- You can watch this episode here.
- I have a Dice, Camera, Action Episode Guide here.
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- Check out the Dice, Camera, Action section on reddit.
- Check out the DCA dice roll stats here.
Episode 29: Dark Horses
Sam Witwer plays the Mad Mage today. Sam is an actor who has done voice stuff for Star Wars Rebels, he was on Smallville, he was in The Mist and piles of other stuff. He knows what he's doing and clearly has played a lot of D&D. He makes references to Tenser, Lord Robilar and everything. I thought he was a D&D guy until I looked him up.
According to wikipedia, he's played RPGs for years. Apparently he's really big into the Star Wars RPG, which is pretty awesome seeing how now he does so much Star Wars work.
The Party
(Anna) Evelyn - Human Paladin of Lathander
(ProJared) Diath - Human Rogue
(Sam) Mad Mage - Human Wizard
(Nathan) Paultin - Human Bard
(Holly) Strix - Tiefling Sorcerer
Last Time: The adventurers are in Argynvostholt, a ruined mansion that was once home to a band of holy warriors. They just obtained the Icon of Ravenkind.
Everybody is really fidgety today. Evelyn examines the icon of ravenkind. She can tell it contains sunlight. She loves this thing.
The group isn't sure where to go next. Diath suggests going to Castle Ravenloft. Strix notices that Diath smells like decay.
The group goes outside. They hear wolves howling and a large black carriage pulls up. Everyone hides except for Evelyn. It's empty.
They get in and the horses take them down the road. There's wine in there for Paultin. Diath spots a bundle of 4 potions of healing and four vials of holy water. Diath finds the holy water repulsive.
The stuff is from someone named "E." Either Escher or Ezmerelda. Hmmm...
The horses abruptly stop. There's a mysterious person in the road blocking the way. It's the Mad Mage. He has an invitation to Castle Ravenloft, too. The group lets him in.
He tells them his real name - Mordenkainen! Jared's eyes pop out of his head. If you're newer to the game, Mordenkainen was Gary Gygax's actual character in real life D&D and he has been in a billion published D&D products, including Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure.
Strix realizes that this guy is the one from the spell "Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion."
The carriage is heading through Vallaki. Somebody jumps onto the coach. It's Izek Strazni! He is Strix's brother. He smashes his demon arm through a window and grabs Diath.
Strix casts enlarge/reduce to make him tiny, but he makes his save. Paultin casts fear and Izek runs.
They arrive at Castle Ravenloft and outside of it is a dead body - Falkon.
Sam makes a bunch of jokes about how the group doesn't have 10 foot poles and isn't tying themselves together. Being a veteran of Castle Greyhawk, Mordenkainen is expecting an old school dungeon complete with sloping passageways that need to be detected, a mapper and a caller.
Evelyn humors him by tying her wrist to Paultin's wrist, which makes me laugh.
There's a flash of lightning. Paultin spots someone in the window and then they're gone. Escher?
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| The Tome of Strahd |
Diath is eating Falkon's corpse! Wow. He took a bite out of his arm. Mordenkainen thinks they should kill him. The group does not vote for that.
Diath pulls Evelyn aside and tells her she might have to kill him. She tells him that won't be necessary.
The group is surprised... by ASS SMEAR! He tells the group that he wants the Tome of Strahd.
Kasimir reveals that his name is actually Rahadin. Diath says, "We're still going to call you Ass Smear."
Rahadin points out that Paultin has been to the castle before. The group is shocked. Paultin kind of stammers.
A bunch of gargoyle statues come to life. We roll initiative.
Diath tries stabbing Rahadin with the hag pin, hoping it will kill him. It does 1 point of damage.
Paultin hits him with dissonant whispers and Mordenkainen destroys almost all of the gargoyles with a cone of cold.
Strix shirnks Rahadin. He's 3 feet tall. Tiny Ass Smear!
Rahadin drops Diath and then Strix kills him with a hellish rebuke. Evelyn heals Diath and smartly saves 15 points of her lay on hands... she'll probably need them later.
Paultin decides to use his sword for one of the only times in the whole campaign. He rolls a 10, nothing happens.
Mordenkainen says he's going to go find the Heart of Sorrow. He uses a spell to look like Rahadin. That's where we stop.
Overall
Good episode. Something was off, and I'm not sure what it was. The heroes were really lollygagging and Chris had to pull them from one spot to another.
Mardi Gras: It's nice to finally see Mordenkainen in the game. That was pretty great.
No game next week because of Thanksgiving. They should make some kind of special or something. Too many off weeks!