Riddle of the Raven Queen

July 1, 2018, 10:38 am

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A few new DMs Guild adventures came out in the past month and I'll be running all of them on my Twitch channel. Last night, I finished running the first of these - The Riddle of the Raven Queen.

The Raven Queen has always been mega-popular, so I think it was a good idea to make this. Fun fact: The Guide to the Raven Queen I wrote years ago still gets read all the time. I think it's because of Critical Role.

So, what's this adventure about? Is it good?

The Story: An elven settlement has been getting attacked by bands of drow. An important member of the community, the Starsinger, has been abducted. The heroes need to get the Starsinger back.

The heroes look for clues and track the drow back to their lair in the forest. But they don't find the Starsinger - they find a shadar kai.

The shadar kai explains that his people abducted the Starsinger because the Raven Queen wants to bask in her sorrow (the Starsinger's family was recently killed). The shadar kai helps the group get to the Shadowfell.

There, the group must navigate the village of Broken Dreams, pass some tests, and then go deal with some agents of Vecna. Once the agents of Vecna are dealt with, the raven Queen will hand over the Starsinger.

The beginning was OK. When preparing this section, I had a bit of a hard time understanding why the Starsinger was so important to anyone. The elven village was pretty interesting.

The drow lair was fun enough. The entrance guardians were very cool, and I liked the room with the cells in it. My group actually walked into the drow barracks. Just opened the door! A dozen drow got ready to attack, but one hero quickly used magic to collapse the ceiling on them.

That worked out good for me, because when running a streaming game, I don't like too many fights/drawn out fights. A battle against 12 drow felt like a waste of time to me. We had two hours total, and I wanted to finish chapter two by the end of the session, so the collapse was perfect.

The idea for the collapse partially came about because the adventure does a great job of making each locale unique - much is made of the low earthen ceiling in the drow lair.

Once the shadar kai is rescued, he can get the group to the Shadowfell. I'd have liked a bit more detail on the ritual.

Then we get to chapter three - the Village of Broken Dreams. I LOVE this chapter. We are given about 5 small encounters in the streets, and three tests that the Raven Queen puts the group through.

The Curse of the Evergloom: Every hour, each hero must make a saving throw against the evergloom of the Shadowfell. If you fail, you lose one trait: A bond, flaw, or ideal!

I love that so much. Bonds and flaws are things that don't come into play much at all, but here, they're put to great use. The Shadowfell slowly steals away everything that makes your character who they are!

There is a way to block this: Touchstones. Characters can declare items as symbolic touchstones - things that represent who they are. For example, there's a character everyone calls "Mistletoe" in my group. He wears a crown of Mistletoe. He decided to make it a touchstone. As long as he has that touchstone, the Shadowfell cannot steal his bond from him. Each character can have four touchstones, with one representing a flaw, bond, trait, etc.

Touchstones have value because of this! People will try to steal them! The Raven Queen might even want them.

What was most amusing was that there's two heroes in my group - Ramrod and Asana. They have a budding relationship that the group likes to call: "AssRod." They declared each other as a touchstone. So then, if Ramrod was abducted somehow, Asana lost a touchstone and the Evergloom could potentially steal a trait away from him.

I love this whole idea so much. It worked great!

How to Win D&D: One mini encounter here involves an old lady's shop. I decided to use it to "win" D&D. How?

The group has been trolling me about shiftspice, a rare githzerai magic spice that I keep saying only comes in elaborate containers, but the players insist that it comes in "flavor packets".

I decided that in this store was a container of shadowspice - a spice that loses its magic properties if not in a glass container! It literally can not come in a flavor packet!

I gleefully rolled this idea out. At last! No more flavor packets! At least, not for shadowspice!

Then Lindy, who plays Asana says, "I have a glassblowing kit." No. No! It can't be!

She really did! The group was delighted. They could make glass flavor packets! How could this be?! Impossible, I say!

Anyway, the group went through the tests. Each test is meant to be tailored to the individual traits of the heroes, but I didn't do such a great job of it. Still, the encounters worked well enough.

The Raven Queen's speaker agreed to give the group the Starsinger if the group would retrieve a stolen mask.

The group was off to the lair of the Vecna cult. This is a tiny dungeon whose map was unlabeled for some reason. We were almost out of time so I removed some encounters. The final bad guy is a skull lord. The heroes were clever and able to cut a deal with him rather than have a big battle with him.

The heroes were successful and rescued the Starsinger! They were able to get back to the elven village. There, Ramrod surprised us all. He had written Asana a poem. I found it to be absolutely hilarious and now Asana and Ramrod are an official couple. They're a couple of classic characters, in my opinion, and I'm very much looking forward to running more stuff for this group in two weeks.

Overall: Chapter 3 is what makes this adventure good. It's definitely worth using if you're planning on having your group go to the Shadowfell for whatever reason.

This adventure most definitely needs an editing pass. I'm no stranger to typos and awkward phrasing, so I sympathize, but this book has a lot of little spots that need touching up.

I also think they should clarify the explanation as to how the group gets to the Vecna lair and the whole thing with the door to the fortress of sorrow. I didn't get it. Maybe that's just me.

So, it's not perfect, but the most important thing to me is good ideas, and this adventure definitely delivers in that department!

Here's the youtube videos of our playthrough. Part 1:

Part 2. In the final minute, Ramrod reads his poem. Best thing ever!

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Rivals of Waterdeep Episode 3

July 3, 2018, 1:10 pm

≫ Next: Hell's Belles Episode 2

≪ Previous: Riddle of the Raven Queen

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Rivals of Waterdeep - Episode 3: “Hide and Seek”

This episode is available on Youtube and as a podcast.

Aram Vartian - Dungeon Master

(Surena Marie) Ashborne - Half-Elf Ranger
(Carlos Luna) Nocnoc - Half-Orc Fighter
(Cicero Holmes) Perrin - Halfling Bard
(Tanya DePass) Selise - Human Paladin of Tyr
(Shareef Jackson) Shaka - Tiefling Warlock
(Brandon Stennis) Rinn - High Elf Sorcerer

The party are on the High Road, one day out from Waterdeep. Last time, they learned about a treasure that could buy Nightstone’s freedom from the curse left by Graz'zt. In the intro, the brass cube that Graz’zt’s cambion children both want used the art for a cubic gate. Curiouser and curiouser!

The Waterdhavian scout that is escorting the party is named Roland Holbrook. He is in love with a noblewoman, but doesn’t think he has much of a chance. Ashbourne says she could Cyrano de Bergerac it for him, but he politely declines.

Shaka checks in on Melody, the mayor of Nightstone, who is making note of her contacts in Waterdeep. She has a cousin who owns a hotel known as The Jade Rose, and she can probably set up a suite for them there.

As they continue traveling, Perrin spots a group of sixteen wood elves flanking the road ahead. Nocnoc recognizes them as his graduating class. Liatha, Nocnoc’s instructor at the academy, steps forward and says that the elders foresaw that he would not return from his last mission, but would find another calling in the process. She is here to deliver him a Dragonbane Arrow and a magical dart that can return to his hand after being thrown. These are the first presents Nocnoc has ever been given, and he feels like he’s experiencing every uncelebrated birthday all at once.

A bright red flare streaks across the sky, and Roland takes off towards it. Nocnoc recognizes this as a signal that something wrong is happening. Suddenly, a scream emanates out of Selise’s bag--it came from the Burn Book. A bookmark appeared on a page indicating a cabin just off the highway. They go to check it out.

Rinn and Selise knock on the door, and are let in by a guy who looks like an older version of the image in the Burn Book. He introduces himself as Naral, and welcomes them in. There’s a creepy boy drawing gaping mouths over and over again on a piece of paper. Rinn says “There’s something not right about that boy,” the father shoots him a look, “He seems really nice.” As they’re sneaking around the outside of the cabin, Nocnoc and Ashbourne see that there are two decapitated cats under the house.

Naral says that his son, Jeremy, witnessed his mother being murdered years ago when their caravan was attacked. Selise asks if she can try and help the boy. As she attempts to lay on hands him, Jeremy glares and grabs her hand. Selise sees an older Jeremy with his hands wrapped around her throat. Jeremy’s father scolds him, while Selise warns Naral that the things his son experienced affected him deeply. Selise and Rinn (amazingly!) give the father six gold--a huge amount--to help and support the boy! Naral asks if Selise can put in a word with the church in Waterdeep, as he’s been trying to petition them for aid for years with no reply.

Nocnoc leaves a mark near the house for his elven brothers, asking that they watch over this place. Aram gives him inspiration!

Roland returns and says that it was evidently a false alarm.

The party reach a large bridge over the Dessarin River. A scout on a griffin soars overhead and Roland salutes him. Ashbourne asks Roland if they have classes for that kind of thing, and the scout tells them that security at this checkpoint has been bumped up since they received word of what happened at Nightstone.

Two paladins of Lathander approach and make sure the party is on the up-and-up. They stop at Shaka and draw their swords, telling him to remove his hat. He does, revealing his horns, and the guards point out that “the touch of the demonic” is upon him. A woman with a black staff asks if she can search Shaka’s thoughts and make sure he is not in league with Graz’zt. Shaka notes that this is a violation of his rights, while Selise points out how unjust this is. Perrin offers to “take care of” the guards, but they give him a “Don’t even think about it” look. The wizard apologizes and starts probing Shaka’s thoughts. He realizes that she is going to find out about his patron and brings to the forefront of his mind the moment when he got his white robes--a very emotional point in his life, as he had worn nothing but tattered clothing up to that point. Suddenly... Shaka is standing alone on the road.

He turns to see a goldfish in a bowl sitting on a pedestal. Shaka realizes that the goldfish is his patron! Shaka can see the woman sifting through his thoughts, but this part of his mind has been cordoned off by a bubble. The goldfish leaps, and a large wave overcomes Shaka, burning his eyes. He sees in a puddle that his eyes fade to a smoky gray--he is now able to see in complete darkness! It would be absolutely hilarious if the Xanathar's goldfish, Sylgar, turned out to be Shaka's "Great Old One" patron.

The woman finishes and they are allowed through the checkpoint. The sun sets by the time the party reach Waterdeep.

Roland escorts them to the office of Laeral Silverhand, the Open Lord of Waterdeep. They fill her in on what happened. Laeral says that she believes there is a reason that they are involved in this matter, and gives them maps of Waterdeep and the chambers beneath it (including Skullport) before dismissing them. They are let out into the South Ward--a melting pot and hub for travelers. Mayor Melody takes them to The Jade Rose before everyone splits up and goes to one of the three nearby taverns.

At Gildrof’s Tavern, Selise and Nocnoc meet Gildrof, a female cloud giant behind the bar! Wow! Nocnoc feels like he’s in the giant’s dollhouse, and can tell that she’s absolutely thrilled to be socializing with these tiny little people. Gildrof is a follower of Lliira! She is amazed when Selise tells her about meeting an avatar of Our Lady of Joy. Nocnoc gets a t-shirt with Gildrof’s face on it, as well as a souvenir mug.

Shaka and Perrin head to the Rusty Nail, a known meeting place for the unsavory. The bouncer is intimidated by Perrin to let them in--he has a phobia of short people! Shaka buys Perrin a drink as thanks for getting them in. They learn that there’s a gang war brewing between the Zhentarim and the Xanathar’s Guild over the dragon hoard. The hoard once belonged to a lord who put all memories of the treasure’s location into a magical stone. The word ‘Golorr’ stands out to them as the only clue.

Ashbourne and Rinn go to a gambling hall called The Lucky Duck. There are three games: one with dice called Tymora’s Luck; one with cards called Abbathor’s Gambit; and one called the Run of Mersif (or Run of Luck when translated from Dwarvish) that involves lizards racing each other through a maze (tonight’s lizards are Pitterpatter, Fleetfeet, Flyswatter, Zoobers, and Tiny Dragon). They decide to check out Abbathor’s Gambit, which has a high-rollers table where people bet magic items instead of gold. Winner takes all. Rinn bets his staff. Rinn gets a 10 on his roll... his opponent gets a 13. OOF! The winner, an elf named Zor, says that he’ll return the staff if Ashbourne and Rinn tell him why they’re here. Ashbourne says they’re investigating crimes. Zor gives Rinn appraising eyes as he hands the sorcerer back his staff.

The party reunite. A kid throws a rock at them and runs off--Nocnoc, Ashbourne, and Rinn chase after him. They turn a corner and a half-orc archer on a rooftop fires an arrow into each of them. Rinn hits the half-orc with his crossbow, but the guy doesn’t even register the bolt through his leg as he starts to line up another shot. Nocnoc starts climbing the building and tosses his magic dart, piercing their assailant through the forearm. The rest of the party arrives. The half-orc sees this and sprints away over the rooftops. They try to give chase, but he’s gone!

Wondering who the heck the guy who ambushed them was, the party return to The Jade Rose, and Melody tells them that she was able to set up the meeting with Mirt the Moneylender for tomorrow morning.  If you want to watch Episode 4 where that happens, it’s already out!

Hell's Belles Episode 2

July 3, 2018, 2:07 pm

≫ Next: Rivals of Waterdeep Episode 4

≪ Previous: Rivals of Waterdeep Episode 3

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You can watch this episode right here.

They are playing through a classic Planescape adventure, The Great Modron March, converted to 5th edition.

The Party

DM Mazz

(Shauna) Levity - Tiefling Monk linked to Glasya
(Chloe Christine)Lyra - Tiefling Paladin
(Hadeel) Miga - Tiefling Rogue an urchin who lives by the sea
(Holly Conrad) Durge - Tiefling Bard college of whispers, member of the Dustmen
(Lysa Chen) Mercy - Tiefling Shadow sorcerer from Ravenloft
(TK Johnson)Gille - Tiefling Paladin
(Kayla)  Pentar - Tiefling linked to Zuggtmoy

A month has passed since the last episode. The group is living in the office building in the Clerk's Ward. S3-4N is folding laundry... packets..!

Gille is writing letters to his father. Durge is outside handing out True Death pamphlets to people on the streets of Sigil.

Lira has a dream - a message from her god. She's being directed to go to Arcadia.

The group makes their way through a portal to Arcadai. They bring S3-4N along. Miga wants him to dig in the sand. He does so, with his fork hand. They put mushrooms on him. Because she likes to clean things, Mercy polishes it off. This kind of thing happens every day, we are told.

Gille is sort of wondering why Miga, who is a little kid, is even with the group. She's an orphan, so the group has taken pity on her.

They dig up a treasure - a piece of cheese. Miga takes a bite. She makes her Con save. Pentar, a fungus enthusiast,  eats the whole thing.

Lyra leads the group toward a mountain. It is Mount Clangeddin - where the dwarven gods of battle live. Lyra pushes open a set of doors.

The group explores a bit and are attacked by two metallic snakes.  One snake bites Mercy and does 9 damage to her. Gille is bit - he's poisoned and confused.

S3-4N does a cool 5 damage with the fork. S34N actually kills one, which is awesome. Durge kills the other one, stabbing it through the head, Australian Outback style.

The group explores a bit and comes to a square room with levers on the walls. Levity pulls two levers, and a door slides open. Beyond it, there's a figure lying on the floor. It's a black dragonborn. He ate a mushroom and he got here... this is Pentar's doing.

Down a corridor is a marble arch. There's a pedestal with a crystal sphere on it.

They find a bunch of bones, and up ahead they see a shimmering mithral tankard. There are joyous dwarven faces carved on it. Levity approaches it - she can sense a magic aura around it.

After some study, Levity realizes that speaking a command word fills it with dwarven ale. It's basically an endless mug of ale. Perfect for Levity, who is a drunken master monk.

Lyra feels drawn to a nearby bowl. She senses that her god wants to talk to her through it.

S3-4N is walking around, on snake patrol. He looks up and starts poking at the bones. "What is dead?", he asks Durge. Durge enthusiastically explains that dead means "deactivated."

He asks Miga if she will deactivate. "No, probably not." He perks up and nods.

Lyra has a vision - she sees eyes in darkness. Her god tells her that it is impossible to divine the future. Soon, she will see nothing and will be nothing. This has something to do with Mercy.

Gille pulls Lyra aside and tells her that they are in a temple of Selune. Lyra thinks it was Savras who contacted her. Savras is a god of divination who sees all and knows all. He's often worshiped by spellcasters, and his symbol is a circle full of eyes.

Lyra is confused - she doesn't want to be linked to Savras. Lyra says she was an urchin as a child. Gille is a bit put off, coming from a noble family and everything.

Miga made a drawing with crayons. Hadeel did this in real life with real crayons. Her hands are dirty. She asks Mercy to clean them. Mercy enthusiastically does so, with prestidigitation.

That's where we stop! 

TK requests fan art of S3-4N fighting a burning snake.

Heyy! They gave me a shout out at the end! Sheesh, how lucky am I?

Overall

Fun show! Looking forward to seeing the group deal with a horde of modrons in the coming weeks. Levity with a mug of endless ale should be quite amusing.

Rivals of Waterdeep Episode 4

July 23, 2018, 3:17 pm

≫ Next: Rivals of Waterdeep Episode 5

≪ Previous: Hell's Belles Episode 2

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Rivals of Waterdeep - Episode 4: “Tricks and Stones”

This is a weird one, because, although this is the 4th episode, this session served as the premiere for the entire show at the Stream of Many Eyes! And boy is it a good one! You can find this episode on Youtube, and as a podcast.

Aram Vartian - Dungeon Master

(Surena Marie) Ashbourne - Half-Elf Ranger
(Carlos Luna) Nocnoc - Half-Orc Fighter
(Cicero Holmes) Perrin - Halfling Bard
(Tanya DePass) Selise - Human Paladin of Tyr
(Shareef Jackson) Shaka - Tiefling Warlock
(Brandon Stennis) Rinn - High Elf Sorcerer

Featuring Christopher Lindsay as Mirt the Moneylender
“Last time”, the party had arrived in Waterdeep in search of the treasure rumored to lie hidden in the city. They set up a meeting with Mirt the Moneylender to try and get the old merchant-lord to help them out. That’s where we begin...

Mirt tells the party that the mages of Blackstaff Tower have a scroll that they believe will reveal the location of the dragon hoard that everyone is looking for, but they can’t decipher it on their own. To even take a look at the scroll, the mages require a 100,000 gold piece fee! Luckily, Mirt is willing to loan them the money at a 50% rate. Perrin casts‘Suggestion’ on Mirt, who rolls a NATURAL 1 on his saving throw! He lowers his rate to 25%. The party takes it!

They stop by a tavern, The Raven’s Claw, for a celebratory drink. Ashbourne says with all the money they could get out of this, she could even pay her mentor’s bail. Shaka pays off the bartender to see what she knows about Blackstaff Tower, but she doesn’t know anything. Shaka’s pretty sure she’s flirting with him. Nocnoc tries to take Selise’s drink, but she tells him to back off, “I didn’t say I wasn’t going to drink it--I’m a paladin, I’m not dead!”

A kid snatches Rinn’s purse as they head back out onto the street, but the greedy elf shoots out a hand and grabs him by the wrist. They have a discussion with the boy. Evidently, Rinn hasn’t had a friend in 114 years, but the kid has a ton even though he’s only 7. They try to convince the kid to show them around the sewers, but the kid says that just because he’s a street urchin doesn’t mean he doesn’t have important things to do and takes off.

The party arrive at Blackstaff Tower. They are led to the scroll chamber. The scroll is written in a runic cipher, and the only way to read it is to turn over a series of runestones, but doing so is very dangerous, as turning the stones could stir up angry spirits. Thanks to the work of #TeamVolo during the #NoStoneUnturned event leading up to the Stream of Many Eyes, one of the stones is warded and will be safe for them to turn over! Radical.
 
Perrin casts ‘Comprehend Languages’, but he still cannot read the runes. The party ask him what language it is, and he says it is “Urban Elven”--”Nobody knows what that is, it seems to change ALL THE TIME!” They figure out that Rinn can’t read it because he’s a suburban elf.

Shaka suggests that they figure out which rune appears the most times on the scroll before proceeding. Nocnoc says the warlock is the brains of this operation, but Perrin points out that he’s covering his brains with his hat. Shaka admits he wears it because he’s a little embarrassed about his horns--they’re deformed. Nocnoc tells him not to worry, it happens to a lot of guys. Perrin says that the way Shaka is dressed reminds him of the famous tiefling bard--L.L. Cool Tiefling.

They turn over the first stone. There is a harmless puff of air. The rune is an ‘E’. The message reads:
‘xxE xxxxE xx xxxxxx xxx xxxEE ExEx’

Shaka uses his ‘Mage Hand’ to turn over another rock. A column of flame explodes from the runestone, and a fire elemental attacks! Nocnoc pulls out big iron arrows that function as shortswords and attacks. Shaka uses his magic vision to identify a ruby floating inside the elemental that is its weak point, and tells everyone to aim for the gem. Ashbourne finds a bucket of water in this chamber and dunks it onto the elemental with a NAT 20 and it is extinguished!

Nocnoc says they solved the puzzle--it’s “Friendship”. Aram says “Friendship” doesn’t have an “E”, then quickly realizes he’s wrong. “FRIENDSHIP HAS AN E IN IT, COME ON, WIZARD!”
The next rune is an ‘O’.

‘xxE xxOxE Ox xOxOxx xxx xxxEE ExEx’

Perrin points out that the third word is “Of”. Ashbourne says that if it is, then there aren’t anymore ‘F’s. Perrin says “I don’t give an F.” Selise flips another stone, and it suddenly becomes incredibly heavy in her hand. The room rumbles as the floor forms into a rock elemental! Nocnoc looks at Ashbourne,

“Knock knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“Rock.”

“Rock who?”

“ROCK WHO LIKE A HURRICANE!”

Nocnoc leaps onto the elemental and lands a NAT 20 on it! The creature almost instantly collapses into dust! “You took ya’ life for granite! Get it, guys? Granite?” The third rune is an ‘R’.

‘xxE xxOxE OF xOxORR xxx xxREE ExEx’

Ashbourne and Rinn say that the first word HAS to be “The”, and as they do, the corresponding stones flash with light and the message translates a little more,

‘THE xTOxE OF xOxORR Hxx THREE ExEx’

Selise has a moment of doubt after the battle with the elemental, as if her god hadn’t been with her during the fight. Her companions help the paladin recenter herself. She focuses and feels the flame of her faith slowly rekindle. Aram gives her inspiration.

Selise turns over another runestone, and is immediately caught up in a watery form. She is grappled by a water elemental and gets a NAT 1 to escape! Someone in the audience reminds her that she has advantage. She rerolls. NAT 20! Selise bursts out of the water elemental in a blast of divine energy. Her god hadn’t abandoned her, he was merely holding back because he KNEW that she would need ALL of his power for this mighty strike! She gets a free ‘Thunderous Smite’!

They defeat the creature and look at the last stone. The rune on it is an ‘G’. They flip over one more rock really quickly, and an air elemental begins to form! Ashbourne yells that she would like to solve the puzzle,

“THE STONE OF GOLORR HAS THREE EYES!”

The Blackstaff thanks them for solving the riddle for him and tells them that they served their purpose... “now get out of my tower”. That’s where we end it.

If you’ve been following Rina’s Dark & Dicey recaps, you might know that the Shenanigang got their hands on the Stone of Golorr later that day during the Stream of Many Eyes and renamed it “Google McGuffin”. Chris Perkins has also brought the stone up on Dice Camera Action!

Rivals of Waterdeep Episode 5

July 23, 2018, 3:19 pm

≫ Next: The Lich-Queen's Begotten

≪ Previous: Rivals of Waterdeep Episode 4

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Rivals of Waterdeep - Episode 5: “Getting to Know You”

You can find this episode on Youtube, and as a podcast. It’s mislabeled on the Wizards of the Coast Youtube as “Episode 4″, just like the session from the Stream of Many Eyes is mislabeled as “Episode 1″. You can watch this episode on Youtube, or listen to it as a podcast.

Aram Vartian - Dungeon Master

(Surena Marie) Ashbourne - Half-Elf Ranger
(Carlos Luna) Nocnoc - Half-Orc Fighter
(Cicero Holmes) Perrin - Halfling Bard
(Tanya DePass) Selise - Human Paladin of Tyr
(Shareef Jackson) Shaka - Tiefling Warlock
(Brandon Stennis) Rinn - High Elf Sorcerer

Since Brandon couldn’t make it this week, Rinn goes off on a date with the elf gambler he met at the Lucky Duck. Otherwise, we pick up right where we left off, with the party leaving Blackstaff Tower.
Perrin has heard about ‘Golorr’ before, so this new clue ‘The Stone of Golorr has three eyes’, gives them more information about this stone, which was evidently used to store the memories of Lord Neverember, who hid the gold the party are looking for. Mayor Melody says that she has a contact in the Xanathar’s Guild who has some information that he’s willing to trade. Melody’s also identified the half-orc that attacked the party as Ziraj the Hunter, who’s something of a legendary mercenary in the area, supposedly never seen outside of his brutal attacks. Nocnoc calls him “Garage”. Selise checks the Burn Book for him, but Ziraj is not in there. Shaka is nervous, because the situation reminds him of being young, and hunted by tiefling-hating humans.

The Blackstaff wizard, Fora, who probed Shaka’s mind before, approaches them before they depart. She says she wants to assist the party to try and apologize for how they’ve been treated. She gives them magic torches that will burn for 8 hours, even underwater. The command word is‘Light’ in Elven. She clarifies that command words don’t need to be spoken with the mouth, “as the torch has no ears”, so much as it needs to be turned like a key in a lock. So it will work underwater just as well. She also gives them a bird figurine that they can use to send her a message if need be.

As they’re headed back into town, Perrin spots the urchin boy they met, Kelm, scamming folks with a shell game. Ashbourne reveals that she used to run games like that when she was younger, while Chips (her fox) robbed people, putting on a little bandit mask and everything to throw suspicion onto nearby raccoons instead. Perrin wants to give the game a shot. Kelm rolls a 25 for his sleight of hand check; Perrin gets a NAT 20 on his perception! He’s seen this shit before, and turns Kelm’s hand over to reveal that the ball isn’t under ANY of the cups. He tells the kid to work on his game and maybe, one day, he’ll be a great bard just like him. Kelm says that if he’s so great, he should try-out for a chance to win “The Grand Tour”, a year-long series of shows fully-paid for by the nobility.

Everyone jokes about how they barely remember this kid despite talking to him “earlier today” (episode 4 was played at the Stream of Many Eyes a few weeks before even episode 1). They give Kelm some food and silver and tell him to take care of himself. He tells the party they should be more quiet so they don’t get hurt themselves, because if they keep doing things the way they have been, then everyone’s going to know their business.

The party splits up the following morning. Perrin heads to the auditions, with Ashbourne as his manager. Shaka and Nocnoc decide to hunt down Ziraj. Selise and Mayor Melody go to the meeting with the Xanathar’s agent. The group comes up with a song for every time they split the party from now on.

Perrin and Ash meet a puppeteer named Nicholas Fernsberry at the auditions. Ash persuades Nicholas to take a dive and talk up Perrin so that the halfling can win. While Perrin gets the fame, they’ll give Nicholas the prize money so that he can pay off the dowry for the woman he wants to marry.

Meanwhile, Selise heads to the meeting place with Melody. Naral Xibrindas is one of the Xanathar’s advisors, and knows Melody because a group of drow pay to rent all the hunting lodges around Nightstone once per year. Something shady was probably going on, but the mayor never asked any questions. While Naral and Melody talk, Selise sits nearby and strikes up a conversation with some city watchmen on break. She notices too late as another elf approaches, and lobs a fireball at her companions!

Nocnoc and Shaka head back to the alley where they were attacked by Ziraj to look for clues. They don’t find any. They decide to go to the Grand Tour auditions--Nocnoc says he can do sock puppet stuff, while Shaka knows a lot of math jokes. He’s kind of a mathmagician.

Ashbourne lowers down on a rope to introduce Perrin with a burst of silvery powder, and she sells it 110%. Perrin glides out with his drum, and starts some Cuban-style conga rhythm. He gets a 24 on his performance! The crowd starts chanting “P.U., P.U., P.U.!” Perrin moonwalks across the powder-covered floor, and the powder ignites in explosions of pink and green and blue that drives the crowd absolutely WILD!!!

Selise shouts as the fireball spirals towards Melody and Naral. Melody leaps into a fountain, but Naral isn’t able to move in time and is vaporized in the explosion. There is smoke everywhere and Selise loses sight of the drow who threw the fireball. Melody shows Selise that Naral had a bag, but whatever was inside it was taken. Naral said that he thought the Xanathar was onto him, as was another group that he was acting as a double-agent for--the Bregan D’aerthe (Jarlaxle Baenre’s mercenary group!!!). Selise tells Melody to be safe and find the rest of the party while she tracks down the drow. She follows their trail to a darkened building and is ambushed by the dark elves.
Nocnoc and Shaka arrive just in time to see the end of Perrin’s performance. They are amazed. They are welcomed to the theater by a puppet named Richard Stickleson. Shaka is freaked out because he sees no strings on it, while Nocnoc is blown away. Then Nicholas Fernsberry pops out from under the table where the puppet is. They ask Nicholas about Ziraj, and the puppeteer says he could try and put them in contact with the bounty hunter for 5gp. Perrin signs autographs while Ashbourne’s fox, Chips, collects tips. Melody bursts in and tells the party that Selise needs their help.

Selise tries to shield bash her drow attacker, but he dodges and points a pistol into her face. Selise has two attacks because she’s level 5 now though, and swings her sword around with a NAT 20, slicing the drow’s hand right off. His gun falls to the floor as he screams, running for a back staircase. He hurls something out a window and yells, “JUST TAKE IT!”

Selise gets the thing the drow through out the window--it’s the three-eyed Stone of Golorr!! As she touches it, she finds herself deep underwater. A huge monstrosity with tentacles and three glowing eyes looms before her. As suddenly as she has this vision, she is back in the street with the stone, wrapping it up in her cape just as the rest of the party arrive.

The Lich-Queen's Begotten

July 23, 2018, 4:09 pm

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≪ Previous: Rivals of Waterdeep Episode 5

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 The Lich-Queen's Begotten is an adventure by MT Black that can be bought on the DMs Guild. It is meant for higher level characters (11-15) and involves an excursion into the Astral Plane.

I ran this adventure over the last few weeks and I figure I'll rattle off some thoughts about it.

I love the Astral Plane and I love the githyanki. Heck, I wrote a guide to the githyanki! I was very excited to see a 5e module that focuses on them and deals with the Lich-Queen herself.

The thing that's been bouncing around in my brain a lot in the past year or so is coming to terms with the fact that right now, in D&D, when writing an adventure, less is good.

As a reader, I love it. I have a hard time reading in general, and walls of text give me big problems. But this adventure is very breezy. I prepared the whole thing in about 3 hours. It's only about 19 pages of actual text. I think most DMs could read it in 30 minutes or so and run it successfully.

As a fledgling adventure writer, I have such a hard time with this. I feel the need to cover bases. I don't want a DM to feel like I left them in the lurch - a feeling I've felt many times when preparing an adventure.

This adventure was very succinct yet, in most instances, gave you enough to run with.

The story goes like this: The lich-queen wants to shift her soul into a living body, a "vessel of flesh". The group has to go find this vessel and get rid of it before this can happen.

The group gets involved through a chance encounter with some mindflayers. They meet a githzerai named Janara. She's a follower of the githzerai leader Menyar-Ag (who is detailed in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes), and she spouts his "wisdom" frequently. To my delight, I found that MY Black included a list of quotes for Janara to utter. I greatly enjoy things like this and was all over it.

The heroes agree to help, and they actually teleport to Tunarath - the home city of the githyanki in the Astral Plane. They appear in a district where there's piles of stuff. The group will need to ask around to find clues as to where they can find this vessel.

During this part, we're given a list of NPCs the group might interact with. One was a "brownsmith". I don't know what that is and despite my usual meticulous preparation, I forgot to google it.

Do you think that, in cases like this, the author should just state what a brownsmith is? Or should it be OK to assume the reader will google it if they don't know what it is? I don't really know the correct answer to this. It's not a huge deal, but it tripped me up for a moment until a player suggested that it was actually a "browniesmith" - a chef who specializes in brownies - and we were off to the races.

The group gets directed to a tavern where they learn about a berbalang that they need to meet. This was an instance where I felt we needed just a little more detail. I like to always have a list of drinks when running a bar, especially a planar bar. I also like to know a little about who's in the bar and what they're doing. So I grabbed some drinks from my list, threw in a duth'kagith patron (a githyanki with red dragon blood from Dungeon Magazine 100) and had some people playing "gith flay", a githyanki dice game from an old adventure from way back when.

It turned out that the berbalang the group needed was in jail. I like that, the adventure gives us a fun twist. Basically, the heroes need to break him out and then steal an astral skiff.

My group decided to have a big drinking contest right outside the jail, providing a distraction for one hero to sneak into the small jail and break out the berbalang.

I really, really like that there were two githyanki guards monitoring the jail from across the street. That's smart on their end, and keeps things from feeling too easy.

In the second session, the group had freed the berbalang and were on a skiff. As they sailed through the astral plane, they were accosted by a githyanki knight riding a red dragon!

That's an encounter I've always wanted to run. One of my favorite D&D minis is the githyanki riding a dragon. I was very excited about running this encounter.

To my amusement - the group kicked their asses. The knight was polymorphed into a turtle and the dragon was hit by a confusion spell. All of this in the first round!

As someone who always has one eye on the clock, this actually worked out fine for me. I wanted to finish this module in the session, so getting through this encounter quickly gave me plenty of time for the rest of the stuff.

The heroes sail to where the vessel of flesh is kept - a giant metal head used as a base by the githyanki. It's called Titan's End, which is an awesome name.

This is reminiscent of the best encounter I've ever run in my life - the Fortress of Three Sorrows from the Scales of War campaign. Again, I was very excited about this.

There's turrets in the eye holes of the titan's head that fire psychic bolts at the adventurers as their skiff approaches. The group blocked them off ith a wall of force and made their way inside.

They came upon a room with a throne. I got real torn up here. In this room, the group could sit in the throne and pilot the head! They could fly it around the Astral Plane! But, to my dismay, they didn't realize it. They left it.

That's one of those moments where you need to make a decision really fast. Should I tell them?! Should I use an NPC to clue them in? I really wanted them to fly this thing around, but I decided to let it go. It's possible they'll come back, right?

They go down and fight some guards. They make mincemeat of the guards (I scaled the bad guys down) and loot some rooms - they go themselves a tome of clear thought!

Then the heroes come to.. The membranous slit. This was one of the funniest things I've had happen since I started running online games. It's a bit "adult". You can check out the clips of it if you're feeling brave:

Membranous Slit 1


Membranous Slit 2


In the slit was the vessel of flesh - a 16-year old githyanki woman. The group decided to take her somewhere safe.

That triggers the big finale.. an ASTRAL DREADNOUGHT comes flying at the head! The group got in their skiff.

I found it utterly fascinating that the finish is basically a 4e skill challenge. That's a series of skill checks - the group needs 8 successes before 3 failures. I ran it, even though it they were in the skiff and not the head, mostly because I wanted to see how it would work out.

It worked pretty great! The big problem with skill challenges is the abstract rules - can they use spells? What if they come up with a clever solution that should end it early? Will that make for a satisfying end or is it an anti-climax?

It worked for us in this instance! The heroes led the astral dreadnought into a field of dream bubbles.

Great adventure! You should definitely check it out! It's only about $4.

Here's our playthrough of it, in two sessions:

Part One:

Part Two:

Hell's Belles Episode 3

July 23, 2018, 5:26 pm

≫ Next: Hell's Belles Episode 4

≪ Previous: The Lich-Queen's Begotten

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You can watch this episode right here.

They are playing through a classic Planescape adventure, The Great Modron March, converted to 5th edition.

The Party

DM Mazz

(Shauna) Levity - Tiefling Monk linked to Glasya
(Chloe Christine)Lyra - Tiefling Paladin
(Hadeel) Miga - Tiefling Rogue an urchin who lives by the sea
(Holly Conrad) Durge - Tiefling Bard college of whispers, member of the Dustmen
(Lysa Chen) Mercy - Tiefling Shadow sorcerer from Ravenloft
(TK Johnson)Gille - Tiefling Paladin
(Kayla)  Pentar - Tiefling linked to Zuggtmoy

The heroes are in Mount Celestia - the seven heavens. There is a single mountain rising from an endless ocean.

The group has been stranded in the outer planes. They've been following a path created by marching modrons.

They are near the ocean, where Miga is making sandcastles. S3-4N makes wavy lines in the sand, like a moat.

Suddenly, a glowing ball of light appears. It's a lantern archon, a petitioner of Mount Celestia. It asks the group if they are lost.

Mercy begs the archon to take them home. It says it needs their help. If they can help it, it can get them home.

They meet with a sword archon named Alsiel who is serene and calm. She welcomes the group and asks them to hear her troubles. She explains that the march is headed for a town nearby - Heart's Faith. The modrons will march through and cause utter devastation.

Durge asks if they could just set the town on fire. The archon is horrified. Pentar offers to help deal with the bodies afterward.

Gille says that he will offer up a true act of heroism in exchange for a letter of recommendation.

The group tries to estimate how many modrons are marching.. it's thousands. The archon offers to transport the group to the town. They are teleported to the gate.

The guards at the gate are nervous. "Who's there?"

Durge plays a song to soothe them. They sing, "It's just Miga" over and over again.

The group enters and checks out the town. Merchants are hurrying and setting up stalls. They spot an aasimar lazily observing the scene. Pentar pokes the aasimar.

Gille tells him that the group is here to save the town from certain destruction. Mercy explains that modrons are marching toward the town.

A young lad runs up to the aasimar. "My lord! A huge army of modrons is coming! We've only got a few minutes before they're here!"

Durge is still playing music. Miga sings "You're all going to die" over and over.

One merchant approaches Durge and says he's had enough - he wants to die. Durge tells him to go tell everyone in town to leave. She says that once he has done that, he can throw himself in front of a demon.

The modrons march in to the town. There are thousands of them, of many different types. A quinton, a tall modron with wings and a domed hat, argues with a citizen, telling him he is being illogical. "You are halting our progress. You are an obstacle. Step aside or you will be removed."

S3-4N hides behind Miga and is fascinated by the various types of modrons spreading out before them.

The modrons split and they're not following the roads. Some are marching east and others are marching west. S3-4N doesn't know what's happening. It asks Miga if it should march. Miga and S3-4N march in place.

The group gets word that there are a number of locations are in peril, including the orphanage. The heroes perk up when they hear about this.

Gille quietly wonders if the group could leave Miga and S3-4n should stay at this orphanage once it is saved.

There is a magical field protecting the orphanage, but the modrons are hammering away at it, and the barrier is slowly weakening. Kids are climbing out of the orphanage windows.

One kid runs up to Miga and says that there are more children in danger and they need help.

Mercy tries to cast darkness, but the modrons have truesight and can see right through it.

They head over to another building, where a citizen points out to the modrons that they're breaking a treaty. He winks at the group. He's lying.

4 duodrones walk up and grab the man. They start pulling him apart. The group attacks.

Pentar gives herself mandibles and tears one modron apart.

Miga kills another and tears a wing off of a third. S3-4N is missing a wing, so Miga puts it on him. He holds up his fork hand and cheers for "Miga 2".

By the time the group defeats the modrons, they see that the vast majority of the march has passed through the town and are heading into a portal. Miga realizes that S3-4N is missing. After looking around frantically, she spots him marching with the other modrons through a portal!


That's where we stop!

Hell's Belles Episode 4

July 23, 2018, 5:40 pm

≫ Next: Hell's Belles Episode 5

≪ Previous: Hell's Belles Episode 3

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You can watch this episode right here.

They are playing through a classic Planescape adventure, The Great Modron March, converted to 5th edition.

The Party

DM Mazz

(Shauna) Levity - Tiefling Monk linked to Glasya
(Chloe Christine)Lyra - Tiefling Paladin
(Hadeel) Miga - Tiefling Rogue an urchin who lives by the sea
(Lysa Chen) Mercy - Tiefling Shadow sorcerer from Ravenloft
(TK Johnson)Gille - Tiefling Paladin
(Kayla)  Pentar - Tiefling linked to Zuggtmoy
 
Last time, the group's modron buddy S3-4N walked through a portal with the modron march. The group follows through and emerge in a gate town called Excelsior. The buildings are made of gleaming white stone. In the center of the town are towers that rise up twice as high as any other building. The street is paved with bright marble.


Durge isn't here. She's handling pamphlets out somewhere. Holly is doing the big DCA/Acquisitions, Inc crossover.

Each gate town has a portal to the corresponding outer plane. The gate towns are always in danger of getting pulled in to the plane they are nearest to.

Miga catches up to S3-4N. He's clicking and beeping, trying to talk to another modron.

A knight asks Miga what she is doing with that modron. Miga explains that, "He's my best friend in the whole planes." The knight says that maybe she can help him.

The knight explains that there's a group has been abducting modrons and is attaching modron parts to people. The knight's sister has been captured by these villains, who are known as the Knights of Tachyrym.

The march is spreading out into clumps. The knight has been observing it and taking notes on its size and route. The knight wants the group to accompany and protect the marching modrons from the knights of tachyrym.

The group agrees to do so. The knight explains that the bad guys are a cabal of soulless warriors and sorcerers interested in selfish gain.

Mercy does her best to disguise herself as a modron. Pentar assumes the form of a filthy boar.

On one side of the march is Lyra, Miga, and Pentar. On the other side is Gille, Mercy, and Levity.

Lyra summons a horse-sized mastiff as a mount. Gille relies on his family's holy symbol - the yklwa - to determine what his mount is. It's a black-furred llama with a silk cushion on its back. It has a happy, derpy face and its tongue is hanging out.

Night rolls in and creatures emerge from the forest. There are riders accompanied by some kind of shadow wolves.

Levity snatches the tabard of one of the invaders. Pentar recognizes the symbol - it's similar to an organization that had captured her at one point. This tabard has a flower symbol on it. Pentar's captors had a mushroom.

The group tracks the bad guys to their compound. Levity casts disguise self to look like a guard. Mercy retains her modron form.

S3-4N is sitting. He's got his back to the compound. He won't look at it.  He asks, "Miga 2, what is fear?"

Levity approaches the compound and knocks on the door. They let her in. As she enters, she smells a mix of chemicals, metal, and rotting meat. She can see vats with bubbling liquids and hears bizarre screams - it's a modron screaming.

The floor under her feet crunches. The floor is littered with gears and springs along with black stains - modron blood.

Levity sees modrons hanging from hooks and tables with cutting implements. Modron wings and limbs are scattered about. There are several workers at one table sawing the leg off of a duodrone.

They explore the building a bit. Levity is very bothered by the suffering.

Meanwhile, the group creeps upstairs and listens at a bunch of doors.

At a desk is a bariaur woman muttering to herself. She's writing in a book. Pentar questions the bariaur. She tries to explain the purpose of the experiments and dismisses the pain of the modrons.
The group learns that the leader of this group is named Sithetus. He is a dustman who went back to the mortuary. He should be back soon.

Miga made a drawing in crayon of her and S3-4N. The group loves it and freaks out.

Levity lets the rest of the group in, telling the knights of tachyrym that these are mercenaries. She makes a deception check and gets a 21. The knights buy it.

S3-4N walks into the building and is horrified. He starts shaking. Miga starts screaming in terror.

Upstairs, Mercy threatens the bariaur and says that the screaming sound is the knights dying. Mercy wants to know what they're researching. The tachyrym are trying to make a powerful hybrid army. There are other bases like this out there, including an especially prominent one in the plane of Gehenna.

Gille approaches a large vat. He kicks it and a wave of acid spills out as it tips over. It dissolves the skin of a worker, and a bench is destroyed. Other workers flee.

Guards shout, sounding an alarm. Mayhem and panic ensue.

The group hates this place and wants to destroy it. Gille yells, "Justice!" Levity stabs one of them, and the guard flees.

As people flee the building in chaos, Gille dumps oil everywhere, backs toward the door and sets the place on fire.

The group stands and watches the building burn. They hear small explosions from inside. In the distance, they see some raiders in the distance returning from an expedition.

The heroes decide they'd best leave and rejoin the march.

---

Hell's Belles Episode 5

July 27, 2018, 8:32 pm

≫ Next: Rivals of Waterdeep Episode 6

≪ Previous: Hell's Belles Episode 4

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You can watch this episode right here.

They are playing through a classic Planescape adventure, The Great Modron March, converted to 5th edition.

The Party

DM Mazz

(Shauna) Levity - Tiefling Monk linked to Glasya
(Hadeel) Miga - Tiefling Rogue an urchin who lives by the sea
(Lysa Chen) Mercy - Tiefling Shadow sorcerer from Ravenloft
(TK Johnson)Gille - Tiefling Paladin
(Kayla)  Pentar - Tiefling linked to Zuggtmoy
(Holly Conrad) Durge - Tiefling Bard college of whispers, member of the Dustmen

The group is back in Sigil. They get a message from Lyra: "I've gone to run an errand. Levity make sure Miga and Gille are on their best behavior. Crayons and paper for Miga, and cakes for everyone else." Chloe couldn't play this week.

S3-4N is dispensing lots of shiftspice. It's supposed to come in a fancy container!

S3-4N stands at the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of a robot person who's been seen walking around now and then.

Someone knocks at the door. It's a dabus - one of the upkeepers of Sigil. Unlike the others, it does not float. It's walking on the ground.

White text appears above its head. It has a message for "the small one," Miga. She must return to her home plane for some sort of ceremony.

The dabus will show the group where the portal to Miga's home is. It pulls a fish hook out of its robes. The dabus's name is Fellham. It is a member of the Transcendent Order, just like Miga's parents. Fellham has been cast out from the ranks of the dabus.

The portal leads to land near a body of water. There's a boat. Miga informs the group that it's her birthday, and that she needs to sail the boat to pass her trial.

Miga is the captain of the boat. She has to make some choices, ranking the group on which roles they would be best to perform on the ship.

• Strongest party member: Gille works on the mast, raising and lowering the sails.
• Smartest party member: Mercy. 
• Most Charming Party Member: Durge. Coordinate plans for sailing.
• Wisest Party Member: Pentar.
• Dextrous party member: Levity. On the bow, climbing the rigging.
• S3-4N is the tailor. Tacking the sail.

Fellham hangs around the back of the boat.

S3-4N approaches Miga. He gives her a paper hat. He has one too.

Miga needs to plot a course. She must make a check. Rolls a total of 21!

The rest of the group has to make a check according to the stat they are assigned.

Pentar is in centipede form, and she gets seasick. She hasn't gotten her 8,000 sea legs yet.

Gille and Mercy get drunk. So does Pentar. They're all stumbling around.

Something bumps the boat and Mercy falls overboard. In the water, she can see a giant shark. She sees more large shapes heading this way as well.

Gille falls over, too. So does Pentar.

Mercy grabs Gille and swims over to the boat, and then casts a twinned levitate spell. Both of them rise out of the water and return to the deck of the ship.

Two crocodiles climb on to the boat. Durge casts crown of madness on the shark. The shark fails the saving throw.

A crocodile jumps onto Gille as he steps onto the deck and it does 17 points to him. Then it swats Mercy with a tail for 12 damage and she falls prone.

Pentar gets back onboard, but falls in the water again. Levity punches the crocodile and stuns it.

Mercy and Gille are both drunk. They cry. Gille barfs on Levity.

Miga drops one of Pentar's fungus things in the water. A shark eats it and turns beige.

Miga is now 10 years old, by the way. The sea monsters are repelled.

Miga hears singing. Coming toward her are two figures. One is a lady fish-person with long hair. The other looks like an angler fish. That's Miga's mom?

Erin: The Angler fish.
Vlarin: The fish lady.

Her parents tell her she has completed her trial. They give her a treasure - a family heirloom. It's a key. She puts it in her bag of holding.

Miga goes to her dad's house. He's not home.

The fish-people of the village give Pentar a pot as a reward for helping Miga complete her trial. In it, you can grow an awakened shrub. Pentar is completely grossed out by these people and takes it quickly.

Durge spends some time talking to crabs and snails about the True Death, trying to convince them to die.

Miga hugs her dolls. Time to go. S3-4N waves goodbye both to the heroes and to the fish people. The modron is a bit confused.

Levity wants to give Miga a legit party. The heroes return to Sigil. Some members of the party want to go get cranium rat kebabs. That's where we stop. Good show!

Rivals of Waterdeep Episode 6

August 1, 2018, 6:20 pm

≫ Next: Hell's Belles Episode 6

≪ Previous: Hell's Belles Episode 5

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By Dylan Ramsey

We have a small group this week, only Cicero, Shareef, Carlos, and Surena are here. You can watch this episode on Youtube, or as a podcast.

Aram Vartian - Dungeon Master

(Surena Marie) Ashbourne - Half-Elf Ranger
(Carlos Luna) Nocnoc - Half-Orc Fighter
(Cicero Holmes) Perrin - Halfling Bard
(Tanya DePass) Selise - Human Paladin of Tyr
(Shareef Jackson) Shaka - Tiefling Warlock
(Brandon Stennis) Rinn - High Elf Sorcerer

Selise is worried about Rinn after everything that’s happened and goes off to find him while everyone else heads back to the Jade Rose. Tonight is the Festival of the Moon--a celebration to Selune--and throngs of masked citizens parade through the streets. There are floats and everything. It’s essentially Waterdeep Mardi Gras. They have to reroute under a bridge because of the parade to reach their inn.

Shaka notices eight children playing and scampering behind them, he yells at them. Chips lets out a whine and Ashbourne realizes something is very wrong. As Nocnoc turns around to tell Shaka to chill out, he steps into a puddle, and the steel teeth of a bear trap suddenly clamp down on his leg! The “children” throw off their costumes--they’re kobolds! A bugbear drops from above to flank the party.

Ash hits the bugbear with an arrow, and Shaka leans down to try and pop the bear trap back open. He isn’t strong enough to do it alone, but Nocnoc helps with a NAT 20 and yanks it apart. The half-orc tosses it at the nearest kobold and it bites down on the poor little bastard. Perrin uses his Rod of Rulership on the kobolds, and half of them are charmed for 8 hours!!! The kobolds stab their former comrades, while Nocnoc action surges and uses his Humming Bird and Dragon’s Fang on the bugbear, destroying him! The mayor barely has enough time to scream before it’s all over.

Perrin orders his kobolds to put their costumes back on--they’re going to be his bodyguards at the party tonight. Nocnoc shouts back at Shaka for yelling at the “kids”, “That was an overreaction!”

Shaka looks at everybody, “Don’t. Trust. Kids.”

Ash and Nocnoc investigate the bugbear’s body. Ash finds a tattoo of a beholder on his wrist--they were minions of the Xanathar (NAT 20). Nocnoc cuts himself on a hidden blade and is knocked out by the poison on it (NAT 1). Ash picks him up with her golden claw arm and carries this enormous half-orc with absolutely no problem.

At the Jade Rose, Shaka finds that Nicholas Fernsberry sent a letter detailing information he dug up on Ziraj. Evidently, Ziraj has a personal beef with the Xanathar, and might have gone after the party if he thought they were involved with the crime boss. Given that they just took out some of the Xanathar’s thugs, Shaka hopes that they can prove that they aren’t friends of the beholder. He and Perrin go back to try and get proof from the bodies.

When they arrive however, the bodies are gone. Perrin notices a form on a rooftop however and tells Shaka they should be “Peering Up” instead of looking down. Shaka ‘Misty Steps’ to the roof and sees Ziraj leaping from rooftop to rooftop, already too far for the warlock to catch up. He *does* see that Ziraj dropped a note mentioning an auction and museum showing tonight at 10 o’clock, being held by the Cassalanters at their estate. AT LAST, our final villains from Dragon Heist are mentioned!

Back at the Jade Rose, Nocnoc wakes up and asks what happened. Ash tells him he got hit by a smooth criminal.

“I got hit by?”

“Struck by.”

“A what?”

“A smooth criminal.”

Mayor Melody walks in with 5 glass jars--each has a mindworm inside it. Perrin and Shaka return as the mayor explains that mindworms are Underdark critters that can allow people to telepathically communicate with one another when placed in the ear. She says that if they keep the worm in there for multiple days, it might eventually take over their bodies, but they shouldn’t have to worry about that.

When Shaka puts his mindworm in, he is sucked into his own mind, and his goldfish patron angrily tells him to stop letting people parse through his thoughts. Shaka tells his patron that he has to know that he won’t let his companions find out about their agreement. The goldfish swims towards him and morphs into a huge beholder,“DO NOT PRESUME WHAT I KNOW!” Shaka jolts back to reality.

The party head to the Grand Showcase, Perrin and Ash taking a carriage sent because of their amazing audition. Nicholas Fernsberry is going up right before them. Nocnoc hears something tinkling in his bag and finds a vial with a note on it inside the magic torch that Fora the Blackstaff gave him. It reads,“The others can’t deal with that monster, Ziraj. When the time comes: drink this.”

While Perrin and Ash get ready, Nocnoc and Shaka go to the auction hall. They’re trying to figure out how to get their hands on the weird kaleidoscope being sold tonight, but see someone run through a door and slam it behind them out of the corner of their eyes.

Perrin gets Ash to find him some feathers, because they are “going to fly high today”. The stage crew happily sets things up for the performance. Perrin is hoisted up by a rope and tells Ash that they’re going to take “the stairway... to heaven.” Ash notices two women in gray robes and mirrored masks staring at them and the hair stands up on the back of her neck.

Dylan’s musings on the adventure:

This is something I’ve been thinking about for a few weeks now, but I really hope that Aram’s approach to the four villainous groups (Xanathar’s Guild; Zhentarim; Bregan D’aerthe; Cassalanters) is how they are actually presented in the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist adventure. There’s no clear villain, but all of them and their machinations are present--it really feels like everyone is after this treasure.

Meanwhile, it’s pretty obvious on Dice, Camera, Action! that Chris Perkins wants the Waffle Crew to go up against the Xanathar. Despite building up the Zhents as baddies in Season 3 and the start of Season 4, they’ve disappeared. Heck, we haven’t even HEARD about Jarlaxle or the Cassalanters in DCA yet! (though I do have a theory that, since the drow seem to have gunpowder in their arsenal now, Warrington Munt’s conspicuous absence might guide us into a plot involving them).

I think giving players the initiative to choose which villain they want to go after (rather than the DM picking one from the start, as they *seemed* to imply at the Stream of Many Eyes, with each villain being linked to a specific season) makes for a much better adventure. If it's not up to the players, then there is no tough choice to decide which villain you want to stop and which you’re alright allowing to get away with their schemes. Sometimes, handing the reins over to your players is a DM's greatest tool.

Hell's Belles Episode 6

August 6, 2018, 9:52 pm

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You can watch this episode right here.

The group is playing through a classic Planescape adventure, The Great Modron March, converted to 5th edition.

The Party

DM Mazz

(Shauna) Levity - Tiefling Monk linked to Glasya
(Chloe Christine)Lyra- Tiefling Paladin
(Hadeel) Miga - Tiefling Rogue an urchin who lives by the sea
(Lysa Chen) Mercy - Tiefling Shadow sorcerer from Ravenloft
(TK Johnson)Gille - Tiefling Paladin
(Kayla)  Pentar - Tiefling linked to Zuggtmoy
(Holly Conrad) Durge - Tiefling Bard college of whispers, member of the Dustmen 

The adventurers are in the office building. It's been a few months since the modron abduction incident from episode 4.

Lyra is back, and she's brought gifts for everyone:

• Mercy: A cloak of gleaming. It can never get dirty. Mercy is extremely into this. 
• Levity: A pole of collapsing. You can use an action to shift it between a 10 foot pole and a 1 foot rod. Levity gives Lyra a multi-colored stone - it's a sensory stone! You can record memories in it. 
• Pentar: A staff of flowers. With it, you can summon any kind of flower that you want. Pentar offers a respectful handshake and scrambles down the stairs.
• Durge: An instrument of scribing. It will animate and write things on its own. Durge declares that this is an excellent gift for the Dustmen faction.
• Gille: A cloak of billowing! When Gille poses, the cloak billows. Gille loves it but tries to play it cool and tells her it's pretty nice.
• Miga: A wand of pyrotechnics. Lyra says it's only for emergencies. Apparently it sends up flares. Miga promptly begins to wait for an emergency. It is also known as the "emergency stick."

Pentar makes a gigantic corpse flower in the basement.

There's a scratching sound at the door. It's the talking cat. He is looking for his niece - Durge. He's checking up on her and seeing how she's settling in to the place.

The cat says that the modrons are marching up a river in the Beastlands and it is poisoning a river there.

Gille made a statue made of cheese. Miga tastes it. She vanishes for 7 minutes. She had gone to Limbo. While there, she used all the charges on her emergency stick.

The heroes travel to the Beastlands. Lyra takes a deep breath. She loves the Beastlands. There's tall grass, it's a vast savanna. Jysson directs the group. He sits on Durge's shoulder and indicates a direction.

A pair of faeries fly up to the group and call for help. Pentar wants to eat them. She takes a bite from one of their shoulders. He calls out, "Oh, Fianna! I am undone!"

He's OK. Durge drops a pamphlet on him. Jysson reminds the group they don't want to make an enemy of the seelie fey.

As the group walks, they see that S3-4N getting lost in the tall grass. Miga holds him up so he can see above the grass.

A giant scorpion suddenly attacks the group. A pair of elephants come charging up as well. The larger elephant attacks Gille.

As the battle progresses, the group starts gaining animal traits. Gille gains fur, Lyra sprouts feathers, S3-4N has cat ears (the group loves this).

Jysson explains that the longer amount of time you spend in the Beastlands, the more like an animal you become.

The combat is resolved, and the group spots the modrons. They are marching, and the heroes notice that there are some people accompanying them. There's a force field lining the march, and there are winged elves. One approaches the heroes.

There's a tree called Ilifar-of-the-wind. Pentar approaches it and casts speak with plants. She asks the tree what is happening. It slowly explains that the elves put up a barrier to stop the modrons.

The force field has forced the modrons to march in the river itself.

There are robed people chanting. They're cleansing the land to the best of their ability. There are thorns on one bank. A female druid emerges and greets the group. She tells the heroes are disturbing their ritual.

 The druid explains that the blood war spilled over here and tainted the land. The druids are enacting a ritual to slowly remove demon ichor from the land.

Lyra and Gille, both paladins, try to help cleanse the land.

Durge has almost completely transformed into a rat. Mercy's hands become hoof-like. Is her mage hand also a hoof? A mage hoof?

Gille's face changes. He sprouts whiskers. He looks like a tabaxi.

S3-4N grows a kitty tail. Now he has... catnip packets. No. He's confused. He asks Miga why he had grown a tentacle. He looks Jysson, who is asleep. He copies Jysson.

The heroes finish the ritual and cleanse the land. They are brought to the Seelie Court, and are rewarded with gifts:

• Mercy: A decanter of endless water. She tries to grab it with her hoof-hands.
• Pentar: A glass jar with a thick mixture that smells like aloe. It's healing ointment.
• Levity: A rope of climbing.
• Durge: Dust of disappearance.
• Lyra: Brooch of protection.
• Miga: A driftglobe.
• Gille: An immovable rod.

The group loses their animal traits. Most of the heroes are relieved.

The group leaves the court and emerge into an orchard of apple trees. There's a portal here - it leads to the gate-town of Sylvania. Levity smiles and says, "We're going to have some fun here."

Hell's Belles Episode 7

August 6, 2018, 9:53 pm

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They are playing through a classic Planescape adventure, The Great Modron March, converted to 5th edition.

The Party

DM Mazz

(Shauna) Levity - Tiefling Monk linked to Glasya
(Chloe Christine)Lyra- Tiefling Paladin
(Hadeel) Miga - Tiefling Rogue an urchin who lives by the sea
(Lysa Chen) Mercy - Tiefling Shadow sorcerer from Ravenloft
(TK Johnson)Gille - Tiefling Paladin
(Holly Conrad) Durge - Tiefling Bard college of whispers, member of the Dustmen

The group is now level 6. They appear in Sylvania, a planar party town. There is a giant table of food and drinks that moves of its own accord. There's a tower of skulls, an inn shaped like a dragon head that dips in to water to "take a sip".

For Mercy, this is like a horror movie. The confetti, the popping.

The modrons begin marching through the town. The people of the town are painting and decorating them, including S3-4N.

Their friend Chastity spots them. She explains that this happens every time the modron march comes through.

Pentar is in rat form somewhere (Kayle was having internet issues and can't make the game).

Levity brings the group to the dragon inn. Mery spends the night sweeping confetti. Miga wants to jump in the pile.

There's a dwarf and a really drunk bauriar. An individual staggers into the bar. Instead of a hand, it has a modron claw. It's got metal plates on it.

Miga rolls a total of 28. She uses her scorpion tail flail and attacks the hybrid monstrosity.

Lyra realizes that this creature is chastity, with modron parts surgically added to her body.

Mercy summons a shadow wolf. During the casting, the group sees the marks of Tenebrous on her.

Miga hides in a pile of confetti. S3-4N helps out by adding more confetti to the pile.

The group subdues Chastity.

Mercy backs into a corner. The wolf walks up to her, and connects to her shadow. Mercy screams until it fades away.

S3-4N tells Miga that it's defeated. Miga pops out of the confetti pile. She takes several handfuls of confetti and adds it to her inventory. S3-4N is loaded up with confetti.

The group examines Chastity. She wakes up, and stares. She doesn't seem to recognize the group. Her memories have been removed, apparently.

Chastity has been restrained using the immovable rod. The group tells the barkeep not to press the button on the rod, or everyone will die.

The heroes do some exploring. They head into the woods, following Chastity's trail. They spot two individuals in black.

The thugs are actually pretty nice. They lead the group to a torture facility. The heroes explore it and come upon a room where they see a mad scientist. Mercy hangs back in the foyer. She sneaks around.

Mercy finds blueprints and a journal full of notes.She rushes to find the group.

Miga, Lyra and S3-4N stay outside, looking around, ready to act if they hear screams.

The mad scientist is always looking for people to use for experiments. Durge asks if he's looking for an apprentice. He says he had an apprentice but she left. Her name was Nyssa.

He's trying to fuse modrons and humans to make the perfect creature.

Mercy creeps around some more. She uses disguise self to look like one of the thugs. She checks some rooms. She hears clanking and whirring, and she smells modron blood. There are cages. In them are 5 modrons with parts missing. In another cage, there are tridrones missing hands and plates.

In another room are people, huddled in terror. They're afraid Mercy is going to take them. The captives are of many races - human, githzerai, and bariaur.

The group goes to another room where there are sensory stones, magic memory containers. Levity and Durge jump the mad scientist. Durge blinds the scientist and then she stabs him.

The scientist teleports away (or becomes invisible). Durge thunderwaves the place, cracking plinths and trashing the place.

Mercy breaks the cages open. She frees them and leads them out of the building. They immediately starts heading back to the march. Miga throws confetti and cheers the rescue.

Durge touches one of the sensory stones. She experiences the memories of someone's happy childhood. Gille touches one, and experiences what it's like to be a miserable drunk. Levity touches one, and she experiences the memories of... Chastity. Levity pockets it.

Gille sets fire to the place. Levity loots as many sensory stones as she can. Gille stands and stares. Then, once she leaves, he burns that room, too.

As the group watches the place burns, Lyra swears that she will destroy all of the knights of the tachyrym.

Miga worries that she started the fire with her wand and she tries to apologize. She gives the wand to Lyra. Lyra tells her it wasn't her fault and gives Miga the wand back.

Gille watches the fire and thinks it's beautiful. He weeps.
 

Rivals of Waterdeep Episode 7

August 9, 2018, 6:57 am

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By Dylan Ramsey

The whole group is back! You can watch this episode on Youtube.

Aram Vartian - Dungeon Master

(Surena Marie) Ashbourne - Half-Elf Ranger
(Carlos Luna) Nocnoc - Half-Orc Fighter
(Cicero Holmes) Perrin - Halfling Bard
(Tanya DePass) Selise - Human Paladin of Tyr
(Shareef Jackson) Shaka - Tiefling Warlock
(Brandon Stennis) Rinn - High Elf Sorcerer

After having broken-off to find Rinn, Selise stumbles across Kelm the urchin boy. Kelm says that his job is to make sure that everything on the street works, and the party keep messing things up, so the sooner he can help her and get her out of here, the better. She grabs him, and Kelm points her to an exclusive club where Rinn went on his date with Zayor.

Rinn and Zayor are inside, and are the only people sitting in the VIP section. Zayor says that their next stop is the Grand Showcase. The auction there (where the mysterious kaleidoscope the rest of the party heard about is being sold) is collecting funds to maintain and restore the giant statue guardians that defend Waterdeep. Their glass table suddenly glows green as they get a call from the bouncer outside--Selise is looking for Rinn. She is very disapproving mom about the whole thing when she overhears the waiter say that Rinn has gone through “two beers in ten minutes”.

Carlos and Tanya improv the small-talk between Selise and the bouncer as they’re waiting for Rinn and Zayor. The bouncer notices she hasn’t even tapped her foot to the music coming from inside.

“They trained the rhythm out of me.”

Back at the party, Nocnoc and Shaka. Shaka spots the host for this evening--a dark-haired woman in a white dress decorated in scales with a dragon mask.She tells them that the kaleidoscope is from the time before the city, when the dwarves were first digging under Mount Waterdeep.

Chips ruffles as he lays in Ashbourne’s bag as the two silvery-masked women turn and disappear into the crowd. The fox bounds after them, darting between legs and under dresses. Ash rolls a NAT 20! She finds the women and notices that they have armor, battle scars, and swords under their costumes--the scent that she catches is familiar... it reminds her of the young lord who attacked them after they left Nightstone. They are Melra & Larla, and she overhears that they are the mothers of the lord and his brother, here to exact revenge.

Perrin commands his charmed kobolds to follow after the women. Before they go, one of them acts as a taste-tester for a meal being brought to Perrin and keels over dead--poison! Melra & Larla wanted him to “Perish... Unfitly? I’m saving them for the show.”

While Nocnoc and Shaka freak out about the poison (having heard about it through the mindworm connection), they are approached by a disguised Devonia, Graz’zt’s cambion daughter. She evidently has some time off and is here to enjoy herself.

Selise and Rinn arrive alongside Zayor in a carriage themed half-black/half-white like a chessboard. Zayor gets caught-up in some “high-society bullshit” while the paladin and sorcerer head inside. They see Ash slapping food out of people’s hands, and reunite with the rest of the party. When Selise hears about everything that’s happened since she left, she is flabbergasted.

“I may be a paladin, but you people make me drink!”

Perrin’s performance is about to begin, and he really isn’t worried about an assassination attempt, because they already tried and failed. The three kobolds watching Melra & Larla are stacked up in a lady’s coat like kids trying to sneak into a movie theater, and Nocnoc sidles up next to them like they’re his date. He gives the Middle Kobold a pep-talk. When they turn back, the women are gone! Shaka tries to find them and sees a magical shimmer amid the crowd, and believes that they are using magic to move around the party invisibly.

Lady Amalia Cassalanter comes up onto the stage and introduces Nicholas Fernsberry and Perrin Underbough, noting that the auction will be wrapping up at the end of the performance. Perrin leaps from platform to platform up a staircase, each lighting up as he plays his drums like a lightning bolt. He tells a tale of rising above your station. Puppets act out his tale to the side, controlled by Nicholas using magical runesticks. A projection of the world appears behind Perrin as he gives a closing speech,

“The world is yours if you work for it. The world is yours if you go for it. The world is yours if you believe it.”

BA-BOOM! The crowd goes wild. The hairs on the back of Ash’s neck stand up. One of the ropes up above is cut and a sandbag comes flying towards Perrin! Nocnoc is able to fling his Humming Bird arrow and impale the bag RIGHT before it hits the bard. The bag is yanked to the side and brushes against Perrin’s face. There is a yell and a boom as one of the masked mothers leaps from the stage rigging, sword drawn, coming towards Perrin!

Perrin stomps on the ground as he casts ‘Shatter’ to try and blow the woman away, but the other mother appears with a magical shield in front of her, and they withstand the blast. Selise charges in from the front row and tries to cast ‘Hold Person’ on the shield-bearer, but she resists. People in the crowd start to realize what’s going on as weapons fly and blood spills, and they run, screaming.

Nocnoc asks the Middle Kobold if he wants to be a hero, and they start making their way towards the stage. Nocnoc’s arrow and the kobold’s throwing dagger both strike--thwoom, thwoom! Shaka fires off a pair of ‘Eldritch Blasts’ at the same woman, but only one hits. The shield-bearer furiously deflects the second, and the blast hits Nocnoc instead! She goes to her wounded wife and they both disappear.

In all the commotion, Ashbourne notices a woman with a package under her arm running from the building where the auction was being held as arrows are fired at her from the rooftops of this palatial compound by Ziraj!

Nocnoc action surges and goes for the running woman (who Aram calls “Lavant”) alongside Ashbourne. Shaka fires an ‘Eldritch Blast’ in front of her feet with a NAT 20 and knocks her onto the ground! Her mask tumbles off, and a sapphire eyepatch falls off from her face. Nocnoc brings down his Dragon Fang into her shoulder as she scrambles back to her feet. Ziraj fires his bow at Ashbourne...!

That’s where they call it!

Rivals of Waterdeep Episode 8

August 23, 2018, 4:28 am

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By Dylan Ramsey

Carlos is Dungeon Mastering today--awesome! Always love to see someone I haven’t watched run a game before. You can watch this episode on Youtube.

Carlos Luna - Dungeon Master

(Surena Marie) Ashbourne - Half-Elf Ranger
(Carlos Luna) Nocnoc - Half-Orc Fighter
(Cicero Holmes) Perrin - Halfling Bard
(Tanya DePass) Selise - Human Paladin of Tyr
(Shareef Jackson) Shaka - Tiefling Warlock
(Brandon Stennis) Rinn - High Elf Sorcerer

Time slows down as the arrow that Ziraj shot at Ashbourne last time flies to meet its mark. Nocnoc yells,“KILL SHOT!” But it’s too late, the arrow strikes home before anyone can stop it, and she thinks,

“Mother... mother, I’ve failed you.”

She closes her eyes and feels a pressure slam into her shoulder, but... it doesn’t feel painful. She wonders if this is what death is like. Rinn sees something else however, a red blur leap in front of Ashbourne--it’s a kobold... the middle one. The pressure was the kobold’s body crashing into her after leaping in front of the arrow so it hit him instead.

Ashbourne goes over and craddles the middle kobold. Perrin’s charm spell wore off and the other two kobolds left, but the middle kobold, Duo... he stayed. The arrow pierced straight through him, and he’s bleeding out. Duo says that he’s never been a hero before... Ash removes the arrow and casts ‘Cure Wounds’, saving him! Made me tear up there--great opening to an episode. Well done!

When everyone turns from this scene, they spot Ziraj and Lavant, the tiefling woman with the eyepatch, standing together. Shaka tries to reason with the half-orc, clarifying that they are not friends of the Xanathar whatsoever! Ziraj points his bow at Ashbourne again and says that he knows that they aren’t friends of the crime lord, but the Xanathar wants “the girl with the claw” (if you remember, Ash has an enormous golden claw in place of one of her arms), for what purpose, Ziraj does not know, but he WON’T let the beholder get what he wants. Selise steps in front of Ash to shield her, and Rinn stands beside her--”You’re not taking my sister.”

Ziraj reveals that he works for the Zhentarim, the rivals of the Xanathar’s Guild. Lavant the tiefling keeps leaning in and whispering into his ear. Shaka turns to question her, and Lavant explains that Ziraj wasn’t firing at her to try and kill her, this whole thing--Shaka spotting Ziraj on the rooftop and finding the flyer that led them to this auction--it was all a setup to get them here, to lure out Ashbourne. Her and the kaleidoscope were both bait. Shaka is impressed.

The party want to forge an alliance with Ziraj, and reveal to him that they came to Waterdeep to rescue the people of Nightstone who were trapped by Graz’zt. That’s why they can’t just leave. They NEED the hoard of golden dragons that supposedly lies below the city. Ziraj is convinced to introduce them to the Zhents for safety’s sake. Selise is concerned because she’s a paladin of Tyr, and asks if she can get black armor if she joins. The answer?YES!

The amphitheater has cleared out from the commotion, when they hear a clap coming from the stage. A man in a blue uniform steps out of the shadows. He points out that he’s fine with the gangs fighting and killing each other out in the backstreets--it’s when they bring their problem here, to the houses of good people like the Cassalanters that it becomes an issue. He starts insulting everyone in the partyand Selise begins to march towards him angrily. Ziraj puts his hand on her shoulder and whispers that this man is the Captain of the Watch, and that they’re currently surrounded by over one hundred armed guards.

Making a run for it, the party are able to escape up a stairway and onto the roof. They scale the cliff to the sea far below.Lavant stays behind to hold off the guards if they break through before the party make it all the way down the rope.Some archers notice the very shiny Rinn as he loses his gripfor a moment. Selise catches him, but the archers open fire.Ziraj fires back.Everyone reaches the bottom except for Selise and Rinn, who feel the rope get wet and begin to unwind in their hands. They slide the rest of the way down, and get rope-burn!Ash and Shaka see with their darkvision that their companions aren’t wet with water--but with blood. Lavant’s blood.

Ziraj is shell-shocked. Shaka gives him a comforting hug. Ziraj is staring at the seawall, which is covered in centuries worth of graffiti--the history of gangs come and gone, of forgotten loves and silly jokes, the history of Waterdeep and her people... even those who the leaders and lords would rather not be remembered. The party empathize with Ziraj’s loss, they’ve all lost people close to them--”it’s a pain that hurts, and will never stop hurting.”

They depart for the Zhentarim safehouse.

Rivals of Waterdeep Episode 9

August 23, 2018, 4:29 am

≫ Next: A Guide to Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

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By Dylan Ramsey

You can watch this episode on Youtube.

Carlos Luna - Dungeon Master

(Surena Marie) Ashbourne - Half-Elf Ranger
(Cicero Holmes) Perrin - Halfling Bard
(Tanya DePass) Selise - Human Paladin of Tyr
(Shareef Jackson) Shaka - Tiefling Warlock
(Brandon Stennis) Rinn - High Elf Sorcerer

The party are headed to the Zhentarim safehouse. They can run the seawall, use a passage between the cliffs, or a tunnel under the city that is marked with the Xanathar’s emblem. Rinn asks Ziraj what he knows about the tunnel, and the half-orc admits that he and Levant never used them, since the Xanathar’s goons use the sewers to travel beneath Waterdeep--that’s why Ziraj haunted the rooftops. Duo the kobold says that he always used the tunnels, and they were pretty great in his opinion.

When Selise points out that she doesn’t have her armor, Ziraj notes that if they use the passage between the cliffs, they might have time to stop by the Jade Rose and grab the party’s stuff before the Watch confiscates it. They decide to go that way. Ashbourne drops some items and creates tracks around the entrance to the tunnel to make it look like they went down that way.

They navigate the passage between the cliffs. It looks like a place that locals who can’t afford or wouldn’t be allowed in the amphitheater would come so they could still hear any performances. Shaka peers through a crack to see guards setting up around the area to try and head the party off. Perrin starts talking through the mindworms with Ash, Nocnoc, and Shaka, planning to take a closer look. Rinn gets jealous and really wants a worm of his own. Selise tells him he’s made enough bad decisions for today.

Perrin sneaks into some bushes around the crack, and overhears two guards talking. One of them is complaining about the orders they have, because he knows about the passage between the cliffs and thinks they should be checking there, but the command is busy sending their men north. Perrin casts‘Suggestion’ on the suspicious guard and convinces him that the passage wasn’t the escape route they used and to keep quiet about it. The guards form up and march away.

The party slip out of the crack and try their best to blend into a crowd of people exiting the amphitheater. Shaka goes up to a tiefling teacher named Robby Jellymint who is very excited because he snuck into the show and had the time of his life despite the insanity. They decide to get a drink together. Robby sounds exactly like Carlos’s tiefling sorcerer, Gilf, from the Dungeon Rats. GOOD. STUFF.

Ashbourne pays some beggars and gets them to start performing a song and dance very loudly, drawing some attention away from the party as they sneak through. Since Perrin is famous now, he rolls with disadvantage, but he makes it after using‘Vicious Mockery’ to distract the guard he used‘Suggestion’ on earlier, completely destroying his self-esteem. Rinn and Selise have Lavant’s blood on them, and are able to slip through by pretending to be performers. Really BAD performers, but performers all the same.

At the bar, Robby is coming over with beers to the table where Shaka is at when the rest of the party arrive outside. Ashbourne bursts in and shouts, “DAD! The chickens are loose!” at Shaka, who excuses himself to rejoin the rest of the party. Robby sadly drinks alone.

While headed through an alley, an intellect devourer leaps from the shadows and latches onto Shaka’s leg. He screams in pain as it assaults his body and mind, he uses‘Hellish Rebuke’ and sets both it and his own leg on fire! His companions are able to yank the creature off. Perrin stabs it with his rapier, and Ash runs in to slice it in half. Shaka asks to be healed, and Perrin, Ash, and Nocnoc realize that the warlock’s mindworm was slain by the intellect devourer’s attack. Selise heals him.

Freaked out by that business, the party reach the Jade Rose. Duo scouts ahead, and tells them that there are guards inside. Mayor Melonie (I’ve been calling her ‘Melody’ all this time, and I feel like a dork--I thought for sure that was her name, I swear!) says through the mindworms that she moved their stuff out around back, but warns them to get out of here as soon as possible.

Ziraj says that the Zhentarim safehouse is about an hour south from here as they depart. That's where we end it.

Here's a clip of Shaka getting out of the bar with Ash's help:
https://clips.twitch.tv/DeliciousSpeedyMonkeyMcaT

---

A Guide to Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

September 6, 2018, 5:35 pm

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Welcome! This will hopefully be a guide that will help you, the DM, prepare to run Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.

I'll be working on this over the course of a week or two, and I'll be adding to this post every day.

You can order the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist Dice right here.

Levels: This adventure is for characters who are levels 1-5. Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage is a "companion" adventure, and it will bring these characters all the way to level 20. Mad Mage comes out in November 2018.

Short Version: 500,000 gold coins are hidden somewhere in Waterdeep. The Xanathar (a beholder crime lord) and the Zhentarim (a criminal syndicate) are at odds.

Synopsis: The synopsis in the book is great. Here it is in bullet point form:

• Lord Neverember embezzled money while he was ruling Waterdeep, but he wasn't able to extract the money before he was ousted.
• The location of the hoard is known only to the Stone of Golorr, an item that can alter memories.
• The vault containing the treasure is guarded by a dragon.
• The Xanathar had the stone, but it was stolen. Xanathar thinks that the Zhentarim stole it, but it was actually stolen by a rock gnome. 

Involving the Heroes:

• Volo, author of Volo's Guide to Monsters, asks the group to find Floon Blagmaar, a friend who disappeared.
• Once the group investigates, they find out that he was kidnapped. The Zhentarim took him, thinking he was Neverember's son.
• Volo rewards the group with a deed to a building! 
• Once the group settles in to their new home, a fireball goes off nearby. Investigating reveals that Neverember's spy is now dead and someone has the Stone of Golorr in their possession!

Pick a Villain: You, the DM, need to pick a villain. Each is linked to a season.

• Spring: The Xanathar (beholder). 
• Summer: The Cassalanters (devil-worshiping nobles).
• Autumn: Jarlaxle (drow swashbuckler).
• Winter: Manshoon (founder of the Zhentarim).

Backgrounds:

Noble: If you're a noble, you might be associated with one of these:

• House Amcathra: horse-breeders/wine-makers. Motto: "We trample our troubles."
• House Margaster: Shippers, bulk traders. Motto: "Nothing is beyond our grasp."
• House Phylund: Capture and sell monsters. Motto: "What you fear, we master."
• House Rosznar: Shady smugglers trying to rebuild their reputation. Motto: "We fly high and stoop swift."

Factions: You can be part of a faction, either one of the usual ones (Emerald Enclave, Harpers, Lords' Alliance, Order of the Gauntlet, Zhentarim) or one of these:

• Bregan D'aerthe: Must be a drow. Mercenaries who work for the swashbuckling drow, Jarlaxle.
• Force Grey: You must swear an oath to defend Waterdeep.
• Xanathar Guild: Criminals who serve a beholder called the Xanathar.

Allies: Each hero can choose one of the following people as an ally/friend/associate. All of them hang out in the Yawning Portal (pictures of each of them are on page 221):

• Durnan (pages 202-203): He runs the Yawning Portal, a tavern that contains an entrance to the mega-dungeon Undermountain in it.
• Bonnie (doppleganger, MM pg 82): A friendly barmaid
• Mattrim (bard, pg 195): A bard who has a thing for Bonnie.
• Jalester Silvermane (pg 205): A fellow haunted by the recent death of his boyfriend.
• Meloon Wardragon (pg 210): A legendary hero, member of Force Grey.
• Obaya Uday (priest, MM pg 348): A priest from Chult, she is hoping to find magical treasures in Undermountain for the merchant prince, Wakanga O'tamu.
• Yagra Stonefist (thug, MM pg 350): A half-orc who likes to arm wrestle. 

Getting Arrested

The one thing that immediately sticks out to me are the notes on characters getting arrested (see page 10 and page 222). This adventure takes place in a city, which has laws. Often, especially among newer players, the heroes end up breaking many laws in broad daylight.

Handling this as a DM can be very tricky. The session can come to a screeching halt and things can get a little weird. How lenient should you be? Are you ready to run a jailbreak by the seat of your pants?

I would say that you should warn your group before you start. Remind them that this is a city with laws, and explain how you'd handle them getting arrested. Will you hand wave it or play it through?

Chapter 1: A Friend in Need

The whole thing starts off with a bar fight. It's Krentz and 4 flunkies (bandits, MM pg 343) vs. Yagra (thug, MM pg 350). As written, Yagra is beating up Krentz but his four cronies are about to step in.

Remember that unarmed strikes do 1 bludgeoning damage, plus strength.

Round 3: Something crawls out of the well! A troll (MM pg 291) and nine stirges (MM pg 294)! Durnan (stats on page 203) fights the troll, the group fights the stirges.

Once the Battle Ends: The group meets Volo (stats on page 218). The group is hired to find Floon, who was last seen at the Skewered Dragon.

PAX Unplugged 2018

December 3, 2018, 6:37 pm

≫ Next: Orchard Episode 10: Erelhei-Cinlu

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PAX Unplugged is a large convention that took place in Philadelphia just a few days ago. These are the shows that the big Acquisitions, Inc. events are held.

This year's PAX was a bit special, as Chris Perkins has stepped down from the role of DM for Acq Inc. and Jeremy Crawford, the man in charge of D&D rules, took over.

Worth It?

I don't go out much and I like it that way. A lot of people I've met online were going, though, and something told me that I needed to go to PAX Unplugged, even if it made me uncomfortable.

I went, and I'm glad I did! It was exhausting for sure, but worthwhile. For me, the key to enjoying the con was to not sign up for anything. D&D games at a con with people you don't know are hit and miss. One annoying person will ruin a 4 hour session for me.

Fellow Traveler: I had to take two trains to get from New York to Philly. While waiting at Penn Station, some guy started telling me about how he was going to meet a woman who had just gotten divorced. Is it a date? No, he said. Just a friendly visit.

I tried to peel back the layers some more, but my train arrived and there was a mad dash to get in line.

It Begins

I got to Philly and met the first of many people: Garrett (he runs the Rappan Athuk campaign that I play in), met me at the Marriot that directly connects to the convention center where PAX was held.

We were staying in a large suite with a pair of huge beds, a massive TV, and plenty of furniture. It was so weird to meet him in person, in a "is this real?" kind of way.

Meeting the Waffle Crew

He told me he'd met the waffle crew, the heroes of Dice, Camera, Action, and he urged me to go and say hello. I was already feeling like I was in an out of body experience. Once I saw them, I felt like a ghost or something.

The entire group was right there at their table. I'd caught them right as they were wrapping up their merch table stuff, so there was no line at all. There was only one other person there. Know who it was? Kikka! She plays in my Secrets of Castle Greyhawk campaign.

The whole thing was so surreal that I felt like I was running on auto-pilot. I talked briefly with each member of the waffle crew. I made sure to tell Nate that him counterspelling Manshoon's power word: kill was epic and I talked with Jared about how the group seemed to be able to fill a 2 hour session even if Chris said nothing. Jared told me, "That's what we're going to try to do tonight."

Then I turned to Kikka and whispered these immortal words: "Sword of the Magus". Her character, Lytria, wields the mighty Sword of the Magus in Secrets of Castle Greyhawk. It's an item from the choose your own adventure book that got me into D&D in the first place - Mountain of Mirrors by Rose Estes.

As I walked away, I told Garrett that the con was already worth it. The crew was so nice to me. Anna told me that they had gone over my blog many times in the early days of DCA. I also got to thank Holly and Anna for appearing on Waffle Talk, my show that discusses Dice, Camera, Action.

Meeting Friends

So then, we're walking around, and we peer in a large room with tables. Who's in there playing a game? Grant Ellis, Kelli Butler, and WebDM Pruitt! I said hello to each. Grant gave me a firm handshake, Kelli (we both play in Mordenkainen's Path of the Planes) and I shared an E.T. finger touch, and Pruitt gave me a mighty hug.

We leave that room and I'm sort of reeling from the whole thing. I was in a place full of people who were happy to see me. It was far beyond what I expected. This was nothing like the cons I went to years ago, which were hot, sweaty, intense affairs full of dudes arguing about rules. Cons have completely changed, apparently.

Then I ran into Travis Boles, who is sort of like the man behind the curtain for WebDM. He gave me the most powerful hug I'd ever received in my life.

Character-Making Panel

We decided to go to a panel. People had warned me that PAX was all about waiting in lines. I was sort of dreading that aspect of it. There was a line, but it was well-managed and there was plenty of seating when we got in.

This particular panel was run by Ruty Rutenberg and Satine Phoenix. It was mostly about making interesting characters. I was most struck by how nice everyone was. From the crowd to the panelists, there was nothing but positivity in this hall.

The Legend of Ed

After that, we decided to go to 13, which is the Marriot restaurant. This was a pretty swanky little place.

Our waiter was a man named Ed. Ed is one of the greatest people in the multiverse. Why, you ask?

• He delivered our appetizers in about 90 seconds.
• He made sure people checked on us every two seconds.
• He told us about places near the hotel that have good food.
• He told us when they were open.
• He WROTE US A LIST of those places and what to get from them!
• He handed me the best burger I had in all of 2018.

This guy was amazing. I quietly swore that I would return to this restaurant on the following day. How could I not? We even discussed buying Ed his favorite food - it was pumpkin cheesecake with cream on it or something. Little did I know that 13 had dark secrets...

Brownest of the Brown Liquors: I don't drink, but it's a special night, so I decided that I'd have one if Garrett had one. And so, he ordered bourbon.

I'm just not an alcohol guy. It was painful beyond belief. Worse, this one little cup cost $18! Why?

Dice, Camera, Action Live

After that was the big event for me at PAX - the Dice, Camera, Action live show. Chris Perkins wasn't at this con. Satine Phoenix stepped in to sort of fill his role.

I met up with another online friend: Andy Hatton, from the Laughing Dragon Inn. Andy is like... your best friend. Everyone's best friend. He's just a great dude and a very good DM!

This show was pure roleplaying. All four characters revealed some secrets and we learned some backstory. There were quite a few funny moments.

Meeting More Friends: After it ended, I was approached by a few people who had recognized me from Waffle Talk and Dungeon Academy! I was a bit bowled over. There was one guy that I wish I could have talked to more, but there was a lot going on and he disappeared before I could continue to pick his brain.

At the same time, I met two of my Dungeon Academy players in real life. Dungeon Academy is full of players who more or less learned D&D through Dice, Camera, Action, so this was a very fitting venue to meet in real life.

It amuses me endlessly to pretend that I am the teacher and they are the students, and that this is some kind of field trip. They were great, of course, and it was very surreal. In retrospect, I think we really should have gamed together at some point during the convention.

Slumber Party: After that we headed back to the suite and met with our other roomies, Lindy and her husband! We chatted into the wee hours of the morning. I hadn't slept in a very long time and I passed out somewhere in there.

Bacon Questions: The next morning, we ordered some room service, which was phenomenal. I eventually realized that Garrett only ate half of each slice of bacon. There were four slices, and he left four halves. Why wouldn't he just eat two full slices?

I started to suspect that he was harboring some sort of inner demon. I looked at him in a new light.

Sweet, Sweet Silence: Being an extreme introvert, I stayed in the hotel for a few hours while he ventured forth into PAX. I love hotel rooms and I love the QUIET. I gleefully had both to myself for a few hours.

Then I got word that Garrett had found Lysa Chen! Lysa has written some great Adventurers League scenarios and she is one of the authors of Dungeons of the Mad Mage! She'd also played in a few of my online games.

At the same time, Shauna arrived at the hotel. We headed over to an RPG free play room and boom, I got to play live D&D with Lysa, Garrett, and Shauna.

Beyond the Wall

We played a game called Beyond the Wall, which has this whole shared creation element to it. There are a lot of die rolls involved on random charts (I love random charts). Lysa and I kept rolling the same numbers, so we decided that our characters were identical twins.

The story we ended up with is that we were skunk people living in a village named Stinkton that had been attacked by badgers. Both Lysa and I were secretly and separately carrying on an affair with a badger named Dug Diggity.

Lysa had cards from her upcoming show on the D&D channel called Tales From the Mists. I got one and it is in my wallet right now.

Dice, Camera, Action Q & A

Then came the Dice, Camera, Action Q & A. In the crowd, I could see another of my Dungeon Academy players in costume. It was Aya, dressed as Lilia (she's wearing the red hat)!

The Q&A was fun. I don't remember too much from it, other than the fact that there were a lot of questions about "what if you all die". Both Scotty and Brianne asked questions, which was pretty great.

After that, I met Scotty and Dylan from my Dragon Heist game, and Aya from Dungeon Academy, along with two of Aya's friends.

The Betrayal

Here is where I made my mistake. We all went out to eat. Where? 13.

Was Ed at 13? Yes. Was he our waiter? No!

Our waiter was rude and stand-offish. I didn't like the way he talked to us at all. It wasn't until after we left that I learned that HE BAD-MOUTHED ED.

Apparently it went like this. Garrett said, "Ed says that the philly cheese steak here is the best in the city."

Waiter: "Ed only works, goes home, and comes back to work. Do you really believe what Ed has to say?"

Why on Earth would you ever do that? I worked in retail/customer service for a long time, and I am BAFFLED. Bash your co-worker in front of a customer?

Shiftspice

There's been this running gag in my games about Shiftspice. Shiftspice is a magic item from the Planescape: Torment computer game. I was excited to put it in my game, and was dismayed when the group thought it came in little packets, like ketchup at McDonald's.

So at this convention, Scotty actually made and gave out shiftspice packets! And he gave me shiftspice in a corked bottle, as it was meant to be presented. It was amazing.

Transgender Representation in RPGs Panel 

Then we hit up another panel about Trans representation in games. Shauna and Kikka were on this panel. Grant Ellis was running it.

From what I understand, some of the panelists weren't expecting too many people to show up. The room was pretty packed. There were tons of people in attendance.

I wanted to go to this panel for a few reasons, one of which being that I don't know how to handle trans topics in my games. I'm always afraid I might accidentally do something offensive.

One thing that got mentioned a lot is the helpfulness of this document: The Trans Language Primer.

Esper Genesis

After that, fate stepped in. Somehow I got invited to play in a special game of Esper Genesis, a sci-fi D&D game. Who ran it? DMs Guild Adept Rich Lescouflair, who created the game! The players:

• Lysa Chen
• Nerdarchy Dave
• WebDM Jim
• Shauna
• Garrett
• Me

I think Lysa is the one who put this all together. I have been on Nerdarchy a few times and I was so pleased to get to sit next to him and roll some dice together in real life. WebDM Jim is just a great dude.

We had a bit of time to look at our pregens and check out the Esper Genesis hardcover. What I really like about Esper Genesis is that it is similar enough to 5e that it's very easy to learn. Many of the powers are just re-skinned spells.

Also, the art that I saw was really good. My character was a "dendus". Check it out:

Our Mission: In the game, we were mercenaries. We were hired to deliver some encrypted data to a woman in a night club. We were at a space port where a new, huge ship had arrived.

We took one look at the ship and wanted to steal it, but we stuck to our assigned mission. I was an engineer and Lysa was "A captain, not THE captain". She was a cat-person. I suggested that she was really a "Cat-pin", and the groans at the table were mighty indeed.

The Cat-pin and I did not get along. Our rivalry culminated in a dance-off at the night club. We both rolled really bad, so the real losers of the dance-off were everyone who had to witness it.

It turns out that we'd been tricked. The device holding the data did something else entirely. We ended up in a shoot-out with a gang of villains.

We chased them on hoverbikes. Dave sped up to the last bad guy and suplexed him off the bike. Dave rolled a natural 20!

There was more content to play through, but it was late, so we stopped there. It was a lot of fun!

Back in the suite, I told Shauna and Garrett about how I'd watched every Phantasm movie over the last week and how weird/good/bad they were. I passed out somewhere in there.

Going Home

The third day for me was all about getting home. I said farewell to my new friends and carefully made my way to the train station. The trip went fine until the final leg.

As we approached my stop, the conductor told me that only the last few car doors would open. I'd need to make my way through most of the train to exit.

I dutifully got my stuff together and awaited my announcement. It came. I got up. An elderly couple in front of me also got up. They blocked my path. They got their luggage off of the overhead rack. They slowly made their way to the back of the first of many cars. The door was closed. The lady didn't know how to slide it open. She had a lengthy discussion with a passenger about it.

We weren't even close to the back of the train. We missed our stop. I couldn't believe it. I was flabbergasted.

We got off at the next stop and were given a voucher. We had to take another train BACK to get home. We had to wait an hour.

So we sat there in this train station, me and the old couple. I told them about PAX. The guy told me he went to "trapper conventions". I didn't ask about different types of bear traps, but I wanted to.

We got on our train and, this time, we didn't miss our stop.

I got home!

Final Thoughts

I'm so glad I got to go to PAX. Next time, I think I'll try to plan some more games with friends, although I did really enjoy being free to do whatever I wanted (or nothing at all).

Not a Lot of Free Stuff: I expected to get more free stuff than I did. I got almost nothing and I bought almost nothing. A lot of the dealer's room was full of board and card games, which I really have no interest in.

Cost: It actually wasn't that expensive at all. A 3-day pass cost $60. The trains cost a bit more. The hotel would have been expensive if not for sharing a room with Garrett. Once you're in the Con, there's not much to pay for. You just play games!

If there's a PAX near you, you definitely might want to consider going. It was a lot of fun.

Orchard Episode 10: Erelhei-Cinlu

December 4, 2018, 7:37 pm

≫ Next: Mordenkainen's Path of the Planes 23 - Allies or Enemies

≪ Previous: PAX Unplugged 2018

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I've been playing in a game on the Greyhawk Channel called Orchard. It is run by Prorestarter.

I've written before about how I hate being a player, but lately I've felt that it is important for me to play as I tend to lose perspective as a DM and come off as too harsh or callous.

Here's the group:

• (Tommy) Ciaran: He's a barbarian, a pretty dark character. So far in the campaign, he turned into a wendigo and lost an eye.
• (Bree) Caeli: A rogue who is linked to the Suel empire. She grew up as a slave and is also a pretty dark character.
• (Heavenleigh) Seraphina: A cleric who is sort of the "mom" of the group.

We are all members of a mercenary company called the Gilded Glaive. Each member gets a special fanny pack to hold our stuff. You have to earn these fanny packs!

My character is Neil Zarkanen, a friendly paladin of Boccob (god of magic). Right after he was born, his mom left him in a garbage pile outside the city of greyhawk when he was a baby. Clerics of Boccob took him in and raised him.

Playing a Good Guy: My character is a nice guy. I like playing nice guys or good guys. He tries to keep the group together and gets bothered when the heroes do something evil.

Both Ciaran and Caeli thought that Bael, one of the roaming dukes of hell, was cool. Bael traveled with us for a short time. Bael is not cool - he's raw evil. He's scum.

We have this weird sort of tension where my dorky-but-kind character tries to keep the heroes on the path toward goodness. It is an avenue ripe with dad joke possibilities.

DM Style: I really enjoy the way that the DM runs the game. Usually, due to my abominable attention span, I get bored pretty quick. Usually in D&D, there's a lot of sitting and waiting your turn in D&D. I get lost in my own brain and lose track of where we are and what we're doing.

The DM is able to keep everything moving really well, to the point that the time flies by more often than not. I think part of it is his use of background music. There's something about it that really helps a lot.

He also does something that fascinates me. He legit runs it like a TV show, even describing a camera panning over a scene. He's locked in to that take - we're in a movie or a TV show. He even one time described a scene where time slowed down and reversed, detailing arrows stopping in mid-flight.

What's the downside to that? None, as far as I can see. It doesn't hurt at all. It's weird that more DMs don't do it, now that I think about it.

Erelhei-Cinlu: In this session, we arrived in the drow city of Erelhei-Cinlu. This was very cool for me, as I ran a few sessions in this city with my Planescape group. I did a ridiculous amount of preparation for that game. Basically, I made a guide with a pencil and paper. I wrote about pifwafwis, crawl chariots, you name it.

We're dealing with a few issues:

1. The Feywild is being corrupted by twisted evil.
2. We need to destroy a number of temples to Tharizdun.

We needed to meet a women in a brothel. I got quite amused at the idea of my character in a brothel.

The other heroes kept the employees of the brothel from sinking their hooks into me, while Ciaran started drinking heavily. The rest of us hit the town and picked up some potions and gear.

This was essentially a "shopping" episode, which is something I used to hate. In this campaign, it was good because the entire group is good. I think we could do just about anything and it would be fun.

I bought some noble clothes and lolth-themed pajamas.

Slaves: Guess what came up again? Slaves!! Jessie used to have a thing for buying slaves in D&D, and here we are once again in a city full of them.

I thought that my character should try to buy as many slaves as he could and free them. Wandering around with a horde of 5 hit point slaves is obviously a recipe for disaster, but hey, I have to try, right?

Interestingly, Seraphina, the other good character in the party, was against it. She said we should try to foment revolution.

Here?? Now? How? As far as I could tell, we were just making a pit stop. How the heck are we going to create a successful slave revolt down in this thoroughly evil realm?

the goal was noble, but I just didn't see how it was possible.

The group further pointed out to me that these slaves likely were all messed up psychologically, and that they might not be able to survive on their own.

Ultimately I thought the best solution was to buy one "test" slave. At the very least, I can save one person, right? I'll have to keep them safe until we get somewhere that they can build a new life. That will be very tricky, but a fun challenge, in my opinion.

Mom: We ended with Ciaran rolling over in bed to see that the lady in bed with him suddenly looked like his mother. His screams echoed throughout the building.

You can watch this episode here:

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Watch Orchard episode 11 Erelhei-Cinlu from thegreyhawkchannel on www.twitch.tv

Mordenkainen's Path of the Planes 23 - Allies or Enemies

December 5, 2018, 6:28 pm

≫ Next: Secrets of Castle Greyhawk 15 - The Mirror Realm

≪ Previous: Orchard Episode 10: Erelhei-Cinlu

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A fairly long-running show at this point, Mordenkainen's Path of the Planes is a higher-level D&D campaign that I've been playing in on the greyhawk channel. The first section of the campaign placed us in Hell, and now we're in Barovia.

(Kelli) Bruilinde - A sassy bard who has a thing for Strahd. In real life, Kelli is an opera singer, so she actually sings her bardic powers on the stream!

(Elly) Lux - An intense, brooding rogue once linked to the evil Scarlet Brotherhood.

(Zippy) Shallot - A gnome wizard who is obsessed with defeating a planar threat named Morandagana. Shallot is a bit of a wild card.

(Me) Odos - A githzerai monk. Basically, this character was an excuse for me to use all the cool lore from my guide to the githzerai. Odos walks the planes and tries to understand the teachings of Zerthimon.

My D&D Character's Girlfriend: For me, the biggest thing on this show is the relationship between my character and Lux. We started off the campaign absolutely hating each other, but things changed when we kept trying to one-up each other in mid-combat.

I'm not sure if I've ever done a romance in a D&D campaign as lengthy as this one. It is a lot of fun, though I never quite know where the line is and I get worried about handling it properly.

There were two incidents in particular that signaled turning points in the relationship.

• The Flower: I had found this frozen flower in a castle. Every time we rested in Hell, I'd check it to see if it had melted. It never did. When we got out of hell, I gave Lux a little speech about how the flower endured, just like my feelings for her.
• The Camp: We actually camped right outside that wall in Barovia that I wrote about quite a bit in my review of Curse of Strahd. It was very cold, and so Lux and Odos were bundled up. She took me completely by surprise with an "I love you", which left me pretty much speechless.

At this point, our characters are very in synch and we have plans to move to an island together.

Battle Flirting: So far, it has been a lot of fun and added quite a bit. In combat, we've begun fighting in tandem. Between my stunning strike and her sneak attack damage, single foes don't last long against us. We continue to do acrobatic moves in battle, mostly just to impress one another.

Where does the whole thing go? Who knows? I've cooked up some backstory complications that may or may not come into play, but for the most part we just play it by ear.

In this session, we were in the Amber Temple, looking for a magic dagger. Barovia has been invaded by Vecna, and apparently this dagger is something both of them want.

First, we fought a demon and rolled a ridiculous series of critical hits. We kept hitting this fiend in the groin and frankly I felt sorry for it.

The Magic Dagger: Once the dagger was in our possession, we had to figure out what to do with it. I realize now that we didn't even study it to see what it could do! Shallot, being a difficult little guy, wanted to have it, but we've been burned by this dude before.

I personally want Strahd to have it, mostly because Bruilinde has a thing for Strahd and I get a kick out of seeing them interact.

Giving it to Vecna might mean the end of Barovia altogether, which would be odd.

I, Strahd: Then something weird happened. Shane, the DM, switched scenes. I was suddenly playing Strahd. Kelli was Madame Eva, Zippy was Kas the Betrayer, and Elly was a minion of Vecna's.

I got to moan about Tatiana for a few minutes and then made an alliance with Kas. Apparently we're going to go try to kill Vecna!

Crazy stuff! It's a fun show. You can check it out right here:

Watch Mordenkainen's Path of the Planes - Ep 23: Allies or enemies from thegreyhawkchannel on www.twitch.tv

Secrets of Castle Greyhawk 15 - The Mirror Realm

December 6, 2018, 8:27 pm

≫ Next: Orchard Episode 11: What We Think Is Best

≪ Previous: Mordenkainen's Path of the Planes 23 - Allies or Enemies

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A few years ago, I wrote a few articles about the original Castle Greyhawk. That's one of the first D&D dungeons, the place where Gary Gygax playtested the D&D rules. It is in the dungeons underneath Castle Greyhawk that heroes like Tenser, Otiluke, and Robilar ran around and became legends.

I'd wanted to run a Castle Greyhawk campaign for many years, loosely basing it on Gary's dungeon.

Recently, I was able to get this campaign going on the greyhawk channel. We play every Thursday at 1 PM EST.

The heroes

• (Doug) Gusamon - a fungus-obsessed dwarf.
• (Kikka) Lytria - A wood elf ranger who is trying to find her real parents.
• (Dylan) Gundar - An evil dwarf covered in tattoos.
• (Chloe) Aurora - A paladin with an angelic lineage.

Together, they've been making their way through the dungeons. There are 13 levels in all. I based the first three very loosely on the real ones. I really don't have a lot of time to prepare, so I've been relying on published products.

Level 4 is the undead level, using material from the Barrowmaze, a fantastic undead-themed dungeon made by Greg Gillespie. The dungeon has this pit in it that is spewing forth undead. The heroes need to bring a magic orb called the Fount of Law and toss it into the pit to destroy it.

The Mirror: Looking at what was left, I thought we might get to the final area of the Barrowmaze today. We didn't, primarily because of the mirror.

The room goes like this. If you look in this magic mirror, you are teleported to a quasi-realm where you have to fight an undead version of yourself. If you destroy it, you return to the dungeon.

The group were cautious and ultimately decided to all look at the mirror at the same time. It was literally explained to me that they wanted to "engage with the dungeon", which amused me greatly.

So, all 4 heroes appeared in the quasi-realm and had to fight their undead counterparts. Aurora turned two, using her gauntlet of palantis (a very cool item she'd found in the previous session). Gusamon got hit a few times, but the heroes weren't having too much trouble with the remaining zombies.

The group has a bunch of hirelings and sidekicks. Most of the names of the hirelings have names that are anagrams derived from the names of my players from years past:

• Tumtut Brazen - A tall, athletic woman.
• Ratty Lens - A pretty resourceful dude with a hunchback.
• Jackie Moonshoe - A glamorous dame who lost her nerve a few rooms into the dungeon, and now spends her time shivering and smoking.
• A dwarf the group rescued from a pit.
• 3 mummy cats - new monsters from the adventure, called Nebanekhets.

Some of the hirelings looked into the mirror and were sucked into this quasi-realm as well. The dwarf was killed by his double, and the mummy cat did battle with a regular cat.

The heroes survived and returned to the room whence they came. Then, they did what heroes do. They tried to take the mirror and bring it with them.

That was another split-second decision for me. I knew that it would "ruin" some encounters, and my best bet is to say yes, but then spend a week thinking through the limitations so that they could get good use out of it without flattening the adventure completely.

They were excited about it and I figured, "ah, what the heck" and went along for the ride.

They soon came to an area where there were 8 cockatrices nearby (chickens that can turn you to stone). The heroes used their bat familiars to get the cockatrices to turn the corner and run right toward the mirror.

Poof. The cockatrices went into the mirror realm. I quickly made some rolls to see how many cockatrices defeated their undead selves. A round or two later, 4 emerged victorious. The group took down the rest.

So now I have a week to mull this over. What can I do with this thing?

1. I could have it break. I don't want to go out of my way to break it. If it happens, it happens.
2. There could be some kind of overlord int he realm who doesn't like all of the activity.
3. Maybe entities on the other side start popping out at an inopportune time.
4. If the group traps some undead in here, maybe their living selves can be reborn?

Not sure yet, but there are a lot of fun possibilities.

One thing that I am wary of is that the final room is teeming with monsters - skeletons, zombies, etc. I don't want the mirror to nullify it. I'll need to figure out a way for the mirror to add to it rather than detract from it in a way that is satisfactory for everyone involved.

Magic Items: This dungeon is old school, and part of old school means tons of magic items. I embraced it to a degree, and the players seem to enjoy getting all these cool, weird items.

Aurora, the paladin, has a 20 AC. I don't see many campaigns where magic armor comes into play. Imagine a paladin with +3 plate and a +2 shield? That's a 25 AC! That seems like it might cause problems.

So we got to a point where the heroes found the remains of a paladin, and there's a helm +1. It's got wings on it. I had to make a split-second decision. Do I want the paladin to have a 21 AC? Am I giving out helms that boost armor class?

I decided to go with it, mostly because a winged helmet is very old school and fun. I am worried about her AC, but there are other ways to affect a hero - saving throws, spells, status effects, etc.

You can check this episode out right here:


Watch Secrets of Castle Greyhawk Ep. 15 - The Mirror Realm from thegreyhawkchannel on www.twitch.tv