall, long-haired men with red eyes and shark-like teeth. Two of them head into the temple while one waits outside… Ricky follows the two inside to make sure they don’t start any trouble, while the curious Azure chats with the one remaining outside. He reveals his name to be Varrick, and that his group are known as Reavers. Like Azure, they’re on a quest for knowledge of the world beyond their home borders, although he still refuses to reveal where they come from.
As the other two Reavers come back from the temple they chastise their ally for fraternizing with the locals, but Ricky attempts to bond with the giant warriors. He manages to entice them, promising a fresh made meal using the potent spices the Reavers carry. Azure borrows some ingredients from the Temple, with the clerics coming out as well to join the meal, and also offering a strange pink salt, which is added ceremoniously to the pot of chili Ricky is preparing. The salt lowers the inihibitions of those who eat it… with Fidget and Ash quickly adjourning to their tent for some “private time”. Two of the Reavers also seek some privacy with the clerics to enjoy some time with “Sune’s Blessings”. One even attempts to bond with Azure, but he naive young Tabaxi opts instead to climb a tree and lounge under the warm afternoon sun. Crush, as a relatively young Tortle, is largely unaffected by the salt… although considering he’s only had 2 hours of sleep up until this point it does help him relax and fall asleep. Ricky and Corrio bond, making flower crowns together and using them to decorate Crush’s shell. However, things get awkward when Ricky attempts to kiss Corrio, who is still uncomfortable with that level of affection. When they awake the party chats a bit more with the Reavers, where they admit to being members of some kind of military, working for their God, Sovereign (which no member of the party has ever heard of before).
After everyone gets a long rest, the party opts to travel into the night, taking a carriage ride all the way back to Yarland’s Fork. Back in Yarland’s Fork, the guards are clearly on edge with the group’s presence, but after their acquittal they can do nothing but keep a weary eye on them. Once back in the tavern they learn that the Pimp who had attempted to abduct Azure has already been released from prison. Ash and Fidget opt to partner with Ricky, intending to sneak out while the rest of the party sleeps, intent on killing the pimp so Ash can absorb his corrupt soul for her patron...
We'll be streaming tonight again between 4:15 and 4:30 PM PST, only at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! Last night was a combat-lite episode which finds the party now on a ferry making their way to the capital city of Esteria...
In the dead of night, Fidget, Ash and Ricky sneak out searching for the pimp who tried to abduct Azure, intending to punish him after his slick lawyer got him out of jail. Ash uses Disguise Self to appear to be a curvaceous redhead, posing as a classy prostitute looking to make money in Yarland’s Fork. A John nearly picks her up, but before things go too far he’s knocked unconscious by Fidget and the trio agree to simply rob him. Realizing Ash is a little too good at her disguise, Ricky uses his disguise kit to pose as a drunken traveler looking for a good time, making enough noise to catch the attention of the pimp, who seems eager to recruit the new girl to his stable. However, once alone things turn violent as he threatens Ash with a knife to keep her in line. The trio then works together… Ricky casts bane to weaken him, while Ash casts silence to prevent him from calling for help, but Fidget is the one to take him out, slashing his achilles tendon before slitting his throat. Ricky is sent to another room to keep watch while Ash drains the life from the Pimp…
Once killed, Ash uses Blight to liquefy the corpse of the Pimp, then uses Prestidigitation to clear away the remaining sludge of his corpse. Despite his tough exterior, the sight of a man being reduced to sludge is still stomach turning for Ricky. The trio decides to search the Pimp’s house for riches and other material… finding not only thousands of pieces of gold, but also receipts proving that he had sold several of his girls into slavery, with some tying his actions to his lawyer. They sneak back to the tavern for the night, but Ricky’s attempt to pose as a drunk to distract a guard only risks getting him arrested… until Fidget intervenes to knock the guard unconscious before they finally return to the tavern, none of the rest of the party aware of their escapades.
In the morning, Ricky successfully convinces Crush that he simply found extra money hidden in his pockets while going through his things in the night. Giving 500 Gold to Crush to hold, to help make up for the money the party has spent that Crush had originally hoped to mail home to his sister’s orphanage. The group does a bit of shopping before heading out of town to the docks, catching a ferry captained by a half-orc in armor named Tushdar. The party relaxes, taking advantage of the safety of the large ferry for a few activities… Crush and Azure meditate together, Ricky does some cooking, everyone takes their hand at some fishing, and the party ends the night with a drinking game of Never Have I Ever. Ash struggles a bit, because of her faded memories, but perhaps the most enlightening moment was the reveal that Fidget once had children, but he is clearly uncomfortable talking about it.
As everyone is heading to bed, Ricky opts to visit Corrio’s room to discuss the awkwardness between them ever since Ricky’s attempted kiss. They struggle a bit, until Ricky makes the surprising suggestion that they should sleep together… literally. Both men remaining fully clothed while sleeping next to each other to prove that they can each maintain control despite their complicated feelings.
For those who haven't joined us before, here's what happened last time:
Unsurprisingly, Ricky and Corrio spending a platonic night together sharing a bed is misinterpreted by the rest of the party, which isn’t helped by Ricky running around wearing the too-large nightshirt lent to him by Corrio. Although it leads to some awkwardness in the morning, the group understands once Ricky and Corrio fully explain what’s been happening. As the party is passing time, they see a group of Reavers near the river battling what appears to be a group of bandits, making short work of their human opponents. Most unusual is what appears to be a Half-Orc/Half-Reaver, standing well over 8 feet tall and with rows of shark-like teeth. Speaking to Captain Tushdar, they learn that he had recently passed a group of 12 Reavers waiting for a ferry, although the party had paid for exclusive use of the ferry. The group discusses their theories about the Reavers, wondering where they came from and why they’re suddenly appearing in such large numbers with heavy weapons and full armor. Ricky theorizes they may come from a society without women, and have left to seek partners. Others wonder if they’re the first of an invading army, but ultimately the party decides, if nothing else, to avoid upsetting them… hoping they’ll be more valuable as allies in the future.
Tired of life on the road, Ash asks the Captain about bathhouses that they might find near the river. Luckily there’s one less than a day’s ride away… Although Crush is less than enthusiastic, since he’s so eager to get to Esteria to check on Gilly, but he realizes the party is eager to relax and doesn’t protest. Once they arrive, Ash pays the additional fee for a private bath, while Ricky uses his ill-gotten gains to pay for the rest of the party. Crush gets a shell cleaning and treatment, while Fidget enjoys a massage. Meanwhile, Azure gets a full body conditioning, and Ricky has his red hair dye washed out, reverting his hair to its natural black. Things take a turn when a pair of Reavers enter the group bath. Ricky shares some of his spicy chocolate truffles… topped with the love salt from Sune’s temple. The Reavers relax, talking more about their culture. They reveal that they drink poison as both a spice and medicine, as it actually soothes their stomachs. They also reveal that female Reavers are born one in a hundred, although the Reavers can still reproduce with other races. Things take a turn, however, as the love salt relaxes the Reavers a bit too much, and one of them flirts with Azure. However, the naive young Tabaxi is overwhelmed by the affection, passing out in the bath. She’s pulled out into the hallway where she can recover.
Ricky seems hesitant about his hair coloring, needing to be prodded just to look at himself in a mirror. The sight of his black hair floods him with emotions, remembering what he was like before Crash died protecting him… before Crush left and Ricky’s father abandoned him to his Bardic teacher to be raised in the woods by a stranger. Seeking some privacy, Ricky confesses his feelings for Corrio, revealing that he wants to be better and to stop putting up his normal fatalistic facade. Still, by the end of It the party is relaxed and happy, returning to their chartered ferry to continue their journey to Esteria, with a planned stop in Ricky’s home town of Trost.
Join is in about an hour at 4PM PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! Our journey continues, and to see what happened last time, just read ahead:
As the party begins to relax on their boat ride, they’re given a reminder of the precarious situation they find themselves in. The boat suddenly loses control as a large group of Depraved Gloom assassins attack the ship, starting with an attack on Captain Tushdar. Luckily, the Half-Orc’s natural constitution helps him to resist their poison. Azure takes advantage of her extreme speed to go straight to Tushdar’s side. The rest of the party instead needs to fight their way through a wave of assassins to get to the Wheel and protect Tushdar, since no one else is capable of steering a ship. As Crush makes his way to the deck, one of the Brutes has begun climbing the side of the ship. Crush shoves one of the assassins off the deck to hit the Brute, then continues to assault the giant mutant until it finally gets knocked off the side of the boat. The giant creature is able to stand above the water in the flowing river and continues to assault the boat. Thinking quickly, Ricky hits the Brute with Hideous Laughter, causing it to drown itself in the river as it falls prone laughing.
With the assassins thwarted the party investigates the bodies, although they find nothing but well-used daggers and a few stray pieces of gold, but in their rooms they realize the assassins had enough time to sabotage both Azure and Corrio’s herbalism kits, with one of the assassins even attempting to steal the antidotes to the Assassin’s poison that Azure was crafting. Just when things seem to be getting back to normal, the boat is stopped by a large tree chopped down and blocking the river. While Crush and Tushdar clear the path, they notice several cloaked figures following them, leaping across the treetops by the river. Worried that they’re being set up for a new attack, they take off down the river. Ash decides they might need some extra fighters in the event of an attack, and uses her new Animate Dead spell to awaken 3 of the dead assassins as zombies. This immediately creates conflict with Corrio, who is struggling with the revelation that Ash is an Undead necromancer capable of creating more Undead… something that he had been taught was an abomination to be destroyed immediately.
After some debate, the group decides they need to take the remaining corpses off the ship so they can be burned. There’s a small rest stop not far away, and Ash decides to use her newly created zombies as pack mules to help carry off the remaining corpses… however, they’re seen by Captain Tushdar, who is none too pleased to have the Undead and illegal Necromancy on his ship. Ash, however, is able to placate him with a payment of 100 gold… which she can easily afford after robbing the Slaver Pimp in Yarland’s Fork. When stopped by a guard, Ricky is able to convince him that the group is bringing plague victims off their ship to burn the bodies, even convincing him that the zombies are infected at death’s door, hence why they’re carrying the other bodies.
While in town the party finds a pair of Reavers waiting for the ferry, and although up to this point they’ve paid for a private cruise, they decide it would be a good idea to have a pair of reliable warriors joining them for now. Surprisingly, visiting the local grocer reveals the familiar face of Colt Slamrock, the Dwarven miner who was possessed by ghosts and forced to murder his co-workers, which almost got him executed for the crime. He’s left Glenarm to move South, avoiding mines and instead running his family’s grocery. He gives a steep discount as Azure and Ricky order groceries.
The party continues their journey, although the Reavers’ sensitive noses can tell there’s something wrong with Ash, and the scent of death lingering in the Ferry leaves them suspicious...
Join us tonight at 5PM PST for more Crits For Breakfast! You can find us tonight and every weekend at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty . For now, though, if you want to know what happened last night, well... we learned a lot:
After enjoying breakfast Ash notices that the assassins have begun to follow them again. Learning from their mistakes the day before, the assassins are careful to stay out of range of the party’s spells and weaponry. However, one of the Reavers makes the observation that this might be a deliberate distraction. Thinking Quick, Ash and Fidget check the other side of the boat, noticing just in time that something is being fired at the deck of the ship. Everyone takes cover, although Crush’s instinct to withdraw into his shell proves to be the wrong move, when the attack is revealed to be a fireball, which he’s unable to dodge.
The female assassin reveals herself, leading a large force of assassins, with far more magic users than before, as well as a pair of their mutated Brutes. Captain Tushdar brings the ship to a stop to keep from ramming into the brutes and damaging the ship. After Ash’s Chilling Grasp spell is counterspelled, much of the party is subdued with status effects, until finally managing to shake them off and taking the fight face-to-face. One of the Reavers eagerly leaps off the front of the ship, jumping one one of the Brute’s back and wrestling the beast while attacking. Ricky and Azure prioritize protecting Captain Tushdar, who is struggling to keep his boat in control. Crush leaps into the water as well, using his abilities as a Storm Herald to swim effortlessly through the water and face the female assassin head on. However, he leaves Ash and Fidget behind to face an Oojoo, the distorted abomination made from the twisted corpse of a human… which is made worse when one of the magic users summons a second one. Fidget ends up being their primary target, beating him to within an inch of his life. Corrio tries to pin the creatures down with a Spike Growth spell, but inadvertently harms an already-weak Fidget when he tries to move to a more advantageous position.
Although the fight seems to be favoring the enemies, Crush and the Reavers make short work of the magic users once they’re able to get close. The Female Assassin is surrounded by Crush, the Half-Orc Reaver, and covered with the glistening lights of Ricky’s Fairy Fire spell. Knowing she’s in a losing position, she transforms into mist and disappears from sight. Abandoning her remaining men to be slaughtered. However, as she exits she sends a message to Crush, mocking him by claiming Duncan had put up much less of a fight when he died. With the remaining enemies gradually dispatched, Crush and the Reavers gather wood in order to make repairs to the ship following the battle. However, as they’re working Crush eventually reveals what the Female Assassin had told him to Ricky, who is incensed to realize that they let the woman who killed Duncan escape. He wants to get everyone together to discuss this, but everyone is surprised to find that Ash’s bedroom is held in a Silence spell with the door locked.
The rest of the party discusses what it means, with Ricky in particular expressing the most rage. Everything takes a turn, however, when Ash’s silence spell ends and everyone hears a bloodcurdling scream from her room. Crush kicks in the door, worried that the assassins are back. Instead, they find Ash shrieking in pain and horror. Vomiting up black bile, while the chest wound that originally killed the Undead Warlock beginning to bleed as though it were completely fresh. She instinctively fires Eldritch Blasts and other spells as Crush forcefully pins her down to keep her form hurting herself. During this, Ash’s fears upon witnessing Fidget nearly die, coupled with her frustration at being unable to utilize her full capabilities as a Necromancer and even anger at Duncan for looping her into this adventure triggers her most traumatic memory yet. She recalls being chased at night through the woods, nearly tripping over the edge of a cliff. She fully experiences again the feeling of being stabbed in the chest, before being kicked off the edge of the cliff. Still alive and experiencing all the pain of slamming against the hard ground. However, despite how vivid the memory was, she still can’t remember the face of her murderer, seeing it only as a blank void on a vague, male figure.
When she comes to she’s very unhappy with the party and makes clear that she’s tired of holding back just so people she doesn’t really care about will be comfortable around her. She even throws aside the Grimveil Pendant that Duncan had left to her. However, as she stews Azure finishes a pair of leather gloves she had been working on for Ash… even giving Ash a loving hug in an attempt to comfort the dour necromancer… and although Ash doesn’t reciprocate, she calms and seems to get along with the rest of the part again.
However, despite Crush and the Reavers using their knowledge of woodworking and ship repair to patch up the ship following the Assassins’ attacks, more supplies for repairs are still needed. Captain Tushdar opts to stop in a small riverside town known as Cutpurse’s Folly. Crush recognizes the town… knowing it to be a lawless town born from a prison that was taken over by inmates. Ricky is eager to visit the town and potentially find some magic contraband, while Ash sees it as an opportunity to harvest more souls to placate her Patron. The Reavers remain on the ship to guard it, while Tushdar visits a friend outside of town. While the rest of the party makes their way into town they recognize a familiar figure… the Reaver Savine, who is leading what appears to be his teenaged son into the tavern. Following him inside they see that Savine’s son is twitching and sweaty as though he’s fighting back a seizure. Not even acknowledging the party, Savine leaves his son alone in the tavern, along with a strange empty bag. As Savine’s son begins to lash out, sweating and howling. Crush tries to pin him down, but his muscles begin to swell… growing larger and stronger, eventually able to casually lift Crush’s 500 pound form.
The young man grows to the same height and build as the other Reavers… and also begins to mindlessly slaughter everyone around him. The party runs, but not before Crush tells Ricky to grab the bag left by Savine (thinking Ricky would simply use Mage Hand, not expecting Ricky to physically run to grab it). Still, he avoids the rampaging young Reaver, bringing the bag with them… Crush hoping that it would hold some clue as to what’s happening. Getting back to the boat, they meet with the Reavers, who Ricky is able to convince to reveal what’s happening. They finally reveal what’s happening is known as a Blood Rage… The first Rage always the most powerful, and afterward a young Reaver ascends to adulthood, and assumes a new form resembling their God, Sovereign. Traditionally, the Reavers take their sons to places full of scoundrels or other evil men, so that they can feed their blood rage without moral compromise. The Reavers themselves originally come from a land separated from the rest of the world by the Eternal Storm which rages in the Calypsan sea, which Crush recognizes the place elderly Tortles swim toward at the end of their lives. For unknown reasons, the Eternal Storm abated briefly… just long enough to allow a few ships of Reavers to travel to the lands of Kahenah.
While speaking away from the Reavers, Ricky decides to investigate the bag they had grabbed, not sure what it could contain now that they knew the Reaver’s transformation they witnessed was perfectly natural. While reaching inside, Ricky is surprised to find that the seemingly empty bag is far deeper than it appears. Expecting a bag of holding, the party instead learns that it has some kind of home stored inside that can be safely entered and explored. Inside they find a fine set of Reaver armor, a well-crafted sword made to Reaver proportions, and thousands of gold. They realize that Savine had left this “Genie Bag” as a gift to his son, and once again the party has robbed Savine...
Join us in half an hour... 4:30 PM PST while we continue our journey through the City of Trost. You can see us live at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty, but if you're wondering what happened last time...
Ricky talks to the Reavers on their ship, revealing the Genie Bag to them. They instantly recognize it as a gift from Savine to his son, and an extremely generous and thoughtful one as well. They both are familiar with Savine, and know that he’s a caring, overprotective father and warn the party that he especially hates those who steal from his son, who they know to be named Kanec (their own names are also revealed to be Cole and Ces). Unfortunately, there’s no safe way to get close enough to Kanec to return the bag, and there’s no way to know where Savine will be to send him the bag either. Still curious, everyone opts to at least explore the inside of the Genie Bag. Seeing fresh fruit in the kitchen, Crush admits that the party might as well eat the food that risks going bad, but forbids anyone from taking anything sealed in a container. Thanks to her new Eldritch Invocation, she’s able to read notes left by Savine in the Reaver’s native tongue, including one that shows that Kanec has a bank account waiting for him in the city of Esteria, which may be a good place to leave the Genie Bag in the future.
As the party makes their way into Ricky’s hometown of Trost they first notice groups of disheveled refugees who appear terrified by the sight of the Reavers traveling with them. The closer they get to Trost, however, they encounter both ships in the river and wagons traveling on the nearby road filled with Reavers. Although they don’t appear to be creating any trouble, the commoners are still clearly frightened by the hulking figures. Once in town their first stop is at the local apothecary, run by a Blue Dragonborn named Amethyst, affectionately called “Amy” by Crush and Ricky. She was once an orphan housed at the Starlight Children’s Home… she warns Ricky that his father, Tricky, has heard about Crush’s victory in Lore’s Hamlet, and is also aware that Ricky forged his signature to sign Crush’s contract over to Ricky’s name. The Guards are on his side in this case as well, and a warrant is out for Ricky’s arrest (by coincidence, Ricky’s decision to change his hair back to its natural black has proven to be a convenient disguise… for now). Fortunately, Tricky is out of town looking for his son, and has even managed to rope his brother-in-law, Gilly’s husband, to accompany him.Tricky leaves the Starlight Tavern in the care of his loyal goons, ***** and Bull. Perhaps more worryingly, she also reveals a rumor that the town of Seamont has recently been torn asunder, supposedly by Reavers. On top of this, the Reavers have apparently chosen the Starlight Tavern as their preferred hangout spot, since the large tavern has drinks and a gladiator ring to entertain them.
Ricky casts invisibility on himself to avoid the guards as Crush and Ricky lead the party first to the tavern, wanting to make sure the rowdy Reavers haven’t damaged the Greensleeves Family tavern. Once there, however, the worst they see is that the gladiator fights have become more violent, and seem to involve amateurs. Worryingly, though, they see a few Teenage Reavers enjoying the show, since they know about the Reavers’ Blood Rage. Before they can leave, ***** and Bull confront Crush, where the rest of the party learn they are a Goblin and Half-Orc, respectively. ***** makes it clear that Tricky is on his way home, and he’s planning to collect on Crush’s contract. Crush, however, makes it clear that he’s not afraid of Tricky, having considered their contract broken years ago (even if the local courts may disagree with him).
Exiting the tavern, the party makes their way to the back of the tavern to the Starlight Children’s Home. Azure wonders aloud why an orphanage would be attached to a tavern, but Crush explains that the land is owned by the Greensleeves family, and Ricky’s aunt Gilly used some of the property for the Children’s Home. Inside they find Ricky’s cousin Misty, who has been left in charge of the Children’s Home on her own. She reveals that nearly all of the children have been adopted by Reavers… the Reavers have given every sign of being loving fathers… in addition, they’re clearly wealthy, and their donations are the only thing supporting the Children’s Home, since Tricky has been intercepting any money sent to the Children’s Home. Still, Misty is left caring for one child… a young human girl named Risa.
Risa, however, is clearly troubled. She’s been caught sleep walking or sneaking out to the garden at night. She claims to be speaking to “tiny people”, as well as her own deceased Mother. Before the other children left she was regularly getting into fights, and since they left she’s been mutilating the toys that Crush has been mailing back home, and when they try to speak to her in private she shockingly bites her thumb hard enough to draw blood, using it to color an illustration of a blood moon. Ricky immediately panics at the sight, and Crush struggles, trying understand what’s happening. Ash, meanwhile… is simply amused by the whole thing. Mostly out of boredom, she decides to investigate Risa’s room… seeing what appears to be random scratches on the floor under Risa’s bed… but thanks to her Eyes of the Runekeeper invocation, she identifies it as Abyssal text with phrases like “blood”, “attack”, “kill”. Despite the desire to get out of town… both to continue their quest and to avoid Ricky’s conflict with Tricky, Crush insists on staying and helping Risa, refusing to leave until they help the troubled young girl.
We'll be streaming again tonight at 5PM PST on twitch.tv/afterdisbooty!
I had a thumb injury, so I wasn’t able to write proper summaries earlier and actually missed posting for a few streams. That said, here’s a super short summary… the party discovers that Reesa is the daughter of a Night Hag, and barely rescue her from being corrupted fully, although the girl will still struggle with her instincts instilled into her by her mother. Crush and Ricky decide to confront Ricky’s father, Tricky, who Crush is able to intimidate into legally signing over Crush’s contract to Ricky, but in the process Tricky reveals he’s used his money and connections to keep them from working, and has paid off many of the guards in Trost to get them to arrest Crush and Ricky, despite no longer having a legal reason to do so. Rather than deal with this, the party just strong arms their way out of town, intimidating and shoving guards, but still careful not to actually hurt anyone.
As the group is traveling, however, Ash is contacted by the Female Assassin, taunting the party and promising them trouble if they continue the path they’re on. Deciding it’s time to travel by land, they resolve to stop in the next town, let Captain Tushdar continue his ferry business without them, and purchase a wagon of their own with money taken from Tricky. As they’re discussing whether or not they could make some money running their own wagon service, the boat is attacked by Depraved Gloom while passing by a cliff face. Rock Slides are triggered, destroying the boat before another Brute and some assassins attack the party. A poorly aimed Fireball from Corrio nearly kills Ricky, and the party is forced to continue by foot, with Tushdar left on the other side of the river and leaving back to to Trost. After setting up camp using the Genie Bag, Ash contacts her patron, offering the souls she’s gathered, with the Night Hag’s soul in particular seeming to rejuvenate her Patron, who promises greater rewards for similarly powerful and corrupt souls. And while the magical energy from his appearance creates confusion in her party, nobody is able to discern exactly what happened.
Just as the party is waking, Crush is hit with a prophetic dream… he sees visions of a figure going berserk. Slaughtering everyone around it, until a large bell falls onto the figure… although someone else is trapped inside the bell with them. As he recounts the dream to his party, it’s Crush himself who recalls that the city they’re traveling toward, Esteria, has a large cathedral famous for its bells.
We're trying something new tonight! We're taking a break from our usual campaign to instead give me a chance to DM. So rather than our homebrew world, we'll be playing through the classic Lost Mines of Phandelver! Join us tonight at 5pm PST to see what's coming next for a brand new party as they begin the journey to Wave Echo Cave. As always, we'll be streaming at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
Come join us at Twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! For now I didn't have a summary prepped ahead of time, so I need to summarize quickly right now...
As the party travels in the morning they're briefly slowed by a failed goblin ambush. The party manages to dispatch them without killing any of the goblins, before continuing down the river to find an older Halfling fisherman. The party is able to convince him to give a ride to the nearby fishing village. Once there, the party finds that a large shipping vessel is being loaded... including a large bell, so heavy that it actually broke the crate it was being shipped in. As the party is helping to try and load the crate (hoping to get a free boat ride to Esterea), a Reaver approaches, losing control to his Blood Rage. The Party battles the Reaver, in the process, however, the goblin Fidget is trapped under the bell. Azure uses the strength of her Astral Arms to lift the bell, with Crush pulling Fidget out. Ricky uses Polymorph to transform the Reaver into a harmless snail, giving the people of the village time to escape. But by the time it wears off, the Reaver is still raging and actually tearing down the bell. Fidget, meanwhile, has gotten Reaver blood mixed with his own... the potency of which drastically damages his body, barely surviving the process before it begins to transform him... his body shifting and growing with the strength and height of a Reaver.
Does it make more sense to post these right as I'm going live, or post a bit before so people have time to plan and join us? Well, for today since I thought to do it ahead of time, we'll be playing tonight at 4:30 PM PST. Catch us soon at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty, but for now, here's what happened last night:
While discussing what happened to Fidget the party is stopped by a group of bandits, tempted by the (empty) merchant shipping vessel the party is currently piloting. The bandits fell trees on the side of the river to cross onto the boat… but despite the tougher, more experienced bandits near the capital, the party is able to make short work of them. There’s some struggle through the night, as none of the party members are particularly familiar with sailing and are mostly figuring out what to do in the moment. But despite their lack of experience they arrive in Esterea and manage to dock their ship safely, reporting the missing boat to the Trilby Shipping Company and explaining what happened to the cargo, although they’re careful not to reveal that it’s the result of a Reaver’s blood rage.
This proves prescient, as they make their way into town and find citizens protesting against the Reavers, even going so far as to pass out pamphlets decrying them for their assault on the city of Seamont, where they slaughtered the Lord and Lady, kidnapped their children, and took over the town. They make a brief stop for Ash to purchase new clothing for Fidget, and for Azure to purchase more supplies to help with her leather working. Stepping outside, Ricky decides to use Gilly’s pendant along with his unique Familiar Roads ability to try and track her. He’s shocked, however, when the path it creates seems to swirl wildly before bursting into the air. A successful arcana check from Ricky gives him a sudden realization…. Gilly is on another plane entirely.
Checking his notes, Corrio notes that the next Dropbox left by Duncan is somewhere in the large Temple of Many Gods… as Ash can’t risk entering, she, Ricky, and Fidget decide to stay outside and hopefully find some Reavers to speak to about Fidget’s transformation. Crush, Azure, and Corrio, meanwhile, head into the Temple both to seek the Dropbox, and to inform them about the missing bell.
Ash and Ricky see a group of Reavers being harassed by protesters and opt to follow them. When they explain what happened to Fidget they express sympathy for Fidget’s plight… those who are transformed by a Reavers blood are considered “Made”… and while they gain many of the benefits of being a Reaver, they are more susceptible to their Blood Rage, and risk going mad, slaughtering others and themselves in the process. If a Reaver drops below a certain level of health, they enter an uncontrollable Blood Rage, viciously slaughtering everyone around them except for direct family members… both a Blessing and a Curse from their God, Sovereign. They can’t explain why the Reaver in Fishertown went into a Bloodrage seemingly without provocation, and also explain that they don’t know exactly what happened in Seamont. They reiterate that the Reavers as a whole are led by the Warlord, who remains in the Reavers’ home country. For now they obey their generals, who are distinguished by their large red cloaks… which Ash realizes with some annoyance matches Savine, the Reaver they’ve stolen from twice.
The remaining party members make their way into the Temple where they see a choir practicing. Not wishing to disturb them, Crush instead approaches a Tiefling paladin… Azure recognizes his holy symbol as belonging to Tempus, the God of War and Justice. After explaining that the bell was damaged the Paladin correctly assumes that it was the result of Reavers, and expresses his desire to drive them out of the country. Sympathetic to the Reavers, since they seem to remind him so much of himself, Crush lies saying he doesn’t know what caused the damage, seemingly able to convince the Paladin, but Crush is unable to temper his wrath and he learns that many Paladins are forming a war council to discuss what is to be done about the Reavers. Crush shows him his Grimveil pendant, but the Paladin doesn’t recognize it.
Once the choir finishes the trio approaches a young female cleric who seems to be in charge. When she sees the Pendant she recognizes it instantly, and also recognizes Crush… if only because he so closely resembles his sister, Crash. She explains that the Temple had helped to fund the Starlight Children’s Home, and to Crush’s shock she also reveals that Gilly was a skilled warrior. She first brings the trio to a back room where Duncan had left a small satchel only days before his death, with instructions to give it to anyone trustworthy who shows her the Grimveil Pendant. Before opening it, however, Corrio mentions that the actual Dropbox they came to find is most likely hidden somewhere in the Temple’s garden, with the Cleric leading the way to see what Duncan left behind...
Crits for Breakfast will be playing again tonight at 4:30 PM PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! As for what happened in last night's game...
The party finds Duncan’s dropbox, getting together in a bistro to examine the contents. The Dropbox reveals a wanted poster written in Abyssal for Duncan’s capture, and a bounty poster in common for a large, beast-like creature located in the town of Hollow Barrow. The Satchel, however, proves to be more valuable… it contains Gilly’s personal journal, where she kept meticulous notes. Her notes include an interview with a potential foster parent identified as “Miss Mabel”, although it’s clear that it was a trap to capture her. The party follows the clues to a few different locations, until they get to a dismissive elven inn owner who refuses to divulge information to the party. A plan is formed, with Fidget planning to seduce the inn owner while the other party members sneak in and steal the records in order to get a new lead. Before enacting this plan, however, the party decides to check out the bank, both to return the stolen Genie Bag, and to see if Duncan has left anything behind.
Once in the bank, they’re surprised to find Kanec, the young Reaver who the Genie bag initially belonged to. While half the party tries to sneak out and avoid him, Crush and Ricky speak to him directly and explain why they had stolen his bag. Even the damage to the items inside is forgiven when Kanec learns that Fidget was transformed against his will and the bag was used to prevent him from harming anyone else during his first Blood Rage. Kanec forgives them, but is hesitant to introduce the party to his father, as he knows Savine will not be as understanding as he is..
Once that problem is solved, Crush and Ricky then go to inspect Duncan’s bank account. They find thousands of gold, in addition to stocks, deeds of ownership, and a treasure map that guides the party far to the South, beyond the Esmer Isles, which the Tortles call Home.
As the party is returning to the inn, they see a crowd forming, risking turning into a riot as they make their way to the Temple of Many Gods, demanding that something be done to remove the Reavers. The party tries in vain to intimidate the crowd into dispersing, but it’s Ricky’s heartfelt plea for peace that finally breaks through to the crowd. Although not everyone is turned, the crowd still disperses… although a quick use of Detect Thoughts from Ricky reveals that the Tiefling Paladin, whose name is revealed to be Theseus, appears to be encouraging the unrest and violence in Esterea against the Reavers. Before the party can learn more, however, they overhear a report coming in to the temple… the city of Dawsberry has been devastated by a tsunami. Dawsberry is to the South, past Hollow Barrow and on the way to Seamont, where the Reavers appear to be stationed. The party is asked to investigate by Isabelle, the dwarven Cleric who showed them the items Duncan left behind for them. The party promises to investigate, however, they can’t yet leave until they learn what happened to Gilly, and what they can do to rescue her.
Crits for Breakfast is taking time away from our usual campaign so that I can DM a new party through the Lost Mines of Phandelver. Join us tonight at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty to join in and see!
The party consists of Katniss, a half-elven archer, Dahlia, a Tiefling Bard, G'houl, a Half-orc Wizard, and finally Loki, the changeling Cleric. In our last adventure the party was hired by Gundren Rockseeker, a dwarven miner, to escort a wagon of supplies to the town of Phandalin, while he rode ahead with the human warrior Sildar. However, the party found on the way that he had been captured by goblins. And although they were able to rescue Sildar, Gundren is still missing as they recover stolen goods before continuing their journey to Phandalin, and hopefully finding some answers...
We're heading back to our usual game tonight. Join us tonight at 5 PM PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty to see what the Crits for Breakfast team is getting up to now. However, if you're wondering what happened last week...
After resolving the issue with the riot, the Party reconvenes in Kanec’s Genie Bag. They ask more about the Reavers, and Kanec tells the story of their God Sovereign, who was once a mortal… a rare male son of a Siren. Over time he became a hero, and eventually a King, but he fell in love with a Goddess known as the Night Mother… a complicated being who steals children and shares knowledge about the stars and navigation. The two form a Kingdom together, but she refuses his proposals for nearly a century… but when she finally agrees, on the night of their wedding she betrays Sovereign, cutting out his heart. For some reason, though, he doesn’t die… instead he becomes overcome with the first Blood Rage. He slaughters half of his own army… the other half infected by his blood to become the first Reavers.
The group is still unsure how this could help Fidget, realizing they need to find someone with more experience to tell them more. Before that, though, they still need to figure out what happened to Gilly, and to do that they’ll need to learn more from the uncooperative innkeeper. Fidget opts to seduce her, since he clearly has a thing for snarky elven women. Fidget proves to be quite the smoothtalker, luring her out to a date at the nearby bistro while Ricky turns himself and Ash invisible in order to sneak in. Unfortunately, just as the innkeeper is leaving another work arrives for the nightshift… a gnomish woman who seems friendlier. Ash and Ricky use their invisibility to knock over objects to try and spook her, but she mistakes it for a Quickling infestation, which has apparently been a problem at the Inn. Eventually they learn that the woman’s name is Mabel Glenwood, and she made an unusual request for a pig’s heart to be delivered to her room by the local butcher. When they step out Crush observes that, if a new worker had come in, it might have been less trouble to just ask her for help, since she seems more reasonable than the other innkeeper.
The majority of the party chooses to investigate further… but Ash can’t help but sneak off, still invisible, to spy on Fidget’s date. The party arrives at a Goblin-owned Butcher shop. Some exchange of coin and a promise of secrecy gets them to reveal that the pig’s heart was actually human, and it came from an Underdark black market connected to the town of Hollow Barrow to the South. Satisfied that they’ve learned all they can in Esterea, the party plans to leave the next day, heading first to Hollow Barrow for answers about what happened to Gilly, and planning to move further South to investigate the tsunami in Dawsberry and eventually to speak to the Reavers who took over Seamont.
Before leaving town, however, Ricky, Azure, and Crush attend a meeting in the Temple of Many Gods where the people debate what is to be done about the Reavers. The crowd seems convinced they are monsters and are set on going to war with the “invaders”, but the party speaks up, defending the Reavers. Despite the stories of their attacks, the party so far has only seen them act honorably, and especially with Fidget transformed into a Reaver, they certainly don’t want war to be declared on an entire race. Not surprisingly, the charismatic Ricky is the most convincing, but the speech from the three of them is enough to sway opinion in the other direction, with a vote narrowly declaring peace for now… at least, in the province of Esterea.
We're streaming again tonight in about 45 minutes at 5:30 PM PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! As for our last game...
The party leaves the Capital City of Esterea shortly after the early morning meeting/vote, which promises peace with the Reavers… for now. However, before leaving, they purchase a wagon and two draft horses… Denzel and Brass. Travel for most of the day is peaceful… Kanec seems intrigued by Ash’s undead nature. He reveals that the Reaver culture, while not embracing necromancy, studies it methodically as a means of understanding its nature. He even believes Ash could make a healthy living being paid to allow scholars to study her. In the early afternoon, the party is slowed when they reach a bridge, a sign telling them that it’s been closed for repairs. However, when Crush approaches to attempt to discern if its safe to cross, a green, clawed arm swipes at him. A Troll comes out from under the bridge, clearly larger than normal, while both wearing clothing and carrying a large club. More surprisingly, it seems to speak, although none of the party understand its language. Before Crush gets a chance to rage the Troll gets in two powerful hits with his club, slamming through more than half of the barbarian’s hit points. Despite the creature’s size and strength, the size of the party is enough to overwhelm the creature, with Kanec finally getting his first kill with his heirloom sword.
As the party examines the troll’s body, Azure makes the conclusion that this appears to be a troll/hill giant hybrid, recognizing its speech from earlier as matching the language spoken by the Frost Giant the party had encountered before. Searching under the bridge reveals the bones of its past victims, as well as shiny jewels and trinkets it had been hoarding. As the rest of the party leaves to count the money, Ash scoops up 4 of the skeletons in her bag of holding.
Aside from another near-collision with the drunken gnome party wagon, travel remains uneventful until nightfall. Finding a secluded location to rest in, the party has dinner and rests using Ricky’s Tiny Hut. Despite access to Kanec’s Genie Bag, the party opts to sleep outside, enjoying the pleasant weather and clear view of the stars. The first watch is interrupted, however, as a Depraved Gloom Brute and more assassins emerge from the woods to attack the party. Crush and Kanec hold the Brute’s attention, as a spellcaster dispels the Tiny Hut and pins down spellcasters in the party with a Silence Spell. However, the Tiny Hut still managed to prevent them from getting the full element of surprise they were counting on, and the party manages to defeat their attackers. Searching the Spellcasting Assassin’s robes finds a brief note… as always, written in abyssal. It instructs them to follow the party, and only to attack when they appear vulnerable. However, the person who wrote it had the poor sense (or the ego) to sign the note, “Wayla Dupree”. Ricky’s able to use the power of his Bardic College under the starry night sky to use the note to track it back to its source… a mere 6 miles away. The party quickly awakens the horses, climbing back into the wagon and heading off to hopefully face Wayla and the assassins head-on.
We've been having some trouble with a few of the players being unable to stream lately, but everything should be back to normal tonight! Join us for another round of action at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty tonight 5:30 PM PST. As for what happened last week, well... things got dangerous:
With Ricky’s guidance, the party makes their way South down a rocky path. The way is blocked, however, by large tree stumps in the road, forcing them to hide their cart and continue on foot. Thinking there might be a trap, Ash lets the skeletons she had gathered out of her bag of holding, animating them to be used as fodder. While Kanec is instantly amazed at her skills, the sight of the Undead is extremely unnerving to Corrio. The party moves forward, managing to sneak up on a pair of Depraved Gloom assassins standing watch. While it’s little trouble for the party to dispatch them before they can alert their comrades, they have far more trouble descending the steep cliffs that lead into the Assassins’ camp (including multiple natural 1’s on athletics checks). Once at the base, the party attempts to sneak forward, but manages to step simultaneously on the three loudest twigs in the forest (as in… 3 characters rolled natural 1s on their stealth attempt). Instantly, the group of assassins is alerted to the party’s presence, surrounding them. They are then confronted by the female assassin they had met before, who confirms she is indeed the Wayla from the note they had found. Crush attempts to disperse the crowd, promising to rip each and every one of them limb from limb and then use those limbs to beat Wayla to death, hoping to intimidate at least some of the weaker opponents away, but only manages to amuse Wayla (again… another natural 1)
The fight is long and hard. A few well-placed fireballs from Corrio help to clear out some of the weaker enemies, but Ricky is out of his higher level spell slots and the party seems to be cursed with more bad luck early on. The only person who seems to be at the top of his game is Kanec, who eagerly rushes forward, climbing right on top of one of the brutes to attack it with his extra large Reaver Greatsword. Most of the party prioritizes clearing out the spellcasters first, but Wayla uses a pair of Brutes as a wall to protect herself. Ash’s skeletons are dispatched almost immediately… which isn’t much of a surprise, since they hurt themselves pretty badly getting down the cliffs. She opts to replace them with zombies in the future… trapping multiple opponents in her bag of holding and letting them suffocate inside.
Seeing Ricky and Corrio both cast healing spells, Wayla prioritizes them with Blight, nearly knocking them both unconscious. But eventually luck starts to return to the party’s side and the tides are turned. Soon it’s just Wayla and the Brutes, but once Kanec finally manages to fell the Brute he’s been fighting single-handedly she looks ready to retreat. Not about to let her go, Ash summons Black Tentacles, which manage to pin her in place while the party shifts their focus to the remaining Brute… but things take a turn when Fidget is dealt enough damage to trigger his Reaver Blood Rage. Before he can hurt anyone Ricky manages to pin him down with Hideous Laughter, and Kanec traps him in his Genie Bag once again. Azure is able to defeat the last Brute while Wayla is still unable to escape the Black Tentacles.
With Wayla trapped by the black tentacles Crush stays true to his word… lopping off one of the Brute’s arms to use as a club. Ricky and Crush both assaulting the restrained woman, demanding answers for what happened to Gilly. She only mocks them, egging them on to attack her further, even after Ricky stabs her in the eye with a dart, much to Corrio’s shock. Corrio tries desperately to get them to stop, shocked and disgusted at his friends torturing a captive. Azure’s high insight, however, reveals the truth… Wayla wants to die here at their hands, rather than face whatever punishment the Circle of the Depraved Gloom might enforce if she returned a failure. She and Corrio are able to convince Crush and Ricky to stop torturing her… instead bargaining, promising her a swift, clean death from Crush’s axe in exchange for information.
Even with her compliance, the information is sparse. She reveals the Depraved Gloom is led by a woman, but reveals nothing about her. They also learn that Duncan died after being assaulted by 5 top assassins of the Circle, with Wayla herself being one of them. She had also been the one to capture Gilly, selling her into the Underdark black market as a slave. However, she had sold Gilly to the market itself, not to an individual buyer and gives the party a name to contact for more information… a drow woman named Kristal.
With her fully restrained and submitting to the attack, a single axe swing is enough to separate her head from her body, sparing her the torture the Depraved Gloom would have subjected her to. However, she didn’t count on Ash… under the guise of examining the body for treasure, she absorbs Wayla’s soul, intending to gift it to her Patron… subjecting her to a fate far worse than even the Depraved Gloom could have planned.
The party is able to return to their cart with little trouble, but it’s unclear if Corrio will ever be able to forget how quickly his allies turned to violence and cruelty in their desperate attempt to rescue their family member.
We're playing tonight in about 10 minutes at 4pm PST. It's a special game because it's RedLotusBlossom's birthday, who plays our Undead Warlock, Ash. Join us tonight at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty, but as for what happened last time...
Ricky and Corrio get into an argument… Corrio expresses his fear that Ricky might succumb to cruelty, but Ricky seems concinced that trying to make it work will just hurt Corrio further, and abandons both their relationship and this Grimveil Pendant. As the cart leaves Corrio opts to drive, accompanied by Ash. Surprisingly, Ash comforts Corrio, helping him to calm himself… meanwhile, most of the party tries to convince Ricky to get back with Corrio, with only Crush thinking it would be best for them to wait and let both parties cool off, rather than push them back together as soon as possible.
As they ride, Ash and Corrio come across a 300-strong battalion of Reavers on the move to the East. Ash attempts to ask them information on what they’re doing, but is unable to persuade them to trust her with any information. While there are plenty of theories about what they’re doing, the party is forced to focus on their objectives in the town of Hallow Barrow… although their priority is to learn how to get to the Underdark Black Market, they use the wanted poster left behind by Duncan as a reason to ask questions around towns. The poster promises a 1,000 GP reward for the head of a large, hairy beast which has been active in Hallow Barrow since shortly before Duncan’s death.
While researching they learn that the latest victim is a prostitute at the local brothel, who was disemboweled in her room. Curiously, the visitor log for the day of her murder was stolen, seeming to confirm that this isn’t just a wild animal. They also learn that the only surviving witness is the General Store Owner’s brother, who has locked himself in his home and refused to meet any strangers ever since encountering the beast. While in town, they also visit the post office and are able to prove themselves to be Duncan’s legal heirs, and are able to pick up some mail sent to him. They find a letter from Gilly which was sent before the letters they had already found from her, as well as a letter that sealed with the seal of the government of Ortheia, from the Elvish city of Ortheiad. However, while most of the party is about to unseal the parchment, Ash is relaxing and toying with a small gear she had purchased earlier when she’s hit by another memory… she recalls building a mechanical owl, that she calls Hermes… finally remembering that she was the only non-sorcerer in her family. Instead she studied as an artificer, using science and mechanics to replicate magic… an art she had studied some time ago in the colleges of Ortheiad City.
If you missed it, the last game was intense. But in case you missed it, before you join us tonight at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty, go ahead and read on to see what you missed:
As the party explores the town for new information, the General Store owner reveals that the large beast that’s been seen around town has been seen in the graveyard, and terrified his younger brother, who has refused to leave his house since witnessing the creature. Exploring the graveyard reveals that one of the recently interred victims has been dug up, sod-like grass lain over the ground to conceal the theft. When they speak to the witness, he reveals that the creature actually killed a grave robber, but ran when the guards came. Deciding they’ll come back at night and wait to hopefully ambush the creature should it return, for now the party visits the local brothel, which doubles as the town’s only Inn. While Fidget spends some time with a few Elven ladies, Crush and Ricky examine the menu and recognize the symbol Wayla had told them about drawn next to the Black Bass Special on the menu… although ordering it gets them nothing more than a fine fish dinner.
When the group gathers outside to discuss their plans for tonight, Ricky tells Fidget about the symbol they discovered. Recognizing it as Thieve’s Cant, the Goblin Rogue goes back inside and negotiates instructions on how to get to the Black Market, where Ricky’s Aunt Gilly had been sold as a slave just weeks earlier. They pose Kanec, Corrio, Azure, and Ricky as captured slaves to be sold, with Crush posing as a simple guard while Ash and Fidget negotiate. Once in the holding cells, they see that two other slaves are up for auction… a dwarven man and the young human girl whose parents have been searching for her in-town. The situation is tense as the restrained party members struggle to remove their bonds without the guards noticing. However, as the auction begins the party finally seizes the opportunity… Crush lures one of the Drowish guards into the cells alone and effortlessly decapitates her. With her dispatched he leads another guard in… with Ricky using his Dragonmark to summon a Private Sanctum, making it impossible for the guard to call for help as she’s pinned down and interrogated. She reveals that the woman running the auction is the Cristal they were told to find, and that Cristal carries on her person the written record of all slave sales. For her cooperation the guard’s life is spared, but she’s still left unconscious and locked in one of the cells.
As the auction begins Ash has hidden herself in the crowd, using her Mask of Many Faces to appear as a Drowish noblewoman. She enters a bidding war with a wealthy Tiefling when Kannec, one of the rare and powerful Reavers, is put up for auction. Meanwhile, Fidget stealthily loosens the bonds holding a Troll, but doesn’t release it fully as it’s too close to the little girl they’re hoping to rescue. Everything kicks in as Ricky and Crush burst from the holding cells… Ricky stuns the audience with a Hypnotic Pattern while Crush rushes past guards, shrugging off opportunity attacks as he pulls the young girl to safety. With the crowd of slavers mostly incapacitated by the Hypnotic Pattern, Corrio clears out the majority of the crowd with one well-placed Fireball. A riot ensues, with Azure prioritizing protecting the young girl as the Troll proves to be a greater hinderance to the party than their enemies. The most powerful opponents, however, are a pair of hags, one of which commands a pair of magically enhanced skeletons possessed with both cold and fire powers, respectively. Ash is eager to dispatch her, not only to add the skeletons to her arsenal of undead minions, but also because the Grimveil Pendant Fidget normally wears became damaged when he was transformed into a Reaver… and she needs a Hag’s Heart to re-enchant it.
Perhaps most importantly, Corrio is able to capture Cristal in his Genie Bag while she is incapacitated by the Hypnotic Pattern.
Although the party manages to clear out most of the Black Market, the enemies that had managed to escape deeper into the Underdark sent what sounded like dozens of guards up to deal with the party. Leaving a group of Ash’s zombies behind as essentially a meat-wall, the party made their escape, returning above-ground. Now they make their way to return the young girl with her family, as they prepare to question Cristal on what happened to Gilly.
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The party finds a giant sword as well as several ingots of pure platinum on their stolen boat, both stamped with a coat of arms featuring a fanged skull… Ricky, Fidget and Ash are keen to simply sell them and pocket the money, but Corrio, Azure, and Crush oppose… not simply for moral reason, but also because they don’t want whoever owns the well-used sword to come looking for them. But after debating, it’s decided they shouldn’t leave the items in the boat, since they’ll likely be stolen by wandering vagabonds anyway, since they’re unable to lock or secure the boat.
While traveling the party is attacked by dire boars, but Corrio’s magic allows him to tame the beasts, giving the party some temporary mounts. The path they’re following surprisingly leads them to the small town of Transmere, where the party was headed in the first place. Once there they learn there’s no proper post office, and Azure helps Corrio to decipher a coded message left by Duncan to reveal that the dropbox is hidden in the deepest depths. After asking around town, they learn this is the nearby swamp. Crush is the natural choice to enter… not only for being a Tortle, but because his powers as a Storm Herald has given him the ability to breathe fully underwater. Deep in the swamp he finds a the dropbox guarded by a water elemental who appears in the form of a merfolk with long claws, fangs, and an eel-like body. The pendant left by Duncan is proof enough that they’re allies, and Crush brings the dropbox to the surface.
The group finds a private room in the local tavern to open the dropbox, finding several letters addressed to each of them.
Crush’s letter was originally written for both him and his sister, Crash. It also reveals that Grimveil is more than Duncan’s last name… it’s an ancient order working to oppose the Depraved Gloom and their sinister plots across the world. Both Azure’s Father and Corrio’s Mother were originally members of the Grimveils, but Azure’s father chose to return to civilian life when his wife became pregnant and the Depraved Gloom targeted his unborn daughter with poisons. Azure was even born sickly, which led to her training with the unusual art of the Astral Self to compensate for her weakened body. His Grimveil pendant is the same one that Azure now carries. Corrio, meanwhile, learns that his Mother died while battling against the Depraved Gloom, not in a foolhardy battle as his father let him believe. Her recovered pendant is stored in the drop box as well, heavily damaged and stained with blood.
Perhaps most shocking, Ricky and Crush learn that Ricky’s Aunt Gilly, who co-founded the Starlight Children’s Home with Crash, has been a member of the Grimveils this entire time. Many of the orphans had been rescued by Duncan, and despite them only knowing her as a strict schoolteacher with no unique battle capabilities and no spell-casting ability beyond the spells granted as part of the Halfling Mark of Hospitality, she also was a member of the Grimveils. A distressing letter from her implies that she’s on the run from the Depraved Gloom, hiding somewhere in the Capital City Estearia in the country of Estea. However, her protective pendant is also found in the dropbox.
Ash is given the least information… although Duncan does inform her that more information can be found based on the elaborate ring she wears on her ring finger hidden by her long gloves… the ring itself was supposedly made somewhere in the nearby country of Kurei Midori within the Jade City. Examining the ring Ash is hit with another memory… remembering being given the ring by a masculine figure somewhere under a well-maintained willow tree under a starry sky.
Determined to clear their name first, the party resolves to continue their search for the Chicken Footed house, with plans to make their way to Estearia to rescue Gilly and learn more about the Grimveils and their conflict with the Depraved Gloom.
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As for the recap, the party finds themselves in a lot of danger, but some fast thinking and clever words prove more powerful than weapons and muscle...
The party continues the chase against the Depraved Gloom, heading south of Transmere on their trail. However, the path eventually collides with a wide, fast rushing river, and the bridge across has been shattered. While the party debates what to do next, they’re caught off guard by a large, mutate Brutish human. The Brute nearly knocks several of them into the fast rushing water, but in the battle they realize it’s weak to fire, with Ricky finishing it off using Heat Metal on a javelin embedded in its side by Crush.
Collecting the creature’s head as proof, the party investigates the body of the Brute, discovering a strange glowing crystal filled with Necrotic energy embedded in its side. Ricky Idenitfies its corrupting power as the source of the Brute’s mutation. As they make their way back into town they run into a wandering guard, who’s in the town of Transmere along with a retinue of guards searching for the party after their violent jail break. In order to clear their name, especially after learning the Depraved Gloom were manipulating the city guard in Yarland’s Fork, the party turns themselves in, where they are then delivered to a Paladin captain. His magic allows him to read the note exonerating the party, with the Brute’s head and corrupting crystal further proving their innocence. Still, the party is guilty of killing city guards during their escape, although a combination of persuasion and deception from both Ricky and Ash reduces the party’s sentence to a 100 gold fine for the guards’ families.
Things take a sharp turn, however, when the Paladin Captain produces a strange wand which is able to detect the presence of the Undead, making clear that any undead will be struck down on sight. As the paryt holds their breath, a quick cast of False Life is enough for Ash to fool the wand, passing, if only temporarily, for a fully living being. The party has enough time to stop by the blacksmith’s shop, which serves as a post office for the small town, where a letter from Hitha Coldforge is waiting for them. Unfortunately she hasn’t been able to uncover much, but the party still writes her to inform her of everything they’ve learned and let her know that they’re planning to go to Esterea to search for Ricky’s missing Aunt Gilly. Surprisingly, Ricky is most opposed to venturing in that direction, instead prioritizing Crush and Azure’s next scheduled battle further South. Although his true motivations are much more private…
Making their way back North of town to go back to the main river way, the party takes pause as an overwhelming sensation of dread has them instinctively seeking cover. As they watch, a villager is accosted by an extremely tall man with red eyes, long black hair, and heavy armor… and a massive sword on his back matching the one found by the party in their stolen houseboat. The tall man chooses not to harm the villager, but does casually knock over a carriage filled with a half-ton of stone. There’s a brief debate about what to do now that they seem to have found the owner of their stolen goods, with Crush briefly considering simply throwing the sword into the depths of the nearby swamp, but eventually the party decides to continue carrying their stolen goods, since destroying them only risks upsetting the original owner further.
It doesn’t take long, however, for them to encounter the Tall Man on the road. Crush returns the sword and Fidget returns the bars of platinum… Crush manages to avoid lying, but is still not persuasive enough to calm the Tall Man, but Ricky manages to step in. Seemingly unafraid of the giant warrior, he’s able to talk him down where he reveals his name to be Savine, although he still won’t say more than that. Content to get his possessions back and clearly annoyed with the party, he nonetheless leaves without further conflict as the party is left to continue their journey to Esteria.
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A storm comes, leaving most of the party in a sour mood, although for Crush it’s liberating and comfortable as they travel. As night falls, Ricky uses the power of his Dragon Mark to summon a Tiny Hut for the party to rest in and get out of the rain. Crush, however, chooses to take first watch, attempting to commune with the storm overhead. During this, however, he’s approached by a dangerous Shadow, which saps him of strength, but his silvered greataxe is able to make short work of the lost soul. While still keeping watch Crush meets a traveling male human seeking shelter from the rain, offering to let him into the Hut. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that Ash had set up an Alarm spell, which their new visitor sets off. Azure especially can’t seem to get back to sleep, and opts to take the next watch.
While everyone else sleeps, Azure sees a Ghost approaching the hut. Despite the protection of the Tiny Hut, the Ghost’s frightful presence (which isn’t technically a spell) hits Azure hard enough to not only induce fright, but also to age her 30 years, causing some of her fur to turn white as she becomes over 50 years old. As a monk she can quickly clear herself of the frightened condition, warning the party to avoid the sight of the Ghost, with Crush taking the initiative to cover their guest’s eyes. Ash defeats the Ghost using the silver head of her cane, but Azure is still left artificially aged. Corrio knows that Azure needs a Greater Restoration spell within 24 hours, or the effects will become permanent… unfortunately, Corrio isn’t yet capable of such a powerful spell. Luckily, their human guest is aware of a nearby temple, and the party braves the stormy night to seek out an experienced Cleric to heal Azure.
By morning they arrive at a small temple surrounded by flowers. Once inside they find the Elven woman, Vanessa, who Corrio bonded with… and who Ricky insulted in Lore’s Hamlet. She reveals herself to be a priestess of Sune, Goddess of Love and Beauty. With Ricky apologizing for his previous actions, Vanessa cures of Azure of her advanced age. Although Vanessa invites the party to stay for lunch, knowing that Ash is unable to enter the temple, they opt to instead continue on the road. Before they can leave, however, they meet a trio of the tall, long-haired men with red eyes and shark-like teeth. Two of them head into the temple while one waits outside… Ricky follows the two inside to make sure they don’t start any trouble, while the curious Azure chats with the one remaining outside. He reveals his name to be Varrick, and that his group are known as Reavers. Like Azure, they’re on a quest for knowledge of the world beyond their home borders, although he still refuses to reveal where they come from.
As the other two Reavers come back from the temple they chastise their ally for fraternizing with the locals, but Ricky attempts to bond with the giant warriors. He manages to entice them, promising a fresh made meal using the potent spices the Reavers carry. Azure borrows some ingredients from the Temple, with the clerics coming out as well to join the meal, and also offering a strange pink salt, which is added ceremoniously to the pot of chili Ricky is preparing. The salt lowers the inihibitions of those who eat it… with Fidget and Ash quickly adjourning to their tent for some “private time”. Two of the Reavers also seek some privacy with the clerics to enjoy some time with “Sune’s Blessings”. One even attempts to bond with Azure, but he naive young Tabaxi opts instead to climb a tree and lounge under the warm afternoon sun. Crush, as a relatively young Tortle, is largely unaffected by the salt… although considering he’s only had 2 hours of sleep up until this point it does help him relax and fall asleep. Ricky and Corrio bond, making flower crowns together and using them to decorate Crush’s shell. However, things get awkward when Ricky attempts to kiss Corrio, who is still uncomfortable with that level of affection. When they awake the party chats a bit more with the Reavers, where they admit to being members of some kind of military, working for their God, Sovereign (which no member of the party has ever heard of before).
After everyone gets a long rest, the party opts to travel into the night, taking a carriage ride all the way back to Yarland’s Fork. Back in Yarland’s Fork, the guards are clearly on edge with the group’s presence, but after their acquittal they can do nothing but keep a weary eye on them. Once back in the tavern they learn that the Pimp who had attempted to abduct Azure has already been released from prison. Ash and Fidget opt to partner with Ricky, intending to sneak out while the rest of the party sleeps, intent on killing the pimp so Ash can absorb his corrupt soul for her patron...
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In the dead of night, Fidget, Ash and Ricky sneak out searching for the pimp who tried to abduct Azure, intending to punish him after his slick lawyer got him out of jail. Ash uses Disguise Self to appear to be a curvaceous redhead, posing as a classy prostitute looking to make money in Yarland’s Fork. A John nearly picks her up, but before things go too far he’s knocked unconscious by Fidget and the trio agree to simply rob him. Realizing Ash is a little too good at her disguise, Ricky uses his disguise kit to pose as a drunken traveler looking for a good time, making enough noise to catch the attention of the pimp, who seems eager to recruit the new girl to his stable. However, once alone things turn violent as he threatens Ash with a knife to keep her in line. The trio then works together… Ricky casts bane to weaken him, while Ash casts silence to prevent him from calling for help, but Fidget is the one to take him out, slashing his achilles tendon before slitting his throat. Ricky is sent to another room to keep watch while Ash drains the life from the Pimp…
Once killed, Ash uses Blight to liquefy the corpse of the Pimp, then uses Prestidigitation to clear away the remaining sludge of his corpse. Despite his tough exterior, the sight of a man being reduced to sludge is still stomach turning for Ricky. The trio decides to search the Pimp’s house for riches and other material… finding not only thousands of pieces of gold, but also receipts proving that he had sold several of his girls into slavery, with some tying his actions to his lawyer. They sneak back to the tavern for the night, but Ricky’s attempt to pose as a drunk to distract a guard only risks getting him arrested… until Fidget intervenes to knock the guard unconscious before they finally return to the tavern, none of the rest of the party aware of their escapades.
In the morning, Ricky successfully convinces Crush that he simply found extra money hidden in his pockets while going through his things in the night. Giving 500 Gold to Crush to hold, to help make up for the money the party has spent that Crush had originally hoped to mail home to his sister’s orphanage. The group does a bit of shopping before heading out of town to the docks, catching a ferry captained by a half-orc in armor named Tushdar. The party relaxes, taking advantage of the safety of the large ferry for a few activities… Crush and Azure meditate together, Ricky does some cooking, everyone takes their hand at some fishing, and the party ends the night with a drinking game of Never Have I Ever. Ash struggles a bit, because of her faded memories, but perhaps the most enlightening moment was the reveal that Fidget once had children, but he is clearly uncomfortable talking about it.
As everyone is heading to bed, Ricky opts to visit Corrio’s room to discuss the awkwardness between them ever since Ricky’s attempted kiss. They struggle a bit, until Ricky makes the surprising suggestion that they should sleep together… literally. Both men remaining fully clothed while sleeping next to each other to prove that they can each maintain control despite their complicated feelings.
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Unsurprisingly, Ricky and Corrio spending a platonic night together sharing a bed is misinterpreted by the rest of the party, which isn’t helped by Ricky running around wearing the too-large nightshirt lent to him by Corrio. Although it leads to some awkwardness in the morning, the group understands once Ricky and Corrio fully explain what’s been happening. As the party is passing time, they see a group of Reavers near the river battling what appears to be a group of bandits, making short work of their human opponents. Most unusual is what appears to be a Half-Orc/Half-Reaver, standing well over 8 feet tall and with rows of shark-like teeth. Speaking to Captain Tushdar, they learn that he had recently passed a group of 12 Reavers waiting for a ferry, although the party had paid for exclusive use of the ferry. The group discusses their theories about the Reavers, wondering where they came from and why they’re suddenly appearing in such large numbers with heavy weapons and full armor. Ricky theorizes they may come from a society without women, and have left to seek partners. Others wonder if they’re the first of an invading army, but ultimately the party decides, if nothing else, to avoid upsetting them… hoping they’ll be more valuable as allies in the future.
Tired of life on the road, Ash asks the Captain about bathhouses that they might find near the river. Luckily there’s one less than a day’s ride away… Although Crush is less than enthusiastic, since he’s so eager to get to Esteria to check on Gilly, but he realizes the party is eager to relax and doesn’t protest. Once they arrive, Ash pays the additional fee for a private bath, while Ricky uses his ill-gotten gains to pay for the rest of the party. Crush gets a shell cleaning and treatment, while Fidget enjoys a massage. Meanwhile, Azure gets a full body conditioning, and Ricky has his red hair dye washed out, reverting his hair to its natural black. Things take a turn when a pair of Reavers enter the group bath. Ricky shares some of his spicy chocolate truffles… topped with the love salt from Sune’s temple. The Reavers relax, talking more about their culture. They reveal that they drink poison as both a spice and medicine, as it actually soothes their stomachs. They also reveal that female Reavers are born one in a hundred, although the Reavers can still reproduce with other races. Things take a turn, however, as the love salt relaxes the Reavers a bit too much, and one of them flirts with Azure. However, the naive young Tabaxi is overwhelmed by the affection, passing out in the bath. She’s pulled out into the hallway where she can recover.
Ricky seems hesitant about his hair coloring, needing to be prodded just to look at himself in a mirror. The sight of his black hair floods him with emotions, remembering what he was like before Crash died protecting him… before Crush left and Ricky’s father abandoned him to his Bardic teacher to be raised in the woods by a stranger. Seeking some privacy, Ricky confesses his feelings for Corrio, revealing that he wants to be better and to stop putting up his normal fatalistic facade. Still, by the end of It the party is relaxed and happy, returning to their chartered ferry to continue their journey to Esteria, with a planned stop in Ricky’s home town of Trost.
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As the party begins to relax on their boat ride, they’re given a reminder of the precarious situation they find themselves in. The boat suddenly loses control as a large group of Depraved Gloom assassins attack the ship, starting with an attack on Captain Tushdar. Luckily, the Half-Orc’s natural constitution helps him to resist their poison. Azure takes advantage of her extreme speed to go straight to Tushdar’s side. The rest of the party instead needs to fight their way through a wave of assassins to get to the Wheel and protect Tushdar, since no one else is capable of steering a ship. As Crush makes his way to the deck, one of the Brutes has begun climbing the side of the ship. Crush shoves one of the assassins off the deck to hit the Brute, then continues to assault the giant mutant until it finally gets knocked off the side of the boat. The giant creature is able to stand above the water in the flowing river and continues to assault the boat. Thinking quickly, Ricky hits the Brute with Hideous Laughter, causing it to drown itself in the river as it falls prone laughing.
With the assassins thwarted the party investigates the bodies, although they find nothing but well-used daggers and a few stray pieces of gold, but in their rooms they realize the assassins had enough time to sabotage both Azure and Corrio’s herbalism kits, with one of the assassins even attempting to steal the antidotes to the Assassin’s poison that Azure was crafting. Just when things seem to be getting back to normal, the boat is stopped by a large tree chopped down and blocking the river. While Crush and Tushdar clear the path, they notice several cloaked figures following them, leaping across the treetops by the river. Worried that they’re being set up for a new attack, they take off down the river. Ash decides they might need some extra fighters in the event of an attack, and uses her new Animate Dead spell to awaken 3 of the dead assassins as zombies. This immediately creates conflict with Corrio, who is struggling with the revelation that Ash is an Undead necromancer capable of creating more Undead… something that he had been taught was an abomination to be destroyed immediately.
After some debate, the group decides they need to take the remaining corpses off the ship so they can be burned. There’s a small rest stop not far away, and Ash decides to use her newly created zombies as pack mules to help carry off the remaining corpses… however, they’re seen by Captain Tushdar, who is none too pleased to have the Undead and illegal Necromancy on his ship. Ash, however, is able to placate him with a payment of 100 gold… which she can easily afford after robbing the Slaver Pimp in Yarland’s Fork. When stopped by a guard, Ricky is able to convince him that the group is bringing plague victims off their ship to burn the bodies, even convincing him that the zombies are infected at death’s door, hence why they’re carrying the other bodies.
While in town the party finds a pair of Reavers waiting for the ferry, and although up to this point they’ve paid for a private cruise, they decide it would be a good idea to have a pair of reliable warriors joining them for now. Surprisingly, visiting the local grocer reveals the familiar face of Colt Slamrock, the Dwarven miner who was possessed by ghosts and forced to murder his co-workers, which almost got him executed for the crime. He’s left Glenarm to move South, avoiding mines and instead running his family’s grocery. He gives a steep discount as Azure and Ricky order groceries.
The party continues their journey, although the Reavers’ sensitive noses can tell there’s something wrong with Ash, and the scent of death lingering in the Ferry leaves them suspicious...
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After enjoying breakfast Ash notices that the assassins have begun to follow them again. Learning from their mistakes the day before, the assassins are careful to stay out of range of the party’s spells and weaponry. However, one of the Reavers makes the observation that this might be a deliberate distraction. Thinking Quick, Ash and Fidget check the other side of the boat, noticing just in time that something is being fired at the deck of the ship. Everyone takes cover, although Crush’s instinct to withdraw into his shell proves to be the wrong move, when the attack is revealed to be a fireball, which he’s unable to dodge.
The female assassin reveals herself, leading a large force of assassins, with far more magic users than before, as well as a pair of their mutated Brutes. Captain Tushdar brings the ship to a stop to keep from ramming into the brutes and damaging the ship. After Ash’s Chilling Grasp spell is counterspelled, much of the party is subdued with status effects, until finally managing to shake them off and taking the fight face-to-face. One of the Reavers eagerly leaps off the front of the ship, jumping one one of the Brute’s back and wrestling the beast while attacking. Ricky and Azure prioritize protecting Captain Tushdar, who is struggling to keep his boat in control. Crush leaps into the water as well, using his abilities as a Storm Herald to swim effortlessly through the water and face the female assassin head on. However, he leaves Ash and Fidget behind to face an Oojoo, the distorted abomination made from the twisted corpse of a human… which is made worse when one of the magic users summons a second one. Fidget ends up being their primary target, beating him to within an inch of his life. Corrio tries to pin the creatures down with a Spike Growth spell, but inadvertently harms an already-weak Fidget when he tries to move to a more advantageous position.
Although the fight seems to be favoring the enemies, Crush and the Reavers make short work of the magic users once they’re able to get close. The Female Assassin is surrounded by Crush, the Half-Orc Reaver, and covered with the glistening lights of Ricky’s Fairy Fire spell. Knowing she’s in a losing position, she transforms into mist and disappears from sight. Abandoning her remaining men to be slaughtered. However, as she exits she sends a message to Crush, mocking him by claiming Duncan had put up much less of a fight when he died. With the remaining enemies gradually dispatched, Crush and the Reavers gather wood in order to make repairs to the ship following the battle. However, as they’re working Crush eventually reveals what the Female Assassin had told him to Ricky, who is incensed to realize that they let the woman who killed Duncan escape. He wants to get everyone together to discuss this, but everyone is surprised to find that Ash’s bedroom is held in a Silence spell with the door locked.
The rest of the party discusses what it means, with Ricky in particular expressing the most rage. Everything takes a turn, however, when Ash’s silence spell ends and everyone hears a bloodcurdling scream from her room. Crush kicks in the door, worried that the assassins are back. Instead, they find Ash shrieking in pain and horror. Vomiting up black bile, while the chest wound that originally killed the Undead Warlock beginning to bleed as though it were completely fresh. She instinctively fires Eldritch Blasts and other spells as Crush forcefully pins her down to keep her form hurting herself. During this, Ash’s fears upon witnessing Fidget nearly die, coupled with her frustration at being unable to utilize her full capabilities as a Necromancer and even anger at Duncan for looping her into this adventure triggers her most traumatic memory yet. She recalls being chased at night through the woods, nearly tripping over the edge of a cliff. She fully experiences again the feeling of being stabbed in the chest, before being kicked off the edge of the cliff. Still alive and experiencing all the pain of slamming against the hard ground. However, despite how vivid the memory was, she still can’t remember the face of her murderer, seeing it only as a blank void on a vague, male figure.
When she comes to she’s very unhappy with the party and makes clear that she’s tired of holding back just so people she doesn’t really care about will be comfortable around her. She even throws aside the Grimveil Pendant that Duncan had left to her. However, as she stews Azure finishes a pair of leather gloves she had been working on for Ash… even giving Ash a loving hug in an attempt to comfort the dour necromancer… and although Ash doesn’t reciprocate, she calms and seems to get along with the rest of the part again.
However, despite Crush and the Reavers using their knowledge of woodworking and ship repair to patch up the ship following the Assassins’ attacks, more supplies for repairs are still needed. Captain Tushdar opts to stop in a small riverside town known as Cutpurse’s Folly. Crush recognizes the town… knowing it to be a lawless town born from a prison that was taken over by inmates. Ricky is eager to visit the town and potentially find some magic contraband, while Ash sees it as an opportunity to harvest more souls to placate her Patron. The Reavers remain on the ship to guard it, while Tushdar visits a friend outside of town. While the rest of the party makes their way into town they recognize a familiar figure… the Reaver Savine, who is leading what appears to be his teenaged son into the tavern. Following him inside they see that Savine’s son is twitching and sweaty as though he’s fighting back a seizure. Not even acknowledging the party, Savine leaves his son alone in the tavern, along with a strange empty bag. As Savine’s son begins to lash out, sweating and howling. Crush tries to pin him down, but his muscles begin to swell… growing larger and stronger, eventually able to casually lift Crush’s 500 pound form.
The young man grows to the same height and build as the other Reavers… and also begins to mindlessly slaughter everyone around him. The party runs, but not before Crush tells Ricky to grab the bag left by Savine (thinking Ricky would simply use Mage Hand, not expecting Ricky to physically run to grab it). Still, he avoids the rampaging young Reaver, bringing the bag with them… Crush hoping that it would hold some clue as to what’s happening. Getting back to the boat, they meet with the Reavers, who Ricky is able to convince to reveal what’s happening. They finally reveal what’s happening is known as a Blood Rage… The first Rage always the most powerful, and afterward a young Reaver ascends to adulthood, and assumes a new form resembling their God, Sovereign. Traditionally, the Reavers take their sons to places full of scoundrels or other evil men, so that they can feed their blood rage without moral compromise. The Reavers themselves originally come from a land separated from the rest of the world by the Eternal Storm which rages in the Calypsan sea, which Crush recognizes the place elderly Tortles swim toward at the end of their lives. For unknown reasons, the Eternal Storm abated briefly… just long enough to allow a few ships of Reavers to travel to the lands of Kahenah.
While speaking away from the Reavers, Ricky decides to investigate the bag they had grabbed, not sure what it could contain now that they knew the Reaver’s transformation they witnessed was perfectly natural. While reaching inside, Ricky is surprised to find that the seemingly empty bag is far deeper than it appears. Expecting a bag of holding, the party instead learns that it has some kind of home stored inside that can be safely entered and explored. Inside they find a fine set of Reaver armor, a well-crafted sword made to Reaver proportions, and thousands of gold. They realize that Savine had left this “Genie Bag” as a gift to his son, and once again the party has robbed Savine...
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Join us in half an hour... 4:30 PM PST while we continue our journey through the City of Trost. You can see us live at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty, but if you're wondering what happened last time...
Ricky talks to the Reavers on their ship, revealing the Genie Bag to them. They instantly recognize it as a gift from Savine to his son, and an extremely generous and thoughtful one as well. They both are familiar with Savine, and know that he’s a caring, overprotective father and warn the party that he especially hates those who steal from his son, who they know to be named Kanec (their own names are also revealed to be Cole and Ces). Unfortunately, there’s no safe way to get close enough to Kanec to return the bag, and there’s no way to know where Savine will be to send him the bag either. Still curious, everyone opts to at least explore the inside of the Genie Bag. Seeing fresh fruit in the kitchen, Crush admits that the party might as well eat the food that risks going bad, but forbids anyone from taking anything sealed in a container. Thanks to her new Eldritch Invocation, she’s able to read notes left by Savine in the Reaver’s native tongue, including one that shows that Kanec has a bank account waiting for him in the city of Esteria, which may be a good place to leave the Genie Bag in the future.
As the party makes their way into Ricky’s hometown of Trost they first notice groups of disheveled refugees who appear terrified by the sight of the Reavers traveling with them. The closer they get to Trost, however, they encounter both ships in the river and wagons traveling on the nearby road filled with Reavers. Although they don’t appear to be creating any trouble, the commoners are still clearly frightened by the hulking figures. Once in town their first stop is at the local apothecary, run by a Blue Dragonborn named Amethyst, affectionately called “Amy” by Crush and Ricky. She was once an orphan housed at the Starlight Children’s Home… she warns Ricky that his father, Tricky, has heard about Crush’s victory in Lore’s Hamlet, and is also aware that Ricky forged his signature to sign Crush’s contract over to Ricky’s name. The Guards are on his side in this case as well, and a warrant is out for Ricky’s arrest (by coincidence, Ricky’s decision to change his hair back to its natural black has proven to be a convenient disguise… for now). Fortunately, Tricky is out of town looking for his son, and has even managed to rope his brother-in-law, Gilly’s husband, to accompany him. Tricky leaves the Starlight Tavern in the care of his loyal goons, ***** and Bull. Perhaps more worryingly, she also reveals a rumor that the town of Seamont has recently been torn asunder, supposedly by Reavers. On top of this, the Reavers have apparently chosen the Starlight Tavern as their preferred hangout spot, since the large tavern has drinks and a gladiator ring to entertain them.
Ricky casts invisibility on himself to avoid the guards as Crush and Ricky lead the party first to the tavern, wanting to make sure the rowdy Reavers haven’t damaged the Greensleeves Family tavern. Once there, however, the worst they see is that the gladiator fights have become more violent, and seem to involve amateurs. Worryingly, though, they see a few Teenage Reavers enjoying the show, since they know about the Reavers’ Blood Rage. Before they can leave, ***** and Bull confront Crush, where the rest of the party learn they are a Goblin and Half-Orc, respectively. ***** makes it clear that Tricky is on his way home, and he’s planning to collect on Crush’s contract. Crush, however, makes it clear that he’s not afraid of Tricky, having considered their contract broken years ago (even if the local courts may disagree with him).
Exiting the tavern, the party makes their way to the back of the tavern to the Starlight Children’s Home. Azure wonders aloud why an orphanage would be attached to a tavern, but Crush explains that the land is owned by the Greensleeves family, and Ricky’s aunt Gilly used some of the property for the Children’s Home. Inside they find Ricky’s cousin Misty, who has been left in charge of the Children’s Home on her own. She reveals that nearly all of the children have been adopted by Reavers… the Reavers have given every sign of being loving fathers… in addition, they’re clearly wealthy, and their donations are the only thing supporting the Children’s Home, since Tricky has been intercepting any money sent to the Children’s Home. Still, Misty is left caring for one child… a young human girl named Risa.
Risa, however, is clearly troubled. She’s been caught sleep walking or sneaking out to the garden at night. She claims to be speaking to “tiny people”, as well as her own deceased Mother. Before the other children left she was regularly getting into fights, and since they left she’s been mutilating the toys that Crush has been mailing back home, and when they try to speak to her in private she shockingly bites her thumb hard enough to draw blood, using it to color an illustration of a blood moon. Ricky immediately panics at the sight, and Crush struggles, trying understand what’s happening. Ash, meanwhile… is simply amused by the whole thing. Mostly out of boredom, she decides to investigate Risa’s room… seeing what appears to be random scratches on the floor under Risa’s bed… but thanks to her Eyes of the Runekeeper invocation, she identifies it as Abyssal text with phrases like “blood”, “attack”, “kill”. Despite the desire to get out of town… both to continue their quest and to avoid Ricky’s conflict with Tricky, Crush insists on staying and helping Risa, refusing to leave until they help the troubled young girl.
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I had a thumb injury, so I wasn’t able to write proper summaries earlier and actually missed posting for a few streams. That said, here’s a super short summary… the party discovers that Reesa is the daughter of a Night Hag, and barely rescue her from being corrupted fully, although the girl will still struggle with her instincts instilled into her by her mother. Crush and Ricky decide to confront Ricky’s father, Tricky, who Crush is able to intimidate into legally signing over Crush’s contract to Ricky, but in the process Tricky reveals he’s used his money and connections to keep them from working, and has paid off many of the guards in Trost to get them to arrest Crush and Ricky, despite no longer having a legal reason to do so. Rather than deal with this, the party just strong arms their way out of town, intimidating and shoving guards, but still careful not to actually hurt anyone.
As the group is traveling, however, Ash is contacted by the Female Assassin, taunting the party and promising them trouble if they continue the path they’re on. Deciding it’s time to travel by land, they resolve to stop in the next town, let Captain Tushdar continue his ferry business without them, and purchase a wagon of their own with money taken from Tricky. As they’re discussing whether or not they could make some money running their own wagon service, the boat is attacked by Depraved Gloom while passing by a cliff face. Rock Slides are triggered, destroying the boat before another Brute and some assassins attack the party. A poorly aimed Fireball from Corrio nearly kills Ricky, and the party is forced to continue by foot, with Tushdar left on the other side of the river and leaving back to to Trost. After setting up camp using the Genie Bag, Ash contacts her patron, offering the souls she’s gathered, with the Night Hag’s soul in particular seeming to rejuvenate her Patron, who promises greater rewards for similarly powerful and corrupt souls. And while the magical energy from his appearance creates confusion in her party, nobody is able to discern exactly what happened.
Just as the party is waking, Crush is hit with a prophetic dream… he sees visions of a figure going berserk. Slaughtering everyone around it, until a large bell falls onto the figure… although someone else is trapped inside the bell with them. As he recounts the dream to his party, it’s Crush himself who recalls that the city they’re traveling toward, Esteria, has a large cathedral famous for its bells.
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We're trying something new tonight! We're taking a break from our usual campaign to instead give me a chance to DM. So rather than our homebrew world, we'll be playing through the classic Lost Mines of Phandelver! Join us tonight at 5pm PST to see what's coming next for a brand new party as they begin the journey to Wave Echo Cave. As always, we'll be streaming at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
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Come join us at Twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! For now I didn't have a summary prepped ahead of time, so I need to summarize quickly right now...
As the party travels in the morning they're briefly slowed by a failed goblin ambush. The party manages to dispatch them without killing any of the goblins, before continuing down the river to find an older Halfling fisherman. The party is able to convince him to give a ride to the nearby fishing village. Once there, the party finds that a large shipping vessel is being loaded... including a large bell, so heavy that it actually broke the crate it was being shipped in. As the party is helping to try and load the crate (hoping to get a free boat ride to Esterea), a Reaver approaches, losing control to his Blood Rage. The Party battles the Reaver, in the process, however, the goblin Fidget is trapped under the bell. Azure uses the strength of her Astral Arms to lift the bell, with Crush pulling Fidget out. Ricky uses Polymorph to transform the Reaver into a harmless snail, giving the people of the village time to escape. But by the time it wears off, the Reaver is still raging and actually tearing down the bell. Fidget, meanwhile, has gotten Reaver blood mixed with his own... the potency of which drastically damages his body, barely surviving the process before it begins to transform him... his body shifting and growing with the strength and height of a Reaver.
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Does it make more sense to post these right as I'm going live, or post a bit before so people have time to plan and join us? Well, for today since I thought to do it ahead of time, we'll be playing tonight at 4:30 PM PST. Catch us soon at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty, but for now, here's what happened last night:
While discussing what happened to Fidget the party is stopped by a group of bandits, tempted by the (empty) merchant shipping vessel the party is currently piloting. The bandits fell trees on the side of the river to cross onto the boat… but despite the tougher, more experienced bandits near the capital, the party is able to make short work of them. There’s some struggle through the night, as none of the party members are particularly familiar with sailing and are mostly figuring out what to do in the moment. But despite their lack of experience they arrive in Esterea and manage to dock their ship safely, reporting the missing boat to the Trilby Shipping Company and explaining what happened to the cargo, although they’re careful not to reveal that it’s the result of a Reaver’s blood rage.
This proves prescient, as they make their way into town and find citizens protesting against the Reavers, even going so far as to pass out pamphlets decrying them for their assault on the city of Seamont, where they slaughtered the Lord and Lady, kidnapped their children, and took over the town. They make a brief stop for Ash to purchase new clothing for Fidget, and for Azure to purchase more supplies to help with her leather working. Stepping outside, Ricky decides to use Gilly’s pendant along with his unique Familiar Roads ability to try and track her. He’s shocked, however, when the path it creates seems to swirl wildly before bursting into the air. A successful arcana check from Ricky gives him a sudden realization…. Gilly is on another plane entirely.
Checking his notes, Corrio notes that the next Dropbox left by Duncan is somewhere in the large Temple of Many Gods… as Ash can’t risk entering, she, Ricky, and Fidget decide to stay outside and hopefully find some Reavers to speak to about Fidget’s transformation. Crush, Azure, and Corrio, meanwhile, head into the Temple both to seek the Dropbox, and to inform them about the missing bell.
Ash and Ricky see a group of Reavers being harassed by protesters and opt to follow them. When they explain what happened to Fidget they express sympathy for Fidget’s plight… those who are transformed by a Reavers blood are considered “Made”… and while they gain many of the benefits of being a Reaver, they are more susceptible to their Blood Rage, and risk going mad, slaughtering others and themselves in the process. If a Reaver drops below a certain level of health, they enter an uncontrollable Blood Rage, viciously slaughtering everyone around them except for direct family members… both a Blessing and a Curse from their God, Sovereign. They can’t explain why the Reaver in Fishertown went into a Bloodrage seemingly without provocation, and also explain that they don’t know exactly what happened in Seamont. They reiterate that the Reavers as a whole are led by the Warlord, who remains in the Reavers’ home country. For now they obey their generals, who are distinguished by their large red cloaks… which Ash realizes with some annoyance matches Savine, the Reaver they’ve stolen from twice.
The remaining party members make their way into the Temple where they see a choir practicing. Not wishing to disturb them, Crush instead approaches a Tiefling paladin… Azure recognizes his holy symbol as belonging to Tempus, the God of War and Justice. After explaining that the bell was damaged the Paladin correctly assumes that it was the result of Reavers, and expresses his desire to drive them out of the country. Sympathetic to the Reavers, since they seem to remind him so much of himself, Crush lies saying he doesn’t know what caused the damage, seemingly able to convince the Paladin, but Crush is unable to temper his wrath and he learns that many Paladins are forming a war council to discuss what is to be done about the Reavers. Crush shows him his Grimveil pendant, but the Paladin doesn’t recognize it.
Once the choir finishes the trio approaches a young female cleric who seems to be in charge. When she sees the Pendant she recognizes it instantly, and also recognizes Crush… if only because he so closely resembles his sister, Crash. She explains that the Temple had helped to fund the Starlight Children’s Home, and to Crush’s shock she also reveals that Gilly was a skilled warrior. She first brings the trio to a back room where Duncan had left a small satchel only days before his death, with instructions to give it to anyone trustworthy who shows her the Grimveil Pendant. Before opening it, however, Corrio mentions that the actual Dropbox they came to find is most likely hidden somewhere in the Temple’s garden, with the Cleric leading the way to see what Duncan left behind...
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Crits for Breakfast will be playing again tonight at 4:30 PM PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! As for what happened in last night's game...
The party finds Duncan’s dropbox, getting together in a bistro to examine the contents. The Dropbox reveals a wanted poster written in Abyssal for Duncan’s capture, and a bounty poster in common for a large, beast-like creature located in the town of Hollow Barrow. The Satchel, however, proves to be more valuable… it contains Gilly’s personal journal, where she kept meticulous notes. Her notes include an interview with a potential foster parent identified as “Miss Mabel”, although it’s clear that it was a trap to capture her. The party follows the clues to a few different locations, until they get to a dismissive elven inn owner who refuses to divulge information to the party. A plan is formed, with Fidget planning to seduce the inn owner while the other party members sneak in and steal the records in order to get a new lead. Before enacting this plan, however, the party decides to check out the bank, both to return the stolen Genie Bag, and to see if Duncan has left anything behind.
Once in the bank, they’re surprised to find Kanec, the young Reaver who the Genie bag initially belonged to. While half the party tries to sneak out and avoid him, Crush and Ricky speak to him directly and explain why they had stolen his bag. Even the damage to the items inside is forgiven when Kanec learns that Fidget was transformed against his will and the bag was used to prevent him from harming anyone else during his first Blood Rage. Kanec forgives them, but is hesitant to introduce the party to his father, as he knows Savine will not be as understanding as he is..
Once that problem is solved, Crush and Ricky then go to inspect Duncan’s bank account. They find thousands of gold, in addition to stocks, deeds of ownership, and a treasure map that guides the party far to the South, beyond the Esmer Isles, which the Tortles call Home.
As the party is returning to the inn, they see a crowd forming, risking turning into a riot as they make their way to the Temple of Many Gods, demanding that something be done to remove the Reavers. The party tries in vain to intimidate the crowd into dispersing, but it’s Ricky’s heartfelt plea for peace that finally breaks through to the crowd. Although not everyone is turned, the crowd still disperses… although a quick use of Detect Thoughts from Ricky reveals that the Tiefling Paladin, whose name is revealed to be Theseus, appears to be encouraging the unrest and violence in Esterea against the Reavers. Before the party can learn more, however, they overhear a report coming in to the temple… the city of Dawsberry has been devastated by a tsunami. Dawsberry is to the South, past Hollow Barrow and on the way to Seamont, where the Reavers appear to be stationed. The party is asked to investigate by Isabelle, the dwarven Cleric who showed them the items Duncan left behind for them. The party promises to investigate, however, they can’t yet leave until they learn what happened to Gilly, and what they can do to rescue her.
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Crits for Breakfast is taking time away from our usual campaign so that I can DM a new party through the Lost Mines of Phandelver. Join us tonight at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty to join in and see!
The party consists of Katniss, a half-elven archer, Dahlia, a Tiefling Bard, G'houl, a Half-orc Wizard, and finally Loki, the changeling Cleric. In our last adventure the party was hired by Gundren Rockseeker, a dwarven miner, to escort a wagon of supplies to the town of Phandalin, while he rode ahead with the human warrior Sildar. However, the party found on the way that he had been captured by goblins. And although they were able to rescue Sildar, Gundren is still missing as they recover stolen goods before continuing their journey to Phandalin, and hopefully finding some answers...
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We're heading back to our usual game tonight. Join us tonight at 5 PM PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty to see what the Crits for Breakfast team is getting up to now. However, if you're wondering what happened last week...
After resolving the issue with the riot, the Party reconvenes in Kanec’s Genie Bag. They ask more about the Reavers, and Kanec tells the story of their God Sovereign, who was once a mortal… a rare male son of a Siren. Over time he became a hero, and eventually a King, but he fell in love with a Goddess known as the Night Mother… a complicated being who steals children and shares knowledge about the stars and navigation. The two form a Kingdom together, but she refuses his proposals for nearly a century… but when she finally agrees, on the night of their wedding she betrays Sovereign, cutting out his heart. For some reason, though, he doesn’t die… instead he becomes overcome with the first Blood Rage. He slaughters half of his own army… the other half infected by his blood to become the first Reavers.
The group is still unsure how this could help Fidget, realizing they need to find someone with more experience to tell them more. Before that, though, they still need to figure out what happened to Gilly, and to do that they’ll need to learn more from the uncooperative innkeeper. Fidget opts to seduce her, since he clearly has a thing for snarky elven women. Fidget proves to be quite the smoothtalker, luring her out to a date at the nearby bistro while Ricky turns himself and Ash invisible in order to sneak in. Unfortunately, just as the innkeeper is leaving another work arrives for the nightshift… a gnomish woman who seems friendlier. Ash and Ricky use their invisibility to knock over objects to try and spook her, but she mistakes it for a Quickling infestation, which has apparently been a problem at the Inn. Eventually they learn that the woman’s name is Mabel Glenwood, and she made an unusual request for a pig’s heart to be delivered to her room by the local butcher. When they step out Crush observes that, if a new worker had come in, it might have been less trouble to just ask her for help, since she seems more reasonable than the other innkeeper.
The majority of the party chooses to investigate further… but Ash can’t help but sneak off, still invisible, to spy on Fidget’s date. The party arrives at a Goblin-owned Butcher shop. Some exchange of coin and a promise of secrecy gets them to reveal that the pig’s heart was actually human, and it came from an Underdark black market connected to the town of Hollow Barrow to the South. Satisfied that they’ve learned all they can in Esterea, the party plans to leave the next day, heading first to Hollow Barrow for answers about what happened to Gilly, and planning to move further South to investigate the tsunami in Dawsberry and eventually to speak to the Reavers who took over Seamont.
Before leaving town, however, Ricky, Azure, and Crush attend a meeting in the Temple of Many Gods where the people debate what is to be done about the Reavers. The crowd seems convinced they are monsters and are set on going to war with the “invaders”, but the party speaks up, defending the Reavers. Despite the stories of their attacks, the party so far has only seen them act honorably, and especially with Fidget transformed into a Reaver, they certainly don’t want war to be declared on an entire race. Not surprisingly, the charismatic Ricky is the most convincing, but the speech from the three of them is enough to sway opinion in the other direction, with a vote narrowly declaring peace for now… at least, in the province of Esterea.
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We're streaming again tonight in about 45 minutes at 5:30 PM PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! As for our last game...
The party leaves the Capital City of Esterea shortly after the early morning meeting/vote, which promises peace with the Reavers… for now. However, before leaving, they purchase a wagon and two draft horses… Denzel and Brass. Travel for most of the day is peaceful… Kanec seems intrigued by Ash’s undead nature. He reveals that the Reaver culture, while not embracing necromancy, studies it methodically as a means of understanding its nature. He even believes Ash could make a healthy living being paid to allow scholars to study her. In the early afternoon, the party is slowed when they reach a bridge, a sign telling them that it’s been closed for repairs. However, when Crush approaches to attempt to discern if its safe to cross, a green, clawed arm swipes at him. A Troll comes out from under the bridge, clearly larger than normal, while both wearing clothing and carrying a large club. More surprisingly, it seems to speak, although none of the party understand its language. Before Crush gets a chance to rage the Troll gets in two powerful hits with his club, slamming through more than half of the barbarian’s hit points. Despite the creature’s size and strength, the size of the party is enough to overwhelm the creature, with Kanec finally getting his first kill with his heirloom sword.
As the party examines the troll’s body, Azure makes the conclusion that this appears to be a troll/hill giant hybrid, recognizing its speech from earlier as matching the language spoken by the Frost Giant the party had encountered before. Searching under the bridge reveals the bones of its past victims, as well as shiny jewels and trinkets it had been hoarding. As the rest of the party leaves to count the money, Ash scoops up 4 of the skeletons in her bag of holding.
Aside from another near-collision with the drunken gnome party wagon, travel remains uneventful until nightfall. Finding a secluded location to rest in, the party has dinner and rests using Ricky’s Tiny Hut. Despite access to Kanec’s Genie Bag, the party opts to sleep outside, enjoying the pleasant weather and clear view of the stars. The first watch is interrupted, however, as a Depraved Gloom Brute and more assassins emerge from the woods to attack the party. Crush and Kanec hold the Brute’s attention, as a spellcaster dispels the Tiny Hut and pins down spellcasters in the party with a Silence Spell. However, the Tiny Hut still managed to prevent them from getting the full element of surprise they were counting on, and the party manages to defeat their attackers. Searching the Spellcasting Assassin’s robes finds a brief note… as always, written in abyssal. It instructs them to follow the party, and only to attack when they appear vulnerable. However, the person who wrote it had the poor sense (or the ego) to sign the note, “Wayla Dupree”. Ricky’s able to use the power of his Bardic College under the starry night sky to use the note to track it back to its source… a mere 6 miles away. The party quickly awakens the horses, climbing back into the wagon and heading off to hopefully face Wayla and the assassins head-on.
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We've been having some trouble with a few of the players being unable to stream lately, but everything should be back to normal tonight! Join us for another round of action at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty tonight 5:30 PM PST. As for what happened last week, well... things got dangerous:
With Ricky’s guidance, the party makes their way South down a rocky path. The way is blocked, however, by large tree stumps in the road, forcing them to hide their cart and continue on foot. Thinking there might be a trap, Ash lets the skeletons she had gathered out of her bag of holding, animating them to be used as fodder. While Kanec is instantly amazed at her skills, the sight of the Undead is extremely unnerving to Corrio. The party moves forward, managing to sneak up on a pair of Depraved Gloom assassins standing watch. While it’s little trouble for the party to dispatch them before they can alert their comrades, they have far more trouble descending the steep cliffs that lead into the Assassins’ camp (including multiple natural 1’s on athletics checks). Once at the base, the party attempts to sneak forward, but manages to step simultaneously on the three loudest twigs in the forest (as in… 3 characters rolled natural 1s on their stealth attempt). Instantly, the group of assassins is alerted to the party’s presence, surrounding them. They are then confronted by the female assassin they had met before, who confirms she is indeed the Wayla from the note they had found. Crush attempts to disperse the crowd, promising to rip each and every one of them limb from limb and then use those limbs to beat Wayla to death, hoping to intimidate at least some of the weaker opponents away, but only manages to amuse Wayla (again… another natural 1)
The fight is long and hard. A few well-placed fireballs from Corrio help to clear out some of the weaker enemies, but Ricky is out of his higher level spell slots and the party seems to be cursed with more bad luck early on. The only person who seems to be at the top of his game is Kanec, who eagerly rushes forward, climbing right on top of one of the brutes to attack it with his extra large Reaver Greatsword. Most of the party prioritizes clearing out the spellcasters first, but Wayla uses a pair of Brutes as a wall to protect herself. Ash’s skeletons are dispatched almost immediately… which isn’t much of a surprise, since they hurt themselves pretty badly getting down the cliffs. She opts to replace them with zombies in the future… trapping multiple opponents in her bag of holding and letting them suffocate inside.
Seeing Ricky and Corrio both cast healing spells, Wayla prioritizes them with Blight, nearly knocking them both unconscious. But eventually luck starts to return to the party’s side and the tides are turned. Soon it’s just Wayla and the Brutes, but once Kanec finally manages to fell the Brute he’s been fighting single-handedly she looks ready to retreat. Not about to let her go, Ash summons Black Tentacles, which manage to pin her in place while the party shifts their focus to the remaining Brute… but things take a turn when Fidget is dealt enough damage to trigger his Reaver Blood Rage. Before he can hurt anyone Ricky manages to pin him down with Hideous Laughter, and Kanec traps him in his Genie Bag once again. Azure is able to defeat the last Brute while Wayla is still unable to escape the Black Tentacles.
With Wayla trapped by the black tentacles Crush stays true to his word… lopping off one of the Brute’s arms to use as a club. Ricky and Crush both assaulting the restrained woman, demanding answers for what happened to Gilly. She only mocks them, egging them on to attack her further, even after Ricky stabs her in the eye with a dart, much to Corrio’s shock. Corrio tries desperately to get them to stop, shocked and disgusted at his friends torturing a captive. Azure’s high insight, however, reveals the truth… Wayla wants to die here at their hands, rather than face whatever punishment the Circle of the Depraved Gloom might enforce if she returned a failure. She and Corrio are able to convince Crush and Ricky to stop torturing her… instead bargaining, promising her a swift, clean death from Crush’s axe in exchange for information.
Even with her compliance, the information is sparse. She reveals the Depraved Gloom is led by a woman, but reveals nothing about her. They also learn that Duncan died after being assaulted by 5 top assassins of the Circle, with Wayla herself being one of them. She had also been the one to capture Gilly, selling her into the Underdark black market as a slave. However, she had sold Gilly to the market itself, not to an individual buyer and gives the party a name to contact for more information… a drow woman named Kristal.
With her fully restrained and submitting to the attack, a single axe swing is enough to separate her head from her body, sparing her the torture the Depraved Gloom would have subjected her to. However, she didn’t count on Ash… under the guise of examining the body for treasure, she absorbs Wayla’s soul, intending to gift it to her Patron… subjecting her to a fate far worse than even the Depraved Gloom could have planned.
The party is able to return to their cart with little trouble, but it’s unclear if Corrio will ever be able to forget how quickly his allies turned to violence and cruelty in their desperate attempt to rescue their family member.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
We're playing tonight in about 10 minutes at 4pm PST. It's a special game because it's RedLotusBlossom's birthday, who plays our Undead Warlock, Ash. Join us tonight at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty, but as for what happened last time...
Ricky and Corrio get into an argument… Corrio expresses his fear that Ricky might succumb to cruelty, but Ricky seems concinced that trying to make it work will just hurt Corrio further, and abandons both their relationship and this Grimveil Pendant. As the cart leaves Corrio opts to drive, accompanied by Ash. Surprisingly, Ash comforts Corrio, helping him to calm himself… meanwhile, most of the party tries to convince Ricky to get back with Corrio, with only Crush thinking it would be best for them to wait and let both parties cool off, rather than push them back together as soon as possible.
As they ride, Ash and Corrio come across a 300-strong battalion of Reavers on the move to the East. Ash attempts to ask them information on what they’re doing, but is unable to persuade them to trust her with any information. While there are plenty of theories about what they’re doing, the party is forced to focus on their objectives in the town of Hallow Barrow… although their priority is to learn how to get to the Underdark Black Market, they use the wanted poster left behind by Duncan as a reason to ask questions around towns. The poster promises a 1,000 GP reward for the head of a large, hairy beast which has been active in Hallow Barrow since shortly before Duncan’s death.
While researching they learn that the latest victim is a prostitute at the local brothel, who was disemboweled in her room. Curiously, the visitor log for the day of her murder was stolen, seeming to confirm that this isn’t just a wild animal. They also learn that the only surviving witness is the General Store Owner’s brother, who has locked himself in his home and refused to meet any strangers ever since encountering the beast. While in town, they also visit the post office and are able to prove themselves to be Duncan’s legal heirs, and are able to pick up some mail sent to him. They find a letter from Gilly which was sent before the letters they had already found from her, as well as a letter that sealed with the seal of the government of Ortheia, from the Elvish city of Ortheiad. However, while most of the party is about to unseal the parchment, Ash is relaxing and toying with a small gear she had purchased earlier when she’s hit by another memory… she recalls building a mechanical owl, that she calls Hermes… finally remembering that she was the only non-sorcerer in her family. Instead she studied as an artificer, using science and mechanics to replicate magic… an art she had studied some time ago in the colleges of Ortheiad City.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
If you missed it, the last game was intense. But in case you missed it, before you join us tonight at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty, go ahead and read on to see what you missed:
As the party explores the town for new information, the General Store owner reveals that the large beast that’s been seen around town has been seen in the graveyard, and terrified his younger brother, who has refused to leave his house since witnessing the creature. Exploring the graveyard reveals that one of the recently interred victims has been dug up, sod-like grass lain over the ground to conceal the theft. When they speak to the witness, he reveals that the creature actually killed a grave robber, but ran when the guards came. Deciding they’ll come back at night and wait to hopefully ambush the creature should it return, for now the party visits the local brothel, which doubles as the town’s only Inn. While Fidget spends some time with a few Elven ladies, Crush and Ricky examine the menu and recognize the symbol Wayla had told them about drawn next to the Black Bass Special on the menu… although ordering it gets them nothing more than a fine fish dinner.
When the group gathers outside to discuss their plans for tonight, Ricky tells Fidget about the symbol they discovered. Recognizing it as Thieve’s Cant, the Goblin Rogue goes back inside and negotiates instructions on how to get to the Black Market, where Ricky’s Aunt Gilly had been sold as a slave just weeks earlier. They pose Kanec, Corrio, Azure, and Ricky as captured slaves to be sold, with Crush posing as a simple guard while Ash and Fidget negotiate. Once in the holding cells, they see that two other slaves are up for auction… a dwarven man and the young human girl whose parents have been searching for her in-town. The situation is tense as the restrained party members struggle to remove their bonds without the guards noticing. However, as the auction begins the party finally seizes the opportunity… Crush lures one of the Drowish guards into the cells alone and effortlessly decapitates her. With her dispatched he leads another guard in… with Ricky using his Dragonmark to summon a Private Sanctum, making it impossible for the guard to call for help as she’s pinned down and interrogated. She reveals that the woman running the auction is the Cristal they were told to find, and that Cristal carries on her person the written record of all slave sales. For her cooperation the guard’s life is spared, but she’s still left unconscious and locked in one of the cells.
As the auction begins Ash has hidden herself in the crowd, using her Mask of Many Faces to appear as a Drowish noblewoman. She enters a bidding war with a wealthy Tiefling when Kannec, one of the rare and powerful Reavers, is put up for auction. Meanwhile, Fidget stealthily loosens the bonds holding a Troll, but doesn’t release it fully as it’s too close to the little girl they’re hoping to rescue. Everything kicks in as Ricky and Crush burst from the holding cells… Ricky stuns the audience with a Hypnotic Pattern while Crush rushes past guards, shrugging off opportunity attacks as he pulls the young girl to safety. With the crowd of slavers mostly incapacitated by the Hypnotic Pattern, Corrio clears out the majority of the crowd with one well-placed Fireball. A riot ensues, with Azure prioritizing protecting the young girl as the Troll proves to be a greater hinderance to the party than their enemies. The most powerful opponents, however, are a pair of hags, one of which commands a pair of magically enhanced skeletons possessed with both cold and fire powers, respectively. Ash is eager to dispatch her, not only to add the skeletons to her arsenal of undead minions, but also because the Grimveil Pendant Fidget normally wears became damaged when he was transformed into a Reaver… and she needs a Hag’s Heart to re-enchant it.
Perhaps most importantly, Corrio is able to capture Cristal in his Genie Bag while she is incapacitated by the Hypnotic Pattern.
Although the party manages to clear out most of the Black Market, the enemies that had managed to escape deeper into the Underdark sent what sounded like dozens of guards up to deal with the party. Leaving a group of Ash’s zombies behind as essentially a meat-wall, the party made their escape, returning above-ground. Now they make their way to return the young girl with her family, as they prepare to question Cristal on what happened to Gilly.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Crits for Breakfast is going back to the Lost Mines of Phandelver tonight! Come join us at Twitch.tv/afterdisbooty as the party finishes the battle against the Redbrand Bandits and continue the search for the lost Gundren Rockseeker
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium