Campaign Recap for 01/20/21

 After action for 1/20/21. Playing: Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John), Cryrus Shwing (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Yeusof (Jose).

Date in Campaign is: 36th of Grentle

Having driven away the old servants that were destroying the crops and bothering the fisherman the chief declares a grand Feast for the gods and the brave but dumb Heroes. The feast will be the next day, the party is given a hut to recover and sleep in. Long rest.. Yusof levels to 6.

Most of the Kuatoa do not speak common.. Just RarJest and JanLan so during the feast JanLan sits with them and translates. Many of the Kuatoa come up to them and hand them small gifts as thanks.. (Each player receives 4 rations and Trinkets worth 3 gold). Also sitting with them is a Kenku traveller named Cryrus Shwing, that was trying to sell the Kuatoa drums he has made. He makes random comments during the fest but nothing noteworthy. During the fest Thineli visits the Hall of Gods and sees all the statues the Kuatoa have made. He sees his scimitar is the face/head of a god that seems sparking. The Kuatoa that made the goddess with the lightning scimitar as its face is called LinSth. Thineli askes about this god and is told this is Esmes, This is a god of travelers that takes the form of a teenage boy with the traits of a wasp. He has a thin build. He is portrayed as wearing a sexy uniform made from the bones of a dead god. He seems to distort space around him. At least this is what LinSth tells Thineli. Thineli asks if there is any way he could have his scimitar back.. LinSth looks at the statue for a while and then says if Thineli can win a contest at the fest that would be a sign of the gods favor and he may take the scimitar.

Contests and feats... The feast has lots of fishes and crabs etc., mushrooms of various types.. Seemingly endless food and various drinks. The ale equivalent is a stinky fermented fish brew. Yuesof and Sir Dawnstar both drink, but Yuesof has trouble keeping it down.. his projectile vomiting impresses the Kuatoa, though JanLan tells him to save that for the contests... First there is singing and dancing.. after a few hours of that then there are lots and lots of contests.. Most make little or no sense but I will only tell of the ones the party attempted..

Juggling..Ellalan fails at Juggling..badly...

Carrying.. Sir Dawnstar failed the test of carrying but Thineli turned in a bear and bested the Kuatoa.

Drinking.. Yuesof tries to beat the Kuatoa that is best at drinking but nearly drowns himself in fermented fish ale. 

Loudest burp.. Cyrus sings a song instead of competing.. nice song but not what the gods wanted.

Farthest vomit.. Sir Dawnstar wins the distance vomit contest, beating out Yuesof.

Thineli and Sir Dawnstar win cyphers for their competing. Thineli gets a turtle scale smeared with golden letters on the back. When held and activated, the cypher grants you advantage on your next intelligence check. Sir Dawnstar gets a kraken's tooth engraved with geometric patterns. When held and activated, the cypher pushes all adjacent creatures thirty feet away from you.

Ellalan is looking at all the fish eaten at the fest. She figures out they are all freshwater lake fish. Listening to stories of the lake from JanLan she realizes there are possibly ancient snail slug mind readers under the lake.

After the fest when Thineli goes to get his scimitar he hears the god tell him "Desecration!" in drow so he replaces it. That night Emes visits him in his dreams...Emes touches Thineli's forehead (thineli now has 2 Inspirations). He also tells him to hurry and do what he must as the timeline is ending in 3 months.. he is then pulled away by silvery mists before he can say more...

Long Rest and washing up after the fest..

The next morning the chief RarJest will lead them to the edge of the Clashing Sands. He tells them it is an endless sea of sand and creatures live in it that attack those that walk on its surface. Ellalan says "Ocean made of sand...ooooh...terrifying yet cool." Ellalan is also curious about what Thinelli said about the timeline ending in 3 months. Sounds like demons will be here in 3 months? At the mouth of a large cave that exits into a vast brightly light area of sandy dunes blowing in the wind, much like the sea... RarJest shows them that enough water for 10 days for each of them has been prepared and left to help them go across.. he only knows the bugbears went to the east.. he watched the shaman summon an animal with a bag to draw off something that was about to attack his tribe but it was too far for details.. The party carries as much water as they can and sets off. While in the sand it's difficult terrain. Marching order is Yeusof and Sir Dawnstar going first about 6 ft apart... Ellalan followed them 30 feet behind... Thineli is 30 feet. Ellalan "I go 31 feet. on a diagonal then random directions for each step, I randomly will take steps back too" so she isn't moving fast.. Cyrus ran ahead leading by 80 feet. They are slowly moving through the sand.. an hour then three past...when suddenly something large is making way towards the party..Cliffhanger!

Kill Count=No combat this was a roleplaying/skill session.

Exp=0. For roleplaying the drunken revelry +350. For joining it on the contests (everyone except Cyrus) +100.

Current Exp Totals are: Yeusof 15350, Ellalan 19679, Thineli 21303, Sir Dawnstar 171500, Cyrus Shwing 1250.

Not appearing: Lord Fatty 13213, JohanaHex 4214, Thakkyvk 1930, Hej Mallorca 2810

Campaign Recap for 01/13/21

Playing: Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John), Frog (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Yeusof (Jose).

Date in Campaign is: 35th of Grentle

Thineli listens and hears far off rubbery whispers of some unknown language. He uses his Comprehend Language to understand it. Listening he realizes it's a bunch of complaints about missing crops, damaged clothes and other stuff. The complainers all blame the "outsiders". A louder, more noble (?) voice tells them to wait and express their complaints to RarJest. Thineli also hears that speaker addressed at JanJal. While waiting for Thineli to relay this information, the party hears a noise to the north from a pile of rubble. Ellalan sneaks up and sees a rubbery looking shark like humanoid (a Kuo-toa Monitor), she jumps him, yelling at slimy creature dude in common, "arrrr, we are trying to befriend you!" and attempts to use Stunning Strike on him. But the Kuo-toa (named TerJal) saves and then when she grapples him he snakes out of her grasp with his slimy skin. TerJal then strikes a martial artist's pose, then hits her twice with lightning blows (real lightning on his fists that prevent the target from taking reactions) and a bite before running away screaming something (which Thineli hears as "FINS OF FURY!! ROCK THE WORLD! HAAZAA!") Ellalan can not opportunity attack (no reactions ) and curses "I hate other monks!!" The tribe of Kuo-toa hear the noise and some run to get weapons and the ones that are prepared head towards the parties.. the party keeps yelling "FRIENDS!" and "PEACE!" till JanJal approaches and speaks with them in Common. Then the chief shows up RarJest. The party explains that they are looking for the bugbears that took their equipment. When Reggie hears this, he exclaims "Ah you are the heroes that opened the way for them, as foretold by their bugbear god."  He then goes on to say how sad it is that they just have one god and that they should make more. This goes back and forth till Yesuof asks how they make a god and RarJest shows them.. making a short stature with a vest, a fish head, a human arm coming out of its chest and three shrimp in its hands. Sir Dawnstar tell them about his God called god.. it is a bright light and a warm feeling.. So RarJest makes a big fire with some shiny metal to reflect the heat... RarJest tells them that the bugbears gave a gift to their gods and in return were show the way to the passage through the Clashing Sands.. The gift that was given was Thineli's Lightning Scimitar. Yeusof tells RarJest he can make a better god and digs up a piece of metal, greyish and weirdly shaped. He uses it as the head.. then thinking it may be valuable switches it for 2 coins. Yeusof's God was dashingly handsome and mighty looking... and was strikingly similar looking to Yeusof.. and 2 ft tall and made of mud, sticks and rocks. As they have nothing to give as a gift they ask if there is a task they could perform for the gods. RarJest tell them of the "ancient servants" that are harassing the farmers and tell them that driving away or killing them would please the gods.. He walks the party to the other side of the ruined city and they see the edge of a large lake.. As RarJest is talking about the lobster creatures, Ellalan sees the water, hears blah blah blah and runs into the water. When she is knee deep in the lake she looks and sees five Chuul (3 Chuul, 1 Incubator and 1 Screecher.. though they all look alike to her). The rest of the party stops listening to RarJest and runs to Ellalans aid. The battle is long and almost lost, but the Chuul aren't that smart and target based on what radiates magic. Frog walks unarmored into the middle of them and is downed, dying on the muddy shore. Ellalan is thinking, "If we die, at least I die near the water..." Thineli uses Wind Wall and then shape changes to a Feral Hunting Lizard.. and nearly gets eaten.. Sir Dawnstar finally remembers he is a paladin and uses his abilities to kill one of the Chuul. Ellalan Steps of Wind away from the ones that were overwhelming her, leaving Yeusof to go down alone.. As the Chuul retreat back from the shore and city, they grab Frogs corpse and Yeusof's unconscious body.. Ellalan yells, "Yousef! nooo!" and prepares to run into the ocean after him...She was going to run away in a Thinelli like move, but seeing Yousef dragged away...she realizes she has to try to save him! She cant leave him behind! But then she helps Sir Dawnstar kill one of the Chuul on the shore.. so whatever... Though she quicky swims out to the Chuul carrying Yuesof away and rips him free, stabilizing him as she keeps his head about water. She tells him "You are too beautiful to die!!!HAHAHAHA In your own mind! You owe me I saved your life." The chief approaches after the party kills and drives off the Chuul.. Frog dying in the melee.. Yuesof almost being carried off as Chuul food... "That was very brave... we just wanted you to spread this poison to drive them away..."

Sad Trombone noise...

all that death and violence for ... fun?

Kill Count=(1xChuul)+(2xChuul Driven away)+(1xChuul Screeher)+(1xChuul Incubator Driven away) 

Exp= (1100+(2x1100/2)+1100+(1100/2))/5=770 exp each. For not fighting the Kuo-tua tribe +1000 each, 

For having a battle of martial artists +100 exp (Ellalan only), For building a god to impress the Kuo-tua chief (even though it didn't) +100 exp (Yeusof only).

Current Exp Totals are: Yeusof 14900, Ellalan 19229, Thineli 20853, Sir Dawnstar 16790, Frog RIP. Yeusof can level to 6 with a long rest.

Not appearing: Lord Fatty 13213, JohanaHex 4214, Thakkyvk 1930, Hej Mallorca 2810 

Thoughts on the Campaign thus far

 1) I think I am not giving enough exp.. I'm doing it by the books but my players are leveling super slow... (though part of this is they just run in circles a lot and don't finish missions or tasks given so don't get the end bonus).

2) I try to explain in detail but they still seem to not have a clue how to over come simple obstacles.. decided to not hold their hands as much and see if they live or die.. (I can tell some of them want to be other characters as well).

3) There is an larger story arc (the faceless god sending them on quests to make them stronger so they can repel or halt the upcoming demon invasion..) but the players can't focus on anything that is not in front of them.. I get it that it is hard to remember week to week but that is why I keep the recaps.. that they do not read... 

Campaign Recap for 01/06/21

 Playing: Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John), Frog (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Nurbag the hunter (Jose), Yeusof (Jose).

Date in Campaign is: 34th of Grentle

Yeusof lends Sir Dawnstar 400 gp to get his sword from the Kunaxx the enchanter. Yeusof, Frog and Sir Dawnstar then go to his shop. Yeusof gets his ring of spatial storage (10c. ft, 150 lbs, 3/uses day, requires Attunement). Sir Dawnstar gets his Sword (Great Sword +1 to hit/damage (Faux) and +2d4 Radiant Damage). Yeusof then buys 5 healing potions from the Marketplace and puts them in his ring of Spatial Storage. Kunaxx looks at the components that Frog has from his trial with Gib and tells him the piles are worth 23, 21 and 28 gp respectively. Switching the scene to Nurbag, he is running through the passages to the area of the phase spiders and where the bugbears ambush him and his fellow hunter. Even though he is in a hurry, it's over a 6 hour journey to the spider area, and his hurrying gets him lost costing him 3hrs. But in the area he is looking for the bugbears lair he is unable to find anything on his searches (spending 3 hrs). searching for the next six hours Nurbag finds bugbear tracks in various locations, (4 successes out of 6) and now knows where the bugbear's lair was and then goes back to meet the rest of the party at the predetermined meeting place. They meet up and take a short rest, giving Nurbag a chance to rest (but not the long rest he needs to level to 3). Yeusof and Nurbag finally meet and Nurbag seems quite taken and impressed by Yeusof…(GM Note: Both of these were played by Jose.. and was funny to listen too and seems sort of gay?). Getting to the area of the bugbear's lair, Nurbag searches the area and then leads the party in circles for 6hrs eventually coming back to the place where they started their search. Thineli searches and finds some buried trash and then finds the cave where they were held captive. From there it is a 2 hour walk to the hole that they were lowered down to the glowing riddle obelisks. Looking down into the hole it is dark and empty seeming. Nearby are the holes that the bugbears had mounted a rope and pulley system to lower people down but just the holes remain. Ellalan looks into the hole and therizes about a giant cave turtle the bugbears rode off on.... Ellalan throws a lit torch into the hole. The torch falls over a 100 ft and when it hits the bottom it sputters and goes out. Ellalan thinks there is some water down there. Yeusof talks about making a pulley but they ignore him and there is nothing nearby to make one out of. They tied all the ropes together so they have about 180 ft of rope...they use the holes the bugbears had made to attach the ropes to spikes stuck in the holes. (GM Note: I kept asking them about their prep, which was next to nothing, and how they would do this.. the obvious method should have been to lower each person one at a time using the rope and the last person spider climbing or beast shaping to spider to go down.. but no... no team work here...) Ellalan goes down the rope using her athletics, her hands roughed with dirt and wrapped with cloth.. making it all the way to the bottom before dropping the last 10 ft to the ground, landing cat-like on the somewhat muddy ground. Thineli grabs the rope and starts acrobatically climbing down, missing at the halfway mark and falling 60 ft on to the muddy rocks below...(18hp damage) Ellalan says "you should have changed into a monkey.." Sir Dawnstar takes off his Armor and Yeusof does the same, they then lower the Armors to the cavern floor far below. Sir Dawnstar grabs the rope and starts climbing, slipping off the rope immediately but catching himself after 10ft.. he then climbs down the rest of the way and slips off again at the last 30 ft.. (-15 HP damage) crashing into the pile of armor below... ouch! Frog (having watched Sir Dawnstar and Yeusof disrobe) heads rapidly down the rope, disdaining using a spell of Spider Climb... He makes it halfway and falls 60 ft (-21 HP) crashing loudly into the muddy ground.. not dead yet... Frog takes out his Healer kit and works his feat on himself (+11 HP). Nurbag grabs the rope, "see you at the bottom!" he says, smiling at his man crush... The rope slips out of his hands and he grabs at it … missing and falling to his death.. crashing to the ground like a rotten fruit...(-46 HP) (GM Note: If Nurbag had taken a long rest he would have been lvl 3 and survived..just saying). Ellalan suggests leaving Nerdbag's body where it is to cushion Yousef if he falls..Ellalan thinks, at least the last thing he heard was his love's voice. I wipe the bits of NErdbag off of me and wait for yousef to climb down. Sir Dawnstar Lays On Hand for 15 HP to himself. A Chuul crawls out of its rocky lair to attack the party on the ground and Yuesof makes his way down the rope. Thineli yells look out as the weird giant lobster creature rushes towards them...The Chuul grabs Thineli and poisons him, Ellalan uses her Chromatic Orb ability (and hits!) and Sir Dawnstar rushes into combat with it without his armor on. They kill it easily. After the battle, Yeusof continues down the rope and falls the last 20 feet onto the dead Chuul... (-9hp). Thineli casts 3 lvl Cure Wounds on himself (+13 hp). Sir Dawnstar and Yeusof put on their armors...Yeusof uses his ring for the 2nd time today and hands out the healing potions (2d4+2), one each. Frog drinks his right away (+6 hp). Thineli cast 2 lvl 1 Cure Wounds on himself (+9+6hp). Ellalan scouts ahead a bit and see that the bugbears are moving as a group and not exploring much..And so they move forward into the dark scary caves and tunnels ahead.. leaving Nurbag's corpse behind to be consumed by the tiny spawn of the Chuul that exit it's body after it's death....(GM Note: not a word or pray said.. didn't even take his equipment.. just forget that guy was with us...). Wandering through the caverns till they come to a large open tunnel area.. winding through mounds and hills of darkness.. Thineli's hand flame illuminates the area and the hills are actually ruins of ancient cyclopean buildings... Thineli shuts the light as he hears something... there is something watching them... in the dark... Cliffhanger!!

Kill Count=(Chuulx1) Exp= 1100/5=220 exp each. For finding the area of the Shattered Tooth +250 exp (Nurbag only), For climbing down a 120 foot drop the worst way possible +50, For abandoning the body of a fellow party member without a care -0

Current Exp Totals are: Yeusof 13030, Ellalan 17359, Thineli 19083, Sir Dawnstar 15020, Frog 6240., Nurbag The Hunter RIP.

Not appearing: Lord Fatty 13213, JohanaHex 4214, Thakkyvk 1930, Hej Mallorca 2810 

Campaign Recap for 12/22/20

Playing: Hej Mallorca (Rumo), Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John),  Frog (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Nurbag the hunter (Jose).

Date in Campaign is: ??th of Grentle.

The party finds themselves in what appears to be a dusty stone temple, with weird oddly glowing lights floating around. There is a huge alter on which a large gold dragon appears to be resting. As it notices their appearance at the temple it moves. It becomes apparent that it is not a dragon but a giant golden slug. He is excited to see them and is moving and teleporting about as he talks. He waves a tentacle and the temple is now clean and well lite. He introduces himself as Gib'shu'lopi. He is a powerful extra dimensional entity that spends his time testing weaker beings to see if they are worthy of receiving more power. It has set up various testing stations throughout various locations.. some do riddles, some do feats of strength or skill, it's pretty random. If the beings being tested make it to the end they are sent to the next level. They are sent to Gib'shu'lopi lair...There they will be tested by Gib himself with his alien sense of humor... Gib may injure, maim and kill them with his test but will restore them to normal after each round. To put them more at ease he demonstrates this by causally slicing Thineli into two half, length-wise, making him fall to the floor dead and then instantly restores him to full health. Looking at them closely, he notices the God Mark on the Aura/Soul of Ellalan and Thineli. He can see the ties that bind them to the Faceless God and to the rest of the original group (Thineli, Ellalan, Yeusof, JohanaHex, Lord Fatty and Thalluvk). He then shows them the prophetic visions the Faceless God had prepared for them. 

 The Prophecies of the faceless one

Thakkyvk:  you're much older, for the last 20 years you've been trying to avenge the destruction of your monastery. All of the friends you've made thus far have all fallen, All the villages and towns in the area for hundreds of miles have been destroyed and the peoples killed..now it's just you against an infinite army of demons, making your last stand on a mountain top. You kill thousands but in the end you fall... 

Thineli: You see yourself wearing the form of a demonic beast and killing humans wherever you find them. In a flashback, you remember fighting the invading demons, being beaten to near death.... then being saved by cultists and priests that healed as they warped your body and destroyed your will. Your mind is barely bestial and all you know is blood and rage...

Yeusof: You are clad in glowing armor with a sword of holy light as you lead a desperate attack on the sprawling demonic enemy camp. Your companions strike deep almost reaching the gate you need to destroy. Then you are discovered and fight  against the massive wave of demons and beasts in camp.... one by one all of your fellows fall till finally it's just you... they pull back as a demonic Overlord walks to you. You battle for minutes that seem like hours but in the end your head is torn from your body by the Overlord...

Ellalan: Your ship is far from land, as you and your crew watched the land be overrun by demons. You regret leaving but hope you can make it to a land that isn't being overwhelmed by demons. Suddenly demonic tentacled monsters grab your ship and rip it apart, you and your crew being eaten one by one by the evil monsters...

Lord Fatty: Your left arm and lower body have been replaced by magically driven items, as you fight before a giant city you have never seen before.. demons are over running the walls, killing and eating the defenders before entering the city to cause further death and ruin. You think back to all your wives that will be killed with the city and fight as you have never fought before...but in the end a giant demonic overlord smashes your body, destroying your legs again before leaving you to be eaten by the surrounding demonic horde as it walks towards the city.... 

JohanHex: You were promised great power and you have it... but no free will... just dim memories of a life with choice and friendships... You stand before the city waiting for the order to kill the humans... not  flinching when a running demon bites your leg, ripping a chunk of skin off and continues running towards the city... For a brief moment you remember the names of some of the defenders that are dying in front of you.. then you wait for your orders...

(Unknown to the party at this time, but everyone one that featured in a vision had that vision that night as they slept...)

Gib then explains there are three types of tasks he can test them on, Feats of Creation (making, sorting, understanding), Feats of Battle (fighting creatures), Feats of Skill (Athletic and endurance). But anything can be a task. He asks them, individually, what they are good at. 

Frog steps forward and states he is a wizard and he wants a wizardly task.  After a few moments of talkin it is decided his task will be to sort a large mixed pile of Spell components of five similar types. He successfully sorts 3 of the piles and passes. Frog asks if he can keep the components that he sorted and Gib agrees. Sir Dawnstar chooses a task of battle. Gib summons a giant glowing cube for him to fight inside and has him fight a Gas Spore, 2 Swarms of Bats and a Worg. He easily defeats them and passes. Ellalan's task is to run through a maze and avoid a summoned silver monkey that is chasing her... at first she is hiding from him but then has to run and dodge him crazily to get the end. Ellaln passes her task. Thineli's task is to determine which of three summoned beasts are friendly and/or tamable. There is a silver scaled Tiger, a fat purple Giant Snake and a spikie Giant Spider.. Thineli feds the Tiger some rations, opens the Spiders cage and then all the cages.. The Spider sits on top of its cage and then decides to eat Thineli. The Tiger fights the Spider on Thineli's behalf so he passes his task. Nurbag the Hunter asks for a hunting task, so Gib sends him to an area covered in snow to find and slay a large unknown bison-like beast. Nurbag tracks it easily and ambushes it, but doesn't kill it. He then continues tracking it back to it's herd but avoids the others, slays his targeted creature passing his task. Hej Mallorca says he is best at eating and consuming food. Gib examines him, sticking his tentacles into his mouth, face and skull and then creates a table loaded with bugbear delicacies,  things that Hej had only had once or had heard about and imagined their taste.  There is so much food to consume that Hej cannot complete two halves of this task,  but then he wins Gib over with a giant plume of projectile vomiting, just passing his task. He then called them up one of the time places his tentacle on their head, which then engulfs and covers their head.  There is a weird feeling of something moving inside their skull and something changing.. and a strong smell and taste a cinnamon, burning tar and peppercorns. Each of them is given the ability to cast a spell once per day, recharge on Long Rest. Frog learns False Life, Sir Dawnstar learns Divine Favor, Ellalan learns Chromatic Orb, Thineli learns Comprehend Languages, Nurbag learns Thunderwave and Hej learns Protection from Evil/Good. These spells are as in the PHB but do not require components just knowledge of where they are casting it.

Gib'shu'lopi bids them well and waves his tentacles... they reappear on the road of the North gate of Digambi, the orc town. Nurbag says he will track down the Bugbears that captured him before and report back... the rest of the party heads to the orc town. They head to the Alluring Bottle.. they find out that they have been gone for ten days... The date is now the 34th of Grindle. Sir Dawnstar checks on his sword, it's ready but he doesn't have his gold, the Bugbears kept it. Yeueof has his ring. Thineli armor will be ready for tomorrow.

Sir Dawnstar and Hej Mallorca level after a long rest. Nurbag is in search of the Shattered Tooth tribe, which has the partie's items and gold.

Exp= For passing the Task they choose, 750exp each.

Current Exp Totals are: Ellalan 17099, Thineli 18813, Sir Dawnstar 14750, Frog 5970, Hej Mallorca 2810, Nurbag The Hunter 2810.

Not appearing: Yeusof 12760, Lord Fatty 13213, JohanaHex 4214, Thakkyvk 1930.

Campaign Recap for 12/22/20

Playing: Hej Mallorca (Rumo), Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John),  Frog (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Nurbag the hunter (Jose).

Date in Campaign is: 26th of Grentle.

When the party awakens all of their gear and armor etcetera has been taken away and  they find themselves lying on the ground in a cave wearing just a prison shift. they are drugged and their hands are bound behind their back. Frog wakes and tries to cast a spell that doesn't go off (drugged) and then tries to kick the elderly shaman that is sitting cross legged nearby. Frog misses and the shaman smashes Frogs head into a nearby wall. The shaman seems a lot stronger then he looks. Also nearby is an Orc hunter, wearing a shift but not bound, sitting calmly and by the the shaman side, a bugbear that looks different from the run of the mill others (Jose is playing Nurbag the Hunter (Orc Ranger) and Rumo is Hej Mallorca (Bugbear Berserker)). The shaman gives the party a few minutes to sit up and begins his tale.

Who are the Bugbears? They are half of a larger tribe, the rest of the tribe has decided to follow the Hobgoblins. This is the part that was led by the Shaman and is mostly non combatants (cubs, elderly, woman and injured). The tribe that they use to belong to was called the Amber Fangs.. They call themselves the Shattered Tooth tribe now. The Shaman that leads them is called "Rea'Vis'' which means "Few Teeth" in Goblin.

Why are they here? They have separated and moved from where they were, leaving that area to the Amber Fangs. Now they search for an area of their own that they can feel safe in and build a new tribe. They have no interest in becoming an appendage of another group. They are not strong enough to defeat the groups and creatures living in nearby areas that they know of. They are gathered in a section of caves not far from the Ch'Click! but have no interaction with them beyond threatening each other. 

Why did they spare the party? Rea'vis prayed to the Goddess Ah'shss'ta and was grained visions of them and knows they will be of use to the tribe. That is why he had them captured rather than driven away or killed. He knows they are favored or marked by God and hopes to use them to find his tribe's new territory. Note that going to the surface isn't an option since the tribe suffers from fear of large open spaces. 

What is the task for the party? There is an area of obelisks, each will ask a riddle. There is a time limit... if the riddle is not answered or answered incorrectly within the time limit, summoned guardians attack. If the guardians are defeated the party may pass. There are ten obelisks... (the guardians summoned are equal in number to the obelisk/2 round up +1 and are elemental variations of common creatures (use 1d4; 1-Giant Eagle, 2-Dire Wolf, 3-Brown Bear, 4-Tiger, Elemental type, 1d4 1 Air, 2 Earth, 3 Fire, 4 Water)).. Past this there is a passage to a forested zone the Shattered Tooth Tribe can call their own (or so Rea'Vis has been told in his visions).

 Party is given a long rest,  then all of their mundane equipment is returned. All of their magic items are kept by the shaman, who states "since you want these things back you will return...". Hej Mallorca is sent with the party as a guide and to give them the potion that undrugs them at the site.  The party is escorted to a hole in the ground and they have to climb down a rope ladder to reach the area they need to be in. The ladder is retracted...

 They find themselves in an area of elevated columns, some of them tens of feet across. They cannot tell how high up they are or how far away the ground is between the pillars; it just seems to fade Into darkness and cobwebs. There are wooden and bone bridges linking some of the columns. There are ten softly glowing obelisks scattered among the tops of the columns. A nearby one is glowing more brightly. As they stand there, they hear a voice in their heads..."Touch the obelisk and you will be asked a riddle. There is a time limit..if you are wrong you will be attacked by the elemental guardians." Hej tells them that only the person that touches the Obelisk will hear the riddle but if they join hands they can all hear it and answer. It will ask for a final answer at the end of the time limit.

Frog  chooses not to participate doesn't want to touch anybody's hand but still won't shut the fuck up, yelling out answers and such.. this is how player's characters get killed... just saying. So anyway... The first 3 riddles are answered correctly... the riddles are 1) Riddle: What is always in front of you but can’t be seen? Answer: The future, they guessed Air which was also acceptable, 2) Riddle: What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it? Answer: Silence, and 3) Riddle: The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they? Answer: Footsteps. The 4th riddle was 4) Riddle: I turn once, what is out will not get in. I turn again, what is in will not get out. What am I? Answer: A key, they guessed Door... three Earthen Brown Bears rose from the ground and fought them.. wasn't a hard fight. They then answered riddles 5, 6, 7 and 8. 5) Riddle: What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps? Answer: A river. 6) Riddle: What breaks yet never falls, and what falls yet never breaks? Answer: Day, and night. 7) Riddle: There is a house. One enters it blind and comes out seeing. What is it? Answer: A School or place of learning, they answered church which is acceptable. 8) Riddle: What building has the most stories? Answer: The library. Riddle nine was failed, 9)  Riddle: What does man love more than life, hate more than death or mortal strife; that which contented men desire; the poor have, the rich require; the miser spends, the spendthrift saves, and all men carry to their graves? Answer: Nothing, they didn't have an answer. Five Flame Tigers appeared. This was a pretty tough fight but they won.  Riddle 10 also failed.. 10)Riddle: The person who makes it has no need of it; the person who buys it has no use for it. The person who uses it can neither see nor feel it. What is it? Answer: A coffin, they couldn't get an answer before they timer ran out... Six Air Dire Wolves attacked them, this was a brutal fight and they could have easily lost but a well placed Thunderwave by Thineli pushed two of them off the small platform.. they vanished into the depths below... 

Having fought the Air Wolves summoned by the last Obelisk and defeating them.. they touch the still glowing obelisk and are teleported to a huge stone temple.. it looks abandoned, there is dust and cobwebs everywhere... and weird glowing bubbles..They hear a voice in their heads "Well Done! You have made it to the final round!!" They have no idea who is telling them this... until they see the huge glowing dragon on the altar!!

CLIFFHANGER!!!

Kill Count=(Earthen Brown Bearx3)+(Flame Tigerx5)+(Air Dire Wolfx5)

Exp=(200x3)+(200x5)+(200x6)=2800/5=560 exp. Bonus: Eight riddles right=150x8=1200exp each

Current Exp Totals are: Ellalan 16349, Thineli 18063, Sir Dawnstar 14000, Frog 5220, Hej Mallorca 2060, Nurbag The Hunter 2060. Sir Dawnstar, Hej Mallorca and Nurbag The Hunter can all level next long rest (to 6, 3, and 3).

Not appearing: Yeusof 12760, Lord Fatty 13213

Campaign Recap for 12/15/20

 After action for 12/15/20. Playing: Fai Starflower (Rumo), Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (NPCed by Jose),  Frog (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie)

Date in Campaign is: 25th of Grentle.

When last we left the party they're in the process of being ambushed by a large group of Bugbears with more Bugbears coming in the distance.  They got themselves trapped in the cave while trying to stop the last Bugbear from sending out an alarm.  But they failed and were mesmerized by the lever he was pulling, getting themselves trapped by the approaching reinforcements. The battle begins with Ellalan using Fangs of The Fire Snake to send flaming fists into the Brute that is pinning them down for the archers, but it is mostly uneffective. The Brute and Cutthroats focus on Sir Dawnstar. Fai enters the fray and cuts down a wounded Cutthroat with his Short Swords before healing Frog, who was laying dying on the cave floor. Spider thineli climbs and runs to the ceiling then runs over to archers and falls on him.. and then is stabbed by another. He changes back into a drow, making the archer yell at him! Another round of combat has Fai nearly down, so he uses his last spell to heal himself and off-handed strikes a Bugbear with a short sword. Suddenly the Bugbear shieldboys pour into the area, five of them, young Bugbears each armed with two shields, assisting the grown Bugbears and shield bashing where they can. Thineli is fighting with his lightning scimitar and using Healing Word on himself. Sir Dawnstar is striking and Smiting the Brute fighting him, finally bringing him down. Frog attacks a Cutthroat's ankles, hits but doesn't do much damage.  The Bugbear shaman shows up and uses a spiritual weapon to attack Sir Dawnstar. Fai strikes at the Bugbears before yelling "Were being overrun! Everyone run!" Thineli casts lvl3 healing word on himself and then Throws Flame and runs!! Will he escape? Sir Dawnstar hits the Brute again and smites again! Frog disengages and runs through the gauntlet of shieldboys!  Ellalan uses Step of the Wind to try to break out of the encirclement and run toward Thineli but is stopped by a shieldboy.. She has to use 25 ft of movement to evade him (wow...) and runs down the tunnel towards Thineli. Ellalan's face is red with shame from being hit by a little shield boy. the shaman casts Guiding Bolt at Sir Dawnstar but Sir Dawnstar evades it! The archers are attacking Thineli with daggers, so he disengages and runs blindly down a tunnel. Ellala follows and Fai dashes past her... The shaman yells to them is barely understandable Common " You all go to your doom that way!"  while he casts Spirit Guardians, taking out Frog and Sir Dawnstar and closing off the way past him. As the three (Ellalan, Fai and Thineli) enter a large sandy cavern they hear a scraping sandy noise (?). They stay on the rock slope overlooking the room.  Ellalan pulls a beast out of her bag and throws it on the sand... a Panther appears... it looks around curiously..Ellalan tells the Panther to look adorable and tasty! The Bulette springs out and swallows the Panther whole... "oh no..just like that gypsy woman warned!!" the Panther thinks as it's swallowed. Thineli hears the Bugbears approaching behind him.. He casts Wind Wall! And the Shaman Dispels it! Yay for Bugbears! Fai dashes into the sandy area and is chased and eaten by the Bulette.. Ellalan goes down fighting hitting the shaman and breaking his concentration on Spirit Guardians before going down. In the end Thineli was the last one standing but he was trapped invisible between the Bugbear horde and the hungry Bulette..They used poison mushroom spores to shake him out and take him prisoner as well.

The session ends with everyone except for Fai (who was eaten by a Bulette) captured by Bugbears... Who are these Bugbears? Why have they captured the party instead of killing them? What could they want? What will happen next? CLIFFHANGER!!

Kill Count=(Bugbear Archerx2)+(Bugbear Cutthroatx2)+(Shieldboysx2)

Exp=(100x2)+(200x2)+(50x2)=700/5=140 exp. 

Current Exp Totals are: Ellalan 14589, Lord Fatty 13213, Thineli 16303, Yeusof 12760, Sir Dawnstar 12194, Frog 3460, Fia Starflower RIP..

Campaign Recap for 12/08/20

Playing: Fai Starflower (Rumo), Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John),  Frog (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie)

Date in Campaign is: 24th of Grentle.

This was on Discord..

Thineli :Couple of sidebar items. -studied the rest of the Cirha map. To see what else he added to it.

-Go to the chief to tell him about the spiders and how they are smart and have a civilization. I tell him about the Druid and what he told us about his studies.

GM Bob  After looking at the map you can see stuff has been erased and drawn over but after studying it for an hour you see the following 'places' noted on the map: Sexy Mushrooms, Evil Magic Sword,  Coven of the lode star, The Enraged Teeth, Smog Nymphs, Ruins of Codex Library.. there are more but harder to make out.  You can study the map and see if you can decipher directions to these things...

The chief listens and then asks if you had heard anything about the missing hunters. The same hunters that you were looking for 2 or 3 days ago. When you tell him you don't know he says they are important to the town as they are always bringing in fresh meat and watching the areas beyond the town. Find out if they are alive or dead and he will pay you 50gold. 10 hunters are missing at the moment.

The party is in the Alluring Bottle drinking. Also there is a new character, Fai Starflower, a ranger (Rumo's new character). He meets the group and they chat.. 

Fal:Hello I'm Fai. I love carving wood, drinking ale and talking about carving wood while drinking.

Ellalan:I do carving, too! Scrimshaw. I'm Ellalan. You can also just call me Ella. These are my friends...Yeusof is the one passed out on the floor under the table...this is Sir Dawnstar

Thinelli and a little guy were here a while ago...

Fal: ivory and bone goudes work well for fine details on soft woods

Ellalan: I never deal in soft woods! Only strong bones for me! And the teeth of massive beasts!

Meanwhile Frog is attacking the Orphanage.. He heads back to the orphanage, sneaking when close to it. Frog gets close enough to see the orphans working in the gardens in front of the orphanage. Boppo (one of the yard guards at the orphanage) hears Frog crash into garbage in the alley. He yells at him "HEY! You're not welcome here anymore!" Frog casts Crown of Madness on him. Frog has him grab some vegetables and throw them at the orphanage. The orphans try to stop him but they aren't strong enough. After a few rounds he breaks free of the charm and yells out "It was that FREAK FROG!" but can't see him hidden in the alleyway. Frog casts an illusion of his voice coming from a different alleyway yelling about rats! But it sounds weird to the orphans so they aren't fooled. Boppo tells the orphans to get inside and let out the dogs. The dogs in this case are lizards but same thing. Frog waits for the dogards to get close to the fence and cast Pyrotechnics at them. The flash seems to make them angrier. Frog then runs away and the fence prevents chasing...(This has something to do with Frog being convinced there is an underground orphan gladiator battle thing there.. actually it is part of the survival training that the orphans are all taught so they can live in this harsh environment...)

Then the group (Thineli, Ellalan, Fai Starflower, Sir Dawnstar and Frog) head to the Stone of the Lemental King to find information about the missing hunters.. They enter, Thineli ordering a efete wine, Ellalan a frothy grog, Sir Dawnstar a brandy and Frog asks for tap water!

the names of the missing hunters: Kendell, Slog, Nurbag, Fudhagh, Mor, Durz, Borgakn, Oglub, Yoplmar, Thalla. Fai has ale. They are given a better grasp of where the hunters were to be hunting and they were to investigate the sudden influx of magic spiders! Heading to that area, which the party knows kind of well at this point. They come to a new crevasse that was not there before, 4 ft across and seemingly bottomless, and the other side is 7 ft up. Thineli turns into a Feral Hunting Lizard and ferries everyone across! While ferrying them across the crevasse, Thineli sees a small hidden cache of stuff that he grabs with his mouth.. When he checks it, it is a rotted leather bag containing the following...Goblet:Pine Emerald Engraved Jungle Scene worth 35gp, An ivory and copper smoking pipe with stale tobacco inside. (4gp), A hand-fan of clipped, black-dyed harpy feathers bound with copper wiring. (9gp), A jar containing six eyeballs (2 human, 1 goblin, 1 ogre, 1 worg, and 1 hawk) in a clear liquid. (2gp for all), A copper hand bell with a pinewood handle. (15sp), An ornamental rod of office, bronze topped with a key-like device, roughly 24” long. (5gp), A blood-soaked book; a partially written history about a long-lost keep on the borderlands. The last written page is done in a different hand, and is scrawled with “The rules have changed!” in large, bold letters. Roughly a third of the book (of 100 pages) has been used. (5gp). They make it to the area of the spider caves... the caves are still clogged with webs.. a new sign is nearby.. but not readable with darkvision. Thineli produces flame in his hand to read the sign. It says "This is home of CH'CLICK race. No Enter unless asked!" Written in both common and orcish. Thineli searches and finds a small marker pointing to another tunnel...Thineli is walking with his flame in his hand...Writing on wall. Written in Orcish, maybe in blood, "Bugbear ambushed.. 15+" Thineli finds another marker with the symbol for dig/bury. Ellalan digs and finds a largish sack filled with 24 chunks of dried meat and 20 arrows. Ellalan gives the meat to Thinelli for his owlbear and the arrows to Fai. Exploring farther into the area that they know contains Bugbears they are ambushed by a group of Bugbears... Five Bugbear Archers and a Brute. The fight doesn't last long, the Brute yelling instructions to his cohorts in Goblin (which no one understands) and they do a fighting retreat with the last one making it to a lever connecting to a rope that is connected to bells.. Some of the party hear the bells but continue to chase the last archer into this cave.. finding a large pit trap that they avoid.. before Fai falls in.. the bottom of the pit is covered in oil..the Bugbear stops ringing the bell and pulls a different lever. Fai sees sparks in the pit!! But the sparks don't ignite the oil.. Ellalan and Sir Dawnstar pull the oil soaked ranger out of the pit with ropes. Thineli turns into a Giant Spider and traps the last Bugbear archer in a web.. he can still pull the bell lever though. Sir Dawnstar tries to scoot across the narrow ledge of the pit and fails, falling into the oily trapped pit. Ellalan throws a rope down to Sir Dawnstar. Starflower throws an oily rope to Sir Dawnstar. Spider Thineli bites the Bugbear, killing him with poison. The party then all cross the pit to look at the lever and see where the rope goes.. they see it goes up and through a small hole in the wall..and as they watch they see the level move on its own (as someone is pulling the rope on the other side) and hear more bells. Spider Thineli realizes this could be trouble and tries to tell the party to run out of this dead end cave.. but can't talk as a spider and only does a weird spider dance that confuses them.. he heads across the pit and heads to the mouth of the cave. Sir Dawnstar gives Ellalan 10 HP of Lay on hands. And the party is ambushed at the mouth of the cave.. Three Archers open up on them, two Cutthroats and a Brute pin them there.. Frog goes down.. They hear more Bugbears approaching.. Frog falls his first saving throw..oh my! Ending at the top of the round.. What will happen next!! CLIFFHANGER!!!

Kill Count=(Bugbear Archerx5)+Bugbear Brute

Exp=(5x100)+450=950/5=190 exp. Exploring and Investigating bonus +210 exp

Current Exp Totals are: Ellalan 14449, Lord Fatty 13213, Thineli 16163, Yeusof 12760, Sir Dawnstar 12054, Frog 3320, Fia Starflower 700.

Campaign Recap for 12/01/20

Playing: Lord Fatty (NPCed by Aaron), Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John),  Frog (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Yeusof (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: 23st of Grentle.

The party decides to head back to the town, 6 hr walking..But first Sir Dawnstar takes a short rest.. uses 3 hit dice. Ellalan summons a weasel from her bag of tricks. She picks it up "Hey friend. I like having a pet on my shoulder! Keep your eyes and ears open for any magical beings or creatures." Sir Dawnstar leads the way,... and gets lost making the 6 hour trip take 12 hours! And one the 11th hour... Three Darkmantles drop from the ceiling, popping their darkness bubbles. One covers the head of Sir Dawnstar and one on the head of Thineli. The third missed.. Then the hijinks begin.. Frog, in the darkness, casts Thunderwave hitting Thineli, Sir Dawnstar and Yuesof and the 3 mantles...Yuesof, out of the darkness, attacks and kills one of the Darkmantles that is wounded.. Thineli uses Poison Spray on the one on his head.. Sir Dawnstar slashs with his Greatsword at the one of his head but is not able to remove it.. then Lord Fatty casts Spirit Guardians and walking into the darkness.. almost killing Thineli.."Oh I have to see the things I don't want affected when I cast the spell.." meanwhile a Giant Scorpion has engaged Yuesof.. Yuesof almost is poisoned to death.. but kills the Scorpion. Yeusof calling the people trapped in darkness to run towards him... not realizing the Darkmantles on their heads are the source of the darkness...But they fight their way though and walk the rest of the way to Dagambi...

Ellalan heads towards the market to try to sell carrion crawler gland and 2 prowler tentacles. The alchemist offers and pays Ellalan 61gp for the gland and 12+15=27gp for the tendrils. Frog sells his two Crawler glands for 43+31=74 gp, Frog begs for 75 for both.. and gets it. Frog buys a planter pot and a small bag of dirt mixed with troll poop to help it grow for 10gp

The Person that might buy or sell magic items is Baish the Factor located in a corner of the market. To have items made or repaired you would see Kunaxx the Wizard. Frog goes to Kunaxx and is offered a job as an apprentice enchanter paying 6gp a day. Thineli goes to Lord Fatty's cottage/ church and gets "Owlie". he seems in good shape and high spirits. Thineli walking him through town, seems a lot of the locals know about this Owlbear. Yeusof wants fire bombs so goes to see the alchemist. But the alchemist tells him that magic would be better long term. Ellalan goes back to the inn with Sir Dawnstar, studies the Slates for 6hrs (16+6=22hrs out 48hrs down) and then she drinks with Sir Dawnstar. 

It is now the 24th of Grentle, Sir Dawnstar's sword was ordered on the 18th and will take 12 days. Owes 400gp. Yeusof orders his ring of storage on the 19 and 9 days to make it ready on the 28th, Paid. Thineli Armor was ordered on the 20th and takes 15days, ready on the 35th, Paid.

Kill Count=Giant Scorpion+(3xDarkmantle)

Exp=700+(3x100)=1000/6=167 exp. Fighting in the dark hijinks +100 exp

Current Exp Totals are: Ellalan 14049, Lord Fatty 13213, Thineli 15763, Yeusof 12760, Sir Dawnstar 11654, Frog 2920. Frog can level up to 4 and Ellalan can level up to 6.

Campiagn Recap for 11/24/20

Playing: Lord Fatty (Romo), Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John),  Frog (Keiran).

Date in Campaign is: 22st of Grentle.

The party talks to Cirha, then he tells them about the Cr'C!C!Kr! (the intelligent Phase Spiders) well what he knows about them so far. He also tells Thineli about two creatures he would be able to shapeshift to if he studies them, the Feral Hunting Lizard and the Giant Torment Frog.

He draws them a map to the area of the Hunting Lizards.

The party takes a long rest. (Thineli/Sir Dawnstar/Yeusof/Lord Fatty). 

While Thineli and Cirha are talking, one of the Guardian Shrubs tells him a spider is in the webbing nearby. Cirha approaches the webbing and starts making a display to the spider, turning into a spider to talk to it. When he finishes, Cirha explains that he thinks he has asked the CriC!C!Kr! to bring someone that is willing to talk with him.. he thinks..Cirha tells the party he smells Roper on them and they should wash to remove the scent as Roper brood will track that scent. Sir Dawnstar buries the Roper and Prowler parts the party has been carrying back to town.. but not that great a job...

On the 6th hour of the long rest..Another Phase Spider shows up wearing a harness and a hat!.. Cirha and the spider do their displays and then the spider puts out a slate to write stuff on.. after a few moments, Cirha bids the party well, turns to a spider and follows the spider in the webbing…

Date in campaign is: 23rd of Grentle.

After the long rest, Thineli, Sir Dawnstar and Lord Fatty will follow the map to the area of Feral Hunting Lizards...After 40min of following the directions they enter a cave with a large sandy area ahead of them.. Sir Dawnstar detects something hidden in the sand.. Thineli thinks it may be some kind of insect ambusher..two Giant Scorpions attack the three of them but are killed by them after a running battle... yay!

Lord Fatty used Spiritual Weapon and a 3rd Lvl Cure Wounds. Sir Dawnstar used 1 1st lvl smite and 20hp lay on hands.. Thineli used his Scorching Ray. Lord Fatty harvests one of the Giant Scorpions and recovers 2 Giant Scorpion Claws. Acts as a dagger. Can be mastercrafted (jeweler’s tools) into a musical instrument, 1 Giant Scorpion Stinger. Acts as a dagger that deals +1d6 poison damage (breaks on a roll of 1-3) and 9 rations. This takes 30mins. 

Frog shows up (he was left behind sleeping) and joins them.

They continue on and 10mins later than come to another large cavern system.. There is a large stoney "island" or hill about ten feet high in the center of the area.. As they enter the area Sir Dawnstar sees a shadowy figure ducking down behind some vegetation.. Sir Dawnstar climbs up the small hill. A stoney figure pops out and gives a him a glowing stare that paraylizes him.. the figure then pushes him off the hill. After a moment the paraysis wears off and they decide to go around the island and avoid the Stone Gazer..They head off on the final leg of the short journey and Sir Dawnstar gets lost for 35mins...getting back on track they make it to the cavern with the Feral Hunting Lizards..The area of the Lizards is a large cavern about 1/2 km across and with a roof about about 200 feet up. There are various ferns and other plants and abundant wildlife.. Most of animals seem to be lizard based. Thineli sneaks around invisible for a bit and then has to return to the cave were they are waiting. Frog kills a smallish lizard with his crossbow..They start killing the smaller lizards to get larger lizards to come eat the corpses.. after 5 hours of this.. the Feral Hunting Lizards show up...Thineli observes them for 20mins and connects to their form... he can now shape change to their form. Yay! So the group heads back, trying to avoid encounters.. getting back to the area where yeusof and ellalan are waiting in about 2 hours. On the way back, they clean their bodies and gear in some running water. Their whole side trip took 9 hours. Ellalan and Yeusof studied the Linan Slates for 4 hours while they waited. (16 hrs down for Ellalan, 4 hrs for Yeusof /48hrs needed).

Kill Count=(2xGiant Scorpion) Lord Fatty/Sir Dawnstar/Thineli (1xStone Gazer Avoided) +Frog

Exp=(2x700)=1400/3=467 exp. 700/2=350/4= 88 exp. Exploring the path to the Cave of the Feral Hunting Lizards +250 exp

Current Exp Totals are: Ellalan 13782, Lord Fatty 12946, Thineli 15496, Yeusof 12493, Sir Dawnstar 11654, Frog 2653.

Campaign Recap for 11/17/20

Playing: Ellalan (Julie), Lord Fatty (NPC:Aaron), Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John), Yuseof  (Jose), Frog (Keiran).

Date in Campaign is: 22st of Grentle.

Ellalan is on watch. Suddenly from beyond the mouth of the entrance to the Troll's lair she hears a bellowing roar in some gurteral language she can't understand (it's Giant btw). Some of the others wake up when this happens and they wake up the rest. After a moment's pause, the same bellowing is heard, closer now.. Then they hear (in common) "Sister, She isn't answering what should we do?" "Stay calm! Give her a moment, their lair may be quite large." The voices are rough and harsh, another loud bellow in Giant and they decide to move forward. The party has hidden themselves in the outer hall, waiting to see what has been talking.. A large shadowy figure enters in the range of Dark Vision.. It resembles a Manticore, except smaller wings and a more muscular body.. An acidic smell is also noticed by some. Thineli remembers this smell, from a long time ago, in the area of something called Omen, the DemiGod of Poison. The creature (a Spawn of Omen) called out in Giant and then Common, "Hello? We have come to parlay." The party is unsure what to do... Then Sir Dawnstar steps forward and says he is there.. The Spawn asks "Who are you and why are you here?" Sir Dawnstar states his name and that he is an adventurer and here to kill trolls. 

(Now what Sir Dawnstar didn't know was... This is from my GM notes.. Next session the party will encounter two Spawn of Omen "Uzith (male) and Shugerth (female)" and their slave "Hands". They are carrying the crudely butchered carcass of a giant lizard (about 400lbs of meat), bundled so they can carry it on their backs and Hands has two scrolls of speech of giants, 10 ft radius, duration 1 hour. Hands will use the scrolls when told. They have come here to open an alliance with the Troll leader, not knowing she has left the area. They will try to determine who the party is and what side they are on, but they are not too bright and are easily tricked. Will call each other brother and sister. The Spawn each have two Greater Healing Potions (each potion is a quart and in an easily bitten container). Shugerth has two Fireball Spells 1 use items (actually large wooden boards), in case the Trolls are hostile. They keep these items in their chest pouches.)

Uzith is understandably pissed off and attacks Sir Dawnstar with his Tail spikes. The battle starts from there... the party drives the Spawns off, forcing Shugerth to use her two Fireballs (which really pissed her off.. those are expensive!).. The party takes a lot of damage, so decide to stay where they are and finish their long rest so Thineli can level up (and gain a short rest to spend hit dice)... An encounter check gives them another encounter.. This time the returning from the hunt offspring of the Roper, a group of four Prowlers (the middle form of Piercer to Roper) ambush them, tracking them from the smell of the harvested body of their parent. They attack with surprise from the ceiling and do much better than they should have, almost killing Thineli (well A Nature 1 on death save counts as 2 fails). They party kills the Prowlers and after Sir DawnStar harvests one of the Prowler's corpses and gets the following: Prowler's Hide, 1 Prowler Tendril, 1 Prowler eye. This takes 20 minutes. At the same time Ellalan harvents one of the Prowler's corpses and gets 2 Prowler Tendrils. Finally the party decides to leave and heads back to Dagambi. Ellalan uses her bag of tricks and summons two weasels and a badger. The next four hours are harrowing as the Spawn has set up traps and ambushes on the way back. Lord Fatty needs light so they can see him way farther away then they can be seen from. The party avoids a few of the traps but..About 20mins out from the Troll Lairs, Sir Dawnstar steps on a trip wire and gets hit by a rock slide.. one weasel down. About 30mins later the party sees a bright mark on the wall of the tunnel about 8 feet off the ground, they puzzle it out for a few moments and then Frog is downed by poisoned tail bolts and Lord Fatty is hit by one. The Spawn are attacking from close to 250 feet away and retreat after a round. Lord Fatty casts a 10min healing spell and they continue onwards. An hour later.. they enter a large cavern they have to cross to follow the path to Dagambi.. They see a large area of the cave floor has a large painted area with acidic smelling 'paint'. The party springs into action, with Thineli turning into a Brown Bear (that can't see too far away from Lord Fatty's light), Ellalan, Frog and Yeusof drinking climbing potions and climbing up walls.. Sir Dawnstar hears a faint rumbling coming from the tunnel they have to go into so he moves closer to investigate, Yeusof going with him... Suddenly a herd of Giant Lizards come running up the tunnel. Sir Dawnstar kills one and Yeusof severely injures one.. they are almost crushed by the Giant Lizards running pass them but survive.. and watch the herd run to the north out of the cavern (the would have run to the party but the paint on the floor scared them.. said the Spawn weren't that smart). As the Lizards and stampeding, the Spawn shoot a few more long range Tail bolts. The party runs down the tunnel to the south east. That was the last ambush/ trap and so they made it to the area of the spider tunnels.. the halfway point to Dagambi. Seeing light and smelling cooking they sneak up on an old man tending a fire with a pot of soup on it. Standing near him are two humanoid plant creatures. Sir Dawnstar walks over and introduces himself. The old man is the Druid known as Cirha and the plants are his guardian Shrubs. Cirha seems old, canky and excitable. The rest of the party coming out of cover one by one didn't help.. and that was where we ended for today..

 

Kill Count=(2xSpawn of Omen Escaped)+(4xProwler)+(2xGiant Lizard)+(8xGiant Lizard escaped)

Exp=(2x700/2)+(4x200)+(2x50)+(8x50/2)=1800/6=300 exp. Evading/Surviving all of the Spawns traps +200 exp

Current Exp Totals are: Ellalan 13782, Lord Fatty 12141, Thineli 14691, Yeusof 12493, Sir Dawnstar 10439. Kendell 3458, Frog 2315.

Campaign Recap for 11/10/20

Playing: Ellalan (Julie), Lord Fatty (NPC:Aaron), Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John), Yuseof  (Jose), Frog (Keiran).

Frog jumps onto one of the dead Carrion Crawlers and tries to harvest stuff from the corpse. After about 20mins he gets 2 crawler glands (No immediate use. Can be crafted (alchemist's supplies) into Carrion Crawler Mucus (DMG pg. 258).) and a mostly digested corpse of a drow and on that drow's body is a fancy leather cap that is somehow untouched by the Crawler's acid. Ellalan harvests one also and gets a crawler gland. Sir Dawnstar also harvests one but doesn't find anything useful. This takes about 30mins. Frog ritual casts Identify on the hat he found. It has a minor magic spell on it that keeps it clean and in repair. He decides to wear it. The party votes and takes a short rest in the troll's lair moving back to the entrance. They then explore to the south of the Troll's lair and find a section of cave blocked off with large crudely made nets that are attached at the ceiling and weighed at the bottom with rocks. Looking in they see stacks of boxes(?). Frog goes under the netting and starts looking and touching things. He is attacked by savage Cave Spiders. Cave Spiders are a common food source in the Under Temple area and fill in the roll of chicken for a lot of area peoples (Chicken of the Cave!). However the Spiders raised by farmers and such have their poison sacks removed when small making them mostly harmless.. These spiders were raised by Trolls and were both poisonous and untame. They almost kill Frog but he is rescued in time by Sir Dawnstar and Ellalan. Frog then runs further into the netted area and is taken down by a Spider Swarm, again saved by Ellalan and Sir Dawnstar. Multiple investigation rolls reveal that this area is filled with spiders...(actually was pretty obvious). Frog was almost eaten by food. The party has found the cave spider coops where the Trolls raised their spiders to eat. Moving from that area, they enter a large cave passage that goes north and south. Ellalan and Sir Dawnstar find a big heap of Troll bedding against the west wall and investigate. Finding lots of Troll poop, chewed bones and smelly rags. Sir Dawnstar gets an infestation of fleas.. Heading north they find a branch to the east and continuing north find another exit to the lair, guarded with a set of strings with bells and two pit traps they manage to avoid. Investigation of the way east reveals the lair of the Troll leader.. There is a large better maintained pile of bedding and a big pile of loot next to the bedding. Ellalan digs through the pile of Troll 'treasures' and finds the following...A rusty dagger, a very stale loaf of bread, a hat, a glass jar with some suspicious jam inside, a book, a pile of chicken bones, another rusty dagger. She keeps the glass jar and book. Frog searches the bedding and finds a small dirty sack with 4 old onions, a dirty rag , 3 copper pieces, a small bucket and a cheap dagger, a small tanned lizard skin and a rotten apple. He cuts open the apple and finds 2 seeds.. he had never seen an apple before and wants to try to grow it. Yesof looks at the walls and finds a bunch of crazy primitive cave drawings, very violent in nature but is unable to make heads or tails of them. He calls Ellalan and when she sees the drawings and realizes they tell the story of a troll that was smarter than others and rose to become the leader of a group of Trolls and try to make a Troll village.. she is impressed..(Trollopolis!). Going south now, another crude troll pit trap claims a victim... Ellalan's poop covered feet slip while trying to make it across the edge of it... They are almost out of the south exit to the Troll's lair when they see a very unsuspicious pile of coins and shiny stuff piled in the middle of a largest room..Sir Dawnstar runs to the coin pile and starts digging in, frog standing next to him and looking for magic... suddenly a Piercer fall on Frog almost killing him... and then a Roper, on the ceiling and about 30 feet off the ground, shoots out it's Tendrils grabbing Sir Dawnstar, Ellalan and Lord Fatty...This battle seesawed back and forth with the roper grabbing people with it's tendrils and trying to reel them to its mouth and people breaking free and dropping to the ground. Gravity seemed to be the real enemy here. This battle lasted a lot longer than it would have if the party just moved out of the Ropers reach... but after a long needlessly drawn out battle the party defeats the Roper! Frog was the only one getting downed during the fight. They also destroyed the it's six Piercer spawn that fought with it. Sir Dawnstar careful cuts out the Ropers eyeball... as a trophy. 1 Roper Eye. No immediate use. Can be crafted (alchemist’s supplies) into a Potion of Darkvision (grants darkvision out to 60ft for one hour) or carefully crafted (alchemist’s supplies) into a Potion of Spider Climb (grants the ability to climb difficult surfaces, including ceilings, without needing to make an ability check). The party heads back to the entrance and makes camp there for a long rest... (Sir Dawnstar/ Thineli/ Ellalan/ Yeusof) and at the end of the 6th hour...Just as the rest was about to be over.... Something happens.. Cliffhanger!!!

Kill Count=(5xCave Spider)+(2xSpider Swarm)+Roper+(5xPiercer)

Exp=(5x10)+(2x100)+1800+(5x100)=2550/6=425 exp. Exploring the troll lair +50 Exp each, Frog almost getting eaten by food +50 exp, Sir Dawnstar not setting off or falling into traps +75 exp, Ellalan feeling empathy with the smart Troll +25 Exp.

Current Exp Totals are: Ellalan 13282, Lord Fatty 11641, Thineli 14191, Yeusof 11993, Sir Dawnstar 9939. Kendell 3458, Frog 1815. Frog will be level 3 at the start of the next session, Thineli can level to 6 when he has a long rest (or 4 more hours of rest).

Campaign Recap for 11/03/20

 Playing: Ellalan (Julie), Lord Fatty (NPC:Aaron), Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John), Yuseof  (NPC:Julie), Frog (Keiran).

Ellalan parked her two wagons at the stable. These are narrow wagons (about 3 ft by 8 ft long) that can fit though the main marked paths of the Under Temple area and what merchants use. Each can hold about 400lbs and can be pulled by a beast or man, worth 50gp each. This happened after the battle with the Hobgoblins and Bugbears, just keeping track of where they are.

Frog rents a room at the tarven. He than drags a naked headless hobgoblin body through the now silent tarven up to his room. The bar tender shakes his head, "That boy just ain't right in the head...". Frog then starts chopping bones out of the corpse, planning to make a necklace... Thineli goes to the Lemental King, doesnt see the bar singer, the bartender tells him Morgo wants to see him about the armor he is making from the Stone Lizard scales and Kendell is off hunting spiders., Morgo tells Thineli that he can make Studded Leather with a resistance to either Piercing or Slashing damage for 600 more gp. It will take 15 days. Thineli picks slashing and it will be eagerly waiting for it. This was ordered on the 20th of Grentle. Frog finishes chopping up the body in his room to gather bones.. and then goes somewhere to boil the bones....Thineli checks the board front of the chief's house. "Trolls 75gold per head, Magic Spiders 25gp per head, Bugbear Bandits KILL! 2gp per head! Hobgoblin Bandits 3gp per head!" Ellalan studies Linan Slates for 5hrs that day, being studious in her room (12hrs down/48hrs needed). Sir DawnStar asked Kunaxx for his GreatSword enchanted on the 16th of Grentle (it should be ready on the 25th). City guards check on Frog boiling his bones. Frog actions strange but isn't being anything really illegal so they ignore him. Frog gives the broth the homeless and poor peoples. At his house, Lord Fatty conducted a ritual with the orphans, giving them each 300exp so they are now lvl 2 sidekicks. this cost him 450exp.

Long rest. Today is the 21st of Grentle. The party of Thineli, Ellalan, Yuesof, Frog, Sir Dawn Star and a reluctant LordFatty (NPCed by Aaron) goes to hunt trolls. Thineli convences Lord Fatty to join the group, instead of teaching his children. Thineli leaves the baby owlbear in the care of Lord Fatty's orphans.. The party remembers the way to the trolls, Sir Dawnstar will lead the group on this two leg journey, first to the area of the spiders and then further to the lair of the trolls. Each leg is 6 hours. They make it to the area of the spiders with no difficultly. They see the tunnels are full of webs and maybe spiders and so decide to travel around the area. Sir Dawnstar gets confused in the unknown area and leads the party into various dead ends and cul de sacks, wasting 2 hours of walking around. At the end of that they are once again looking at a web clogged tunnel.... Ellalan, Thineli and Yuseof all at the same time see a small round sign, scratched into a flat piece of slate...Written in crude crude common letters that are just barely legible are the words: "This our tunnel.. stay out or be food" Realizing that going that way would be a bad idea, Sir Dawnstar leads the party away from the spider area.... and five hours later, when they are roughly an hour away from the troll's lair... They are wandering through a twisting section of caves when Thineli and Yuseof both hear footsteps coming from up ahead. The party hides and waits to see what is approaching.. A man steps into their view about 70 feet away and yells out "Who goes there? Be ya friend or foe?". Lord Fatty used his shield Bless, Thineli his camoflague device and Ellalan a climbing potion. The party tries to sneak forward, till Sir Dawnstar steps into view and yells "We are friends! We are adventures seeking trolls!" The rest of the party stays hidden as Sir Dawnstar conducts the parlay..The party has encountered a group of men and others patrolling from the town of Hartsong. After some talk the groups part ways.. The patroller seem to have a favorable impression of Sir Dawnstar. The party travels the last hour to the troll caves.. they seem abandoned, though the simple traps they had are still in place and catch Frog in a spiked pit. Ellalan makes a discovery..trolls pile their shit against walls... and that troll poop stays moist for a long time. Frog and Ellalan dig into the huge pile of troll bedding.. most of it is disguiesting filt, but Ellalan finds a rotted coin purse with with 26gp in various kinds of coins...Ellalan suggests hiding and ambushing the trolls in their toilet. but the idea is flushed down the toilet...ba dum dum. Frog searches the shit piles catches an infestation of bitting grubs (diease) and has to be cured by Sir Dawnstar laying on hands.. Frog investigates a boney corpse (bandly) sees a Carrion Crawler and fires a Chromatic Orb at it.. Missing and starting the combat..It is a small herd of Carrion Crawlers (50. At one point Ellalan is almost downed by the Crawlers, paralyzed and poisoned but is saved by Sir Dawnstar using Lay on Hands to cure poison and heal her. They quickly kill the Crawlers and then....Cliffhanger!!

Kill Count=(Carrion Crawlerx5)

Exp=(450x5)=2250/5=450 exp. Exploring the troll lair +50 Exp each, Sir Dawnstar parlaying +150 exp, Lord Fatty ritual with orphans -450 exp.

Current Exp Totals are: Ellalan 12782, Lord Fatty 11166, Thineli 13716, Yeusof 11518, Sir Dawnstar 9389. Kendell 3458, Frog 1290. Frog can level to 3 when he has a long rest.