Campaign recap for 09/21/2021

 After action for 09/21/2021.

Playing: Kerian as Meltara, Aaron as P’wox, John as Shadow Wolf and Rumo as Frostbeard Battlehammer.

The dates in the Campaign are: Starting  on the 1th of Howper, ending on the 2st of Howper. Year is 2663.

No game last week (09/14) due to having to work overtime.

Picking up where we left off. Frostbeard investigates the door and sees it has a trap on in, a mystic rune of some kind. Frostbeard and Jolene work together to detrap the door to the next area, harmlessly setting off the elven fire trap. Entering they see the walls of the t-shaped corridor is adorned with rich painted murals of Elven heroes fighting various creatures and beings. There are various battles, some of the murals have a small area that in like a finger slide and will animate the scene for a second or two. There are a few scene of humanoid enemies that seem like vampires. Few humans in the scenes, mostly Elves and similar. There are two doors at the ends of the east west corridor. Frostbeard unable to pick the lock on the west door so  Shadow Wulf pries it open with his crowbar. He sees a room filled with debris and some shiny trade goods. He starts searching through the rubble and 2 mins later he finds a comb made of carved bone (worth 5gp). Meanwhile Frostbeard and Jolene are talking off the side about something (GM- Romo had an emergency at home and left the game for 30mins or so). P'wox goes and investigates the east door and notices a trap on the lock of the door. Leaving Frostbeard and Jolene at the door, P'wox and Gelgres head to the trade good room to search. Shadow Wulf searches for 2mins and finds a well oiled and preserved pelt (4gp). P'wox searches 2mins and finds a  worn smooth worry stone worth 6g, Greles searches 2mins and finds a brass mug with intricate jade inlay worth 4gp. P'wox decides to try the detrap the east door, exposing a poison needle. He then can't unlock the door. Meltara beats open the east door with his mace. Seeing the iron sarcophagus in the center of the room the other leave and Meltarra opens the heavy lid. A ghost of Princess Shael appears and possesses Meltara. Lonnie stares and then runs away. Everyone runs out of the tomb except for the possessed Meltara, who is screaming in ancient elven. Thought trapped in his own body Meltara uses his Mind Link to communicate with the ghost. Meltara manages to convince the ghost to leave but had to promise to tell the tales of her kingdom etc. Knowledge was left implanted in his mind. The princess leaves and tells Meltara to take the items in the sarcophagus. Meltara takes jewelry worth 200 gold and a Elven Longsword, called Balare, a magical weapon that requires attunement with the properties of Dark  (This item is of such deep black color that it seems unquenchable by light, allowing the owner to ignore the first 5 points of radiant damage received once per turn) and Guardian (This item whispers warning to its bearer, granting a +2 bonus to initiative if the bearer isn’t incapacitated). Meltara walks out with the items, telling the others "this is mine." P'wox and Gelgres go to the trade good room to gather all the unruined items (19 items worth 64gp in total), this taking them an hour. Meanwhile FrostBeard goes to the Bulute and harvests the Bulette Tendon successful. Than he harvests a Bulute Claws. P'wox finishes searching the trade good room and heads to the Bulute to take the Bulutte's Headplate. And Shadowwulf takes the last Bulette claw. Finally after 2 hours of harvesting and searching they leave the lost tomb. Head to Farmer Doolish and tell him the mission is complete. P'wox tells him of their adventure and all the combat. Doolish is so impressed that he gives them 30gp and 2 healing potions, telling them he will have his slaves chop up and drag out all the corpses to be used as fertilizer for the new field. P'wox keeps one of the potions and gives the other to Shadow Wulf. They then head back to the warehouse, time is around noon. They tell Grandpa of their adventure and their need for master craftsman. Grandpa directs them to a master armorer, (dwarf male) Brumdur Steelbreaker, a master weaponeer, (half orc male) Magamar and Master Bowyer (a half elf female) Maretrana. He gives each of them a token so they can speak to the masters directly. Shadow Wulf goes to Magamar's forge. Speaking to an apprentice, Shadow Wulf finds out it will cost him 40gp and 2 weeks to mastercraft the dagger. He dicides to give the claw to the smith instead. This so impresses the smith he will work at cost for SW's next project. Meltara practices his silver lute. P'wox goes to Brumdur Steelbreaker. It's a busy shop, with a human apprentice trying to act like a dwarf. P'wox makes a good impression. Brumdur tells him it will take 5 days to make the shield and he will push his other work to the side for P'wox, P'wox also buys a new shield for Gelgres, for a total of (5x8gp)+7 for the shield=47gp. Frostbeard goes to Maretrana, who has a shop made from a live tree in a small field. No good impression made, she tells him it will take 6days to make and she needs 2 days to finish what she is working one so 8 days till ready. and 6x10= 60gp for the task. Frostbeard pays and leaves. Everyone returns to the warehouse for food and a Long Rest, Frostbeard leveling to 4.

Kill Counts=Ghost of Princess Shael (Convinced to leave without a battle).

Exp is 1800/4=450 exp base.

+100 Investigating the first door (Frostbeard), +50 Prying open the West door (Shadow Wulf), +50 Detrapping the East door (P'wox), +50 Smashing open the East door (Meltara), +100 Convincing the Ghost to leave without a battle (Meltara).

Current Experience Totals are: P’wox 7913, Elkas 6744, Solaris 6491, Meltara 10110, Shadow Wulf 8441, FrostBeard Battlehammer 3558. Elkas will be able to level to 5 when he takes a Long Rest.

Campaign recap for 09/07/2021

 After action for 09/07/2021.

Playing: Kerian as Meltara, Aaron as P’wox, John as Shadow Wolf and Rumo as Frostbeard Battlehammer.

The dates in the Campaign are: Starting  on the 1th of Howper, ending on the 1st of Howper. Year is 2663.

Loonie tries to stabilize Jolene and fails with a 1, giving her a failed death save (1/1). Jolene makes her second save (2/1). Gelgres stubbs the zombie his rapier (for 9HP!) but the 1hp zombie refuses to die!! But then is is fried by the moonbean and falls to ground a undeadless husk. P'wox uses Lay on hands for 9 pts to Gelgres and shield bashes and smites a zombie. Jolene fails the death save (2/2) (bites nails!) Jolene makes her last death save and is stable. P'wox destroys the last zombie with a shield bash and divine smite then moves up and attacks the last skeleton warrior with a sword thrust and divine smite but the skelly warrior sacrifices his shield to take the damage. At end of four rounds the undead are destroyed, P'wox moves the moonbeam onto the dead Bulutte just in case. Meltara heals Jolene (back to full for 6hp). P'wox and Gelgres are searching the room of the dead Bulutte and piecing together what happened (A Bulutte was nesting here and it accidently broke open the tomb, resulting in a battle. The zombies latter starting tunneling out when they heard digging and walls being broken above them). P'wox uses Lay on Hands for 4 pts to Gelgres and 10 pts to Meltara. FrostBeard goes to the dead Bulette and examines it.. realizes some of it is harvestable. Three main things harvestable, made difficult by the decay and rot..1xBulette Head Plate. Acts as a shield. Can be carefully crafted (smith’s tools) into a shield +1 that grants its wielder tremorsense out to 10 feet while holding it. 2xBulette Claws. Act as daggers. Can be crafted (smith’s tools) into daggers +1 that require attunement, and can cast Jump once per day on a creature they are attuned to. 1xBulette Tendon. No immediate use. Can be carefully crafted (weaver's tools) into a shortbow +1. When attuned, Once per day, on a hit, the target must make a DC 16 Strength or Dexterity saving throw (target's choice) or be knocked prone. Meanwhile Shadow Wolf returns to the farmhouse and finds the party gone on without him. He rushes to the field and into the tunnel arriving as the rest of the party is looking around the broken tomb. They explain what happened so far. They find a large sealed door in the first room of the tomb! There is much pushing against the cemented closed door to the tomb. FrostBeard uses his mason's tools to chip and break away all the cement and then uses his thieves tools to pick the lock in the center of the door. there is a click as the door is now unlocked. Meltara opens the door and then something tries to claw him, then something frightens him and makes move back. Gelgres tries to close the door and fails. Shadow Wolf moves forward and slashes a Ghoul Acolyte. In the room are two Ghoul Acolytes and an Elder Skeleton, the Elder Skelton comes out and fights the party. The Elder Skeleton critically strikes Gelgres but Gel sacrifices his shield to avoid the damage. P'wox hits the Elder Skeleton with a divine smite 2nd lvl and Shadow wolf hits it with two arrows. The two Ghoul Acolytes use Restore Undead on The Elder and it keeps fighting! It uses its Dreadful Glare on P'wox paralyzing him and then starts carving him like a cooked bird! FrostBread scores a crit on it weakening it and tells Jolene to charge in! Jolene races in and lands a critical blow with her borrowed short sword, destroying the Elder Skeleton! One of the Ghoul Acolytes comes out and tries to Toll the Dead on Gregles but it fails and it is cut apart by arrows from FrostBeard. Shadow Wolf and Buddy charge into the room to destroy the last one. As the rest of the party enter the room they see there is another door leading from this room... Cliffhanger!!

Kill Counts=3 zombies amd 3 Skeleton Warriors (P'wox, Meltara and FrostBeard) then 2 Ghoul Acolytes and an Elder Skeleton (P'wox, Meltara, FrostBeard and Shadow Wolf)

Exp is (3x50)+(3x100)=450/3=150exp and then (2x450)+700=1600/4=400exp 

+50 First to check the Bulette for harvest (FrostBeard), +50 breaking open the door using tools (FrostBeard).

Current Experience Totals are: P’wox 7413, Elkas 6744, Solaris 6491, Meltara 9510, Shadow Wulf 7941, FrostBeard Battlehammer 3008. Elkas will be able to level to 5 and FrostBeard will be able to level to 4 when he takes a Long Rest.

After action for 08/31/2021

 After action for 08/31/2021.

Playing: Kerian as Meltara, Aaron as P’wox and Rumo as Frostbeard Battlehammer.

The dates in the Campaign are: Starting  on the 1th of Howper, ending on the 1st of Howper. Year is 2663.

Meltara appears at the scene just as we return. He is curious how this job is going. The other fills him in on the details. As P'wox investigates the area where the zombies appeared, he finds a trench that leads underground. After investigating the zombie bodies, FrostBeard and Jolene discover that all of them are wearing similar clothing. Searching the zombie's pockets and pouches yields eight silver. Frostbeard discovered that this was a fashion worn by servants in an empire that ruled this part of the world about 300 years ago.

P'wox checks the ghoul acolyte and determines that this is an undead priest. Meltara looks at the ghoul acolyte and realizes that this creature has continued worshipping a god even after death.. Gelgres investigates the skeleton warriors and sees they are also dressed in a similar fashion and were possibly guards or something.

They head back to the farm’s house to see if they can take a rest till morning. The farmer listens to their story and gives them a place to stay. P'wox levels up during the night. FrostBeard spend 100exp and turns Jolene into a lvl 1 Expert Sidekick.

That morning Shadow Wulf is missing and P'wox and Gelgres are both asleep and will not awaken even when shaken. After about 20mins P'wox awakens...

The party heads back to the trench they had discovered and climbs down into the hole.. they find themselves in a hand clawed tunnel leading deeper and deeper. There is no light in this tunnel. FrostBeard determines that the tunnel was clawed out of the hard packed dirt by skeletal and zombie hands. On the uneven ground P'wox takes a nasty fall, stretched out on the ground for 5hp. Both Frosty and Jolene fall on the uneven ground. Following the sloped and curved tunnel then enter into a huge roughly circular room with a ripped apart and decomposing body of a Bulette towards the center, surrounded by scattered Undead arms, legs, head and torsos. This seemed to have been a major battle. The tunnel the Bulette had dug in from is to the north and collapsed. As the party takes this in, three zombies stagger towards them from behind the Bulette.. as they fight them, three Skeleton Warriors come from the south, where they can see some stone walls that have been knocked down by the Bulette (?). The battle starts and in the first round, Jolene's tattered sword breaks, forcing her to steal one of FrostBeard's short swords. Meltara summons a Spiritual Weapon. Lonnie's bow string snaps, leaving him unarmed. One zombie refuses to die and Jolene Jolene goes down surrounded by undead OH NO! She makes the first death save. Two of the Skeleton Warriors are downed. P'wox summons a Moonbeam. And we end at the top of the round! Cliffhanger!!

Meltara's Spiritual Weapon has been up for 2 rounds so far, 3rd coming. 

Kills and Exp will be figured after the next session.

-100 Exp for FrostBeard to make Jolene his sidekick.

Current Experience Totals are: P’wox 6863, Elkas 6744, Solaris 6491, Meltara 8962, Shadow Wulf 7541, FrostBeard Battlehammer 2358. Elkas will be able to level to 5 when he takes a Long Rest.

Creature Looting Rules

 

If the players were fighting the creature and killed it in combat, they must make the appropriate check in order to claim the loot. Items that were carried and just found on the body, no rolls required.

• Beast/Dragon/Monstrosity/Plant: Nature check
  
• Giant/Humanoid: Survival check
• Celestial/Fey/Fiend/Undead: Religion check
• Aberration/Construct/Elemental/Ooze: Arcana check

This represents the type of knowledge required to successfully identify the valuable loot on the body. Character doing the check must have proficiency in that skill or they roll with Disadvantage. Only one check is allowed per creature.

Loot Claim Check 

• CR   DC (all items) DC (half items)    Injury (this or lower)
• <5      10                         5                        7
• 6-10     15                         10                      12
• 11-15   20                         15                      17
• >16     25                         20                      22

This represents the PCs ability to gather the items without harming them or hurting themselves and to find the useful or rare within the unusual or rare internal structure of the creature. It might be difficult to harvest a demon heart when their blood is like acid and you just stabbed the fell beast a dozen times. On a half harvest result, check as normal and half results of items found. Time to make the Check is 3d4 minutes - INT or WIS Modifier.

If an injury occurs, all involved (roller and anyone helping) take CRd3-CR (so for CR 1 or less, 1d3-1, for a CR 5 5d3-5).

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Beasts, Dragons, and Plants can also provide a certain amount of rations:

Ration Amounts

Size Days of Rations (1 person)   

Tiny                 1d2-1                                   

Small         1d3                                    

Medium         1d4                                    

Large         2d4

Huge         3d6

Gargantuan 5d6

Time to butcher the creature is 1d6 minutes per ration. So if you butcher a Large creature and roll 6 rations, roll 6d6 to see how many minutes that takes to gather.

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Some items are not usable until they have been crafted into a usable form. The following terms are used throughout the list:

Crafted. A PC or NPC must spend a number of hours equal to the creature's CR using the listed tools to create the new object. The crafter must be proficient in the listed tools. NPCs may charge gold for their services.

Carefully Crafted. A PC or NPC must spend a number of hours equal to two times the creature's CR using the listed tools to create the new object. The crafter must be proficient in the listed tools or be a wizard studying the listed school of magic. NPCs may charge gold for their services.

Mastercraft. Must be created by a PC or NPC who has dedicated themselves to the use of a particular tool or school of magic. This means at least a +7 to rolls with that task. This is unlikely to be a PC, meaning they may have to carry the loot into a city to get it crafted. The crafter must spend a number of hours equal to 6-10 (2d3+4) times the creature's CR using the listed tools to create the new object. NPCs may charge gold for their services.

A CR 0 creature's crafting can be completed in 1 minute, or multiple minutes for careful/master crafting.

Certain items require Alchemist's Supplies to craft. If the item has a beneficial effect OR if the item is from a plant creature, it can also be crafted with proficiency in a Herbalism Kit. If the item has a malignant effect, it can also be crafted with proficiency in a Poisoner's Kit.

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Some modifiers that will be applied to certain pieces of loot:

Cheap/Tattered. This item has been is a crudely made version or damaged as a result of its owner’s death. You will need to spend gold to repair it or upgrade it, equal to half the cost of a brand-new version of the item. (e.g. a tattered shield would cost 5GP to repair, since a new shield costs 10GP). These loots can usually be sold for 25% of book value to a interested merchant.

Vial. Any item described as a vial must be collected using a flask, vial, bottle, waterskin, or other liquid container. If a container is used to collect multiple different types of liquids, refer to the "Mixing Potions" table (DMG pg. 140)

Treasure Hoard. Roll on the listed Treasure Hoard table (DMG pg. 137-139)

In Lair. These items only appear if the creature is in its lair when it is fought, and the PCs have the time to search the lair after the fight. Depending on the type of lair, the DM may call for additional checks to find this treasure.

For what can be Looted from Creatures I tend to use Creature Loot 53 (https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-L9zV7_eIrs3bqQ_cNd5)

In my game, most 'evil' races (i.e. the monsters that raid and control dungeons) will be using tattered (will break on a natural roll of 1-3 on a d20, repairable after 15mins and a skill check), poor quality/cheap (looks like crap, most will not like it) and worn (will need to be maintained between battles, 10min to do, or disadvantage with use) equipment. Each of those conditions half the value and used equipment is sold for half value at best. 

Campaign recap for 08/24/2021

 After action for 08/24/2021.

Playing: John as Shadow Wulf, Aaron as P’wox and Rumo as Frostbeard Battlehammer.

The dates in the Campaign are: Starting  on the 66th of Grentle, ending on the 1st of Howper. Year is 2663.

The party is at the Noble House of Balaban celebrating the return of Alime. Lord Balaban has sent runners to nearby and not so nearby houses and nobles line the tables before long. The characters tell their tales of how the rescue happened and their parts in it. Somehow during the tales, Gelgres' part seems the greatest, followed by Shadow Wulf. Loonie, P'wox and then FrostBreard. At the end of the party various nobles give gifts of coins.. Gelgres receive 75gp, Shadow Wulf 50gp, Lonnie 25gp and P'wox 10gp. As a party the group has the 50gp Toygar had given them and given them another 50gp on top. Lord Balaban also gives the group another 100gp. P'wox splits the 200 gp by 4 - 50 gp each to P'wox, Meltara, Frostbeard and Shadow Wulf.. There are no rooms left in Balaban Manor as there are drunken nobles to be put up so Lord Balaban asks them to take their leave. He asks them the name of their Adventurer company..this results in a lot of discussion (Shadow slavers, P'Wox's Punch, Magnificent Seven, Ass Defenders, Shadow Bain Marie, The Vengeful, Bloodhound Gang, Bloody Swords) After much debate and random roll for who give to name them, ShadowWulf states we are called the Bloodhound Gang! They go back to the Reign of Peace Warehouse and take a Long Rest, Shadow Wulf leveling up. Frostbeard goes to the market and then to the slave market, buying Jolene (an unremarkable slave, human female) for 6gp. They then go to the adventurer guild and get the job with the farm having undead troubles. The farm is in the SW corner, the Doolish farm. Walking there, by the time they arrive there is about 2 hours of sunlight left. They meet with Genor Doolish, master of Doolish farm. He describes the situation with the zombie field, which is plowed land (difficult terrain, 1/2 movement), and somewhat covered with half grown crops (light cover from ranged attacks +2 def). They head there and find five zombies in the 'safe' field, which is the field south of the area being expanded into. At the north edge is a partially disassembled wall, about 3 ft, which the Asuim farmers use to mark territory. When the wall was moved past the undead showed up. There is a long fight with the five zombies (Buddy savages the zombie but it refuses to die. Lonnie shots with it with his short but it is still moving! Jolene hides and screams!) The party  destroy the zombies and then move past the wall. Using Divine Sense P'wox can see the location of the undead laying on or just under the ground and having cover of the half grown plants. Three zombies, three skeleton warriors and a ghoul acolyte arise and fight the party (GM: At this point there were a lot of problems with chat and this combat sucked and took way longer than it should have). The party triumphed. FrostBeard tells Jolene Time to upgrade from a dying torch to whatever this dead guy used. All Hail!! Jolene the Gladiator!! Jolene picks up one of the skeleton warriors tattered longsword and shield. We end at this point for tonight, But where are these undead coming from? What evil has the farmers awakened? Cliffhanger!

Kill count is 8 Zombies, 3 Skeleton Warriors and 1 Ghoul Acolyte 

Exp is (8x50)+(3x100)+100=800/3= 267 exp (P’wox, Shadow Wulf and FrostBeard)

+100 no horrible incidents at the party.

Current Experience Totals are: P’wox 6747, Elkas 6744, Solaris 6491, Meltara 8962, Shadow Wulf 7425, FrostBeard Battlehammer 2342. Elkas and P’wox will be able to level to 5 when they take a Long Rest.

Campaign recap for 08/12/2021

 After action for 08/17/2021.

Playing: John as Shadow Wulf, Aaron as P’wox and Kerian as Meltara and Rumo as Frostbeard Battlehammer.

The dates in the Campaign are: Starting  on the 66th of Grentle, ending on the 66th

First thing in the morning, Shadow Wulf goes and buys a Longsword from Alfostoick Pebblebuckle, paying 12gp. When he returns P'wox gives his HP boosting speech giving everyone +6hp boost. They then go to Hikmet, the scholar. He is told of the monster's appearance and behavior, believing it to be a Fay Guardian. A Fey Guardian is a Fey creature summoned to protect a person by ancient Elven ritual and is very expensive to have done (if you could find a person to cast it).

Frostbread believes he has heard the name Toygar Daha sometime recently. Possibly from another rogue. (GM: But doesnt follow up this obvious clue). They return to the Noble House of Balaban and ask to see her room. But the room has been cleared out and her personal items are in storage. They then question Alime's personal slave, Merve, who is now working in the kitchen. She lets them know that on the night Alime went missing she had left with a bunch of jewelry (that Toygar had given to her) to go and purchase a bridal gift for Toygar. She thinks that Alime went to see the grey witch. Shadow Wulf goes to see Hikmet again and asks about the White Witch..Hikmet knows nothing about a white witch. Shadow Wulf changes that to the Grey Witch and Hikmet says that's just a slave tale. P'wox asks Lonnie about the Grey Witch. He tells them she lives beyond the north field and has been known to heal and help slaves with health problems. Lonnie thinks he might be able to lead them to the Grey Witch. Heading to the end of the north road, and then walking up the trail toward the city of Titake. Lonnie leads them to a hidden hut off the tail. Meltara runs up to the door and knocks. (GM: Meltara acts brash and impulsive so the Witch casts Friends on him. He makes his save.) The party speaks to the Grey Witch and she tells them of the night Alime came to see her. P'wox gives the Potion of Chair to the Grey Witch in return for knowledge. She tells of the ruined elven temple in Thel Faldir, and how they must bribe, talk or fight their way past the four fey temple guards to talk with the temple spirit. Temple guards are Fey wolves that speak elven and fey. Can be bribed with meat or liquor. If killed, they return at midnight. Inside the ruined elven temple is Lysanthir, the guardian spirit. The Gray Witch says she once had a dalliance with him, but that was long ago when she was young and beautiful. It can be reasoned with, bribed with gold, jewels or art or fought. but it is old and quite powerful. They quickly return back to the city and to Toygar's jewelers to tell him what they know. Toygar provides several bottles of wine and 50gp to buy some art. They go to a butcher that sells them some cuts of meat, charging it to Toygar. They go to the House of Balaban and speak again to Alime's father. He hears their story and gives the the following items to give to the Guardian: A strange marble vase, inlaid with glass, An old bronze bowl, inlaid with brass,An old limestone pendant, set with a banded agate and A sturdy granite figurine of a fox, set with a beryl. He lets P'wox know he will get his revenge if he is being tricked. It is now around 3 and it will be dark if they head towards Thel Faldir now. They debate amongst themselves and then head off to Thel Faldir in the fading light. Shadow Wulf leads them towards the temple following the ancient elven paths. Moving slowly and carefully through the woods, they get to the temple as the moon breaks through the clouds. The Fey wolves challenge them  as they near the temple.  They seem a  rough uncultured lot for Fey creatures.  They ask how will you go past us? what will you give us? The party gives them the wine and meat. The wolves quickly grab it and walk off the path in front of the temple, drinking and eating.  The party watches them for a while till one of the wolves tells them, "Hey! Didn't you want to go see the guardian?"  they entered a small ruined Temple,  the place seems to have an aura of great age.  They see  a beautiful high elf of indeterminate gender flitting about the place.  When it sees them flounces over to them, speaking in a mocking teasing voice. Lysanthir the guardian spirit  explains how Alime  pledged everything she had brought with her to the creation of the Guardian spell and look there she is trapped in the magic circle powering it.  The party asked if she'd be set free and give the art pieces that were provided by her father. Lysanthir grabs the strange marble vase, smiles mischievously at them and quickly eats it like a cookie, with loud crunching noises and perfect bites. Then the bronze bowl.  Daintily wiping his/her lips, Lysanthir snaps their fingers and shatters the spell. She is confused about how much time has passed and what happened. The party escorts her back to the city. They bring her first to Toygar,  who is overjoyed to see her and then  all of them head towards her father's Noble House.  The father is also Overjoyed to see her there was a huge feast held for their honor and this is where we ended.

Kill count is 4 Fey Guardians and 1 Temple Guardian (All Bribed).

Exp is (4x100)+700=1100/4= 275exp (P'wox, Shadow Wulf,  Meltara and Frostbread)

+400 following most of the clues of the mystery, +300 freeing Alime.

Current Experience Totals are: P’wox 6380, Elkas 6744, Solaris 6491, Meltara 8962, ShadowWulf 7058, FrostBeard Battlehammer 1975. Elkas and ShadowWulf will be able to level to 5 when they take a Long Rest.

Campaign recap for 08/03/2021

 After action for 08/03/2021.

Playing: John as Shadow Wulf, Aaron as P’wox and Kerian as Meltara, Julie as Solaris, Jose as Elkas and Rumo as Frostbeard Battlehammer.

The dates in the Campaign are: Starting  on the 65th of Grentle, ending on the 65th

When the group wakes the next morning, Solaris and Elkas return in the same mysterious way that they left. One second not there and the next there. They tell their story...They found themselves in an area of mist, as far as the eye could see. After standing there for a few moments they saw a figure approaching them. A tall genderless figure wearing a long hooded cloak, that shifted from white to grey to black and then back again. Solaris recognized the figure as her god Karma. Solaris rushed to him and hugged the figure but it seemed like she was hugging a statue in a robe. Karma started speaking, asking if she had forgotten what he taught her. Solaris said she had not and had been living by the rules he had taught her. Karma asked about the two her and her party had freed from being slaves. Solaris and Elkas said it was better for them to be free than to be slaves so they had been helped and were working at the warehouse. Karma told them they have no experience not being slaves and will be used and taken advantage of by most they meet. Then he asked about the fire in the woods they just watched burn. There was some back and forth before Solaris said she thinks she should see about getting another god to follow. Karma said if that is what you wish and released her from his service. He then told Elkas to remember the warning he received about his brother as his encounter with him was fast approaching. And then they were at the camp with the party. Two days had passed for the party but only moments for Elkas and Solaris. Solaris decided if she is no longer a cleric, she is gonna go dark and look for a warlock patron. Both Elkas and Solaris seemed unsettled by what had just happened and immediately left and headed back to Asium, leaving the others standing there. The remaining party members (P'wox, Shadow Wulf, Meltara, Gelgres and Lonnie) debate about going back to the ruins and heading back to Asium. After a while a group of heavily armed and armored goblins demand that they leave the forest. "Despoilers! You must leave the forest!" Shadow Wulf can see there are goblin snipers hiding in the woods. So they go back to the city. They have some plan about asking for aid against the demons from the Dwarven stronghold, Vorngrum, in the mountains to the north but they know next to nothing about dwarfs. They head to the scholar section of the city and encounter Frostbeard's noisy face.. who has been possessed by loud spirits! He vanishes as quickly as he came. Hikmet the scholar takes them to meet Grurmam Treasurecoat, a dwarven scholar at the Institute. They try to find out if the dwarves would give them armor and weapons for their battles against the demon invasion. The dwarf tells them the stronghold runs no charity operations and they can always find work on farms. They head to the Adventurers Guild and see three jobs available: a farm having problems with restless dead, a person being stalked by some unknown demon (?) that shows up at night and a group on ettercap is keeping a field from being used. The first job is ranged D and worth about 15gold. The second job is ranked B and worth 60gp. and the last pays 5gp per ettercap head. The 2nd job: Toygar Daha is a jeweler. He thinks he must have handled some cursed item cause something keeps trying to grab him at night forcing him to hire guards and sleep in lit rooms. They investigate and find out that this has been going on for almost a year, about the same time his fiance vanished. His ex was named Alime and was of the Noble House of Balaban. There was another suitor called Vadin, but he died being an adventurer over six months ago. Thinking the missing Alime is somehow involved they convince Toygar to wear the ring and the hat for his wedding and wait for the creature. The creature appears, Toygar tries to talk to it and nothing happens.. then they burst into the bedroom and it attacks P'wox. They attack it.. the merchant runs out and the creature fades away. P'wox notices that the creature did not try to attack Toygar.  The party heads back to the Reign of Peace warehouse to sleep and the next morning will go to the Institute for more information. At the warehouse Frostbeard Battlehammer is there.

Kill count is 1 Mysterious Creature (driven off).

Exp is 700/3=233 exp (P'wox, Shadow Wulf and Meltara)

+400 Meeting a god in a demiplane (Solaris, Elkas), +150 Arguing with her god (Solaris), +100 Being kicked out of the woods without fighting (P'wox, Shadow Wulf, Meltara), +100 Pretty good investigating of haunting creature (P'wox, Shadow Wulf, Meltara), +100 kind of showing up (Frostbeard, who was bumped to 3rd lvl).

Current Experience Totals are: P’wox 5405, Elkas 6744, Solaris 6491, Meltara 7987, ShadowWulf 6083, FrostBeard Battlehammer 1000. Elkas will be able to level to 5 when he takes a Long Rest.

Campaign recap for 07/27/2021

 After action for 07/27/2021.

Playing: John as Shadow Wulf, Aaron as P’wox and Kerian as Meltara.

The dates in the Campaign are: Starting  on the 64th of Grentle, ending on the 65th

In the morning they eat get ready to explorer the ruins. Heading east they find the remains of a paved road. that leads to the ruined center of the town. Meltara explores one of the ruined shops and finds some scraps of brass. Rest of party on guard on the road.  Exploring the ruins... Lots of nothing.. Shadow Wulf finds a small bottle of wine. Then in a room in the ruins of the town hall (?) two skeletons and a zombie burst out of the debris of the room and attacked Meltara. The rest of the party rush in and they quickly destroy them. The head across the street to the large circular ruins (library? museum?) and are ambushed by five skeletons hidden under the leaves and rubble, which are joined by a spector. Meanwhile Meltara, who was heading towards a different building hears noise from a boarded up well. He rips the wood off the well and drops a rock in to it. A Lesser Water Elemental bursts out of the well and heads towards him. P'wox hit by the Spector for 14hp and then fails the CON save, lowering his max by 14! Meltara Inflict Wounds at 3rd lvl on the Lesser Water Elemental for 32 HP! Really pissing it off so then the water elemental slammed and Whelmed him.. knocking him out and drowning him inside it. 1st successful and then the elemental keeps drowning him for two fails. Shadow Wulf and buddy go over the wall to attack the water elemental attracting it's attention. Shadow Wulf's arrow and Buddy's bite do some damage, so it spits out Meltara and then slams buddy and whelms him, missing Shadow Wulf. P'wox runs out of the ruined building and manages to heal Meltara enough to awaken him. This forces the elemental to retreat back into the well it came out of. Gelgres finishes off the last skeleton in a fierce one on one battle Meltara searches the ruins of the library and finds in the area where one of the skeletons popped out of a Lyre made of silver (worth maybe 60gp?) Bard personal items (4) worth 1d6 gold each. Before leaving the ruins, P'wox gives an inspiring speech (giving Gelgres, Loonie, SW and P'wox +6 temp HP). They head back to their small camp, P'wox checking for traps (poorly) and then sit around telling stories and drinking till nightfall. They are shaken by their near TPK. It seems as if a voice is whispering to them from the wind... giving them bad advice and telling them to do unwise things. As night falls they set watchs, P'wox and Lonnie,Shadow Wulf and Buddy and then Meltera and Gelgres. The first watch passes without incident. During the second watch a talking raven questions Shadow Wulf and asks his motives. It warned of undead and a corruptor of nature... During Meltara and Gelgres' watch two Ettercot discover the party, try to trap Meltara (to carry away) but are discovered by the party.. Shadow Wulf shoots arrows at them as they retreat and wakes a group of five Giant Wolf Spiders. The party kills them with only SW going down. The forest comes alive with the sounds of spiders moving and shifting but no more attack.. This extends the Long Rest by 2 hours.. We will pick up the next morning.

Kill count is 7 Skeletons, 1 Zombie, 1 Spector, 1 Lesser Water Elemental (driven off) and 5 Giant Wolf Spiders. 2 Ettercots attacked and left themselves (so half exp for them).

Experience is (7x50)+50+200+700+(5x50)+(450x2/2)=2000/3=667 each 

Good team work battling in the ruins +50, Talking to the raven +50 Shadow Wulf.

Current Experience Totals are: P’wox 4972, Elkas 6344, Solaris 5941, Meltara 7554, ShadowWulf 5650, FrostBeard Battlehammer 510.

Campaign recap for 07/20/2021

 After action for 07/20/2021.

Playing: John as Shadow Wulf, Aaron as P’wox and Kerian as Meltara.

The dates in the Campaign are: Starting  on the 63th of Grentle, ending on the 64th

P'wox takes Gelgres as a sidekick. He spends 700exp to level him to 3 as a Warrior (Proficiency in DEX saving throws, Acrobatics and Perception, Attacker, Second Wind and Improved Critical) and +1d6 to DEX for 200exp (+4 to DEX) for a total 900 exp from his P'wox' Exp bank. Meanwhile at the Forest., Elkas and Solaris have vanished. Shadow Wulf and Meltara try to figure out what happened to them but there seems to be no evidence. Just the footprints they stood in and gone. SO they shrug and head back to the city... 9 hours of rapid walking and avoiding everything and they are back at Asium. P'wox heard a message from his god during the binding ceremony and realized he needed to rejoin the party. So he and his sidekick walk to Asium. It takes a few hours but is without incident. Going to the Reign of Peace warehouse in the merchant district, P'wox meets up with Grandpa and Grandma once more. He meets with Shadow Wulf and Meltara shortly after this and they tell him how Elkas and Solaris vanished. Grandpa tells P'wox they have a deal with Alfostoick Pebblebuckle, a smith that runs a smallish weapon shop nearby. He gives 25% off to members of the Reign of Peace. P'wox buys Gelgres a rapier, and 20 darts in a bandoleer. The group then heads back to the ruins near Molloda Forest to look for Elkas and Solaris. As they are walking on the road between the NE and SE farms they hear yelling and the wacking of wood on flesh. Heading over to see what is happening they see a wagon with 12 slaves on it and a rope line behind it with 10 more slaves that are tied by the hands to it. Most of the slaves on the line looked battered and bruised as if they've been dragged. In front of the wagon a slave was beaten by his owners for disobeying. P'wox saves the slave (Lonnie) from the owner by paying the slave for 6 gold. "Thank you for buying me mister dragon, my name is Lonnie" "Ohno I am going to be eaten." They take Lonnie with them and continue walking for another 2 hours and then.. Entering the forest, they approach an ambush by 5 bandit bowmen. Shadow Wulf spots them and then a quick battle happens. The bandits are all killed without any attempts to find out why they were there. As a group the bandits had 25 silver pieces total, 5 tattered shortbows. 13 arrows total. Shadow Wulf recovers all but one of his arrows used. Lonnie given a shortbow and arrows, Gelgres given a shortbow. Returning to where they had last camped, they explain to P'wox what happened. Just as they said, Solaris and Elkas are gone without a trace.. but when P'wox investigates he finds someone(s) had been fighting the fire at the spider nest. He finds one or two boot prints in the ash.. smaller than human. They return to their previous camp by the boulders and set watches for the night. Meltara and Gelgres, P'wox and Lonnie and finally Shadow Wulf and Buddy. During P'wox and Lonnie watch P'wox hears branches and twigs swishing in the breeze and them moving after the wind stops... Waking the others, Shadow Wulf and Gelgres look out into the night and see a ring of blights about forty feet away from the campfire. Shadow Wulf shoots at one and the battle begins. The party destroys a group of six twig and four needle blights that come shambling out of the darkness... Even though it is a group of ten blights no one goes down. The rest of night passes without event.. so they finish a Long Rest. The morning after the battle Shadow Wulf thinks about the blights actions. He realizes they shouldn't have acted the way that they did, they don't form ranks attack and  in fact they are repelled by the campfire. He examines the campfire and sees that it was disturbed, it is not the same camp fire he built a day ago.  The ground has been dig up and covered. Digging in, he finds blight seedlings that were almost ready to open, now cooked by the nearby fire. The seedlings had been calling for help from the other blights but they were repelled by the fire. This was set as a trap! But who? And Why? Cliffhanger! 

Kill count is 5 Bowman Bandits, 6 Twig Blights and 4 Needle Blights

Experience is (5x25)+(6x25)+(4x50)=475/3=158 each

Making Gelgres his sidekick -900 P'wox, Worrying about equipping Gelgres +100 P'wox, Saving Lonnie +50

Current Experience Totals are: P’wox 4262, Elkas 6344, Solaris 5941, Meltara 6837, ShadowWulf 4883, FrostBeard Battlehammer 510.

Meltar levels to 5 during his Long Rest!

Note: Tattered Weapons break on a roll of 3 or less on the d20 to hit. This requires an hour to repair (can be done while others take a short rest).

Campaign recap for 07/13/2021

 After action for 07/13/2021.

Playing: John as Shadow Wulf, Julie as Solaris, Jose as Elkas and Kerian as Meltara.

The dates in the Campaign are: Starting  on the 62th of Grentle, ending on the 63th

P'wox has been proselytizing at the hidden warehouse since the rest of the party left three days ago. Most of the workers ignore him or tell him they aren't interested. The second day one of the younger workers, a boy named Gelgres, listens and asks questions. Gelgres is always cloaked even in hot weather and seems somewhat mysterious. He reveals to P'wox that he is a Tiefling and was named by his mother after his father. By the third day, Gelgres is interested in becoming a follower of P'wox's faith and P'wox has the opportunity to gain a sidekick. 

Meanwhile many miles away, in the woods of the Molloda Forest..

Going over the boulders, they build a small campfire and set up watches. four watches of three hours each. Solaris and Shadow Wulf, Elkas and Meltara, Meltara and Solaris and finally Shadow Wulf and Elkas. Solaris hears something moving beyond the fire's light during her watch but the night is otherwise quiet. The party gets a Long Rest. In the morning they see scavengers eating the dead spiders. One of the carasses has been half carried. Elkas wants to back track the spiders to their nest to look for loot. Elkas finds the path the hunting spiders had taken and also sees that there are other breeds of spiders in the webs in the trees above that aren't threatening as their webs are not being distrubed. Ten mins of tracking and they find the nest where the spiders originated. It is a big 40 by 25 ft jumble of dead trees, about 15' high with an entrance on top. The whole thing is basically a tinder box as the spiders had packed it with dried grass and leaves. As the spiders had packed it with dried grass and leaves, it is basically a tinderbox. There is much debate about setting up some kind of track for the spiders that might be in there, something to injure them or pin them as they come out. After a few minutes of debate, Shadow Wulf says he will scout the interior of the nest.   He climbs to the top and goes inside. He has to stoop a little bit as the tunnels are wide but lower than human height. Having dark vision he can see easily in the  There is only a single curved path in the nest, he passes two man sized egg sacks, crawling with hand sized spiders and then sees the last Giant Hunting Spider resting at the tunnel's end next to another egg sack. He gets as close as he can without alerting it and then leaves the nest to report back. When he returns there is again debate about what to do. Meltara decides to go into the next, scrambling noisily up the side of the nest (awakening the spider) and then heading in the near pitch back tunnels with no light source. He narrowly misses the egg sacks but then the spider attacks him. Elkas and Solaris both charge in after him, also no light sources (though Solaris has dark vision). Shadow Wulf decides to wait outside and do nothing, just standing there with buddy. When Solaris saw Meltara fighting with the spider she unleashed a Scorching Ray at it. Two of the three rays hit it, doing a lot of damage to it. But the third strikes the wall behind it and immediately goes up in flames. Since this nest is, as said before, pretty much a tinderbox, the flames will spread rapidly. (Note:  this is where the party kind of fell apart. I feel bad for them since they have no idea how to fight fires and will probably all die if they ever find themselves in one. All I kept hearing was how they had no magic to fight fire,  except for Elkas who figured out he did).  Meltara killed the spider with Inflict Wounds then ran out behind Elkas, Solaris left the nest and stood next to Shadow Wulf. (In RL Solaris' player had a personal emergency so had to leave). Elkas used Control Flames to snuff out an area of fire but it was spreading faster than he could snuff it out without help.  So he abandoned trying to control the fire and went further into the nest to the area where the spiders usually ate their prey. He started searching among the dried bones and rotted skins, seeing that there were some humanoid artifacts scattered there.  Searching as the fire  spread to more and more of the rear and left side of the nest he found a Dungeoneer's Pack (with a broken strap) and a small case with Jeweler's Tools inside, before the smoke and flames drove him out.  They moved away from the now burning spider's nest, kind of standing around clueless. (Ended here as players had to deal with personal emergencies).

Kill count is 1 Giant Hunting Spider (the three eggs contained Spider Swarms but they fled rather than interact with the party).

Experience is 200/4=50 each

Exploring the spider nest +50 Shadow Wulf, Keeping to the mission of getting treasure +50 Elkas

Current Experience Totals are: P’wox 4854, Elkas 6344, Solaris 5941, Meltara 6629, ShadowWulf 4675, FrostBeard Battlehammer 510.

Campaign recap for 07/06/2021

 After action for 07/06/2021.

Playing: John as Shadow Wulf, Julie as Solaris, Jose as Elkas and Kerian as Meltara.

The dates in the Campaign are: Starting  on the 62th of Grentle, ending on the 62th 

They move across the once plowed field getting closer to the two barns at the edge. One barn looks like it had been hit by lightning at some point in the past and burned mostly down. The other barn is very weather beaten but is still standing and something is blocking the doorway into its interior. Solaris casts the light cantrip on to Meltara's crossbow bolt that he then shoots into the door of the still standing barn. The bolt passes through what seems to be a heavy curtain made of old fabric and animal furs. Shadow Wulf walks around the barn, finally going inside. The interior is lit by the glowing bolt and he can see lots of mushrooms. Apparently the Bullywugs are using the barn to grow edible mushrooms as he can see lots of footprints in the small paths between the mushroom beds. He goes deeper and is surprised by a carrion crawler that was hiding in a half collapsed stall. It paralyses him but Buddy jumps in to defend him before it eats him. Hearing the scuffle the rest of the party charge forward. They burst in and fling spells at the creature before Solaris kills the carrion crawler with a critical Guided Bolt! Shadow Wulf, seeing Buddy is near dead, spends a spell slot and takes a minute to heal Buddy to full. They try to investigate the abandoned manor house and are attacked with Bullywug spears when they get too close. Elkas realizes this is their home and persuades the rest of the party to retreat from it. Moving on, another 3 hours of walking and they get the ruins of the logging town. While still on the outskirts of the ruins, Solaris hears noise from the left of her. She halts the party... They listen and prepare for an ambush. Four giant hunting spiders rush out of the foliage but not getting surprise on the party. The spiders have a simple method of hunting, they bite a target and then try to carry it away to eat. Meltaras is bitten and grabbed, then Elkas. Solaris weakens the one holding Elkas with a Scorching Ray and Meltara crisps the one holding him with Inflict Wounds, killing it. Shadow Wulf wounds the one on him and then it critically bites him, knocking him unconscious in it's jaws and so it starts carrying him off. Elkas is bitten near to death but Meltara Spares the Dying on him. Solaris Healing Words Shadow Wulf, waking him in the grasp of the spider. He stabs it and then it bites him unconscious again. Meltara casts Cure Wounds on Elkas, awakening him. Then Elkas does a long range Magic Missile barrage at the spider carrying off Shadow Wulf, killing it before it can consume his near dead body. They gather together and kill the last spider fighting Solaris and then she Healing Hands Shadow Wulf awake once more. At this point it is about 3pm. Elkas spends  two hours and pulls six giant spider fangs and gathers 11 rations from the corpses. While he is doing that the rest of the party takes a short rest (Solaris spends 2 Hit Dice. Meltara spends 2, Shadow Wulf spends all 4 Hit Dice). Having exhausted most of their spells, they realize they need to camp and hold up till the next day.  Shadow Wulf quickly scouts the nearby areas and finds a small cluster of boulders they can make camp at... as night closes in, they realize they are in a very dangerous situation... Cliffhanger!!!

Notes: They can collect the spider webs they see in the trees.. but the spiders that attacked were not tree dwelling. They also may want to backtrack to the hunting spiders nest. Each member of the party was almost eaten by a spider! YAY!

Kill count is 1 Carrion Crawler and 4 Giant Hunting Spiders. They will also get an Experience Bonus for the Bullywugs they realized they did not need to fight with (10x Bullywugs, 2x Bullywug Champions and 2x Giant Toads).

Experience is 450+(4x200)+((10x50)+(2x100)+(2x100)x0.25)=1500/4=375 each

Convincing the party to avoid the Bullywug fort +100 Elkas, Good use of Magic Missile for last second save of Shadow Wulf +25 Elkas

Current Experience Totals are: P’wox 4854, Elkas 6244, Solaris 5891, Meltara 6579, NightWolf 4575, FrostBeard Battlehammer 510.

Campaign recap for 06/29/2021

 After action for 06/29/2021.

Playing: Shadow Wulf (John), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose), Meltara (Kerian)

Date in Campaign is: Start at 61th of Grentle, ending at 62th 

Picking up where they left off.  They had to be Adventurers Guild trying to find another job. The job that catches their eye is the Branko farm to the Southeast of the city has a burrowing monster in it's south field and is paying 30 gp to have it killed or driven off. The party decide they should not bring Eaghan and Mekica (not wanting sidekicks for some reason) and leave them at the warehouse under the tender mercies of Grandpa. They walk to the Branko farm (which takes about two hours).  They meet the owner of the farm, who tells them about the horrible creature stalking his field and about the few slaves it ate. Everything he, his family and slaves did was  ineffective and the creature only stopped fighting once it was full of dead slaves.  He has a slave that was on the scene that can draw and shows a picture of the creature, which is a Bulette.   The party cautiously sneaks up to the field where the monster is rampaging. Shadow Wulf takes the lead and is almost bitten in half, but they drive the monster away and force it to retreat before it eats him. Only funny scene was Solaris trying to use her Radiant Soul to bust out my wings and lift up Shadow Wulf and herself to a tree, but ended up flapping on the ground like a bug that had been slapped. After a few minutes with no attacks they carefully climb out of the trees and check to see if it is gone. Shadow Wulf believes it is gone. Solaris finds and burns its nest. Back at the manor house they tell of how they drove it off. Branko pays them 30gp.

They each take 7 gold with 2 left over for the two freed slaves. The chewed up party heads back to the merchant quarter and the warehouse. The party goes to have dinner at the Flame Metal Bar. And then go to the Reign of Peace warehouse. There they find out that Eaghan is learning to be a brewer and Mekica is working at the bar and selling hugs. The party decides that this should work and gives Eaghan and Mekica the last two gold and wish them well. (Their saga will be told elsewhere). The party takes a long rest.  The next morning the party is trying to figure out what they should do for the next two weeks. Shadow Wulf buys a Lesser Healing Potion from an alchemist for 25gp. They decide to walk to the ruins near Molloda Forest. No one asked but it is a failed logging town that was overrun by the creatures that live in the woods. Three hours of walking gets them to the edge of the farm lands that surround the city. Another hour and they find an abandoned farm in some marshy area. They investigate and send Buddy in for recon. Buddy goes towards the house and comes back with 2 spears stuck in him.

Shadow Wulf looks at the spears and realizes it is Bullywogs. CLIFFHANGER!!!

Kill count is 1 Bulette (driven away).

Exp is 1800=1800/4= 450 base

Solaris flapping like a bug hit by raid +50, Abandoning Eaghan and Mekica +0.

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 4854, Elkas 5744, Solaris 5516, Meltara 6204, NightWolf 4200, FrostBeard Battlehammer 510.

Sidekick rules

Humanity and other races are made up of mostly zero level creatures, but there are 2 other types: Fixed and Levelers. A Fixed being starts at a random level (usually 2 d4 (on a 4, add 4, then re-roll that die, up to the limit of the campaign setting)) and stays at that level forever. Levers started at level 1 (2 if PCs) and have the potential to go up in level, giving greater stats and more ability slots through Experience points. Experience points (or XP) are gained through training and killing monsters, as well as consuming Mana Crystals. Fixed do not gain experience points or level up. Sidekicks are a loophole in these rules.  A Leveler shares some of the experience that enters their body with another being they have bonded with. The bonding is an 8hr ceremony that can take place during a long rest. The Lever can then send a portion of their EP total, that hasn't been used to level themselves up to the sidekick. 

Sidekicks follow the 3/3 rules. Regular NPCs are gone if not saved by next turned after being downed.

We will be using the Tasha's cauldron rules for sidekicks (pages 142 to 147) with the following changes. Whatever level they enter the story at is the level they will stay at. A PC can mentor a sidekick and funnel EP into the character to level it, alter stats (at first level) and be taught special abilities. Sidekicks can also be trained at the rate of 25exp per week (this training requires their mentor to be training with them).

Cost to level is from 0 to 1, 100exp, 1 to 2 +200exp, 2 to 3 +400exp, 3 to 4 +800exp, 5 to 6 +1600exp, 7 to 8 +3200exp, etc. Hp at level zero is 1d4 (3Hp). Hit Dice for sidekicks is usually D6.

Cost to modify attributes +1d4 to an att is 100exp, +1d6 to an att is 200exp, +1d8 to an att is 400exp. Only 1 die per attribute and only at 1st level. If the mentor is not satisficed with the roll they can reroll for the same exp cost and keep the higher roll. (optional: Attribute modification for sidekicks at levels 2+, multiple the cost by level, so +1d6 at level 4 is 800exp per roll).

Cost to learn a special ability depends of the cost the PC paid to learn it. Sidekicks can't teach special ability. 

Campaign Recap for 06/15/2021

 After action for 06/15/2021.

Playing: Shadow Wulf (John), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: Start at 60th of Grentle, ending at 61th

Start of the next day, P'wox announces that he had a dream from his god that he should stay in this area and gather converts. Meltara says I need converts too.. or something like that and decides to stay with P'wox.

Shadow Wulf takes the Lesser Healing potion and Solaris takes the 3 Minor. Not that a Minor healing does 2HP, and a Lesser does 5HP. Waving goodbye to P'wox and Meltara the remaining characters continue on with the wagons towards Assium. Travelling slowly along the rutted path to Assium, 3 hours later the wagons are halted as a few crows are seen circling over something off to the left...Shadow Wulf goes first, seeing two dead Ogres being eaten by murders of crows. Getting closer he sees they were killed by numerous small arrows, the type used by goblins. Looking at the footprints, Shadow Wulf determines that there were at least 20 twenty Goblins fighting with 5 Ogres, the Ogres retreating from the Goblin archers. They seem to have come from the south and all the survivors have gone to the north, north east away from Assium. A search of the bodies show anything metal or of value had been taken off the Orges. Solaris says "I don't want to get involved in a Goblin vs Ogre war!" (she is totally exaggerating because she isn't used to real life outside the temple. They return to the wagons and report their findings. 

Another hour plus slowly passes and Solaris sees signs of something off to the east. Shadow Wulf sneaking up to it and finds an abandoned Goblin camp. Finding tracks of Ogres that attacked camp, heading off to the north (where the Ogre corpses were found). Searching some tents still standing, finally spending an hour to systematically search the entire camp,  the following as found: An empty wooden barrel (2gp), a blue candle (1gp) and a handaxe. Solaris (Julie):I take the blue candle because it is pretty and I like to pray.

They walk back to the wagons, tell of the goblin camp. Grandpa says they were about to go see if they were in trouble, having spent over an hour on a quick investigation. It has been 5hrs since leaving the warehouse.

About 6 miles from the city, walled in giant fields, walled with small stone walls (3 ft high), with vast numbers of slaves working the fields, with armed watchers both watching the slaves and looking for creatures attacking. Typically 1 armed slave per group of 12-20 (lower numbers farther from the city). Almost everyone wears grey. Solaris (Julie):I use the mending cantrip to fix any of our clothing that was damaged in our adventures so we look presentable going into the BIG city. Solaris has big wide eyes looking at everything. The party sees some young freeman from the city buying the 'services' of halfway attractive slaves, paying a few coppers to the slave and the watchman. Solaris (Julie):Solaris is so excited when she realizes people can get paid for hugs!!!! (She is completely naive and innocent!) They pass a burnt out field, some slaves dragging bodies to be burned, armed freemen chopping off heads of corpses and looking for undead and demons.

The wagons turn onto the Camsee plantation, slowly rolling up to the manor house. Lots of people of various races and sexes working the fields, most are wearing grey. As they get to the main house they see it is a large mostly one story building, though there are also basements they didn't see. This is a big plantation manor, lots of slaves, very slave holding.. the family seem nice enough people except for the whole slavery thing.

The head of the family is Camsee (Human Female), she has four daughters Lelise ,Mirqee ,Kumii and Bifani and two sons Elemo and Iree. It turns out the Male of the household died over two decades ago, all the children of born freed slaves. Camsee picked the 'best' slaves to father her children, four men Asmund, Calcote, Yveno and Closse. Solaris sees and tells Shadow Wulf and Elkas that grandpa is trading stuff from the wagon that we never saw. Grandpa tells Shadow Wulf about buying a slave that knows how to fight as an idea of increasing their combat power. But nothing is available at Camsee's plantation. After a longish meal that was quite enjoyable they head back onto the road to the city, now just 3 miles away. The guards at the gate question and check the wagons, looking for demons and undead. finding nothing they let them in. They head to the merchant section of the outer city and goto the warehouse of Reign of Peace.There are friendly faces that greet the group. Grandpa tells them they can stay with them for the two weeks the wagons will be here before heading back or wandering about the city. They can return with them back if they want or go their own way, he warns them about what not to do in Assium.

Paying for their services. started on 51st of Grentle (Shadow Wulf joined on 55th of Grentle) arrived on the 61st, He pays them 1.5gp per day or 15gp each, except for Shadow Wulf who is still in debt for having him rezed (for the moment we will say is owns them 150gp-(6x1.5=9gp)=141gp). The party of Shadow Wulf, Elkas and Solaris decide to goto another tavern in the area. The taverns that Elkas can see from the warehouse are: The Laughing Triangle, The Limping Sea, The Superb Bachelor Pub and The Metal Flame Bar. They go to the Metal Flame. The Metal Flame seems to be an place that Adventurers and Body Guards go to. A small bar, maybe seating for 30 with 12 people inside. It is dark and dingy with a dirty floor kind of charm. Shadow Wulf tries the Ceter Ale, Solaris has Sweet Mead and Elkas has Bitter Ale. Assium is known for their various types of ales, meads, baked goods and sweets. The party at the other table came from Thespyra another city by the shore. Exchanging information, They are called the Order of Hounds.. they encountered demons and crystals/ Swarm Masters:come from tiny portals and find swarms of insects to control and make humanoid bodies. after drinking and eating at the Flame Metal they head back to the warehouse to sleep. The next day they head towards the Scholar section of the outer city and the center of higher learning is known as the Institute. At the Institute (of knowledge), Elkas wants to see the headmaster but it's stymied by one of the local scholars, Hikmet the scholar. Hijinks ensue. They learn the milky crystal the bees were building is believed to be some kind of portal to bring over large items and or creatures from the invading dimension. Shadow Wulf is uneasy in the large confining city and they are all unsure about their feeling about all the slaves. They go back to the warehouse and tell Grandpa they are going out of they city to hunt for meat and adventure but will be back to leave with the wagons in two weeks. They rent a small 1 axle wagon from the Reign of Peace for a gold piece a week. Wagon will hold up to 250 lbs of stuff and they will use it to carry their kills. Shadow Wulf invests in two stacks of arrows. 

2.5hrs to get out of the farming area and start hunting.

Zero Combat Exp

+50 Investigating the Ogres, +50 Investigating the Goblin Camp, +50 Meeting the Camsee Household, +50 exchanging information with the Order of Hounds, +50 Learning at the Institute, +50 Solaris thinking about selling hugs (Solaris)

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 4854, Elkas 4944, Solaris 4666, Meltara 5179, NightWolf 3400, FrostBeard Battlehammer 510. 

Insight checks and what they mean

 Sometimes when a character is talking to an NPC, I as the GM will ask for an Insight check. This means his passive Insight noticed something as I'm trying to determine what or how much. This does not mean the rest of the party should start making rolls or even being suspicious of anything cause they aren't involved. Also if the players ask for insight checks without a good reason, I check what their passives are and tell them "well, your passive of XX didn't notice anything so far. Did you have some reason to think this person is lying to you?" and the player will have to pretty quickly come up with a good reason to ask. Only the successful character knows results, not the whole party. They need to separate this knowledge or you need to make it secret. They can't really share the information without looking like jackasses. RP accordingly. In addition, I will pretend to roll for deception when they roll insight, and then say something vague like "Yeah, they're absolutely convinced of what they're saying." Or "They're hard to read."

Think about what a successful Insight check means - it's not a "lie detector" in the sense of the PCs knowing the truth on the spot. What they can sense is someone's attempt to bluff or deceive - assuming they're doing so deliberately. With rolls that high, in fact, you may owe them better and more specific information that "you think they're lying". High Insight rolls should give actual (brace yourself) Insight into the subject. It's not just "they're lying". The NPC's body language and face should be giving away why they're not being honest.

"They seem to be holding back, afraid to reveal details."

"While you're sure he's definitely lying, you're equally sure he's terrified of something worse than your threats."

"You sense that they're leaving quite a bit out, largely because they seem to really dislike you and don't want you to hang around."

"They're clearly making up most if not all of the details, but they do seem genuinely distressed over something."

Don't forget about red herrings as well.

The nervous merchant prince, who is worried the recently assassinated king might hurt his business.

The spymaster who thinks the party is just as guilty as they think he is.

The head priest who can't stand the sight of blood.

And the King's brother who is worried someone might find out about his affair with the king's wife.

In reality though he simply choked on a bone.

Successful Insight should reveal cues and feelings of things, not the truths themselves. There's a spell for discerning truth. If that's not cast, they don't get to know truth/lie.

Insight checks to discern an NPC's honesty are one of the prime candidates for the DM to make the roll for the players, out of their view. The players should not know whether "She seems earnest and forthright" means they rolled a nat 20 against an honest person or a nat 1 against a liar. (But since I like to roll in the open we aren't going to do that.)

Note: most of this (if not all of this) is from another blog or a reddit post but this was so long ago I forget where and who. Sorry about that.

Campaign recap for 06/07/2021

 After action for 06/07/2021.

Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Meltara (Keiran), Shadow Wulf (John), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: Start at 60th of Grentle, ending at 60th

Note, the game was switched to Monday for this week. As this week's episode starts none of the others have seen where Meltara has gone. Solaris is still searching the barn looking for anything of value but finds nothing. Meltara, having moved into the field, is attacked by three swarms of bees. Covered in bee stings he disengages and runs out of the field chased by hordes of bees. The party finally sees him and the bees and open fire. It's a long fight and almost everyone is stung by bees but no one is brought down by it.  Seeing that once a swarm has emerged from its hive, the hive is more or less empty they attempt to burn some of the empty hives with negative results.  For future information just holding a torch to something we usually do not set it on fire unless it is highly flammable. Solaris takes a "Sample'' of honey from a hive to see if it has any villainy or crystal energy juice in it."I know nothing about honey but I am hoping to find a wizard.'' The party makes plans to get to the crystal towards the center of the field except for Meltara who has run to the far side of the field and refuses to get closer to the bees.  Their plan was to draw the swarms of bees from the still active hives one at a time and defeat them as they came closer to the crystal. P'wox gets to the crystal, sees it looks different from the other crystals being a milky white and there are bees working on it as he watches. He smashes it with his mace, destroying one of the two maces he carries and finally smashes the crystal. Then P'wox is covered in 3 swarms of bees and goes down! And right after the crystal was shattered! On his death save..OH NO! DOUBLE FAIL! Buddy tries to assist and is stung so many times he he is destroyed. Solaris brings P'wox back to consciousness and he manages to smite a swarm and the rest fall soon after. After fighting a total of 9 swarms of bees. P'wox and Shadow Wulf going down and Buddy being destroyed they finally leave the field of bees. Meltara carefully investigates the barn and reconstructs the murder of the farmer by the demonic cow. During his search he finds a bronze Ornate Letter Opener (worth 4gp) wrapped in cloth in the one of the farmer's pockets. Solaris is happy we destroyed the crystal. Sad we didn't find the two guys, Tomas and Raek. Elkas goes and takes a small chunk of the bee crystal, totally to study it and not make a deal with the demon bees. He takes the shards and puts them in his pocket. The party leaves, heading back to the warehouse... (leaving behind all the treasure...). Shadow Wulf gets back and talks with Grandpa. They all tell their stories to him. Solaris and Elkas don't mention Elkas's crystal shards... (GM rubs hands evilly). Looking the bees, P'wox providing some bees from under his armor. Shadow Wulf sees these are different, smarter bees and Elkas believes them to be extra planar from a different plane. Solaris thinks to herself, "I have alien bee honey...I am never eating or selling this!!!!" Grandma/Nightingale returns from checking out the bee farm and gives the party the treasure they missed in the main house..(41 gp in assorted coins, 3 gems worth 10 gold each and 1 Lesser Healing and 3 Minor Healing potions). Further information she turned up; Farm belonged to Duncan Onion and his wife Lisa. Both their ripped up bodies are there.... and a third unknown person. Solaris takes a healing potion and says if no one takes the others she will hold them all. They all eat at the main fire and then sleep in the warehouse, Long Rest. Shadow Wulf levels up.

Kill count is 9 Swarm of Bees.

Exp is 9x50=450/5=90 base

Breaking the crystal +100, Not investigating the main house +0, Investigating the extradimensional bees +50 (Elkas and Shadow Wulf). 

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 4854, Elkas 4696, Solaris 4366, Meltara 5179, NightWolf 3150, FrostBeard Battlehammer 510.