The Crits for Breakfast Crew are going to go live tonight with our homebrew campaign of Sacrament. Come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty tonight at 7pm PST for more fun and games in the Reaver Capital. In case you missed last week's session, here's what happened:
Disparate families meet together… Ricky’s Mother, the “Diva De Luna,” Elizabeth Ghallanda, as well as his Uncle Henri and cousin Misty are joined by Ash’s family… older brother Argus, younger brother Aylis, and Argus’s Wife and Child Yuki and Soba, and finally Fidget’s children… the adult children Fidget Jr. and Sly Smile, as well as his infant child, Kane. Even Kanec’s brother is nearby but, he recently took a job as Elizabeth’s bodyguard for her visit to Tiavet, although he’s kept busy protecting the house from her growing horde of fans. Dinner is delicious, although Fidget Jr. and Misty continue to argue, after Jr. tried to give Misty a compliment… albeit in the crude, objectifying manner that’s considered normal in Goblin culture.
Everyone sits and chats, learning more about each other. Liz demands attention from Ricky, happy to spend time with her child. She talks about how she’ll be giving free tickets for her concert, and also states that she’s in the process of arranging to perform at the military ball… apparently the entertainer who was originally scheduled to perform was unable to attend due to the war. Once dinner is finished, Crush finally opens up to the rest of the family about why they had asked them to meet… he knows that family members of the Grimveils have been targeted by the Depraved Gloom… Azure and Ash were both cursed before they were even born. Despite coming from a family of prominent Sorcerers, Ash couldn’t cast spells natively, and Azure needed to train in a unique martial art that draws power from the Astral Plane rather than her own power. He explains that they were targeted for being the children of Grimveils… and they also wonder if Misty was targeted as well, since her mother Gilly is also a Grimveil (although even she didn’t know that about her Mother). A slightly awkward casting of Identify on the base of her spine by Ricky causes him to realize that she’s been cursed as well… although unlike Azure and Ash, she had never practiced any form of magic, so the curse that absorbs magical energy and drains the host in the process hasn’t affected her. Discussing the curse more, one of the early signs is a premature birth, making Yuki worry as her son Soba was also born premature. Argus takes a moment in private to test his son, and to his horror he realizes that Soba as well has been afflicted with the curse… something that may have gone horribly, as Soba is on the verge of beginning his magical training.
As everyone reels from these revelations, Ash also explains the nature of her Patron, and how he used her heart as his Phylactery… which also means that, if she completes her Revenant instinct to kill her quarry and, by doing so, destroys her body… the destruction of the Phylactery incorrectly could result in a burst of magical energy. They also reveal that the man who killed Ash is also the man who, at the very least, cursed Azure, and Aylis realizes to his horror that he thought he saw the man who killed Ash near Yuki before Soba’s birth… at the time, Aylis was still mute from the trauma and thought it was a hallucination. Crush gives him a motivational speech, assuring him that the mistakes he made in the past are less important than what he does now. This seems to comfort Aylis as he and Argus now know what they need to research… a cure for the curse, and some means of extracting the Phylactery from Ash’s heart without tearing out her own soul along with it. Around this time they’re soon joined by Alex, the Female Reaver who studies with Aylis. She has arrived with books borrowed from the University, hoping to get a headstart on all the research into necromancy to help Ash.
With Alys and Alex focused on studying they meet Zeke, the giant mimic, who is eager to join Elizabeth’s entourage… with Elizabeth excited at the performance opportunities of having a mimic with her on stage. Everyone tries to calm down and enjoy some cake while they make plans on how best to remain safe in the Capital now that they know they’re all being stalked by the Depraved Gloom. Sly and Fidget Jr. opt to join Elizabeth’s entourage… on top of being a powerful Bard in her own right, she employs a small army of well-trained body guards and has allied herself with a group of Tiavet Dragons. Henri, who has always been a homebody, is encouraged to stay with Argus, a powerful Sorcerer who was very nearly the Archmage of his home kingdom, although Misty still wants to spend time with her Aunt Elizabeth and stays with her instead.
Ash also asks about her former Fiancee, only to learn that not only has he married someone else, but he’s expecting a child. He plans to name the child “Methea”… named in honor of Ash, whose real name is “Promethea”. This gives Ash little comfort, especially when she also learns that her Ex-Fiancee is contributing directly to the war against the Reavers. As the conversation is winding down, the others are leaving for the night… Elizabeth is the first to leave, taking with her Sly, Fidget Jr., Misty, and even Zeke the mimic. As Argus is preparing to leave, Crush takes him aside… in all the talking, they haven’t managed to explain to him yet about the Scarf of Amor which can be used to cast True Resurrection… explaining that, if Ash’s soul can somehow be freed from Larlock’s Phylactery, she can be revived, even if her body is completely destroyed. Argus understands, and he intends to focus any research he does on freeing Ash first, with the curse as the second concern.
With that decided, Aylis and Alex want to stay in Kanec’s house to focus on their studying. Alex needs to borrow Ricky’s Sending Feather to get permission from her father for a “sleepover”, while Crush intends to go to the Blood Rings… a well known gladiator pit, where he knows that others he spoke to have been looking for information about the Man with the Raven Sword. Ash, however, opts to stay with her brother, and Fidget stays with her as well. Ricky decides to stay at the home as well to do some cooking and send letters to others. Meanwhile, Azure accompanies Crush to the Blood Rings, and Kanec comes along, eager to see Azure compete. Once in the Blood Rings, Crush and Azure both sign up to compete, and Crush finds Logan, the Half-Orc Reaver who’s training Fidget Jr. as a blacksmith… and more importantly, has been using his position as a weaponsmaker to look for the Raven-handled blade that Ash’s killer carries. Logan implies that he has information to share, but only if Crush wins in the ring. Crush eagerly agrees, and as he passes by the ring he notices a pair of Kobolds adjusting some kind of mechanism under the ring… although what, exactly, those mechanisms do isn’t clear.
A scantily clad woman dressed as a gladiator announces the contest… there’s a variety of challenges coming up, including a tag team match, a free for all, and even a caged fire match. Crush and Azure are approached by another woman who collects their 10gp entrance fee, and within Tiavet they’re actually allowed to bet on themselves. Crush doesn’t hesitate to bet all of his remaining money on himself, while Azure takes the safer bet on just a new entrant winning. The two of them join as a team for the first round of combat. As they hear the first group of combatants introduced, Crush laments that they didn’t think of a name for their tag team. They watch another pair of teams battle first, learning that weapons aren’t allowed in this first round of combat. The two teams battle fiercely… but ultimately a team composed of a human and dwarf manage to squeeze out a victory, but both teams are bloodied and bruised by the end. Luckily magic users are on hand to make sure there’s no permanent damage.
Meanwhile, in Kanec’s home, Fidget is lamenting how boring it is to just sit and watch Aylis and Alex studying. Ricky, however, focuses on a painting he’s been working on of Corrio and his mother, based on a primitive photograph he had seen of her. They begin to chat about school, with Fidget baffled at the thought of his son actually attending school. They notice that Alex has an occasional twitch… Azmira, the Female Reaver spirit cursed to inhabit Fidget’s armor, comments that Alex should have already blood raged, and surmises that she’s deliberately holding back on her blood rage. Ricky notes that it’s a bit awkward to have this conversation so loudly with Alex sitting just across the room, but Azmira can tell that Alex is so deeply focused on her research that she wouldn’t notice anything. The spirit of Azmira also taunts Ricky… after learning of his connection to the Night Mother, she knows that if Alex becomes aware of his connection that it will be enough to trigger her Blood Rage… clearly hoping for the young Reaver to slaughter Ricky. Alex takes a snack break, while Aylis comes to speak to his sister. Aylis confesses that Alex didn’t actually get permission to take some of the more dangerous books, and she risks being expelled… something he feels guilty for, since Alex is putting her future in jeopardy to help Aylis’ family. As they talk Ricky accidentally lets slip Azmira’s name… a name that Aylis recognizes… he doesn’t know the full details of her life, but he does know that the armor is considered cursed and wonders why Fidget would be wearing cursed armor. Digging into the lessons he learned in Tiavet University, he recognizes her as the first, and only, female Warlord who was cursed by Sovereign for jealously killing her sister. Azmira doesn’t appreciate how Aylis talks about her and threatens to awaken Alex, but Ash defuses the situation… asking them to not antagonize the morphing armor that can form itself into breasts on Fidget, and Azmira does Ash one better by shifting into the form of multiple pairs. Aylis realizes that Azmira is the only reason Fidget is still alive… he knows that Fidget is a “Made Reaver”… a non-Reaver converted by getting Reaver blood in their bloodstream… a process that normally drives the Made Reaver insane, as their bodies can’t withstand the curse that resides deep in a Reaver’s very blood.
Aylis decides to change the subject, commenting on how surprised he is to meet her… her confident flamboyance surprising compared to Ricky’s more blunt and goofy attitude. Ricky is hesitant to open up about his family history… his Mother was forced out of his life by his father until recently… Ricky things on his father Tricky, and how he had betrayed Elizabeth, how he had turned Henri over to the Depraved Gloom and help to arrange his own sister, Gilly, being sold into slavery. The discussion gets a bit too heavy, and instead Ricky and Fidget decide to look for alcohol. Aylis expresses interest in drinking as well… and although Ash discourages her 16-year-old brother from drinking, she relents to allow him a single drink. Meanwhile, Ash takes some time to talk to her brother, curious about the kind of books he’s reading. Ash uses her Eldritch Invocation, Eyes of the Runekeeper, which allows her to read any written language, to assist with Aylis’s research. The books detail many forbidden necromancy techniques, such as a spellbook that details how to “revive” still-born infant… an abomination that gets the writer of the spellbook executed.
Alex gets in on the idea of drinking as well. She’s eager to sneak a single glass of wine, along with Aylis while the adults drink without hesitation. Alex appreciates the subtle taste of Venom in her wine… causing Ash to panic and take Ricky’s wine glass away from him… since unlike Alex, he doesn’t have a Reaver’s immunity to poison. However, Ricky had been careful to get a non-poisonous wine for himself… unfortunately, Ash’s powers of decay causes the wine to suddenly age into a full-on liquor… Alex is fascinated by the idea of “Undead Wine”, and tries to convince everyone to let her try some, but the adults refuse. Still, Alex uses sleight of hand to get a taste, while Ricky responds by downing the rest of it before she can drink more… resulting in both of them getting completely drunk. Ricky sings and dances, while Alex is trying to continue studying… although she’s clearly impaired by her unexpected inebriation.
Sorry for the chaotic schedule lately... our last session of Sacrament unfortunately got canceled, but I'll leave the summary up for the previous stream for anyone who's curious. Instead, however, we're going to be streaming Hoard of the Dragon Queen tonight at 7pm PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. The session before ended with technical difficulties, but this latest session went off without a hitch. Read on to see what you might have missed:
Dahlia takes Jerome away to give Loki, Katniss, and Iarno some privacy... although Loki opts to use her newly learned Modify Memory spell to simply convince Iarno that he had a night of passion with the two of them. Meanwhile, Jerome is trying to simply drink himself back into a stupor while Dahlia and G’houl work to get him sobered up and to talk about what happened. With some convincing, Jerome eventually admits that he indeed killed his fellow Lords’ Alliance member, Jeremiah, the other half of the “Jerry’s” as they were playfully called. Iarno had told Jerome how to contact his former teacher, the Red Wizard Rath Modar, who helped to arrange Iarno’s escape from prison. Ironically, it was Jerome and Jeremiah that were assigned to hunt down Iarno... it was known that Jerome was familiar with Iarno, and the hope was that this would be a boon in tracking down the escaped criminal, although none at the Lords’ Alliance knew just how close of a friendship Jerome and Iarno actually had.
During their search Jerome attempted to misdirect Jeremiah and travel in the wrong direction... but Jeremiah proved too cunning and continuously found evidence pointing them in Iarno’s actual direction. It was when they found notes written by Iarno (and left with a local barmaid) that things took a turn... Jeremiah had the idea to use them to scry on Iarno’s location, and Jerome, in a panic, attempted to destroy the evidence. When caught by Jeremiah he lashed out violently, killing the other Jerry before retreating to rejoin Iarno in Parnast. He also reveals that he has remained in regular contact with Skilled, the Tiefling senior Lords’ Alliance member the party had met in Waterdeep. Dahlia asks to see the Sending Stone he uses for communication, and slyly doesn’t return it, which the drunken soldier fails to notice. Dahlia sees in Jerome a lost soul wracked with guilt, with Jerome struggling to keep back tears as he realize shis actions may have doomed the world itself. She convinces Jerome that he can contribute now by helping them infiltrate the Castle and, hopefully, prevent the spell to summon Tiamat. Before the night passes G’houl is contacted by Professor Raphael, serving as a messenger to inform him that Corinth and the Lords’ Alliance troop he’s leading will arrive in Parnast before night falls on the next day, and G’houl informs him that the cult will have abandoned the town and left behind zombies and vampire spawns to feed on the remaining villagers.
After setting up bedrolls in the back room, the party awakes in the morning to the sounds of the cult members hastily abandoning the town of Parnast. The Protectors of Phandalin get Iarno to provide them with disguises as his “Redbrand Warriors”, a position held by knights in service to the Red Wizards of Thay. Dahlia makes a point to find Gundalin, the wheelwright, and inform her about the troops on their way, warning her to seek shelter in the Golden Tankard Tavern to remain safe from the zombies and vampires until then. She also takes the time to pay the mercenaries who the cult were also planning to abandon in the tavern to help defend the civilians. While Dahlia and G’houl focus on this, Katniss and Loki visit the stables, where Katniss strongarms Their way into the stables to take over barding and guiding the Wyvern that Katniss had bonded with the previous day. Katniss’s technique with animal handling and confident attitude is respected by the cultists, who seem conditioned to bow to the strong.
As they find themselves joining the queue of cultists entering the castle, they notice that the man they had killed the previous day, Captain Othelstan, is being hailed as a hero and individuals are claiming to have witnessed his harrowing battle with “The Doppelganger”. They’re happy to hear of the lies, as it muddies the water and makes their own contribution to his death harder to track. Approaching the large castle, they see that Storm Giant’s castle is made of magically re-inforced ice. Two massive Storm Giant statues stand at the entrance... as they enter, Iarno instructs them all to loudly proclaim, “Hail Blagothkus,” although he doesn’t state clearly why... the reason becomes clear as G’houl struggles momentarily with the name “Blagothkus”, with the large statues beginning to move and readying to attack before he successfully states the password and is allowed safe travel into the castle.
Making their way inside, the castle beings to fly to its destinations as they find the massive castle clearly built to Giant proportions. Massive doorways leading into cavernous rooms built of living ice. Iarno seems familiar with at least the lower floor of the castle, although he repeatedly tries to avoid directing the party toward Rath Modar’s room. He manages to convince them to get some food first, entering the kitchen which is staffed entirely by Kobolds. Katniss notes a white coloration to the Kobolds’ scales, and knows that a Dragon’s very presence can alter the land around them, including creatures... Kobolds in paritcular are susceptible to this level of influence, and it seems likely that the Kobolds are loyal to Glazhael Cloudchaser, the White Dragon allied with the Cult of Tiamat who resides somewhere in the caverns beneath the floating castle. What catches everyone’s attention, however, is a large griffin watching over the Kobolds. Dahlia entices the Griffin to let her pet it, and the Kobolds explain that the Griffin belongs to Blagothkus, the Cloud Giant that owns the castle, and it watches them in the kitchen to assure they don’t take too much of the Giant’s own food stores.
After meeting the Griffin, Iarno tries to convince the others, rather than seeking out Rath Modar, to speak to some of the giants living in the castle. They make their way to a room where two Stone Giants seem to be performing some sort of magical ritual using what, to the Stone Giants, is a small cauldron. G’houl discerns that it’s likely being used to cast some kind of Divination spell, most likely Augury. Dahlia decides to speak to them, noting the slate-blue color of their skin, hoping that her own blue skin will give her an advantage in conversing with them. The Giants are angered at having their ritual interrupted, and make it clear that they’re no fans of the Dragon Cultists. Dahlia’s disguise as a Redbrand Warrior does help, as they seem less judgmental about the Red Wizards. Dahlia still evades revealing too many specifics about their true motivations, but presses the Giants for more information, hoping to learn why Blagothkus is allied with the cult, despite Giants being known enemies to Dragons. The female Giant, who introduces herself as Hulda, explains that Blagothkus is attempting to empower the dragons so that the Giant people can more easily be organized against their ancient opponents. Blagothkus has become obsessed with restoring glory to the Giants following the death of his wife, Esclarotta, whose soul actually powers and controls the magic that animates the Cloud Giant’s castle. Dahlia can tell from the reverence with which Hulda speaks of Esclarotta that the giant’s all feel struck by her loss... When Dahlia asks if all this is what Esclarotta would want, Hulda admits that she doesn’t believe so. Dahlia sees this as an opening, and asks to be introduced to Blagothkus, hoping she can convince him to turn his back on the cultists.
Hulda isn’t phased when Dahlia introduces her friends, although Hulda does seem to recognize Iarno, but doesn’t give him much thought. Still, Iarno takes advantage of Hulda’s presence to hide behind her as she guides the party up a set of spiral stairs to the upper courtyard of the castle. The Upper Courtyard appears to be more fully staffed by Giants, with Ogres visible training or doing other busywork. There are few cultists visible, but Hulda does point out one location in particular... warning that an isolated tower visible nearby is home to a vampire. Now that they know the vampire’s location, they continue to the tallest tower of the castle where Blagothkus waits.
Entering the tower, they notice that Ogres wearing large helmets with massive plumed feathers are stationed inside. They salute Hulda, who leads them up a spiral of tall stairs... stairs clearly not built with medium-sized folk in mind, making it a minor challenge just to climb the tower. On the top floor they find the Cloud Giant Blagothkus... mystically floating in a meditative stance while two Ogres brush his extremely long white hair. Hulda manages to convince him to speak to the Protectors of Phandalin, and Blagothkus agrees and dismisses Hulda. As the most skilled member with her words, Dahlia steps forward to speak with Blagothkus. He explains that he seeks to bring Glory to the Giant-folk, stating that Glory cannot come without conflict, and conflict cannot arise without a worthy opponent. He bemoans the fact that Dragons are content to remain hidden in their caves guarding their hoards, and claims his work is simply to pull them into the public so that the Giants will have something to unite against. Dahlia feeds into Blagothkus’s ego, not objecting to his plan, but encouraging him that he’s accomplished his goal... the unity already brought to the dragons should be enough to mobilize the giants. She helps to convince him that the time has come to enact his true plan... reject the cultists and take back his castle for himself, even implying that the cultists think that they’re the ones manipulating him. It takes some convincing, but Dahlia is extremely persuasive, and Blagothkus is ready to command his people to turn on the cultists and eject them from the castle. However, the Party realizes they still need time to make sure they can find Bowgentle’s Spellbook, and hopefully gather more information as well. They instead convince Blagothkus to give them time... he agrees, telling them that he will wait until nightfall to turn on the cult, and gives the party a code phrase they can deliver to any of the giant-folk on the castle as a signal to begin the assault: “For Esclarotta.”
Content that their plan is coming to fruition, they leave Blagothkus’s tower and discuss what they’re plan is next. They left early in the morning, and now the castle is floating above the cloud land as they approach noon. The bright sunlight provides a unique opportunity to face the vampire when she’s at her weakest, but the book is potentially more important, although it’s protected by Rath Modar. For them, the question remains: The Vampire, or the Wizard?
The Crits for Breakfast Crew are going to go live tonight with our homebrew campaign of Sacrament. Come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty tonight at 7pm PST for more fun and games in the Reaver Capital. In case you missed last week's session, here's what happened:
Disparate families meet together… Ricky’s Mother, the “Diva De Luna,” Elizabeth Ghallanda, as well as his Uncle Henri and cousin Misty are joined by Ash’s family… older brother Argus, younger brother Aylis, and Argus’s Wife and Child Yuki and Soba, and finally Fidget’s children… the adult children Fidget Jr. and Sly Smile, as well as his infant child, Kane. Even Kanec’s brother is nearby but, he recently took a job as Elizabeth’s bodyguard for her visit to Tiavet, although he’s kept busy protecting the house from her growing horde of fans. Dinner is delicious, although Fidget Jr. and Misty continue to argue, after Jr. tried to give Misty a compliment… albeit in the crude, objectifying manner that’s considered normal in Goblin culture.
Everyone sits and chats, learning more about each other. Liz demands attention from Ricky, happy to spend time with her child. She talks about how she’ll be giving free tickets for her concert, and also states that she’s in the process of arranging to perform at the military ball… apparently the entertainer who was originally scheduled to perform was unable to attend due to the war. Once dinner is finished, Crush finally opens up to the rest of the family about why they had asked them to meet… he knows that family members of the Grimveils have been targeted by the Depraved Gloom… Azure and Ash were both cursed before they were even born. Despite coming from a family of prominent Sorcerers, Ash couldn’t cast spells natively, and Azure needed to train in a unique martial art that draws power from the Astral Plane rather than her own power. He explains that they were targeted for being the children of Grimveils… and they also wonder if Misty was targeted as well, since her mother Gilly is also a Grimveil (although even she didn’t know that about her Mother). A slightly awkward casting of Identify on the base of her spine by Ricky causes him to realize that she’s been cursed as well… although unlike Azure and Ash, she had never practiced any form of magic, so the curse that absorbs magical energy and drains the host in the process hasn’t affected her. Discussing the curse more, one of the early signs is a premature birth, making Yuki worry as her son Soba was also born premature. Argus takes a moment in private to test his son, and to his horror he realizes that Soba as well has been afflicted with the curse… something that may have gone horribly, as Soba is on the verge of beginning his magical training.
As everyone reels from these revelations, Ash also explains the nature of her Patron, and how he used her heart as his Phylactery… which also means that, if she completes her Revenant instinct to kill her quarry and, by doing so, destroys her body… the destruction of the Phylactery incorrectly could result in a burst of magical energy. They also reveal that the man who killed Ash is also the man who, at the very least, cursed Azure, and Aylis realizes to his horror that he thought he saw the man who killed Ash near Yuki before Soba’s birth… at the time, Aylis was still mute from the trauma and thought it was a hallucination. Crush gives him a motivational speech, assuring him that the mistakes he made in the past are less important than what he does now. This seems to comfort Aylis as he and Argus now know what they need to research… a cure for the curse, and some means of extracting the Phylactery from Ash’s heart without tearing out her own soul along with it. Around this time they’re soon joined by Alex, the Female Reaver who studies with Aylis. She has arrived with books borrowed from the University, hoping to get a headstart on all the research into necromancy to help Ash.
With Alys and Alex focused on studying they meet Zeke, the giant mimic, who is eager to join Elizabeth’s entourage… with Elizabeth excited at the performance opportunities of having a mimic with her on stage. Everyone tries to calm down and enjoy some cake while they make plans on how best to remain safe in the Capital now that they know they’re all being stalked by the Depraved Gloom. Sly and Fidget Jr. opt to join Elizabeth’s entourage… on top of being a powerful Bard in her own right, she employs a small army of well-trained body guards and has allied herself with a group of Tiavet Dragons. Henri, who has always been a homebody, is encouraged to stay with Argus, a powerful Sorcerer who was very nearly the Archmage of his home kingdom, although Misty still wants to spend time with her Aunt Elizabeth and stays with her instead.
Ash also asks about her former Fiancee, only to learn that not only has he married someone else, but he’s expecting a child. He plans to name the child “Methea”… named in honor of Ash, whose real name is “Promethea”. This gives Ash little comfort, especially when she also learns that her Ex-Fiancee is contributing directly to the war against the Reavers. As the conversation is winding down, the others are leaving for the night… Elizabeth is the first to leave, taking with her Sly, Fidget Jr., Misty, and even Zeke the mimic. As Argus is preparing to leave, Crush takes him aside… in all the talking, they haven’t managed to explain to him yet about the Scarf of Amor which can be used to cast True Resurrection… explaining that, if Ash’s soul can somehow be freed from Larlock’s Phylactery, she can be revived, even if her body is completely destroyed. Argus understands, and he intends to focus any research he does on freeing Ash first, with the curse as the second concern.
With that decided, Aylis and Alex want to stay in Kanec’s house to focus on their studying. Alex needs to borrow Ricky’s Sending Feather to get permission from her father for a “sleepover”, while Crush intends to go to the Blood Rings… a well known gladiator pit, where he knows that others he spoke to have been looking for information about the Man with the Raven Sword. Ash, however, opts to stay with her brother, and Fidget stays with her as well. Ricky decides to stay at the home as well to do some cooking and send letters to others. Meanwhile, Azure accompanies Crush to the Blood Rings, and Kanec comes along, eager to see Azure compete. Once in the Blood Rings, Crush and Azure both sign up to compete, and Crush finds Logan, the Half-Orc Reaver who’s training Fidget Jr. as a blacksmith… and more importantly, has been using his position as a weaponsmaker to look for the Raven-handled blade that Ash’s killer carries. Logan implies that he has information to share, but only if Crush wins in the ring. Crush eagerly agrees, and as he passes by the ring he notices a pair of Kobolds adjusting some kind of mechanism under the ring… although what, exactly, those mechanisms do isn’t clear.
A scantily clad woman dressed as a gladiator announces the contest… there’s a variety of challenges coming up, including a tag team match, a free for all, and even a caged fire match. Crush and Azure are approached by another woman who collects their 10gp entrance fee, and within Tiavet they’re actually allowed to bet on themselves. Crush doesn’t hesitate to bet all of his remaining money on himself, while Azure takes the safer bet on just a new entrant winning. The two of them join as a team for the first round of combat. As they hear the first group of combatants introduced, Crush laments that they didn’t think of a name for their tag team. They watch another pair of teams battle first, learning that weapons aren’t allowed in this first round of combat. The two teams battle fiercely… but ultimately a team composed of a human and dwarf manage to squeeze out a victory, but both teams are bloodied and bruised by the end. Luckily magic users are on hand to make sure there’s no permanent damage.
Meanwhile, in Kanec’s home, Fidget is lamenting how boring it is to just sit and watch Aylis and Alex studying. Ricky, however, focuses on a painting he’s been working on of Corrio and his mother, based on a primitive photograph he had seen of her. They begin to chat about school, with Fidget baffled at the thought of his son actually attending school. They notice that Alex has an occasional twitch… Azmira, the Female Reaver spirit cursed to inhabit Fidget’s armor, comments that Alex should have already blood raged, and surmises that she’s deliberately holding back on her blood rage. Ricky notes that it’s a bit awkward to have this conversation so loudly with Alex sitting just across the room, but Azmira can tell that Alex is so deeply focused on her research that she wouldn’t notice anything. The spirit of Azmira also taunts Ricky… after learning of his connection to the Night Mother, she knows that if Alex becomes aware of his connection that it will be enough to trigger her Blood Rage… clearly hoping for the young Reaver to slaughter Ricky. Alex takes a snack break, while Aylis comes to speak to his sister. Aylis confesses that Alex didn’t actually get permission to take some of the more dangerous books, and she risks being expelled… something he feels guilty for, since Alex is putting her future in jeopardy to help Aylis’ family. As they talk Ricky accidentally lets slip Azmira’s name… a name that Aylis recognizes… he doesn’t know the full details of her life, but he does know that the armor is considered cursed and wonders why Fidget would be wearing cursed armor. Digging into the lessons he learned in Tiavet University, he recognizes her as the first, and only, female Warlord who was cursed by Sovereign for jealously killing her sister. Azmira doesn’t appreciate how Aylis talks about her and threatens to awaken Alex, but Ash defuses the situation… asking them to not antagonize the morphing armor that can form itself into breasts on Fidget, and Azmira does Ash one better by shifting into the form of multiple pairs. Aylis realizes that Azmira is the only reason Fidget is still alive… he knows that Fidget is a “Made Reaver”… a non-Reaver converted by getting Reaver blood in their bloodstream… a process that normally drives the Made Reaver insane, as their bodies can’t withstand the curse that resides deep in a Reaver’s very blood.
Aylis decides to change the subject, commenting on how surprised he is to meet her… her confident flamboyance surprising compared to Ricky’s more blunt and goofy attitude. Ricky is hesitant to open up about his family history… his Mother was forced out of his life by his father until recently… Ricky things on his father Tricky, and how he had betrayed Elizabeth, how he had turned Henri over to the Depraved Gloom and help to arrange his own sister, Gilly, being sold into slavery. The discussion gets a bit too heavy, and instead Ricky and Fidget decide to look for alcohol. Aylis expresses interest in drinking as well… and although Ash discourages her 16-year-old brother from drinking, she relents to allow him a single drink. Meanwhile, Ash takes some time to talk to her brother, curious about the kind of books he’s reading. Ash uses her Eldritch Invocation, Eyes of the Runekeeper, which allows her to read any written language, to assist with Aylis’s research. The books detail many forbidden necromancy techniques, such as a spellbook that details how to “revive” still-born infant… an abomination that gets the writer of the spellbook executed.
Alex gets in on the idea of drinking as well. She’s eager to sneak a single glass of wine, along with Aylis while the adults drink without hesitation. Alex appreciates the subtle taste of Venom in her wine… causing Ash to panic and take Ricky’s wine glass away from him… since unlike Alex, he doesn’t have a Reaver’s immunity to poison. However, Ricky had been careful to get a non-poisonous wine for himself… unfortunately, Ash’s powers of decay causes the wine to suddenly age into a full-on liquor… Alex is fascinated by the idea of “Undead Wine”, and tries to convince everyone to let her try some, but the adults refuse. Still, Alex uses sleight of hand to get a taste, while Ricky responds by downing the rest of it before she can drink more… resulting in both of them getting completely drunk. Ricky sings and dances, while Alex is trying to continue studying… although she’s clearly impaired by her unexpected inebriation.
Just to remind everyone, we weren't able to stream last week, but Sacrament is coming back tonight at 7:30 PM PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
Tonight will be the Finale to Hoard of the Dragon Queen! For those who don't know, Hoard of the Dragon Queen is the first in a two-part adventure, commonly known as Tyranny of Dragons. So while this particular chapter in the story is finishing, the Protectors of Phandalin will return. Still, this is a momentous night, so we're starting a little earlier than usual. Join us at our home of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty at 6pm PST. And of course, as always, here's what you might have missed from last week's session:
Dahlia takes a moment to check back with Blagothkus about a topic the party forgot to bring up... just how much treasure would they be allowed to keep once the castle is taken back? Dahlia is able to persuade the Cloud Giant to let her and her allies take as much as they can, with Blagothkus reasoning that small-folk can only carry so much... although he’s unaware of Loki’s Bag of Holding. Meanwhile, Katniss notices one of Blagothkus’s high-ranking Ogre soldiers (discernable by their helmets with large feather plumes on top) approaching another group of Ogres doing training drills. Katniss is unable to understand the Giant language, but can intuit that the Ogres are being informed about the plan to turn on the cultists as the message seems to spread, and They recognize the name “Esclarotta” being repeated. They also notice that the heavy fog that covers the courtyard has begun to thicken, reasoning that the Giants are preparing the fog as cover for the upcoming assault.
Once back with their group, Iarno once again encourages everyone to focus on the vampire, Sandesyl Morgia, rather than risk confronting his teacher, the Red Wizard Rath Modar. However, despite Their hatred of the Undead, Katniss in particular encourages prioritizing recovering Bowgentle’s spellbook, reasoning that it is the key to summoning Tiamat and is therefore the most dangerous object in the castle. Reluctantly, Iarno leads everyone back to the lower floors of the castle where he knows Modar can be be found. Along the way Dahlia stops to speak with Hulda, hoping to get her help in confronting Modar, or at the very least preventing others from interrupting. Hulda was speaking to the Plumed Ogre that Katniss saw earlier, and rather than go herself she assigns the Ogre to assist in her stead. He introduces himself as Flint “With a ‘Tuh’”, and follows Dahlia’s instruction as they make their way into the lower castle walls, sneaking carefully past a door that Iarno says belongs to Rezmir... the Half-Black-Dragon leader of this sect of the Cult of Tiamat.
Making their way into a large library filled with arcane objects and dozens of books, although Dahlia and Katniss both immediately spot the distinct blue cover of Bowgentle’s lost spellbook sitting on a large desk being pored over by the wizard Rath Modar. Finally meeting this powerful wizard, they see a tall, pale bald man with distinct Thayan tattoos wearing an elaborately designed red robe with massive, intimidating collar. Along with Modar is a Tiefling student and two human knights in red cloaks... the Redbrand Warriors who serve the Red Wizards of Thay. Modar is clearly unhappy to have his student arriving with so many “Redbrand Warriors”, since that is what the party is disguising themselves as. He orders the Party members to leave and allow him to speak to Iarno in private, but Dahlia successfully plays dumb, frustrating Modar but causing him to lower his guard and ignore them... instead Iarno takes the plunge to attempt to distract his teacher and give his new allies the opportunity to steal the book (and hopefully avoid combat). Despite his nervousness, Iarno engages Modar in an argument about Iarno’s decision to grant the mercenaries and criminals he regularly works with the title of “Redbrand”, a name that has more cultural significance for Modar. Indeed, Modar’s own Redbrand Warriors confront the party, clearly viewing them as lesser, assuring them that no matter what Iarno calls them, to the “True Redbrand Warriors” they will simply be seen as Thugs. Dahlia takes advantage of this confrontation to try and flirt with the Redbrands, trying to fluster them enough to keep them distracted... giving Katniss the opportunity to sneak toward Modar’s desk... relying on Iarno to keep Modar distracted as Katniss quickly snatches Bowgentle’s spellbook. Once they have their prize the Party quickly makes excuses, leaving quickly... Dahlia takes a moment to tell Flint to keep the door closed and not let anyone through... although Iarno is jogging as fast as he can, reasoning that it will only take Modar minutes to realize that his precious book has been taken.
With the spellbook secured, everyone quickly retreats to the upper courtyard, where there are far more of the Ogres than Cultists. Everyone agrees that the spellbook should be kept in Loki’s Bag of Holding for whatever extra security is offered by keeping it in the extradimensional space of the enchanted bag. Now that they have the book, the party opts to face the Vampire Sandesyl, knowing that she will most easily be defeated under the light of day. They see the tower where they know her to reside... a 75 foot tower that looks poorly maintained. Dahlia seeks advice from one of the Ogre soldiers, who informs them that the Ogres aren’t allowed in the tower because it’s so fragile, but is able to inform her about a balcony that can be reached by climbing up the side of the tower. Satisfied with that information, Dahlia requests that he go down to the lower Courtyard and assist Flint. Moving carefully to avoid attention, the party then stealthily climbs the tower and prepares their assault.
Once at the top of the tower, everything is kicked off by Dahlia kicking open the door, floooding the interior of the tower with sunlight, catching two Vampire Spawn completely by surprise, and exposing a large coffin in the center of the room. The Vampire Spawn screech in shock and prepare to defend their mistress, a task proven much more difficult when Loki blasts the room with Shatter, destroying the lid to Sandesyl’s coffin and exposing the Elder Vampire to sunlight. However, Sandesyl is far more powerful than her subordinates, able to use a Legendary Action to leap out of the sun before it can harm her and bite Dahlia. The battle quickly goes in the Party’s favor... The Vampire Spawn die in the harsh sunlight, and Katniss unloads Sharpshooter Shots into Sandesyl. Realizing she’s in a losing situation, Sandesyl uses her vampiric powers to Charm Dahlia before rushing down the tower. Her charm isn’t quite powerful enough to completely turn Dahlia against her allies, but is enough to get her to try and slow them down to protect Sandesyl’s escape.
Katniss uses the Zephyr Strike spell to keep up with Sandesyl as she escapes. Everyone is forced to rush to keep up... Sandesyl can use her Legendary Actions to move and escape, and despite the sunlight outside, the increased fog that the Giants had released provides Sandesyl with the potential to escape without dying in the sunlight. Everyone rushes down as fast they can, except for Iarno, who attempts to stop Sandesyl by casting Web on the lower exit of the tower... which proves fruitless, since Sandesyl can simply transform into mist and enter the fog, virtually vanishing... but not before Dahlia attempts to protect her by casting Healing Word on the fleeing Vampire. However, as G’houl is attempting to fly down at top speed, Loki opts to take Katniss and use Dimension Door to chase Sandesyl. Katniss finds Themself in the unenviable position of searching for a puff of mist in a field of fog, a nearly impossible feat... but with Their in depth knowledge of the Undead Katniss is able to overcome the disadvantage and, against all odds, finds the barely visible mist that Sandesyl has morphed into, and using the Sniper’s Bowstring, manages to strike Sandesyl with a magically empowered arrow and nearly kill the Elder Vampire. Katniss knows that, upon death, a Vampire will return to mist and will eventually revive if not exposed to sunlight. Everyone struggles to find some way to clear the mist. Luckily, G’houl manages to avoid being stopped by Dahlia, and casts Gust of Wind, clearing out the fog and destroying Sandesyl in the bright light from the castle floating above the clouds.
With Sandesyl killed the party can rest easy, knowing that the vampire spawn and zombies left behind in Parnast will cease to animate now that their creator is destroyed. Knowing that Modar has most likely realized their treachery, and knowing that they must now face off against Modar and Rezmir they find some of the Ogres, telling them the code phrase to begin the assault against the cultists. The Ogres are excited at the opportunity, and everyone prepares to return to the lower courtyard and finally crush this sect of the cult. Although Dahlia realizes at the last moment that this is also putting the Kobolds in danger.
This has been another unfortunately long hiatus. Our DM, Hazel, has had some medical problems all month that prevented her from speaking for extended periods of time, which is basically all that D&D is, so we haven't been able to play in some time. Fortunately, we'll be back tonight with more of our homebrew campaign of Sacrament! Everything will go live tonight at 6pm PST at our home of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. I know it's been a long time since our last session, so I'm also going to be rereading what happened last time to remember what had happened:
As the fights in the Arena continue, Crush gives advice to Azure to focus on pinning their opponents, rather than trying to fight them to unconsciousness so they can save some strength for the next round. They’re announced as they make their way to the ring… Crush makes a showy flip into the arena, while Azure slips in more modestly. Their opponents are a pair of Reavers, and they both move faster in Initiative. A dexterous Half-Elven Reaver attacks Azure, while Crush is battled by a burly Half-Orcish Reaver. The Reaver hits Crush hard, who was cursed by Fate’s Verdict to suffer a critical attack. Crush retaliates by summoning his Rage, then headbutting his opponent, utilizing his Raging Storm to try and knock his opponent prone, but the muscular Reaver is able to resist. Azure attempts to stun her opponent, but he manages to resist… however, the two opponents aren’t able to pin them, and they’re more successful with their second round. Crush grapples his opponent, dragging him across the floor to smash his head into the turnbuckle before knocking him prone and grappling his opponent, effectively pinning the Orcish Reaver. Azure wrestles with her opponent, using stunning strikes and Patient Defense to keep up the advantage. Crush quickly takes control against his opponent, getting multiple critical hits and pinning him down in a Camel Clutch, while Azure relies on her Stunning Strikes to keep her opponent pinned. Crush defeats his opponent first through a count out before assisting Azure in pinning her opponent, the two of them claiming victory. As new gladiators facing off against popular local fighters, the odds were against the two of them… a fact that pays off with their victory, the two of them gaining a 10,000 gold pot, split evenly between the two of them. They realize that, in the Reaver country of Tiavet, Gladiators are paid obscenely well.
Meanwhile, at Kanec’s house, Ash, Ricky, Aylis and Alex are having trouble with their studies after Alex was accidentally given too much alcohol. Ash notes that Aylis seems unusually unphased by the wine he was given, and asks how long he’s been drinking. The young Elf admits he started two years ago, shortly after Ash’s death, if only to help him sleep. Ricky, meanwhile, is entertained by the drunken children, joining Alex as she drunkenly sings and dances. As Ash starts to mock Ricky for drinking too much, they both realize how much trouble they’ll all get in if Alex’s father learns she’s in this state. Ricky decides to address the problem by casting Create Breakfast and Coffee, a homebrew spell that, among other things, relieves the effects of alcohol consumption. Ricky talks with Alex about her family… she admits that she has her Dad who is raising her, and her “Father”, who had died when she was a child. Like Fidget’s children, she’s the daughter of a Siren, left by the beachside to be raised by her two Dads. She was present at her Father’s death… he was a skilled Wizard, and he fought to defend her and his husband from Slavers… and although he protected the people he loved, he lost his life in the process… dying while in a blood rage, with the skill and ability to still use magic while raging. Alex seems scared that she’ll die the same way… lost in a Blood Rage. Fidget is surprised that Reavers can cast magic while raging, since he’s familiar with raging as done by Barbarians. Alex explains that it’s only possible for Reavers who use their innately cursed blood as the source of their magic. Ricky asks to hear a bit about Sovereign, the God of the Reavers… Alex retells many of the stories they’ve already heard from Kanec, including the story of how he was betrayed and killed by the Night Mother. Ricky gets increasingly uncomfortable hearing about Sovereign, aggressively sucking on a hookah to calm himself.
Aylis brings focus back to the books they’re studying now that Alex has sobered up thanks to Ricky’s magic. Ash uses her Eyes of the Rune Keeper to assist the students with their research, since that allows her to read any language. She finds a book written in a mix of common, Reaver, and Abyssal… reading aloud from the book, she learns about a spell used for reviving the dead, although it requires the combined efforts of an entire “Coven”. Alex is hoping to join Ash as she faces off against her quarry as a Revenant, but Aylis is clearly against it… the others also feel there’s no need to put her in danger. Ash, meanwhile, remembers a book she had recovered some time ago while battle the Ladleman. Fidget fishes out the book, and Ash begins to read through it… realizing that the piece of information she couldn’t read at the time was written in Tiavet, the language of the Reavers. It details someone’s research… they had discovered a lost temple, and in flowery language it describes a group of dark beings in service of Chaos venturing deep into the Darkness and the Nether to conjure “The Abomination”, but the notes are incomplete and further details are missing. Alex recognizes the term “Nether”, and thinks on how it reminds her of other information she had learned… in particular, she knows that Homonculi are considered a form of Abomination. Ash thinks on this further… this reminds her of information about the Depraved Gloom, and she realizes she needs to contact Gilly, the most senior member of the Grimveils, in order to put all of this information together. While she discusses this with Ricky using the Message cantrip, Alex finds that pages from one of the rare books she had borrowed relating to Homonculi has been torn from the book… however, the more modern book includes enough information to reveal that homonculi can only be created by a large group of hags or witches. However, what does remain is an illustration of strange creatures… 40 or 50, with twisted, unnatural bodies, resembling hags. They’re gathered around a massive cauldron… a large star floating above, while the cauldron is surrounded by the bodies of other humanoids… including, strangely, halflings, which are not found in the land of Tiavet. In the center of the image a large, vaguely defined figure is visible glowing in the light of the star… looming imposing, with eyes that burn like pure sunlight.
Ricky works on composing a letter to his Aunt, sharing as much information with her about what they just learned, including a quick sketch of the image they just saw. Ricky sends the information using his Feather of Sending. Meanwhile, Alex mentions again that, quite literally, these are forbidden books that she stole from the College of Tiavet’s library… and she doesn’t know how she’ll return the book without getting in trouble. Ricky volunteers to return it for her, although it’s not clear if he has any better odds than her. This talk of Homonculi leads Ash to think on her life as an Artificer before her death… she even has a Homonculus of her own, a small mechanical bird animated by a magically empowered jewel. Digging into her papers she recovered from her past life, she realizes that, on her own, she could animate a small helpful creature… but what could be created by a massive crowd of spellcasters focused on a single task, pouring all their power into bringing a single being to life… the potential is both inspiring and terrifying.
As Alex is squealing with excitement, she casually mentions that the particular book she’s been reading from is known as the Ancient Lich’s Manuscript. This instantly grabs Ash’s attention, who checks the front of the book, realizing that this book was originally written by Larlock… the self-proclaimed King of the Undead. Alex is deeply excited by this, and is hoping to join the Grimveils herself, although Aylis laments that it was their membership in the Grimveils that got his parents killed. Nearly everyone present tries to talk her down, but Ash gives her the much more practical advice that what Alex has already learned puts her in danger, and she’ll only find a bigger target on her back. Ricky gets a letter back from Gilly, telling him that she needs to speak directly, asking Ricky to contact one of the Merc merchants, since they can facilitate instantaneous long-distance communication.
Ash uses the Sending spell to contact a specific Merc… the one who she had sold a Hagstone to after recovering it from the Reesa’s mother had attempted to transform her into a Night Hag as well. Ash relies on the power of Fate’s Verdict to convince the Merc to come to her as quickly as possible, with the merchant agreeing to arrive in a few minutes. However, Aylis and Alex start to argue, with Aylis trying desperately to convince Alex to abandon her plans to join the Grimveils.
The Hoard of the Dragon Queen team is back tonight as they start their journey into the Rise of Tiamat! We're going live tonight at our home of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty at 7pm PST. Things are about to take off on a fresh new adventure, with new challenges to face and finishing the battle against the cultists of Tiamat. However, it has been over a month since our last stream, so if you need a reminder for what happened last time, read on:
With combat erupting between the Giants and the Cultists, the Protectors of Phandalin, still disguised as Redbrand Warriors, hurry to the lower courtyard of the Cloud Giant’s Flying Castle. They see their Stone Giant allies in battle with the cultists, assisted by Bone Cruncher, the Cloud Giant Blagothkus’s Griffin pet. They notice that the building that houses cult leader Rezmir and Red Wizard Rath Modar is protected by high ranking cultists. Still believing them to be allies, one of the cultists approaches the party to ask what news they have from the Upper Levels... Dahlia deliberately leads them away from the door and groups them together so that Katniss can attempt to take Sharpshooter attacks to kill them all, but unfortunately Their assault, while near-fatal, still leaves the cultists conscious, and one of them is able to escape and warn Rezmir about their apparent betrayal.
Forced to fight their way to their true targets, they can see that the Ogres Dahlia had asked to try and keep Modar trapped in his room have been killed, although one of Modar’s Redbrand Warriors has been killed as well. Rezmir, already a half-black-dragon is seen wearing a finely made black mask that even more closely resembles a Black Dragon’s face than her own face already did. Rezmir pulls from her back a massive, onix-black greatsword and sends her pet Guard Drakes to attack while Modar keeps his distance, casting Globe of Invulnerability on himself, making him immune to most of the party’s magic while Rezmir marches forward to battle the party directly. Katniss, despite Their reputation as a ranged fighter, closes the gap, pulling from Their pack the Prototype Dragonspear, which can be used to cast Absorb Elements, paired with Dragonguard, which gives Them advantage to resist draconic breath makes Katniss barely slowed by Rezmir’s deadly Acid Breath attack. Dahlia, however, tries to appeal to Modar’s decency and honor... she knows that Modar’s motivation is noble, as he intends to end the slavery in his home country of Thay, but his willingness to burn the world to cinders to accomplish his goals is illogical and dangerous. However, in the heat of combat, Modar is nearly impossible to negotiate with. Still wanting to help her allies, Dahlia uses her Fey-gifted powers of Glamour, using her Mantle of Inspiration for the first time in this adventure, granting her allies temporary HP and letting them move safely while she fills the air, singing the song her father had gifted to Granny Greenskin to forge a bond with the dark fey.
The mask Rezmir wears gleams with unnatural power, and Rezmir proves able to move faster than expected, using Legendary Actions to make additional attacks and maneuver through the battlefield. Rezmir’s black blade hits with additional necrotic damage, which prevents Katniss from recovering health. Ultimately, with Jerome and Iarno assisting them, the Protectors of Phandalin have numbers on their side and fight their way closer to their enemies. They can’t help but notice bickering between Modar and Rezmir... considring Iarno is only present as a result of being Modar’s student, Rezmir blames Modar for allowing these interlopers to ruin their plans. As the two begin to realize their impending defeat, Rezmir uses a Legendary Action to cast the Darkness spell, while Modar turns invisible, dropping his Globe of Invulnerability as he attempts to run. Dahlia still wants to speak to Modar, hoping that he can be persuaded to help the World, and not just Thay, but she does tactically say one thing to keep Rezmir from leaving... mentioning that her Party are responsible for the death of Sandesyl Morgia... the vampire allied with the cult, but more imporantly... Rezmir’s lover.
G’houl casts Sickening Radiance to combat his enemy’s escape plans... the light of the Sickening Radiance overrides the Darkness spell, bathing Rezmir in dim light, making her somewhat visible. The spell also completely overrides invisibility, but unfortunately for G’houl, Modar is coincidentally out of range of where he drops the spell.
Realizing that her lover has been killed, Rezmir abandons her escape plans, instead intent on murdering her opponents. However, now that she’s visible she can finally be targetd by Katniss and Their powerful arrow shots. As Modar continues his escape, Iarno blind-casts web, releasing the spell simply as far as he can reach with the spell, by sheer luck catching Modar in the magical webs. Just as Modar finds himself trapped in the magical webbing, Katniss takes Rezmir’s life... but as they have seen many times before from Tiamat Loyalists, her body continues to move. Her very skull splitting in half... mystically moving blood forming a bizarre red half-head, the other half of her head held in the black mask... the seemingly two-headed half-dragon unleashing first a blast of fire breath from one bloody half of her head, before doing the same with a burst of acid from her masked head. In a panic, Jerome manages to kill Rezmir once again, chopping off the heads and allowing her to finally die properly. With Rezmir dead, trapped in webbing Modar is, momentarily, easier to negotiate with... Dahlia and Katniss join together to plead with him... promising that they’ll do everything they can to assist him and the people of Thay. With Katniss’s help, Dahlia manages a Critical success with Modar... only someone with her intense Persusasion skills had even the slightest chance of convincing him. Modar drops his invisibility, and frees himself by setting the webbing on fire, unbothered by the heat enveloping him.
Modar admits that, perhaps, this has all gone too far. However, he also explains that he’s already deciphered Bowgentle’s Spellbook... the great Conjuration Wizard whose spellbook detailed how to prevent the summoning of Tiamat... inadvertently also leaving an opportunity for the proper ritual to be reverse-engineered from his notes. Although without his help, the cult will have much more trouble completing their tasks. As a show of defeat, Modar solemnly sets his magic staff on his desk before calmly stepping onto a balcony and leaping off of the side of the flying castle. Dahlia panics, pulling out her Broom of Flying to take chase, but stops when Iarno explains that Modar is powerful wizard and perfectly capable of flying... even lamenting that this is apparently something Modar does regularly. Disappointed that she couldn’t turn him into an ally as she did with his other student, Azbara Jos, Dahlia is at least pleased to realize that Modar seems to have abandoned the Cult of Tiamat.
With the battle completed the Party decides to try and take a short rest while the Giants continue to battle the cultists. During their short rest G’houl takes the time to cast Identify on the objects they recently found... first he identifies the staff left as a Staff of Fire... a very powerful wizard staff that can be used to cast destructive fire spells. He also identifies Rezmir’s black greatsword as Hazirawn, and realizes as he’s casting that the sword is sentient, speaking into his mind in whispers... making promises of power, urging him to give into his Orcish nature and spill blood. G’houl hurriedly tries to get someone else to take the blade... and although the blade is sentient, it doesn’t appear to have any ability to manipulate others beyond simply offering them power... an offer that the Party can safely resist, as the Sword is given to Loki to store in her Bag of Holding where its whispers wouldn’t get on anyone’s nerves. Finally, G’houl examines the strange black mask that Rezmir was wearing. He identifies it as a “Black Dragon Mask”... a powerful and strange magic item that grants a number of powers, although it seems most useful for one of Draconic ancestry, as it enhances their natural powers. However, he also gets a strong ominous sense from the dark black mask... sensing that there’s something more to this object beyond what the Identify spell can tell him, but not trusting it... like the sword, it is also kept in Loki’s bag of Holding. A brief argument comes about as Iarno tries to convince G’houl to let him take back the Staff of Defense G’houl carries, since the mystically reinforced staff made of glass originally belonged to Iarno, who even without it still goes by the name “Glasstaff”, but despite Iarno’s help G’houl still doesn’t trust him, and wants to keep both staves for himself.
Their discussion is cut short as Hulga the Stone Giant comes to speak to the party. She says that the cultists have been subdued... most of them killed by the more powerful giants, while the remaining members of the cult have been trapped in the Stables along with their Wyverns. She also reveals that Blagothkus is preparing to face the White Dragon Glazhael who resides in the ice caves below the castle, and he is asking the party to join him in his endeavor to share the glory. They all agree to help, although the path down is rigged with quickly constructed traps, as the Kobolds loyal to Glazhael have mostly escaped into the caves to help protect their masters. Thankfully, between Katniss and Dahlia’s extremely powerful senses of perception, any traps are found and disabled, although doing so makes it impossible to even attempt to catch Glazhael by surprise.
Blagothkus approaches Glazhael purposefully, demanding the Dragon submit to becoming his mount, or die by his hands. Glazhael refuses, and battel erupts. Glazhael’s Kobolds endeavor to start collapsing tunnels, hoping to remove any advantages the invaders might have against their leader. Glazhael battles savagely, using Legendary Actions to move swiftly around his lair, hoping to take advantage of the blockage created by his Kobolds to keep a tactical advantage against our heroes. Loki ruins this for him, however, by using Dimension Door to take herself and Dahlia onto the tall ice shelf he was trying to use as high ground. Dahlia takes a moment to cast Conjure Woodland Beings, summoning a Green Hag... a sickening growth of what appears to be maggots rise from the ground before forming into the form of Granny Greenskin, Dahlia’s hag Fairy Godmother. Greenskin is nonplussed by the danger she suddenly finds herself in, and before she can assist in battle Glazhael punishes Loki and Dahlia for their interruption with a deadly blast of his Ice Breath. They’re nearly knocked unconscious, with Dahlia losing concentration on her spell causing Greenskin to vanish, but before Glazhael can finish them the others manage to close the distance... Blagothkus especially, as he is so large that he can easily pick up his nearest allies (G’houl and Jerome) and carry them with him by casting Fly on himself. Katniss is left alone below the ice shelf, but their skills as a Sharpshooter make Katniss potentially more deadly despite lacking a perfectly clear view of the White Dragon.
With everyone hammering on Glazhael, despite his great strength, begins to take excessive damage. Even as he attempts to escape, Dahlia taps into her Fey-gifted powers of Glamour to use Mantle Inspiration again, with Blagothkus especially using it to block Glazhael’s escape. Glazhael is forced to fight to open up a path to the nearby ice tunnels... his inability to dash and cover more ground leaves him still exposed to attacks until his loyal Kobolds can collapse the tunnel behind him.
With Glazhael hidden in the tunnels Katniss is unable to contribue to the battle... instead, They use their climbing skills as a Ranger to quickly dash up the 30 foot ice shelf to catch up with Their allies. As Katniss joins them, Blagothkus uses his massive mace to smash through the collapsed tunnel, freeing Loki to launch a Fireball spell into the tunnels after the escaping Dragon... the powerful spell collapsing some of the other tunnels, ruining Glazhael’s attempts to escape. With everyone gathered close in their attempts to chase after Glazhael, the White Dragon bursts out of another ice tunnel, hoping to fell his opponents with one last Ice Breath attack. This powerful spell knocks out Loki, Blagothkus, and Jerome, with the others left barely conscious... and Granny Greenskin, who Dahlia had summoned a second time, is once again forced to leave as Dahlia loses concentration on the spell. The one person still in good health, however, is Katniss, who summons a Healing Spirit to revive Loki before They unload arrows on the powerful Dragon, nearly killing him. Glazhael strikes back by slamming his tail into Jerome’s unconscious body, nearly killing the repentant criminal. A Healing Word spell from Dahlia keeps Jerome alive, only for Glazhael to immediately knock him unconscious again with another tail strike. Iarno attempts to keep the dragon from escaping by casting Web yet again to block Glazhael’s exit. Loki tries to capture the dragon using Polymorph to turn him into a harmless white lizard, but the spell fails. Instead, Dahlia can’t bring herself to risk Glazhael surviving any longer and finishing off Jerome... rushing to the massive dragon, grabbing him by the snout to cast Inflict Wounds using her last high level spell slot. With a rush of necrotic energy, she reopens every wound the centuries-old dragon has ever received, his face melting in her grip as she clings desperately to the rage-filled creature’s head as he desperately tries to buck her off. With the dragon finally killed, Katniss moves Their spirit of healing to help revive Blagothkus and Jerome.
With their work finished, Blagothkus declares them to be friends and admits that Glazhael was too erratic to make a desirable mount. Katniss requests the opportunity to harvest some parts of the dead dragon, and although Blagothkus makes it clear he intends to craft dragonscale armor for himself, he’s willing to let Katniss take enough to craft Themself some armor as well. While Katniss guides a group of Ogres to skin and butcher the dragon, G’houl and Loki use fire magic to dig out treasures from the ice caves, recovering literally thousands in in gold and jewels, and magical equipment. Dahlia, however, just wants to rest, and is given the opportunity to sleep in a massive, comfy bed, allowed to sleep in a room normally saved for Giant Nobles.
The Protectors of Phandalin travel with Blagothkus for a few days. The remaining cultists are killed, although the Wyverns are spared. With their work done, Iarno fully expects a full pardon for the variety of crimes he’s committed, and scoffs at the implication that he should turn himself in to authorities... but with Dahlia and Jerome both persuading him, he consents to facing trial, at the very least. Blagothkus lets them all know that he plans to travel north to gather an army of Giants to prepare for battle with the Dragons. However, before doing so, he offers to take them whereever they wish. Dahlia wants to be taken to the nearest oceanside city, as she wants to sail back to her home country to catch up with her family. Katniss wants to return to her collective in the Lost Mountains, hoping to gain knowledge and power in anticipation of what’s to come... Loki, always mercurial, decides she simply wants to follow Katniss. G’houl, however, feels he should return to the School of Knowledge in Neverwinter. With the party planning to separate, they make plans to meet back together in Phandalin, the town that brought them all together in the first place.
We're playing our Homebrew campaign of Sacrament tonight! We're still getting things finalized, so we'll be going live some time between 6:30PM PST and 7PM PST tonight at our home of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. Our last session was pretty exciting, so read on if you need a reminder of what happened last week:
Crush and Azure leave their winnings with Kanek as they prepare for the free-for-all competition. Even members of the audience are allowed to join in a no-holds-barred, weapons and magic allowed battle. A battle erupts, which will last until only 4 remain standing. Right off the bat, Crush knocks his opponent unconscious in the first round, before moving to the center of the ring and challenging anyone to face him. Azure stuns her opponent, taking advantage of it to hammer her opponent, but is unable to finish him off, but does risk triggering his blood rage. Crush, however, is in his element… using his storm aura to knock his opponent prone and grapple him, pinning his opponent to the ground. Azure, meanwhile, is caught by surprise by a stealthy rogue who manages a sneak attack… however, when one of the Reavers goes into a rage and attacks Azure, Kanec rushes in to protect her, joining the fray as Azure summons her Astral Self to help the battle. They work their way gradually through the enemies, bringing the last group down to two Reavers, one a female Reaver and the other a male Half-Orc Reaver. Finally, Azure finishes off the Half-Orc… with him defeated, the final combatants for the cage match are determined: Azure, Crush, Kanec, and the female Reaver whose name hasn’t been learned yet. As they recover Kanec reveals that Ricky used his Feather of Sending to contact Kanec and explain everything they had learned about Larlock, the ceremony they had learned of, and their intent to meet with Gilly.
Back in Kanec’s home, Ricky gets a response from Kanec asking if it makes sense to meet back at his home or for Ash and Ricky to meet them at the arena. Ash notes, however, that they’re expecting to meet a Merc, so they have to remain where they are. Ash decides to ask who Alex’s father is, and although she remains tight-lipped, Aylis is pressured to admit that her father is Professor Fletcher, the master of Necromancy who had dissected Ash earlier in the day. As they’re discussing their plans for how to address these problems, the Merc arrives, struggling to find them partially because of Ricky’s Private Sanctum spell. The Merc immediately recognizes the necromancy book that Aylis was interpreting, much to Aylis’s frustration.
Ash keeps her motivations close to the chest, but gently probes the Merc for information. She manages to convince him to stay around long enough to meet with the group, but first Ash is interested in negotiating a deal with the Merc… offering to sell to the Merc Larlock’s Phylactery… which is, in fact, Ash’s own barely beating black heart. Alex is trying to listen in, but Ricky manages to convince her through subtle intimidation to mind her own business, hoping to protect her… although the Merc casually recognizes Azmira, the spirit inhabiting Fidget’s cursed armor, which instantly excites Alex’s hyper-active curiosity.
The Merc magically examines Ash, trying to figure out how to extract the Phylactery from Ash’s body. Her body is riddled with various curses and conditions, and to extract the phylactery would take far greater cost than it would be worth. Simply removing the Phylactery would kill Ash outright, and even if he managed to, Ash’s soul is chained to the Phylactery and would prevent her from being able to be revived. He also discerns that Ash’s body is being prepared for some kind of ceremony… there are thousands of souls stored in Larlock’s Phylactery… a power nearly akin to a God. A Merc might have the power to pull it off, but he would need something equally powerful to even attempt such a thing. Ricky, however, realizes that he has a God-like object in his possession… the silver necklace of the Night Mother… the last piece of her power, and the lost final piece of Sovereign’s blade.
The Merc takes Ricky’s hints to examine him in private… with the Merc quickly recognizing the significance of Ricky’s necklace. The merc considers this a worthy price to pay… but to do so he would need to kill Ricky, although he also admits that he can bring him back to life afterward. Ricky believes this is the best chance that he has, but he can’t bring himself to simply give up before fulfilling his promise to the Night Mother… the Merc sees his concern, and tells him that he can wait to give time for Ricky to fulfill his promise. However, before he can finalize any plans, he gets an urgent call from Ricky’s mother, the famous Diva DeLuna, who needs a specialty bra. The Merc vanishes just in time for Ash to realize that they forgot to ask him to connect with Gilly… rather than wait around for him, they decided to meet with the rest of the Grimveils at the Arena.
They arrive to see the Cage being set up as the 4 remaining combatants prepare to fight. The gladiators weren’t able to take a short rest so Crush, with his Barbarian resistance, is in the best shape and quickly defeats Azure, who is still injured and hasn’t had the opportunity to recover her Ki. Meanwhile, Kanec is fighting the Female Reaver, but in the process triggers her Blood Rage… a Rage that is even more focused and dangerous than Male reavers. Kanec and Crush basically work together to take her down while she focused entirely on Kanec… leaving him weakened enough for Crush to knock him unconscious with a single attack. With victory declared, Crush is rewarded a shocking amount of over 100,000 Gold and a large trophy. Crush isn’t much interested in the money, and gives it to Ricky to carry.
Once reunited, the Grimveils decide to return to Kanec’s house so they can talk in private about everything they’ve learned. As they make their way out mixed with the energetic crowd they spot a worrying sight… Xander, the ancient Reaver who once betrayed Sovereign is seen in town, apparently carrying a ticket to the Diva DeLuna’s concert, which seems to grant him entrance to the city. As they discuss what this could mean, they’re approached by Neo, who seems eager to speak to Ricky. However, at the same time, this upsets Azmira, who is angry that Ricky seems to planning to make a deal with the Mercs… even though Ash had managed to convince her to play along by pretending she intends to help Azmira kill Ricky. Ash takes Azmira aside, calmly explaining that Ricky hasn’t finalized any deals yet, and there’s still time to fulfill their bargain, persuading Azmira successfully, but clearly she’s on high alert.
As they pass through the merchants’ quarters, Ricky takes the time to Message Neo, hoping to get his insight on Ricky’s offer he had made to the Merc earlier, especially since the price involves Ricky’s necklace of The Nightmother, Neo’s Goddess. Neo obviously opposes trading his Goddess’s symbol for any reason, but he seems to think that there’s some merit to Ricky’s plan. As they’re talking Neo leans against a cart selling jewelry… and Ricky and Azure both notice that he becomes physically burnt by a pendant of Sovereign’s symbol.
Returning finally to Kanec’s home, Alex is quickly put to sleep so everyone can speak openly about their plans. Ricky explains why he was considering offering the pendant of the Night Mother in exchange for getting the curses removed from Ash and the other Grimveils… and while his motivation makes sense, everyone is concerned that it is too dangerous of a deal to make. Neo laments that they can’t risk losing the pendant, as it is the last piece of Sovereign’s blade, that last piece making it capable of killing a Goddess. Which reminds Azure… they have Sovereign’s Blade, which is being carried by Fidget and Azmira. Neo is shocked by this, certain that they should simply destroy the blade. However, Crush reminds everyone that they’re still waiting to hear from Kalea, who is helping them to organize a meeting with the Goddes Hearth. They all decide it’s too soon to be making deals like this, and as they come to this conclusion the Merc arrives.
Using a magical mirror, the Merc arranges a call with Gilly, with another Merc by her with a mirror of his own. Gilly is informed of everything they’ve learned, and Gilly herself reveals that they had found an additional hidden room in Grimveil Manor. However, her group is still regularly attacked by Depraved Gloom, who seem to know where they are at all times, but they can’t figure out how. Gilly suspects there’s someone informing the Depraved Gloom, but has no idea who or why.
Gilly informs them also that they’ve found information on a ritual that could potentially be performed to create a being more powerful than a God… very similar to a ritual Aylis discovered in Larlock’s book. However, Gilly knows more of the ingredients, and it seems to match what has been done to prepare Ash, as well as “stolen Weave”… the magical potential of an individual. She also reveals that Duncan’s family was killed tragically after his daughter was abducted by Hags and converted into a Hag herself… a process that involves being devoured and killed, then regenerated into the form of a Hag. Duncan ultimately couldn’t bring himself to kill his daughter, even after being turned into a Hag, and left her free… however, she grew to be raised by the Depraved Gloom, and even ascended to a position of power… Karlata, the leader of the entire organization.
Just as they’re processing this information they hear strange sounds coming from Gilly’s side of the call. As the mirror is used to observe, they recognize a familiar grey cat… the cat that belonged to Hitha Coldforge, which the Druid Verrick recognizes as a familiar. Just as they try to attack the familiar, a crashing noise erupts and the image from the mirror is disrupted as a cloaked figure steps into sight.
We'll be playing the Rise of Tiamat tonight at 7pm PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. The Protectors of Phandalin are about to meet with the council of Waterdeep, but if you missed our last session or if you just need a reminder, here's what happened before:
Following the capture of Blagothkus’s flying castle, the Cult of Tiamat seemed to go into hiding, their raids slowing with little activity to be seen. This all changed with assassination of Arthagast Ulbrinter, one of the Masked Lords of Waterdeep... the mysterious rulers of Waterdeep, whose true identities are kept hidden to avoid corruption or intimidation. His position as a Masked Lord only revealed upon his death... a tragedy made all the more relevant as his wife, Remi Haventree, is a high ranking member of the Harpers. Now the Protectors of Phandalin are called back to Waterdeep, as the alliance of Harpers, Lords’ Alliance, Order of the Gauntlet, and even the reclusive Emerald Enclave and criminal Zhentarim have arranged to meet as the Council of Waterdeep and resolve the challenge that awaits them.
Dahlia had returned to her home country of of Esleah, using wealth recovered from the cultists to charter a private ship and to leave money behind with her family. As a Baroness, she has many responsibilities, and despite sparing the Dwarven Cultist Craggnor by forcing him to swear on his honor to not turn against her family, she does not know how far the honor of a Tiamat Cultist truly extends... necessitating spending money on increased security for her mother and Grandmother.
However, Dahlia is left with a difficult choice... the first meeting of the Council of Waterdeep will be mere days after her favorite Holiday, Liar’s Night... a night celebrating trickster gods such as the God of Thieves’, Mask. It’s celebrated as a night of freedom, where none shall be held responsible for any tricks or thievery they perform while masked. A holiday she normally spends with her family, but instead she finds it best to return to Waterdeep and meet with her lover, G’houl, and enjoy Liar’s Night in the big city instead.
Arriving in Waterdeep, Dahlia uses her hat of disguise to appear as a human woman, wearing an elaborate black and gold dress and an ornate face mask, and makes certain to line her pockets with candy for masked children to steal. Waiting for her in the dock ward is G’houl, who has used his Alter Self spell to also appear as a human, although he chose to appear as a dashing, masked Rogue instead. However... the fact that they both took the time to not only disguise their clothing, but appear as a diferent race entirely makes it difficult for the lovers to reconnect, but fortunately Dahlia eventually sees through his disguise and after teasing him for a bit the two reconnect, with Dahlia revealing that she’s brought along a riding horse from her home country, and G’houl revealing that Dusk has a costume of his own... dressed basically like Puss in Boots from Shrek.
They take a cart to the “City of the Dead”, a large cemetary on the East end of Waterdeep where festivities for Liar’s Night are held. It doesn’t take long for them to recognize on reveler... The half-elf Monk and fellow Harper Leosin, who wears a simple domino mask along with his usual light clothing. Standing next to him is an eery, blank-faced woman with long, stringy black hair covering one eye who Dahlia assumes must be Loki, the Changeling who can simply alter her appearance at will. Leosin is busy talking to the Kobold, Deeg, who has been training as a monk with Leosin. Deeg appears to have wrapped his body with tin foil and has two crudely made tinfoil wings attached to his back. Most surprising, however, is Katniss is nowhere to be found... instead Loki is accompanied by a young male centaur, who has leaf-like face paint on his face.
Dahlia introduces herself, and teases Leosin for wearing the lowest-effort costume possible, while Leosin reminds her that they’re supposed to be meeting up with one another, which is made all the harder when everyone else seems to have taken the time to not just wear a costume, but magically diguise themselves as a completely different race. Leosin also explains that Deeg is dressed as Bahamut... something Leoson tried to explain was extremely sacreligious, but Deeg is simply excited by this new Holiday, although he slightly misunderstands the tradition of letting children steal from others without punishment, since in theory they’re just supposed to pick candy out of pockets and not steal things of actual value... something Loki promptly ignores, using her skills at pickpocketing to slyly steal money, a dagger, and even a signet ring from revelers.
Slightly annoyed, Leosin takes the time to introduce their newest ally... Antares Silver-Oak. Antares is bubbly and curious, explaining that he’s Katniss’s God-Son, and he seems to exclusively refer to Katniss as “The Huntmaster”. Katniss has taken express interest in overseeing the reconstruction of the Forge of Spells in Wave Echo Cave, and there was an important event They couldn’t afford to miss... not wanting Loki to miss the fun of Liar’s Night, Katniss asked Antares to escort her to Waterdeep, with Katniss planning to arrive in Waterdeep a few days later in order to attend the first meeting of the Council of Waterdeep. Antares also reveals that he’s a member of the Emerald Enclave.
As they move toward the crowd they can’t help but notice a memorial set up for the late Lord Ulbrinter. Many taking time away from the celebrations to offer flowers. Antares is interested in examining the flowers, simply curious if there’s anything to learn from them. Looking closely, he notices something peculiar hidden behind many of the other flowers... a bouquet of dead Snapdragons, the dead flowers eerily resembling skulls. Antares can also tell that it’s not possible that the snapdragons were delivered alive and simply wilted... someone deliberately marked the memorial with a full bouquet of dead flowers, with Leosin especially annoyed that everyone seems to be avoiding talking about the obvious symbolism of an ominous looking dead flower named after a dragon left at the memorial of someone they know to be assassinated by the Cult of the Dragon Queen Tiamat.
The festivities for Liar’s Night are many and varied, but Deeg is instantly drawn to a Silver Dragonborn announcing a contest for children and adults alike... a pumpkin hunt to find the largest pumpkin hidden somewhere in the City of the Dead. The prize on offer is an enchanted cauldron that conjures magically created candy. The group heads out to find their prize, and Antares notices a particular strong-looking vine leading into a maze built out of hay bails. Dahlia attempts to use her Broom of Flying to fly over and see where it goes, but unfortunately a tarp is laid over the maze. Deeg runs in while they’re discussing what to do next, with Leosin in hot pursuit. The two of them running ahead, past the few drunken revelers who managed to get lost in the first couple turns of the maze, before the further everyone goes, the more... unusual it begins to feel. They finally catch up to Leosin and Deeg at the entryway to a dark cave. As a fey himself, Antares recognizes the energy around them as being fey in nature. This excites Dahlia as everyone decides to head into the cavern, still following the vine that Antares had seen earlier.
Making their way inside, they find small motes of light drifting through the air. An orange, glowing mass seems to be flowing, looking like lava from a distance, but closer investigation reveals it to be glowing pumpkin guts. Leosin attempts to move stealthily, but Dahlia simply shouts her introduction, hoping to meet who or whatever brought them to this place. The party considers that, perhaps, this cave itself is one giant pumpkin... although when Deeg tests that theory by eating some of the ground his sickened coughing reveals that it’s just regular dirt. Continuing further, they find a giant pumpkin at the end of the vine they’ve been following. As they approach it a large eye opens in the center of its mass... a large, fanged smile spreading underneath the eye, and then another eye rises from behind its back, and another, and another... until they find themselves face to face with an orange, pumpkin-like Beholder. It laughs loudly and challenges them all to combat.
As the fight begins, Deeg rushes toward the Beholder to attack while Leosin shouts for him not to... especially because he’s only started his training. Deeg is only level 1. The Beholder laughs, firing a beam of energy at the young Kobold, which transforms him into a pumpkin that falls to the ground harmlessly. This is the point where Dahlia realizes how serious this is, and battle ensues in earnest. The glowing motes of light floating through the air seem to lose their glow when floating in front of the Beholder’s eye. Dahlia begins to suspect something, testing it by trying to use her Wand of Magic Missiles in front of the Beholder, realizing that its eye nullifies all magic. Antares reveals himself to be a Barbarian, entering a Rage as he rushes toward the Beholder... however, the surge of Wild Magic that normally accompanies his Rage is suppressed by the Beholder’s eye.
Once they realize the Beholder’s Weak spot, the party tactically faces off against the Beholder, avoiding its gaze to continue to hit it with their magic while Antares grapples the Beholder to keep its eye away from his allies. The Beholder’s deadlier eye beams are avoided, but it does manage to make both Dahlia and G’houl fall asleep. However, the Beholder chooses to close its main eye, as its anti-magic cone even applies to its own eye beams, and it needs to do so just to try and target Antares. However, Antares manages to resist its attack, and now that he’s freed from its anti-magic cone he blasts it with a blind beam of energy fired from his chest, finally defeating the beholder, which falls to the ground as a normal pumpkin. As it falls, Deeg returns to his true form, and Leosin begins to slowly clap, to the confusion of the others.
As they question what’s come over Leosin, his form begins to shift... his clothing turning black, plain domino mask extending into a full, leather face mask with a flowing black cape. Dahlia, with her love of Liar’s Night, instantly recognizes him as the God of Thieves, Mask. Mask is pleased at being recognized, explaining that he was curious to meet those chosen by “The Lady”, as he looks in the direction of Loki, Cleric of Tymora, sometimes known as Lady Luck. He also reveals that, at some point, he had stolen the Black Dragon Mask from Loki’s bag of holding, returning it to Dahlia. He explains that the mask is made from a scale from Tiamat’s own head, and there is a matching mask for each of her five heads. The masks are the keys to Tiamat’s return, but these relics are far too powerful to be destroyed by anything less than the Elemental Fires of Magic. He also explains why he’s helping them by first, seemingly from nowhwere, he pulls out two mystical artifacts... a silver tiara with spider webs weaved within it and spiders crawling across it, and a large cleaver with a spike pointed back in the directio of the wielder that perpetually drips blood. He explains that he has stolen trinkets and baubles from many Gods, but has never managed to steal anything from the Queen of Dragons. Instead he wants to steal from her the greatest treasure that could ever find its way to her hoard... the Keys to the Material Plane itself.
Dahlia has more questions, but before she can step forward Mask simply vanishes. Deeg doesn’t particulary understand what’s going on, but is just excited that they’ve manged to find a 10 foot wide pumpkin. They all get together to carry it out, but the mystically strong Antares ends up carrying the entire thing himself. As they exit the cavern they instantly run into the real Leosin, who is shocked that they all are somehow in front of him in the maze... apparently from his perspective, he’s just barely entered the maze in pursuit of Deeg. Everyone explains what happened, but at the same time they tease him with a few playful lies... in frustration, he asks Deeg to explain it, but unfortunately Deeg’s overly literal description of events he didn’t fully undersand in the first place isn’t much help.
Making their way back to the stage, they find that a scale has been set up, each new pumpkin weighed against the current champion to determine the winner. However, as they approach with their massive pumpkin the other contestants largely surrender, some dropping their pumpkins right there in shock. The speaker is excited for the showiness of their pumpkin, with Antares placing it on the scale... which immediately launches the other pumpkin into the air, much to th delight of the watchers. Without hesitation they’re awarded the Cauldron, with everyone quickly agreeing that Deeg should be allowed to keep it. Deeg is raised in the air as everyone cheers for him, the young Kobold howling with delight, when suddenly, everything changes.
Suddenly, all the music stops. Everyone present stoppin in place, a sense of confusion and worry making everyone pause. However, the effects seem more intense for Deeg and the Silver Dragonborn announcer who are staring upward, a look of panic and fear on their faces. Glancing around, Dahlia notices that other Dragonborn in the crowd are reacting similarly, and both Dahlia and Loki can just barely hear the sound of a horn blowing somewhere in the distance. Dahlia instantly hugs Deeg close to comfort the young Kobold who seems to be right on the verge of a panic attack. Asking to speak to the announcer in private, Dahlia recognizes him as Sylvester Silvertail, a traveling magic item salesmen they had met in Daggerford. Sylvester doesn’t know what happened either, but is able to explain the sensation better than Deeg... comparing it to the feeling of someone or something being right behind you, feeling with intense fear and panic... which Dahlia compares to the feeling of a prey who feels caught by a predator, which Silvertail admits is a very good descriptor.
As the crowd begins to mostly chuckle to themselves and try to get back to normal, they’re approached by a human woman in black wearing a veil. Leosin immediately bows to her, greeting her as Lady Haventree. She was visiting her husband’s memorial and recognized Leosin, wanting to speak to him after the strange event that just occured. She recognizes the “Protectors of Phandalin”, referring to them by that name, and Dahlia explains that they don’t really call themselves that. Haventree thanks them for what they’ve done, and Dahlia extends her sympathy for Haventree’s loss, with the grieving widow clearly appreciating the show of kindness. Haventree informs them that the Council of Waterdeep will have to meet as soon as possible the next day to figure out what happened... and the only reason they’re not meeting immediately is because it’s incredibly bad luck to make any deals or plans on Liar’s Night. Haventree has to quickly leave to arrange matters, but the Party is free to enjoy the rest of Liar’s Night the best they can. Although they seem unready to get back into the major celebrations, a nice, slow walk back to the Yawning Portal tavern gives them enough time to enjoy the holiday atmosphere, and by the time they arrive their pockets have been picked clean by revelers and they prepare to sleep and face the impending threat of the Cult of Tiamat.
We'll be streaming again tonight! Come join us tonight at 7 PM PST at our home of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty to watch our homebrew campaign of Sacrament. As always, here's what happened in our last session:
After seeing their friends attacked through the magic mirror, the Party realizes they can’t help them… Crush suggests that they need to give them a few minutes to get to safety before attempting to contact them. It’s difficult to remain still, but they try to discuss their plans while they wait for time to pass… they’re still uncertain of what to do next, but as Crush is doing pushups to distract himself Neo points out that 5 minutes have passed and Ash quickly uses Sending to contact Gilly. They learn that their allies have all survived, but they were interrupted during a ritual that had teleported them to a new location… where ever it is must be incredibly cold, as it is snowing heavily here in the middle of Spring.
With the realization that their allies are safe, for now, they decide to prepare for their next day… they want to take advantage of the distraction of the Diva DeLuna’s concert to find a hidden location to complete the same ritual their allies were interrupted doing. However, the only location they know of where such a ritual can be performed is in the Warlord’s Ziggurat… discussing it more, they realize the only opportunity they’ll get to visit the Ziggurat would be on the night of the Military Ball. Instead, they realize that the best option will be to take out Ash’s quarry to prevent her succumbing fully to her Revenant nature. Crush warns that killing him will kill Ash as well, but Ash makes clear that she has a very different idea… she learned from talking to the Merks that anyone transformed into a snake and then turned to gold by Ash’s gold statue is still technically “alive”, but in a suspended state… they make plans to seek him out and capture him, holding him as a snake statue. They also decide that, in order to capture him, they’ll have Ricky pose as Elonwee to be used as bait.
They also realize that Alex has been lying to her father about where she is, since he thinks she’s staying with Aylus at Argus’s house, and he was supposed to bring some things to her. Ricky sends him an elaborate letter to excuse Alex’s suspicious absence before Ash contacts Elonwee’s adopter father, Komar, to ask for his help in disguising Ricky as Elonwee. Komar is frustrated at being woken up, but tells everyone they can find him at the College. As they travel to the University they see Xander, the ancient Reaver, killing someone in a party. Neo warns not to involve themselves, and Crush begrudgingly agrees. Making their way into the University, Aylus and Alex take advantage of the timing to return to their dorms and hopefully negate some of the trouble Alex is going to be in when the letter sent by Ricky is debunked. The meet with Komar, who shares some of Elonwee’s clothing along with his house key, and laments that this could have waited until the next morning, which Crush agrees with.
Returning to Kanec’s house, they come across Xander, who is being “arrested” by the local guard, although it’s clear that he could easily escape and is simply playing along to avoid complications. Xander deliberately walks through the middle of the street, occupying enough space that everyone actually has to struggle to avoid getting shoulder checked. However, Fidget fails to avoid him… and Xander seems instantly interested in Fidget… which everyone soon realizes is a potential danger, as Fidget is not only wearing the cursed armor possessed by Azmira, but also carries the sword of Sovereign. No one is certain what, exactly, Xander realized, but they know that anything that caught his attention would not be good.
Returning to Kanec’s home, everyone tries to just get some sleep, except for Ricky, who wants to speak to Neo, who seemed unusually familiar with Xander. It’s difficult, as Neo isn’t eager to speak, but Ricky is very persuasive. Neo, as a Dark Elf and a follower of the Night Mother, has been treated as a slave by worshippers of Sol, and is seen as an abomination by the Reavers. His people had a run in with Xander who, despite his conflict with Sovereign, still hates the followers of the Nightmother, slaughtering all of Neo’s friends and family and collecting their heads as morbid trophies. To lighten the mood Ricky starts to talk to Neo about music, with Neo commenting that he is technically a Bard as well. The two of them get into a brief argument of which is the superior musician, ultimately leading into a bet to play the best music, the winner must declare the other to be the winner, and pay for an expensive meal. They get into a sing-off, with the two of them getting equal performance ratings… and the two of them realize they need to go again. They go for another round, this time Neo lands a critical success, and rather than compete he joins with Ricky’s song, turning it into a romantic duet. Ricky, at this point, can’t resist the passions of his fellow bard, and the two young men kiss passionately and enjoy each other in the bed… much to the annoyance of those party members sleeping in nearby bedrooms.
Morning comes and the rest of the party meets in the living room… all except Crush knew exactly what happened, since all Crush could hear was the singing. Ricky and Neo cuddle in the morning, although Ricky can’t help but notice just how many scars Neo normally hides under his clothes, on top of the distinct facial scar he has dangerously close to one of his eyes. When morning comes, Ricky cooks a sausage-heavy breakfast while his teammates tease him. As they discuss their plans for the day, Crush sees a powerful storm rushing in. He heads outside to observe, recognizing that it’s more than just a normal storm… he’s rejoined by the spirit of his sister, Crash, and carried by the wind comes down Kalea, the Tortle Druid who is arriving to help with the rituals the party is trying to enact.
Crush introduces Kalea to the others, and gets her up to date on what they’re planning and any information that could help her. From the moment she appears the others begin playfully teasing, calling her Crush’s Girlfriend. They discuss the plan to summon Hearth and use her power to oversee a meeting between Sovereign and the Nightmother and hopefully end their centuries-long conflict. Kalea is excited at the prospect, but warns that Hearth is actually deeply asleep, making her difficult to contact. Instead, she would need as many voices as possible singing at once… something that is possible with the help of Ricky’s Mother, Elizabeth, and her upcoming concert that has attracted the attention of nearly the entire city. She also explains that she will need Earth and Water from grounds blessed by the Goddess Peace. Crush is eager to take this on, while Kalea and Neo step outside to discuss the technicalities of the ritual in more depth… and Crush confronts everyone about how weird they get about him and Kalea. This leads to a complicated discussion as the mammals struggle to fully understand the Tortle life cycle, where romantic feelings don’t really develop until the end of their lives. Still, they’re able to get Crush to eventually say that, if nothing else, he hopes that both He and Kalea will return to the Tortle Home Beaches at the same time when it comes time to have children. This seems to satisfy his friends, with them declaring that Crush has a crush, which he doesn’t deny, but admits it’s weird to hear his name used in that context.
We had a short session last night because our DM wasn't feeling well... she's been having some health trouble lately, so our schedule has been a little hectic. On the plus side, we're going to be streaming tonight! So come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty tonight at 7pm PST for a short session as we finish up what we started last night, but just in case you couldn't join us last night, here's what you missed:
Ricky loans his Glamoured Studded Leather armor to Kanec to help him disguise himself for their plan to lure out Ash’s killer. The Grimveils make plans to visit Logan, the Half-Orc Reaver who has information about Ash’s killer, while Neo takes Kalea with him to both show her the town and also help prepare for the ceremony that night. Azure and Ricky opt to ride in Kanec’s Genie Bag so they can make adjustments to the clothes they got from Elonwee to disguise Ricky. Ash gets a magical letter from Aylis telling her that Alex had gotten in trouble for the stunt they pulled the previous night, and he wants to make sure that he’s involved with whatever happens that night. Azure is completing the adjustments and exiting as Crush states that he doesn’t feel Aylis should be involved.
On their path to the blacksmith, they place by the house that Ash’s brother Argus is staying in. At Fidget’s insistence, the Grimveils stop to visit there first. They’re reuinited with their friends… including Omelette the Ostrich and Thaco the goat. Everyone sits for a traditional Kirei Midori tea ceremony while Fidget is reunited with his son, Kane.
While meeting with them they also reunite with Henri, Ricky’s aunt. Crush is unable to remain calm, considering he knows that Gilly was attacked the previous night. Ricky decides to avoid lying for his comfort, which was the initial plan, and let him know what happened. To help comfort him, Ricky uses Sending to contact Gilly, but the connection seems spotty. This scares Henri, with Ricky knowing that one of the things that can mess with a connection through Sending is if they’re on another plane. Ash decides to test this further, sending a magical letter to Corrio using her Feather of Sending. A letter from Corrio returns, saying that he can’t explain everything now, but the letter arrives on strange, burnt paper that appears in a mystical burst, unlike the simple puff into existence tha tnormally accompanies letters sent by the Feather of Sending. Examining the letter closely, they notice the smallest smudge of what looks to be mithral makeup, and the letter itself seems ancient. They don’t know what this means just yet, but for now they plan to visit the Blacksmith, with plans to return and join Ash’s family for dinner later that afternoon.
With that complete, they find Logan’s blacksmith shop, labeled as “Deadly Blades”. Once inside they find that Logan has closed the store for the day… apparently asking around about the Raven-Handled blade has gotten him unwanted attention. Logan admits that hes’ seen the blade himself… the man has been in town, seeking a young girl. There’s also someone who was murdered that seems tied to him… a merchant that was killed on his way into town. However, he had also gotten an order for repair on a weapon… with a signature of a raven drawn on a work order, which includes an order for enough weaponry to equip at least 30 warriors. Looking into Logan’s order, they see that his blade calls for a large volume of Obsidian. Ash remembers her training when she was still alive and training as an artificer, and she knows that obsidian is used in sacrificial blades and allows the delivery of necrotic power.
With this revelation they realize that he’ll be returning that night to pick up his order, Ash also knows that he’ll likely intend to kill Logan and Fidget Jr. to power his obsidian blade. However, they also realize that the Depraved Gloom is likely watching the blacksmith shop, and both Logan and Fidget Jr. are in danger if they seem to be allied with them. In order to throw them off, Crush suggests that Logan punch him in the face and kick them out… but Logan admits he’s not a particularly good actor and isn’t certain how well he can sell his anger. Ricky then gets the idea to legitimately just annoy Logan… knocking over valuable tools, twerking agianst his anvil, and just generally making a nuisance of himself. When Logan is legitimately pissed off Crush interposes himself between Logan and Ricky, and the one-armed Reaver punches Crush in the face hard enough to knock him out of the door. Unfortunately, Fidget Jr. tries to sell it further by accusing them of attempting to steal from the blacksmith, which draws the attention of the city guards. The Protectors of Phandalin run for it, attempting to hide in a back alley, but they’re not stealthy enough. However, once caught Ricky uses Mass Suggestion to send them on a wild goose chase, and although one of them resists, Rick is able to use clever wordplay to convince him that he’s mistaken and send him chasing after his charmed allies.
So, things have been kind of weird for a couple reasons, the biggest of which being that 3 of our players caught the flu and were unable to play. I also had a lot of extra work to do and didn't write up the usual summary of our last session, so I don't have one of those to share at the moment, but I will write up one for the future. That all said, we're playing Rise of Tiamat tonight! Come join us in about half an hour at 7pm PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty as the party prepares to set out on their first assignment from the newly formed Council of Waterdeep, who have assigned them to seek out the Dwarven Wyrmspeaker, Varram the White, and have just learned that the Council has provided them with a prototype floating island, built by researchers attempting to replicate the floating capabilities of a Cloud Giant's Castle.
We had a short session yesterday, because some of our players are recovering from the flu and we didn't want to strain anyone's voice. Still, everyone was so eager for more that we're having another short session tonight. So come join us tonight at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty tonight at 7pm PST for more Rise of Tiamat! And thankfully this time, I have a summary for everything that happened in the last two sessions:
The Protectors of Phandalin have little time to enjoy their morning, being led by Leosin immediately to meet with the newly formed Council of Waterdeep in the Lords’ Castle. The find themselves meeting with Lord Dagult Neverember, the Open Lord of Waterdeep and representative of the Lords’ Alliance. He sits at the head of the table along with his fellow Lord’s Alliance Leaders... Dwarven Ambassador Connerad Brawnanvil, former King of the Mithral Hall; Human Marshall Ulder Ravengard, leader of Baldur’s Gate’s military force; Elven King Melandrach, the King of the Elves of the Misty Forest as well as the High Forest, Human Wizard Taern “Thunderspells” Hornblade, the high wizard of Silverymoon; and finally their old friend Sildar Hallwinter, representative for Lords’ Alliance footsoldiers. On the other side of the table sit the representatives of the other groups, which are all much smaller and less well-funded compared to the Lords’ Alliance. First is Onthar Frume, the female Dwarf who once dated their fellow harper Leosin, representing the Order of the Gauntlet. She sits next to Delaan Winterfloe, a slow-speaking Tortle representing the Emerald Enclave. Near Delaan is Remalia Haventree, the Moon-Elf Harpers representative the Party had met the night before. Finally, to their surprise, they see Thorn, the female Goblin they had met first in Phandalin. They learn that she’s a representative of the Zhentarim, who have been allowed into the council thanks to the Party’s actions... a decision that doesn’t sit well with all members present.
As they enter the great Hall the Party is introduced as the Protectors of Phandalin, but Haventree explains that they don’t call themselves that, with Sildar revealing that they’re only called that because another Lords’ Alliance member, Skilled, called them that simply because he needed a name to call them for some paperwork. The Council interrogates them on what they did during the events of the Hoard of the Dragon Queen... their actions throughout mostly impressed the council, but there were a few points of contention. Their decision to kill the corrupted Black Dragon Hatchlings from the dragon hatchery early in their adventure proves contentious, but they’re able to successfully convince the council of the deformed and dangerous state of the hatchlings, and even convince the kind-hearted Winterfloe that the creatures were born in a state that would have caused the innocent creatures intense pain. The other major debate relates to Skyreach Castle, the home of the Cloud Giant Blagothkus... the fact that they let Blagothkus leave with the Castle instead of convincing him to join directly and offer his castle as a resource in battling the Cult of Tiamat. This seems to click with Dahlia in particular, who admits they could have done more to keep track of Blagothkus, and begins to make plans to find a way to communicate directly with Blagothkus.
The party also reveals what they had learned from their shocking meeting with the God of Thieves, Mask, during Liar’s Night. Research has already shown that the Dragon Masks, like the one recovered from Rezmir, are key to summoning Tiamat. However, what the party learned from Mask is that the Dragon Masks are made from Tiamat’s own scales, and they can only be destroyed in the flames of Elemental Magic... which the Party realizes they have access to, thanks to the Forge of Spells in Wave Echo Cave, which Katniss was busy overwatching, leading to Them being unable to join Their allies at this moment. Lord Neverember demands that the mask be turned over for safe keeping until it can be reliably delivered to Phandalin to be destroyed, but Loki is hesitant, especially when she learns that the Mask itself is virtually priceless, with Thunderspells saying at best he would price at at 10,000gp, which he admits is underselling. Loki manages to convince Lord Neverember to pay her to relinquish the Mask, but he admits the City’s coffers can’t afford such a massive investment, instead asking her to settle for the much more modest sum of 2000gp. Loki not only agrees, but she actually asks Neverember to pay her 1000 and send the remaining 1000gp to the town of Parnast, which was devastated by the cult, which seems to improve Loki’s standing among the council. Ontharr Frume in particular is pleased with this turn of events, especially since it will support reopening the Forge of Spells for creating weaponry, a controversial decision among the councilmembers.
As they’re discussing the finer details of Skyreach Castle, they’re interrupted by the appearance of Professor Commonbrook, the Aarakocra researcher they had met earlier. She carries a messy pile of paperwork... she explains that researchers have discovered that the mysterious sound heard the previous night is most likely the Draakhorn... an ancient draconic relic created from the horn of one of Tiama’ts consort from when she still lived on the Material Plane. Ephelomon. It is used to send coded messages across vast distances to other dragons, although there is no record of how to interpret the code. Commonbrook’s research also reveals that, as far as their records show, the Draakhorn was known to be in the possession of Arauthator, a White Dragon who nests far to the North in the Seat of Moving Ice. As the party has already defeated White Dragon Glazhael Cloudchaser in Skyreach Castle, they are considered the natural choice to quest for the Draakhorn, and the Party seems willing to take on this challenge.
However, Thorn mentions that the priority should instead be on the Dwarven Wyrmspeaker, Varram the White, as the Zhentarim has a lead on his location, and now that they know how important the masks carried by Wyrmspeakers are, eliminating them entirely could stop the threat before it has a chance to continue. Ambassador Brawnanvil enthusiastically supports this as well, and implies that he knows who Varram is and holds a personal grudge against him. Dahlia is instantly drawn to this challenge over the Draakhorn issue, since she knows that Varram is close friends with Craggnor, the Dwarven cult member who was a close business associate of her cruel and manipulative ex-husband. She has a piece of Craggnor’s beard, which can be used to help locate him. However, she also fears that she’s selfishly seeking personal vengeance, and feels that it’s possible that discovering the secrets of the Draakhorn may prove more useful for everyone, and not just herself. Still, her allies also agree that Varram’s capture is very important, and the party is uniquely equipped to track him. However, Dahlia finds herself focused on how to best tackle the issue of the Draakhorn without handling it directly themselves.
Conversing with her allies on the issue, G’houl brings focus on the fact that the messages sent by the Draakhorn are coded, but not inherently magical beyond the sense of dread the Draakhorn generates... however, the horn itself can only be truly heard clearly by true Dragons, while creatures of draconic descent such as Kobolds and Dragonborn only get a heightened sensitivity to the dread it produces. Dahlia asks if anyone in the council is in contact with any friendly dragons, since they could work with skilled codebreakers from the Zhentarim to decipher what the message sent by the Draakhorn is and hopefully find out where it is and how to stop it. King Melandrach hesitantly admits that the elves of the Misty Forest have a relationship with a dragon name Otaaryliakkarnos, but Dahlia has to Persuade him to agree to work with Zhentarim on this issue. Still, he eventually relents and agrees to contact this Draconic ally after Dahlia convinces him of how important this issue is.
With this all decided, the party are given important paperwork known as “Writs of Intent”, which can be used to prove the authority granted them by Lord Neverember and the other members of the Council. The Party also asks if any of the councilmembers will be providing them with support, which they seem willing to provide. In particular, Lady Haventree asks Commonbrook to show the Party what her fellow researches have been working on, with Commonbrook excited to surprise the Party with what they’ve prepared for them. Intrigued, the Party leaves with Commonbrook as she leads them towards Mount Waterdeep, past the Griffon nests and up to what appears to be a low-hanging cloud. As they approach they realize it’s true nature... a floating island surrounded by a misty fog. Commonbrook explains that the shard of the Fire Plane the party had recovered from the ruins of Dragonspear had been used as a power source in an attempt to replicate the effects of a Cloud Giant’s Castle. They also reconnect with the Goblin researcher they had met with Commonbrook before, Armpit, who is the lead architect of this project. The floating island has windmill on top, with a small cottage attached and even a stable for transporting horses.
The Party is ecstatic to learn that they will be given the opportunity to use this floating island to transport quickly and safely across the lands of Faerun. Armpit is surprisingly casual about everything, and when asked about the name of the island he admits he just calls it, “The Floating Island” and hadn’t really considered anything beyond that. Dahlia immediately suggests the name “Nimbus”, which everyone else enthusiastically accepts. Commonbrook admits that she won’t be able to accompany themon their journey, but Armpit will travel with them, especially since the controls for the island are overcomplicated and unintuitive to anyone other than Armpit. Dahlia requests that Commonbrook ask the College of Learning to provide the Party with magical paper and ink so that G’houl can scribe spells, but in particular she wants to see if they can provide any scrolls of Sending so that she can communicate with Blagothkus. Commonbrook admits she isn’t certain what they’ll have available, but she promises to look into it while the party gathers supplies and meets with allies in Waterdeep before leaving... they know that intel on Varram’s location is fleeting, and they’ll need to move quickly if they hope to intercept him.
Leaving Armpit behind, the rest of the party heads back down Mount Waterdeep, but on the way they’re met with Sergeant Dharxes, the Tiefling Griffon Rider they had met before. She was told some details of the Party’s mission, but clearly doesn’t know much. Even when they ask about Azbara Jos, Glasstaff and Jerome, she knows nothing about them, only recognizing that there is a rumor about a Red Wizard being held in the dungeon of the Lord’s Castle. Instead, she was asked to direct them toward the Waterdeep Military Surplus... a well-guarded store open only to the Military of Waterdeep and those that have been authorized by the Lords of Waterdeep. Inside they find military supplies available for purchase, and a sarcastic, unhappy Gnome soldier serving as the shopkeep. The Military Surplus offers supplies at a lower cost than other shops in Waterdeep, and has some exclusive magical objects for sale, including Scrolls. The party is eager to look through the variety of supplies available, although they struggle a bit with the cantankerous shopkeep who puffs on a pipe in annoyance. G’houl purchases a variety of scrolls and ink/paper to transcribe them to his spellbook, while Antares is interested in herbs to take advantage of his herbalism kit, and even purchases some poorly organized seeds to hopefully grow his own plants in the future.
However, the shopkeep encounters the most trouble with Loki, who is instantly drawn to a Rust-colored Bag of Tricks, but is put off by its steep cost. She attempts to negotiate the price down, with the shopkeep responding with sarcasm and dismissal until eventually admitting that he simply doesn’t have the authority to lower prices on magical items... his frustration getting only worse because the innocent and naive Antares takes his sarcastic comments at face value, and attempts to “help” when the shopkeep is slowly counting coins. Loki decides to get back at the disgruntled shopkeep by purchasing a crowbar... not because she particularly needs one, but because it costs 2gp and she intends to pay for it using 200 pieces of copper, knowing his habit of slowly counting out coins, which he clearly intended as a means of frustrating customers. Once again, Antares happily counts along, to the point that he gives up halfway through and just accepts the rest of the payment before pressuring the Party to leave... although G’houl remains behind to purchase a few other simple objects and apologize for his allies.
Outside of the Surplus, the group encounters a familiar group of friends... the Dragonborn Paladin Corinth, his human Sorceress ally Ella, the Half-Elf Monk Leosin and his student Deeg, and someone they don’t recognize... a male gnome that looks nearly identical to Lucky the Leprechaun riding a Mastiff. After hearing their voice Dahlia instantly recognizes them as Jamna Gleamsilver, the Zhentarim agent they briefly traveled with who refuses to enter an area held by the City Guard and accompanying Lords’ Alliance members without a disguise. Corinth explains that they’ve been asked to speak to the Party and offer their services... they’re given the choice to ask any of the group to accompany them, which comes with caveats on each... Corinth is a skilled fighter and a well-armored tank, but lacks any stealth abilities and has a boisterous personality. Meanwhile Ella is a powerful support caster, but her Wild Magic makes her unpredictable and she’s a bit naive. Leosin is a well-trained fighter and a skilled, disciplined spy, but he’s accompanied by Deeg who is foolhardy, loud, and very weak. Finally, Jamna isn’t particularly skilled in combat, but she’s extremely knowledgable and is an expert in espionage.
The Party discusses the pros and cons of their options at length... in particular there is a desire to spend more time with Deeg, but it’s quickly decided that the tasks they’re facing are far too dangerous to involve the unskilled monk-in-training. Ultimately they decide that, despite requesting aid earlier, they don’t even know for certain how well their own party will perform with the addition of Antares, whose skills have only been seen briefly in their battle against the Beholder that the God Mask used to test them. They also realize that their allies might prove more useful taking on other tasks, and hopefully leaving them available to call upon in the future. Their friends are happy to take on any tasks that may be asked of them, but Jamna has one last thing to give them... pulling from her own Bag of Holding a magical mirror, explaining that it’s a Mirror of Communication... a magical device that can be used to converse over vast distances with another Mirror that’s paired to it. Thorn entrusted Jamna to deliver it to them, as it will be how they remain in contact with allies in Waterdeep.
The Party also learns for certain from their allies that Azbara Jos and the other criminals from Parnast are being held in the Lord’s Castle. While their other allies have other tasks to take care of, Leosin and Deeg are able to accompany the Party on their way to the Lord’s Castle to hopefully meet with the prisoners. On the way Loki offers Deeg the opportunity pull something from her Bag of Tricks... Deeg plays along, pulling out a small furry ball. Once he’s told how to use it, he throws it to the ground where it instantly expands into a large Brown Bear. This creates instant panic in the street, but Dahlia is able to calm the guards while Loki explains that the Brown Bear is friendly and loyal to Deeg, since he’s the one who threw down the furry ball. Deeg experiments, trying to get the bear to replicate some of his martial arts moves he’s learned... something that Loki immediately capitalizes on, treating it as a show and busking for coins.
Once at the Castle the Partys’ Writs of Intent are more than enough get them audience with Azbara Jos, who is being kept in a tall tower within the castle. When they arrive they find that Ambassador Brawnanvil is already there, speaking with Jos about information regarding the Cult of Tiamat. Jos’s room is surprisingly comfortable, giving him access to books, a stove, and other creature comforts, although Jos is still clearly a prisoner. Brawnanvil is clearly happy to see the bear Deeg is riding, and seems intrigued when he learns that it was magically conjured. He listens in as the Party shares with Jos what happened between the Party and Rath Modar, with Jos hopeful that they might be able to fully convince Modar to join their side in this issue. As Brawnanvil learns more about the promises they made, and sees firsthand the effects of those who seek to escape the tyranical rule of Szazz Tam, the Lich ruler of Jos’s home country of Thay who keeps all citizens as slaves, whether alive or dead. Brawnanvil views Tam’s treatment of his people abhorrent, and explains that the Mithral Hall has few treaties with Thay, implying the Dwarves of the Mithral Hall may be more willing to help with his overthrow in the future, but he makes no promises at this time.
Brawnanvil still maintains that the party has made a mistake by allowing Blagothkus to return unchecked to the Giants of the North, rather than bringing him directly into alliance with the Council, lamenting the loss of Skyreach Castle as an invaluable resource. Dahlia in particular objects to treating the castle as a simple resource, as she knows it is animated by the soul of Blagothkus’s late wife, and is more than simply a vehicle. Brawnanvil seems to take her criticisms to heart, but reminds her that, in his duties, once as King of the Mithral Hall and (now that his niece is old enough to take on her duties as Queen) as Ambassador and respresentative of the Dwarven people, he must be willing to make difficult decisions and prioritize the well-being of all over the comfort of some. Still, he agrees it would be dishonorable to not treat Blagothkus and his beliefs with respect. Brawnanvil also asks to speak to G’houl in private, which G’houl agrees to quickly.
Finding a private room, Brawnanvil shares mugs of strong Dwarven Ale with G’houl while explaining that he has looked into G’houl’s family history, where he learned that G’houl was raised by a Dwarven mother. He shares an important Dwarven saying, “A Dwarf without a beard is still a Dwarf.” G’houl knows that this phrase has a dual meaning... both that someone without Dwarven blood can be considered a Dwarf if they live by the tenants and beliefs of Dwarven culture, but also that those born as Dwarves do not deserve to be treated with the honor and respect Dwarves give to one another if they betray those same beliefs. It is under this belief that Brawnanvil speaks to G’houl, Dwarf to Dwarf, reiterating that he insist on Varram the White being delivered Alive back to Waterdeep so that he can be put on trial for his crimes in the Mithral Hall. When G’houl asks for more details, Brawnanvil admits that the actions of Varram and his ally Craggnor are the greatest shame of his brief reign as King Regent of the Mithral Hall.
According to Brawnanvil, members of the Eldreth Valuuthra, an Elf Supremacist group, had infiltrated a small town near Mithral Hall. At the time, Varram and Craggnor were high ranking spies employed by the Mithral Hall. Brawnanvil assigned them to eliminate the Eldreth Valuuthra “by any means necessary”... a term he grew to regret when Varram and Craggnor resorted to germ warfare... they released a virus in the small village that killed nearly every citizen in the town, both Elf and Human. However, the virus they employed was harmless to half-elves, perhaps as some kind of joke against the Eldreth Valuuthra’s hatred of half-breeds. Brawnanvil shares this story with G’houl so that he understands exactly why it is so imperative that Varram and Craggnor face trial for their actions, and not simply die in combat. G’houl takes this request seriously, and vows to deliver them alive to Brawnanvil.
Meanwhile, the other Party members talk with more about Jos... hoping to learn more about Rath Modar and any other information he might be willing to share. Jos explains that Modar is skilled enough in magic that, if he didn’t want to be found, he would have the means to hide himself from Divination. He also explains that the enitre Lords’ Castle is protected by magical shields that would prevent Modar from contacting Jos, or for Jos to contact him. He admits that the Sending Spell will likely be able to reach Modar even with his defenses, but it would be entirely up to Modar on whether or not he responds to any messages sent. Jos also warns that Red Wizards loyal to Szass Tam are likely searching for himself, Modar, and other defectors. Dahlia asks for any symbols are phrases that they could use to prove themselves as potential allies, but the best Jos can offer is that the tattoos worn by Thayans are closest to what she’s hoping for, but would be of no value written on paper... only the proper tattoo could be used to give them pause, if only briefly. When asking about symbols of freedom or change that might inspire his people, she learns that the Thayan symbol for “Freedom” and “Servitude” are identical... and also that the symbol for “Citizen” is also used for “Slave”. As Jos has stated before... There are no Free Men in Thay.
Dahlia is instantly saddened by all this, and hopes that the Party’s actions can lead to freedom for all the people of Thay. Jos hopes so as well, and hopes as well that they can turn Modar to their cause if they encounter him again. Dahlia sees the sorrow in Jos’s eyes, especially when he admits that considering Modar to be his adoptive Father is a mostly accurate description of their relationship. Dahlia offers him a hug, an act that is almost completely foreign to Jos, but at her encouragement he shares a hug with her. Awkward at first, at her guidance he holds her more tightly, and she can feel his grip trembling as he holds someone against himself for perhaps the first time in his life. Jos is a bit embarrassed by his show of emotion, as slight as it was. Dahlia explains that she will ask some of their allies to check on Jos occasionally, although she struggles to think of a code phrase so he’ll know when the Party sends allies to meet with him, admitting that the Party doesn’t know what they want to call themselves... asking Jos if he has any suggestions. Jos admits that he’s not particularly good at such things, but he does note that the party has a habit of breaking chains, and believes there could be something from that. The name Chain Breakers gets tossed about by the Party, although they’re hesitant to commit to it fully just yet. Dahlia uses this opportunity to ask what name he prefers to go by... he admits that he is usually referred to as “Master Jos”, or often Jos, and he rarely hears his first name on its own. He admits that it’s nice to simply be called Azbara. Calling him Azbara, Dahlia tells him that as proof of their alliance anyone they send to speak to him will say “The Chainbreakers Sent Me”, although she reiterates that this isn’t their official group name.
G’houl returns just in time to see Dahlia instructing Deeg to hug Azbara, which the eager Kobold immediatley does without question, tightly hugging the awkward wizard’s thigh. G’houl is left in confusion as Azbara offers words of support to “The Chainbreakers”.
We'll be playing our homebrew campaign of Sacrament tonight in about half an hour at 7pm PST! Come join us at our home at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. In case you missed what happened in our last session, since I know it's been a while thanks to some of our players becoming ill, read on:
The party has evaded the city guards, at least for now. They decide that the less stealthy party members should hide in the Genie Bag, while Azure and Fidget stealthily continue, making their way Argus’s house to hide out until it’s safe to return to the streets. As they continue to travel they overhear that the dangerous Ancient Reaver, has been released from jail already despite killing someone the previous night. Avoiding guards, they make their way back to Argus’s home, deciding that they’ll need to wait until after the ambush with Ash’s killer to clear their names with the guards… for now, they’re intent on remaining stealthy anyway. Ricky’s uncle, Henri, is panicking a bit with everything he learns, but Ricky gives him a pep talk, assuring him that he knows what he’s doing and he won’t do anything to put them in danger. He also learns that Lady Yurei, Ash’s Sister-In-Law, is busy assisting the Diva DeLuna with her costuming.
With their plans finalized, they realize they need to meet with Aylis, knowing that he’ll want to be involved. Crush instantly objects to the idea of involving him, but when Ash says she wants him to be involved her sincerity convinces Crush to relent, although he still doesn’t like it. Ricky offers a compromise… Aylis can help, but only if he admits to Argus what he’s been researching to prove how serious he is. This pleases everyone, and before they leave Ash uses Ricky’s Ring of Spell Storing to store Raise Dead, just in case they end up needing it. Satisfied, they make their way to the Reaver College to meet up with Aylis, and check on Fidget Jr., who is also headed to the college to pick up supplies for his blacksmithing job.
As they travel, Azure confirms that nobody has followed them to Argus’s house before making their way to the college. Fidget, as a goblin, is baffled by the concept and sees it as just trying to impress some old man to get a functionless piece of paper, but Azure appreciates the art of education. The group goes to the restroom for privacy to let everyone out of the Genie Bag, since Ash will need to be present to let them into the dorms to speak to Aylis. They also decide to take the opportunity to actually use the bathroom, although Crush is bewildered by the Bidet, thinking it might be the Spirit of Water that he’s met several times in the past.
Making their way to the dorms, they find a guard who uses a communication device to contact Aylis and inform him that his sister is there to meet with her. The magical stone immediately gets the attention of Azure, Ricky, and Ash, who finds herself fascinated by magic items after her time as an Artificer in her previous life… Azure asks the guard, who doesn’t seem to know much of how it actually works, while Ricky simply touches it and sings “School’s Out” loudly, getting him in trouble. Still this gets Aylis to arrive faster, and they make their way to a private room to discuss everything they came here for.
They tell Aylis about their condition… if he’s going to help them with this confrontation with the man who killed his family, he needs to come clean to Argus about what he’s been studying and his intent to join in the combat. Aylis isn’t pleased about this, but Crush sets the ultimatum… if Aylis truly believes that he should be involved, then he needs to be willing to admit it to Argus and convince him to consent… with Crush stating bluntly that if neither he or Ash can convince him, then Crush won’t let Aylis join in. Aylis isn’t happy about this, but begrudgingly agrees, since he knows that he has no choice. As they discuss it, Argus arrives. Ash comes clean about her plans to Argus, who instantly objects. Aylis argues passionately, with Ricky even granting him Inspiration to help him convince his brother. He even reveals that, after the event, he has no longer been able to experience the memories of his past lives when he enters his trance. Even Crush knows the significance of this… it’s normally a sign of an Elf entering adulthood, and for most elves doesn’t happen until they’re at least 75, while Aylis experienced it at just 6 years old. Argus is stunned, especially learning that Aylis has almost exclusively been studying Necromancy… something that would make him a criminal in their homeland of Ortheia, but Ash and Aylis both no longer consider Ortheia to be home.
Argus struggles to object to this, although he’s clearly unhappy. The topic shifts to talking about what the party has planned… they ask about the mysterious popping sound that accompanies Ash’s killer, which somehow seems to prevent magic. Crush wants to know if this could be an object or a skill… Argus guesses that it sounds like a magic item, since he doesn’t know any spells that produce a sound like that, but he would have to hear it to know for certain. Ricky uses Minor Illusion to recreate the sound, hoping it will help, but the sound is enough to trigger Ash’s memories of the night… triggering her Revenant urges, leading her to almost storm out of the room and attack her killer directly, but Crush stops her before she gets out the door… willingly accepting the necrotic damage from Ash’s touch to help her calm down. Once Ash is calm she and Ricky communicate using Message they think that they should involve Neo, because he can use his magic to show people vivid memories of others… which is how Ricky knew about the sound he produced in the first place. Ash uses Sending to contact Neo, who implies that this isn’t a good time, but begrudgingly agrees to meet them, telling them to meet in a location called Fleet Street.
Azure comments on something… the Depraved Gloom seems to have some way of tracking them, and the sheer number of them that appear at once implies an ability to summon more depraved Gloom. She mentions in particular the Elvish woman who had kidnapped Kane who openly taunted the party by claiming the Depraved Gloom knew exactly where they would be. They don’t have much of a theory of how they are doing so, and Fidget learns that his son isn’t expected at the college until near Sundown, realizing he’s expected to get back to the Blacksmith around the same time as Ash’s killer. The less-subtle party members enter Kanec’s Genie Bag, while Kanec takes advantage of the Glamoured Studded Leather Armor he’s wearing to walk in secret with Azure and guide her to Fleet Street. Fleet Street is a lower level of the city, and Neo is waiting by a fountain while Azure meets with him. He guides them to a private location where Neo can show them the memories of the night Ash was killed… although Ash herself can’t come along, as the visions risk triggering her Revenant drive to kill.
Neo guides them into a basement, and once again performs the ritual that places them into a trance, seeing visions of the night Ash died. They see visions of Aylis’s memory… a 6 year old boy, writing letters of sympathy for his sister, whose wedding has been delayed once again. Aylis sees his Mother tucking him in at night… she tells him not to hide his letter under the blankets, teasing him gently for pretending to fall asleep, telling him to get some rest. A chime is heard… an alarm of some kind. His mother goes to investigate while young Aylis tip toes ahead to spy on his parents. His mother finds no one at the door, but his father tells her not to worry. The memory skips ahead to the moment of the battle… a confused young Aylis rushing out as his mother is beheaded right in front of him… the popping sound of his family’s killer sounding again and again. When Young Aylis finally sees the killer clearly, everyone leans closer. Watching intently, looking for what creates the popping sound. As they see his father killed, the movement of his blade produces the popping sound.
Promethea… the woman Ash was before she died, tries to escape with young Aylis. Arrows fly in their direction… the arrows making the popping sound as well. Promethea hides Aylis, choosing to make herself the distraction, sacrificing herself to rescue her little brother. Young Aylis runs, barefoot through the woods of Ortheia… returning to his brother’s home. Aylis is weeping at this vision, as is Argus. Painfully, Argus asks to see the death of his father again. Watching again… he watches closely… recognizing an extremely rare and powerful magic that can cut through the Veil itself… magic itself cut, halting any spells, stunning those with sensitive ears. Argus picks out some kind of thread as a component… with Ricky figuring out that the most logical source of these strings would be Elonwee, with her connection to magical strings…. They even confirm that the arrows have the same strings attach. They determine that this can only be the work of a master artificer… someone that far exceeds both Ash’s training as Promethea, or even her teacher.
Remembering the symbol left behind with Logan… they compare it to the image on the sword. Everyone investigates it as close as possible… Azure and Crush both find the symbol and examine it closely, but only Crush remembers where he had seen it before… he had seen it once on a bag owned by a woman who married Cornelius, the man who Promethea was engaged to. Everyone is shocked at this revelation, wondering how she could possibly be involved… with Azure wondering if there’s anything she could learn from her own memory, where the assassin was very briefly seen. This pushes Neo to the limit… but he agrees. Unfortunately, the details can’t be seen… but Argus can’t shake a feeling of familiarity at what he saw. They resolve to capture the assassin, returning from the vision.
As they return they find Ash waiting impatiently for them. Before they can inform her of what they saw they’re interrupted by the sound of metal dragging on the ground outside of the room they’re in. Before they can react properly, the door is kicked in, and the Ancient Reaver they have seen bursts in… eyeing Fidget, mentioning that he’s been looking for him.
Now that all our players are feeling healthy there's been a desire to make up for lost time, so we'll be streaming again tonight at 7pm PST. We'll be playing our homebrew campaign of Sacrament at the usual place of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. Things got wild with the last session, and unfortunately we had to stop in the middle of a combat, so things are going to be exciting from the moment we start. But in case you need a reminder of what happened with our last stream, here's the summary:
When the Ancient Reaver confronts the Grimveils, he makes it clear that his intent is to take from Fidget the armor of Azmira and the blade of Sovereign he carries. Crush is ready to fight, but Ricky intervenes with a different tact… he knows that the Ancient Reaver is planning to attend his mother’s concert that night, and is able to convince him to delay his attack until at least after the concert, giving the Grimveils enough time to complete their mission… although Azmira herself clearly would rather be with the Ancient Reaver.
Once he’s convinced to delay his attack, the Ancient Reaver implies that he recognizes the Sun Elf Neo, even implying that he’s the one who gave him his distinct facial scar, before making it clear that he can sense Fidget’s equipment and will be able to find them at any time. He leaves, and Neo immediately knows that his safehouse is compromised, and the other followers of the Night Mother come out to seal the entryway and make their way to their hidden escapes. Making their way to the back, they stop at a statue of the Night Mother hidden in a back room… Neo laments that they can’t leave it there, and it will need to be destroyed. Ricky agrees to help, not wanting Neo to carry the full weight of destroying an icon of his Goddess, and Crush helps as well, cleanly lopping the head off of the statue, which is given to Neo… the eyes of the statue still leaking mystical tears. They then find that the Nightchildren have built tunnels in the city, and they’re already preparing to collapse them behind themselves to hide their movement. The party makes plans to sneak away, most of the party hiding in Kanec’s Genie Bag, while Ricky opts to wear the little girl disguise he was given. As they exit the hidden pathways, Ricky attempts to act as much like Elonwee as possible… unfortunately, he’s touched by Chao’s Curse, and although he’s successful, his attempt summons the most deadly creature Chao is capable of sending… one of the Gargantuan Sand Worms from the Desert of Lost Bones, which erupts out of the collapsed tunnel… chasing Kanec and Ricky, who run as they warn their allies of what’s happening.
When Crush hears what’s happened he tells Ash to contact Facein, the Tiavet Black Dragon who has become a Patron of Ricky’s Mother, and is one of few creatures with the size and strength to take on a Sand Worm directly. Unfortunately, she’s unable to convince him that this isn’t some kind of joke, and instead she casts Fly on herself, Fidget, and Crush, the group erupting out to battle the Sand Worm. The massive creature is tearing through buildings, unable to tunnel underground in the paved city. The streets are panicking as the Party desperately tries to stop the monstrosity’s escape. As the Sandworm is starting to get away Crush slams it hard with an Opportunity Attack… using his Sentinel feat to stop the massive creature in its tracks before it barrels into an elementary school. Once the creature is stopped it begins thrashing, breaking Ash’s concentration on Fly. She retaliates by summoning Black Tentacles, which just barely manage to hold the Sandworm in place… but more importantly, its held in place for Azure to hit it with a Stunning Strike, which manages to paralyze this gargantuan threat. As the Grimveils hammer on the paralyzed beast, Azmira shifts into a drill-like form and literally drills in the creature’s body, but Ash delivers the finishing blow… shoving her clawed hands into its side to release Blight, melting the creature with necrotic energy. Once it dies, the magically conjured creature vanishes… although just enough of its filth is left behind and clinging to fidget’s body, much to his disgust.
Crush hurries to check on the children, taking the opportunity to give a speech to help calm the students and keep them from wandering away. Azure, meanwhile, listens carefully, hearing the sounds of someone trapped in the rubble. She uses her Astral Arms to dig through and finds the woman she had helped deliver the baby for, along with her crying baby. The woman is happy to see her, and they’re quickly helped by guards.
However, the guards quickly recognize Crush and Azure, as they had been looking for them from the fake robbery they had accidentally found themselves involved with. Crush does a quick scan of the crowd, seeing that the guards have arrived and are keeping the crowd far enough away that he realizes the best choice is to simply come clean… he explains that they’re traveling with Ash the Revenant, who has been given special permissions to chase her quarry. Logan the Blacksmith is actually working with them, and only pretended to accuse them of robbery to keep the Depraved Gloom from realizing they were working together. He’s unable to persuade them, but because of their noble actions the guard doesn’t feel it necessary to arrest them, but he does insist they accompany him back to the guard station while it’s looked into further… unfortunately, they have a hard deadline for sundown, and Crush can tell they have less than an hour to prepare. Instead, Crush puffs out his chest and warns the Guard that he and his friends are going to be in place to attack Ash’s quarry, and the guard has to decide if he wants to help them or get knocked flat on his ass. The Guard, as a Reaver, respects Crush’s resolve, and takes him seriously… his earnest willingness to threaten a guard somehow working in his favor. The Guard then decides it would be best to appear to arrest him, tossing the Grimveils in the back of a Paddy Wagon to take them to the College of Tiavet to reconvene with Fidget Jr. and prepare for the attack on Ash’s quarry.
Meanwhile, Ricky has stayed in the bag throughout the entire conflict, not wanting to endanger things further… partly blaming himself for causing the Sandworm to appear, but also not wanting to risk his ties to the Nightmother causing more danger… not to mention he’s still wearing Elonwee’s dress, not wanting to ruin his disguise with combat. He’s in the bag with Ash’s brother Aylis, along with several of the Night Children, who also can’t safely leave the Genie Bag. Ricky takes the time to cook some food for everyone to try and keep spirits up. Azure eventually enters the bag as well, checking on everyone… she learns that one of the Night Children is a half-tabaxi… She’s shocked, as she thought that there were no Tabaxi in Tiavet. Even more shocking, she uses the same fighting style as Azure… and when Azure mentions she was trained by Master Starla, and the Night Child was trained by the same woman. They don’t get much time to discuss this, as the Paddy Wagon has arrived at the College.
Fidget Jr. seems familiar with the guards, as he’s been escorted in the Paddy Wagon a number of times already. Once he sees the Grimveils he helps to explain that they didn’t actually rob the Blacksmith, and he simply said that out of panic to keep up their ruse. The party finally connects with Junior, who has gathered the rare reagents he was sent to the college to collect, and everyone has a plan… the guards will keep their distance, but surround the Blacksmith’s shop and move in after a few minutes. Meanwhile, the Grimveils will mostly hide in Kanec’s Genie Bag, bursting out once they’re in the Blacksmith shop.
They drive forward, everyone trying to prepare themselves for the upcoming conflict. Ricky casts Catnap to help Ash and Azure recover their resources. Crush gives a a pep talk to Aylis, but what really excites him is when Ash summons her Dempilane, revealing the skeletons she’s collected. Ash and Aylis both cost Animate Dead. Entering the Blacksmith shop, they have only moments to prepare… Crush hides in his shell, posing as a table thanks to a blanket and a plank of wood on his back. Ash and Aylis hide in the back room with their skeletons, while Azure and Fidget use their high stealth skills to hide… Ricky, however, still in his disguise as Elonwee, hides poorly… when Ash’s quarry arrives, he immediately sees Ricky. Approaching Ricky, the young halfling maintains his disguise, hoping to distract the Assassin… however, when the Assassin sees what he believes to be Elonwee his suspicion jumps… he loses all interest in what he came for, and prepares to kill Fidget Jr. and Logan… Ash loses control, dropping her disguise, bursting out to attack her quarry with Eldritch Blasts. Everyone attacks the Assassin… Crush bumrushes him, using his Storm Aura to knock him prone, grappling him and pinning him to the ground in a leg lock. Azure takes advantage of her stealth to sneak up, using sleight of hand to swipe his magical sword… she hears ominous whispers in her mind while carrying it, calling for blood. Still, they’re in a Blacksmith’s shop, and rather than risk any danger this powerful magical weapon represents, she simply crams it deep into the burning forge.
With her quarry pinned in place, Ash approaches and tears off her killer’s hood. He recognizes him as Missy’s Father… Missy being her best friend before her death, and the woman who is marrying Ash’s ex-fiancee. Seeing his face, knowing his name… Ash becomes a full-blown Revenant. New powers unlocking within her, making her even more deadly… but also pushing her closer to her own demise. With a diabolical laugh she commands everyone not to kill him… but she wants his limbs broken, as she has plans to make him suffer. She stares at her killer with supernatural hatred and darkness, calling upon her newly gained powers as a Revenant to freeze her quarry in place with fear. As battle erupts, the other Depraved Gloom begin to burst in and try to help. With the skeletons on their side, Ash and Aylis use them as undead shields, blocking the windows leading into the relatively small Blacksmith’s shop. With Ash’s Killer left unarmed and in a weakened state, the Grimveils must prepare to battle his entourage of Cultists, necromancers, and living monstrosities… and must also be careful not to kill him outright, because if he dies, so does Ash, and there’s no telling what that means for the Lich King Larlock, whose philactory is Ash’s own corrupted heart.
Well be playing Rise of Tiamat tonight at 7pm PST! Come join us at our usual home of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. We had a shorter session the last time we played, so the summary isn't too long this time, but everyone is feeling healthy again so we're going to have a full-length session tonight:
With preparations complete the tentatively titled “Chainbreakers” gather their horses and reconvene with the goblin inventor Armpit on the Nimbus, which has moved to meet them at the dock ward of Waterdeep, which has drawn a crowd of curious onlookers. Rather than use the plank to board, Antares opts to leap across, and Dahlia does the same with her horse, Fractal, tossing what candy she has remaining from Liar’s Night out to the crowd. As the floating island now named Nimbus takes off into the sky the well-trained Draft Horses remain relatively calm, although the Riding Horse Fractal needs to be comforted by Dahlia. As they sail across the skies the party realizes they didn’t actually buy feed for their horses, but fortunately there is plant life growing on the Nimbus itself... at least enough to keep three horses fed while they mostly remain in their pen.
As the Nimbus soars across the sky Dahlia mounts the magical mirror they were gifted by the Zhentarim in the rooms at the base of the windmill that seems to guide the floating island’s movement. Activating it, she finds that it connects to another mirror in a dimly lit room with stone walls and sees a familiar figure busying himself by building a house of cards... Droop, the brother of Thorn, the fabulously dressed Goblin representative of the Zhentarim. He quickly fetches his sister, who explains the finer details of the mirror... it can only be used for 10 minutes at a time, and can’t be used again for 12 hours. She also explains that the Zhentarim sighted Varram in the town of Dragonspear, and found him traveling south east in the direction of the Serpent Hills. She recommends the party travel to Boareskyr Bridge, which has a small settlement nearby where they can hopefully learn more information. Once that’s out of the way she enjoys simply gossiping with Dahlia, and shows some interest when she hears about Armpit, but their call is cut short. Throughout their flight Dahlia periodically checks in with Thorn, but it’s mostly friendly chatting.
As their journey is beginning, G’houl also reveals what he had learned from Ambassador Brawnanvil... in particular, that Varram and Craggnor had been assigned to eliminate members of the Elven Supremacy group, the Eldrath Valuuthra, who were gathering in the remote village of Nesme... a task they accomplished using a virus that was deadly not only to elves, but humans as well, but was somehow harmless to Half-Elves. Antares instantly recognizes the name of the village, as its where his godparent Katniss lived, and where their mother had died of an illness that swept through the village seemingly out of nowhere. Dahlia is especially enraged, lamenting that she let Craggnor live when they first met him, and questioning why Brawnanvil insisted to G’houl to bring both men home alive. G’houl explains that, within Dwarven culture, it is seen as an honorable duty to take criminals to court and expose their crimes for all to see, and avoid at all costs simply executing criminals without trial. Dahlia seethes, but remembers that it was Katniss Themself who had convinced her not to simply kill Craggnor the moment she saw him... Antares as well admits that it will be difficult not to kill these men on sight, but says that if Katniss did that for Craggnor once, then They wouldn’t want them to do the same thing again.
During their trip they cover ground much faster than possible on horseback, quickly closing the gap to catch up with their quarry. More importantly, the Party is free to focus on downtime activities even while traveling... Antares uses his herbalism kit to produce Potions of Healing, although he also imbues them with some of the Wild Magic that is within his body. G’houl, meanwhile, focuses on scribing spells into his spellbook... in particular, considering the fact that Nimbus has no guard rails along its exterior, he spends time learning Feather Fall, and he also prepares to learn Water Breathing, just in case it becomes relevant. Loki isn’t particularly interested in any trade or preparation and simply relaxes during their travels, while Dahlia uses the two Scrolls of Sending she had acquired to contact Blagothkus, learning that he is currently far North, beyond the spine of the world, but she convinces him to find some way to contact her where they can have a more thorough discussion. After speaking to Blagothkus she asks G’houl to contact Katniss, where they learn that Katniss has arrived finally in Waterdeep and it seems that Katniss is being tasked to search for information on the Draakhorn... the task that the other Party members opted not to pursue, although he does not inform Them about what he had learned about Varram and Craggnor.
After calling Katniss, G’houl playfully asks for payment for his efforts, which Loki obliges by reaching into her Bag of Tricks and throwing one of the balls of fur at G’houl. It instantly transforms into a Giant Boar, and at Loki’s command it chases G’houl, who attempts to cast Sleep on it, but it’s too hearty for the spell to take hold... instead Antares tackles the Boar, suplexing it and simply having fun wrestling it. The Party all enjoys a laugh, and everyone decides to sleep under the stars that night... everyone except Loki, who instead pushes all the beds inside the windmill together and sleep across all of them. The Giant Boar makes for a warm sleeping partner for Antares while Dahlia and G’houl enjoy the night sky. As Dahlia drifts to sleep she dreams of an ice cave, with points of light peeking through the ceiling like stars in the sky, and she finds herself face-to-face with the Cloud Giant Blagothkus. He has used the Dream spell to contact Dahlia, where he reveals that he is far in the frigid North gathering Frost Giants to join his cause of battling the Dragons. Blagothkus is at first dismissive of the idea of working with the small-folk, believing that Giants alone are capable of handling this conflict and keeping all the glory for themselves. However, Dahlia reminds him that he needed the help of “Small Folk” to kill the the White Dragon Glazhael... it was Dahlia herself who healed Blagothkus when he was knocked unconscious, and she was also the one who dealt the killing blow. With her persuasion she convinces Blagothkus to at least meet with the small-folk, and he plans to speak on this matter further when his business in the North is complete.
We're going to be playing our Homebrew Campaign of Sacrament tonight at 7PM PST, and we'll be streaming everything at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. Our last session was a short session intended to finish a particular large and complicated fight. But in case you weren't able to join us last week, or if you just want a refresher, here's what happened:
The Grimveils are battling Ash’s killer, who is the father of her former best friend Missy in her previous life as Promethea. As the battle rages, another of the Ujuu monstrosities bursts through a window, but luckily Fidget Jr. has set up a trap, dropping hot oil on the creature that gets ignited with a torch, the flaming Ujuu attacking Ash. Although her necrotic form actually damages it by attacking her. Crush, seeing that Ash’s Quarry is paralyzed thanks to her Revenant Stare, picks him up, using him as a blunt instrument to attack another Ujuu. Azure runs across the walls, hiding in the shadows to sneak up on one of the cultists, summoning her Astral arms and slamming her target. Meanwhile, one of the necromancers bursts in through one of the back windows, finding Ricky still in his disguise as Elonwee, quickly grabbing him… although Ricky doesn’t resist, as the necromancer’s movement triggers an opportunity attack from Fidget, who is hidden nearby. The Necromancer attempts to retaliate with Hellish Rebuke, but Fidget’s Evasion protects him. Ricky, meanwhile, maintains his disguise, but uses his sleight of hand (and gloves of Thievery) to steal the Necromancer’s spellcasting focus, essentially disabling him.
Fidget Jr. continues his trap usage… climbing onto the rafters, where he has several traps prepared, starting by dropping alchemist fire on a few of the necromancers. Ash blights the Ujuu, and when a Necromancer near her tries to heal himself, Ash attempts to punish him with her Mage Slayer feat, but misses with her claws. Fortunately, Kanec rushes forward to finish him, then Action Surges to kill the nearby Ujuu as well. Ash’s Killer recovers from his paralyzation, but is unable to escape Crush’s grip to attempt anything as his body is gripped with fear from Ash. Crush offers Logan the use of his axe, since the magical weapon can harm the Ujuu, but Logan unfortunately only has one arm, giving him disadvantage with Crush’s two-handed axe, and although he lands one solid hit, the disadvantage causes him to drop the weapon mid-swing, ending his attack early. Crush continues to use Ash’s Quarry as a weapon to attack one of the Ujuu, very nearly knocking him unconscious, careful not to deal lethal damage. Meanwhile, the Necromancer who kidnapped Ricky sets him down, still thinking he’s the well-trained Elonwee, ordering her to wait outside before hurrying back to rejoin the fight… however, Ricky moves to the front of the story, using his disguise as a little girl to start crying and call for help, which brings instantly the Reaver city guards. Inside, Fidget Jr. is out of traps, instead dropping blade-first onto a barely-conscious Necromancer… with Ash commenting that he reminds her of Fidget. Kanec believes that the screaming outside is an actual child, hacking at the Ujuu in front of him, but risking an opportunity attack to hurry out to rescue her… only to realize it’s Ricky, and then spot the Necromancer who had his spellcasting focus stolen… something he still hasn’t noticed.
Inside, One of the Ujuus attacks Aylis, biting the young Elf with its rows of, infecting him with a disease and knocking him prone. Aylis drops a small bag that seems to be glowing, although he struggles to explain why he has it, but does warn to keep it closed. Crush quickly knocks Ash’s Quarry unconscious, leaving him as he rushes to shut the bag, but doesn’t manage to close it before something starts to crawl out. He does pull Aylis out of the way of the Ujuu, but as the bag opens they realize that it’s a Genie Bag, with Aylis’s Female Reaver friend Alex inside. She’s shocked at what she sees, but starts to panic as she realizes Aylis has become Diseased. Azure knocks out one of the remaining Necromancers, slamming his head down to the ground with her astral arms before hurrying to help kill the last Ujuu. She attempts to stun it, only to realize that it’s immune.
Outside, the Necromancer that Ricky robbed attempts to cast a spell on Kanec, but when it fails he realizes Ricky had stolen the necklace he uses as a spellcasting focus, leaving him defenseless against the massive armored Kanec. Ricky keeps up his crying performance, rushing into the Blacksmith to guide the guards inside. Alex is panicking… she’s nearing her first Blood Rage… but she maintains her composure enough to cast a blood magic spell, cutting her palm, shapeshifting the blood into a magical blade, attacking the Ujuu with her cursed Reaver blood.
Ash sees Aylis, but has no means of curing his illness. She does, however, intend to use her “Snakes to Gold” combo on her killer… but unfortunately, as he’s unconscious he can’t be Polymorphed, so she uses Mass Healing Word to bring him back up then attempt to Polymorph him, but he’s able to resist. Crush finishes off the last of the opponents, just as the guards arrive, realizing that the “little girl” that got their attention was actually Ricky, who had started to cast his Create Breakfast spell, which is able to cure the Disease that Aylis contracted. The Guards, fortunately, were aware of what they were there to do, and once they realize what’s really happening they help by clearing out the bodies. Azure stabilizes Ash’s Quarry, while Fidget and Fidget Jr. tie up the unconscious assassin. Ricky offers coffee and donuts to the guards to placate them as they gather information from Logan. Ricky also uses his feather of sending to write a message to Argus, letting him know that Ash’s Quarry has been captured alive. Argus is on his way, while everyone makes plans to head to the Diva de Luna’s concert once Argush arrives. Crush also tries to compensate Logan for the damage to his shop, giving him a few handfuls of gold (that he doesn’t bother to count), while Azure does her best to help clean up and assess the damage. Finally, they hear Argus approaching, and Ash and Aylis both realize they’ll have to work hard to keep Argus calm, as all three of the siblings are struggling to resist the urge to kill Ash’s quarry, but they have to remember that Ash will die once her quarry is slain.
Just as a heads up, due to a family emergency we'll be going on an extended hiatus. I hope everyone understands this situation and we sincerely wish for any fans, whether they view the streams or just read the summaries, to always have the best of health for themselves and their loved ones.
Oh wow, I totally forgot to post this here, but we're about to go live! Come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty as we play more Rise of Tiamat! As for what happened last time, well...
As the potentially-named “Chain Breakers” pilot the floating island Nimbus near Boarskyr bridge, a windy day creates trouble... the horses are too jumpy to leave their pen, but because the Party forgot to purchase feed for the horses, they’re unable to step out of their pens to feed on the plant life that grows naturally on Nimbus. Worried for the horses, Dahlia wants to look for somewhere they could stop in order to get some feed and let the horses out. Antares spots an extremely small hamlet set in the fork of two rivers, and Armpit redirects the Nimbus to travel in that direction, the party willing to arrive in Boarskyr later the next day to ensure the well-being of their horses. The floating island draws the attention of the citizens living in the hamlet, who seem to be dwarves, some carrying spears, although they don’t seem openly aggressive.
Dahlia is the first to approach, speaking in Dwarvish as she meets the Matriarch of this clan, an older Dwarven woman named Maureen. After explaining their plight, one young man attempts to get 50 gold for some feed, but Maureen asks for a more reasonable price... essentially asking double what is usually charged in larger towns, as feed is rarer and more precious in this remote location. Dahlia is happy to pay the increased price, and everyone is invited to visit with this remote clan for dinner, with the sun setting during this meeting, and the Party deciding to spend the night, eager for the opportunity to spend more time within the quiet comfort of a modest farm lifestyle. Dahlia speaks to Maureen, who talks about how Goblins have attacked in the past, making some family members uncomfortable around Armpit, but Dahlia manages to calm their nerves. The goats raised by the family have been unruly lately, and Dahlia chooses to warn her about what’s been happening... Maureen has heard of the Dragon Cultists, since they’ve been known for attacking remote villages. Dahlia explains that they’re behind animals acting strangely, and they’re gearing up for something more dangerous. Dahlia intends to make certain that Maureen and her family prepare for the worst, but she unintentionally panics the older woman.
G’houl and Antares both notice animals acting strangely... as G’houl is keeping watch, he sees owls fighting, showing unnatural aggression, while Antares sleeps in the barn and needs to help calm the horses and the unruly goats. When morning comes the Dwarven family shares breakfast freely with their guests before they fly away, leaving them warned of the danger facing the entire world. The remaining flight toward Boarskyr bridge passes quickly, although the Party asks Armpit to drop them off around a river bend so that they can arrive without the attention that Nimbus would attract. They ride their horses toward the bridge, which appears to be an ancient structure, and it’s clear that the overgrown path they follow was, at one time, a well-maintained cobblestone road. Across the bridge is a small tent city of mostly Gnomish citizens, with men and women in armor and carrying spears acting as guards. One guard approaches the Party as they approach. A friendly conversation ensues, and as Dahlia explains they’re simply passing through the guard warns them to be wary of the Serpent Hills, since “snake folk” live there and sometimes sneak into town to abduct victims. She mentions in particular that a Dwarven Man in a purple robe passed by just the other day and killed one of the Snake-Folk who was skulking around town. This instantly gets the party’s attention, but the guard admits she didn’t witness it herself, and recommends they speak to Bolo, a Halfling woman who runs a very basic tavern/inn in the center of the tiny pop-up village.
Making their way inside, the party orders some food and drink... Antares in particular requests that Bolo mix together a little bit of everything, ordering two... one for himself, and one for Loki. Antares manages to chug down his drink, despite the unpleasant color and texture, whereas Loki casts Purify Food and Drink first before sipping hers, the spell helping to balance out the poorly conceived mixed drink. Bolo talks happily about the Dwarf, who has a reputation as a hero for fighting off one of the “Snake-Folk”. She’s pleased to share any information she has to the party, letting them know that he was traveling with an entourage of other men, mostly humans, although some were huge and muscular. She describes him as a bald-headed dwarf with a dark beard, and also mentions that a red-headed dwarf was traveling with him. She guesses, based on the robes, that they must be a religious group of some kind, since there are the ruins of many long abandoned temples within the Serpent Hills, which religious groups sometimes make pilgramages to seek. Further probing reveals that the Dwarf didn’t stay around long enough to give his name... he was attempting to hire a guide for the hills, but after killing the Snake-Folk he and his entourage rode off into the hills without saying more.
Dahlia asks to meet the guide that Varram was attempting to hire, and fortunately he’s in the tavern getting a meal. Bolo introduces Dahlia to Wrezu, a young Gnomish man who makes a living guiding others through the treacherous Serpent Hills. He explains that he only spoke to the Dwarf briefly and doesn’t know where he was headed, but takes a few guesses at some important ruins in the Serpent Hills... he knows there are particularly large temples to the Gods Cyric and Bhaal that often attract pilgrims, but what gets everyone’s attention is when he mentions a Wizard’s Tomb. He recalls that the Wizard is named Diderius, and he knows the location to be unsafe... G’houl recalls from his Wizard training that Diderius was a famous Divination Wizard known for being so skilled that he could even divine objects and creatures that were shielded against divination magic. He also recalls that Diderius was known for his massive ego, and although he was greatly wealthy, he was more interested in adoration than wealth, with the powerful wizard practically being worshipped by his followers... so much so that, upon his death, Diderius was mummified and his vast estate was converted into a tomb.
This seems to be the most likely locaiton for Varram to be traveling, although what he wants with access to Divination magic isn’t clear. The Party chooses to hire Wrezu to guide them further, hoping to learn more from the Guide. He travels carrying a large walking stick and accompanied by a Shetland Pony named Champ carrying a large pack laden with supplies. Once out of town Dahlia reveals to Wrezu the truth... the man he met was no hero, and if he was hiring Wrezu for anything it was to bring him along as a sacrifice. Wrezu doesn’t believe at first, but Dahlia is able to convince him... especially since they find themselves following the same path that Varram and his entourage used recently, as evidenced by the trail of hoofprints... making it clear that Varram knew where he was going all along, and had no need of a guide.
As night begins to fall Wrezu leads them toward a stone tower that’s known as a safe place to rest for travelers in the Serpent Hills. Antares is interested in this, tapping into the Wild Magic within his body to sense magic in the area, finding a slightest hint of defensive Abjuration magic in the ground itself. G’houl uses Identify, finding that there isn’t any kind of structured spell on the land, instead finding hints of energy from an ancient blessing left here centuries ago by the Goddess Chauntea, figuring that this tower was once a silo to hold grain gathered by followers of the harvest Goddess. Wrezu is impressed with G’houl’s Tiny Hut spell and everyone sleeps safely within... woken up the next morning as goats are aggressively butting their heads against the sides of the mysterious bubble. Antares decides to try and milk one of the goats, using his Animal Handling skills to avoid being attacked as he finds a nursing mother... although he neglected to bring any kind of container, the only thing he has on hand are the small vials from his Herbalists’ kit... and although he only gets a tiny volume of goat milk, his actions do calm (and confuse) the herd which moves away, leaving the Party free to continue their journey.
Still following the trail left by Varram, Wrezu shares information about the various structures and lost cultures they pass by. Eventually they come across an abandoned campsite used by Varram and his followers... but more importantly, they spot the corpse of a Lizardfolk with its throat slit nearby. Wrezu explains that the Lizardfolk work for the Yuan-Ti (or as he pronounces it, “Yanty”), and they’ve taken over several of the abandoned temples where they purposedly desecrated them in the name of their own Gods. The Party notices that the Lizardfolk has a symbol of a fanged skull surrounded by a snake swallowing its own tail branded onto his skin. Loki recognizes it as a symbol of Merrshaulk, a Yuan-Ti deity who demands regular sacrifices... Dahlia asks Wrezu if the Lizardfolk are allies of the Yuan-Ti or slaves, with Wrezu admitting he doesn’t know. Still, the thought persists and Dahlia asks if Wrezu can guide them to where the Lizardfolk can be met. Wrezu is hesitant as his job as a guide pretty explicitly avoids those areas, but as long as they don’t mind him leaving instead of accompanying them, he can show them where to go, drawing a crude map to guide them to the Tomb of Diderius.
Leaving Wrezu to return to Boarskyr Bridge, the Party rides through a marshy area into dangerous territory. They travel steadily, but their unable to notice until the trap has sprung that they’ve been tailed by Lizardfolk... only Dahlia having high enough passive perception to avoid being surprised. Lizardfolk burst out of heavy bushes, pouncing on the Party and attempting to grapple and abduct them, rather than attack at first. They also see that a Yuan-Ti Malison is leading this troupe of Lizardfolk, who obey his commands without question. As a Barbarian, Antares is able to trigger his Rage and act right away... his wild magic taking the form of a beam of energy launched from his chest toward the Yuan-Ti. The Party avoids attacking the Lizardfolk, who don’t show the same courtesy. The Yuan-Ti attempts to cast Suggestion on Dahlia, but G’houl counterspells it. Everyone focuses their attacks on the Yuan-Ti... G’houl even conjures a Cloud of Daggers on the Yuan-Ti... and Antares shoves Lizardfolk out of his way, tanking attacks of opportunity from the other Lizardfolk as he rushes to the Yuan-Ti, grappling him and forcing him to remain inside the Cloud of Daggers where he’s sliced to ribbons. With their leader dead, the Lizardfolk still continue to attack until G’houl summons a massive fireball in the sky above, using it to intimidate them into Parlaying. Hesitantly, the Lizardfolk lower their weapons, and Dahlia notices that one Lizardfolk in particular who has multiple brands across his body lowers his weapon with just a little more enthusiasm than the others, as the Party prepares to speak to the Lizardfolk.
Crits for Breakfast will finally be returning to our homebrew campaign of Sacrament later tonight! We'll be going live once again at 7pm PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. Our last session was very eventful, and the Grimveils are in a precarious situation... read ahead in case you need a reminder of what happened last session:
Crush begins stripping Ash’s Quarry, which draws confusion from a guard until Crush explains that he saw him casting magic… but Crush doesn’t know much about magic, only that it requires equipment to cast, so he’s making sure that the Assassin won’t be able to do any magic in case he wakes up. While stripping him Ricky snags his signet ring, since he’s a Lord in the country of Ortheia. On his back is a large tattoo set with mystical runes, and includes the same coat of arms from his signet, and then the skull image of the Depraved Gloom… and finally Ash recognizes the symbol of “The Wings of Elvenkind”, an Elf Supremacy Group. The Guards are a bit put off by everything, but everything takes a more serious turn when Ash’s brother Argus enters. He can barely contain his rage as he recognizes the man as well… Ash struggles as well, but Ricky talks them down. Knowing they still can’t kill Ash’s Quarry yet, they instead revive him just enough to cast Polymorph on him, then use their strange snake statue to transform him to gold… a process that leaves him technically alive, allowing Ash to continue to live as a Revenant. The golden snake is left with Argus, as Ash doesn’t trust herself with it.
With Ash’s Quarry captured, the Party’s next stop is to continue to the concert. There is some concern about Alex, the female Reaver who is nearing her first Blood Rage. Taking a Police Escort to the concert, Ash begins to feel a sinking feeling of her life coming to an end… she knows the name and face of the man who killed her, and as a Revenant not knowing that was the only thing that extended her life. Ash is visited once again by the Angel of Death that has visited her in the past… it tells her to give in, and let herself die, but acknowledges that even if she does, Ash’s soul will be taken. Ash refuses to give in just yet, and the Angel leaves before everyone climbs in the Police Escort to ride to the concert. The party is accompanied by Logan, the one-armed blacksmith who they’re compensating for the fight they brought to his shop by bringing him backstage for the concert.
Arriving at the concert, they’re escorted to the back of the brothel where the concert is being held. Kanec’s brother Malik is working security, and he won’t allow Aylis to enter, as he’s too young to be allowed in the building. He’s given to a Tlincalli, or scorpion-folk, woman, Maurice, who protects the children. Once Aylis is let free, the rest of the Grimveils are escorted backstage. While waiting for the show to start, they discuss what they need to do to help Neo and Kalea… fortunately, as they’re discussing this, an androgynous escort delivers a message to Ricky, which lets Ricky know that Neo and Kalea have both made their way into the brothel and, with Elizabeth’s help, have set up the ritual and are just waiting for the concert to begin. As they discuss this, Elizabeth steps out, eagerly embracing her son. She’s excited and shares information about some of the magical features she has access to within the well-equipped Brothel… including a magical curtain along the back of the stage where stage hands can move invisibly, and where the Party is capable of hiding as they watch the show. They also meet up with Ash’s Sister-in-Law, Yuki, who is worried, since she knows what Ash was going to be doing this night. Ash hesitates to tell her all the details, not wanting to cause even more stress. This satisfies her for now, but she does want to know more soon. Stepping into the hidden back area obscured by the magical curtain, Crush immediately spots the Giant Ancient Reaver in the audience, who has sprung for an expensive ticket near the stage. They also meet with Sly Smile, Fidget’s Daughter who had left to start a new job working with Elizabeth and her crew. She’s taken to wearing a wig (as she’s normally completely hairless), along with some tasteful makeup.
They’re also met by Kalea, who reveals that she’s hiding below the floorboards of the stage along with Zeke, the giant mimic who’s eager to join show business, and whose body actually composes part of the stage. Kalea reveals that they’ve set up for the ritual, preparing to take advantage of the music and the crowd’s energy to complete their spell to awaken the Goddess Hearth. The party is left waiting behind the invisible curtain when they’re joined by a beautiful woman with horns and wearing a large opal on her chest… Azure realizes that this is a female dragon, the wife of Facein who goes by the name “Opal”. She is soon joined by Facein himself, who nods respectfully to the group. Elizabeth steps out, preparing to perform. Her concert begins, with Elizabeth, as the Diva DeLuna, puts on a Hell of a show. While the concert is in full swing, Neo and his Night Children have completed the magical symbols on the ceiling. Kalea also comes out from the floorboards, her work finished as well. With their work complete, Elizabeth is given a new outfit to wear and a new song to sing… a dress that looks suspiciously like the dress Ricky knows to be worn by the Nightmother.
Kalea warns that they can’t let Elizabeth’s performance get interrupted, and everyone stands at the ready… knowing that a crowd of Reavers won’t take kindly to the sight of the Nightmother. The normally bombastic and energetic Diva DeLuna now performing a slow, introspective song. Ricky is worried, watching the crowd with panic in case anyone tries to act against her, but instead finds tears in the eyes of Reavers, an emotional reaction to her sincere, sorrowful song. Ricky can see light glowing from the flower pots… which he realizes is the water taken from the fountain of Peace… helping to calm the emotions of the Reavers. Zeke, who is working as the stage, shifts to keep up with the new song… but unfortunately, his shifting shakes the foundation, and Neo unfortunately can’t keep his footing, falling from the ceiling. As the song is almost interrupted, Neo takes advantage of his skills as a Bard… with Ricky messaging his mother to work with him, the two turn this into a duet. This prevents any immediate interference… but Neo is still a well-known criminal. A few Reavers are trying to get on stage, intent on arresting Neo and stopping the performance, but Crush is able to intervene… successfully persuading them that it would be dishonorable to interrupt a performance by a guest to their Country.
However, they realize a worse problem… the giant Ancient Reaver has so much negative energy and hatred emanating from him that he’s preventing the ritual from completing. Kalea says that they need to get him out of there, if only long enough to complete the ritual. Ricky uses the Message Spell to contact the Ancient Reaver, challenging him to battle outside, a bluff that he falls for… but not before responding through the spell that he won’t hesitate to kill Elizabeth if he believes her to be a Night Child. Hearing him threaten Elizabeth gets Crush’s blood boiling, and he needs a moment to calm himself as well. This is enough for the ritual to complete… mystical lights glowing, the water of Peace rising slowly in the air, suspended as the crowd other than the Grimveils and Elizabeth appear frozen in time. The Party steps out onto the stage to explain to Elizabeth what has been happening, since she’s only been given a minimum of information… although knowing more only panics her further. The spirits of the Sea and the Wind appear… saying that the Goddess Hearth is still sleeping, but she’s beginning to wake up now that she thinks her sister is near. Crush believes that Elizabeth has become the avatar of the Night Mother in this moment, the sister to Hearth… he asks Elizabeth what she would sing to awaken a family member she hasn’t seen in years… She mentions that she would sing the same song she used to sing for Ricky as a child.
With Crush’s prompting, Ricky joins his mother in a duet. Singing a loving song shared between Mother and Child, a resonant song from deep within their very souls. With their song complete, it feels as though the party has suddenly left this plane of existence… water floods the grounds, and plants begin to grow, giant fish swim through the waters, as the sounds of other animals can be heard. As they watch a large figure rises from the water… a massive woman with dark brown skin… the Party lifted in the air to greet the Mother of all life… the Goddess Hearth.
Hearth seems briefly disappointed as she looks to see Elizabeth, realizing that she’s not actually her sister. Ricky steps forward, showing her his amulet of the Night Mother, explaining that the Night Mother is there, to some degree, which pleases Hearth… although she worries at the sense of danger still in the area. Ash, however, messages Azure magically, telling her that she needs to take the Blade of Sovereign from Fidget and, more importantly, from Azmira. Stealthily, Azure manages to take the blade. Meanwhile, Hearth asks how long she’s slept… revealing that she was sleeping to allow her energy to create the Eternal Storm that only recently subsided, allowing contact between the land of Kahenah and the Reaver country of Tiavet. Ash asks for more information from Hearth… she tells of how the world was created, in the time before life, in the primordial chaos. When the world was being created, the NightMother, Arrana, already existed… in some ways, she was even the Mother of the other Gods. Hearth, and the other Gods, began to create life… although it was only Hearth herself who could give birth to new life. Hearth was overworking herself, even as a Goddess, as each of the other Gods and forces asked for Hearth to birth more life. The only God that didn’t ask anything of her was Arrana, but as a gift, Hearth created for her wolves… children of the night who will sing for her.
The new beings began to realize the more they ask of their patron Gods… the more they follow and obey them, the more powerful their Gods become, and the more protection they provide… they begin to worship the Gods. This led to conflict, and Hearth sealed herself away, refusing to birth more children just to give the Gods more worshippers. Ash then changes the subject, requesting instead Hearth’s Help. The Party explains their plan… to bring the Nightmother and Sovereign to Hearth, where she can moderate a meeting between them. Hearth is hesitant… and it’s revealed that even she can’t tell the truth of what happened between Arrana and Sovereign, but hints that there’s a third party involved. She also reveals that the secret can indeed be found in the Lost Temple within the Ziggurat. She does want to bring peace between these two Gods, but warns that they must find some way to prevent Sovereign from killing Arrana on sight. Ash then reveals that they have Sovereign’s blade, and Hearth also reveals that Azmira hasn’t been brought to her plane… although it’s still a good thing that they stole it, since any Reaver who touches the blade might alert Sovereign. Azure also realizes that the blade itself has morphed into a pair of bladed nunchaku, much to Azure’s delight. Out of curiosity, she passes it to Crush, where it morphs into a massive axe. Crush offers it to Hearth, knowing that, if it’s in her possession, then Sovereign cannot harm Arrana. Still, she warns about the Ancient Reaver… explaining that he’s not simply a powerful foe, but is very much a Monster.
Hearth agrees to the plan, granting Kalea the power to summon Hearth when she’s needed. Crush promises to protect Arrana, and Hearth can sense the presence of Crash’s soul still bonded to Crush… in this plane, Crash can speak audibly, much to Elizabeth’s shock. Hearth says that their time will be ending soon, and laments that she is still weakened, unable to provide more support if she’s going to be strong enough to moderate Sovereign. She warns that Neo must keep himself more carefully hidden, and also warns Ricky about the Ancient Reaver… but they realize that he must be faced. Hearth also identifies Azure’s astral powers as deriving from the starlight of Arrana. She also finally calls the Ancient Reaver by his name, Ksathra. Hearth also mentions that she laments that Sovereign didn’t instead listen to the other known Ancient Reaver, Xander… known as a traitor among the Reavers, but Hearth knows that Xander’s betrayal was refusing to slaughter the Night Children on sight. Ash asks if Hearth can direct them toward Xander, but Hearth does not know, and she can’t afford to use her powers searching for him, as she must save her energy for Sovereign and Arrana. The waters vanish, the lights dimming until stage lights start to return, Neo quickly ducking away to hide while the party steps behind the invisible curtain, and Elizabeth quickly changes outfit, starting a new song that seems to placate the confused Reavers who were upset by the Nightmother imagery.
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The Crits for Breakfast Crew are going to go live tonight with our homebrew campaign of Sacrament. Come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty tonight at 7pm PST for more fun and games in the Reaver Capital. In case you missed last week's session, here's what happened:
Disparate families meet together… Ricky’s Mother, the “Diva De Luna,” Elizabeth Ghallanda, as well as his Uncle Henri and cousin Misty are joined by Ash’s family… older brother Argus, younger brother Aylis, and Argus’s Wife and Child Yuki and Soba, and finally Fidget’s children… the adult children Fidget Jr. and Sly Smile, as well as his infant child, Kane. Even Kanec’s brother is nearby but, he recently took a job as Elizabeth’s bodyguard for her visit to Tiavet, although he’s kept busy protecting the house from her growing horde of fans. Dinner is delicious, although Fidget Jr. and Misty continue to argue, after Jr. tried to give Misty a compliment… albeit in the crude, objectifying manner that’s considered normal in Goblin culture.
Everyone sits and chats, learning more about each other. Liz demands attention from Ricky, happy to spend time with her child. She talks about how she’ll be giving free tickets for her concert, and also states that she’s in the process of arranging to perform at the military ball… apparently the entertainer who was originally scheduled to perform was unable to attend due to the war. Once dinner is finished, Crush finally opens up to the rest of the family about why they had asked them to meet… he knows that family members of the Grimveils have been targeted by the Depraved Gloom… Azure and Ash were both cursed before they were even born. Despite coming from a family of prominent Sorcerers, Ash couldn’t cast spells natively, and Azure needed to train in a unique martial art that draws power from the Astral Plane rather than her own power. He explains that they were targeted for being the children of Grimveils… and they also wonder if Misty was targeted as well, since her mother Gilly is also a Grimveil (although even she didn’t know that about her Mother). A slightly awkward casting of Identify on the base of her spine by Ricky causes him to realize that she’s been cursed as well… although unlike Azure and Ash, she had never practiced any form of magic, so the curse that absorbs magical energy and drains the host in the process hasn’t affected her. Discussing the curse more, one of the early signs is a premature birth, making Yuki worry as her son Soba was also born premature. Argus takes a moment in private to test his son, and to his horror he realizes that Soba as well has been afflicted with the curse… something that may have gone horribly, as Soba is on the verge of beginning his magical training.
As everyone reels from these revelations, Ash also explains the nature of her Patron, and how he used her heart as his Phylactery… which also means that, if she completes her Revenant instinct to kill her quarry and, by doing so, destroys her body… the destruction of the Phylactery incorrectly could result in a burst of magical energy. They also reveal that the man who killed Ash is also the man who, at the very least, cursed Azure, and Aylis realizes to his horror that he thought he saw the man who killed Ash near Yuki before Soba’s birth… at the time, Aylis was still mute from the trauma and thought it was a hallucination. Crush gives him a motivational speech, assuring him that the mistakes he made in the past are less important than what he does now. This seems to comfort Aylis as he and Argus now know what they need to research… a cure for the curse, and some means of extracting the Phylactery from Ash’s heart without tearing out her own soul along with it. Around this time they’re soon joined by Alex, the Female Reaver who studies with Aylis. She has arrived with books borrowed from the University, hoping to get a headstart on all the research into necromancy to help Ash.
With Alys and Alex focused on studying they meet Zeke, the giant mimic, who is eager to join Elizabeth’s entourage… with Elizabeth excited at the performance opportunities of having a mimic with her on stage. Everyone tries to calm down and enjoy some cake while they make plans on how best to remain safe in the Capital now that they know they’re all being stalked by the Depraved Gloom. Sly and Fidget Jr. opt to join Elizabeth’s entourage… on top of being a powerful Bard in her own right, she employs a small army of well-trained body guards and has allied herself with a group of Tiavet Dragons. Henri, who has always been a homebody, is encouraged to stay with Argus, a powerful Sorcerer who was very nearly the Archmage of his home kingdom, although Misty still wants to spend time with her Aunt Elizabeth and stays with her instead.
Ash also asks about her former Fiancee, only to learn that not only has he married someone else, but he’s expecting a child. He plans to name the child “Methea”… named in honor of Ash, whose real name is “Promethea”. This gives Ash little comfort, especially when she also learns that her Ex-Fiancee is contributing directly to the war against the Reavers. As the conversation is winding down, the others are leaving for the night… Elizabeth is the first to leave, taking with her Sly, Fidget Jr., Misty, and even Zeke the mimic. As Argus is preparing to leave, Crush takes him aside… in all the talking, they haven’t managed to explain to him yet about the Scarf of Amor which can be used to cast True Resurrection… explaining that, if Ash’s soul can somehow be freed from Larlock’s Phylactery, she can be revived, even if her body is completely destroyed. Argus understands, and he intends to focus any research he does on freeing Ash first, with the curse as the second concern.
With that decided, Aylis and Alex want to stay in Kanec’s house to focus on their studying. Alex needs to borrow Ricky’s Sending Feather to get permission from her father for a “sleepover”, while Crush intends to go to the Blood Rings… a well known gladiator pit, where he knows that others he spoke to have been looking for information about the Man with the Raven Sword. Ash, however, opts to stay with her brother, and Fidget stays with her as well. Ricky decides to stay at the home as well to do some cooking and send letters to others. Meanwhile, Azure accompanies Crush to the Blood Rings, and Kanec comes along, eager to see Azure compete. Once in the Blood Rings, Crush and Azure both sign up to compete, and Crush finds Logan, the Half-Orc Reaver who’s training Fidget Jr. as a blacksmith… and more importantly, has been using his position as a weaponsmaker to look for the Raven-handled blade that Ash’s killer carries. Logan implies that he has information to share, but only if Crush wins in the ring. Crush eagerly agrees, and as he passes by the ring he notices a pair of Kobolds adjusting some kind of mechanism under the ring… although what, exactly, those mechanisms do isn’t clear.
A scantily clad woman dressed as a gladiator announces the contest… there’s a variety of challenges coming up, including a tag team match, a free for all, and even a caged fire match. Crush and Azure are approached by another woman who collects their 10gp entrance fee, and within Tiavet they’re actually allowed to bet on themselves. Crush doesn’t hesitate to bet all of his remaining money on himself, while Azure takes the safer bet on just a new entrant winning. The two of them join as a team for the first round of combat. As they hear the first group of combatants introduced, Crush laments that they didn’t think of a name for their tag team. They watch another pair of teams battle first, learning that weapons aren’t allowed in this first round of combat. The two teams battle fiercely… but ultimately a team composed of a human and dwarf manage to squeeze out a victory, but both teams are bloodied and bruised by the end. Luckily magic users are on hand to make sure there’s no permanent damage.
Meanwhile, in Kanec’s home, Fidget is lamenting how boring it is to just sit and watch Aylis and Alex studying. Ricky, however, focuses on a painting he’s been working on of Corrio and his mother, based on a primitive photograph he had seen of her. They begin to chat about school, with Fidget baffled at the thought of his son actually attending school. They notice that Alex has an occasional twitch… Azmira, the Female Reaver spirit cursed to inhabit Fidget’s armor, comments that Alex should have already blood raged, and surmises that she’s deliberately holding back on her blood rage. Ricky notes that it’s a bit awkward to have this conversation so loudly with Alex sitting just across the room, but Azmira can tell that Alex is so deeply focused on her research that she wouldn’t notice anything. The spirit of Azmira also taunts Ricky… after learning of his connection to the Night Mother, she knows that if Alex becomes aware of his connection that it will be enough to trigger her Blood Rage… clearly hoping for the young Reaver to slaughter Ricky.
Alex takes a snack break, while Aylis comes to speak to his sister. Aylis confesses that Alex didn’t actually get permission to take some of the more dangerous books, and she risks being expelled… something he feels guilty for, since Alex is putting her future in jeopardy to help Aylis’ family. As they talk Ricky accidentally lets slip Azmira’s name… a name that Aylis recognizes… he doesn’t know the full details of her life, but he does know that the armor is considered cursed and wonders why Fidget would be wearing cursed armor. Digging into the lessons he learned in Tiavet University, he recognizes her as the first, and only, female Warlord who was cursed by Sovereign for jealously killing her sister. Azmira doesn’t appreciate how Aylis talks about her and threatens to awaken Alex, but Ash defuses the situation… asking them to not antagonize the morphing armor that can form itself into breasts on Fidget, and Azmira does Ash one better by shifting into the form of multiple pairs. Aylis realizes that Azmira is the only reason Fidget is still alive… he knows that Fidget is a “Made Reaver”… a non-Reaver converted by getting Reaver blood in their bloodstream… a process that normally drives the Made Reaver insane, as their bodies can’t withstand the curse that resides deep in a Reaver’s very blood.
Aylis decides to change the subject, commenting on how surprised he is to meet her… her confident flamboyance surprising compared to Ricky’s more blunt and goofy attitude. Ricky is hesitant to open up about his family history… his Mother was forced out of his life by his father until recently… Ricky things on his father Tricky, and how he had betrayed Elizabeth, how he had turned Henri over to the Depraved Gloom and help to arrange his own sister, Gilly, being sold into slavery. The discussion gets a bit too heavy, and instead Ricky and Fidget decide to look for alcohol. Aylis expresses interest in drinking as well… and although Ash discourages her 16-year-old brother from drinking, she relents to allow him a single drink. Meanwhile, Ash takes some time to talk to her brother, curious about the kind of books he’s reading. Ash uses her Eldritch Invocation, Eyes of the Runekeeper, which allows her to read any written language, to assist with Aylis’s research. The books detail many forbidden necromancy techniques, such as a spellbook that details how to “revive” still-born infant… an abomination that gets the writer of the spellbook executed.
Alex gets in on the idea of drinking as well. She’s eager to sneak a single glass of wine, along with Aylis while the adults drink without hesitation. Alex appreciates the subtle taste of Venom in her wine… causing Ash to panic and take Ricky’s wine glass away from him… since unlike Alex, he doesn’t have a Reaver’s immunity to poison. However, Ricky had been careful to get a non-poisonous wine for himself… unfortunately, Ash’s powers of decay causes the wine to suddenly age into a full-on liquor… Alex is fascinated by the idea of “Undead Wine”, and tries to convince everyone to let her try some, but the adults refuse. Still, Alex uses sleight of hand to get a taste, while Ricky responds by downing the rest of it before she can drink more… resulting in both of them getting completely drunk. Ricky sings and dances, while Alex is trying to continue studying… although she’s clearly impaired by her unexpected inebriation.
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Sorry for the chaotic schedule lately... our last session of Sacrament unfortunately got canceled, but I'll leave the summary up for the previous stream for anyone who's curious. Instead, however, we're going to be streaming Hoard of the Dragon Queen tonight at 7pm PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. The session before ended with technical difficulties, but this latest session went off without a hitch. Read on to see what you might have missed:
Dahlia takes Jerome away to give Loki, Katniss, and Iarno some privacy... although Loki opts to use her newly learned Modify Memory spell to simply convince Iarno that he had a night of passion with the two of them. Meanwhile, Jerome is trying to simply drink himself back into a stupor while Dahlia and G’houl work to get him sobered up and to talk about what happened. With some convincing, Jerome eventually admits that he indeed killed his fellow Lords’ Alliance member, Jeremiah, the other half of the “Jerry’s” as they were playfully called. Iarno had told Jerome how to contact his former teacher, the Red Wizard Rath Modar, who helped to arrange Iarno’s escape from prison. Ironically, it was Jerome and Jeremiah that were assigned to hunt down Iarno... it was known that Jerome was familiar with Iarno, and the hope was that this would be a boon in tracking down the escaped criminal, although none at the Lords’ Alliance knew just how close of a friendship Jerome and Iarno actually had.
During their search Jerome attempted to misdirect Jeremiah and travel in the wrong direction... but Jeremiah proved too cunning and continuously found evidence pointing them in Iarno’s actual direction. It was when they found notes written by Iarno (and left with a local barmaid) that things took a turn... Jeremiah had the idea to use them to scry on Iarno’s location, and Jerome, in a panic, attempted to destroy the evidence. When caught by Jeremiah he lashed out violently, killing the other Jerry before retreating to rejoin Iarno in Parnast. He also reveals that he has remained in regular contact with Skilled, the Tiefling senior Lords’ Alliance member the party had met in Waterdeep. Dahlia asks to see the Sending Stone he uses for communication, and slyly doesn’t return it, which the drunken soldier fails to notice. Dahlia sees in Jerome a lost soul wracked with guilt, with Jerome struggling to keep back tears as he realize shis actions may have doomed the world itself. She convinces Jerome that he can contribute now by helping them infiltrate the Castle and, hopefully, prevent the spell to summon Tiamat. Before the night passes G’houl is contacted by Professor Raphael, serving as a messenger to inform him that Corinth and the Lords’ Alliance troop he’s leading will arrive in Parnast before night falls on the next day, and G’houl informs him that the cult will have abandoned the town and left behind zombies and vampire spawns to feed on the remaining villagers.
After setting up bedrolls in the back room, the party awakes in the morning to the sounds of the cult members hastily abandoning the town of Parnast. The Protectors of Phandalin get Iarno to provide them with disguises as his “Redbrand Warriors”, a position held by knights in service to the Red Wizards of Thay. Dahlia makes a point to find Gundalin, the wheelwright, and inform her about the troops on their way, warning her to seek shelter in the Golden Tankard Tavern to remain safe from the zombies and vampires until then. She also takes the time to pay the mercenaries who the cult were also planning to abandon in the tavern to help defend the civilians. While Dahlia and G’houl focus on this, Katniss and Loki visit the stables, where Katniss strongarms Their way into the stables to take over barding and guiding the Wyvern that Katniss had bonded with the previous day. Katniss’s technique with animal handling and confident attitude is respected by the cultists, who seem conditioned to bow to the strong.
As they find themselves joining the queue of cultists entering the castle, they notice that the man they had killed the previous day, Captain Othelstan, is being hailed as a hero and individuals are claiming to have witnessed his harrowing battle with “The Doppelganger”. They’re happy to hear of the lies, as it muddies the water and makes their own contribution to his death harder to track. Approaching the large castle, they see that Storm Giant’s castle is made of magically re-inforced ice. Two massive Storm Giant statues stand at the entrance... as they enter, Iarno instructs them all to loudly proclaim, “Hail Blagothkus,” although he doesn’t state clearly why... the reason becomes clear as G’houl struggles momentarily with the name “Blagothkus”, with the large statues beginning to move and readying to attack before he successfully states the password and is allowed safe travel into the castle.
Making their way inside, the castle beings to fly to its destinations as they find the massive castle clearly built to Giant proportions. Massive doorways leading into cavernous rooms built of living ice. Iarno seems familiar with at least the lower floor of the castle, although he repeatedly tries to avoid directing the party toward Rath Modar’s room. He manages to convince them to get some food first, entering the kitchen which is staffed entirely by Kobolds. Katniss notes a white coloration to the Kobolds’ scales, and knows that a Dragon’s very presence can alter the land around them, including creatures... Kobolds in paritcular are susceptible to this level of influence, and it seems likely that the Kobolds are loyal to Glazhael Cloudchaser, the White Dragon allied with the Cult of Tiamat who resides somewhere in the caverns beneath the floating castle. What catches everyone’s attention, however, is a large griffin watching over the Kobolds. Dahlia entices the Griffin to let her pet it, and the Kobolds explain that the Griffin belongs to Blagothkus, the Cloud Giant that owns the castle, and it watches them in the kitchen to assure they don’t take too much of the Giant’s own food stores.
After meeting the Griffin, Iarno tries to convince the others, rather than seeking out Rath Modar, to speak to some of the giants living in the castle. They make their way to a room where two Stone Giants seem to be performing some sort of magical ritual using what, to the Stone Giants, is a small cauldron. G’houl discerns that it’s likely being used to cast some kind of Divination spell, most likely Augury. Dahlia decides to speak to them, noting the slate-blue color of their skin, hoping that her own blue skin will give her an advantage in conversing with them. The Giants are angered at having their ritual interrupted, and make it clear that they’re no fans of the Dragon Cultists. Dahlia’s disguise as a Redbrand Warrior does help, as they seem less judgmental about the Red Wizards. Dahlia still evades revealing too many specifics about their true motivations, but presses the Giants for more information, hoping to learn why Blagothkus is allied with the cult, despite Giants being known enemies to Dragons. The female Giant, who introduces herself as Hulda, explains that Blagothkus is attempting to empower the dragons so that the Giant people can more easily be organized against their ancient opponents. Blagothkus has become obsessed with restoring glory to the Giants following the death of his wife, Esclarotta, whose soul actually powers and controls the magic that animates the Cloud Giant’s castle. Dahlia can tell from the reverence with which Hulda speaks of Esclarotta that the giant’s all feel struck by her loss... When Dahlia asks if all this is what Esclarotta would want, Hulda admits that she doesn’t believe so. Dahlia sees this as an opening, and asks to be introduced to Blagothkus, hoping she can convince him to turn his back on the cultists.
Hulda isn’t phased when Dahlia introduces her friends, although Hulda does seem to recognize Iarno, but doesn’t give him much thought. Still, Iarno takes advantage of Hulda’s presence to hide behind her as she guides the party up a set of spiral stairs to the upper courtyard of the castle. The Upper Courtyard appears to be more fully staffed by Giants, with Ogres visible training or doing other busywork. There are few cultists visible, but Hulda does point out one location in particular... warning that an isolated tower visible nearby is home to a vampire. Now that they know the vampire’s location, they continue to the tallest tower of the castle where Blagothkus waits.
Entering the tower, they notice that Ogres wearing large helmets with massive plumed feathers are stationed inside. They salute Hulda, who leads them up a spiral of tall stairs... stairs clearly not built with medium-sized folk in mind, making it a minor challenge just to climb the tower. On the top floor they find the Cloud Giant Blagothkus... mystically floating in a meditative stance while two Ogres brush his extremely long white hair. Hulda manages to convince him to speak to the Protectors of Phandalin, and Blagothkus agrees and dismisses Hulda. As the most skilled member with her words, Dahlia steps forward to speak with Blagothkus. He explains that he seeks to bring Glory to the Giant-folk, stating that Glory cannot come without conflict, and conflict cannot arise without a worthy opponent. He bemoans the fact that Dragons are content to remain hidden in their caves guarding their hoards, and claims his work is simply to pull them into the public so that the Giants will have something to unite against. Dahlia feeds into Blagothkus’s ego, not objecting to his plan, but encouraging him that he’s accomplished his goal... the unity already brought to the dragons should be enough to mobilize the giants. She helps to convince him that the time has come to enact his true plan... reject the cultists and take back his castle for himself, even implying that the cultists think that they’re the ones manipulating him. It takes some convincing, but Dahlia is extremely persuasive, and Blagothkus is ready to command his people to turn on the cultists and eject them from the castle. However, the Party realizes they still need time to make sure they can find Bowgentle’s Spellbook, and hopefully gather more information as well. They instead convince Blagothkus to give them time... he agrees, telling them that he will wait until nightfall to turn on the cult, and gives the party a code phrase they can deliver to any of the giant-folk on the castle as a signal to begin the assault: “For Esclarotta.”
Content that their plan is coming to fruition, they leave Blagothkus’s tower and discuss what they’re plan is next. They left early in the morning, and now the castle is floating above the cloud land as they approach noon. The bright sunlight provides a unique opportunity to face the vampire when she’s at her weakest, but the book is potentially more important, although it’s protected by Rath Modar. For them, the question remains: The Vampire, or the Wizard?
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
Just to remind everyone, we weren't able to stream last week, but Sacrament is coming back tonight at 7:30 PM PST 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
Tonight will be the Finale to Hoard of the Dragon Queen! For those who don't know, Hoard of the Dragon Queen is the first in a two-part adventure, commonly known as Tyranny of Dragons. So while this particular chapter in the story is finishing, the Protectors of Phandalin will return. Still, this is a momentous night, so we're starting a little earlier than usual. Join us at our home of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty at 6pm PST. And of course, as always, here's what you might have missed from last week's session:
Dahlia takes a moment to check back with Blagothkus about a topic the party forgot to bring up... just how much treasure would they be allowed to keep once the castle is taken back? Dahlia is able to persuade the Cloud Giant to let her and her allies take as much as they can, with Blagothkus reasoning that small-folk can only carry so much... although he’s unaware of Loki’s Bag of Holding. Meanwhile, Katniss notices one of Blagothkus’s high-ranking Ogre soldiers (discernable by their helmets with large feather plumes on top) approaching another group of Ogres doing training drills. Katniss is unable to understand the Giant language, but can intuit that the Ogres are being informed about the plan to turn on the cultists as the message seems to spread, and They recognize the name “Esclarotta” being repeated. They also notice that the heavy fog that covers the courtyard has begun to thicken, reasoning that the Giants are preparing the fog as cover for the upcoming assault.
Once back with their group, Iarno once again encourages everyone to focus on the vampire, Sandesyl Morgia, rather than risk confronting his teacher, the Red Wizard Rath Modar. However, despite Their hatred of the Undead, Katniss in particular encourages prioritizing recovering Bowgentle’s spellbook, reasoning that it is the key to summoning Tiamat and is therefore the most dangerous object in the castle. Reluctantly, Iarno leads everyone back to the lower floors of the castle where he knows Modar can be be found. Along the way Dahlia stops to speak with Hulda, hoping to get her help in confronting Modar, or at the very least preventing others from interrupting. Hulda was speaking to the Plumed Ogre that Katniss saw earlier, and rather than go herself she assigns the Ogre to assist in her stead. He introduces himself as Flint “With a ‘Tuh’”, and follows Dahlia’s instruction as they make their way into the lower castle walls, sneaking carefully past a door that Iarno says belongs to Rezmir... the Half-Black-Dragon leader of this sect of the Cult of Tiamat.
Making their way into a large library filled with arcane objects and dozens of books, although Dahlia and Katniss both immediately spot the distinct blue cover of Bowgentle’s lost spellbook sitting on a large desk being pored over by the wizard Rath Modar. Finally meeting this powerful wizard, they see a tall, pale bald man with distinct Thayan tattoos wearing an elaborately designed red robe with massive, intimidating collar. Along with Modar is a Tiefling student and two human knights in red cloaks... the Redbrand Warriors who serve the Red Wizards of Thay. Modar is clearly unhappy to have his student arriving with so many “Redbrand Warriors”, since that is what the party is disguising themselves as. He orders the Party members to leave and allow him to speak to Iarno in private, but Dahlia successfully plays dumb, frustrating Modar but causing him to lower his guard and ignore them... instead Iarno takes the plunge to attempt to distract his teacher and give his new allies the opportunity to steal the book (and hopefully avoid combat). Despite his nervousness, Iarno engages Modar in an argument about Iarno’s decision to grant the mercenaries and criminals he regularly works with the title of “Redbrand”, a name that has more cultural significance for Modar. Indeed, Modar’s own Redbrand Warriors confront the party, clearly viewing them as lesser, assuring them that no matter what Iarno calls them, to the “True Redbrand Warriors” they will simply be seen as Thugs. Dahlia takes advantage of this confrontation to try and flirt with the Redbrands, trying to fluster them enough to keep them distracted... giving Katniss the opportunity to sneak toward Modar’s desk... relying on Iarno to keep Modar distracted as Katniss quickly snatches Bowgentle’s spellbook. Once they have their prize the Party quickly makes excuses, leaving quickly... Dahlia takes a moment to tell Flint to keep the door closed and not let anyone through... although Iarno is jogging as fast as he can, reasoning that it will only take Modar minutes to realize that his precious book has been taken.
With the spellbook secured, everyone quickly retreats to the upper courtyard, where there are far more of the Ogres than Cultists. Everyone agrees that the spellbook should be kept in Loki’s Bag of Holding for whatever extra security is offered by keeping it in the extradimensional space of the enchanted bag. Now that they have the book, the party opts to face the Vampire Sandesyl, knowing that she will most easily be defeated under the light of day. They see the tower where they know her to reside... a 75 foot tower that looks poorly maintained. Dahlia seeks advice from one of the Ogre soldiers, who informs them that the Ogres aren’t allowed in the tower because it’s so fragile, but is able to inform her about a balcony that can be reached by climbing up the side of the tower. Satisfied with that information, Dahlia requests that he go down to the lower Courtyard and assist Flint. Moving carefully to avoid attention, the party then stealthily climbs the tower and prepares their assault.
Once at the top of the tower, everything is kicked off by Dahlia kicking open the door, floooding the interior of the tower with sunlight, catching two Vampire Spawn completely by surprise, and exposing a large coffin in the center of the room. The Vampire Spawn screech in shock and prepare to defend their mistress, a task proven much more difficult when Loki blasts the room with Shatter, destroying the lid to Sandesyl’s coffin and exposing the Elder Vampire to sunlight. However, Sandesyl is far more powerful than her subordinates, able to use a Legendary Action to leap out of the sun before it can harm her and bite Dahlia. The battle quickly goes in the Party’s favor... The Vampire Spawn die in the harsh sunlight, and Katniss unloads Sharpshooter Shots into Sandesyl. Realizing she’s in a losing situation, Sandesyl uses her vampiric powers to Charm Dahlia before rushing down the tower. Her charm isn’t quite powerful enough to completely turn Dahlia against her allies, but is enough to get her to try and slow them down to protect Sandesyl’s escape.
Katniss uses the Zephyr Strike spell to keep up with Sandesyl as she escapes. Everyone is forced to rush to keep up... Sandesyl can use her Legendary Actions to move and escape, and despite the sunlight outside, the increased fog that the Giants had released provides Sandesyl with the potential to escape without dying in the sunlight. Everyone rushes down as fast they can, except for Iarno, who attempts to stop Sandesyl by casting Web on the lower exit of the tower... which proves fruitless, since Sandesyl can simply transform into mist and enter the fog, virtually vanishing... but not before Dahlia attempts to protect her by casting Healing Word on the fleeing Vampire. However, as G’houl is attempting to fly down at top speed, Loki opts to take Katniss and use Dimension Door to chase Sandesyl. Katniss finds Themself in the unenviable position of searching for a puff of mist in a field of fog, a nearly impossible feat... but with Their in depth knowledge of the Undead Katniss is able to overcome the disadvantage and, against all odds, finds the barely visible mist that Sandesyl has morphed into, and using the Sniper’s Bowstring, manages to strike Sandesyl with a magically empowered arrow and nearly kill the Elder Vampire. Katniss knows that, upon death, a Vampire will return to mist and will eventually revive if not exposed to sunlight. Everyone struggles to find some way to clear the mist. Luckily, G’houl manages to avoid being stopped by Dahlia, and casts Gust of Wind, clearing out the fog and destroying Sandesyl in the bright light from the castle floating above the clouds.
With Sandesyl killed the party can rest easy, knowing that the vampire spawn and zombies left behind in Parnast will cease to animate now that their creator is destroyed. Knowing that Modar has most likely realized their treachery, and knowing that they must now face off against Modar and Rezmir they find some of the Ogres, telling them the code phrase to begin the assault against the cultists. The Ogres are excited at the opportunity, and everyone prepares to return to the lower courtyard and finally crush this sect of the cult. Although Dahlia realizes at the last moment that this is also putting the Kobolds in danger.
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This has been another unfortunately long hiatus. Our DM, Hazel, has had some medical problems all month that prevented her from speaking for extended periods of time, which is basically all that D&D is, so we haven't been able to play in some time. Fortunately, we'll be back tonight with more of our homebrew campaign of Sacrament! Everything will go live tonight at 6pm PST at our home of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. I know it's been a long time since our last session, so I'm also going to be rereading what happened last time to remember what had happened:
As the fights in the Arena continue, Crush gives advice to Azure to focus on pinning their opponents, rather than trying to fight them to unconsciousness so they can save some strength for the next round. They’re announced as they make their way to the ring… Crush makes a showy flip into the arena, while Azure slips in more modestly. Their opponents are a pair of Reavers, and they both move faster in Initiative. A dexterous Half-Elven Reaver attacks Azure, while Crush is battled by a burly Half-Orcish Reaver. The Reaver hits Crush hard, who was cursed by Fate’s Verdict to suffer a critical attack. Crush retaliates by summoning his Rage, then headbutting his opponent, utilizing his Raging Storm to try and knock his opponent prone, but the muscular Reaver is able to resist. Azure attempts to stun her opponent, but he manages to resist… however, the two opponents aren’t able to pin them, and they’re more successful with their second round. Crush grapples his opponent, dragging him across the floor to smash his head into the turnbuckle before knocking him prone and grappling his opponent, effectively pinning the Orcish Reaver. Azure wrestles with her opponent, using stunning strikes and Patient Defense to keep up the advantage. Crush quickly takes control against his opponent, getting multiple critical hits and pinning him down in a Camel Clutch, while Azure relies on her Stunning Strikes to keep her opponent pinned. Crush defeats his opponent first through a count out before assisting Azure in pinning her opponent, the two of them claiming victory. As new gladiators facing off against popular local fighters, the odds were against the two of them… a fact that pays off with their victory, the two of them gaining a 10,000 gold pot, split evenly between the two of them. They realize that, in the Reaver country of Tiavet, Gladiators are paid obscenely well.
Meanwhile, at Kanec’s house, Ash, Ricky, Aylis and Alex are having trouble with their studies after Alex was accidentally given too much alcohol. Ash notes that Aylis seems unusually unphased by the wine he was given, and asks how long he’s been drinking. The young Elf admits he started two years ago, shortly after Ash’s death, if only to help him sleep. Ricky, meanwhile, is entertained by the drunken children, joining Alex as she drunkenly sings and dances. As Ash starts to mock Ricky for drinking too much, they both realize how much trouble they’ll all get in if Alex’s father learns she’s in this state. Ricky decides to address the problem by casting Create Breakfast and Coffee, a homebrew spell that, among other things, relieves the effects of alcohol consumption. Ricky talks with Alex about her family… she admits that she has her Dad who is raising her, and her “Father”, who had died when she was a child. Like Fidget’s children, she’s the daughter of a Siren, left by the beachside to be raised by her two Dads. She was present at her Father’s death… he was a skilled Wizard, and he fought to defend her and his husband from Slavers… and although he protected the people he loved, he lost his life in the process… dying while in a blood rage, with the skill and ability to still use magic while raging. Alex seems scared that she’ll die the same way… lost in a Blood Rage. Fidget is surprised that Reavers can cast magic while raging, since he’s familiar with raging as done by Barbarians. Alex explains that it’s only possible for Reavers who use their innately cursed blood as the source of their magic. Ricky asks to hear a bit about Sovereign, the God of the Reavers… Alex retells many of the stories they’ve already heard from Kanec, including the story of how he was betrayed and killed by the Night Mother. Ricky gets increasingly uncomfortable hearing about Sovereign, aggressively sucking on a hookah to calm himself.
Aylis brings focus back to the books they’re studying now that Alex has sobered up thanks to Ricky’s magic. Ash uses her Eyes of the Rune Keeper to assist the students with their research, since that allows her to read any language. She finds a book written in a mix of common, Reaver, and Abyssal… reading aloud from the book, she learns about a spell used for reviving the dead, although it requires the combined efforts of an entire “Coven”. Alex is hoping to join Ash as she faces off against her quarry as a Revenant, but Aylis is clearly against it… the others also feel there’s no need to put her in danger. Ash, meanwhile, remembers a book she had recovered some time ago while battle the Ladleman. Fidget fishes out the book, and Ash begins to read through it… realizing that the piece of information she couldn’t read at the time was written in Tiavet, the language of the Reavers. It details someone’s research… they had discovered a lost temple, and in flowery language it describes a group of dark beings in service of Chaos venturing deep into the Darkness and the Nether to conjure “The Abomination”, but the notes are incomplete and further details are missing. Alex recognizes the term “Nether”, and thinks on how it reminds her of other information she had learned… in particular, she knows that Homonculi are considered a form of Abomination. Ash thinks on this further… this reminds her of information about the Depraved Gloom, and she realizes she needs to contact Gilly, the most senior member of the Grimveils, in order to put all of this information together. While she discusses this with Ricky using the Message cantrip, Alex finds that pages from one of the rare books she had borrowed relating to Homonculi has been torn from the book… however, the more modern book includes enough information to reveal that homonculi can only be created by a large group of hags or witches. However, what does remain is an illustration of strange creatures… 40 or 50, with twisted, unnatural bodies, resembling hags. They’re gathered around a massive cauldron… a large star floating above, while the cauldron is surrounded by the bodies of other humanoids… including, strangely, halflings, which are not found in the land of Tiavet. In the center of the image a large, vaguely defined figure is visible glowing in the light of the star… looming imposing, with eyes that burn like pure sunlight.
Ricky works on composing a letter to his Aunt, sharing as much information with her about what they just learned, including a quick sketch of the image they just saw. Ricky sends the information using his Feather of Sending. Meanwhile, Alex mentions again that, quite literally, these are forbidden books that she stole from the College of Tiavet’s library… and she doesn’t know how she’ll return the book without getting in trouble. Ricky volunteers to return it for her, although it’s not clear if he has any better odds than her. This talk of Homonculi leads Ash to think on her life as an Artificer before her death… she even has a Homonculus of her own, a small mechanical bird animated by a magically empowered jewel. Digging into her papers she recovered from her past life, she realizes that, on her own, she could animate a small helpful creature… but what could be created by a massive crowd of spellcasters focused on a single task, pouring all their power into bringing a single being to life… the potential is both inspiring and terrifying.
As Alex is squealing with excitement, she casually mentions that the particular book she’s been reading from is known as the Ancient Lich’s Manuscript. This instantly grabs Ash’s attention, who checks the front of the book, realizing that this book was originally written by Larlock… the self-proclaimed King of the Undead. Alex is deeply excited by this, and is hoping to join the Grimveils herself, although Aylis laments that it was their membership in the Grimveils that got his parents killed. Nearly everyone present tries to talk her down, but Ash gives her the much more practical advice that what Alex has already learned puts her in danger, and she’ll only find a bigger target on her back. Ricky gets a letter back from Gilly, telling him that she needs to speak directly, asking Ricky to contact one of the Merc merchants, since they can facilitate instantaneous long-distance communication.
Ash uses the Sending spell to contact a specific Merc… the one who she had sold a Hagstone to after recovering it from the Reesa’s mother had attempted to transform her into a Night Hag as well. Ash relies on the power of Fate’s Verdict to convince the Merc to come to her as quickly as possible, with the merchant agreeing to arrive in a few minutes. However, Aylis and Alex start to argue, with Aylis trying desperately to convince Alex to abandon her plans to join the Grimveils.
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The Hoard of the Dragon Queen team is back tonight as they start their journey into the Rise of Tiamat! We're going live tonight at our home of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty at 7pm PST. Things are about to take off on a fresh new adventure, with new challenges to face and finishing the battle against the cultists of Tiamat. However, it has been over a month since our last stream, so if you need a reminder for what happened last time, read on:
With combat erupting between the Giants and the Cultists, the Protectors of Phandalin, still disguised as Redbrand Warriors, hurry to the lower courtyard of the Cloud Giant’s Flying Castle. They see their Stone Giant allies in battle with the cultists, assisted by Bone Cruncher, the Cloud Giant Blagothkus’s Griffin pet. They notice that the building that houses cult leader Rezmir and Red Wizard Rath Modar is protected by high ranking cultists. Still believing them to be allies, one of the cultists approaches the party to ask what news they have from the Upper Levels... Dahlia deliberately leads them away from the door and groups them together so that Katniss can attempt to take Sharpshooter attacks to kill them all, but unfortunately Their assault, while near-fatal, still leaves the cultists conscious, and one of them is able to escape and warn Rezmir about their apparent betrayal.
Forced to fight their way to their true targets, they can see that the Ogres Dahlia had asked to try and keep Modar trapped in his room have been killed, although one of Modar’s Redbrand Warriors has been killed as well. Rezmir, already a half-black-dragon is seen wearing a finely made black mask that even more closely resembles a Black Dragon’s face than her own face already did. Rezmir pulls from her back a massive, onix-black greatsword and sends her pet Guard Drakes to attack while Modar keeps his distance, casting Globe of Invulnerability on himself, making him immune to most of the party’s magic while Rezmir marches forward to battle the party directly. Katniss, despite Their reputation as a ranged fighter, closes the gap, pulling from Their pack the Prototype Dragonspear, which can be used to cast Absorb Elements, paired with Dragonguard, which gives Them advantage to resist draconic breath makes Katniss barely slowed by Rezmir’s deadly Acid Breath attack. Dahlia, however, tries to appeal to Modar’s decency and honor... she knows that Modar’s motivation is noble, as he intends to end the slavery in his home country of Thay, but his willingness to burn the world to cinders to accomplish his goals is illogical and dangerous. However, in the heat of combat, Modar is nearly impossible to negotiate with. Still wanting to help her allies, Dahlia uses her Fey-gifted powers of Glamour, using her Mantle of Inspiration for the first time in this adventure, granting her allies temporary HP and letting them move safely while she fills the air, singing the song her father had gifted to Granny Greenskin to forge a bond with the dark fey.
The mask Rezmir wears gleams with unnatural power, and Rezmir proves able to move faster than expected, using Legendary Actions to make additional attacks and maneuver through the battlefield. Rezmir’s black blade hits with additional necrotic damage, which prevents Katniss from recovering health. Ultimately, with Jerome and Iarno assisting them, the Protectors of Phandalin have numbers on their side and fight their way closer to their enemies. They can’t help but notice bickering between Modar and Rezmir... considring Iarno is only present as a result of being Modar’s student, Rezmir blames Modar for allowing these interlopers to ruin their plans. As the two begin to realize their impending defeat, Rezmir uses a Legendary Action to cast the Darkness spell, while Modar turns invisible, dropping his Globe of Invulnerability as he attempts to run. Dahlia still wants to speak to Modar, hoping that he can be persuaded to help the World, and not just Thay, but she does tactically say one thing to keep Rezmir from leaving... mentioning that her Party are responsible for the death of Sandesyl Morgia... the vampire allied with the cult, but more imporantly... Rezmir’s lover.
G’houl casts Sickening Radiance to combat his enemy’s escape plans... the light of the Sickening Radiance overrides the Darkness spell, bathing Rezmir in dim light, making her somewhat visible. The spell also completely overrides invisibility, but unfortunately for G’houl, Modar is coincidentally out of range of where he drops the spell.
Realizing that her lover has been killed, Rezmir abandons her escape plans, instead intent on murdering her opponents. However, now that she’s visible she can finally be targetd by Katniss and Their powerful arrow shots. As Modar continues his escape, Iarno blind-casts web, releasing the spell simply as far as he can reach with the spell, by sheer luck catching Modar in the magical webs. Just as Modar finds himself trapped in the magical webbing, Katniss takes Rezmir’s life... but as they have seen many times before from Tiamat Loyalists, her body continues to move. Her very skull splitting in half... mystically moving blood forming a bizarre red half-head, the other half of her head held in the black mask... the seemingly two-headed half-dragon unleashing first a blast of fire breath from one bloody half of her head, before doing the same with a burst of acid from her masked head. In a panic, Jerome manages to kill Rezmir once again, chopping off the heads and allowing her to finally die properly. With Rezmir dead, trapped in webbing Modar is, momentarily, easier to negotiate with... Dahlia and Katniss join together to plead with him... promising that they’ll do everything they can to assist him and the people of Thay. With Katniss’s help, Dahlia manages a Critical success with Modar... only someone with her intense Persusasion skills had even the slightest chance of convincing him. Modar drops his invisibility, and frees himself by setting the webbing on fire, unbothered by the heat enveloping him.
Modar admits that, perhaps, this has all gone too far. However, he also explains that he’s already deciphered Bowgentle’s Spellbook... the great Conjuration Wizard whose spellbook detailed how to prevent the summoning of Tiamat... inadvertently also leaving an opportunity for the proper ritual to be reverse-engineered from his notes. Although without his help, the cult will have much more trouble completing their tasks. As a show of defeat, Modar solemnly sets his magic staff on his desk before calmly stepping onto a balcony and leaping off of the side of the flying castle. Dahlia panics, pulling out her Broom of Flying to take chase, but stops when Iarno explains that Modar is powerful wizard and perfectly capable of flying... even lamenting that this is apparently something Modar does regularly. Disappointed that she couldn’t turn him into an ally as she did with his other student, Azbara Jos, Dahlia is at least pleased to realize that Modar seems to have abandoned the Cult of Tiamat.
With the battle completed the Party decides to try and take a short rest while the Giants continue to battle the cultists. During their short rest G’houl takes the time to cast Identify on the objects they recently found... first he identifies the staff left as a Staff of Fire... a very powerful wizard staff that can be used to cast destructive fire spells. He also identifies Rezmir’s black greatsword as Hazirawn, and realizes as he’s casting that the sword is sentient, speaking into his mind in whispers... making promises of power, urging him to give into his Orcish nature and spill blood. G’houl hurriedly tries to get someone else to take the blade... and although the blade is sentient, it doesn’t appear to have any ability to manipulate others beyond simply offering them power... an offer that the Party can safely resist, as the Sword is given to Loki to store in her Bag of Holding where its whispers wouldn’t get on anyone’s nerves. Finally, G’houl examines the strange black mask that Rezmir was wearing. He identifies it as a “Black Dragon Mask”... a powerful and strange magic item that grants a number of powers, although it seems most useful for one of Draconic ancestry, as it enhances their natural powers. However, he also gets a strong ominous sense from the dark black mask... sensing that there’s something more to this object beyond what the Identify spell can tell him, but not trusting it... like the sword, it is also kept in Loki’s bag of Holding. A brief argument comes about as Iarno tries to convince G’houl to let him take back the Staff of Defense G’houl carries, since the mystically reinforced staff made of glass originally belonged to Iarno, who even without it still goes by the name “Glasstaff”, but despite Iarno’s help G’houl still doesn’t trust him, and wants to keep both staves for himself.
Their discussion is cut short as Hulga the Stone Giant comes to speak to the party. She says that the cultists have been subdued... most of them killed by the more powerful giants, while the remaining members of the cult have been trapped in the Stables along with their Wyverns. She also reveals that Blagothkus is preparing to face the White Dragon Glazhael who resides in the ice caves below the castle, and he is asking the party to join him in his endeavor to share the glory. They all agree to help, although the path down is rigged with quickly constructed traps, as the Kobolds loyal to Glazhael have mostly escaped into the caves to help protect their masters. Thankfully, between Katniss and Dahlia’s extremely powerful senses of perception, any traps are found and disabled, although doing so makes it impossible to even attempt to catch Glazhael by surprise.
Blagothkus approaches Glazhael purposefully, demanding the Dragon submit to becoming his mount, or die by his hands. Glazhael refuses, and battel erupts. Glazhael’s Kobolds endeavor to start collapsing tunnels, hoping to remove any advantages the invaders might have against their leader. Glazhael battles savagely, using Legendary Actions to move swiftly around his lair, hoping to take advantage of the blockage created by his Kobolds to keep a tactical advantage against our heroes. Loki ruins this for him, however, by using Dimension Door to take herself and Dahlia onto the tall ice shelf he was trying to use as high ground. Dahlia takes a moment to cast Conjure Woodland Beings, summoning a Green Hag... a sickening growth of what appears to be maggots rise from the ground before forming into the form of Granny Greenskin, Dahlia’s hag Fairy Godmother. Greenskin is nonplussed by the danger she suddenly finds herself in, and before she can assist in battle Glazhael punishes Loki and Dahlia for their interruption with a deadly blast of his Ice Breath. They’re nearly knocked unconscious, with Dahlia losing concentration on her spell causing Greenskin to vanish, but before Glazhael can finish them the others manage to close the distance... Blagothkus especially, as he is so large that he can easily pick up his nearest allies (G’houl and Jerome) and carry them with him by casting Fly on himself. Katniss is left alone below the ice shelf, but their skills as a Sharpshooter make Katniss potentially more deadly despite lacking a perfectly clear view of the White Dragon.
With everyone hammering on Glazhael, despite his great strength, begins to take excessive damage. Even as he attempts to escape, Dahlia taps into her Fey-gifted powers of Glamour to use Mantle Inspiration again, with Blagothkus especially using it to block Glazhael’s escape. Glazhael is forced to fight to open up a path to the nearby ice tunnels... his inability to dash and cover more ground leaves him still exposed to attacks until his loyal Kobolds can collapse the tunnel behind him.
With Glazhael hidden in the tunnels Katniss is unable to contribue to the battle... instead, They use their climbing skills as a Ranger to quickly dash up the 30 foot ice shelf to catch up with Their allies. As Katniss joins them, Blagothkus uses his massive mace to smash through the collapsed tunnel, freeing Loki to launch a Fireball spell into the tunnels after the escaping Dragon... the powerful spell collapsing some of the other tunnels, ruining Glazhael’s attempts to escape. With everyone gathered close in their attempts to chase after Glazhael, the White Dragon bursts out of another ice tunnel, hoping to fell his opponents with one last Ice Breath attack. This powerful spell knocks out Loki, Blagothkus, and Jerome, with the others left barely conscious... and Granny Greenskin, who Dahlia had summoned a second time, is once again forced to leave as Dahlia loses concentration on the spell. The one person still in good health, however, is Katniss, who summons a Healing Spirit to revive Loki before They unload arrows on the powerful Dragon, nearly killing him. Glazhael strikes back by slamming his tail into Jerome’s unconscious body, nearly killing the repentant criminal. A Healing Word spell from Dahlia keeps Jerome alive, only for Glazhael to immediately knock him unconscious again with another tail strike. Iarno attempts to keep the dragon from escaping by casting Web yet again to block Glazhael’s exit. Loki tries to capture the dragon using Polymorph to turn him into a harmless white lizard, but the spell fails. Instead, Dahlia can’t bring herself to risk Glazhael surviving any longer and finishing off Jerome... rushing to the massive dragon, grabbing him by the snout to cast Inflict Wounds using her last high level spell slot. With a rush of necrotic energy, she reopens every wound the centuries-old dragon has ever received, his face melting in her grip as she clings desperately to the rage-filled creature’s head as he desperately tries to buck her off. With the dragon finally killed, Katniss moves Their spirit of healing to help revive Blagothkus and Jerome.
With their work finished, Blagothkus declares them to be friends and admits that Glazhael was too erratic to make a desirable mount. Katniss requests the opportunity to harvest some parts of the dead dragon, and although Blagothkus makes it clear he intends to craft dragonscale armor for himself, he’s willing to let Katniss take enough to craft Themself some armor as well. While Katniss guides a group of Ogres to skin and butcher the dragon, G’houl and Loki use fire magic to dig out treasures from the ice caves, recovering literally thousands in in gold and jewels, and magical equipment. Dahlia, however, just wants to rest, and is given the opportunity to sleep in a massive, comfy bed, allowed to sleep in a room normally saved for Giant Nobles.
The Protectors of Phandalin travel with Blagothkus for a few days. The remaining cultists are killed, although the Wyverns are spared. With their work done, Iarno fully expects a full pardon for the variety of crimes he’s committed, and scoffs at the implication that he should turn himself in to authorities... but with Dahlia and Jerome both persuading him, he consents to facing trial, at the very least. Blagothkus lets them all know that he plans to travel north to gather an army of Giants to prepare for battle with the Dragons. However, before doing so, he offers to take them whereever they wish. Dahlia wants to be taken to the nearest oceanside city, as she wants to sail back to her home country to catch up with her family. Katniss wants to return to her collective in the Lost Mountains, hoping to gain knowledge and power in anticipation of what’s to come... Loki, always mercurial, decides she simply wants to follow Katniss. G’houl, however, feels he should return to the School of Knowledge in Neverwinter. With the party planning to separate, they make plans to meet back together in Phandalin, the town that brought them all together in the first place.
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We're playing our Homebrew campaign of Sacrament tonight! We're still getting things finalized, so we'll be going live some time between 6:30PM PST and 7PM PST tonight at our home of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. Our last session was pretty exciting, so read on if you need a reminder of what happened last week:
Crush and Azure leave their winnings with Kanek as they prepare for the free-for-all competition. Even members of the audience are allowed to join in a no-holds-barred, weapons and magic allowed battle. A battle erupts, which will last until only 4 remain standing. Right off the bat, Crush knocks his opponent unconscious in the first round, before moving to the center of the ring and challenging anyone to face him. Azure stuns her opponent, taking advantage of it to hammer her opponent, but is unable to finish him off, but does risk triggering his blood rage. Crush, however, is in his element… using his storm aura to knock his opponent prone and grapple him, pinning his opponent to the ground. Azure, meanwhile, is caught by surprise by a stealthy rogue who manages a sneak attack… however, when one of the Reavers goes into a rage and attacks Azure, Kanec rushes in to protect her, joining the fray as Azure summons her Astral Self to help the battle. They work their way gradually through the enemies, bringing the last group down to two Reavers, one a female Reaver and the other a male Half-Orc Reaver. Finally, Azure finishes off the Half-Orc… with him defeated, the final combatants for the cage match are determined: Azure, Crush, Kanec, and the female Reaver whose name hasn’t been learned yet. As they recover Kanec reveals that Ricky used his Feather of Sending to contact Kanec and explain everything they had learned about Larlock, the ceremony they had learned of, and their intent to meet with Gilly.
Back in Kanec’s home, Ricky gets a response from Kanec asking if it makes sense to meet back at his home or for Ash and Ricky to meet them at the arena. Ash notes, however, that they’re expecting to meet a Merc, so they have to remain where they are. Ash decides to ask who Alex’s father is, and although she remains tight-lipped, Aylis is pressured to admit that her father is Professor Fletcher, the master of Necromancy who had dissected Ash earlier in the day. As they’re discussing their plans for how to address these problems, the Merc arrives, struggling to find them partially because of Ricky’s Private Sanctum spell. The Merc immediately recognizes the necromancy book that Aylis was interpreting, much to Aylis’s frustration.
Ash keeps her motivations close to the chest, but gently probes the Merc for information. She manages to convince him to stay around long enough to meet with the group, but first Ash is interested in negotiating a deal with the Merc… offering to sell to the Merc Larlock’s Phylactery… which is, in fact, Ash’s own barely beating black heart. Alex is trying to listen in, but Ricky manages to convince her through subtle intimidation to mind her own business, hoping to protect her… although the Merc casually recognizes Azmira, the spirit inhabiting Fidget’s cursed armor, which instantly excites Alex’s hyper-active curiosity.
The Merc magically examines Ash, trying to figure out how to extract the Phylactery from Ash’s body. Her body is riddled with various curses and conditions, and to extract the phylactery would take far greater cost than it would be worth. Simply removing the Phylactery would kill Ash outright, and even if he managed to, Ash’s soul is chained to the Phylactery and would prevent her from being able to be revived. He also discerns that Ash’s body is being prepared for some kind of ceremony… there are thousands of souls stored in Larlock’s Phylactery… a power nearly akin to a God. A Merc might have the power to pull it off, but he would need something equally powerful to even attempt such a thing. Ricky, however, realizes that he has a God-like object in his possession… the silver necklace of the Night Mother… the last piece of her power, and the lost final piece of Sovereign’s blade.
The Merc takes Ricky’s hints to examine him in private… with the Merc quickly recognizing the significance of Ricky’s necklace. The merc considers this a worthy price to pay… but to do so he would need to kill Ricky, although he also admits that he can bring him back to life afterward. Ricky believes this is the best chance that he has, but he can’t bring himself to simply give up before fulfilling his promise to the Night Mother… the Merc sees his concern, and tells him that he can wait to give time for Ricky to fulfill his promise. However, before he can finalize any plans, he gets an urgent call from Ricky’s mother, the famous Diva DeLuna, who needs a specialty bra. The Merc vanishes just in time for Ash to realize that they forgot to ask him to connect with Gilly… rather than wait around for him, they decided to meet with the rest of the Grimveils at the Arena.
They arrive to see the Cage being set up as the 4 remaining combatants prepare to fight. The gladiators weren’t able to take a short rest so Crush, with his Barbarian resistance, is in the best shape and quickly defeats Azure, who is still injured and hasn’t had the opportunity to recover her Ki. Meanwhile, Kanec is fighting the Female Reaver, but in the process triggers her Blood Rage… a Rage that is even more focused and dangerous than Male reavers. Kanec and Crush basically work together to take her down while she focused entirely on Kanec… leaving him weakened enough for Crush to knock him unconscious with a single attack. With victory declared, Crush is rewarded a shocking amount of over 100,000 Gold and a large trophy. Crush isn’t much interested in the money, and gives it to Ricky to carry.
Once reunited, the Grimveils decide to return to Kanec’s house so they can talk in private about everything they’ve learned. As they make their way out mixed with the energetic crowd they spot a worrying sight… Xander, the ancient Reaver who once betrayed Sovereign is seen in town, apparently carrying a ticket to the Diva DeLuna’s concert, which seems to grant him entrance to the city. As they discuss what this could mean, they’re approached by Neo, who seems eager to speak to Ricky. However, at the same time, this upsets Azmira, who is angry that Ricky seems to planning to make a deal with the Mercs… even though Ash had managed to convince her to play along by pretending she intends to help Azmira kill Ricky. Ash takes Azmira aside, calmly explaining that Ricky hasn’t finalized any deals yet, and there’s still time to fulfill their bargain, persuading Azmira successfully, but clearly she’s on high alert.
As they pass through the merchants’ quarters, Ricky takes the time to Message Neo, hoping to get his insight on Ricky’s offer he had made to the Merc earlier, especially since the price involves Ricky’s necklace of The Nightmother, Neo’s Goddess. Neo obviously opposes trading his Goddess’s symbol for any reason, but he seems to think that there’s some merit to Ricky’s plan. As they’re talking Neo leans against a cart selling jewelry… and Ricky and Azure both notice that he becomes physically burnt by a pendant of Sovereign’s symbol.
Returning finally to Kanec’s home, Alex is quickly put to sleep so everyone can speak openly about their plans. Ricky explains why he was considering offering the pendant of the Night Mother in exchange for getting the curses removed from Ash and the other Grimveils… and while his motivation makes sense, everyone is concerned that it is too dangerous of a deal to make. Neo laments that they can’t risk losing the pendant, as it is the last piece of Sovereign’s blade, that last piece making it capable of killing a Goddess. Which reminds Azure… they have Sovereign’s Blade, which is being carried by Fidget and Azmira. Neo is shocked by this, certain that they should simply destroy the blade. However, Crush reminds everyone that they’re still waiting to hear from Kalea, who is helping them to organize a meeting with the Goddes Hearth. They all decide it’s too soon to be making deals like this, and as they come to this conclusion the Merc arrives.
Using a magical mirror, the Merc arranges a call with Gilly, with another Merc by her with a mirror of his own. Gilly is informed of everything they’ve learned, and Gilly herself reveals that they had found an additional hidden room in Grimveil Manor. However, her group is still regularly attacked by Depraved Gloom, who seem to know where they are at all times, but they can’t figure out how. Gilly suspects there’s someone informing the Depraved Gloom, but has no idea who or why.
Gilly informs them also that they’ve found information on a ritual that could potentially be performed to create a being more powerful than a God… very similar to a ritual Aylis discovered in Larlock’s book. However, Gilly knows more of the ingredients, and it seems to match what has been done to prepare Ash, as well as “stolen Weave”… the magical potential of an individual. She also reveals that Duncan’s family was killed tragically after his daughter was abducted by Hags and converted into a Hag herself… a process that involves being devoured and killed, then regenerated into the form of a Hag. Duncan ultimately couldn’t bring himself to kill his daughter, even after being turned into a Hag, and left her free… however, she grew to be raised by the Depraved Gloom, and even ascended to a position of power… Karlata, the leader of the entire organization.
Just as they’re processing this information they hear strange sounds coming from Gilly’s side of the call. As the mirror is used to observe, they recognize a familiar grey cat… the cat that belonged to Hitha Coldforge, which the Druid Verrick recognizes as a familiar. Just as they try to attack the familiar, a crashing noise erupts and the image from the mirror is disrupted as a cloaked figure steps into sight.
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We'll be playing the Rise of Tiamat tonight at 7pm PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. The Protectors of Phandalin are about to meet with the council of Waterdeep, but if you missed our last session or if you just need a reminder, here's what happened before:
Following the capture of Blagothkus’s flying castle, the Cult of Tiamat seemed to go into hiding, their raids slowing with little activity to be seen. This all changed with assassination of Arthagast Ulbrinter, one of the Masked Lords of Waterdeep... the mysterious rulers of Waterdeep, whose true identities are kept hidden to avoid corruption or intimidation. His position as a Masked Lord only revealed upon his death... a tragedy made all the more relevant as his wife, Remi Haventree, is a high ranking member of the Harpers. Now the Protectors of Phandalin are called back to Waterdeep, as the alliance of Harpers, Lords’ Alliance, Order of the Gauntlet, and even the reclusive Emerald Enclave and criminal Zhentarim have arranged to meet as the Council of Waterdeep and resolve the challenge that awaits them.
Dahlia had returned to her home country of of Esleah, using wealth recovered from the cultists to charter a private ship and to leave money behind with her family. As a Baroness, she has many responsibilities, and despite sparing the Dwarven Cultist Craggnor by forcing him to swear on his honor to not turn against her family, she does not know how far the honor of a Tiamat Cultist truly extends... necessitating spending money on increased security for her mother and Grandmother.
However, Dahlia is left with a difficult choice... the first meeting of the Council of Waterdeep will be mere days after her favorite Holiday, Liar’s Night... a night celebrating trickster gods such as the God of Thieves’, Mask. It’s celebrated as a night of freedom, where none shall be held responsible for any tricks or thievery they perform while masked. A holiday she normally spends with her family, but instead she finds it best to return to Waterdeep and meet with her lover, G’houl, and enjoy Liar’s Night in the big city instead.
Arriving in Waterdeep, Dahlia uses her hat of disguise to appear as a human woman, wearing an elaborate black and gold dress and an ornate face mask, and makes certain to line her pockets with candy for masked children to steal. Waiting for her in the dock ward is G’houl, who has used his Alter Self spell to also appear as a human, although he chose to appear as a dashing, masked Rogue instead. However... the fact that they both took the time to not only disguise their clothing, but appear as a diferent race entirely makes it difficult for the lovers to reconnect, but fortunately Dahlia eventually sees through his disguise and after teasing him for a bit the two reconnect, with Dahlia revealing that she’s brought along a riding horse from her home country, and G’houl revealing that Dusk has a costume of his own... dressed basically like Puss in Boots from Shrek.
They take a cart to the “City of the Dead”, a large cemetary on the East end of Waterdeep where festivities for Liar’s Night are held. It doesn’t take long for them to recognize on reveler... The half-elf Monk and fellow Harper Leosin, who wears a simple domino mask along with his usual light clothing. Standing next to him is an eery, blank-faced woman with long, stringy black hair covering one eye who Dahlia assumes must be Loki, the Changeling who can simply alter her appearance at will. Leosin is busy talking to the Kobold, Deeg, who has been training as a monk with Leosin. Deeg appears to have wrapped his body with tin foil and has two crudely made tinfoil wings attached to his back. Most surprising, however, is Katniss is nowhere to be found... instead Loki is accompanied by a young male centaur, who has leaf-like face paint on his face.
Dahlia introduces herself, and teases Leosin for wearing the lowest-effort costume possible, while Leosin reminds her that they’re supposed to be meeting up with one another, which is made all the harder when everyone else seems to have taken the time to not just wear a costume, but magically diguise themselves as a completely different race. Leosin also explains that Deeg is dressed as Bahamut... something Leoson tried to explain was extremely sacreligious, but Deeg is simply excited by this new Holiday, although he slightly misunderstands the tradition of letting children steal from others without punishment, since in theory they’re just supposed to pick candy out of pockets and not steal things of actual value... something Loki promptly ignores, using her skills at pickpocketing to slyly steal money, a dagger, and even a signet ring from revelers.
Slightly annoyed, Leosin takes the time to introduce their newest ally... Antares Silver-Oak. Antares is bubbly and curious, explaining that he’s Katniss’s God-Son, and he seems to exclusively refer to Katniss as “The Huntmaster”. Katniss has taken express interest in overseeing the reconstruction of the Forge of Spells in Wave Echo Cave, and there was an important event They couldn’t afford to miss... not wanting Loki to miss the fun of Liar’s Night, Katniss asked Antares to escort her to Waterdeep, with Katniss planning to arrive in Waterdeep a few days later in order to attend the first meeting of the Council of Waterdeep. Antares also reveals that he’s a member of the Emerald Enclave.
As they move toward the crowd they can’t help but notice a memorial set up for the late Lord Ulbrinter. Many taking time away from the celebrations to offer flowers. Antares is interested in examining the flowers, simply curious if there’s anything to learn from them. Looking closely, he notices something peculiar hidden behind many of the other flowers... a bouquet of dead Snapdragons, the dead flowers eerily resembling skulls. Antares can also tell that it’s not possible that the snapdragons were delivered alive and simply wilted... someone deliberately marked the memorial with a full bouquet of dead flowers, with Leosin especially annoyed that everyone seems to be avoiding talking about the obvious symbolism of an ominous looking dead flower named after a dragon left at the memorial of someone they know to be assassinated by the Cult of the Dragon Queen Tiamat.
The festivities for Liar’s Night are many and varied, but Deeg is instantly drawn to a Silver Dragonborn announcing a contest for children and adults alike... a pumpkin hunt to find the largest pumpkin hidden somewhere in the City of the Dead. The prize on offer is an enchanted cauldron that conjures magically created candy. The group heads out to find their prize, and Antares notices a particular strong-looking vine leading into a maze built out of hay bails. Dahlia attempts to use her Broom of Flying to fly over and see where it goes, but unfortunately a tarp is laid over the maze. Deeg runs in while they’re discussing what to do next, with Leosin in hot pursuit. The two of them running ahead, past the few drunken revelers who managed to get lost in the first couple turns of the maze, before the further everyone goes, the more... unusual it begins to feel. They finally catch up to Leosin and Deeg at the entryway to a dark cave. As a fey himself, Antares recognizes the energy around them as being fey in nature. This excites Dahlia as everyone decides to head into the cavern, still following the vine that Antares had seen earlier.
Making their way inside, they find small motes of light drifting through the air. An orange, glowing mass seems to be flowing, looking like lava from a distance, but closer investigation reveals it to be glowing pumpkin guts. Leosin attempts to move stealthily, but Dahlia simply shouts her introduction, hoping to meet who or whatever brought them to this place. The party considers that, perhaps, this cave itself is one giant pumpkin... although when Deeg tests that theory by eating some of the ground his sickened coughing reveals that it’s just regular dirt. Continuing further, they find a giant pumpkin at the end of the vine they’ve been following. As they approach it a large eye opens in the center of its mass... a large, fanged smile spreading underneath the eye, and then another eye rises from behind its back, and another, and another... until they find themselves face to face with an orange, pumpkin-like Beholder. It laughs loudly and challenges them all to combat.
As the fight begins, Deeg rushes toward the Beholder to attack while Leosin shouts for him not to... especially because he’s only started his training. Deeg is only level 1. The Beholder laughs, firing a beam of energy at the young Kobold, which transforms him into a pumpkin that falls to the ground harmlessly. This is the point where Dahlia realizes how serious this is, and battle ensues in earnest. The glowing motes of light floating through the air seem to lose their glow when floating in front of the Beholder’s eye. Dahlia begins to suspect something, testing it by trying to use her Wand of Magic Missiles in front of the Beholder, realizing that its eye nullifies all magic. Antares reveals himself to be a Barbarian, entering a Rage as he rushes toward the Beholder... however, the surge of Wild Magic that normally accompanies his Rage is suppressed by the Beholder’s eye.
Once they realize the Beholder’s Weak spot, the party tactically faces off against the Beholder, avoiding its gaze to continue to hit it with their magic while Antares grapples the Beholder to keep its eye away from his allies. The Beholder’s deadlier eye beams are avoided, but it does manage to make both Dahlia and G’houl fall asleep. However, the Beholder chooses to close its main eye, as its anti-magic cone even applies to its own eye beams, and it needs to do so just to try and target Antares. However, Antares manages to resist its attack, and now that he’s freed from its anti-magic cone he blasts it with a blind beam of energy fired from his chest, finally defeating the beholder, which falls to the ground as a normal pumpkin. As it falls, Deeg returns to his true form, and Leosin begins to slowly clap, to the confusion of the others.
As they question what’s come over Leosin, his form begins to shift... his clothing turning black, plain domino mask extending into a full, leather face mask with a flowing black cape. Dahlia, with her love of Liar’s Night, instantly recognizes him as the God of Thieves, Mask. Mask is pleased at being recognized, explaining that he was curious to meet those chosen by “The Lady”, as he looks in the direction of Loki, Cleric of Tymora, sometimes known as Lady Luck. He also reveals that, at some point, he had stolen the Black Dragon Mask from Loki’s bag of holding, returning it to Dahlia. He explains that the mask is made from a scale from Tiamat’s own head, and there is a matching mask for each of her five heads. The masks are the keys to Tiamat’s return, but these relics are far too powerful to be destroyed by anything less than the Elemental Fires of Magic. He also explains why he’s helping them by first, seemingly from nowhwere, he pulls out two mystical artifacts... a silver tiara with spider webs weaved within it and spiders crawling across it, and a large cleaver with a spike pointed back in the directio of the wielder that perpetually drips blood. He explains that he has stolen trinkets and baubles from many Gods, but has never managed to steal anything from the Queen of Dragons. Instead he wants to steal from her the greatest treasure that could ever find its way to her hoard... the Keys to the Material Plane itself.
Dahlia has more questions, but before she can step forward Mask simply vanishes. Deeg doesn’t particulary understand what’s going on, but is just excited that they’ve manged to find a 10 foot wide pumpkin. They all get together to carry it out, but the mystically strong Antares ends up carrying the entire thing himself. As they exit the cavern they instantly run into the real Leosin, who is shocked that they all are somehow in front of him in the maze... apparently from his perspective, he’s just barely entered the maze in pursuit of Deeg. Everyone explains what happened, but at the same time they tease him with a few playful lies... in frustration, he asks Deeg to explain it, but unfortunately Deeg’s overly literal description of events he didn’t fully undersand in the first place isn’t much help.
Making their way back to the stage, they find that a scale has been set up, each new pumpkin weighed against the current champion to determine the winner. However, as they approach with their massive pumpkin the other contestants largely surrender, some dropping their pumpkins right there in shock. The speaker is excited for the showiness of their pumpkin, with Antares placing it on the scale... which immediately launches the other pumpkin into the air, much to th delight of the watchers. Without hesitation they’re awarded the Cauldron, with everyone quickly agreeing that Deeg should be allowed to keep it. Deeg is raised in the air as everyone cheers for him, the young Kobold howling with delight, when suddenly, everything changes.
Suddenly, all the music stops. Everyone present stoppin in place, a sense of confusion and worry making everyone pause. However, the effects seem more intense for Deeg and the Silver Dragonborn announcer who are staring upward, a look of panic and fear on their faces. Glancing around, Dahlia notices that other Dragonborn in the crowd are reacting similarly, and both Dahlia and Loki can just barely hear the sound of a horn blowing somewhere in the distance. Dahlia instantly hugs Deeg close to comfort the young Kobold who seems to be right on the verge of a panic attack. Asking to speak to the announcer in private, Dahlia recognizes him as Sylvester Silvertail, a traveling magic item salesmen they had met in Daggerford. Sylvester doesn’t know what happened either, but is able to explain the sensation better than Deeg... comparing it to the feeling of someone or something being right behind you, feeling with intense fear and panic... which Dahlia compares to the feeling of a prey who feels caught by a predator, which Silvertail admits is a very good descriptor.
As the crowd begins to mostly chuckle to themselves and try to get back to normal, they’re approached by a human woman in black wearing a veil. Leosin immediately bows to her, greeting her as Lady Haventree. She was visiting her husband’s memorial and recognized Leosin, wanting to speak to him after the strange event that just occured. She recognizes the “Protectors of Phandalin”, referring to them by that name, and Dahlia explains that they don’t really call themselves that. Haventree thanks them for what they’ve done, and Dahlia extends her sympathy for Haventree’s loss, with the grieving widow clearly appreciating the show of kindness. Haventree informs them that the Council of Waterdeep will have to meet as soon as possible the next day to figure out what happened... and the only reason they’re not meeting immediately is because it’s incredibly bad luck to make any deals or plans on Liar’s Night. Haventree has to quickly leave to arrange matters, but the Party is free to enjoy the rest of Liar’s Night the best they can. Although they seem unready to get back into the major celebrations, a nice, slow walk back to the Yawning Portal tavern gives them enough time to enjoy the holiday atmosphere, and by the time they arrive their pockets have been picked clean by revelers and they prepare to sleep and face the impending threat of the Cult of Tiamat.
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We'll be streaming again tonight! Come join us tonight at 7 PM PST at our home of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty to watch our homebrew campaign of Sacrament. As always, here's what happened in our last session:
After seeing their friends attacked through the magic mirror, the Party realizes they can’t help them… Crush suggests that they need to give them a few minutes to get to safety before attempting to contact them. It’s difficult to remain still, but they try to discuss their plans while they wait for time to pass… they’re still uncertain of what to do next, but as Crush is doing pushups to distract himself Neo points out that 5 minutes have passed and Ash quickly uses Sending to contact Gilly. They learn that their allies have all survived, but they were interrupted during a ritual that had teleported them to a new location… where ever it is must be incredibly cold, as it is snowing heavily here in the middle of Spring.
With the realization that their allies are safe, for now, they decide to prepare for their next day… they want to take advantage of the distraction of the Diva DeLuna’s concert to find a hidden location to complete the same ritual their allies were interrupted doing. However, the only location they know of where such a ritual can be performed is in the Warlord’s Ziggurat… discussing it more, they realize the only opportunity they’ll get to visit the Ziggurat would be on the night of the Military Ball. Instead, they realize that the best option will be to take out Ash’s quarry to prevent her succumbing fully to her Revenant nature. Crush warns that killing him will kill Ash as well, but Ash makes clear that she has a very different idea… she learned from talking to the Merks that anyone transformed into a snake and then turned to gold by Ash’s gold statue is still technically “alive”, but in a suspended state… they make plans to seek him out and capture him, holding him as a snake statue. They also decide that, in order to capture him, they’ll have Ricky pose as Elonwee to be used as bait.
They also realize that Alex has been lying to her father about where she is, since he thinks she’s staying with Aylus at Argus’s house, and he was supposed to bring some things to her. Ricky sends him an elaborate letter to excuse Alex’s suspicious absence before Ash contacts Elonwee’s adopter father, Komar, to ask for his help in disguising Ricky as Elonwee. Komar is frustrated at being woken up, but tells everyone they can find him at the College. As they travel to the University they see Xander, the ancient Reaver, killing someone in a party. Neo warns not to involve themselves, and Crush begrudgingly agrees. Making their way into the University, Aylus and Alex take advantage of the timing to return to their dorms and hopefully negate some of the trouble Alex is going to be in when the letter sent by Ricky is debunked. The meet with Komar, who shares some of Elonwee’s clothing along with his house key, and laments that this could have waited until the next morning, which Crush agrees with.
Returning to Kanec’s house, they come across Xander, who is being “arrested” by the local guard, although it’s clear that he could easily escape and is simply playing along to avoid complications. Xander deliberately walks through the middle of the street, occupying enough space that everyone actually has to struggle to avoid getting shoulder checked. However, Fidget fails to avoid him… and Xander seems instantly interested in Fidget… which everyone soon realizes is a potential danger, as Fidget is not only wearing the cursed armor possessed by Azmira, but also carries the sword of Sovereign. No one is certain what, exactly, Xander realized, but they know that anything that caught his attention would not be good.
Returning to Kanec’s home, everyone tries to just get some sleep, except for Ricky, who wants to speak to Neo, who seemed unusually familiar with Xander. It’s difficult, as Neo isn’t eager to speak, but Ricky is very persuasive. Neo, as a Dark Elf and a follower of the Night Mother, has been treated as a slave by worshippers of Sol, and is seen as an abomination by the Reavers. His people had a run in with Xander who, despite his conflict with Sovereign, still hates the followers of the Nightmother, slaughtering all of Neo’s friends and family and collecting their heads as morbid trophies. To lighten the mood Ricky starts to talk to Neo about music, with Neo commenting that he is technically a Bard as well. The two of them get into a brief argument of which is the superior musician, ultimately leading into a bet to play the best music, the winner must declare the other to be the winner, and pay for an expensive meal. They get into a sing-off, with the two of them getting equal performance ratings… and the two of them realize they need to go again. They go for another round, this time Neo lands a critical success, and rather than compete he joins with Ricky’s song, turning it into a romantic duet. Ricky, at this point, can’t resist the passions of his fellow bard, and the two young men kiss passionately and enjoy each other in the bed… much to the annoyance of those party members sleeping in nearby bedrooms.
Morning comes and the rest of the party meets in the living room… all except Crush knew exactly what happened, since all Crush could hear was the singing. Ricky and Neo cuddle in the morning, although Ricky can’t help but notice just how many scars Neo normally hides under his clothes, on top of the distinct facial scar he has dangerously close to one of his eyes. When morning comes, Ricky cooks a sausage-heavy breakfast while his teammates tease him. As they discuss their plans for the day, Crush sees a powerful storm rushing in. He heads outside to observe, recognizing that it’s more than just a normal storm… he’s rejoined by the spirit of his sister, Crash, and carried by the wind comes down Kalea, the Tortle Druid who is arriving to help with the rituals the party is trying to enact.
Crush introduces Kalea to the others, and gets her up to date on what they’re planning and any information that could help her. From the moment she appears the others begin playfully teasing, calling her Crush’s Girlfriend. They discuss the plan to summon Hearth and use her power to oversee a meeting between Sovereign and the Nightmother and hopefully end their centuries-long conflict. Kalea is excited at the prospect, but warns that Hearth is actually deeply asleep, making her difficult to contact. Instead, she would need as many voices as possible singing at once… something that is possible with the help of Ricky’s Mother, Elizabeth, and her upcoming concert that has attracted the attention of nearly the entire city. She also explains that she will need Earth and Water from grounds blessed by the Goddess Peace. Crush is eager to take this on, while Kalea and Neo step outside to discuss the technicalities of the ritual in more depth… and Crush confronts everyone about how weird they get about him and Kalea. This leads to a complicated discussion as the mammals struggle to fully understand the Tortle life cycle, where romantic feelings don’t really develop until the end of their lives. Still, they’re able to get Crush to eventually say that, if nothing else, he hopes that both He and Kalea will return to the Tortle Home Beaches at the same time when it comes time to have children. This seems to satisfy his friends, with them declaring that Crush has a crush, which he doesn’t deny, but admits it’s weird to hear his name used in that context.
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We had a short session last night because our DM wasn't feeling well... she's been having some health trouble lately, so our schedule has been a little hectic. On the plus side, we're going to be streaming tonight! So come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty tonight at 7pm PST for a short session as we finish up what we started last night, but just in case you couldn't join us last night, here's what you missed:
Ricky loans his Glamoured Studded Leather armor to Kanec to help him disguise himself for their plan to lure out Ash’s killer. The Grimveils make plans to visit Logan, the Half-Orc Reaver who has information about Ash’s killer, while Neo takes Kalea with him to both show her the town and also help prepare for the ceremony that night. Azure and Ricky opt to ride in Kanec’s Genie Bag so they can make adjustments to the clothes they got from Elonwee to disguise Ricky. Ash gets a magical letter from Aylis telling her that Alex had gotten in trouble for the stunt they pulled the previous night, and he wants to make sure that he’s involved with whatever happens that night. Azure is completing the adjustments and exiting as Crush states that he doesn’t feel Aylis should be involved.
On their path to the blacksmith, they place by the house that Ash’s brother Argus is staying in. At Fidget’s insistence, the Grimveils stop to visit there first. They’re reuinited with their friends… including Omelette the Ostrich and Thaco the goat. Everyone sits for a traditional Kirei Midori tea ceremony while Fidget is reunited with his son, Kane.
While meeting with them they also reunite with Henri, Ricky’s aunt. Crush is unable to remain calm, considering he knows that Gilly was attacked the previous night. Ricky decides to avoid lying for his comfort, which was the initial plan, and let him know what happened. To help comfort him, Ricky uses Sending to contact Gilly, but the connection seems spotty. This scares Henri, with Ricky knowing that one of the things that can mess with a connection through Sending is if they’re on another plane. Ash decides to test this further, sending a magical letter to Corrio using her Feather of Sending. A letter from Corrio returns, saying that he can’t explain everything now, but the letter arrives on strange, burnt paper that appears in a mystical burst, unlike the simple puff into existence tha tnormally accompanies letters sent by the Feather of Sending. Examining the letter closely, they notice the smallest smudge of what looks to be mithral makeup, and the letter itself seems ancient. They don’t know what this means just yet, but for now they plan to visit the Blacksmith, with plans to return and join Ash’s family for dinner later that afternoon.
With that complete, they find Logan’s blacksmith shop, labeled as “Deadly Blades”. Once inside they find that Logan has closed the store for the day… apparently asking around about the Raven-Handled blade has gotten him unwanted attention. Logan admits that hes’ seen the blade himself… the man has been in town, seeking a young girl. There’s also someone who was murdered that seems tied to him… a merchant that was killed on his way into town. However, he had also gotten an order for repair on a weapon… with a signature of a raven drawn on a work order, which includes an order for enough weaponry to equip at least 30 warriors. Looking into Logan’s order, they see that his blade calls for a large volume of Obsidian. Ash remembers her training when she was still alive and training as an artificer, and she knows that obsidian is used in sacrificial blades and allows the delivery of necrotic power.
With this revelation they realize that he’ll be returning that night to pick up his order, Ash also knows that he’ll likely intend to kill Logan and Fidget Jr. to power his obsidian blade. However, they also realize that the Depraved Gloom is likely watching the blacksmith shop, and both Logan and Fidget Jr. are in danger if they seem to be allied with them. In order to throw them off, Crush suggests that Logan punch him in the face and kick them out… but Logan admits he’s not a particularly good actor and isn’t certain how well he can sell his anger. Ricky then gets the idea to legitimately just annoy Logan… knocking over valuable tools, twerking agianst his anvil, and just generally making a nuisance of himself. When Logan is legitimately pissed off Crush interposes himself between Logan and Ricky, and the one-armed Reaver punches Crush in the face hard enough to knock him out of the door. Unfortunately, Fidget Jr. tries to sell it further by accusing them of attempting to steal from the blacksmith, which draws the attention of the city guards. The Protectors of Phandalin run for it, attempting to hide in a back alley, but they’re not stealthy enough. However, once caught Ricky uses Mass Suggestion to send them on a wild goose chase, and although one of them resists, Rick is able to use clever wordplay to convince him that he’s mistaken and send him chasing after his charmed allies.
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
So, things have been kind of weird for a couple reasons, the biggest of which being that 3 of our players caught the flu and were unable to play. I also had a lot of extra work to do and didn't write up the usual summary of our last session, so I don't have one of those to share at the moment, but I will write up one for the future. That all said, we're playing Rise of Tiamat tonight! Come join us in about half an hour at 7pm PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty as the party prepares to set out on their first assignment from the newly formed Council of Waterdeep, who have assigned them to seek out the Dwarven Wyrmspeaker, Varram the White, and have just learned that the Council has provided them with a prototype floating island, built by researchers attempting to replicate the floating capabilities of a Cloud Giant's Castle.
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 short session yesterday, because some of our players are recovering from the flu and we didn't want to strain anyone's voice. Still, everyone was so eager for more that we're having another short session tonight. So come join us tonight at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty tonight at 7pm PST for more Rise of Tiamat! And thankfully this time, I have a summary for everything that happened in the last two sessions:
The Protectors of Phandalin have little time to enjoy their morning, being led by Leosin immediately to meet with the newly formed Council of Waterdeep in the Lords’ Castle. The find themselves meeting with Lord Dagult Neverember, the Open Lord of Waterdeep and representative of the Lords’ Alliance. He sits at the head of the table along with his fellow Lord’s Alliance Leaders... Dwarven Ambassador Connerad Brawnanvil, former King of the Mithral Hall; Human Marshall Ulder Ravengard, leader of Baldur’s Gate’s military force; Elven King Melandrach, the King of the Elves of the Misty Forest as well as the High Forest, Human Wizard Taern “Thunderspells” Hornblade, the high wizard of Silverymoon; and finally their old friend Sildar Hallwinter, representative for Lords’ Alliance footsoldiers. On the other side of the table sit the representatives of the other groups, which are all much smaller and less well-funded compared to the Lords’ Alliance. First is Onthar Frume, the female Dwarf who once dated their fellow harper Leosin, representing the Order of the Gauntlet. She sits next to Delaan Winterfloe, a slow-speaking Tortle representing the Emerald Enclave. Near Delaan is Remalia Haventree, the Moon-Elf Harpers representative the Party had met the night before. Finally, to their surprise, they see Thorn, the female Goblin they had met first in Phandalin. They learn that she’s a representative of the Zhentarim, who have been allowed into the council thanks to the Party’s actions... a decision that doesn’t sit well with all members present.
As they enter the great Hall the Party is introduced as the Protectors of Phandalin, but Haventree explains that they don’t call themselves that, with Sildar revealing that they’re only called that because another Lords’ Alliance member, Skilled, called them that simply because he needed a name to call them for some paperwork. The Council interrogates them on what they did during the events of the Hoard of the Dragon Queen... their actions throughout mostly impressed the council, but there were a few points of contention. Their decision to kill the corrupted Black Dragon Hatchlings from the dragon hatchery early in their adventure proves contentious, but they’re able to successfully convince the council of the deformed and dangerous state of the hatchlings, and even convince the kind-hearted Winterfloe that the creatures were born in a state that would have caused the innocent creatures intense pain. The other major debate relates to Skyreach Castle, the home of the Cloud Giant Blagothkus... the fact that they let Blagothkus leave with the Castle instead of convincing him to join directly and offer his castle as a resource in battling the Cult of Tiamat. This seems to click with Dahlia in particular, who admits they could have done more to keep track of Blagothkus, and begins to make plans to find a way to communicate directly with Blagothkus.
The party also reveals what they had learned from their shocking meeting with the God of Thieves, Mask, during Liar’s Night. Research has already shown that the Dragon Masks, like the one recovered from Rezmir, are key to summoning Tiamat. However, what the party learned from Mask is that the Dragon Masks are made from Tiamat’s own scales, and they can only be destroyed in the flames of Elemental Magic... which the Party realizes they have access to, thanks to the Forge of Spells in Wave Echo Cave, which Katniss was busy overwatching, leading to Them being unable to join Their allies at this moment. Lord Neverember demands that the mask be turned over for safe keeping until it can be reliably delivered to Phandalin to be destroyed, but Loki is hesitant, especially when she learns that the Mask itself is virtually priceless, with Thunderspells saying at best he would price at at 10,000gp, which he admits is underselling. Loki manages to convince Lord Neverember to pay her to relinquish the Mask, but he admits the City’s coffers can’t afford such a massive investment, instead asking her to settle for the much more modest sum of 2000gp. Loki not only agrees, but she actually asks Neverember to pay her 1000 and send the remaining 1000gp to the town of Parnast, which was devastated by the cult, which seems to improve Loki’s standing among the council. Ontharr Frume in particular is pleased with this turn of events, especially since it will support reopening the Forge of Spells for creating weaponry, a controversial decision among the councilmembers.
As they’re discussing the finer details of Skyreach Castle, they’re interrupted by the appearance of Professor Commonbrook, the Aarakocra researcher they had met earlier. She carries a messy pile of paperwork... she explains that researchers have discovered that the mysterious sound heard the previous night is most likely the Draakhorn... an ancient draconic relic created from the horn of one of Tiama’ts consort from when she still lived on the Material Plane. Ephelomon. It is used to send coded messages across vast distances to other dragons, although there is no record of how to interpret the code. Commonbrook’s research also reveals that, as far as their records show, the Draakhorn was known to be in the possession of Arauthator, a White Dragon who nests far to the North in the Seat of Moving Ice. As the party has already defeated White Dragon Glazhael Cloudchaser in Skyreach Castle, they are considered the natural choice to quest for the Draakhorn, and the Party seems willing to take on this challenge.
However, Thorn mentions that the priority should instead be on the Dwarven Wyrmspeaker, Varram the White, as the Zhentarim has a lead on his location, and now that they know how important the masks carried by Wyrmspeakers are, eliminating them entirely could stop the threat before it has a chance to continue. Ambassador Brawnanvil enthusiastically supports this as well, and implies that he knows who Varram is and holds a personal grudge against him. Dahlia is instantly drawn to this challenge over the Draakhorn issue, since she knows that Varram is close friends with Craggnor, the Dwarven cult member who was a close business associate of her cruel and manipulative ex-husband. She has a piece of Craggnor’s beard, which can be used to help locate him. However, she also fears that she’s selfishly seeking personal vengeance, and feels that it’s possible that discovering the secrets of the Draakhorn may prove more useful for everyone, and not just herself. Still, her allies also agree that Varram’s capture is very important, and the party is uniquely equipped to track him. However, Dahlia finds herself focused on how to best tackle the issue of the Draakhorn without handling it directly themselves.
Conversing with her allies on the issue, G’houl brings focus on the fact that the messages sent by the Draakhorn are coded, but not inherently magical beyond the sense of dread the Draakhorn generates... however, the horn itself can only be truly heard clearly by true Dragons, while creatures of draconic descent such as Kobolds and Dragonborn only get a heightened sensitivity to the dread it produces. Dahlia asks if anyone in the council is in contact with any friendly dragons, since they could work with skilled codebreakers from the Zhentarim to decipher what the message sent by the Draakhorn is and hopefully find out where it is and how to stop it. King Melandrach hesitantly admits that the elves of the Misty Forest have a relationship with a dragon name Otaaryliakkarnos, but Dahlia has to Persuade him to agree to work with Zhentarim on this issue. Still, he eventually relents and agrees to contact this Draconic ally after Dahlia convinces him of how important this issue is.
With this all decided, the party are given important paperwork known as “Writs of Intent”, which can be used to prove the authority granted them by Lord Neverember and the other members of the Council. The Party also asks if any of the councilmembers will be providing them with support, which they seem willing to provide. In particular, Lady Haventree asks Commonbrook to show the Party what her fellow researches have been working on, with Commonbrook excited to surprise the Party with what they’ve prepared for them. Intrigued, the Party leaves with Commonbrook as she leads them towards Mount Waterdeep, past the Griffon nests and up to what appears to be a low-hanging cloud. As they approach they realize it’s true nature... a floating island surrounded by a misty fog. Commonbrook explains that the shard of the Fire Plane the party had recovered from the ruins of Dragonspear had been used as a power source in an attempt to replicate the effects of a Cloud Giant’s Castle. They also reconnect with the Goblin researcher they had met with Commonbrook before, Armpit, who is the lead architect of this project. The floating island has windmill on top, with a small cottage attached and even a stable for transporting horses.
The Party is ecstatic to learn that they will be given the opportunity to use this floating island to transport quickly and safely across the lands of Faerun. Armpit is surprisingly casual about everything, and when asked about the name of the island he admits he just calls it, “The Floating Island” and hadn’t really considered anything beyond that. Dahlia immediately suggests the name “Nimbus”, which everyone else enthusiastically accepts. Commonbrook admits that she won’t be able to accompany themon their journey, but Armpit will travel with them, especially since the controls for the island are overcomplicated and unintuitive to anyone other than Armpit. Dahlia requests that Commonbrook ask the College of Learning to provide the Party with magical paper and ink so that G’houl can scribe spells, but in particular she wants to see if they can provide any scrolls of Sending so that she can communicate with Blagothkus. Commonbrook admits she isn’t certain what they’ll have available, but she promises to look into it while the party gathers supplies and meets with allies in Waterdeep before leaving... they know that intel on Varram’s location is fleeting, and they’ll need to move quickly if they hope to intercept him.
Leaving Armpit behind, the rest of the party heads back down Mount Waterdeep, but on the way they’re met with Sergeant Dharxes, the Tiefling Griffon Rider they had met before. She was told some details of the Party’s mission, but clearly doesn’t know much. Even when they ask about Azbara Jos, Glasstaff and Jerome, she knows nothing about them, only recognizing that there is a rumor about a Red Wizard being held in the dungeon of the Lord’s Castle. Instead, she was asked to direct them toward the Waterdeep Military Surplus... a well-guarded store open only to the Military of Waterdeep and those that have been authorized by the Lords of Waterdeep. Inside they find military supplies available for purchase, and a sarcastic, unhappy Gnome soldier serving as the shopkeep. The Military Surplus offers supplies at a lower cost than other shops in Waterdeep, and has some exclusive magical objects for sale, including Scrolls. The party is eager to look through the variety of supplies available, although they struggle a bit with the cantankerous shopkeep who puffs on a pipe in annoyance. G’houl purchases a variety of scrolls and ink/paper to transcribe them to his spellbook, while Antares is interested in herbs to take advantage of his herbalism kit, and even purchases some poorly organized seeds to hopefully grow his own plants in the future.
However, the shopkeep encounters the most trouble with Loki, who is instantly drawn to a Rust-colored Bag of Tricks, but is put off by its steep cost. She attempts to negotiate the price down, with the shopkeep responding with sarcasm and dismissal until eventually admitting that he simply doesn’t have the authority to lower prices on magical items... his frustration getting only worse because the innocent and naive Antares takes his sarcastic comments at face value, and attempts to “help” when the shopkeep is slowly counting coins. Loki decides to get back at the disgruntled shopkeep by purchasing a crowbar... not because she particularly needs one, but because it costs 2gp and she intends to pay for it using 200 pieces of copper, knowing his habit of slowly counting out coins, which he clearly intended as a means of frustrating customers. Once again, Antares happily counts along, to the point that he gives up halfway through and just accepts the rest of the payment before pressuring the Party to leave... although G’houl remains behind to purchase a few other simple objects and apologize for his allies.
Outside of the Surplus, the group encounters a familiar group of friends... the Dragonborn Paladin Corinth, his human Sorceress ally Ella, the Half-Elf Monk Leosin and his student Deeg, and someone they don’t recognize... a male gnome that looks nearly identical to Lucky the Leprechaun riding a Mastiff. After hearing their voice Dahlia instantly recognizes them as Jamna Gleamsilver, the Zhentarim agent they briefly traveled with who refuses to enter an area held by the City Guard and accompanying Lords’ Alliance members without a disguise. Corinth explains that they’ve been asked to speak to the Party and offer their services... they’re given the choice to ask any of the group to accompany them, which comes with caveats on each... Corinth is a skilled fighter and a well-armored tank, but lacks any stealth abilities and has a boisterous personality. Meanwhile Ella is a powerful support caster, but her Wild Magic makes her unpredictable and she’s a bit naive. Leosin is a well-trained fighter and a skilled, disciplined spy, but he’s accompanied by Deeg who is foolhardy, loud, and very weak. Finally, Jamna isn’t particularly skilled in combat, but she’s extremely knowledgable and is an expert in espionage.
The Party discusses the pros and cons of their options at length... in particular there is a desire to spend more time with Deeg, but it’s quickly decided that the tasks they’re facing are far too dangerous to involve the unskilled monk-in-training. Ultimately they decide that, despite requesting aid earlier, they don’t even know for certain how well their own party will perform with the addition of Antares, whose skills have only been seen briefly in their battle against the Beholder that the God Mask used to test them. They also realize that their allies might prove more useful taking on other tasks, and hopefully leaving them available to call upon in the future. Their friends are happy to take on any tasks that may be asked of them, but Jamna has one last thing to give them... pulling from her own Bag of Holding a magical mirror, explaining that it’s a Mirror of Communication... a magical device that can be used to converse over vast distances with another Mirror that’s paired to it. Thorn entrusted Jamna to deliver it to them, as it will be how they remain in contact with allies in Waterdeep.
The Party also learns for certain from their allies that Azbara Jos and the other criminals from Parnast are being held in the Lord’s Castle. While their other allies have other tasks to take care of, Leosin and Deeg are able to accompany the Party on their way to the Lord’s Castle to hopefully meet with the prisoners. On the way Loki offers Deeg the opportunity pull something from her Bag of Tricks... Deeg plays along, pulling out a small furry ball. Once he’s told how to use it, he throws it to the ground where it instantly expands into a large Brown Bear. This creates instant panic in the street, but Dahlia is able to calm the guards while Loki explains that the Brown Bear is friendly and loyal to Deeg, since he’s the one who threw down the furry ball. Deeg experiments, trying to get the bear to replicate some of his martial arts moves he’s learned... something that Loki immediately capitalizes on, treating it as a show and busking for coins.
Once at the Castle the Partys’ Writs of Intent are more than enough get them audience with Azbara Jos, who is being kept in a tall tower within the castle. When they arrive they find that Ambassador Brawnanvil is already there, speaking with Jos about information regarding the Cult of Tiamat. Jos’s room is surprisingly comfortable, giving him access to books, a stove, and other creature comforts, although Jos is still clearly a prisoner. Brawnanvil is clearly happy to see the bear Deeg is riding, and seems intrigued when he learns that it was magically conjured. He listens in as the Party shares with Jos what happened between the Party and Rath Modar, with Jos hopeful that they might be able to fully convince Modar to join their side in this issue. As Brawnanvil learns more about the promises they made, and sees firsthand the effects of those who seek to escape the tyranical rule of Szazz Tam, the Lich ruler of Jos’s home country of Thay who keeps all citizens as slaves, whether alive or dead. Brawnanvil views Tam’s treatment of his people abhorrent, and explains that the Mithral Hall has few treaties with Thay, implying the Dwarves of the Mithral Hall may be more willing to help with his overthrow in the future, but he makes no promises at this time.
Brawnanvil still maintains that the party has made a mistake by allowing Blagothkus to return unchecked to the Giants of the North, rather than bringing him directly into alliance with the Council, lamenting the loss of Skyreach Castle as an invaluable resource. Dahlia in particular objects to treating the castle as a simple resource, as she knows it is animated by the soul of Blagothkus’s late wife, and is more than simply a vehicle. Brawnanvil seems to take her criticisms to heart, but reminds her that, in his duties, once as King of the Mithral Hall and (now that his niece is old enough to take on her duties as Queen) as Ambassador and respresentative of the Dwarven people, he must be willing to make difficult decisions and prioritize the well-being of all over the comfort of some. Still, he agrees it would be dishonorable to not treat Blagothkus and his beliefs with respect. Brawnanvil also asks to speak to G’houl in private, which G’houl agrees to quickly.
Finding a private room, Brawnanvil shares mugs of strong Dwarven Ale with G’houl while explaining that he has looked into G’houl’s family history, where he learned that G’houl was raised by a Dwarven mother. He shares an important Dwarven saying, “A Dwarf without a beard is still a Dwarf.” G’houl knows that this phrase has a dual meaning... both that someone without Dwarven blood can be considered a Dwarf if they live by the tenants and beliefs of Dwarven culture, but also that those born as Dwarves do not deserve to be treated with the honor and respect Dwarves give to one another if they betray those same beliefs. It is under this belief that Brawnanvil speaks to G’houl, Dwarf to Dwarf, reiterating that he insist on Varram the White being delivered Alive back to Waterdeep so that he can be put on trial for his crimes in the Mithral Hall. When G’houl asks for more details, Brawnanvil admits that the actions of Varram and his ally Craggnor are the greatest shame of his brief reign as King Regent of the Mithral Hall.
According to Brawnanvil, members of the Eldreth Valuuthra, an Elf Supremacist group, had infiltrated a small town near Mithral Hall. At the time, Varram and Craggnor were high ranking spies employed by the Mithral Hall. Brawnanvil assigned them to eliminate the Eldreth Valuuthra “by any means necessary”... a term he grew to regret when Varram and Craggnor resorted to germ warfare... they released a virus in the small village that killed nearly every citizen in the town, both Elf and Human. However, the virus they employed was harmless to half-elves, perhaps as some kind of joke against the Eldreth Valuuthra’s hatred of half-breeds. Brawnanvil shares this story with G’houl so that he understands exactly why it is so imperative that Varram and Craggnor face trial for their actions, and not simply die in combat. G’houl takes this request seriously, and vows to deliver them alive to Brawnanvil.
Meanwhile, the other Party members talk with more about Jos... hoping to learn more about Rath Modar and any other information he might be willing to share. Jos explains that Modar is skilled enough in magic that, if he didn’t want to be found, he would have the means to hide himself from Divination. He also explains that the enitre Lords’ Castle is protected by magical shields that would prevent Modar from contacting Jos, or for Jos to contact him. He admits that the Sending Spell will likely be able to reach Modar even with his defenses, but it would be entirely up to Modar on whether or not he responds to any messages sent. Jos also warns that Red Wizards loyal to Szass Tam are likely searching for himself, Modar, and other defectors. Dahlia asks for any symbols are phrases that they could use to prove themselves as potential allies, but the best Jos can offer is that the tattoos worn by Thayans are closest to what she’s hoping for, but would be of no value written on paper... only the proper tattoo could be used to give them pause, if only briefly. When asking about symbols of freedom or change that might inspire his people, she learns that the Thayan symbol for “Freedom” and “Servitude” are identical... and also that the symbol for “Citizen” is also used for “Slave”. As Jos has stated before... There are no Free Men in Thay.
Dahlia is instantly saddened by all this, and hopes that the Party’s actions can lead to freedom for all the people of Thay. Jos hopes so as well, and hopes as well that they can turn Modar to their cause if they encounter him again. Dahlia sees the sorrow in Jos’s eyes, especially when he admits that considering Modar to be his adoptive Father is a mostly accurate description of their relationship. Dahlia offers him a hug, an act that is almost completely foreign to Jos, but at her encouragement he shares a hug with her. Awkward at first, at her guidance he holds her more tightly, and she can feel his grip trembling as he holds someone against himself for perhaps the first time in his life. Jos is a bit embarrassed by his show of emotion, as slight as it was. Dahlia explains that she will ask some of their allies to check on Jos occasionally, although she struggles to think of a code phrase so he’ll know when the Party sends allies to meet with him, admitting that the Party doesn’t know what they want to call themselves... asking Jos if he has any suggestions. Jos admits that he’s not particularly good at such things, but he does note that the party has a habit of breaking chains, and believes there could be something from that. The name Chain Breakers gets tossed about by the Party, although they’re hesitant to commit to it fully just yet. Dahlia uses this opportunity to ask what name he prefers to go by... he admits that he is usually referred to as “Master Jos”, or often Jos, and he rarely hears his first name on its own. He admits that it’s nice to simply be called Azbara. Calling him Azbara, Dahlia tells him that as proof of their alliance anyone they send to speak to him will say “The Chainbreakers Sent Me”, although she reiterates that this isn’t their official group name.
G’houl returns just in time to see Dahlia instructing Deeg to hug Azbara, which the eager Kobold immediatley does without question, tightly hugging the awkward wizard’s thigh. G’houl is left in confusion as Azbara offers words of support to “The Chainbreakers”.
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'll be playing our homebrew campaign of Sacrament tonight in about half an hour at 7pm PST! Come join us at our home at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. In case you missed what happened in our last session, since I know it's been a while thanks to some of our players becoming ill, read on:
The party has evaded the city guards, at least for now. They decide that the less stealthy party members should hide in the Genie Bag, while Azure and Fidget stealthily continue, making their way Argus’s house to hide out until it’s safe to return to the streets. As they continue to travel they overhear that the dangerous Ancient Reaver, has been released from jail already despite killing someone the previous night. Avoiding guards, they make their way back to Argus’s home, deciding that they’ll need to wait until after the ambush with Ash’s killer to clear their names with the guards… for now, they’re intent on remaining stealthy anyway. Ricky’s uncle, Henri, is panicking a bit with everything he learns, but Ricky gives him a pep talk, assuring him that he knows what he’s doing and he won’t do anything to put them in danger. He also learns that Lady Yurei, Ash’s Sister-In-Law, is busy assisting the Diva DeLuna with her costuming.
With their plans finalized, they realize they need to meet with Aylis, knowing that he’ll want to be involved. Crush instantly objects to the idea of involving him, but when Ash says she wants him to be involved her sincerity convinces Crush to relent, although he still doesn’t like it. Ricky offers a compromise… Aylis can help, but only if he admits to Argus what he’s been researching to prove how serious he is. This pleases everyone, and before they leave Ash uses Ricky’s Ring of Spell Storing to store Raise Dead, just in case they end up needing it. Satisfied, they make their way to the Reaver College to meet up with Aylis, and check on Fidget Jr., who is also headed to the college to pick up supplies for his blacksmithing job.
As they travel, Azure confirms that nobody has followed them to Argus’s house before making their way to the college. Fidget, as a goblin, is baffled by the concept and sees it as just trying to impress some old man to get a functionless piece of paper, but Azure appreciates the art of education. The group goes to the restroom for privacy to let everyone out of the Genie Bag, since Ash will need to be present to let them into the dorms to speak to Aylis. They also decide to take the opportunity to actually use the bathroom, although Crush is bewildered by the Bidet, thinking it might be the Spirit of Water that he’s met several times in the past.
Making their way to the dorms, they find a guard who uses a communication device to contact Aylis and inform him that his sister is there to meet with her. The magical stone immediately gets the attention of Azure, Ricky, and Ash, who finds herself fascinated by magic items after her time as an Artificer in her previous life… Azure asks the guard, who doesn’t seem to know much of how it actually works, while Ricky simply touches it and sings “School’s Out” loudly, getting him in trouble. Still this gets Aylis to arrive faster, and they make their way to a private room to discuss everything they came here for.
They tell Aylis about their condition… if he’s going to help them with this confrontation with the man who killed his family, he needs to come clean to Argus about what he’s been studying and his intent to join in the combat. Aylis isn’t pleased about this, but Crush sets the ultimatum… if Aylis truly believes that he should be involved, then he needs to be willing to admit it to Argus and convince him to consent… with Crush stating bluntly that if neither he or Ash can convince him, then Crush won’t let Aylis join in. Aylis isn’t happy about this, but begrudgingly agrees, since he knows that he has no choice. As they discuss it, Argus arrives. Ash comes clean about her plans to Argus, who instantly objects. Aylis argues passionately, with Ricky even granting him Inspiration to help him convince his brother. He even reveals that, after the event, he has no longer been able to experience the memories of his past lives when he enters his trance. Even Crush knows the significance of this… it’s normally a sign of an Elf entering adulthood, and for most elves doesn’t happen until they’re at least 75, while Aylis experienced it at just 6 years old. Argus is stunned, especially learning that Aylis has almost exclusively been studying Necromancy… something that would make him a criminal in their homeland of Ortheia, but Ash and Aylis both no longer consider Ortheia to be home.
Argus struggles to object to this, although he’s clearly unhappy. The topic shifts to talking about what the party has planned… they ask about the mysterious popping sound that accompanies Ash’s killer, which somehow seems to prevent magic. Crush wants to know if this could be an object or a skill… Argus guesses that it sounds like a magic item, since he doesn’t know any spells that produce a sound like that, but he would have to hear it to know for certain. Ricky uses Minor Illusion to recreate the sound, hoping it will help, but the sound is enough to trigger Ash’s memories of the night… triggering her Revenant urges, leading her to almost storm out of the room and attack her killer directly, but Crush stops her before she gets out the door… willingly accepting the necrotic damage from Ash’s touch to help her calm down. Once Ash is calm she and Ricky communicate using Message they think that they should involve Neo, because he can use his magic to show people vivid memories of others… which is how Ricky knew about the sound he produced in the first place. Ash uses Sending to contact Neo, who implies that this isn’t a good time, but begrudgingly agrees to meet them, telling them to meet in a location called Fleet Street.
Azure comments on something… the Depraved Gloom seems to have some way of tracking them, and the sheer number of them that appear at once implies an ability to summon more depraved Gloom. She mentions in particular the Elvish woman who had kidnapped Kane who openly taunted the party by claiming the Depraved Gloom knew exactly where they would be. They don’t have much of a theory of how they are doing so, and Fidget learns that his son isn’t expected at the college until near Sundown, realizing he’s expected to get back to the Blacksmith around the same time as Ash’s killer. The less-subtle party members enter Kanec’s Genie Bag, while Kanec takes advantage of the Glamoured Studded Leather Armor he’s wearing to walk in secret with Azure and guide her to Fleet Street. Fleet Street is a lower level of the city, and Neo is waiting by a fountain while Azure meets with him. He guides them to a private location where Neo can show them the memories of the night Ash was killed… although Ash herself can’t come along, as the visions risk triggering her Revenant drive to kill.
Neo guides them into a basement, and once again performs the ritual that places them into a trance, seeing visions of the night Ash died. They see visions of Aylis’s memory… a 6 year old boy, writing letters of sympathy for his sister, whose wedding has been delayed once again. Aylis sees his Mother tucking him in at night… she tells him not to hide his letter under the blankets, teasing him gently for pretending to fall asleep, telling him to get some rest. A chime is heard… an alarm of some kind. His mother goes to investigate while young Aylis tip toes ahead to spy on his parents. His mother finds no one at the door, but his father tells her not to worry. The memory skips ahead to the moment of the battle… a confused young Aylis rushing out as his mother is beheaded right in front of him… the popping sound of his family’s killer sounding again and again. When Young Aylis finally sees the killer clearly, everyone leans closer. Watching intently, looking for what creates the popping sound. As they see his father killed, the movement of his blade produces the popping sound.
Promethea… the woman Ash was before she died, tries to escape with young Aylis. Arrows fly in their direction… the arrows making the popping sound as well. Promethea hides Aylis, choosing to make herself the distraction, sacrificing herself to rescue her little brother. Young Aylis runs, barefoot through the woods of Ortheia… returning to his brother’s home. Aylis is weeping at this vision, as is Argus. Painfully, Argus asks to see the death of his father again. Watching again… he watches closely… recognizing an extremely rare and powerful magic that can cut through the Veil itself… magic itself cut, halting any spells, stunning those with sensitive ears. Argus picks out some kind of thread as a component… with Ricky figuring out that the most logical source of these strings would be Elonwee, with her connection to magical strings…. They even confirm that the arrows have the same strings attach. They determine that this can only be the work of a master artificer… someone that far exceeds both Ash’s training as Promethea, or even her teacher.
Remembering the symbol left behind with Logan… they compare it to the image on the sword. Everyone investigates it as close as possible… Azure and Crush both find the symbol and examine it closely, but only Crush remembers where he had seen it before… he had seen it once on a bag owned by a woman who married Cornelius, the man who Promethea was engaged to. Everyone is shocked at this revelation, wondering how she could possibly be involved… with Azure wondering if there’s anything she could learn from her own memory, where the assassin was very briefly seen. This pushes Neo to the limit… but he agrees. Unfortunately, the details can’t be seen… but Argus can’t shake a feeling of familiarity at what he saw. They resolve to capture the assassin, returning from the vision.
As they return they find Ash waiting impatiently for them. Before they can inform her of what they saw they’re interrupted by the sound of metal dragging on the ground outside of the room they’re in. Before they can react properly, the door is kicked in, and the Ancient Reaver they have seen bursts in… eyeing Fidget, mentioning that he’s been looking for him.
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
Now that all our players are feeling healthy there's been a desire to make up for lost time, so we'll be streaming again tonight at 7pm PST. We'll be playing our homebrew campaign of Sacrament at the usual place of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. Things got wild with the last session, and unfortunately we had to stop in the middle of a combat, so things are going to be exciting from the moment we start. But in case you need a reminder of what happened with our last stream, here's the summary:
When the Ancient Reaver confronts the Grimveils, he makes it clear that his intent is to take from Fidget the armor of Azmira and the blade of Sovereign he carries. Crush is ready to fight, but Ricky intervenes with a different tact… he knows that the Ancient Reaver is planning to attend his mother’s concert that night, and is able to convince him to delay his attack until at least after the concert, giving the Grimveils enough time to complete their mission… although Azmira herself clearly would rather be with the Ancient Reaver.
Once he’s convinced to delay his attack, the Ancient Reaver implies that he recognizes the Sun Elf Neo, even implying that he’s the one who gave him his distinct facial scar, before making it clear that he can sense Fidget’s equipment and will be able to find them at any time. He leaves, and Neo immediately knows that his safehouse is compromised, and the other followers of the Night Mother come out to seal the entryway and make their way to their hidden escapes. Making their way to the back, they stop at a statue of the Night Mother hidden in a back room… Neo laments that they can’t leave it there, and it will need to be destroyed. Ricky agrees to help, not wanting Neo to carry the full weight of destroying an icon of his Goddess, and Crush helps as well, cleanly lopping the head off of the statue, which is given to Neo… the eyes of the statue still leaking mystical tears. They then find that the Nightchildren have built tunnels in the city, and they’re already preparing to collapse them behind themselves to hide their movement. The party makes plans to sneak away, most of the party hiding in Kanec’s Genie Bag, while Ricky opts to wear the little girl disguise he was given. As they exit the hidden pathways, Ricky attempts to act as much like Elonwee as possible… unfortunately, he’s touched by Chao’s Curse, and although he’s successful, his attempt summons the most deadly creature Chao is capable of sending… one of the Gargantuan Sand Worms from the Desert of Lost Bones, which erupts out of the collapsed tunnel… chasing Kanec and Ricky, who run as they warn their allies of what’s happening.
When Crush hears what’s happened he tells Ash to contact Facein, the Tiavet Black Dragon who has become a Patron of Ricky’s Mother, and is one of few creatures with the size and strength to take on a Sand Worm directly. Unfortunately, she’s unable to convince him that this isn’t some kind of joke, and instead she casts Fly on herself, Fidget, and Crush, the group erupting out to battle the Sand Worm. The massive creature is tearing through buildings, unable to tunnel underground in the paved city. The streets are panicking as the Party desperately tries to stop the monstrosity’s escape. As the Sandworm is starting to get away Crush slams it hard with an Opportunity Attack… using his Sentinel feat to stop the massive creature in its tracks before it barrels into an elementary school. Once the creature is stopped it begins thrashing, breaking Ash’s concentration on Fly. She retaliates by summoning Black Tentacles, which just barely manage to hold the Sandworm in place… but more importantly, its held in place for Azure to hit it with a Stunning Strike, which manages to paralyze this gargantuan threat. As the Grimveils hammer on the paralyzed beast, Azmira shifts into a drill-like form and literally drills in the creature’s body, but Ash delivers the finishing blow… shoving her clawed hands into its side to release Blight, melting the creature with necrotic energy. Once it dies, the magically conjured creature vanishes… although just enough of its filth is left behind and clinging to fidget’s body, much to his disgust.
Crush hurries to check on the children, taking the opportunity to give a speech to help calm the students and keep them from wandering away. Azure, meanwhile, listens carefully, hearing the sounds of someone trapped in the rubble. She uses her Astral Arms to dig through and finds the woman she had helped deliver the baby for, along with her crying baby. The woman is happy to see her, and they’re quickly helped by guards.
However, the guards quickly recognize Crush and Azure, as they had been looking for them from the fake robbery they had accidentally found themselves involved with. Crush does a quick scan of the crowd, seeing that the guards have arrived and are keeping the crowd far enough away that he realizes the best choice is to simply come clean… he explains that they’re traveling with Ash the Revenant, who has been given special permissions to chase her quarry. Logan the Blacksmith is actually working with them, and only pretended to accuse them of robbery to keep the Depraved Gloom from realizing they were working together. He’s unable to persuade them, but because of their noble actions the guard doesn’t feel it necessary to arrest them, but he does insist they accompany him back to the guard station while it’s looked into further… unfortunately, they have a hard deadline for sundown, and Crush can tell they have less than an hour to prepare. Instead, Crush puffs out his chest and warns the Guard that he and his friends are going to be in place to attack Ash’s quarry, and the guard has to decide if he wants to help them or get knocked flat on his ass. The Guard, as a Reaver, respects Crush’s resolve, and takes him seriously… his earnest willingness to threaten a guard somehow working in his favor. The Guard then decides it would be best to appear to arrest him, tossing the Grimveils in the back of a Paddy Wagon to take them to the College of Tiavet to reconvene with Fidget Jr. and prepare for the attack on Ash’s quarry.
Meanwhile, Ricky has stayed in the bag throughout the entire conflict, not wanting to endanger things further… partly blaming himself for causing the Sandworm to appear, but also not wanting to risk his ties to the Nightmother causing more danger… not to mention he’s still wearing Elonwee’s dress, not wanting to ruin his disguise with combat. He’s in the bag with Ash’s brother Aylis, along with several of the Night Children, who also can’t safely leave the Genie Bag. Ricky takes the time to cook some food for everyone to try and keep spirits up. Azure eventually enters the bag as well, checking on everyone… she learns that one of the Night Children is a half-tabaxi… She’s shocked, as she thought that there were no Tabaxi in Tiavet. Even more shocking, she uses the same fighting style as Azure… and when Azure mentions she was trained by Master Starla, and the Night Child was trained by the same woman. They don’t get much time to discuss this, as the Paddy Wagon has arrived at the College.
Fidget Jr. seems familiar with the guards, as he’s been escorted in the Paddy Wagon a number of times already. Once he sees the Grimveils he helps to explain that they didn’t actually rob the Blacksmith, and he simply said that out of panic to keep up their ruse. The party finally connects with Junior, who has gathered the rare reagents he was sent to the college to collect, and everyone has a plan… the guards will keep their distance, but surround the Blacksmith’s shop and move in after a few minutes. Meanwhile, the Grimveils will mostly hide in Kanec’s Genie Bag, bursting out once they’re in the Blacksmith shop.
They drive forward, everyone trying to prepare themselves for the upcoming conflict. Ricky casts Catnap to help Ash and Azure recover their resources. Crush gives a a pep talk to Aylis, but what really excites him is when Ash summons her Dempilane, revealing the skeletons she’s collected. Ash and Aylis both cost Animate Dead. Entering the Blacksmith shop, they have only moments to prepare… Crush hides in his shell, posing as a table thanks to a blanket and a plank of wood on his back. Ash and Aylis hide in the back room with their skeletons, while Azure and Fidget use their high stealth skills to hide… Ricky, however, still in his disguise as Elonwee, hides poorly… when Ash’s quarry arrives, he immediately sees Ricky. Approaching Ricky, the young halfling maintains his disguise, hoping to distract the Assassin… however, when the Assassin sees what he believes to be Elonwee his suspicion jumps… he loses all interest in what he came for, and prepares to kill Fidget Jr. and Logan… Ash loses control, dropping her disguise, bursting out to attack her quarry with Eldritch Blasts. Everyone attacks the Assassin… Crush bumrushes him, using his Storm Aura to knock him prone, grappling him and pinning him to the ground in a leg lock. Azure takes advantage of her stealth to sneak up, using sleight of hand to swipe his magical sword… she hears ominous whispers in her mind while carrying it, calling for blood. Still, they’re in a Blacksmith’s shop, and rather than risk any danger this powerful magical weapon represents, she simply crams it deep into the burning forge.
With her quarry pinned in place, Ash approaches and tears off her killer’s hood. He recognizes him as Missy’s Father… Missy being her best friend before her death, and the woman who is marrying Ash’s ex-fiancee. Seeing his face, knowing his name… Ash becomes a full-blown Revenant. New powers unlocking within her, making her even more deadly… but also pushing her closer to her own demise. With a diabolical laugh she commands everyone not to kill him… but she wants his limbs broken, as she has plans to make him suffer. She stares at her killer with supernatural hatred and darkness, calling upon her newly gained powers as a Revenant to freeze her quarry in place with fear. As battle erupts, the other Depraved Gloom begin to burst in and try to help. With the skeletons on their side, Ash and Aylis use them as undead shields, blocking the windows leading into the relatively small Blacksmith’s shop. With Ash’s Killer left unarmed and in a weakened state, the Grimveils must prepare to battle his entourage of Cultists, necromancers, and living monstrosities… and must also be careful not to kill him outright, because if he dies, so does Ash, and there’s no telling what that means for the Lich King Larlock, whose philactory is Ash’s own corrupted heart.
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Well be playing Rise of Tiamat tonight at 7pm PST! Come join us at our usual home of twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. We had a shorter session the last time we played, so the summary isn't too long this time, but everyone is feeling healthy again so we're going to have a full-length session tonight:
With preparations complete the tentatively titled “Chainbreakers” gather their horses and reconvene with the goblin inventor Armpit on the Nimbus, which has moved to meet them at the dock ward of Waterdeep, which has drawn a crowd of curious onlookers. Rather than use the plank to board, Antares opts to leap across, and Dahlia does the same with her horse, Fractal, tossing what candy she has remaining from Liar’s Night out to the crowd. As the floating island now named Nimbus takes off into the sky the well-trained Draft Horses remain relatively calm, although the Riding Horse Fractal needs to be comforted by Dahlia. As they sail across the skies the party realizes they didn’t actually buy feed for their horses, but fortunately there is plant life growing on the Nimbus itself... at least enough to keep three horses fed while they mostly remain in their pen.
As the Nimbus soars across the sky Dahlia mounts the magical mirror they were gifted by the Zhentarim in the rooms at the base of the windmill that seems to guide the floating island’s movement. Activating it, she finds that it connects to another mirror in a dimly lit room with stone walls and sees a familiar figure busying himself by building a house of cards... Droop, the brother of Thorn, the fabulously dressed Goblin representative of the Zhentarim. He quickly fetches his sister, who explains the finer details of the mirror... it can only be used for 10 minutes at a time, and can’t be used again for 12 hours. She also explains that the Zhentarim sighted Varram in the town of Dragonspear, and found him traveling south east in the direction of the Serpent Hills. She recommends the party travel to Boareskyr Bridge, which has a small settlement nearby where they can hopefully learn more information. Once that’s out of the way she enjoys simply gossiping with Dahlia, and shows some interest when she hears about Armpit, but their call is cut short. Throughout their flight Dahlia periodically checks in with Thorn, but it’s mostly friendly chatting.
As their journey is beginning, G’houl also reveals what he had learned from Ambassador Brawnanvil... in particular, that Varram and Craggnor had been assigned to eliminate members of the Elven Supremacy group, the Eldrath Valuuthra, who were gathering in the remote village of Nesme... a task they accomplished using a virus that was deadly not only to elves, but humans as well, but was somehow harmless to Half-Elves. Antares instantly recognizes the name of the village, as its where his godparent Katniss lived, and where their mother had died of an illness that swept through the village seemingly out of nowhere. Dahlia is especially enraged, lamenting that she let Craggnor live when they first met him, and questioning why Brawnanvil insisted to G’houl to bring both men home alive. G’houl explains that, within Dwarven culture, it is seen as an honorable duty to take criminals to court and expose their crimes for all to see, and avoid at all costs simply executing criminals without trial. Dahlia seethes, but remembers that it was Katniss Themself who had convinced her not to simply kill Craggnor the moment she saw him... Antares as well admits that it will be difficult not to kill these men on sight, but says that if Katniss did that for Craggnor once, then They wouldn’t want them to do the same thing again.
During their trip they cover ground much faster than possible on horseback, quickly closing the gap to catch up with their quarry. More importantly, the Party is free to focus on downtime activities even while traveling... Antares uses his herbalism kit to produce Potions of Healing, although he also imbues them with some of the Wild Magic that is within his body. G’houl, meanwhile, focuses on scribing spells into his spellbook... in particular, considering the fact that Nimbus has no guard rails along its exterior, he spends time learning Feather Fall, and he also prepares to learn Water Breathing, just in case it becomes relevant. Loki isn’t particularly interested in any trade or preparation and simply relaxes during their travels, while Dahlia uses the two Scrolls of Sending she had acquired to contact Blagothkus, learning that he is currently far North, beyond the spine of the world, but she convinces him to find some way to contact her where they can have a more thorough discussion. After speaking to Blagothkus she asks G’houl to contact Katniss, where they learn that Katniss has arrived finally in Waterdeep and it seems that Katniss is being tasked to search for information on the Draakhorn... the task that the other Party members opted not to pursue, although he does not inform Them about what he had learned about Varram and Craggnor.
After calling Katniss, G’houl playfully asks for payment for his efforts, which Loki obliges by reaching into her Bag of Tricks and throwing one of the balls of fur at G’houl. It instantly transforms into a Giant Boar, and at Loki’s command it chases G’houl, who attempts to cast Sleep on it, but it’s too hearty for the spell to take hold... instead Antares tackles the Boar, suplexing it and simply having fun wrestling it. The Party all enjoys a laugh, and everyone decides to sleep under the stars that night... everyone except Loki, who instead pushes all the beds inside the windmill together and sleep across all of them. The Giant Boar makes for a warm sleeping partner for Antares while Dahlia and G’houl enjoy the night sky. As Dahlia drifts to sleep she dreams of an ice cave, with points of light peeking through the ceiling like stars in the sky, and she finds herself face-to-face with the Cloud Giant Blagothkus. He has used the Dream spell to contact Dahlia, where he reveals that he is far in the frigid North gathering Frost Giants to join his cause of battling the Dragons. Blagothkus is at first dismissive of the idea of working with the small-folk, believing that Giants alone are capable of handling this conflict and keeping all the glory for themselves. However, Dahlia reminds him that he needed the help of “Small Folk” to kill the the White Dragon Glazhael... it was Dahlia herself who healed Blagothkus when he was knocked unconscious, and she was also the one who dealt the killing blow. With her persuasion she convinces Blagothkus to at least meet with the small-folk, and he plans to speak on this matter further when his business in the North is complete.
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We're going to be playing our Homebrew Campaign of Sacrament tonight at 7PM PST, and we'll be streaming everything at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. Our last session was a short session intended to finish a particular large and complicated fight. But in case you weren't able to join us last week, or if you just want a refresher, here's what happened:
The Grimveils are battling Ash’s killer, who is the father of her former best friend Missy in her previous life as Promethea. As the battle rages, another of the Ujuu monstrosities bursts through a window, but luckily Fidget Jr. has set up a trap, dropping hot oil on the creature that gets ignited with a torch, the flaming Ujuu attacking Ash. Although her necrotic form actually damages it by attacking her. Crush, seeing that Ash’s Quarry is paralyzed thanks to her Revenant Stare, picks him up, using him as a blunt instrument to attack another Ujuu. Azure runs across the walls, hiding in the shadows to sneak up on one of the cultists, summoning her Astral arms and slamming her target. Meanwhile, one of the necromancers bursts in through one of the back windows, finding Ricky still in his disguise as Elonwee, quickly grabbing him… although Ricky doesn’t resist, as the necromancer’s movement triggers an opportunity attack from Fidget, who is hidden nearby. The Necromancer attempts to retaliate with Hellish Rebuke, but Fidget’s Evasion protects him. Ricky, meanwhile, maintains his disguise, but uses his sleight of hand (and gloves of Thievery) to steal the Necromancer’s spellcasting focus, essentially disabling him.
Fidget Jr. continues his trap usage… climbing onto the rafters, where he has several traps prepared, starting by dropping alchemist fire on a few of the necromancers. Ash blights the Ujuu, and when a Necromancer near her tries to heal himself, Ash attempts to punish him with her Mage Slayer feat, but misses with her claws. Fortunately, Kanec rushes forward to finish him, then Action Surges to kill the nearby Ujuu as well. Ash’s Killer recovers from his paralyzation, but is unable to escape Crush’s grip to attempt anything as his body is gripped with fear from Ash. Crush offers Logan the use of his axe, since the magical weapon can harm the Ujuu, but Logan unfortunately only has one arm, giving him disadvantage with Crush’s two-handed axe, and although he lands one solid hit, the disadvantage causes him to drop the weapon mid-swing, ending his attack early. Crush continues to use Ash’s Quarry as a weapon to attack one of the Ujuu, very nearly knocking him unconscious, careful not to deal lethal damage. Meanwhile, the Necromancer who kidnapped Ricky sets him down, still thinking he’s the well-trained Elonwee, ordering her to wait outside before hurrying back to rejoin the fight… however, Ricky moves to the front of the story, using his disguise as a little girl to start crying and call for help, which brings instantly the Reaver city guards. Inside, Fidget Jr. is out of traps, instead dropping blade-first onto a barely-conscious Necromancer… with Ash commenting that he reminds her of Fidget. Kanec believes that the screaming outside is an actual child, hacking at the Ujuu in front of him, but risking an opportunity attack to hurry out to rescue her… only to realize it’s Ricky, and then spot the Necromancer who had his spellcasting focus stolen… something he still hasn’t noticed.
Inside, One of the Ujuus attacks Aylis, biting the young Elf with its rows of, infecting him with a disease and knocking him prone. Aylis drops a small bag that seems to be glowing, although he struggles to explain why he has it, but does warn to keep it closed. Crush quickly knocks Ash’s Quarry unconscious, leaving him as he rushes to shut the bag, but doesn’t manage to close it before something starts to crawl out. He does pull Aylis out of the way of the Ujuu, but as the bag opens they realize that it’s a Genie Bag, with Aylis’s Female Reaver friend Alex inside. She’s shocked at what she sees, but starts to panic as she realizes Aylis has become Diseased. Azure knocks out one of the remaining Necromancers, slamming his head down to the ground with her astral arms before hurrying to help kill the last Ujuu. She attempts to stun it, only to realize that it’s immune.
Outside, the Necromancer that Ricky robbed attempts to cast a spell on Kanec, but when it fails he realizes Ricky had stolen the necklace he uses as a spellcasting focus, leaving him defenseless against the massive armored Kanec. Ricky keeps up his crying performance, rushing into the Blacksmith to guide the guards inside. Alex is panicking… she’s nearing her first Blood Rage… but she maintains her composure enough to cast a blood magic spell, cutting her palm, shapeshifting the blood into a magical blade, attacking the Ujuu with her cursed Reaver blood.
Ash sees Aylis, but has no means of curing his illness. She does, however, intend to use her “Snakes to Gold” combo on her killer… but unfortunately, as he’s unconscious he can’t be Polymorphed, so she uses Mass Healing Word to bring him back up then attempt to Polymorph him, but he’s able to resist. Crush finishes off the last of the opponents, just as the guards arrive, realizing that the “little girl” that got their attention was actually Ricky, who had started to cast his Create Breakfast spell, which is able to cure the Disease that Aylis contracted. The Guards, fortunately, were aware of what they were there to do, and once they realize what’s really happening they help by clearing out the bodies. Azure stabilizes Ash’s Quarry, while Fidget and Fidget Jr. tie up the unconscious assassin. Ricky offers coffee and donuts to the guards to placate them as they gather information from Logan. Ricky also uses his feather of sending to write a message to Argus, letting him know that Ash’s Quarry has been captured alive. Argus is on his way, while everyone makes plans to head to the Diva de Luna’s concert once Argush arrives. Crush also tries to compensate Logan for the damage to his shop, giving him a few handfuls of gold (that he doesn’t bother to count), while Azure does her best to help clean up and assess the damage. Finally, they hear Argus approaching, and Ash and Aylis both realize they’ll have to work hard to keep Argus calm, as all three of the siblings are struggling to resist the urge to kill Ash’s quarry, but they have to remember that Ash will die once her quarry is slain.
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
Just as a heads up, due to a family emergency we'll be going on an extended hiatus. I hope everyone understands this situation and we sincerely wish for any fans, whether they view the streams or just read the summaries, to always have the best of health for themselves and their loved ones.
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
Oh wow, I totally forgot to post this here, but we're about to go live! Come join us at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty as we play more Rise of Tiamat! As for what happened last time, well...
As the potentially-named “Chain Breakers” pilot the floating island Nimbus near Boarskyr bridge, a windy day creates trouble... the horses are too jumpy to leave their pen, but because the Party forgot to purchase feed for the horses, they’re unable to step out of their pens to feed on the plant life that grows naturally on Nimbus. Worried for the horses, Dahlia wants to look for somewhere they could stop in order to get some feed and let the horses out. Antares spots an extremely small hamlet set in the fork of two rivers, and Armpit redirects the Nimbus to travel in that direction, the party willing to arrive in Boarskyr later the next day to ensure the well-being of their horses. The floating island draws the attention of the citizens living in the hamlet, who seem to be dwarves, some carrying spears, although they don’t seem openly aggressive.
Dahlia is the first to approach, speaking in Dwarvish as she meets the Matriarch of this clan, an older Dwarven woman named Maureen. After explaining their plight, one young man attempts to get 50 gold for some feed, but Maureen asks for a more reasonable price... essentially asking double what is usually charged in larger towns, as feed is rarer and more precious in this remote location. Dahlia is happy to pay the increased price, and everyone is invited to visit with this remote clan for dinner, with the sun setting during this meeting, and the Party deciding to spend the night, eager for the opportunity to spend more time within the quiet comfort of a modest farm lifestyle. Dahlia speaks to Maureen, who talks about how Goblins have attacked in the past, making some family members uncomfortable around Armpit, but Dahlia manages to calm their nerves. The goats raised by the family have been unruly lately, and Dahlia chooses to warn her about what’s been happening... Maureen has heard of the Dragon Cultists, since they’ve been known for attacking remote villages. Dahlia explains that they’re behind animals acting strangely, and they’re gearing up for something more dangerous. Dahlia intends to make certain that Maureen and her family prepare for the worst, but she unintentionally panics the older woman.
G’houl and Antares both notice animals acting strangely... as G’houl is keeping watch, he sees owls fighting, showing unnatural aggression, while Antares sleeps in the barn and needs to help calm the horses and the unruly goats. When morning comes the Dwarven family shares breakfast freely with their guests before they fly away, leaving them warned of the danger facing the entire world. The remaining flight toward Boarskyr bridge passes quickly, although the Party asks Armpit to drop them off around a river bend so that they can arrive without the attention that Nimbus would attract. They ride their horses toward the bridge, which appears to be an ancient structure, and it’s clear that the overgrown path they follow was, at one time, a well-maintained cobblestone road. Across the bridge is a small tent city of mostly Gnomish citizens, with men and women in armor and carrying spears acting as guards. One guard approaches the Party as they approach. A friendly conversation ensues, and as Dahlia explains they’re simply passing through the guard warns them to be wary of the Serpent Hills, since “snake folk” live there and sometimes sneak into town to abduct victims. She mentions in particular that a Dwarven Man in a purple robe passed by just the other day and killed one of the Snake-Folk who was skulking around town. This instantly gets the party’s attention, but the guard admits she didn’t witness it herself, and recommends they speak to Bolo, a Halfling woman who runs a very basic tavern/inn in the center of the tiny pop-up village.
Making their way inside, the party orders some food and drink... Antares in particular requests that Bolo mix together a little bit of everything, ordering two... one for himself, and one for Loki. Antares manages to chug down his drink, despite the unpleasant color and texture, whereas Loki casts Purify Food and Drink first before sipping hers, the spell helping to balance out the poorly conceived mixed drink. Bolo talks happily about the Dwarf, who has a reputation as a hero for fighting off one of the “Snake-Folk”. She’s pleased to share any information she has to the party, letting them know that he was traveling with an entourage of other men, mostly humans, although some were huge and muscular. She describes him as a bald-headed dwarf with a dark beard, and also mentions that a red-headed dwarf was traveling with him. She guesses, based on the robes, that they must be a religious group of some kind, since there are the ruins of many long abandoned temples within the Serpent Hills, which religious groups sometimes make pilgramages to seek. Further probing reveals that the Dwarf didn’t stay around long enough to give his name... he was attempting to hire a guide for the hills, but after killing the Snake-Folk he and his entourage rode off into the hills without saying more.
Dahlia asks to meet the guide that Varram was attempting to hire, and fortunately he’s in the tavern getting a meal. Bolo introduces Dahlia to Wrezu, a young Gnomish man who makes a living guiding others through the treacherous Serpent Hills. He explains that he only spoke to the Dwarf briefly and doesn’t know where he was headed, but takes a few guesses at some important ruins in the Serpent Hills... he knows there are particularly large temples to the Gods Cyric and Bhaal that often attract pilgrims, but what gets everyone’s attention is when he mentions a Wizard’s Tomb. He recalls that the Wizard is named Diderius, and he knows the location to be unsafe... G’houl recalls from his Wizard training that Diderius was a famous Divination Wizard known for being so skilled that he could even divine objects and creatures that were shielded against divination magic. He also recalls that Diderius was known for his massive ego, and although he was greatly wealthy, he was more interested in adoration than wealth, with the powerful wizard practically being worshipped by his followers... so much so that, upon his death, Diderius was mummified and his vast estate was converted into a tomb.
This seems to be the most likely locaiton for Varram to be traveling, although what he wants with access to Divination magic isn’t clear. The Party chooses to hire Wrezu to guide them further, hoping to learn more from the Guide. He travels carrying a large walking stick and accompanied by a Shetland Pony named Champ carrying a large pack laden with supplies. Once out of town Dahlia reveals to Wrezu the truth... the man he met was no hero, and if he was hiring Wrezu for anything it was to bring him along as a sacrifice. Wrezu doesn’t believe at first, but Dahlia is able to convince him... especially since they find themselves following the same path that Varram and his entourage used recently, as evidenced by the trail of hoofprints... making it clear that Varram knew where he was going all along, and had no need of a guide.
As night begins to fall Wrezu leads them toward a stone tower that’s known as a safe place to rest for travelers in the Serpent Hills. Antares is interested in this, tapping into the Wild Magic within his body to sense magic in the area, finding a slightest hint of defensive Abjuration magic in the ground itself. G’houl uses Identify, finding that there isn’t any kind of structured spell on the land, instead finding hints of energy from an ancient blessing left here centuries ago by the Goddess Chauntea, figuring that this tower was once a silo to hold grain gathered by followers of the harvest Goddess. Wrezu is impressed with G’houl’s Tiny Hut spell and everyone sleeps safely within... woken up the next morning as goats are aggressively butting their heads against the sides of the mysterious bubble. Antares decides to try and milk one of the goats, using his Animal Handling skills to avoid being attacked as he finds a nursing mother... although he neglected to bring any kind of container, the only thing he has on hand are the small vials from his Herbalists’ kit... and although he only gets a tiny volume of goat milk, his actions do calm (and confuse) the herd which moves away, leaving the Party free to continue their journey.
Still following the trail left by Varram, Wrezu shares information about the various structures and lost cultures they pass by. Eventually they come across an abandoned campsite used by Varram and his followers... but more importantly, they spot the corpse of a Lizardfolk with its throat slit nearby. Wrezu explains that the Lizardfolk work for the Yuan-Ti (or as he pronounces it, “Yanty”), and they’ve taken over several of the abandoned temples where they purposedly desecrated them in the name of their own Gods. The Party notices that the Lizardfolk has a symbol of a fanged skull surrounded by a snake swallowing its own tail branded onto his skin. Loki recognizes it as a symbol of Merrshaulk, a Yuan-Ti deity who demands regular sacrifices... Dahlia asks Wrezu if the Lizardfolk are allies of the Yuan-Ti or slaves, with Wrezu admitting he doesn’t know. Still, the thought persists and Dahlia asks if Wrezu can guide them to where the Lizardfolk can be met. Wrezu is hesitant as his job as a guide pretty explicitly avoids those areas, but as long as they don’t mind him leaving instead of accompanying them, he can show them where to go, drawing a crude map to guide them to the Tomb of Diderius.
Leaving Wrezu to return to Boarskyr Bridge, the Party rides through a marshy area into dangerous territory. They travel steadily, but their unable to notice until the trap has sprung that they’ve been tailed by Lizardfolk... only Dahlia having high enough passive perception to avoid being surprised. Lizardfolk burst out of heavy bushes, pouncing on the Party and attempting to grapple and abduct them, rather than attack at first. They also see that a Yuan-Ti Malison is leading this troupe of Lizardfolk, who obey his commands without question. As a Barbarian, Antares is able to trigger his Rage and act right away... his wild magic taking the form of a beam of energy launched from his chest toward the Yuan-Ti. The Party avoids attacking the Lizardfolk, who don’t show the same courtesy. The Yuan-Ti attempts to cast Suggestion on Dahlia, but G’houl counterspells it. Everyone focuses their attacks on the Yuan-Ti... G’houl even conjures a Cloud of Daggers on the Yuan-Ti... and Antares shoves Lizardfolk out of his way, tanking attacks of opportunity from the other Lizardfolk as he rushes to the Yuan-Ti, grappling him and forcing him to remain inside the Cloud of Daggers where he’s sliced to ribbons. With their leader dead, the Lizardfolk still continue to attack until G’houl summons a massive fireball in the sky above, using it to intimidate them into Parlaying. Hesitantly, the Lizardfolk lower their weapons, and Dahlia notices that one Lizardfolk in particular who has multiple brands across his body lowers his weapon with just a little more enthusiasm than the others, as the Party prepares to speak to the Lizardfolk.
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 finally be returning to our homebrew campaign of Sacrament later tonight! We'll be going live once again at 7pm PST at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty. Our last session was very eventful, and the Grimveils are in a precarious situation... read ahead in case you need a reminder of what happened last session:
Crush begins stripping Ash’s Quarry, which draws confusion from a guard until Crush explains that he saw him casting magic… but Crush doesn’t know much about magic, only that it requires equipment to cast, so he’s making sure that the Assassin won’t be able to do any magic in case he wakes up. While stripping him Ricky snags his signet ring, since he’s a Lord in the country of Ortheia. On his back is a large tattoo set with mystical runes, and includes the same coat of arms from his signet, and then the skull image of the Depraved Gloom… and finally Ash recognizes the symbol of “The Wings of Elvenkind”, an Elf Supremacy Group. The Guards are a bit put off by everything, but everything takes a more serious turn when Ash’s brother Argus enters. He can barely contain his rage as he recognizes the man as well… Ash struggles as well, but Ricky talks them down. Knowing they still can’t kill Ash’s Quarry yet, they instead revive him just enough to cast Polymorph on him, then use their strange snake statue to transform him to gold… a process that leaves him technically alive, allowing Ash to continue to live as a Revenant. The golden snake is left with Argus, as Ash doesn’t trust herself with it.
With Ash’s Quarry captured, the Party’s next stop is to continue to the concert. There is some concern about Alex, the female Reaver who is nearing her first Blood Rage. Taking a Police Escort to the concert, Ash begins to feel a sinking feeling of her life coming to an end… she knows the name and face of the man who killed her, and as a Revenant not knowing that was the only thing that extended her life. Ash is visited once again by the Angel of Death that has visited her in the past… it tells her to give in, and let herself die, but acknowledges that even if she does, Ash’s soul will be taken. Ash refuses to give in just yet, and the Angel leaves before everyone climbs in the Police Escort to ride to the concert. The party is accompanied by Logan, the one-armed blacksmith who they’re compensating for the fight they brought to his shop by bringing him backstage for the concert.
Arriving at the concert, they’re escorted to the back of the brothel where the concert is being held. Kanec’s brother Malik is working security, and he won’t allow Aylis to enter, as he’s too young to be allowed in the building. He’s given to a Tlincalli, or scorpion-folk, woman, Maurice, who protects the children. Once Aylis is let free, the rest of the Grimveils are escorted backstage. While waiting for the show to start, they discuss what they need to do to help Neo and Kalea… fortunately, as they’re discussing this, an androgynous escort delivers a message to Ricky, which lets Ricky know that Neo and Kalea have both made their way into the brothel and, with Elizabeth’s help, have set up the ritual and are just waiting for the concert to begin. As they discuss this, Elizabeth steps out, eagerly embracing her son. She’s excited and shares information about some of the magical features she has access to within the well-equipped Brothel… including a magical curtain along the back of the stage where stage hands can move invisibly, and where the Party is capable of hiding as they watch the show. They also meet up with Ash’s Sister-in-Law, Yuki, who is worried, since she knows what Ash was going to be doing this night. Ash hesitates to tell her all the details, not wanting to cause even more stress. This satisfies her for now, but she does want to know more soon. Stepping into the hidden back area obscured by the magical curtain, Crush immediately spots the Giant Ancient Reaver in the audience, who has sprung for an expensive ticket near the stage. They also meet with Sly Smile, Fidget’s Daughter who had left to start a new job working with Elizabeth and her crew. She’s taken to wearing a wig (as she’s normally completely hairless), along with some tasteful makeup.
They’re also met by Kalea, who reveals that she’s hiding below the floorboards of the stage along with Zeke, the giant mimic who’s eager to join show business, and whose body actually composes part of the stage. Kalea reveals that they’ve set up for the ritual, preparing to take advantage of the music and the crowd’s energy to complete their spell to awaken the Goddess Hearth. The party is left waiting behind the invisible curtain when they’re joined by a beautiful woman with horns and wearing a large opal on her chest… Azure realizes that this is a female dragon, the wife of Facein who goes by the name “Opal”. She is soon joined by Facein himself, who nods respectfully to the group. Elizabeth steps out, preparing to perform. Her concert begins, with Elizabeth, as the Diva DeLuna, puts on a Hell of a show. While the concert is in full swing, Neo and his Night Children have completed the magical symbols on the ceiling. Kalea also comes out from the floorboards, her work finished as well. With their work complete, Elizabeth is given a new outfit to wear and a new song to sing… a dress that looks suspiciously like the dress Ricky knows to be worn by the Nightmother.
Kalea warns that they can’t let Elizabeth’s performance get interrupted, and everyone stands at the ready… knowing that a crowd of Reavers won’t take kindly to the sight of the Nightmother. The normally bombastic and energetic Diva DeLuna now performing a slow, introspective song. Ricky is worried, watching the crowd with panic in case anyone tries to act against her, but instead finds tears in the eyes of Reavers, an emotional reaction to her sincere, sorrowful song. Ricky can see light glowing from the flower pots… which he realizes is the water taken from the fountain of Peace… helping to calm the emotions of the Reavers. Zeke, who is working as the stage, shifts to keep up with the new song… but unfortunately, his shifting shakes the foundation, and Neo unfortunately can’t keep his footing, falling from the ceiling. As the song is almost interrupted, Neo takes advantage of his skills as a Bard… with Ricky messaging his mother to work with him, the two turn this into a duet. This prevents any immediate interference… but Neo is still a well-known criminal. A few Reavers are trying to get on stage, intent on arresting Neo and stopping the performance, but Crush is able to intervene… successfully persuading them that it would be dishonorable to interrupt a performance by a guest to their Country.
However, they realize a worse problem… the giant Ancient Reaver has so much negative energy and hatred emanating from him that he’s preventing the ritual from completing. Kalea says that they need to get him out of there, if only long enough to complete the ritual. Ricky uses the Message Spell to contact the Ancient Reaver, challenging him to battle outside, a bluff that he falls for… but not before responding through the spell that he won’t hesitate to kill Elizabeth if he believes her to be a Night Child. Hearing him threaten Elizabeth gets Crush’s blood boiling, and he needs a moment to calm himself as well. This is enough for the ritual to complete… mystical lights glowing, the water of Peace rising slowly in the air, suspended as the crowd other than the Grimveils and Elizabeth appear frozen in time. The Party steps out onto the stage to explain to Elizabeth what has been happening, since she’s only been given a minimum of information… although knowing more only panics her further. The spirits of the Sea and the Wind appear… saying that the Goddess Hearth is still sleeping, but she’s beginning to wake up now that she thinks her sister is near. Crush believes that Elizabeth has become the avatar of the Night Mother in this moment, the sister to Hearth… he asks Elizabeth what she would sing to awaken a family member she hasn’t seen in years… She mentions that she would sing the same song she used to sing for Ricky as a child.
With Crush’s prompting, Ricky joins his mother in a duet. Singing a loving song shared between Mother and Child, a resonant song from deep within their very souls. With their song complete, it feels as though the party has suddenly left this plane of existence… water floods the grounds, and plants begin to grow, giant fish swim through the waters, as the sounds of other animals can be heard. As they watch a large figure rises from the water… a massive woman with dark brown skin… the Party lifted in the air to greet the Mother of all life… the Goddess Hearth.
Hearth seems briefly disappointed as she looks to see Elizabeth, realizing that she’s not actually her sister. Ricky steps forward, showing her his amulet of the Night Mother, explaining that the Night Mother is there, to some degree, which pleases Hearth… although she worries at the sense of danger still in the area. Ash, however, messages Azure magically, telling her that she needs to take the Blade of Sovereign from Fidget and, more importantly, from Azmira. Stealthily, Azure manages to take the blade. Meanwhile, Hearth asks how long she’s slept… revealing that she was sleeping to allow her energy to create the Eternal Storm that only recently subsided, allowing contact between the land of Kahenah and the Reaver country of Tiavet. Ash asks for more information from Hearth… she tells of how the world was created, in the time before life, in the primordial chaos. When the world was being created, the NightMother, Arrana, already existed… in some ways, she was even the Mother of the other Gods. Hearth, and the other Gods, began to create life… although it was only Hearth herself who could give birth to new life. Hearth was overworking herself, even as a Goddess, as each of the other Gods and forces asked for Hearth to birth more life. The only God that didn’t ask anything of her was Arrana, but as a gift, Hearth created for her wolves… children of the night who will sing for her.
The new beings began to realize the more they ask of their patron Gods… the more they follow and obey them, the more powerful their Gods become, and the more protection they provide… they begin to worship the Gods. This led to conflict, and Hearth sealed herself away, refusing to birth more children just to give the Gods more worshippers. Ash then changes the subject, requesting instead Hearth’s Help. The Party explains their plan… to bring the Nightmother and Sovereign to Hearth, where she can moderate a meeting between them. Hearth is hesitant… and it’s revealed that even she can’t tell the truth of what happened between Arrana and Sovereign, but hints that there’s a third party involved. She also reveals that the secret can indeed be found in the Lost Temple within the Ziggurat. She does want to bring peace between these two Gods, but warns that they must find some way to prevent Sovereign from killing Arrana on sight. Ash then reveals that they have Sovereign’s blade, and Hearth also reveals that Azmira hasn’t been brought to her plane… although it’s still a good thing that they stole it, since any Reaver who touches the blade might alert Sovereign. Azure also realizes that the blade itself has morphed into a pair of bladed nunchaku, much to Azure’s delight. Out of curiosity, she passes it to Crush, where it morphs into a massive axe. Crush offers it to Hearth, knowing that, if it’s in her possession, then Sovereign cannot harm Arrana. Still, she warns about the Ancient Reaver… explaining that he’s not simply a powerful foe, but is very much a Monster.
Hearth agrees to the plan, granting Kalea the power to summon Hearth when she’s needed. Crush promises to protect Arrana, and Hearth can sense the presence of Crash’s soul still bonded to Crush… in this plane, Crash can speak audibly, much to Elizabeth’s shock. Hearth says that their time will be ending soon, and laments that she is still weakened, unable to provide more support if she’s going to be strong enough to moderate Sovereign. She warns that Neo must keep himself more carefully hidden, and also warns Ricky about the Ancient Reaver… but they realize that he must be faced. Hearth also identifies Azure’s astral powers as deriving from the starlight of Arrana. She also finally calls the Ancient Reaver by his name, Ksathra. Hearth also mentions that she laments that Sovereign didn’t instead listen to the other known Ancient Reaver, Xander… known as a traitor among the Reavers, but Hearth knows that Xander’s betrayal was refusing to slaughter the Night Children on sight. Ash asks if Hearth can direct them toward Xander, but Hearth does not know, and she can’t afford to use her powers searching for him, as she must save her energy for Sovereign and Arrana. The waters vanish, the lights dimming until stage lights start to return, Neo quickly ducking away to hide while the party steps behind the invisible curtain, and Elizabeth quickly changes outfit, starting a new song that seems to placate the confused Reavers who were upset by the Nightmother imagery.
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