The Crits for Breakfast team is about to go live at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! As always, here's what you missed last time:
Azure has a prophetic dream… dreaming of an inky black sea. In the dim light of dawn she barely sees the silhouette of a large ship in the distance… then an enormous crature rose from the depths… large enough to fit a ship into its mouth. The mast piercing inside, and red blood spreading out across the inky blackness.
When she tells the rest of the party about her dream Crush suspects a Kraken, but Kalea, the Druid of the Sea, knows that even a Kraken doesn’t get that large. Crush, Ricky, Azure, and Corrio return to the Blooming Rose to tell the captain that they’ve learned where they need to go. However, they can’t leave just yet, as they need to speak to Kalea’s friend, a firbolg druid named Verik, but they at least have time for breakfast.
As everyone is eating breakfast, Ricky has a plan to take advantage of the necrotic powers emanating from Ash’s touch. After preparing a mash he has her simply touch it, as her touch decays the plant matter, converting it almost instantly into alcohol. Azure brings a note written in Abyssal that she had found on one of the Merrow that attacked the night before to Ash. Reading it aloud, she realizes that they’re instructions sent to the Merrow by the Depraved Gloom… letting them know that it instructs the Merrow to prevent them from making allies… but also claims that the Depraved Gloom are able to follow them thanks to an informant, and that whoever wrote the letter will arrive soon in person.
The entire party makes their way to Kalea’s island so they can discuss what Ash learned from the note in peace. They aren’t certain whether or not the informant isone of the crew members, but at the moment they don’t have any solid suspects. Before they can make any solid plans, Verik appears in a burst of vegetation. He instantly recognizes Ash’s undead nature, needing to be placated into trusting her. Once certain she’s not a danger he discusses plans for the party to enter the Feywild. He’s able to create a temporary portal, which he can use to take the party to his home in the Feywild. However, he’ll need a day to prepare before the party leaves. The party returns to the Blooming Rose once again to let them know of their plan, with Verik joining, as he’s fascinated by the pink, rosewood ship.
Verik immediately strikes up a conversation with his fellow Firbolg, the ship’s Captain Pagonia. As the two chat in giant, however, Pagonia is clearly annoyed at Verik’s overly friendly attitude. As Verik explores the ship Ricky decides to do some more cooking… producing excellent food that attracts the attention of the crew. Verik questions the party on their origins and motivations, wanting to be certain that he’ll be assisting them for the right reason.
As they exit with plans to return to the island, Captain Pagonia finally sees Fidget, who has been hiding to avoid work, in addition to stealing wine. She’s enraged, not helped by her discussion with Verik and made only worse by Fidget’s attitude. She tells him that he’s going to be assigned to clean barnacles off the side of the ship, and just to make her point clear, she actually throws him off the side of the ship. Surprisingly, Ash, in a panic, leaps after him, since Fidget never learned how to swim. However, as she tries to help him, Fidget seems to instinctively be able to swim, despite his original fear of water. After Ash helps him up Kanec explains that Reavers are natural swimmers.
Ash and Fidget both stay on the ship, since Fidget is stuck on barnacle duty and Ash doesn’t care for the flower-rich island. Azure initially planned to remain as well to study more sailing technique with Ivory, but when she sees Verik wildshape into a Killer Whale she immediately wants to ride this strange new creature. Ricky immediately decides to follow suit, using Polymorph to transform into a Killer Whale as well, carrying Azure back to Kalea’s island. Once there, Crush realizes that tomorrow is actually Ricky’s birthday, informing Azure and Corrio. Corrio plans to cook something the next day, but for now he needs to assist Verik and Kalea, while Ricky gets Azure to help him gather coconuts.
Ash borrows Kanec’s genie bag, using it to get some privacy and contact her Patron. He is none too pleased with the lack of souls from Ash lately, threatening to withdraw his powers from her if she fails to provide more soon. However, he seems intrigued by the idea of Ash visiting the Feywild, with the promise of rare fey souls at some point in the future proving enough temptation to get her Patron to spare her… for now.
Meanwhile, Crush and Azure have started working on gifts for Ricky… Crush uses his woodcarving skills to carve a figurine of a Blinkdog, the Patron Animal of House Galanda, the ancient Halfling House from which he descends… and where he inherited his Dragonmark. Crush, half-jokingly, recommends that Azure make Ricky some fingerless gloves, and she begins working on a pair using vibrant purple dye she had purchsed. Inspired by Crush’s carving, she decides to add a Blinkdog emblem to the gloves.
Back on the Blooming Rose, Ash and Fidget both are assigned the tedious job of scraping barnacles off the side of the ship. Ash decides to use her necrotic touch, tearing open her gloves temporarily so she can simply touch the barnacles, causing them to rot away… weakening their grip, but still needing Fidget’s help to scrape them off.
Throughout all this Ricky has been kept busy by a Selkie that swam to Kalea’s island… a friend of Kalea’s who enjoy swimming with the tortle druid. Selkie’s appear to be seals, but can peel off their seal skin to reveal a human-looking woman underneath. With Kalea busy, Ricky offers to swim with the Selkie instead… having a good time, but also getting a serious sun burn in the process.
After finally completing Lost Mines Of Phandelver last night we're back to our main campaign! We're going live right now, come join us at https://www.twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. As for the events of the last game...
Azure dreams of being surrounded by darkness. Feels sensation of the ground melting… a feeling of riding on waves inside a container. Something rubbery that flows. Can’t even enter the water. Can’t see the water. On the horizon she sees light, like dawn. Inky black wet waves. She sees an outline of a ship. She hears the dinging of the ship bell. Sound of waves crashing. The ship stops. Something giant rises, jaw opens, closing over the ship. A burst of red. Red spreads where the giant creature lowers. The description matches a Queen Siren… a strange creature made by a Siren being partially eaten by a fish-like sibling. She grows larger and larger, able to control other sirens.
Returning to the Blooming Rose. Ricky seeks out Ash, wanting her to use her necrotic powers to help him brew more rum. Meanwhile, Crush spends some time with Kanec learning how to operate the ship’s cannons. However, while the two are chatting about the sea, Kanec remembers a story his father had told him about a giant creature that matched the dream Azure had the night before… it matches a Queen Siren, a mutated siren that grows exponentially, able to grow large enough to swallow ships whole, and which is able to control the minds of other sirens.
While they’re focused on that, Ricky starts to share his newly brewed rum with the rest of the crew. Instantly getting all of them drunk… including the normally strict and serious captain. While it takes some effort to get them all to bed, Crush remembers the letter which implied the Depraved Gloom has an informant watching them. Wanting to be certain that it’s none of the crew members, the party checks their rooms and possessions. They’re unable to find anything, although Crush and Azure both get low rolls investigating First Mate Ivory and Captain Pagonia. Once satisfied the crewmembers aren’t working against them, instead the focus shifts… Azure and Kanec bake a cake in anticipation of Ricky’s birthday, while Ricky opens up to Crush about his true feelings for Corrio. Although Crush doesn’t have too much insight, he encourages Ricky to pursue his relationship with Corrio.
With the crew asleep, Crush and Ricky return below deck, although Ash and Fidget are busy fooling around in the crow’s nest. While the deck appears empty, a Merrow starts to crawl into the ship. Rather than fight it herself, Ash sends a Whisper to Crush to get him to take care of it, while she starts to get dressed. The party all ends up woken up by the action, but once the Merrow is defeated they notice signs of a skirmish on Kalea’s island. Ricky Polymorphs into a Killer Whale, allowing him to carry most of the party to the Druid’s island… although Ash and Fidget opt to stay behind and protect the ship.
Making their way to Kalea’s island, the druids and Corrio are being attacked by a large crowd of Merrow. The party doesn’t hesitate to leap into battle, with Ricky choosing to remain in the form of a Killer Whale. It doesn’t take long for the group to clear out the Merrow, however, Ash’s decision to remain on the boat proves prescient as a pair of sneaky Merrow attempt to take advantage of the seemingly empty ship to try and burn it down. Luckily Ash is able to use her magic to suppress the fire while Fidget clears out the Merrow with sneak attacks. The rest of the party rushes back to the boat on Ricky’s back, but arrive too late to help… although Ricky is able to splash enough water on the deck to put out the remaining fires. Crush attempts to use the rush of water to get on deck, but a natural 1 instead slams him face-first into the side of the boat. His 500 pound weight rocking the boat enough to trip several of the other party members.
The Druids and Corrio return to the Blooming Rose to check on the party and find the ship damaged by fire and weaponry, with one Merrow reduced to an unpleasant sludge by Ash’s Blight spell. Examining the bodies they find another abyssal note of instructions, telling the Merrow to attack the ship whenever the deck seems empty, and signed by none other than the Puppet Master they had encountered before.
In order to repair the ship, Ricky bribes the high-level druid Verik with some of his extra-potent rum in order to convince him to cause the wood itself to grow. It takes some work, still, from Crush and Kanec to take the wildly regrowing plants and shape them into proper planks, but in the end the damage done by the Merrow is completely repaired, leaving no sign that anything happened. While they’re busy working on that, Ricky accidentally calls Kalea “Noka”, Crash’s original name that she preferred to go by with the children in the orphanage. In embarrassment, he casts invisibility and retreats to the kitchen. Crush explains what happened, mentioning that Ricky has a bit of a habit for slips of the tongue like this (such as the time he once called a kindly baker “mom”). The druids and Corrio need to return to Kalea’s island, and will be awake the rest of the night completing the ceremony that got interrupted, while Kanec volunteers to go with them to help keep watch (although his true motivation seems to just be the desire to ride Verek as a Killer Whale).
Finally able to get some rest, during Azure’s watch the ship’s crew wake up… hung over and a bit embarrassed by how they acted the night before. Despite feeling tired, Azure takes it upon herself to prepare breakfast… after thoroughly studying a book on baking earlier in the adventure she’s able to produce excellent pancakes, both for the hungover crew and as a birthday present for Ricky. She also takes Ricky with her as her feline agility combined with her monk abilities allows her to run across the water from the ship to the island in seconds. There she delivers pancakes to everyone, and Ricky decides to give himself a birthday present… finally admitting his feelings for Corrio.
Crits for Breakfast is going live soon at 4:30 PM PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. If you're impressed by the Roll20 assets you should know that it's all original, made by our DM who has her own store available through Hazel's Emporium.
For now, though... here's what you might have missed in the last session:
Once they confirm that the ceremony is complete as necessary, the party finally shoves off, sailing into unknown waters. The ride is rough, as they make their way into a heavy storm. As everyone is preparing the ship for rough waters, Ricky discovers that too much water is getting into the lower levels, with Crush and Ash going below deck to help clear out water, along with Unseen Servants from both Ash and Ricky. However, on the deck Azure sees Merrow taking advantage of the storm to attack the ship. In the conflict, the human crewman Akiyo is knocked unconscious by one of the merrow’s attacks. Azure uses her monk speed to carry him below deck where Ash can use Spare the Dying to stabilize him while she assists Ricky in battling a Merrow that’s attempting to break in through the lower rooms. Ivory reveals her ability to land sneak attacks in combat, while Captain Pagonia is forced to remain at the helm to keep the ship sailing with some semblance of control. Crush battles a Merrow with unusual coloring who is able to loose bolts of lightning, but luckily Crush’s abilities as a Storm Herald makes him resistant to Lightning damage.
Once the Merrow are cleared out the storm continues to rage while Corrio heals those who are injured while the other characters focus on cleaning and repairs. When the storm passes everyone is finally able to get the boat cleaned and allow the spellcasters to rest and recover. While Ricky uses his Blanket of Rest to recover more quickly, the other party members prepare a birthday meal for him. While they’re working on it, a merchant ship from the nearby country of Kirei Midori approaches the ship. Slowing to trade, they’re able to purchase more cooking supplies to replace the ones damaged during the storm… however, because it’s Ash purchasing them she shows no interest in nuance or care, simply buying sacks of every spice available for several gold. Then, as Crush is carrying everything down to the kitchen, Fidget asks about eggs, and Crush mentions that they’re usually purchased in dozens… but doesn’t stick around to notice anything unusual about the large crate they’re sold in, or their exorbitant price. However, Ash notices one additional product on sale… an expensive, formal kimono that triggers memories from her living life where she traveled regularly to Kirei Midori. Feeling nostalgic, she doesn’t hesitate to throw down over 500 gold on the fine, silken kimono.
Just before Ricky wakes up they finally examine the eggs… shocked to learn that they’re actually green Emu eggs… with Crush expression some shock that the bald goblin Fidget would purchase Ricky large green eggs, since Ricky teases him constantly by comparing him to an egg.
In the end, Ricky awakens to delicious stew and some well-made apple cake with a caramel glaze. He’s gifted from Ash enough spices to keep a kitchen stocked for years, and from Fidget he’s given the Emu Eggs. Azure gives him a pair of black and purple fingerless gloves with a Blink Dog design. Finally, Corrio gifts him a bracelet made of purple sea shells and a large pearl. Happy with his gifts, Ricky shares his potent rum, diluting it in a fruit cocktail so that it can be consumed safely without everyone on the ship passing out drunk.
Crits for Breakfast will be going live at 4:30 PM PST... just 15 minutes! Join us, as always, at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. As for what happened in our last session...
With everyone relaxing following Ricky’s birthday, the party goes to bed for the night. However, before the night is through, the ship becomes enveloped in fog and darkness. An unnatural stillness fills the air… and gradually the ship finds itself stopped in black water, even though wind is still filling the sails. As the crew struggles to see through the heavy fog they notice what looks like tall pillars approaching the ship. Kanec and Crush are the first to recognize them, as they match the legends Kanec told Crush about Queen Sirens. Foolishly, Crush dives into the water, hoping to see what’s holding their ship in place, only to find himself diving headfirst into an absolute swarm of hungry Sirens. He barely manages to get back on the ship as the Queen Siren reveals herself to the party… although her body has mutated into a giant maw large enough to swallow a Kraken whole, she has a humanoid form attached to the end of her tongue like a lure. Kanec explains that the Sirens will sometimes spare ships if they have a Reaver on their ship… as the Reavers are descended from Sirens, they view them as prime mating partners. As Kanec is still a virgin and unsure of himself, it falls on Fidget to volunteer to service the Queen Siren. He’s able to convince her to spare the Blooming Rose, but must first attempt to breed with the Queen, and also promises to bring to her a ship’s worth of “food”… determining to either find a pirate ship or find some way to bring her to a worthy meal (such as a kraken or whale).
With the Queen Siren continuing to follow them deep below the sea, the party hesitantly continues. Travel is safe for a day, but something unusual happens… when Ricky is working on breakfast, he finds that one of the Emu eggs hatches, a cute little baby emu crawling out. Crush knows enough about eggs to check the remaining Emu eggs, confirming that none of them are fertilized. Still, the party finds themselves suddenly caring for a baby emu, which Ricky immediately names Omelette (since that was what he was planning for the egg in the first place). Corrio is unhappy with the name, but who Ricky really needs to convince is Captain Pagonia, who has a strong dislike for pets. Luckily, Ricky is able to convince her to allow Omelette on the ship, rather than turning it into dinner.
The next day, the ship nears a grouping of islands, the ship barely avoids a full on collision with a coral reef. Although the party is able to mostly avoid the problem, the ship still requires repairs, and Crush determines it would be unsafe to attempt to shove off until high tide. Since they’re near an island, the party chooses to explore the small island, hoping to gather more resources while they wait for the high tide. The island itself is swarming with snakes… while Crush is perfectly happy to simply cut them in half, Ash has a soft spot for snakes. Rescuing one, a nat 20 in animal handling gets the snake to calmly accept her, although not without a few bites. Fortunately for Ash, her Undead nature makes her immune to poison… and Fidget is happy for the company as well, since his Reaver trasnformation has made poison affect him more like alcohol. Searching the island more closely, they discover a skeleton clutching a simple leatherbound map which has a crudely drawn map, which appears to match the layout of the island they’re on… as well as a short journal from the man who was left here to die, making clear that he was being abandoned by his crewmates for stealing some kind of treasure, which he has managed to hide on the island. Following the map, they dig up a small chest, which contains a jewel entwined in a hyper realistic golden snake. As Ash examines it her new snake touches the jewel and begins turning to gold. Ash is unable to fully discover the jewel’s powers, but determines that it attracts snakes and turns them to gold, but she pulls her snake away before it turns fully to gold. Still uncertain of the jewel’s purpose, she stores it in her Bag of Holding… and also scoops up the bones they found on the ground to animate in the future.
With high tide returning the ship is able to safely take off. While Ricky prepares more food (and continues trying to train Omelette), the ship is approached by a pirate ship. Unfortunately for their plan to placate the Siren Queen, the pirate ship is too small to satisfy her demands. While the pirates attempt to board the ship, the party and crew of the Blooming Rose focus on sinking the pirate ship itself. Cannon fire and the fireball spell begin the process, but the ship sinks much more quickly as Crush dives underwater to assault the ship’s weakpoints. Ash, however, has her eyes on the booty, casting fly on herself to rush down into the sinking ship’s hull, where she finds a bounty of stolen goods that she quickly scoops into her bag of holding, although she’s forced to leave much behind as the ship sinks. A few pirates are left stranded in the water… Crush doesn’t want to leave the men to die in the sea, using his grappling hook to pull one onto the ship… but the foolhardy pirate attempts to stab Crush, which gets him simply picked up and thrown back into the sea. Everyone is given a reminder that the Siren Queen and her brood are closely following them, as they see the remaining pirates pulled underwater by hungry sirens...
We weren't planning to play tonight, originally, but one player's schedule opened up and they really wanted to get a game in. Tonight's session should be short, but we're playing again soon! Join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! But for those who missed last week...
With Ash’s secret revealed, Crush calls for a team meeting in Kanec’s Genie Bag. Both Ricky and Azure attempt to convince Corrio to join, but he’s too shaken from the sight of seeing her devour a Pirate’s soul. Ash admits to her need to consume souls, but her pact with her Patron physically prevents her from revealing truly intimate details. She does, however, explain that she can only consume souls corrupted by greed and betrayal. This seems to be enough to satisfy Crush, who doesn’t have much interest in souls or the metaphysical. Kanec is simply excited to learn as much as he can about Ash’s situation… Azure knows from her studies that devouring souls is an ability usually reserved for Liches, but Ash assures her that’s not what she is.
Mostly satisfied, the party returns to work around the ship. Ricky makes some squash soup, hoping to calm Corrio with some well-made vegetarian food. When Ricky delivers the food the two of them talk, Corrio struggling as his lessons throughout life have always told him that someone like Ash is an abomination, but communing with his Goddess gives him no clear answers… seeming to encourage him to decide on his own.
After dinner Crush, Ricky, and Fidget stay behind to discuss specific details, with Ricky admitting the time he had snuck out with Ash and Fidget to murder the Pimp who was using money and influence to avoid jail time. Crush doesn’t object to this, but he wants to know more about Ash. Fidget is hesitant to reveal more, but is persuaded to reveal some details about his life with Ash, including why the two of them don’t like boats.
When she first revived, Ash was in a semi-catatonic state… losing track of time, trailing out of conversations only to snap back into the same conversation days later. While staying on the move they opted to take a free boat ride to move far away… only to discover the boat itself was a trap, and all the passengers were captured to be sold into slavery. As they lay chained and starving, a fellow passenger passes away… strangely, Ash begins to converse with the corpse, sounding the most focused and conscious she has since reviving. Suddenly she finds herself able to use magic… using magic to break her bonds and escape the ship. With Fidget’s help she releases the other prisoners, killing slavers, stealing their weapons and arming the other prisoners as they made their way to the Captain’s Quarters. Unprepared for her necrotic powers, Ash consumes her first soul, The captain’s skin drying and falling off, leaving his skull for Ash to use as a focus for her patron. Ash fully awakens at this point, fully gaining the personality she had when the party first met her, although without the emotions she’s gradually awoken as she regains her memories. Fidget reveals that Ash’s signature had and jacket were stolen from the pirate captain, although Crush is mostly just surprised that it was originally a man’s hat.
Azure, meanwhile, was on the deck conversing with Kanec about her family history. When Crush arrives on the deck to help keep watch they notice a strange phenomena… their Grimveil Pendants begin to light up, the light blinking gradually faster and faster. As the blinking speeds up they see an enormous shape barreling toward them under the water… it appears as a giant sphere made of water just below the water’s surface. It’s even larger than the Queen Siren. But just as it threatens to overturn the Blooming Rose, it suddenly turns, rocketing off at tremendous speed, until their pendants stop blinking. However, before it leaves Crush is barely able to see that within the orb of water familiar forms are visible… the shape of tall trees and land, leading them to believe this is the moving island they’ve left to find.
Gathering together, the party discusses what’s to be done about this, and why the Island didn’t simply overturn the ship. Crush and Ricky realize that the island was likely scared away by the Siren Queen. Ricky assists Corrio as he looks through his notes… both on the information he had been given by Duncan as well as historical information he’s gathered research on. They realize that the shield they had recovered resembling their amulets contained a similar enchantment as the amulets themselves, and was, in fact, a Legendary Artifact, although they’re still not sure how to unlock its true power. What they were able to realize, though, was that the shield reacts to their amulets… placing the amulet in the center of the shield and turning it causes it to blink and glow when the claw of the Griffin is pointed toward their quarry. Corrio also realizes that, whatever this island is, it’s something that had been sealed by the Grimveils many years ago.
Azure and Kanec go through his books, looking through the legends of Reaver society. They discover legends about Moving Islands, which have a number of possible origins… it could be a Cloud Castle that, for one reason or another, has been moved into the sea. It could be a land mass animated by chaotic magic… it could even be land carried on the back of a Titan. Either way, the party regroups to share the information they’ve been able to glean, and to discuss their tactics for the future. Although the shield gives them a means to track the island, they also realize it won’t get near them as long as the Siren Queen is continuing to follow them. Examining the water, they’re able to see that Siren Queen has begun swimming much closer than before… Crush theorizes they could ask the Siren Queen to help them attack the island, potentially feeding her whatever is inside… but Kanec doesn’t believe the Siren Queen would be willing to negotiate. Fidget, curiously, is upset at the idea since it puts the Siren Queen herself in harm’s way. The thought of simply outrunning her is kiboshed as well, since Kanec knows that even with the wind at their backs the Blooming Rose has no chance of outrunning a Siren Queen… although this does inspire Ash to cast Sending, asking Kalea to send the wind spirit that lives on her island to the Blooming Rose to help them catch up to the island. The most logical plan seems to be searching for a large pirate ship to assault and offer to the Siren Queen… although the idea of actively seeking a pirate ship is a difficult concept for Captain Pagonia to stomach.
Fidget begins to realize that he has an unnatural urge to protect the Siren Queen, but he can’t tell why. Several of the party members realize what this means, thanks the Reavers’ supernatural paternal instincts, but it’s Kanec who can’t keep a straight face and blurts out that this means the Siren Queen is pregnant with Fidget’s children. Not surprisingly, Fidget begins to panic, his mind flooded with memories of his children he had been forced to abandon in his horde. Crush tries to give him a pep talk, which seems to calm Fidget enough for him to stop panicking, but he makes very clear his intent to go below deck and drink until he passes out. Captain Pagonia claimed to be untouched by Crush’s speech, but still decides to run a merchant ship flag in the hopes of luring pirates, willing to put the ship at risk to help the party with their mission.
We're going live at 4:30 PM PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. As for what happened in the last session...
Ricky, Azure, and Kanec team up to bake a mango tart. As everyone goes downstairs to take part, Fidget stumbles in, drunk and belligerent. As others debate what to do about it, Crush calmly pours drinks… encouraging Fidget to talk about his children. Fidget is too drunk for his usual cold refusal to discuss his painful memories, drinking solemnly as he speaks on his memories. Revealing that his brother was the chief of his horde, and that no one really believed that he was the father of his own children, since Goblins don’t always track that kind of thing. He tells how his son, Fidget Jr., took care of his daughter, who was too young to even get a name in Goblin culture. In particular he recalls a time when his daughter “fell” and began wailing in tears, getting the other goblins to try and calm her down while Jr. pilfered a stash of stolen cookies the Goblins had been hoarding. As soon as the deed was done he signalled her and she immediately stopped crying and waddled off to join her brother. For the first time, as Fidget recalls his lost family, he actually sheds tears of sorrow in front of his companions.
With Fidget heading to bed everyone continues to debate their plans in regard to the island. Crush converses with Captain Pagonia about Fidget, family, and helps her continue to track the island while keeping watch. Satisfied with his work, Crush goes to wake Ricky to take the next watch, but a botched perception roll finds the ship barreling straight toward a tall stone island that got lost in the darkness. A similarly botched athletics roll prevents the ship from fully avoiding it, scraping along the side of the ship and spilling water inside. The party is forced to act fast, finding ways to stop the ship to keep from hitting more stones and also repairing the damage to the hull. It’s a mad scramble, but with everyone helping the ship is restored to safe working conditions. The ship is stopped for the night, Captain Pagonia not wanting to risk further damage sailing at night. Feeling guilty for failing to prevent the crash, Ricky polymorphs into an owl in order to survey the area and make certain everyone is safe. He realizes the islands are the tips of underwater mountains, and sees figures high on the mountaintops...
Crits for Breakfast is going live tonight soon, at 5PM PST! As always, you can find us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. However, if you missed our last stream, here's what happened:
Ricky manages to disturb a pair of Rocs living in the nearby mountains. They chase after him in his owl form, with Ricky just barely able to beat them to the ship, where Crush rings the emergency bell to awaken everyone. Ricky hits the ground running, using Hypnotic Pattern to debilitate the Rocs… but with them mid-flight they continue and crash into the water, the damage shaking them free of the spell’s hold. But as one of them begins climbing aboard, Ricky paralyzes it with Hold Monster, weakening it to Azure and Fidget’s melee attacks, especially since their attacks are all critical in that state. However, it’s Crush who deal the most damage… his barbarian skills landing brutal criticals with every swing. However, the other Roc finally makes its way on the ship, goring Ash with multiple beak strikes, nearly knocking her unconscious. More importantly, one of the crew sees her black, ichor-like blood. The battle shifts to the second Roc, which is difficult to take down since Ricky is unable to paralyze this one as well. However, a burst of Synaptic Static sabotages its constitute saves, making it vulnerable to Ash casting Polymorph to turn it into a chicken… but not before it gores Fidget, triggering his Blood Rage. Azure chucks the chicken into the sea, where it’s devoured by the Sirens that are tailing the party, while Crush grapples Fidget, pulling him away from the other party members, Crush’s rage making him better suited to handle Fidget’s wild attacks. Still, Fidget’s Reaver strength makes him difficult to control, until Ash manages to bind him with a Web spell. Once Fidget is fully restrained Crush is finally able to pick him up and slam him into Kanec’s Genie bag. With the danger resolved Ash focuses on cleaning up her blood when she’s struck with an idea… breaking a bottle of ink and smearing some on herself as well. When the crewman returns with the Captain, Ash is able to deceive them into thinking it was just spilled ink.
The party wonders if the Rocs will be enough to eat for the Siren Queen, since one of them was delivered to her alive. But they realize the only one who can discuss this is Fidget. However, some of the sirens approach the ship… Kanec is able to understand them as they question where Fidget is, as the Queen can’t smell him while he’s in the Genie Bag. Kanec is able to placate them, but not without them first attacking with a few sonic shrieks. They realize that Fidget is going to have to speak to her as soon as possible, but with the blood rage consuming him it will be some time.
As everyone else makes their way to bed Ash pulls Corrio aside. She finally confesses her true nature to the timid cleric… discussing frankly about her need to consume souls. Even detailing how she can taste when the souls aren’t corrupt and sparing those who don’t deserve it. She also makes clear that she’s a Warlock in service of a patron, but is still unable to reveal the name of her patron. She also reveals that she remembers her mother was a Cleric of the god Ilmater. Overwhelmed with this information, Corrio returns to sleep to process what he’s learned. No longer requiring sleep, despite her injuries Ash only takes a short rest to keep watch. She notices that more Rocs are circling in the distance.
When morning comes Ash immediately goes into the Genie Bag to speak to Fidget, while Corrio goes to Ricky to discuss his fears and concerns. Ricky is able to relax him for now, but it’s clear Corrio is still struggling. He even talks to Crush about it, but Crush has little to truly comfort Corrio’s worries. As they discuss this Ash is in the bag to speak to Fidget… the interior of the Genie Bag is a complete mess from his rage, and when Ash tries to wake him a nightmare grips Fidget, who immediately starts to choke her before fully regaining consciousness. The two comfort each other as they’re both in precarious positions… Ash’s undead nature makes it easy for others to distrust, even hate her. Fidget, meanwhile, draws closer to losing his mind completely each time the Blood Rage takes him. As Fidget is still struggling with his conflicting feelings, they’re called to breakfast. Everyone discusses their plans for the day, but there’s not much they can do until the Siren Queen is contacted. Not wanting to deal with the stress of that just yet, Fidget leaves with Ash for some “alone time” to get his mind off of things… until Crush asks whether or not the Siren Queen is likely to be jealous if she smelled another woman’s scent on Fidget. The two are forced to stop and Fidget goes topside to get his meeting with the Siren Queen over with.
The Siren Queen keeps him with her for several hours before allowing him to return. Once back he reveals that the Siren Queen doesn’t consider the Rocs payment enough, although it does seem to make her pleased. Upset, but with little recourse, the party makes plans to visit the now-empty Roc nest to gather more supplies to make repairs to the Blooming Rose.
A short session is planned for tonight! We're live right now, come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! As always, here's what you may have missed last time:
Using long poles, the party pushes the ship to keep it from colliding with sharp stones in the water. They make their way to the freshly emptied Roc’s nest. Ash casts fly on Ricky, Kanec, and Crush, who make their way up to the nest… the giant nest made from trees, carriages, and even full ships. While Crush and Kanec search one of the more intact ships for supplies and replacement parts, Ricky instead checks a pile of Roc eggs. Too late, he realized that most of them are empty shells. Even as newborns, the Roc chicks tower of Ricky. With supplies found Crush wants to just leave, but Ricky insists on looking for valuables, and ends up attacked by the chicks for his greed. The serrated beaks of the chicks leave him bleeding out as they make their escape.
Once back on the Blooming Rose the supplies seem to be enough to keep the ship supplied for the foreseeable future. Corrio heals Ricky’s leg, helping him to recover enough to make breakfast while the rest of the party navigates back out to open water. Taking some time to enjoy breakfast, everyone’s focus seems to be on Fidget, who is clearly not taking his current situation well. A successful medical check from Azure discerns that he’s suffering from 2 level exhaustion. He also seems twitchy and paranoid, plagued with hallucinations and struggles. Ash doesn’t hesitate to bring him to bed, the two cuddling as they try to relax. The rest of the party discusses what’s to be done about the Queen Siren, as she seems to be unwilling to release Fidget, especially since she knows that, as a Reaver, he’ll have an instinctive urge to protect his unborn children. Corrio also talks more about Ash’s situation, revealing to the rest of the party that she’s a Warlock in the service of an unknown powerful figure interested in corrupted souls. Crush and Ricky both compare it to being in a bad contract with a shady manager, which they are both clearly familiar with.
As everyone splits off to work around the ship, Crush realizes that the Wind and Water spirits that Kalea had asked to assist them have arrived, helping to make up for the time lost due to their accident the previous night. Ricky, meanwhile, has been using the mirror gifted to him by Sune, praying to learn more about his Aunt Gilly. Feeling generous, Sune speaks to him again, showing Ricky visions of Gilly seemingly safe, although her husband, Henri, is somehow with her, and seems grievously injured. Her captor, a tall demon with multiple sets of horns and multiple tails, appears to treat her with respect, but the vision is incredibly brief. When he talks to Crush about it, Crush is immediately angry, since Henri was last seen with Tricky.
When Ash finishes relaxing with Fidget, Ricky finds her, wanting to use her necrotic touch to brew more alcohol. Unfortunately their attempts to brew extra potent alcohol ends up producing a black, inedible sludge. Still insistent on finding some use for it, Ricky decides to taste it, instantly falling unconscious. Both Ash and Fidget critically fail their medicine check, convinced that Ricky has died. Ash’s first instinct, then, is to find a way to dispose of the body before anyone can find out. Unfortunately, Kanec and Azure are drawn by the commotion, and Ash responds by grabbing Kanec’s Genie bag and scooping them both up in it. Even the other shipmates find themselves caught in the bag as Ash and Fidget prepare to burn Ricky’s body in the oven.
Unluckily for them, Crush and Corrio have noticed that the ship is mysteriously quiet and go below deck to investigate. Although Ash is able to throw them off the trail briefly thanks to her high charisma making her adept at deception, eventually Crush forces his way into the kitchen to see Ricky stripped naked and readied for the oven. Also failing his medicine check, Crush’s response is instead to call on Corrio, trusting the Cleric to have a solution for the problem. Now that someone proficient in medicine finally examines Ricky, it’s obvious that he’s simply unconscious, and the commotion has finally been enough to wake him up. Confused at everything that’s happened, Crush takes it upon himself to reprimand Ash and Fidget, especially since Ash herself is capable of casting spells to revive a recently deceased person. Ash and Fidget have shaky excuses, which Crush ignores in favor of grabbing them and bonking their heads together. Ricky, still not realizing the weight of what just happens, decides that he just needs to dilute his concoction in water to make it safe to consume. Not wanting to risk more future mishaps, Crush takes the concoction from him and throws it into the fire… which produces an explosion so devastating it completely destroys the kitchen and requires the help of the water spirit assisting them to keep from burning the entire ship down. Crush guiltily focuses on repairing the damage he inadvertently caused, using up much of the repair equipment they had only just salvaged from the Roc’s nest. With night falling the ship approaches a large island… and with the flashing of her pendant, Azure realizes it’s the island they’ve been searching for. She also notices that, curiously… the island bobs on the water, more like a giant ship than a land mass.
Crits for Breakfast will be streaming tonight at 5pm PST at our usual place, twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. The party is on their way to a new country, but if you want to know more, read on to see what happened in our last session:
The party arrives on the mysterious island, which seems to be floating in the sea. As they step onto it Crush recognizes some of the plant life… it’s all deep sea plant life. Even the trees are a rare, supposedly extinct breed of tree that grows deep in the ocean. However, structures are built on the island, covered with algae. Exploring them, they find a large door… locked with some ancient mechanism, but seemingly sealed with magic of some kind as well. Ricky decides to see if the Grimveil Shield reacts to it, noticing that the words on its edge light up depending on where its pointed. Using the lit up words, they first find a mural carved into some of the structures. It depicts the Tortle home of the Esmer isles… however, they’re instead depicted as a single land mass with as many human citizens as Tortles. But when calamity strikes the land is devastated by a giant monster, the land broken into multiple islands, with the humans leaving. As their people die the Tortles appear to pray, and are visited by a group of figures with jeweled necklaces. The group includes a pair of Tortle twins, an elf, human, dwarf, and even what appears to be a Reaver. Using some ceremony they seal the monster away.
After viewing the mural they then follow the light of the shield to an isolated building… ancient, with a door worn down by millenia under the sea. Crush breaks it down, finding inside what appears to be a stone well filled with sea water. Using his ability to breathe underwater, Crush dives into the well… deep inside, the walls expand… a steady sound echoing around as the water gets hotter, and hotter. Pushing his constitution to the limit when he finds what appears to be a small tablet held by a crude statue of a tortle. Snatching it up, he instantly tries to escape, only to find that the “stone” walls are contracting like muscles. As Crush is struggling to escape before being boiled alive, he hears the voice of his sister and feels the sensation of warm, comforting water pulling him further. Finally, he’s barely able to escape before the well snaps closed like a valve. Shocked at the sight, Crush theorizes that it wasn’t a well at all… instead, he believes it to be a blowhole.
Quickly exiting the building that holds the “well”, they attempt to follow the shield to where it directs them next. However, as it guides them to the water, they notice that the water itself is boiling, making it dangerous to enter. As the island roars, Azure is able to hear well enough to tell that it’s actually speaking, and recognizes the language as Aquan. She doesn’t understand it, but she’s able to perform well enough to convey to Crush what it was saying. It doesn’t seem to make sense until they realize it’s being attacked below the water. Crush roars back in Aquan, saying they could help if the island stopped whatever is causing the boiling water, and although he’s not able to convince the island to stop, it does attract the attention of the Merrow below the water. Shockingly, they appear immune to the effects of the boiling water, using it to lure the party into the water. The battle is intense, with the Merrow resistant to damage and determined to finally kill the party. In a last desperate move, one of the Merrow blasts the party with a burst of lightning energy… but fortunately, everyone was within Crush’s storm aura, which provided resistance to lightning damage for them all… all except Azure. But it turns out she was even more capable of protecting herself… thanks to the power of her Astral self, combined with her evasion, Azure was able to redirect the energy and ultimately took the least damage of anyone. The Merrow was finally defeated by Crush throwing a javelin into its chest. Finally, with the Merrow defeated, the water ceases boiling and Crush dives in to speak to the “island”.
Below the water, Crush comes face to face with a massive, ancient Dragon Turtle… even for the gargantuan creatures, it is truly massive. The creature once attacked the Tortle home on Esmer island, splitting the island itself in two until the creature was trapped by the Grimveil order… Crush is able to see the glint of mystical shackles still holding the creature. It isn’t happy to see Crush or his Grimveil pendant, but is compelled to answer questions and seems unable to attack. It reveals that it has been charged with protecting a mystical object for the Grimveils, offering Crush the other half of the key they’ve found, which is attached to one of its giant teeth. It also reveals that it was captured 10,000 years ago, and that it knows nothing of the Eternal Storm, which has separated the land of Kahena from the Reaver kingdom for all of recorded history. It also wasn’t sleeping this whole time… forced by magic to remain conscious chained to the bottom of the ocean. It claims that it was awoken by its “mother”, leaving it up to Crush’s imagination just who or what that could be. Now that it’s free it was seeking a private location where it can finally rest. The ancient creature needing to sleep for at least 100 years, but after that time it fully intends to feed and cause havoc again.
With the key they’re able to open the locked door on the back of the Dragon Turtle, pulling from inside a mysterious tablet. It appears to be only half of a complete tablet. As they examine it, they test it by pressing it to the Grimveil Shield, which absorbs the tablet. A new phrase appears on the rim of the shield, “Woe to the foe that faces the Grimveail”. A message is left inside as well in multiple languages, promising those who find it that their journey is not in vain, and naming the Dragon Turtle as Leviathan. Felling a few trees on their way out to make more supplies for repairs, they return to the Blooming Rose, having a brief discussion before deciding to visit the nearby country of Kirei Midori where they can get some repairs considering the extensive damage the ship has endured. However, they still don’t know what to do about the Queen Siren that still trails the ship...
Crits for Breakfast is streaming again tonight at at 5:30 PM PST, as always, at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. However, Roll20 is having some technical problems, so there might be some delays on tonight's session, just as a heads up. That said, here's what you may have missed from our last session:
Ricky has a strange dream about a black wolf that glows with the light of the stars guiding him to meet a mysterious woman. He finds a strange comfort in her as she tries to pull him into some sort of portal before he wakes up. In the morning, Ricky takes some time to paint the wolf he saw, but when Kanec sees the painting he panics. He recognizes it as the herald of the Nightmother, the Goddess which betrayed Sovereign, the first Reaver, and the source of the Reaver’s bloodrage. He’s clearly struggling as he recognizes the unique abilities of Ricky’s bardic college are suspiciously similar to the abilities of those followers of the Nightmother. Crush, meanwhile, is speaking to the water spirit that’s accompanying the boat. He’s able to actually hear it speak now, as he explains what he learned about Leviathan and the danger it poses. As he speaks he realizes they’re not simple spirits but rather avatars of the sea and wind themselves. They speak of Hearth, the world itself, and in many ways a Goddess as well.
As Crush is working on repairs to the ship Ricky goes to him to discuss Kanec’s reaction. The two of them find Kanec, trying to warn the captain that the ship may be targeted by the Nightmother, although she doesn’t fully understand his concern. Kanec struggles with his instinct and the laws of his people, which say that the Nightchildren are to be killed on sight. He believes that the Nightmother is trying to manipulate Ricky, possibly turning him against the party, or even using him to trigger Fidget’s bloodrage. Ricky, however, feels he’s over reacting, not feeling any malice from the figure in his dream. Worried about Fidget, Kanec hurries below deck to check on the goblin, only to find him in bed with Ash. So overwhelmed with fear that he doesn’t realize the awkward situation he’s created, Kanec checks Fidget and warns him about the Nigh Mother. Eventually, though, Crush is able to calm Kanec down enough to get him to stop panicking, but he’s still worried, choosing to change rooms since he no longer feels comfortable sharing a room with Ricky.
With this issue weighing heavily on everyone’s mind the sailing manages to continue without delay. However, as they continue they find a strange phenomenon on the water, slowing the boat to examine when they see what appears to be rocks floating on the water. When pulling up a few floating rocks in a bucket they recognize them as volcanic rock… and the bubbling of the water is a volcano threatening to burst. Everyone scrambles, barely passing several checks to escape. But once at a safe distance everyone is drawn to the spectacle as the lava flows, solidifying as it makes contact with the water, slowly forming the start of a new island. They realize they’re the first to see this island and there’s a brief discussion about what to call it… until eventually Ricky recommends Dawn island, because they saw it literally rise from the sea like the sun, and also to symbolize its potential for a new day. Captain Pagonia marks it on the map, as they’re currently sailing in uncharted waters already.
With the way forward seemingly secure, Ricky uses his Create Food and Water spell in lieu of cooking anything, since the kitchen was destroyed not long ago. Crush, however, seems obsessed with repairing the damaged ship to alleviate his guilt for accidentally triggering the explosion that damaged it so much in the first place. While he’s working the Water spirit returns, revealing that it’s already visited Kalea and spoken to Hearth. Both are concerned, and Kalea lets them know that the portal to the Feywild is complete, but she understands their need to visit Kirei Midori for repairs. Below deck, however, Azure and Corrio combine their skill with herbalism to work on more potions, where Azure reveals that her skills as a monk have evolved to the point that she’s now immune to poison. However, as they look through their supplies they realize the only thing they’re able to make right now is contraceptives. This leads to a discussion about Ash and Fidget, in particular wondering if an Undead like Ash is even capable of having children.
Continuing forward, they see that they’re pulling up on a pair of merchant ships. Remembering warnings that they had gotten about Pirates in the Kerei Midorian sea often posing as Merchants, as well as traveling in pairs, everyone readies for a potential battle… which proves to be simply paranoia, as the merchant ships are exactly what they appear to be. They recognize one ship as belonging to a well-known tea company, choosing to follow it as it seems to be heading in the direction of Kirei Midori. Everyone relaxes, heading below deck to relax… relaxation they only manage to enjoy briefly before the ship is suddenly and aggressively stopped. Returning to the surface, they find that the Queen Siren has stopped them dead in the water using her giant fangs. Fidget is forced to negotiate to allow the party to visit the nearby country… but the Queen Siren is well-aware that, since she’s carrying Fidget’s children, he won’t be able to bring himself to oppose her. Convinced that the party can bring her more, higher quality food if given the time to properly repair their ship.
The Queen Siren allows the party 1 week to make any repairs to their ship, but to keep them on their toes she swims away… traveling nearly a mile in but a few seconds. Effortlessly, her giant jaws rise above the water, closing around the merchant ship ahead, which itself is larger than the Blooming Rose, pulling it under the water before anyone inside is even able to react… the silence is deafening as they watch the well-manned ship vanish without a single piece of debris left above the water. Azure passes out completely from the loss of life and sense of helplessness against the Queen Siren. Fidget storms downstairs, struggling to maintain his anger. Crush, meanwhile, simply asks Ricky how much more of that explosive compound he and Ash had accidentally created could be brewed as they plan for how to deal with an enemy the size of an island, with at least a hundred loyal children to protect her.
Crits for Breakfast is live now! I was having some technical trouble with D&D Beyond, so this post is going up a bit late, as we've been live for a while already. As always, we're playing at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty, and you can read what happened last week right now:
Ash reads the spellbook that had been found in the caves leading to the Ladleman… realizing that it describes a ceremony, not to summon a creature, but to create one outright. It’s a difficult spell to perform, and requires heavy sacrifice. When Azure finally awakens after the shock of seeing the Queen Siren casually devour a cargo ship and all its passengers in a single move, Ricky is there to comfort her. Helping Azure come to grips with what happened, and telling her how much he admires her and her strength of will. Azure responds with a tight bear hug, intense enough that Ricky needs to make a CON save to keep breathing.
Crush speaks more to the water avatar, which sadly informs him that the Queen Siren’s victims weren’t even granted the luxury of a quick death. It also lets him know that Hearth, the spirit of the world itself, wants to say more, but is unable to speak through these avatars, although Corrio, as a cleric of nature, might be able to speak to her directly. With the help of the wind and water they’re able to reach the shores of Kirei Midori, landing on a small village that Ash recognizes as Toshi. Going into the village at night, they’re able to find a shipwright in town, although he’s a surly, retired samurai. He’s deep in his drink, but seems willing and able to take on the job.
Returning to the ship, Ash informs the party of her desire to travel to the Jade City, where her family owned a summer home. She calculates that, using their technique of polymorph combined with Kanec’s genie bags and Ash taking short rests to recover spell slots, they’ll be able to cover the distance in 3 days, giving them one day to explore her family’s summer home. However, they’re still concerned about the Puppet Master, who has been able to somehow track them even across the sea. They search the ship for some sign of him, but find nothing. That is, until Ricky taps into the powers of his bardic college, using a strand of the Puppet Master’s string to discern his location… he realizes that the Puppet Master is near them… possibly a mere hour away. The party resolves to leave and draw the Puppet Master away to avoid more damage to the ship. Crush thinks that they’re just getting ready to set up an ambush for him, but the rest of the party prefers to fly to the Jade City as soon as possible.
Before they can leave, though, they see a lost little girl in the woods. Crush resists his urge to check on her, since many Kirei Midorians have already mistaken him for a Kappa, a local monster with turtle-like features. However, when Kanec approaches the child reveals itself as a faceless monster. It practically unfolds into a tall, gangly, misshapen creature before attacking while laughing maniacally. It stuns most of the party with fear, but Ricky is able to paralyze it with Hold Monster. With the monster paralyzed, Ash is able to target it with Blight. Attacks against paralyzed creatures auto-crit, plus the creature is weak to necrotic damage, resulting in the largest single damage roll yet. With the foul beast killed, they realize the woods are crawling with similarly dangerous creatures. Ash uses Polymorph to transform Crush into a Roc… using the new form to carry the Genie Bag for an hour rocketing through the sky at 27 mph. While Crush does the carrying Ash is free to enjoy a short rest in the genie bag, fully recovering her spell slots, so after an hour of progress she’s able to simply cast Polymorph on Fidget next while Crush gets some rest in the Genie Bag’s large bath.
When it ends up being Ricky’s turn he volunteers to take care of flight for the rest of the night, since his Bardic college allows him to not require sleep. Ricky takes advantage of the experience to look for more Yokai. Things take a turn, however, when he stops on a tree and meets a Tanuki. The Tanuki is entertained to see the giant Roc transform into a halfling… but Ricky is more interested in the Tanuki’s bottle of sake. Ash wants to continue, but Ricky is willing to chat with the mysterious creature for the chance to get some alcohol. However, when the Tanuki implies that he wants to bet on it somehow Ricky realizes he’d rather not risk the danger and asks Ash to turn him into a Roc again. Offended, the Tanuki uses its magic to transform Ricky into a black cat. Ricky escapes, although it takes some effort to convince Ash that he’s not just a lost kitten. Unlike Polymorph, Ricky can’t change back in the usual way. He forces his way out with another Wisdom Save, but still finds himself with cat ears and a tail.
Crits for Breakfast is going live in a few minutes! Come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. And, as always, here's what you missed from our last stream:
The party continues on foot… finding a shortcut that leads into the Jade City. Once in the city they find a ramen restaurant to sit and plan their adventure. They learn that the princess is returning to the Jade City, and as such many of the streets are closed, along with most of the shops. There is some difficulty with the people who perceive the party members as yokai, but they’re still able to get some food and reserve rooms at the inn for the night. While perusing some of the stalls that are still open, Ricky gets an idea when meeting an herbalist… he wishes to buy some herbs that could accelerate a pregnancy, hoping to use them to cause the Queen Siren to birth Fidget’s children sooner, allowing the party to more quickly deal with the terrifying beast. The seller is skeptical, but Ricky is insistent and special orders a barrel full of herbs normally given to livestock, spending 50 platinum, careful not to tell anyone else lest it trigger Fidget’s Reaver instincts.
As the party continues their exploration of town they notice another Merc, the mysterious merchant family who appear to casually cross the planes and carry a seemingly endless supply of rare and valuable magical objects. Ricky has a number of valuable objects he’s been meaning to sell, starting off by offering the Ladleman’s giant, pure silver ladle. The Merc instantly recognizes the object… noting it for the value of its rarity beyond simply its physical value as silver. Ash, unaware of Ricky’s earlier purchase, tries to subtly inquire about a magical means to accelerate a pregnancy. However, Fidget hears, his Reaver instincts compelling him to protect the woman carrying his children, even if that woman is a deadly monster who threatens the life of not just the party, but everyone at sea. Ricky and Ash are able to convince him that they’ll only go through with this if the Merc can provide something that guarantees no harm to the mother or children (although Ash subtly implies she’d have no qualms about it hurting the mother). The Merc promises he could provide such a thing in exchange for the ladle, but also includes a unique additional item in the trade… a quill made from a rare feather taken from a Blink Bird… a blue avian found only in the Feywild, capable of teleporting at will. The quill can be used to instantly send letters over vast distances, allowing the party to communicate with friends and family while on their journey. However, exactly what will fulfill their request for the Queen Siren remains to be seen...
Crits for Breakfast is going live soon! Come join us at 4:30 PM PST at our usual place, Twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! And as always, here's what you missed last time:
Ash offers to sell the souls she’s absorbed to the Merc in exchange for some temporary protection from scrying. Seeking a means to combat the Queen Siren, she offers the Merc the Hag’s Stone the party recovered some time ago… an extremely rare and powerful item made from 100 souls. Ash leverages this to get something to help weaken the Queen Siren… delivered in the form of an extremely powerful poison of some kind… although he warns that it’s single use, and will most likely kill anything weaker than a Queen Siren outright.
The Merc provides both Ash and Crush with temporary protection against scrying for 24 hours, in an aura extending out 60 feet. Content with their purchases, as the sun begins to set the party makes their move to scout the manor owned by Ash’s brother. However, as they move through the nearby woods they get attacked by a red Oni. The large creature hits hard, but gets overwhelmed by the sheer size of the party… but as it goes down, Ash hears it scream to its brothers. The party takes a few moments to attempt to hide and hopefully avoid the creatures entirely, but Crush and Kanec both fail their stealth check and battle ensues. The Onis are caught off guard by the large group, and are quickly felled before they can take advantage of their more powerful magics. Examining the bodies they discover the tattered kimonos of a woman and child… they even find a half-finished straw doll of a little girl, determining that it was intended to be used as bait to lure victims.
They continue toward the manor… the party chooses to split up, with Ash, Fidget, Corrio and Azure sneaking into the house, while Crush, Ricky, and Kanec explore the exterior of the home. The interior party successfully sneaks past a pair of guards, but after using her unseen servant to clear the way past another guard, she manages to fail her stealth check, tripping and drawing the attention of a guard. She quickly casts silence, using it to hide the noise as they knock the guard unconscious. After hiding the guard they make their way inside, but once again Ash’s stealth fails her. Fortunately she’s able to use her Mask of Many Faces to disguise herself as the guard they had just knocked unconscious. In that guise she learns that this particular guard has a bad reputation for womanizing and drinking on the job.
Meanwhile, Ricky and Crush continue their exploration of the exterior. They overhear two guards chatting about the lord and lady of the house… and coincidentally hear them discussing the incompetent guard Ash is disguised as. They send a message to Corrio letting him know that the manor is occupied and well-guarded, as there’s some kind of event going on. However, he’s unable to warn Ash, as she’s being pulled away from the party and thrust into a cold bath as punishment. Left alone, Ash continues to explore, unable to reconnect with Azure and Fidget, since the same guard left in their direction. Stepping into her old room, she discovers a young elven boy sleeping in a new bed, which she recognizes as a young boy who seemed fascinated by the “yokai” he briefly met in town… and who she now realizes is her nephew, with blue eyes like Ash’s brother, and straight black hair like his wife. As the boy stirs she quickly polymorphs herself into a white cat… the young boy, Saba, picking her up, taking the cat to show to his mother.
Ash comes face-to-face with her sister-in-law, who is panicked and frightened by the sight of this white cat, which retains Ash’s empty white eyes, making her look frightening. The Lady of the house is clearly worried for her son’s safety, noting the increased Yokai activity in the area. Ash is left alone, hearing strange sounds just outside the window. Sliding a nearby window open, she gets the slightest peek of an extremely tall, ghostly female figure with supernaturally long limbs and sharp teeth.
Meanwhile, Crush passed casually in front of the front gate, getting the attention of guards. Leaning on their reputation as monster slayers, he claims to simply be searching the woods hunting for monsters, which is proven when Kanec removes one of the Oni heads (which he had kept as a trophy) from his genie bag. The guards are skeptical, but when Crush asks them about the kimonos they found on the oni they seem certain of his reliable nature. Just then, a loud noise erupts from inside as Corrio fails his stealth check, getting himself caught by guards. After gaining the guard’s trust, Crush is allowed to follow them inside, ready in case there are monsters to fight. Finding Corrio, they’re able to convince the guards that Corrio simply stumbled into the garden during their yokai hunt.
Just when things seem to be coming back to normal, Fidget, of all people, fails a stealth check when a maid is making tea. Luckily, Fidget and Ash are quick enough to silence her and persuade her they mean no harm just in time for Ash to find Corrio, taking advantage of his ability to speak to animals to explain what’s been happening. Just then, the Lady of the house comes to confront the party for all the noise… bringing along the Lord, Ash’s brother, still alive and healthy.
Crits for Breakfast is having a short game tonight ("short", in our case, meaning only 4 hours). Still, we'll be starting soon at 5pm PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! And in case you couldn't join us last night, here's what you missed:
When confronted by Argus, Ash’s brother, and caught in a Zone of Truth, Crush shows his Grimveil Pendant, and assures the Elven lord that they mean him and his family no harm, and also aren’t lying when they say that it’s not their place to reveal why they’re here in Kirei Midori. Argus takes them away from his wife and child so they can speak candidly about what’s going on without frightening his son. He also reveals that this very night is the 5 year anniversary of the death of his parents and sister, with their home in Ortheia burnt to the ground. Before they can gather more information, Ash’s younger brother, Aylus enters the room. The teenage elf is gloomy and confrontational, and he becomes enraged when Crush asks if the people who killed their parents might be behind the stalking that’s being done to Argus’s family. A brief argument occurs between the brothers, but Aylus is sent away before Argus clarifies that he doesn’t actually know who killed his family. Aylus was present at the time, his life only spared because Ash gave her own life to protect him, but he was young and confused. Between the smoke and the trauma he didn’t see who did it. Crush shows Argus his carving of a Depraved Gloom assassin, which Argus doesn’t recognize.
Ricky attempts to connect with Aylus, but the young man brushes him off. At 15 he may have the physical form of a human teenager, but by Elven standards he is still very much a child. Meanwhile, Ash and Fidget have successfully stealthed back into the Genie Bag, and this time is used as an excuse for the two of them to come out without raising suspicion. Ash, however, remains in the form of a cat. Sneaking out to explore the manor, Ash manages to find her younger brother Aylus. Following him into his room, she sees that he’s studying arcana… in particular, focusing on the dark arts. She follows him into a side room, which is set up as a shrine for both her and her parents… witnessing her younger brother break down in tears as memories of his family’s death overwhelm him. She does her best to comfort him, but she’s still afraid to reveal her undead form to her family. He vents, talking to the cat, admitting that he wishes he could trade places with any of his other family members.
As they’re bonding… as best they can… they’re interrupted when a mechanical bird suddenly bursts out of one of the boxes that belonged to Ash. Ash remembers, before she died, when she was studying to be an artificer, that this bird is Hermes, a simple mechanical construct that can be used to send short messages. She realizes that the bird was activated by her presence, but in a panic Aylus rushes to show his brother the bird. Ash takes advantage of this to finally look through her things, which was her original reason for coming to the manor in the first place. She finds her old journal, taking it with the intent to discover more of her lost memories. With that done, everyone makes their way to the dining hall to enjoy a sushi dinner… all except Ash, who chooses to hide in Kanec’s Genie Bag. When Ash’s nephew, Saba, comes to visit he persistently asks the party about the “dead lady” he had seen them traveling with earlier. When his description of her includes calling her tall, pale, and with a wide hat it reminds them of the Hachisakusama, the mysterious yokai that has been stalking their son. Instantly raising their suspicion, it leads to a minor conflict while Saba runs to find a drawing he had made of Ash the other day. Azure almost chases him, but Crush warns against it, as their hosts are already suspicious of them, and a black tiger bolting after their child might make things worse. While the boy is away they ask about the Hachisakusama, trying to figure out what they’re up against. But just as they realize that Saba is taking longer than expected they hear a crash and a shriek… running to find Saba’s attendant frozen in fear… a window torn to shreds and Saba missing.
The party doesn’t hesitate… Crush is the first out, leaping right through the broken window, not caring about niceties. As storm clouds fill the sky, they chase through the woods. Thinking quickly, Ricky casts Enhance Ability to bestow Owl’s Wisdom on his allies, giving them advantage for perception and survival checks to track the Hachisakusama.
The party is slowed down by an Oni wandering through the woods. Crush and Ricky focus on the Oni, encouraging Azure to continue ahead. However, it’s Ash who finishes him off with a Chill Touch from long range, although her primary focus was on catching up with the Tabaxi monk. Azure, meanwhile, is the first to find their target… and they arrive just in time to see her swallowing a glowing blue light while Saba lays lifeless in front of her. Azure is just barely able to summon her astral self in preparation. The fight is rough… the Hachisakusama is resistant to most damage, and immune to effects like Hold Monster or Azure’s stunning strike, and is completely immune to the lightning damage from Crush’s aura. Ricky rode on Crush’s back to get close to her as soon as possible, but Ash takes the longest to get there, with her lower movement speed and reliance on ranged spells. Seeing Saba’s lifeless body, she realizes that the Hachisakusama has already swallowed his soul. Enraged, she demands that someone bring her down to eye level. Eager to oblige… Crush takes advantage of his Tavern Brawler feat, headbutting her from behind, grappling and shoving the large creature, knocking her prone and face-to-face with Ash. Using her necrotic arms she blights the yokai’s face, using the damage to suck Soba’s soul out, rushing to return it to his body. Meanwhile, the pinned down creature is helpless against Kanec, who swiftly cuts off her head.
Saba’s soul is returned, but his body is still laying lifeless on the ground. Ash panics, seeing her nephew dead and blaming herself, until Crush reminds her that she had insisted at one point to keep some valuable diamonds for the opportunity to raise dead. Reminded of that power, Ash finally uses her Necromancy for good, reviving Saba, who briefly thinks that he’s seeing his grandmother when he looks up at Ash. Returning the boy to his family they’re overjoyed, and everyone realizes this is the best chance Ash has to reveal herself to her lost family. Finally convinced, she speaks to her brothers, who are shocked at her undead appearance, but more than that they are overjoyed that their lost sister has returned home. They have a touching moment before Ash asks for some private time from the rest of her party.
Leaving Ash to connect with her brothers and sister-in-law, the rest of the party is shown the bath and given an opportunity to clean up after their battle in the rain. As the family is deeply involved in the silk trade, they have kimonos and yukatas that they’re able to loan to the party, which, if nothing else, will allow them to blend in a bit more casually with the citizens of Kurei Midori.
This was a really exciting episode. We all got so into it that we didn't even realize that we hadn't taken a break until technical issues forced us to stop early. Things are resolved now, though, and we're ready to get back into it.
We had a shorter game last time, but we learned a lot from this game. We're going live in a few minutes, so come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty!
Talking with her brother, Ash learns of what happened. How the family home on in Ortheia had been burnt to the ground. The rivalry between her brother Argus and her fiancee as they both applied for an arch-mage position in the Elven capital was shattered when Argus was too deep in mourning to take on the job. However, due to strict traditions her ex-fiancee could not take on the job before he was married. His parents, who had never liked Ash in the first place, arranged a marriage with a woman Ash never got along with, and forced him to marry her on the same date and venue as his wedding to Ash was originally scheduled, stating that it would be silly to let all the preparation go to waste.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party members resume their interrupted sushi dinner. It goes normally, until Crush gets curious about the green paste served on the side. Since the rest of the meal is served as individual pieces, he assumes it’s meant to be eaten all at once, popping the entire glob of wasabi in his mouth. Fortunately, he does well enough on his Constitution to not cause any trouble, but does end up in a coughing fit and watery eyes. Fidget thinks Crush is over-reacting and just to prove his point, promptly does the same… only to fail his save even more dramatically. Coughing and screaming until he gradually manages to recover, much to the entertainment of the others.
As this is going on, Ash talks to her brothers about how, while she was disguised as a cat, she saw that Aylus was reading a book about necromancy and the dark arts. Aylus bursts into emotions, recalling the night his family died… the way Ash, or as he knew her, Promethea, gave her life to protect him. Meeting Ash again, Aylus is more certain than ever that necromancy will solve their problems. But Ash opens up about what happened to her… showing them her eyes, which have always been particularly disturbing to other elves, who see the lifeless look in her eyes. She explains that she was brought back by another being, which offered her the opportunity for revenge, and to really drive home the pain of her resurrection she removes her gloves. Showing them her necromantic arms, which are turning black and monstrous… the blackness now having spread nearly to her shoulders. Aylus and Argus angrily debate the merits of necromancy, but Ash tells them that she doesn’t want this for them, or for her parents. She takes some time to speak to Aylus alone, answering his questions as best she can. He deduces that she’s a Warlock and tries to figure out who her patron could be… only able to make certain that it is neither a devil or a demon.
When Ash tells him that they’re planning to leave soon, he doesn’t understand why until she explains that the party needs to evade the Depraved Gloom assassins. Surprisingly, the name is recognized by Aylus, who takes Ash into the shrine room, where writings from Ashs’ parents are preserved. There she finds an illustration of her parents… both wearing Grimveil pendants. Aylus also reveals that he knew about the Depraved Gloom from researching necromancy, and had tried to contact them for their services in necromancy. He also mentions off-hand that Saba is named after Ash’s father, Sebastian. Ash actually encourages Aylus to continue researching necromancy, but responsibly… she even directs him to the Reaver home country, where necromancy is researched scientifically.
Ash brings the picture of her parents to the rest of the party, proving that they were members of the Grimveils. Ash mentions that this gives more weight to his theory that the Depraved Gloom were behind Ash’s death. Ash wonders, though, how powerful magic users like her parents could be cut down so easily. Crush theorizes that they might have had some kind of anti magic field, which triggers a memory from Ash. Remembering the night of her death… a strange popping sound ringing through the air. A sensation of air popping right on top of her and a ringing in her ears. Voices mention something about magic and how something will slow her down. She remembers an armored figure finding her, hands creating ethereal bursts that could even affect her parents. The memory is still fuzzy, unable to remember the face of the man who killed her, but she remembers the blade… an elaborately designed handle that resembles a crow, with silver claws holding the blade.
Waking from her reverie she finds that she had again vomited black bile. Intent to preserve this memory, she quickly describes the blade to Ricky, who draws a highly accurate representation. Azure recognizes it from a conversation that she had overheard years ago between Duncan and her father… where Duncan mentioned a warrior who wielded a crow blade, and mentions him with annoyance at how difficult he is to kill. The party realizes this means that her father would know more about the man who killed Ash, but there wouldn’t be a good way to contact him any time soon. However, they also realize that, if he knows, then odds are Ricky’s aunt Gilly would know too. This furthers their resolve to search for Gilly in the Feywild, since they’re planning to go there as soon as possible already.
However, Fidget notices something… the blackness on Ash’s arms has now spread even further, enveloping her entire arms, with black veins now visible on her neck. She panics, running to the bathroom, realizing that her hands have now completely transformed into claws. Fidget hurries to comfort her, while Azure makes plans to comfort her as well. Meanwhile, Ricky leaves to find Omelette, who had been left in the garden to exercise. He finds Omelette bickering with a small animal in the garden, Ricky manages to lure it out… realizing that it’s a small fox with two tails. He decides to offer it the only thing to drink he has… a cup of sake stolen from one of the Onis. The fox picks it up with its front paws, drinking it in front of him. Ricky simply attributes this to the quirks of the foxes in this country… until it starts speaking and a third eye opens on its forehead.
Ricky then returns inside, acting strange. He starts aggressively flirting with Azure, and seems to not recognize Crush. Some bad insight rolls has them believing Ricky is simply drunk, and Crush carries him to bed to sleep it off. Azure decides to try and comfort Ash, and while Ash appreciates the affection, she’s still shell-shocked at her new condition, wanting to be left alone with Fidget. The two go to walk in the garden, bonding over their mortality. Ash is certain the corruption is going to overtake her, and her brief undead life will be cut short, while Fidget knows that the Reaver curse is more likely to kill him within months than he is to be able to get the curse stabilized… and not even certain if he wants that. Fidget recalls when he was a child… when he was exploring the woods with another goblet named Sweetpea, but they stumbled on an adventurer who was there on a bounty to clear out the goblins. He killed Sweetpea in an instant, and Fidget was only saved when his Mother came running to the sound of her son shrieking in terror, attacking the aventurer with a chef’s knife. Managing to kill him, but getting fatally injured in the process. He managed to recover her most prized possession… a single pearl that he keeps hidden in a hole in his teeth.
We're going to start streaming soon! Come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty at 4:30 PM PST. In case you missed last night's stream, here's what happened:
Crush and Ash both have the same dream of a small figure… possibly a child or halfling. Standing in a crowd, the small figure twits its head, snapping its own neck. As the crowd gathers around to check on it, the figure suddenly explodes, vaporizing the people around it. Crush wakes up instantly, but Ash continues her Elven rest. Crush steps out to get some fresh air, encountering “Ricky”, and also seeing that the manor has been vandalized with paw prints drawn all over the walls and religious symbols torn from the walls. He takes “Ricky” out to the garden where he can explain his dream… at which point Ricky appears to explode. This puts Crush into a panic, until he realizes there’s no sign of explosion or any bits of Ricky left behind. He starts a search for Ricky, not certain what’s happening or how. “Ricky” continues to wreak havoc around the manor… before simply returning to bed and acting like nothing happened. When Crush finds him he angrily confronts Ricky, thinking that this was all some kind of sick prank. In a panic, though, “Ricky” suddenly teleports out of Crush’s grip, and refers to Crush as a Kappa, making Crush realize that this isn’t Ricky.
Meanwhile, the real Ricky groggily wakes up in the garden, where he had been hidden unconscious among some bushes… along with a large pile of left shoes. The rest of the party is actively searching now when they come across Ricky. Crush can’t quite tell if he’s the real Ricky or not, but Azure summons the helm of her astral self and is able to discern that it’s the real thing. When Ricky explains that he had been tricked by a talking fox with two tails Ash instantly recognizes it as a Kitsune… a trickster yokai that can be annoying, but is rarely dangerous. Just then they hear shrieking from the kitchen, running in to find Oyu, one of the servants, being harassed by an invisible force. Ricky casts Faerie Fire, which manages to cover everyone present in glowing purple sparkles… including the Kitsune. Ash, who is absolutely tired of this nonsense, uses Chill Touch to choke the Kitsune and grab it by the tail. As it struggles and insults its captors Azure whacks it, paralyzing it with Stunning Strike. They take it to Argus, who is prepared to handle a yokai of this level, capturing it in a magical mask to be dealt with later. However, in the process his wife, Yurei, steps out… seeing Ash for the first time. When Ash was still Promethea, she considered Yurei a sister, not just a sister-in-law. Yurei faints, and they realize they’ll need to explain things further in the morning. For now, though, Argus uses his magic to help clean the mess left behind while the party returns to bed, with Ash and Fidget sharing a bed.
In the morning everyone is woken by the sound of Fidget howling in pain as he’s kicked in the face by Aylus, angered at the sight of a man sharing a bed with his sister before the two were married (since his family is very, very traditional). He refuses to listen to reason, storming off to get Argus. Surprisingly, Argus responds with even more rage than Aylus had. Using his magic to literally throw Fidget through a window… enraged not just at a man sleeping with his sister, but revealing a deep-seated hatred of Goblins. Crush grapples him to keep him from getting into a physical altercation with Fidget… which isn’t helped by Fidget’s attempts to placate him, which are generally crude and overly honest. Ash wants to speak to her older brother in private, so Crush simply picks up Aylus, easily overpowering the 15 year old elf and carrying him inside. Everyone tries to calm down Aylus, but with minimum success. Crush, however… talks about what it feels like to lose a sister. That sense of loss… of having someone who’s been by your side your whole life, who’s practically a part of you torn away. That feeling of self-blame… reliving that day over and over, thinking of all the little things you could have done that day that maybe, just maybe could have saved them. That feeling that they should live and you should have died. And now that she’s back wanting desperately to protect her. This finally gets through Aylus’s teenage angst, and Crush quietly hugs him. Using his shell to hide the boy from everyone else so they don’t see him cry. When he recovers they discuss more details with him, and are shocked to realize the boy knows about the Depraved Gloom. It takes some coaxing, but he admits that he had been researching them for the necromantic powers… hoping that they could somehow bring his family back. He even knows how to contact them, although it’s a ritual involving the sacrifice of a crow, and an offer of one’s own blood to the Depraved Gloom. The party is hesitant to go through with such a ritual, since it would mean giving the Depraved Gloom a strong connection to them. The mention of crows piques Ricky’s curiosity, and he shows Aylus his drawing of the crow sword that Ash remembered from her death. Aylus recognizes it… vaguely remembering, after the fire and death, seeing a figure watching him whose face was obscured with magical darkness and who carried that sword at his side.
Ash, meanwhile, has been telling her brother everything. From her death… to how Fidget found her. Protected her. Sacrificed everything to escape with her… lost his children. She shares as much of the party’s adventures as she can… Argus, for his part, reveals why he feels the way he does about Goblins. When their family was killed he knew there was a tribe of goblins nearby… with a trail of Ash’s blood leading in their direction. He thought the goblins were involved… either contributing to the murder, or at the very least stealing Ash’s body for their own sick purposes. Goblins are seen as lesser beings across the world, but especially in the Elven city of Ortheia, where some are even kept as pets. Still, Argus feels ashamed for the way he reacted once he learns more about Ash and Fidget, although he’s still clearly uncomfortable with Ash and Fidget. However, he realizes something… the cherry tree that Ash and Fidget had rested under the night before has special significance. It was where he had proposed to his wife, and where Ash had once fantasized about confessing her love to the man she would marry. He pressures Ash for more details… getting her to confess that she loves Fidget.
With the drama resolved… for now, at least, everyone is free to finally eat breakfast. However, this is where Ash finally reveals herself to Yurei. She’s known for being particularly superstitious and panics at the sight of a dead relative visiting. However, once her family manages to calm her down her focus then shifts instantly to fashion, and the fact that Ash’s outfit is considered highly inappropriate in Kirei Midori… then she notices Azure’s outfit as well and instantly whisks the two of them away to change them into some of the fine Kimonos her family sells… casually gifting both women kimonos valued in the thousands. Once satisfied everyone enjoys their breakfast until the party is ready to speak about their plans, once the young boy Saba leaves to play with Omelette in the garden.
They talk about their prophetic dreams, and describe the one Crush and Ash recently shared, and how they fear it may result in an attack on the crowd gathered for the Princess’s return procession. Yurei says she can request additional guards, but the Shogun would never take a prophetic dream as proof enough to postpone or reroute the procession. When they describe the Puppetmaster to her, she recognizes the abilities described, stating that this creature is known as a Weaver and, appropriately enough, as a Puppetmaster. She describes it as a spider-like creature, which remains tethered within a few hundred feet of its thrall. However, she warns that it can bestow its powers onto the subjects it controls… using them like middlemen to control more puppets. The party decides they need to find some way to lure out the Puppetmaster before the procession begins, but exactly how they’ll manage to remains to be seen...
The Crits for Breakfast crew is back again tonight at 4pm PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. I also wonder if there's anyone who just regularly reads these summaries rather than even attempt to actually catch the live show...
The party is given formal Kirei Midorian clothing to attend the Princess’s procession, as well as a valuable tool: Argus uses his arcane knowledge to re-activate the anti-magic manacles that Ricky had stolen from the slavers. The party rides in formal carts to the Jade City, keeping an eye out for danger on the way. Once in town the party chooses to split up in order to survey the crowd… looking for anything that matches the prophetic dream that Crush and Ash had. Once separated, Azure runs into Nimble, a fellow Tabaxi with a Cheetah-like appearance. She’s flirtatious and playful, and also reveals that she’s been actually enjoying the company of some of the yokai. They take some time to gather the items the party had ordered the previous day, but see nothing suspicious on that end of town. When they return, however… Crush sees one of the Depraved Gloom skulking through the crowd. He manages to pull him aside, demanding answers. However, since the Depraved Gloom are cursed to only speak abyssal, he’s unable to speak to him. He brings the assassin to Ash, who is in a cart with her brother… however, their cart is also surrounded by samurai who are immediately suspicious of the large tortle carrying a strange man in a choke hold. Ash, however, is able to convince them that these are dangerous assassins, which immediately puts the Samurai on high alert. Alarm bells ring and battle erupts in the streets. The crowd erupts into chaos as a large scale battle kicks off. Assassins, spellcasters, and even a brute attack the crowd. However, Crush sees what he feared… a small child standing still, with the tell-tale barely-visible strings of the PuppetMaster floating spectrally above her head. He quickly cuts the strings, freeing the girl from the Puppetmaster’s influence, but she still seems unresponsive. Still, he carries her away from the crowd, not sure how The PuppetMaster explodes his victims. Azure is caught off guard when one of the Depraved Mages attacks her with Burning Hands… her Astral Self protects her from the damage, but a civilian woman behind her is killed, overwhelming Azure with rage. As Crush is trying to protect the girl, one of the Depraved Brutes comes charging down the street, forcing him to battle the huge opponent one-on-one. Azure quickly takes vengeance on the Depraved Mage, slamming him into the ground in one move, only to turn and immediately defeat one of the Depraved Brutes.
Things take a turn, however, when Ash finds another person with strings attached to his body. Not wanting to risk missing them, she cuts herself, throwing her own blood on the strings to be able to see them more clearly, then slashes them off their victim. However, she watches the string closely as its getting withdrawn… snatching it off the ground and casting shocking grasp to target the puppetmaster… only to find that the young girl Crush had rescued was the one to scream. While the rest of the party clears out the remaining Depraved Gloom, Ash focuses on the “child”… she realizes that her eyes blink horizontally instead of vertically, and when she screams there’s an unnatural echo to her voice. Ash attacks, which immediately draws the attention of Samurai, ready to protect a child. Luckily, though, Ash is intimately familiar with the superstitions in Kirei Midori and is immediately able to turn the guards on the child with a single phrase: “Yokai!” With her high charisma she’s able to persuade the guards into siding with her, which is proven precient when the PuppetMaster slashes a samurai nearly to death with a whip of her razor sharp webs.
With the Puppetmaster surrounded the party needs to act fast before she uses her magic to escape, but luckily Ricky recently learned an important spell for just such an occasion… he points at her and casts Irresistible Dance. In a panic, the Puppetmaster is left dancing uncontrollably, unable to make her Wisdom Save to escape. Crush finally cuts down the remaining Depraved Brute, slamming it hard enough to knock it out of the road so the Princess’s procession can escape the chaos. His actions spent, Crush rushes to Ash’s side, holding out the Anti-Magic Manacles for her to secure the Puppetmaster. Ash takes them, and with the Puppetmaster still trapped in the Irresistible Dance she’s unable to escape Ash’s attempt to secure the manacles. Once they’re secured the party immediately notices that several of the civilians still panicking and even some of the samurai drop to the ground… like puppets who had their strings cut.
We're playing again tonight at 4PM PST! As always, join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty, and read ahead to see what you missed last time:
Ricky, Crush, Kannec, Corrio, and Fidget take the PuppetMaster into the Genie Bag to speak to their new prisoner, while the other party members climb into carts to return to the Oriven manor. Once inside they manage to intuit that she’s not simply a small creature… she’s an actual child, although they still can’t tell what her race is. More concerningly, scar tissue on her throat shows that her vocal chords were deliberately mangled at some point, making her completely unable to speak. As well… she has the same disease the other Depraved Gloom are cursed with, which is used to keep their members under control. Without whatever treatment the leaders provide, they don’t know how long she’ll survive. Seeing that she’s malnourished, they take her to the kitchen to make some food for her. Ricky prepares her some soup, only to learn that she doesn’t even know how to use a spoon. Crush teaches her how to use one as she’s only able to answer with simple yes and no responses. Ricky provides her with art supplies so she can draw… she draws an image of herself and her “family” standing over the bloody corpses of victims… such a common occurrence to her that she doesn’t even realize how disturbing it is. In particular, she labels the largest figure… little more than a black smear in her clumsy drawing… as “Papa”. Her name is revealed when Ricky convinces her to sign her work… revealing her name to be Elonwee. She also seems quite casual about the fact that she fully intended to kill the party, but she shuts down completely when Crush asks what her “Papa” does to her when she fails her missions.
Stepping out of the bag they inform Azure of what they’ve learned… but unfortunately they don’t have much of a plan for what to do with her. Azure’s friend, a chipper Tabaxi named Nimble, tries to ease the tension by discussing which members of the party have the most attractive rear ends. Meanwhile, Ash’s family is clearly unhappy. Ash used Necromancy in public, and didn’t hesitate to choke a child in public. Lady Yurei is also worried about Ash ruining the very expensive Kimono she was gifted just that morning, considering the chaos in the street.
Returning to the villa the party is able to explain everything to Ash, who still believes that killing the Puppet Master is the correct choice, but knows the rest of her party well enough to not push the issue. She’s asked to speak to her brother and sister-in-law in private. They continue to admonish her for her reckless behavior, and soon it becomes clear that Argus is more worried about Ash than anything… her display of necromancy a stark reminder that she’s still in the thrall of her Patron. This day is the anniversary of Ash’s Death, as well as the death of their parents.
The rest of the party goes to the garden to relax and try to figure out what they’re going to do. As Crush carves a figure of Ash to give to her nephew, Soba, Azure and Nimble play with Omelette while Ricky opens up to Corrio. He apologizes for when they broke up… the way he argued with Corrio and tried to throw away his Grimveil amulet. The two of them connect, and share a gentle kiss under the cherry trees. When Ash comes back to rejoin the party she immediately starts correcting Crush’s carving. She mentions that her brother wants to speak to Corrio about Ash’s condition, and Ricky accompanies him to speak to Yurei, who knew a few legends about Elonwee’s species. Ash, however, is struggling with jealousy as Fidget is focusing his affection on Oyou, a servant in the manor. With her power causing her emotions to act erratic, she releases an involuntary wave of necrotic energy that causes one of the trees near her to immediately shed all of its cherry blossoms.
Speaking to Argus, Corrio is able to convince him that he’ll do everything he can to help Ash. He also reveals that the family is planning a party for Ash… throughout Kirei Midori the brief time period of the Cherry Blossoms blooming is normally a time of celebration, but because of their family tragedy the Orivens experienced in this time of year it is instead a reminder of the fleeting nature of life. He also continues to worry about Fidget and his relationship with Ash… demanding that Ricky make certain that Fidget speaks to him later tonight. Unfortunately for Ricky, he had overheard Fidget and Oyou arranging a date at the same time.
Azure and Nimble enter the Genie Bag where they find that Elonwee and Kanec have actually been playing with Ricky’s art supplies. She’s drawing flowers on Kanec’s face and even braided his hair. Meanwhile, Crush is carving a wooden turtle to give to Elonwee, while Ash takes a moment to visit the shrine left to her and her parents. She apologizes to her Mother and laments that, deep down, she knows that they won’t be reunited in the afterlife because of her choices. This was a brief stop before leaving to tell her family that she’s planning to go into town. She lets the other party members know, and they decide it would be best to all stay together. Crush tags out Kanec, allowing Kanec to shop in-town while Crush babysits Elonwee. Ricky, meanwhile, uses the Pen of Sending to send a letter to Fidget, letting him know that Argus demands a serious conversation that night.
There is a festival going on in town, considering the cherry blossoms as well as the (mostly) safe return of the Princess. Those outside the Genie Bag enjoy festival food and novelties… but they also see that Fidget failed to heed Ricky’s warning, and is in town taking Oyou on a date. Nimble is trying to take Kanec on a date, while Ash is trying to arrange for a dentist to install a hole in Fidget’s tooth to keep his pearl stored in, as he did before his transformation into a Reaver.
The Crits for Breakfast team is returning to the characters from Lost Mines of Phandelver, this time taking on the challenges of the Hoard of the Dragon Queen. We'll be starting tonight at 4pm PST, where else but twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. I wasn't writing episode summaries for our Phandelver game, since I honestly wasn't expecting it to go as long as it did or get as detailed, but I'm planning to start writing them again! Both for the sake of the game... and also as a means of keeping notes for myself. Anyway, as far as a summary goes, here's a nice, truncated summary of what the party did last time...
Our party of heroes first met when they were hired by the Rockseeker Brothers to assist them in delivering supplies to the town of Phandalin to help them with a "Big Project". Katniss, the half-elf Ranger, was already familiar with the Rockseekers, having worked with them a few times in scouting sites and helping to clear out wild animals. The Half-Orc wizard, G'houl, is a student in the House of Knowledge in the city of Neverwinter, assigned to assist the Rockseekers as a sort of "internship" to test his skills and expand his knowledge. A fanciful tiefling bard, Dahlia, is a stranger to these lands, eager to take on a job that involves travel and meeting new people. And finally there's Loki, a Changeling cleric loyal to Tymora, the Goddess of Luck and Fortune, who is always looking for a way to make some quick and easy gold, but Lady Luck is fickle, and this seemingly simple task is hit with bad luck early on...
When Gundren Rockseeker and his friend, Sildar Hallwinter, are abducted by Goblins, the party does everything they can to rescue their employer. But every victory leads to a new complication... rescuing Sildar only reveals that Gundren has been taken elsewhere. Returning to Phandalin finds the town under the heel of a group of thugs calling themselves the Redbrand. Capturing their leader, a man calling himself Glasstaff, only reveals that he's been a tool of another figure all along. With each step they learn that everything they've experienced has been the manipulations of a powerful necromancer calling themselves the Black Spider.
After bringing law to Phandalin, the party is given a unique offer from a fellow cleric of Tymora, who reveals herself to be a member of the clandestine order known as The Harpers... a secretive gathering of spies and adventurers who seek justice and balance across the lands. The party is invited to join the Harpers, and all but Katniss accept... they are given a quest to seek the lost spellbook of a great wizard known as Bowgentle. The harpers pledge aid to the party before they leave to finally rescue Gundren from a lost wizard's tower over run with more goblins from the Cragmaw clan.
With Gundren rescued he reveals that he and his brothers had discovered the long-lost Wave Echo Cave... a rich mine filled with both precious stones and tapped into a font of chaotic magical energy. It is best known as the home of the Forge of Spells... a supernatural forge where many of the great weapons of legend were crafted. The mine was thought lost after a deadly assault by orcish and human warlords who wanted the power of the forge for themselves. The party makes their way to the mine... battling through hordes of undead, dangerous slimes, and minions of the Black Spider before finally confronting him, seeing him now as a Drowish Man. Once defeated, the party chooses not to kill him... instead interrogating him, learning his name is Nezznar. Probing deeper they learn he is the son of a noble family... unfortunately, in Drow culture, men are seen as lesser beings, and he was treated as simply a tool for his family. Using riches stolen from his own family he sought the mine, not simply seeking power for power's sake, but instead seeking to gain enough power and wealth to return home and change the ways of his people.
Despite his egregious crimes, his motivation strikes a nerve, especially for Dahlia. When they return him to Phandalin to face punishment for his crimes she spends time to connect with him, to speak... to convince him that he can seek his goals without harming others. And although he thinks her naive at first, gradually seeing them, seeing what they've accomplished, seeing how the world can be made better through cooperation and kindness... he begrudgingly opens himself to the party's influence.
With Nezznar captured and the mines freed, the party is left with one last goal... the search for Bowgentle's spellbook. This takes them to the town of Conyberry, where a Banshee is said to be the keeper of the book. Before they get too deep, however, they are luckily met by Reidoth, a member of Katniss's clan and a skilled, if a bit airheaded Druid. He warns them of the town's infestation of Undead, corrupted trees, and most importantly, a Young Green Dragon who has taken up residence in the town's crumbling tower... as well as a group of cultists who seek to ally themselves with the creature. The party intends to avoid the dragon on their way to seek the Banshee's advice, but an ill-timed Thunderwave immediately draws the creature's attention. An intense battle ensues, aided by the magical items recovered in Wave Echo Cave, the young heroes manage to defeat the dragon, recovering more magical artifacts from its horde. However, when they seek the Banshee it informs them it no longer possesses Bowgentle's spellbook, instead directing them to a small village far to the South known as Greenest...
The Crits for Breakfast team is about to go live at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! As always, here's what you missed last time:
Azure has a prophetic dream… dreaming of an inky black sea. In the dim light of dawn she barely sees the silhouette of a large ship in the distance… then an enormous crature rose from the depths… large enough to fit a ship into its mouth. The mast piercing inside, and red blood spreading out across the inky blackness.
When she tells the rest of the party about her dream Crush suspects a Kraken, but Kalea, the Druid of the Sea, knows that even a Kraken doesn’t get that large. Crush, Ricky, Azure, and Corrio return to the Blooming Rose to tell the captain that they’ve learned where they need to go. However, they can’t leave just yet, as they need to speak to Kalea’s friend, a firbolg druid named Verik, but they at least have time for breakfast.
As everyone is eating breakfast, Ricky has a plan to take advantage of the necrotic powers emanating from Ash’s touch. After preparing a mash he has her simply touch it, as her touch decays the plant matter, converting it almost instantly into alcohol. Azure brings a note written in Abyssal that she had found on one of the Merrow that attacked the night before to Ash. Reading it aloud, she realizes that they’re instructions sent to the Merrow by the Depraved Gloom… letting them know that it instructs the Merrow to prevent them from making allies… but also claims that the Depraved Gloom are able to follow them thanks to an informant, and that whoever wrote the letter will arrive soon in person.
The entire party makes their way to Kalea’s island so they can discuss what Ash learned from the note in peace. They aren’t certain whether or not the informant isone of the crew members, but at the moment they don’t have any solid suspects. Before they can make any solid plans, Verik appears in a burst of vegetation. He instantly recognizes Ash’s undead nature, needing to be placated into trusting her. Once certain she’s not a danger he discusses plans for the party to enter the Feywild. He’s able to create a temporary portal, which he can use to take the party to his home in the Feywild. However, he’ll need a day to prepare before the party leaves. The party returns to the Blooming Rose once again to let them know of their plan, with Verik joining, as he’s fascinated by the pink, rosewood ship.
Verik immediately strikes up a conversation with his fellow Firbolg, the ship’s Captain Pagonia. As the two chat in giant, however, Pagonia is clearly annoyed at Verik’s overly friendly attitude. As Verik explores the ship Ricky decides to do some more cooking… producing excellent food that attracts the attention of the crew. Verik questions the party on their origins and motivations, wanting to be certain that he’ll be assisting them for the right reason.
As they exit with plans to return to the island, Captain Pagonia finally sees Fidget, who has been hiding to avoid work, in addition to stealing wine. She’s enraged, not helped by her discussion with Verik and made only worse by Fidget’s attitude. She tells him that he’s going to be assigned to clean barnacles off the side of the ship, and just to make her point clear, she actually throws him off the side of the ship. Surprisingly, Ash, in a panic, leaps after him, since Fidget never learned how to swim. However, as she tries to help him, Fidget seems to instinctively be able to swim, despite his original fear of water. After Ash helps him up Kanec explains that Reavers are natural swimmers.
Ash and Fidget both stay on the ship, since Fidget is stuck on barnacle duty and Ash doesn’t care for the flower-rich island. Azure initially planned to remain as well to study more sailing technique with Ivory, but when she sees Verik wildshape into a Killer Whale she immediately wants to ride this strange new creature. Ricky immediately decides to follow suit, using Polymorph to transform into a Killer Whale as well, carrying Azure back to Kalea’s island. Once there, Crush realizes that tomorrow is actually Ricky’s birthday, informing Azure and Corrio. Corrio plans to cook something the next day, but for now he needs to assist Verik and Kalea, while Ricky gets Azure to help him gather coconuts.
Ash borrows Kanec’s genie bag, using it to get some privacy and contact her Patron. He is none too pleased with the lack of souls from Ash lately, threatening to withdraw his powers from her if she fails to provide more soon. However, he seems intrigued by the idea of Ash visiting the Feywild, with the promise of rare fey souls at some point in the future proving enough temptation to get her Patron to spare her… for now.
Meanwhile, Crush and Azure have started working on gifts for Ricky… Crush uses his woodcarving skills to carve a figurine of a Blinkdog, the Patron Animal of House Galanda, the ancient Halfling House from which he descends… and where he inherited his Dragonmark. Crush, half-jokingly, recommends that Azure make Ricky some fingerless gloves, and she begins working on a pair using vibrant purple dye she had purchsed. Inspired by Crush’s carving, she decides to add a Blinkdog emblem to the gloves.
Back on the Blooming Rose, Ash and Fidget both are assigned the tedious job of scraping barnacles off the side of the ship. Ash decides to use her necrotic touch, tearing open her gloves temporarily so she can simply touch the barnacles, causing them to rot away… weakening their grip, but still needing Fidget’s help to scrape them off.
Throughout all this Ricky has been kept busy by a Selkie that swam to Kalea’s island… a friend of Kalea’s who enjoy swimming with the tortle druid. Selkie’s appear to be seals, but can peel off their seal skin to reveal a human-looking woman underneath. With Kalea busy, Ricky offers to swim with the Selkie instead… having a good time, but also getting a serious sun burn in the process.
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 live, finishing the Lost Mines of Phandelver. Join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
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
After finally completing Lost Mines Of Phandelver last night we're back to our main campaign! We're going live right now, come join us at https://www.twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. As for the events of the last game...
Azure dreams of being surrounded by darkness. Feels sensation of the ground melting… a feeling of riding on waves inside a container. Something rubbery that flows. Can’t even enter the water. Can’t see the water. On the horizon she sees light, like dawn. Inky black wet waves. She sees an outline of a ship. She hears the dinging of the ship bell. Sound of waves crashing. The ship stops. Something giant rises, jaw opens, closing over the ship. A burst of red. Red spreads where the giant creature lowers. The description matches a Queen Siren… a strange creature made by a Siren being partially eaten by a fish-like sibling. She grows larger and larger, able to control other sirens.
Returning to the Blooming Rose. Ricky seeks out Ash, wanting her to use her necrotic powers to help him brew more rum. Meanwhile, Crush spends some time with Kanec learning how to operate the ship’s cannons. However, while the two are chatting about the sea, Kanec remembers a story his father had told him about a giant creature that matched the dream Azure had the night before… it matches a Queen Siren, a mutated siren that grows exponentially, able to grow large enough to swallow ships whole, and which is able to control the minds of other sirens.
While they’re focused on that, Ricky starts to share his newly brewed rum with the rest of the crew. Instantly getting all of them drunk… including the normally strict and serious captain. While it takes some effort to get them all to bed, Crush remembers the letter which implied the Depraved Gloom has an informant watching them. Wanting to be certain that it’s none of the crew members, the party checks their rooms and possessions. They’re unable to find anything, although Crush and Azure both get low rolls investigating First Mate Ivory and Captain Pagonia. Once satisfied the crewmembers aren’t working against them, instead the focus shifts… Azure and Kanec bake a cake in anticipation of Ricky’s birthday, while Ricky opens up to Crush about his true feelings for Corrio. Although Crush doesn’t have too much insight, he encourages Ricky to pursue his relationship with Corrio.
With the crew asleep, Crush and Ricky return below deck, although Ash and Fidget are busy fooling around in the crow’s nest. While the deck appears empty, a Merrow starts to crawl into the ship. Rather than fight it herself, Ash sends a Whisper to Crush to get him to take care of it, while she starts to get dressed. The party all ends up woken up by the action, but once the Merrow is defeated they notice signs of a skirmish on Kalea’s island. Ricky Polymorphs into a Killer Whale, allowing him to carry most of the party to the Druid’s island… although Ash and Fidget opt to stay behind and protect the ship.
Making their way to Kalea’s island, the druids and Corrio are being attacked by a large crowd of Merrow. The party doesn’t hesitate to leap into battle, with Ricky choosing to remain in the form of a Killer Whale. It doesn’t take long for the group to clear out the Merrow, however, Ash’s decision to remain on the boat proves prescient as a pair of sneaky Merrow attempt to take advantage of the seemingly empty ship to try and burn it down. Luckily Ash is able to use her magic to suppress the fire while Fidget clears out the Merrow with sneak attacks. The rest of the party rushes back to the boat on Ricky’s back, but arrive too late to help… although Ricky is able to splash enough water on the deck to put out the remaining fires. Crush attempts to use the rush of water to get on deck, but a natural 1 instead slams him face-first into the side of the boat. His 500 pound weight rocking the boat enough to trip several of the other party members.
The Druids and Corrio return to the Blooming Rose to check on the party and find the ship damaged by fire and weaponry, with one Merrow reduced to an unpleasant sludge by Ash’s Blight spell. Examining the bodies they find another abyssal note of instructions, telling the Merrow to attack the ship whenever the deck seems empty, and signed by none other than the Puppet Master they had encountered before.
In order to repair the ship, Ricky bribes the high-level druid Verik with some of his extra-potent rum in order to convince him to cause the wood itself to grow. It takes some work, still, from Crush and Kanec to take the wildly regrowing plants and shape them into proper planks, but in the end the damage done by the Merrow is completely repaired, leaving no sign that anything happened. While they’re busy working on that, Ricky accidentally calls Kalea “Noka”, Crash’s original name that she preferred to go by with the children in the orphanage. In embarrassment, he casts invisibility and retreats to the kitchen. Crush explains what happened, mentioning that Ricky has a bit of a habit for slips of the tongue like this (such as the time he once called a kindly baker “mom”). The druids and Corrio need to return to Kalea’s island, and will be awake the rest of the night completing the ceremony that got interrupted, while Kanec volunteers to go with them to help keep watch (although his true motivation seems to just be the desire to ride Verek as a Killer Whale).
Finally able to get some rest, during Azure’s watch the ship’s crew wake up… hung over and a bit embarrassed by how they acted the night before. Despite feeling tired, Azure takes it upon herself to prepare breakfast… after thoroughly studying a book on baking earlier in the adventure she’s able to produce excellent pancakes, both for the hungover crew and as a birthday present for Ricky. She also takes Ricky with her as her feline agility combined with her monk abilities allows her to run across the water from the ship to the island in seconds. There she delivers pancakes to everyone, and Ricky decides to give himself a birthday present… finally admitting his feelings for Corrio.
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 live soon at 4:30 PM PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. If you're impressed by the Roll20 assets you should know that it's all original, made by our DM who has her own store available through Hazel's Emporium.
For now, though... here's what you might have missed in the last session:
Once they confirm that the ceremony is complete as necessary, the party finally shoves off, sailing into unknown waters. The ride is rough, as they make their way into a heavy storm. As everyone is preparing the ship for rough waters, Ricky discovers that too much water is getting into the lower levels, with Crush and Ash going below deck to help clear out water, along with Unseen Servants from both Ash and Ricky. However, on the deck Azure sees Merrow taking advantage of the storm to attack the ship. In the conflict, the human crewman Akiyo is knocked unconscious by one of the merrow’s attacks. Azure uses her monk speed to carry him below deck where Ash can use Spare the Dying to stabilize him while she assists Ricky in battling a Merrow that’s attempting to break in through the lower rooms. Ivory reveals her ability to land sneak attacks in combat, while Captain Pagonia is forced to remain at the helm to keep the ship sailing with some semblance of control. Crush battles a Merrow with unusual coloring who is able to loose bolts of lightning, but luckily Crush’s abilities as a Storm Herald makes him resistant to Lightning damage.
Once the Merrow are cleared out the storm continues to rage while Corrio heals those who are injured while the other characters focus on cleaning and repairs. When the storm passes everyone is finally able to get the boat cleaned and allow the spellcasters to rest and recover. While Ricky uses his Blanket of Rest to recover more quickly, the other party members prepare a birthday meal for him. While they’re working on it, a merchant ship from the nearby country of Kirei Midori approaches the ship. Slowing to trade, they’re able to purchase more cooking supplies to replace the ones damaged during the storm… however, because it’s Ash purchasing them she shows no interest in nuance or care, simply buying sacks of every spice available for several gold. Then, as Crush is carrying everything down to the kitchen, Fidget asks about eggs, and Crush mentions that they’re usually purchased in dozens… but doesn’t stick around to notice anything unusual about the large crate they’re sold in, or their exorbitant price. However, Ash notices one additional product on sale… an expensive, formal kimono that triggers memories from her living life where she traveled regularly to Kirei Midori. Feeling nostalgic, she doesn’t hesitate to throw down over 500 gold on the fine, silken kimono.
Just before Ricky wakes up they finally examine the eggs… shocked to learn that they’re actually green Emu eggs… with Crush expression some shock that the bald goblin Fidget would purchase Ricky large green eggs, since Ricky teases him constantly by comparing him to an egg.
In the end, Ricky awakens to delicious stew and some well-made apple cake with a caramel glaze. He’s gifted from Ash enough spices to keep a kitchen stocked for years, and from Fidget he’s given the Emu Eggs. Azure gives him a pair of black and purple fingerless gloves with a Blink Dog design. Finally, Corrio gifts him a bracelet made of purple sea shells and a large pearl. Happy with his gifts, Ricky shares his potent rum, diluting it in a fruit cocktail so that it can be consumed safely without everyone on the ship passing out drunk.
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 will be going live at 4:30 PM PST... just 15 minutes! Join us, as always, at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. As for what happened in our last session...
With everyone relaxing following Ricky’s birthday, the party goes to bed for the night. However, before the night is through, the ship becomes enveloped in fog and darkness. An unnatural stillness fills the air… and gradually the ship finds itself stopped in black water, even though wind is still filling the sails. As the crew struggles to see through the heavy fog they notice what looks like tall pillars approaching the ship. Kanec and Crush are the first to recognize them, as they match the legends Kanec told Crush about Queen Sirens. Foolishly, Crush dives into the water, hoping to see what’s holding their ship in place, only to find himself diving headfirst into an absolute swarm of hungry Sirens. He barely manages to get back on the ship as the Queen Siren reveals herself to the party… although her body has mutated into a giant maw large enough to swallow a Kraken whole, she has a humanoid form attached to the end of her tongue like a lure. Kanec explains that the Sirens will sometimes spare ships if they have a Reaver on their ship… as the Reavers are descended from Sirens, they view them as prime mating partners. As Kanec is still a virgin and unsure of himself, it falls on Fidget to volunteer to service the Queen Siren. He’s able to convince her to spare the Blooming Rose, but must first attempt to breed with the Queen, and also promises to bring to her a ship’s worth of “food”… determining to either find a pirate ship or find some way to bring her to a worthy meal (such as a kraken or whale).
With the Queen Siren continuing to follow them deep below the sea, the party hesitantly continues. Travel is safe for a day, but something unusual happens… when Ricky is working on breakfast, he finds that one of the Emu eggs hatches, a cute little baby emu crawling out. Crush knows enough about eggs to check the remaining Emu eggs, confirming that none of them are fertilized. Still, the party finds themselves suddenly caring for a baby emu, which Ricky immediately names Omelette (since that was what he was planning for the egg in the first place). Corrio is unhappy with the name, but who Ricky really needs to convince is Captain Pagonia, who has a strong dislike for pets. Luckily, Ricky is able to convince her to allow Omelette on the ship, rather than turning it into dinner.
The next day, the ship nears a grouping of islands, the ship barely avoids a full on collision with a coral reef. Although the party is able to mostly avoid the problem, the ship still requires repairs, and Crush determines it would be unsafe to attempt to shove off until high tide. Since they’re near an island, the party chooses to explore the small island, hoping to gather more resources while they wait for the high tide. The island itself is swarming with snakes… while Crush is perfectly happy to simply cut them in half, Ash has a soft spot for snakes. Rescuing one, a nat 20 in animal handling gets the snake to calmly accept her, although not without a few bites. Fortunately for Ash, her Undead nature makes her immune to poison… and Fidget is happy for the company as well, since his Reaver trasnformation has made poison affect him more like alcohol. Searching the island more closely, they discover a skeleton clutching a simple leatherbound map which has a crudely drawn map, which appears to match the layout of the island they’re on… as well as a short journal from the man who was left here to die, making clear that he was being abandoned by his crewmates for stealing some kind of treasure, which he has managed to hide on the island. Following the map, they dig up a small chest, which contains a jewel entwined in a hyper realistic golden snake. As Ash examines it her new snake touches the jewel and begins turning to gold. Ash is unable to fully discover the jewel’s powers, but determines that it attracts snakes and turns them to gold, but she pulls her snake away before it turns fully to gold. Still uncertain of the jewel’s purpose, she stores it in her Bag of Holding… and also scoops up the bones they found on the ground to animate in the future.
With high tide returning the ship is able to safely take off. While Ricky prepares more food (and continues trying to train Omelette), the ship is approached by a pirate ship. Unfortunately for their plan to placate the Siren Queen, the pirate ship is too small to satisfy her demands. While the pirates attempt to board the ship, the party and crew of the Blooming Rose focus on sinking the pirate ship itself. Cannon fire and the fireball spell begin the process, but the ship sinks much more quickly as Crush dives underwater to assault the ship’s weakpoints. Ash, however, has her eyes on the booty, casting fly on herself to rush down into the sinking ship’s hull, where she finds a bounty of stolen goods that she quickly scoops into her bag of holding, although she’s forced to leave much behind as the ship sinks. A few pirates are left stranded in the water… Crush doesn’t want to leave the men to die in the sea, using his grappling hook to pull one onto the ship… but the foolhardy pirate attempts to stab Crush, which gets him simply picked up and thrown back into the sea. Everyone is given a reminder that the Siren Queen and her brood are closely following them, as they see the remaining pirates pulled underwater by hungry sirens...
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 weren't planning to play tonight, originally, but one player's schedule opened up and they really wanted to get a game in. Tonight's session should be short, but we're playing again soon! Join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! But for those who missed last week...
With Ash’s secret revealed, Crush calls for a team meeting in Kanec’s Genie Bag. Both Ricky and Azure attempt to convince Corrio to join, but he’s too shaken from the sight of seeing her devour a Pirate’s soul. Ash admits to her need to consume souls, but her pact with her Patron physically prevents her from revealing truly intimate details. She does, however, explain that she can only consume souls corrupted by greed and betrayal. This seems to be enough to satisfy Crush, who doesn’t have much interest in souls or the metaphysical. Kanec is simply excited to learn as much as he can about Ash’s situation… Azure knows from her studies that devouring souls is an ability usually reserved for Liches, but Ash assures her that’s not what she is.
Mostly satisfied, the party returns to work around the ship. Ricky makes some squash soup, hoping to calm Corrio with some well-made vegetarian food. When Ricky delivers the food the two of them talk, Corrio struggling as his lessons throughout life have always told him that someone like Ash is an abomination, but communing with his Goddess gives him no clear answers… seeming to encourage him to decide on his own.
After dinner Crush, Ricky, and Fidget stay behind to discuss specific details, with Ricky admitting the time he had snuck out with Ash and Fidget to murder the Pimp who was using money and influence to avoid jail time. Crush doesn’t object to this, but he wants to know more about Ash. Fidget is hesitant to reveal more, but is persuaded to reveal some details about his life with Ash, including why the two of them don’t like boats.
When she first revived, Ash was in a semi-catatonic state… losing track of time, trailing out of conversations only to snap back into the same conversation days later. While staying on the move they opted to take a free boat ride to move far away… only to discover the boat itself was a trap, and all the passengers were captured to be sold into slavery. As they lay chained and starving, a fellow passenger passes away… strangely, Ash begins to converse with the corpse, sounding the most focused and conscious she has since reviving. Suddenly she finds herself able to use magic… using magic to break her bonds and escape the ship. With Fidget’s help she releases the other prisoners, killing slavers, stealing their weapons and arming the other prisoners as they made their way to the Captain’s Quarters. Unprepared for her necrotic powers, Ash consumes her first soul, The captain’s skin drying and falling off, leaving his skull for Ash to use as a focus for her patron. Ash fully awakens at this point, fully gaining the personality she had when the party first met her, although without the emotions she’s gradually awoken as she regains her memories. Fidget reveals that Ash’s signature had and jacket were stolen from the pirate captain, although Crush is mostly just surprised that it was originally a man’s hat.
Azure, meanwhile, was on the deck conversing with Kanec about her family history. When Crush arrives on the deck to help keep watch they notice a strange phenomena… their Grimveil Pendants begin to light up, the light blinking gradually faster and faster. As the blinking speeds up they see an enormous shape barreling toward them under the water… it appears as a giant sphere made of water just below the water’s surface. It’s even larger than the Queen Siren. But just as it threatens to overturn the Blooming Rose, it suddenly turns, rocketing off at tremendous speed, until their pendants stop blinking. However, before it leaves Crush is barely able to see that within the orb of water familiar forms are visible… the shape of tall trees and land, leading them to believe this is the moving island they’ve left to find.
Gathering together, the party discusses what’s to be done about this, and why the Island didn’t simply overturn the ship. Crush and Ricky realize that the island was likely scared away by the Siren Queen. Ricky assists Corrio as he looks through his notes… both on the information he had been given by Duncan as well as historical information he’s gathered research on. They realize that the shield they had recovered resembling their amulets contained a similar enchantment as the amulets themselves, and was, in fact, a Legendary Artifact, although they’re still not sure how to unlock its true power. What they were able to realize, though, was that the shield reacts to their amulets… placing the amulet in the center of the shield and turning it causes it to blink and glow when the claw of the Griffin is pointed toward their quarry. Corrio also realizes that, whatever this island is, it’s something that had been sealed by the Grimveils many years ago.
Azure and Kanec go through his books, looking through the legends of Reaver society. They discover legends about Moving Islands, which have a number of possible origins… it could be a Cloud Castle that, for one reason or another, has been moved into the sea. It could be a land mass animated by chaotic magic… it could even be land carried on the back of a Titan. Either way, the party regroups to share the information they’ve been able to glean, and to discuss their tactics for the future. Although the shield gives them a means to track the island, they also realize it won’t get near them as long as the Siren Queen is continuing to follow them. Examining the water, they’re able to see that Siren Queen has begun swimming much closer than before… Crush theorizes they could ask the Siren Queen to help them attack the island, potentially feeding her whatever is inside… but Kanec doesn’t believe the Siren Queen would be willing to negotiate. Fidget, curiously, is upset at the idea since it puts the Siren Queen herself in harm’s way. The thought of simply outrunning her is kiboshed as well, since Kanec knows that even with the wind at their backs the Blooming Rose has no chance of outrunning a Siren Queen… although this does inspire Ash to cast Sending, asking Kalea to send the wind spirit that lives on her island to the Blooming Rose to help them catch up to the island. The most logical plan seems to be searching for a large pirate ship to assault and offer to the Siren Queen… although the idea of actively seeking a pirate ship is a difficult concept for Captain Pagonia to stomach.
Fidget begins to realize that he has an unnatural urge to protect the Siren Queen, but he can’t tell why. Several of the party members realize what this means, thanks the Reavers’ supernatural paternal instincts, but it’s Kanec who can’t keep a straight face and blurts out that this means the Siren Queen is pregnant with Fidget’s children. Not surprisingly, Fidget begins to panic, his mind flooded with memories of his children he had been forced to abandon in his horde. Crush tries to give him a pep talk, which seems to calm Fidget enough for him to stop panicking, but he makes very clear his intent to go below deck and drink until he passes out. Captain Pagonia claimed to be untouched by Crush’s speech, but still decides to run a merchant ship flag in the hopes of luring pirates, willing to put the ship at risk to help the party with their mission.
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 going live at 4:30 PM PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. As for what happened in the last session...
Ricky, Azure, and Kanec team up to bake a mango tart. As everyone goes downstairs to take part, Fidget stumbles in, drunk and belligerent. As others debate what to do about it, Crush calmly pours drinks… encouraging Fidget to talk about his children. Fidget is too drunk for his usual cold refusal to discuss his painful memories, drinking solemnly as he speaks on his memories. Revealing that his brother was the chief of his horde, and that no one really believed that he was the father of his own children, since Goblins don’t always track that kind of thing. He tells how his son, Fidget Jr., took care of his daughter, who was too young to even get a name in Goblin culture. In particular he recalls a time when his daughter “fell” and began wailing in tears, getting the other goblins to try and calm her down while Jr. pilfered a stash of stolen cookies the Goblins had been hoarding. As soon as the deed was done he signalled her and she immediately stopped crying and waddled off to join her brother. For the first time, as Fidget recalls his lost family, he actually sheds tears of sorrow in front of his companions.
With Fidget heading to bed everyone continues to debate their plans in regard to the island. Crush converses with Captain Pagonia about Fidget, family, and helps her continue to track the island while keeping watch. Satisfied with his work, Crush goes to wake Ricky to take the next watch, but a botched perception roll finds the ship barreling straight toward a tall stone island that got lost in the darkness. A similarly botched athletics roll prevents the ship from fully avoiding it, scraping along the side of the ship and spilling water inside. The party is forced to act fast, finding ways to stop the ship to keep from hitting more stones and also repairing the damage to the hull. It’s a mad scramble, but with everyone helping the ship is restored to safe working conditions. The ship is stopped for the night, Captain Pagonia not wanting to risk further damage sailing at night. Feeling guilty for failing to prevent the crash, Ricky polymorphs into an owl in order to survey the area and make certain everyone is safe. He realizes the islands are the tips of underwater mountains, and sees figures high on the mountaintops...
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 live tonight soon, at 5PM PST! As always, you can find us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. However, if you missed our last stream, here's what happened:
Ricky manages to disturb a pair of Rocs living in the nearby mountains. They chase after him in his owl form, with Ricky just barely able to beat them to the ship, where Crush rings the emergency bell to awaken everyone. Ricky hits the ground running, using Hypnotic Pattern to debilitate the Rocs… but with them mid-flight they continue and crash into the water, the damage shaking them free of the spell’s hold. But as one of them begins climbing aboard, Ricky paralyzes it with Hold Monster, weakening it to Azure and Fidget’s melee attacks, especially since their attacks are all critical in that state. However, it’s Crush who deal the most damage… his barbarian skills landing brutal criticals with every swing. However, the other Roc finally makes its way on the ship, goring Ash with multiple beak strikes, nearly knocking her unconscious. More importantly, one of the crew sees her black, ichor-like blood. The battle shifts to the second Roc, which is difficult to take down since Ricky is unable to paralyze this one as well. However, a burst of Synaptic Static sabotages its constitute saves, making it vulnerable to Ash casting Polymorph to turn it into a chicken… but not before it gores Fidget, triggering his Blood Rage. Azure chucks the chicken into the sea, where it’s devoured by the Sirens that are tailing the party, while Crush grapples Fidget, pulling him away from the other party members, Crush’s rage making him better suited to handle Fidget’s wild attacks. Still, Fidget’s Reaver strength makes him difficult to control, until Ash manages to bind him with a Web spell. Once Fidget is fully restrained Crush is finally able to pick him up and slam him into Kanec’s Genie bag. With the danger resolved Ash focuses on cleaning up her blood when she’s struck with an idea… breaking a bottle of ink and smearing some on herself as well. When the crewman returns with the Captain, Ash is able to deceive them into thinking it was just spilled ink.
The party wonders if the Rocs will be enough to eat for the Siren Queen, since one of them was delivered to her alive. But they realize the only one who can discuss this is Fidget. However, some of the sirens approach the ship… Kanec is able to understand them as they question where Fidget is, as the Queen can’t smell him while he’s in the Genie Bag. Kanec is able to placate them, but not without them first attacking with a few sonic shrieks. They realize that Fidget is going to have to speak to her as soon as possible, but with the blood rage consuming him it will be some time.
As everyone else makes their way to bed Ash pulls Corrio aside. She finally confesses her true nature to the timid cleric… discussing frankly about her need to consume souls. Even detailing how she can taste when the souls aren’t corrupt and sparing those who don’t deserve it. She also makes clear that she’s a Warlock in service of a patron, but is still unable to reveal the name of her patron. She also reveals that she remembers her mother was a Cleric of the god Ilmater. Overwhelmed with this information, Corrio returns to sleep to process what he’s learned. No longer requiring sleep, despite her injuries Ash only takes a short rest to keep watch. She notices that more Rocs are circling in the distance.
When morning comes Ash immediately goes into the Genie Bag to speak to Fidget, while Corrio goes to Ricky to discuss his fears and concerns. Ricky is able to relax him for now, but it’s clear Corrio is still struggling. He even talks to Crush about it, but Crush has little to truly comfort Corrio’s worries. As they discuss this Ash is in the bag to speak to Fidget… the interior of the Genie Bag is a complete mess from his rage, and when Ash tries to wake him a nightmare grips Fidget, who immediately starts to choke her before fully regaining consciousness. The two comfort each other as they’re both in precarious positions… Ash’s undead nature makes it easy for others to distrust, even hate her. Fidget, meanwhile, draws closer to losing his mind completely each time the Blood Rage takes him. As Fidget is still struggling with his conflicting feelings, they’re called to breakfast. Everyone discusses their plans for the day, but there’s not much they can do until the Siren Queen is contacted. Not wanting to deal with the stress of that just yet, Fidget leaves with Ash for some “alone time” to get his mind off of things… until Crush asks whether or not the Siren Queen is likely to be jealous if she smelled another woman’s scent on Fidget. The two are forced to stop and Fidget goes topside to get his meeting with the Siren Queen over with.
The Siren Queen keeps him with her for several hours before allowing him to return. Once back he reveals that the Siren Queen doesn’t consider the Rocs payment enough, although it does seem to make her pleased. Upset, but with little recourse, the party makes plans to visit the now-empty Roc nest to gather more supplies to make repairs to the Blooming Rose.
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
A short session is planned for tonight! We're live right now, come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! As always, here's what you may have missed last time:
Using long poles, the party pushes the ship to keep it from colliding with sharp stones in the water. They make their way to the freshly emptied Roc’s nest. Ash casts fly on Ricky, Kanec, and Crush, who make their way up to the nest… the giant nest made from trees, carriages, and even full ships. While Crush and Kanec search one of the more intact ships for supplies and replacement parts, Ricky instead checks a pile of Roc eggs. Too late, he realized that most of them are empty shells. Even as newborns, the Roc chicks tower of Ricky. With supplies found Crush wants to just leave, but Ricky insists on looking for valuables, and ends up attacked by the chicks for his greed. The serrated beaks of the chicks leave him bleeding out as they make their escape.
Once back on the Blooming Rose the supplies seem to be enough to keep the ship supplied for the foreseeable future. Corrio heals Ricky’s leg, helping him to recover enough to make breakfast while the rest of the party navigates back out to open water. Taking some time to enjoy breakfast, everyone’s focus seems to be on Fidget, who is clearly not taking his current situation well. A successful medical check from Azure discerns that he’s suffering from 2 level exhaustion. He also seems twitchy and paranoid, plagued with hallucinations and struggles. Ash doesn’t hesitate to bring him to bed, the two cuddling as they try to relax. The rest of the party discusses what’s to be done about the Queen Siren, as she seems to be unwilling to release Fidget, especially since she knows that, as a Reaver, he’ll have an instinctive urge to protect his unborn children. Corrio also talks more about Ash’s situation, revealing to the rest of the party that she’s a Warlock in the service of an unknown powerful figure interested in corrupted souls. Crush and Ricky both compare it to being in a bad contract with a shady manager, which they are both clearly familiar with.
As everyone splits off to work around the ship, Crush realizes that the Wind and Water spirits that Kalea had asked to assist them have arrived, helping to make up for the time lost due to their accident the previous night. Ricky, meanwhile, has been using the mirror gifted to him by Sune, praying to learn more about his Aunt Gilly. Feeling generous, Sune speaks to him again, showing Ricky visions of Gilly seemingly safe, although her husband, Henri, is somehow with her, and seems grievously injured. Her captor, a tall demon with multiple sets of horns and multiple tails, appears to treat her with respect, but the vision is incredibly brief. When he talks to Crush about it, Crush is immediately angry, since Henri was last seen with Tricky.
When Ash finishes relaxing with Fidget, Ricky finds her, wanting to use her necrotic touch to brew more alcohol. Unfortunately their attempts to brew extra potent alcohol ends up producing a black, inedible sludge. Still insistent on finding some use for it, Ricky decides to taste it, instantly falling unconscious. Both Ash and Fidget critically fail their medicine check, convinced that Ricky has died. Ash’s first instinct, then, is to find a way to dispose of the body before anyone can find out. Unfortunately, Kanec and Azure are drawn by the commotion, and Ash responds by grabbing Kanec’s Genie bag and scooping them both up in it. Even the other shipmates find themselves caught in the bag as Ash and Fidget prepare to burn Ricky’s body in the oven.
Unluckily for them, Crush and Corrio have noticed that the ship is mysteriously quiet and go below deck to investigate. Although Ash is able to throw them off the trail briefly thanks to her high charisma making her adept at deception, eventually Crush forces his way into the kitchen to see Ricky stripped naked and readied for the oven. Also failing his medicine check, Crush’s response is instead to call on Corrio, trusting the Cleric to have a solution for the problem. Now that someone proficient in medicine finally examines Ricky, it’s obvious that he’s simply unconscious, and the commotion has finally been enough to wake him up. Confused at everything that’s happened, Crush takes it upon himself to reprimand Ash and Fidget, especially since Ash herself is capable of casting spells to revive a recently deceased person. Ash and Fidget have shaky excuses, which Crush ignores in favor of grabbing them and bonking their heads together. Ricky, still not realizing the weight of what just happens, decides that he just needs to dilute his concoction in water to make it safe to consume. Not wanting to risk more future mishaps, Crush takes the concoction from him and throws it into the fire… which produces an explosion so devastating it completely destroys the kitchen and requires the help of the water spirit assisting them to keep from burning the entire ship down. Crush guiltily focuses on repairing the damage he inadvertently caused, using up much of the repair equipment they had only just salvaged from the Roc’s nest. With night falling the ship approaches a large island… and with the flashing of her pendant, Azure realizes it’s the island they’ve been searching for. She also notices that, curiously… the island bobs on the water, more like a giant ship than a land mass.
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 will be streaming tonight at 5pm PST at our usual place, twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. The party is on their way to a new country, but if you want to know more, read on to see what happened in our last session:
The party arrives on the mysterious island, which seems to be floating in the sea. As they step onto it Crush recognizes some of the plant life… it’s all deep sea plant life. Even the trees are a rare, supposedly extinct breed of tree that grows deep in the ocean. However, structures are built on the island, covered with algae. Exploring them, they find a large door… locked with some ancient mechanism, but seemingly sealed with magic of some kind as well. Ricky decides to see if the Grimveil Shield reacts to it, noticing that the words on its edge light up depending on where its pointed. Using the lit up words, they first find a mural carved into some of the structures. It depicts the Tortle home of the Esmer isles… however, they’re instead depicted as a single land mass with as many human citizens as Tortles. But when calamity strikes the land is devastated by a giant monster, the land broken into multiple islands, with the humans leaving. As their people die the Tortles appear to pray, and are visited by a group of figures with jeweled necklaces. The group includes a pair of Tortle twins, an elf, human, dwarf, and even what appears to be a Reaver. Using some ceremony they seal the monster away.
After viewing the mural they then follow the light of the shield to an isolated building… ancient, with a door worn down by millenia under the sea. Crush breaks it down, finding inside what appears to be a stone well filled with sea water. Using his ability to breathe underwater, Crush dives into the well… deep inside, the walls expand… a steady sound echoing around as the water gets hotter, and hotter. Pushing his constitution to the limit when he finds what appears to be a small tablet held by a crude statue of a tortle. Snatching it up, he instantly tries to escape, only to find that the “stone” walls are contracting like muscles. As Crush is struggling to escape before being boiled alive, he hears the voice of his sister and feels the sensation of warm, comforting water pulling him further. Finally, he’s barely able to escape before the well snaps closed like a valve. Shocked at the sight, Crush theorizes that it wasn’t a well at all… instead, he believes it to be a blowhole.
Quickly exiting the building that holds the “well”, they attempt to follow the shield to where it directs them next. However, as it guides them to the water, they notice that the water itself is boiling, making it dangerous to enter. As the island roars, Azure is able to hear well enough to tell that it’s actually speaking, and recognizes the language as Aquan. She doesn’t understand it, but she’s able to perform well enough to convey to Crush what it was saying. It doesn’t seem to make sense until they realize it’s being attacked below the water. Crush roars back in Aquan, saying they could help if the island stopped whatever is causing the boiling water, and although he’s not able to convince the island to stop, it does attract the attention of the Merrow below the water. Shockingly, they appear immune to the effects of the boiling water, using it to lure the party into the water. The battle is intense, with the Merrow resistant to damage and determined to finally kill the party. In a last desperate move, one of the Merrow blasts the party with a burst of lightning energy… but fortunately, everyone was within Crush’s storm aura, which provided resistance to lightning damage for them all… all except Azure. But it turns out she was even more capable of protecting herself… thanks to the power of her Astral self, combined with her evasion, Azure was able to redirect the energy and ultimately took the least damage of anyone. The Merrow was finally defeated by Crush throwing a javelin into its chest. Finally, with the Merrow defeated, the water ceases boiling and Crush dives in to speak to the “island”.
Below the water, Crush comes face to face with a massive, ancient Dragon Turtle… even for the gargantuan creatures, it is truly massive. The creature once attacked the Tortle home on Esmer island, splitting the island itself in two until the creature was trapped by the Grimveil order… Crush is able to see the glint of mystical shackles still holding the creature. It isn’t happy to see Crush or his Grimveil pendant, but is compelled to answer questions and seems unable to attack. It reveals that it has been charged with protecting a mystical object for the Grimveils, offering Crush the other half of the key they’ve found, which is attached to one of its giant teeth. It also reveals that it was captured 10,000 years ago, and that it knows nothing of the Eternal Storm, which has separated the land of Kahena from the Reaver kingdom for all of recorded history. It also wasn’t sleeping this whole time… forced by magic to remain conscious chained to the bottom of the ocean. It claims that it was awoken by its “mother”, leaving it up to Crush’s imagination just who or what that could be. Now that it’s free it was seeking a private location where it can finally rest. The ancient creature needing to sleep for at least 100 years, but after that time it fully intends to feed and cause havoc again.
With the key they’re able to open the locked door on the back of the Dragon Turtle, pulling from inside a mysterious tablet. It appears to be only half of a complete tablet. As they examine it, they test it by pressing it to the Grimveil Shield, which absorbs the tablet. A new phrase appears on the rim of the shield, “Woe to the foe that faces the Grimveail”. A message is left inside as well in multiple languages, promising those who find it that their journey is not in vain, and naming the Dragon Turtle as Leviathan. Felling a few trees on their way out to make more supplies for repairs, they return to the Blooming Rose, having a brief discussion before deciding to visit the nearby country of Kirei Midori where they can get some repairs considering the extensive damage the ship has endured. However, they still don’t know what to do about the Queen Siren that still trails the ship...
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 streaming again tonight at at 5:30 PM PST, as always, at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. However, Roll20 is having some technical problems, so there might be some delays on tonight's session, just as a heads up. That said, here's what you may have missed from our last session:
Ricky has a strange dream about a black wolf that glows with the light of the stars guiding him to meet a mysterious woman. He finds a strange comfort in her as she tries to pull him into some sort of portal before he wakes up. In the morning, Ricky takes some time to paint the wolf he saw, but when Kanec sees the painting he panics. He recognizes it as the herald of the Nightmother, the Goddess which betrayed Sovereign, the first Reaver, and the source of the Reaver’s bloodrage. He’s clearly struggling as he recognizes the unique abilities of Ricky’s bardic college are suspiciously similar to the abilities of those followers of the Nightmother. Crush, meanwhile, is speaking to the water spirit that’s accompanying the boat. He’s able to actually hear it speak now, as he explains what he learned about Leviathan and the danger it poses. As he speaks he realizes they’re not simple spirits but rather avatars of the sea and wind themselves. They speak of Hearth, the world itself, and in many ways a Goddess as well.
As Crush is working on repairs to the ship Ricky goes to him to discuss Kanec’s reaction. The two of them find Kanec, trying to warn the captain that the ship may be targeted by the Nightmother, although she doesn’t fully understand his concern. Kanec struggles with his instinct and the laws of his people, which say that the Nightchildren are to be killed on sight. He believes that the Nightmother is trying to manipulate Ricky, possibly turning him against the party, or even using him to trigger Fidget’s bloodrage. Ricky, however, feels he’s over reacting, not feeling any malice from the figure in his dream. Worried about Fidget, Kanec hurries below deck to check on the goblin, only to find him in bed with Ash. So overwhelmed with fear that he doesn’t realize the awkward situation he’s created, Kanec checks Fidget and warns him about the Nigh Mother. Eventually, though, Crush is able to calm Kanec down enough to get him to stop panicking, but he’s still worried, choosing to change rooms since he no longer feels comfortable sharing a room with Ricky.
With this issue weighing heavily on everyone’s mind the sailing manages to continue without delay. However, as they continue they find a strange phenomenon on the water, slowing the boat to examine when they see what appears to be rocks floating on the water. When pulling up a few floating rocks in a bucket they recognize them as volcanic rock… and the bubbling of the water is a volcano threatening to burst. Everyone scrambles, barely passing several checks to escape. But once at a safe distance everyone is drawn to the spectacle as the lava flows, solidifying as it makes contact with the water, slowly forming the start of a new island. They realize they’re the first to see this island and there’s a brief discussion about what to call it… until eventually Ricky recommends Dawn island, because they saw it literally rise from the sea like the sun, and also to symbolize its potential for a new day. Captain Pagonia marks it on the map, as they’re currently sailing in uncharted waters already.
With the way forward seemingly secure, Ricky uses his Create Food and Water spell in lieu of cooking anything, since the kitchen was destroyed not long ago. Crush, however, seems obsessed with repairing the damaged ship to alleviate his guilt for accidentally triggering the explosion that damaged it so much in the first place. While he’s working the Water spirit returns, revealing that it’s already visited Kalea and spoken to Hearth. Both are concerned, and Kalea lets them know that the portal to the Feywild is complete, but she understands their need to visit Kirei Midori for repairs. Below deck, however, Azure and Corrio combine their skill with herbalism to work on more potions, where Azure reveals that her skills as a monk have evolved to the point that she’s now immune to poison. However, as they look through their supplies they realize the only thing they’re able to make right now is contraceptives. This leads to a discussion about Ash and Fidget, in particular wondering if an Undead like Ash is even capable of having children.
Continuing forward, they see that they’re pulling up on a pair of merchant ships. Remembering warnings that they had gotten about Pirates in the Kerei Midorian sea often posing as Merchants, as well as traveling in pairs, everyone readies for a potential battle… which proves to be simply paranoia, as the merchant ships are exactly what they appear to be. They recognize one ship as belonging to a well-known tea company, choosing to follow it as it seems to be heading in the direction of Kirei Midori. Everyone relaxes, heading below deck to relax… relaxation they only manage to enjoy briefly before the ship is suddenly and aggressively stopped. Returning to the surface, they find that the Queen Siren has stopped them dead in the water using her giant fangs. Fidget is forced to negotiate to allow the party to visit the nearby country… but the Queen Siren is well-aware that, since she’s carrying Fidget’s children, he won’t be able to bring himself to oppose her. Convinced that the party can bring her more, higher quality food if given the time to properly repair their ship.
The Queen Siren allows the party 1 week to make any repairs to their ship, but to keep them on their toes she swims away… traveling nearly a mile in but a few seconds. Effortlessly, her giant jaws rise above the water, closing around the merchant ship ahead, which itself is larger than the Blooming Rose, pulling it under the water before anyone inside is even able to react… the silence is deafening as they watch the well-manned ship vanish without a single piece of debris left above the water. Azure passes out completely from the loss of life and sense of helplessness against the Queen Siren. Fidget storms downstairs, struggling to maintain his anger. Crush, meanwhile, simply asks Ricky how much more of that explosive compound he and Ash had accidentally created could be brewed as they plan for how to deal with an enemy the size of an island, with at least a hundred loyal children to protect her.
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 live now! I was having some technical trouble with D&D Beyond, so this post is going up a bit late, as we've been live for a while already. As always, we're playing at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty, and you can read what happened last week right now:
Ash reads the spellbook that had been found in the caves leading to the Ladleman… realizing that it describes a ceremony, not to summon a creature, but to create one outright. It’s a difficult spell to perform, and requires heavy sacrifice. When Azure finally awakens after the shock of seeing the Queen Siren casually devour a cargo ship and all its passengers in a single move, Ricky is there to comfort her. Helping Azure come to grips with what happened, and telling her how much he admires her and her strength of will. Azure responds with a tight bear hug, intense enough that Ricky needs to make a CON save to keep breathing.
Crush speaks more to the water avatar, which sadly informs him that the Queen Siren’s victims weren’t even granted the luxury of a quick death. It also lets him know that Hearth, the spirit of the world itself, wants to say more, but is unable to speak through these avatars, although Corrio, as a cleric of nature, might be able to speak to her directly. With the help of the wind and water they’re able to reach the shores of Kirei Midori, landing on a small village that Ash recognizes as Toshi. Going into the village at night, they’re able to find a shipwright in town, although he’s a surly, retired samurai. He’s deep in his drink, but seems willing and able to take on the job.
Returning to the ship, Ash informs the party of her desire to travel to the Jade City, where her family owned a summer home. She calculates that, using their technique of polymorph combined with Kanec’s genie bags and Ash taking short rests to recover spell slots, they’ll be able to cover the distance in 3 days, giving them one day to explore her family’s summer home. However, they’re still concerned about the Puppet Master, who has been able to somehow track them even across the sea. They search the ship for some sign of him, but find nothing. That is, until Ricky taps into the powers of his bardic college, using a strand of the Puppet Master’s string to discern his location… he realizes that the Puppet Master is near them… possibly a mere hour away. The party resolves to leave and draw the Puppet Master away to avoid more damage to the ship. Crush thinks that they’re just getting ready to set up an ambush for him, but the rest of the party prefers to fly to the Jade City as soon as possible.
Before they can leave, though, they see a lost little girl in the woods. Crush resists his urge to check on her, since many Kirei Midorians have already mistaken him for a Kappa, a local monster with turtle-like features. However, when Kanec approaches the child reveals itself as a faceless monster. It practically unfolds into a tall, gangly, misshapen creature before attacking while laughing maniacally. It stuns most of the party with fear, but Ricky is able to paralyze it with Hold Monster. With the monster paralyzed, Ash is able to target it with Blight. Attacks against paralyzed creatures auto-crit, plus the creature is weak to necrotic damage, resulting in the largest single damage roll yet. With the foul beast killed, they realize the woods are crawling with similarly dangerous creatures. Ash uses Polymorph to transform Crush into a Roc… using the new form to carry the Genie Bag for an hour rocketing through the sky at 27 mph. While Crush does the carrying Ash is free to enjoy a short rest in the genie bag, fully recovering her spell slots, so after an hour of progress she’s able to simply cast Polymorph on Fidget next while Crush gets some rest in the Genie Bag’s large bath.
When it ends up being Ricky’s turn he volunteers to take care of flight for the rest of the night, since his Bardic college allows him to not require sleep. Ricky takes advantage of the experience to look for more Yokai. Things take a turn, however, when he stops on a tree and meets a Tanuki. The Tanuki is entertained to see the giant Roc transform into a halfling… but Ricky is more interested in the Tanuki’s bottle of sake. Ash wants to continue, but Ricky is willing to chat with the mysterious creature for the chance to get some alcohol. However, when the Tanuki implies that he wants to bet on it somehow Ricky realizes he’d rather not risk the danger and asks Ash to turn him into a Roc again. Offended, the Tanuki uses its magic to transform Ricky into a black cat. Ricky escapes, although it takes some effort to convince Ash that he’s not just a lost kitten. Unlike Polymorph, Ricky can’t change back in the usual way. He forces his way out with another Wisdom Save, but still finds himself with cat ears and a tail.
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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 live in a few minutes! Come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. And, as always, here's what you missed from our last stream:
The party continues on foot… finding a shortcut that leads into the Jade City. Once in the city they find a ramen restaurant to sit and plan their adventure. They learn that the princess is returning to the Jade City, and as such many of the streets are closed, along with most of the shops. There is some difficulty with the people who perceive the party members as yokai, but they’re still able to get some food and reserve rooms at the inn for the night. While perusing some of the stalls that are still open, Ricky gets an idea when meeting an herbalist… he wishes to buy some herbs that could accelerate a pregnancy, hoping to use them to cause the Queen Siren to birth Fidget’s children sooner, allowing the party to more quickly deal with the terrifying beast. The seller is skeptical, but Ricky is insistent and special orders a barrel full of herbs normally given to livestock, spending 50 platinum, careful not to tell anyone else lest it trigger Fidget’s Reaver instincts.
As the party continues their exploration of town they notice another Merc, the mysterious merchant family who appear to casually cross the planes and carry a seemingly endless supply of rare and valuable magical objects. Ricky has a number of valuable objects he’s been meaning to sell, starting off by offering the Ladleman’s giant, pure silver ladle. The Merc instantly recognizes the object… noting it for the value of its rarity beyond simply its physical value as silver. Ash, unaware of Ricky’s earlier purchase, tries to subtly inquire about a magical means to accelerate a pregnancy. However, Fidget hears, his Reaver instincts compelling him to protect the woman carrying his children, even if that woman is a deadly monster who threatens the life of not just the party, but everyone at sea. Ricky and Ash are able to convince him that they’ll only go through with this if the Merc can provide something that guarantees no harm to the mother or children (although Ash subtly implies she’d have no qualms about it hurting the mother). The Merc promises he could provide such a thing in exchange for the ladle, but also includes a unique additional item in the trade… a quill made from a rare feather taken from a Blink Bird… a blue avian found only in the Feywild, capable of teleporting at will. The quill can be used to instantly send letters over vast distances, allowing the party to communicate with friends and family while on their journey. However, exactly what will fulfill their request for the Queen Siren remains to be seen...
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 live soon! Come join us at 4:30 PM PST at our usual place, Twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! And as always, here's what you missed last time:
Ash offers to sell the souls she’s absorbed to the Merc in exchange for some temporary protection from scrying. Seeking a means to combat the Queen Siren, she offers the Merc the Hag’s Stone the party recovered some time ago… an extremely rare and powerful item made from 100 souls. Ash leverages this to get something to help weaken the Queen Siren… delivered in the form of an extremely powerful poison of some kind… although he warns that it’s single use, and will most likely kill anything weaker than a Queen Siren outright.
The Merc provides both Ash and Crush with temporary protection against scrying for 24 hours, in an aura extending out 60 feet. Content with their purchases, as the sun begins to set the party makes their move to scout the manor owned by Ash’s brother. However, as they move through the nearby woods they get attacked by a red Oni. The large creature hits hard, but gets overwhelmed by the sheer size of the party… but as it goes down, Ash hears it scream to its brothers. The party takes a few moments to attempt to hide and hopefully avoid the creatures entirely, but Crush and Kanec both fail their stealth check and battle ensues. The Onis are caught off guard by the large group, and are quickly felled before they can take advantage of their more powerful magics. Examining the bodies they discover the tattered kimonos of a woman and child… they even find a half-finished straw doll of a little girl, determining that it was intended to be used as bait to lure victims.
They continue toward the manor… the party chooses to split up, with Ash, Fidget, Corrio and Azure sneaking into the house, while Crush, Ricky, and Kanec explore the exterior of the home. The interior party successfully sneaks past a pair of guards, but after using her unseen servant to clear the way past another guard, she manages to fail her stealth check, tripping and drawing the attention of a guard. She quickly casts silence, using it to hide the noise as they knock the guard unconscious. After hiding the guard they make their way inside, but once again Ash’s stealth fails her. Fortunately she’s able to use her Mask of Many Faces to disguise herself as the guard they had just knocked unconscious. In that guise she learns that this particular guard has a bad reputation for womanizing and drinking on the job.
Meanwhile, Ricky and Crush continue their exploration of the exterior. They overhear two guards chatting about the lord and lady of the house… and coincidentally hear them discussing the incompetent guard Ash is disguised as. They send a message to Corrio letting him know that the manor is occupied and well-guarded, as there’s some kind of event going on. However, he’s unable to warn Ash, as she’s being pulled away from the party and thrust into a cold bath as punishment. Left alone, Ash continues to explore, unable to reconnect with Azure and Fidget, since the same guard left in their direction. Stepping into her old room, she discovers a young elven boy sleeping in a new bed, which she recognizes as a young boy who seemed fascinated by the “yokai” he briefly met in town… and who she now realizes is her nephew, with blue eyes like Ash’s brother, and straight black hair like his wife. As the boy stirs she quickly polymorphs herself into a white cat… the young boy, Saba, picking her up, taking the cat to show to his mother.
Ash comes face-to-face with her sister-in-law, who is panicked and frightened by the sight of this white cat, which retains Ash’s empty white eyes, making her look frightening. The Lady of the house is clearly worried for her son’s safety, noting the increased Yokai activity in the area. Ash is left alone, hearing strange sounds just outside the window. Sliding a nearby window open, she gets the slightest peek of an extremely tall, ghostly female figure with supernaturally long limbs and sharp teeth.
Meanwhile, Crush passed casually in front of the front gate, getting the attention of guards. Leaning on their reputation as monster slayers, he claims to simply be searching the woods hunting for monsters, which is proven when Kanec removes one of the Oni heads (which he had kept as a trophy) from his genie bag. The guards are skeptical, but when Crush asks them about the kimonos they found on the oni they seem certain of his reliable nature. Just then, a loud noise erupts from inside as Corrio fails his stealth check, getting himself caught by guards. After gaining the guard’s trust, Crush is allowed to follow them inside, ready in case there are monsters to fight. Finding Corrio, they’re able to convince the guards that Corrio simply stumbled into the garden during their yokai hunt.
Just when things seem to be coming back to normal, Fidget, of all people, fails a stealth check when a maid is making tea. Luckily, Fidget and Ash are quick enough to silence her and persuade her they mean no harm just in time for Ash to find Corrio, taking advantage of his ability to speak to animals to explain what’s been happening. Just then, the Lady of the house comes to confront the party for all the noise… bringing along the Lord, Ash’s brother, still alive and healthy.
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Crits for Breakfast is having a short game tonight ("short", in our case, meaning only 4 hours). Still, we'll be starting soon at 5pm PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty! And in case you couldn't join us last night, here's what you missed:
When confronted by Argus, Ash’s brother, and caught in a Zone of Truth, Crush shows his Grimveil Pendant, and assures the Elven lord that they mean him and his family no harm, and also aren’t lying when they say that it’s not their place to reveal why they’re here in Kirei Midori. Argus takes them away from his wife and child so they can speak candidly about what’s going on without frightening his son. He also reveals that this very night is the 5 year anniversary of the death of his parents and sister, with their home in Ortheia burnt to the ground. Before they can gather more information, Ash’s younger brother, Aylus enters the room. The teenage elf is gloomy and confrontational, and he becomes enraged when Crush asks if the people who killed their parents might be behind the stalking that’s being done to Argus’s family. A brief argument occurs between the brothers, but Aylus is sent away before Argus clarifies that he doesn’t actually know who killed his family. Aylus was present at the time, his life only spared because Ash gave her own life to protect him, but he was young and confused. Between the smoke and the trauma he didn’t see who did it. Crush shows Argus his carving of a Depraved Gloom assassin, which Argus doesn’t recognize.
Ricky attempts to connect with Aylus, but the young man brushes him off. At 15 he may have the physical form of a human teenager, but by Elven standards he is still very much a child. Meanwhile, Ash and Fidget have successfully stealthed back into the Genie Bag, and this time is used as an excuse for the two of them to come out without raising suspicion. Ash, however, remains in the form of a cat. Sneaking out to explore the manor, Ash manages to find her younger brother Aylus. Following him into his room, she sees that he’s studying arcana… in particular, focusing on the dark arts. She follows him into a side room, which is set up as a shrine for both her and her parents… witnessing her younger brother break down in tears as memories of his family’s death overwhelm him. She does her best to comfort him, but she’s still afraid to reveal her undead form to her family. He vents, talking to the cat, admitting that he wishes he could trade places with any of his other family members.
As they’re bonding… as best they can… they’re interrupted when a mechanical bird suddenly bursts out of one of the boxes that belonged to Ash. Ash remembers, before she died, when she was studying to be an artificer, that this bird is Hermes, a simple mechanical construct that can be used to send short messages. She realizes that the bird was activated by her presence, but in a panic Aylus rushes to show his brother the bird. Ash takes advantage of this to finally look through her things, which was her original reason for coming to the manor in the first place. She finds her old journal, taking it with the intent to discover more of her lost memories. With that done, everyone makes their way to the dining hall to enjoy a sushi dinner… all except Ash, who chooses to hide in Kanec’s Genie Bag. When Ash’s nephew, Saba, comes to visit he persistently asks the party about the “dead lady” he had seen them traveling with earlier. When his description of her includes calling her tall, pale, and with a wide hat it reminds them of the Hachisakusama, the mysterious yokai that has been stalking their son. Instantly raising their suspicion, it leads to a minor conflict while Saba runs to find a drawing he had made of Ash the other day. Azure almost chases him, but Crush warns against it, as their hosts are already suspicious of them, and a black tiger bolting after their child might make things worse. While the boy is away they ask about the Hachisakusama, trying to figure out what they’re up against. But just as they realize that Saba is taking longer than expected they hear a crash and a shriek… running to find Saba’s attendant frozen in fear… a window torn to shreds and Saba missing.
The party doesn’t hesitate… Crush is the first out, leaping right through the broken window, not caring about niceties. As storm clouds fill the sky, they chase through the woods. Thinking quickly, Ricky casts Enhance Ability to bestow Owl’s Wisdom on his allies, giving them advantage for perception and survival checks to track the Hachisakusama.
The party is slowed down by an Oni wandering through the woods. Crush and Ricky focus on the Oni, encouraging Azure to continue ahead. However, it’s Ash who finishes him off with a Chill Touch from long range, although her primary focus was on catching up with the Tabaxi monk. Azure, meanwhile, is the first to find their target… and they arrive just in time to see her swallowing a glowing blue light while Saba lays lifeless in front of her. Azure is just barely able to summon her astral self in preparation. The fight is rough… the Hachisakusama is resistant to most damage, and immune to effects like Hold Monster or Azure’s stunning strike, and is completely immune to the lightning damage from Crush’s aura. Ricky rode on Crush’s back to get close to her as soon as possible, but Ash takes the longest to get there, with her lower movement speed and reliance on ranged spells. Seeing Saba’s lifeless body, she realizes that the Hachisakusama has already swallowed his soul. Enraged, she demands that someone bring her down to eye level. Eager to oblige… Crush takes advantage of his Tavern Brawler feat, headbutting her from behind, grappling and shoving the large creature, knocking her prone and face-to-face with Ash. Using her necrotic arms she blights the yokai’s face, using the damage to suck Soba’s soul out, rushing to return it to his body. Meanwhile, the pinned down creature is helpless against Kanec, who swiftly cuts off her head.
Saba’s soul is returned, but his body is still laying lifeless on the ground. Ash panics, seeing her nephew dead and blaming herself, until Crush reminds her that she had insisted at one point to keep some valuable diamonds for the opportunity to raise dead. Reminded of that power, Ash finally uses her Necromancy for good, reviving Saba, who briefly thinks that he’s seeing his grandmother when he looks up at Ash. Returning the boy to his family they’re overjoyed, and everyone realizes this is the best chance Ash has to reveal herself to her lost family. Finally convinced, she speaks to her brothers, who are shocked at her undead appearance, but more than that they are overjoyed that their lost sister has returned home. They have a touching moment before Ash asks for some private time from the rest of her party.
Leaving Ash to connect with her brothers and sister-in-law, the rest of the party is shown the bath and given an opportunity to clean up after their battle in the rain. As the family is deeply involved in the silk trade, they have kimonos and yukatas that they’re able to loan to the party, which, if nothing else, will allow them to blend in a bit more casually with the citizens of Kurei Midori.
This was a really exciting episode. We all got so into it that we didn't even realize that we hadn't taken a break until technical issues forced us to stop early. Things are resolved now, though, and we're ready to get back into it.
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 had a shorter game last time, but we learned a lot from this game. We're going live in a few minutes, so come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty!
Talking with her brother, Ash learns of what happened. How the family home on in Ortheia had been burnt to the ground. The rivalry between her brother Argus and her fiancee as they both applied for an arch-mage position in the Elven capital was shattered when Argus was too deep in mourning to take on the job. However, due to strict traditions her ex-fiancee could not take on the job before he was married. His parents, who had never liked Ash in the first place, arranged a marriage with a woman Ash never got along with, and forced him to marry her on the same date and venue as his wedding to Ash was originally scheduled, stating that it would be silly to let all the preparation go to waste.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party members resume their interrupted sushi dinner. It goes normally, until Crush gets curious about the green paste served on the side. Since the rest of the meal is served as individual pieces, he assumes it’s meant to be eaten all at once, popping the entire glob of wasabi in his mouth. Fortunately, he does well enough on his Constitution to not cause any trouble, but does end up in a coughing fit and watery eyes. Fidget thinks Crush is over-reacting and just to prove his point, promptly does the same… only to fail his save even more dramatically. Coughing and screaming until he gradually manages to recover, much to the entertainment of the others.
As this is going on, Ash talks to her brothers about how, while she was disguised as a cat, she saw that Aylus was reading a book about necromancy and the dark arts. Aylus bursts into emotions, recalling the night his family died… the way Ash, or as he knew her, Promethea, gave her life to protect him. Meeting Ash again, Aylus is more certain than ever that necromancy will solve their problems. But Ash opens up about what happened to her… showing them her eyes, which have always been particularly disturbing to other elves, who see the lifeless look in her eyes. She explains that she was brought back by another being, which offered her the opportunity for revenge, and to really drive home the pain of her resurrection she removes her gloves. Showing them her necromantic arms, which are turning black and monstrous… the blackness now having spread nearly to her shoulders. Aylus and Argus angrily debate the merits of necromancy, but Ash tells them that she doesn’t want this for them, or for her parents. She takes some time to speak to Aylus alone, answering his questions as best she can. He deduces that she’s a Warlock and tries to figure out who her patron could be… only able to make certain that it is neither a devil or a demon.
When Ash tells him that they’re planning to leave soon, he doesn’t understand why until she explains that the party needs to evade the Depraved Gloom assassins. Surprisingly, the name is recognized by Aylus, who takes Ash into the shrine room, where writings from Ashs’ parents are preserved. There she finds an illustration of her parents… both wearing Grimveil pendants. Aylus also reveals that he knew about the Depraved Gloom from researching necromancy, and had tried to contact them for their services in necromancy. He also mentions off-hand that Saba is named after Ash’s father, Sebastian. Ash actually encourages Aylus to continue researching necromancy, but responsibly… she even directs him to the Reaver home country, where necromancy is researched scientifically.
Ash brings the picture of her parents to the rest of the party, proving that they were members of the Grimveils. Ash mentions that this gives more weight to his theory that the Depraved Gloom were behind Ash’s death. Ash wonders, though, how powerful magic users like her parents could be cut down so easily. Crush theorizes that they might have had some kind of anti magic field, which triggers a memory from Ash. Remembering the night of her death… a strange popping sound ringing through the air. A sensation of air popping right on top of her and a ringing in her ears. Voices mention something about magic and how something will slow her down. She remembers an armored figure finding her, hands creating ethereal bursts that could even affect her parents. The memory is still fuzzy, unable to remember the face of the man who killed her, but she remembers the blade… an elaborately designed handle that resembles a crow, with silver claws holding the blade.
Waking from her reverie she finds that she had again vomited black bile. Intent to preserve this memory, she quickly describes the blade to Ricky, who draws a highly accurate representation. Azure recognizes it from a conversation that she had overheard years ago between Duncan and her father… where Duncan mentioned a warrior who wielded a crow blade, and mentions him with annoyance at how difficult he is to kill. The party realizes this means that her father would know more about the man who killed Ash, but there wouldn’t be a good way to contact him any time soon. However, they also realize that, if he knows, then odds are Ricky’s aunt Gilly would know too. This furthers their resolve to search for Gilly in the Feywild, since they’re planning to go there as soon as possible already.
However, Fidget notices something… the blackness on Ash’s arms has now spread even further, enveloping her entire arms, with black veins now visible on her neck. She panics, running to the bathroom, realizing that her hands have now completely transformed into claws. Fidget hurries to comfort her, while Azure makes plans to comfort her as well. Meanwhile, Ricky leaves to find Omelette, who had been left in the garden to exercise. He finds Omelette bickering with a small animal in the garden, Ricky manages to lure it out… realizing that it’s a small fox with two tails. He decides to offer it the only thing to drink he has… a cup of sake stolen from one of the Onis. The fox picks it up with its front paws, drinking it in front of him. Ricky simply attributes this to the quirks of the foxes in this country… until it starts speaking and a third eye opens on its forehead.
Ricky then returns inside, acting strange. He starts aggressively flirting with Azure, and seems to not recognize Crush. Some bad insight rolls has them believing Ricky is simply drunk, and Crush carries him to bed to sleep it off. Azure decides to try and comfort Ash, and while Ash appreciates the affection, she’s still shell-shocked at her new condition, wanting to be left alone with Fidget. The two go to walk in the garden, bonding over their mortality. Ash is certain the corruption is going to overtake her, and her brief undead life will be cut short, while Fidget knows that the Reaver curse is more likely to kill him within months than he is to be able to get the curse stabilized… and not even certain if he wants that. Fidget recalls when he was a child… when he was exploring the woods with another goblet named Sweetpea, but they stumbled on an adventurer who was there on a bounty to clear out the goblins. He killed Sweetpea in an instant, and Fidget was only saved when his Mother came running to the sound of her son shrieking in terror, attacking the aventurer with a chef’s knife. Managing to kill him, but getting fatally injured in the process. He managed to recover her most prized possession… a single pearl that he keeps hidden in a hole in his teeth.
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 going to start streaming soon! Come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty at 4:30 PM PST. In case you missed last night's stream, here's what happened:
Crush and Ash both have the same dream of a small figure… possibly a child or halfling. Standing in a crowd, the small figure twits its head, snapping its own neck. As the crowd gathers around to check on it, the figure suddenly explodes, vaporizing the people around it. Crush wakes up instantly, but Ash continues her Elven rest. Crush steps out to get some fresh air, encountering “Ricky”, and also seeing that the manor has been vandalized with paw prints drawn all over the walls and religious symbols torn from the walls. He takes “Ricky” out to the garden where he can explain his dream… at which point Ricky appears to explode. This puts Crush into a panic, until he realizes there’s no sign of explosion or any bits of Ricky left behind. He starts a search for Ricky, not certain what’s happening or how. “Ricky” continues to wreak havoc around the manor… before simply returning to bed and acting like nothing happened. When Crush finds him he angrily confronts Ricky, thinking that this was all some kind of sick prank. In a panic, though, “Ricky” suddenly teleports out of Crush’s grip, and refers to Crush as a Kappa, making Crush realize that this isn’t Ricky.
Meanwhile, the real Ricky groggily wakes up in the garden, where he had been hidden unconscious among some bushes… along with a large pile of left shoes. The rest of the party is actively searching now when they come across Ricky. Crush can’t quite tell if he’s the real Ricky or not, but Azure summons the helm of her astral self and is able to discern that it’s the real thing. When Ricky explains that he had been tricked by a talking fox with two tails Ash instantly recognizes it as a Kitsune… a trickster yokai that can be annoying, but is rarely dangerous. Just then they hear shrieking from the kitchen, running in to find Oyu, one of the servants, being harassed by an invisible force. Ricky casts Faerie Fire, which manages to cover everyone present in glowing purple sparkles… including the Kitsune. Ash, who is absolutely tired of this nonsense, uses Chill Touch to choke the Kitsune and grab it by the tail. As it struggles and insults its captors Azure whacks it, paralyzing it with Stunning Strike. They take it to Argus, who is prepared to handle a yokai of this level, capturing it in a magical mask to be dealt with later. However, in the process his wife, Yurei, steps out… seeing Ash for the first time. When Ash was still Promethea, she considered Yurei a sister, not just a sister-in-law. Yurei faints, and they realize they’ll need to explain things further in the morning. For now, though, Argus uses his magic to help clean the mess left behind while the party returns to bed, with Ash and Fidget sharing a bed.
In the morning everyone is woken by the sound of Fidget howling in pain as he’s kicked in the face by Aylus, angered at the sight of a man sharing a bed with his sister before the two were married (since his family is very, very traditional). He refuses to listen to reason, storming off to get Argus. Surprisingly, Argus responds with even more rage than Aylus had. Using his magic to literally throw Fidget through a window… enraged not just at a man sleeping with his sister, but revealing a deep-seated hatred of Goblins. Crush grapples him to keep him from getting into a physical altercation with Fidget… which isn’t helped by Fidget’s attempts to placate him, which are generally crude and overly honest. Ash wants to speak to her older brother in private, so Crush simply picks up Aylus, easily overpowering the 15 year old elf and carrying him inside. Everyone tries to calm down Aylus, but with minimum success. Crush, however… talks about what it feels like to lose a sister. That sense of loss… of having someone who’s been by your side your whole life, who’s practically a part of you torn away. That feeling of self-blame… reliving that day over and over, thinking of all the little things you could have done that day that maybe, just maybe could have saved them. That feeling that they should live and you should have died. And now that she’s back wanting desperately to protect her. This finally gets through Aylus’s teenage angst, and Crush quietly hugs him. Using his shell to hide the boy from everyone else so they don’t see him cry. When he recovers they discuss more details with him, and are shocked to realize the boy knows about the Depraved Gloom. It takes some coaxing, but he admits that he had been researching them for the necromantic powers… hoping that they could somehow bring his family back. He even knows how to contact them, although it’s a ritual involving the sacrifice of a crow, and an offer of one’s own blood to the Depraved Gloom. The party is hesitant to go through with such a ritual, since it would mean giving the Depraved Gloom a strong connection to them. The mention of crows piques Ricky’s curiosity, and he shows Aylus his drawing of the crow sword that Ash remembered from her death. Aylus recognizes it… vaguely remembering, after the fire and death, seeing a figure watching him whose face was obscured with magical darkness and who carried that sword at his side.
Ash, meanwhile, has been telling her brother everything. From her death… to how Fidget found her. Protected her. Sacrificed everything to escape with her… lost his children. She shares as much of the party’s adventures as she can… Argus, for his part, reveals why he feels the way he does about Goblins. When their family was killed he knew there was a tribe of goblins nearby… with a trail of Ash’s blood leading in their direction. He thought the goblins were involved… either contributing to the murder, or at the very least stealing Ash’s body for their own sick purposes. Goblins are seen as lesser beings across the world, but especially in the Elven city of Ortheia, where some are even kept as pets. Still, Argus feels ashamed for the way he reacted once he learns more about Ash and Fidget, although he’s still clearly uncomfortable with Ash and Fidget. However, he realizes something… the cherry tree that Ash and Fidget had rested under the night before has special significance. It was where he had proposed to his wife, and where Ash had once fantasized about confessing her love to the man she would marry. He pressures Ash for more details… getting her to confess that she loves Fidget.
With the drama resolved… for now, at least, everyone is free to finally eat breakfast. However, this is where Ash finally reveals herself to Yurei. She’s known for being particularly superstitious and panics at the sight of a dead relative visiting. However, once her family manages to calm her down her focus then shifts instantly to fashion, and the fact that Ash’s outfit is considered highly inappropriate in Kirei Midori… then she notices Azure’s outfit as well and instantly whisks the two of them away to change them into some of the fine Kimonos her family sells… casually gifting both women kimonos valued in the thousands. Once satisfied everyone enjoys their breakfast until the party is ready to speak about their plans, once the young boy Saba leaves to play with Omelette in the garden.
They talk about their prophetic dreams, and describe the one Crush and Ash recently shared, and how they fear it may result in an attack on the crowd gathered for the Princess’s return procession. Yurei says she can request additional guards, but the Shogun would never take a prophetic dream as proof enough to postpone or reroute the procession. When they describe the Puppetmaster to her, she recognizes the abilities described, stating that this creature is known as a Weaver and, appropriately enough, as a Puppetmaster. She describes it as a spider-like creature, which remains tethered within a few hundred feet of its thrall. However, she warns that it can bestow its powers onto the subjects it controls… using them like middlemen to control more puppets. The party decides they need to find some way to lure out the Puppetmaster before the procession begins, but exactly how they’ll manage to remains to be seen...
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
The Crits for Breakfast crew is back again tonight at 4pm PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. I also wonder if there's anyone who just regularly reads these summaries rather than even attempt to actually catch the live show...
The party is given formal Kirei Midorian clothing to attend the Princess’s procession, as well as a valuable tool: Argus uses his arcane knowledge to re-activate the anti-magic manacles that Ricky had stolen from the slavers. The party rides in formal carts to the Jade City, keeping an eye out for danger on the way. Once in town the party chooses to split up in order to survey the crowd… looking for anything that matches the prophetic dream that Crush and Ash had. Once separated, Azure runs into Nimble, a fellow Tabaxi with a Cheetah-like appearance. She’s flirtatious and playful, and also reveals that she’s been actually enjoying the company of some of the yokai. They take some time to gather the items the party had ordered the previous day, but see nothing suspicious on that end of town. When they return, however… Crush sees one of the Depraved Gloom skulking through the crowd. He manages to pull him aside, demanding answers. However, since the Depraved Gloom are cursed to only speak abyssal, he’s unable to speak to him. He brings the assassin to Ash, who is in a cart with her brother… however, their cart is also surrounded by samurai who are immediately suspicious of the large tortle carrying a strange man in a choke hold. Ash, however, is able to convince them that these are dangerous assassins, which immediately puts the Samurai on high alert. Alarm bells ring and battle erupts in the streets. The crowd erupts into chaos as a large scale battle kicks off. Assassins, spellcasters, and even a brute attack the crowd. However, Crush sees what he feared… a small child standing still, with the tell-tale barely-visible strings of the PuppetMaster floating spectrally above her head. He quickly cuts the strings, freeing the girl from the Puppetmaster’s influence, but she still seems unresponsive. Still, he carries her away from the crowd, not sure how The PuppetMaster explodes his victims. Azure is caught off guard when one of the Depraved Mages attacks her with Burning Hands… her Astral Self protects her from the damage, but a civilian woman behind her is killed, overwhelming Azure with rage. As Crush is trying to protect the girl, one of the Depraved Brutes comes charging down the street, forcing him to battle the huge opponent one-on-one. Azure quickly takes vengeance on the Depraved Mage, slamming him into the ground in one move, only to turn and immediately defeat one of the Depraved Brutes.
Things take a turn, however, when Ash finds another person with strings attached to his body. Not wanting to risk missing them, she cuts herself, throwing her own blood on the strings to be able to see them more clearly, then slashes them off their victim. However, she watches the string closely as its getting withdrawn… snatching it off the ground and casting shocking grasp to target the puppetmaster… only to find that the young girl Crush had rescued was the one to scream. While the rest of the party clears out the remaining Depraved Gloom, Ash focuses on the “child”… she realizes that her eyes blink horizontally instead of vertically, and when she screams there’s an unnatural echo to her voice. Ash attacks, which immediately draws the attention of Samurai, ready to protect a child. Luckily, though, Ash is intimately familiar with the superstitions in Kirei Midori and is immediately able to turn the guards on the child with a single phrase: “Yokai!” With her high charisma she’s able to persuade the guards into siding with her, which is proven precient when the PuppetMaster slashes a samurai nearly to death with a whip of her razor sharp webs.
With the Puppetmaster surrounded the party needs to act fast before she uses her magic to escape, but luckily Ricky recently learned an important spell for just such an occasion… he points at her and casts Irresistible Dance. In a panic, the Puppetmaster is left dancing uncontrollably, unable to make her Wisdom Save to escape. Crush finally cuts down the remaining Depraved Brute, slamming it hard enough to knock it out of the road so the Princess’s procession can escape the chaos. His actions spent, Crush rushes to Ash’s side, holding out the Anti-Magic Manacles for her to secure the Puppetmaster. Ash takes them, and with the Puppetmaster still trapped in the Irresistible Dance she’s unable to escape Ash’s attempt to secure the manacles. Once they’re secured the party immediately notices that several of the civilians still panicking and even some of the samurai drop to the ground… like puppets who had their strings cut.
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 again tonight at 4PM PST! As always, join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty, and read ahead to see what you missed last time:
Ricky, Crush, Kannec, Corrio, and Fidget take the PuppetMaster into the Genie Bag to speak to their new prisoner, while the other party members climb into carts to return to the Oriven manor. Once inside they manage to intuit that she’s not simply a small creature… she’s an actual child, although they still can’t tell what her race is. More concerningly, scar tissue on her throat shows that her vocal chords were deliberately mangled at some point, making her completely unable to speak. As well… she has the same disease the other Depraved Gloom are cursed with, which is used to keep their members under control. Without whatever treatment the leaders provide, they don’t know how long she’ll survive. Seeing that she’s malnourished, they take her to the kitchen to make some food for her. Ricky prepares her some soup, only to learn that she doesn’t even know how to use a spoon. Crush teaches her how to use one as she’s only able to answer with simple yes and no responses. Ricky provides her with art supplies so she can draw… she draws an image of herself and her “family” standing over the bloody corpses of victims… such a common occurrence to her that she doesn’t even realize how disturbing it is. In particular, she labels the largest figure… little more than a black smear in her clumsy drawing… as “Papa”. Her name is revealed when Ricky convinces her to sign her work… revealing her name to be Elonwee. She also seems quite casual about the fact that she fully intended to kill the party, but she shuts down completely when Crush asks what her “Papa” does to her when she fails her missions.
Stepping out of the bag they inform Azure of what they’ve learned… but unfortunately they don’t have much of a plan for what to do with her. Azure’s friend, a chipper Tabaxi named Nimble, tries to ease the tension by discussing which members of the party have the most attractive rear ends. Meanwhile, Ash’s family is clearly unhappy. Ash used Necromancy in public, and didn’t hesitate to choke a child in public. Lady Yurei is also worried about Ash ruining the very expensive Kimono she was gifted just that morning, considering the chaos in the street.
Returning to the villa the party is able to explain everything to Ash, who still believes that killing the Puppet Master is the correct choice, but knows the rest of her party well enough to not push the issue. She’s asked to speak to her brother and sister-in-law in private. They continue to admonish her for her reckless behavior, and soon it becomes clear that Argus is more worried about Ash than anything… her display of necromancy a stark reminder that she’s still in the thrall of her Patron. This day is the anniversary of Ash’s Death, as well as the death of their parents.
The rest of the party goes to the garden to relax and try to figure out what they’re going to do. As Crush carves a figure of Ash to give to her nephew, Soba, Azure and Nimble play with Omelette while Ricky opens up to Corrio. He apologizes for when they broke up… the way he argued with Corrio and tried to throw away his Grimveil amulet. The two of them connect, and share a gentle kiss under the cherry trees. When Ash comes back to rejoin the party she immediately starts correcting Crush’s carving. She mentions that her brother wants to speak to Corrio about Ash’s condition, and Ricky accompanies him to speak to Yurei, who knew a few legends about Elonwee’s species. Ash, however, is struggling with jealousy as Fidget is focusing his affection on Oyou, a servant in the manor. With her power causing her emotions to act erratic, she releases an involuntary wave of necrotic energy that causes one of the trees near her to immediately shed all of its cherry blossoms.
Speaking to Argus, Corrio is able to convince him that he’ll do everything he can to help Ash. He also reveals that the family is planning a party for Ash… throughout Kirei Midori the brief time period of the Cherry Blossoms blooming is normally a time of celebration, but because of their family tragedy the Orivens experienced in this time of year it is instead a reminder of the fleeting nature of life. He also continues to worry about Fidget and his relationship with Ash… demanding that Ricky make certain that Fidget speaks to him later tonight. Unfortunately for Ricky, he had overheard Fidget and Oyou arranging a date at the same time.
Azure and Nimble enter the Genie Bag where they find that Elonwee and Kanec have actually been playing with Ricky’s art supplies. She’s drawing flowers on Kanec’s face and even braided his hair. Meanwhile, Crush is carving a wooden turtle to give to Elonwee, while Ash takes a moment to visit the shrine left to her and her parents. She apologizes to her Mother and laments that, deep down, she knows that they won’t be reunited in the afterlife because of her choices. This was a brief stop before leaving to tell her family that she’s planning to go into town. She lets the other party members know, and they decide it would be best to all stay together. Crush tags out Kanec, allowing Kanec to shop in-town while Crush babysits Elonwee. Ricky, meanwhile, uses the Pen of Sending to send a letter to Fidget, letting him know that Argus demands a serious conversation that night.
There is a festival going on in town, considering the cherry blossoms as well as the (mostly) safe return of the Princess. Those outside the Genie Bag enjoy festival food and novelties… but they also see that Fidget failed to heed Ricky’s warning, and is in town taking Oyou on a date. Nimble is trying to take Kanec on a date, while Ash is trying to arrange for a dentist to install a hole in Fidget’s tooth to keep his pearl stored in, as he did before his transformation into a Reaver.
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
The Crits for Breakfast team is returning to the characters from Lost Mines of Phandelver, this time taking on the challenges of the Hoard of the Dragon Queen. We'll be starting tonight at 4pm PST, where else but twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. I wasn't writing episode summaries for our Phandelver game, since I honestly wasn't expecting it to go as long as it did or get as detailed, but I'm planning to start writing them again! Both for the sake of the game... and also as a means of keeping notes for myself. Anyway, as far as a summary goes, here's a nice, truncated summary of what the party did last time...
Our party of heroes first met when they were hired by the Rockseeker Brothers to assist them in delivering supplies to the town of Phandalin to help them with a "Big Project". Katniss, the half-elf Ranger, was already familiar with the Rockseekers, having worked with them a few times in scouting sites and helping to clear out wild animals. The Half-Orc wizard, G'houl, is a student in the House of Knowledge in the city of Neverwinter, assigned to assist the Rockseekers as a sort of "internship" to test his skills and expand his knowledge. A fanciful tiefling bard, Dahlia, is a stranger to these lands, eager to take on a job that involves travel and meeting new people. And finally there's Loki, a Changeling cleric loyal to Tymora, the Goddess of Luck and Fortune, who is always looking for a way to make some quick and easy gold, but Lady Luck is fickle, and this seemingly simple task is hit with bad luck early on...
When Gundren Rockseeker and his friend, Sildar Hallwinter, are abducted by Goblins, the party does everything they can to rescue their employer. But every victory leads to a new complication... rescuing Sildar only reveals that Gundren has been taken elsewhere. Returning to Phandalin finds the town under the heel of a group of thugs calling themselves the Redbrand. Capturing their leader, a man calling himself Glasstaff, only reveals that he's been a tool of another figure all along. With each step they learn that everything they've experienced has been the manipulations of a powerful necromancer calling themselves the Black Spider.
After bringing law to Phandalin, the party is given a unique offer from a fellow cleric of Tymora, who reveals herself to be a member of the clandestine order known as The Harpers... a secretive gathering of spies and adventurers who seek justice and balance across the lands. The party is invited to join the Harpers, and all but Katniss accept... they are given a quest to seek the lost spellbook of a great wizard known as Bowgentle. The harpers pledge aid to the party before they leave to finally rescue Gundren from a lost wizard's tower over run with more goblins from the Cragmaw clan.
With Gundren rescued he reveals that he and his brothers had discovered the long-lost Wave Echo Cave... a rich mine filled with both precious stones and tapped into a font of chaotic magical energy. It is best known as the home of the Forge of Spells... a supernatural forge where many of the great weapons of legend were crafted. The mine was thought lost after a deadly assault by orcish and human warlords who wanted the power of the forge for themselves. The party makes their way to the mine... battling through hordes of undead, dangerous slimes, and minions of the Black Spider before finally confronting him, seeing him now as a Drowish Man. Once defeated, the party chooses not to kill him... instead interrogating him, learning his name is Nezznar. Probing deeper they learn he is the son of a noble family... unfortunately, in Drow culture, men are seen as lesser beings, and he was treated as simply a tool for his family. Using riches stolen from his own family he sought the mine, not simply seeking power for power's sake, but instead seeking to gain enough power and wealth to return home and change the ways of his people.
Despite his egregious crimes, his motivation strikes a nerve, especially for Dahlia. When they return him to Phandalin to face punishment for his crimes she spends time to connect with him, to speak... to convince him that he can seek his goals without harming others. And although he thinks her naive at first, gradually seeing them, seeing what they've accomplished, seeing how the world can be made better through cooperation and kindness... he begrudgingly opens himself to the party's influence.
With Nezznar captured and the mines freed, the party is left with one last goal... the search for Bowgentle's spellbook. This takes them to the town of Conyberry, where a Banshee is said to be the keeper of the book. Before they get too deep, however, they are luckily met by Reidoth, a member of Katniss's clan and a skilled, if a bit airheaded Druid. He warns them of the town's infestation of Undead, corrupted trees, and most importantly, a Young Green Dragon who has taken up residence in the town's crumbling tower... as well as a group of cultists who seek to ally themselves with the creature. The party intends to avoid the dragon on their way to seek the Banshee's advice, but an ill-timed Thunderwave immediately draws the creature's attention. An intense battle ensues, aided by the magical items recovered in Wave Echo Cave, the young heroes manage to defeat the dragon, recovering more magical artifacts from its horde. However, when they seek the Banshee it informs them it no longer possesses Bowgentle's spellbook, instead directing them to a small village far to the South known as Greenest...
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