Skyfell Campaign: Session 1

Skyfell Introduction

I have started a once-per-month Dungeons and Dragons 5e game in the my Skyfell campaign setting. This is the second game I’ve run in this setting. I wanted to provide my players with a log of their adventures, and then realized that such log might make for fun blog posts. With that in mind, I’ll be writing up their adventures and posting that write up here. I’ll try to include both pre-game and in-game news and information, including any preparation work I might do. See the Session Index for a complete listing.

This post covers Session 1 of the campaign and is the first part of what I’m calling the Piruna Run story arc. This session took place on Jan 26, 2019. Some of my details might be a little fuzzy since this took place so long ago. So, if I have something wrong, it is certainly a mistake. One to note as well is that since this is an ongoing campaign I will not disclose all the details as doin so might drop hints to my players. So you’ll be as much in the dark as they are. But isn’t that the fun of it!

I frequently run one-shot adventures at the local game store (A-1 Comics) as part of the DnD and RPGs meetup. I’m also on the Time2Tabletop Discord channel. The idea for starting up Skyfell once again came out through conversations during those one-shot sessions and on that channel.

All but one of my players were more or less new acquaintances for me, met through A-1 sessions or on Discord. One of the players is a friend of mine who has played in a different campaign of mine with our daughters.

I asked all the players to have their 1st-level characters ready to play for the session. We engaged in both group chats and direct messages to work out character details. I used this as an opportunity to also share my blog posts about Skyfell so the players had more details to work with.

Session 1: The Piruna Run, "Set Sail"

Preparation

I wanted a story arc that would introduce some basic setting elements of Skyfell, provide hooks into further adventures, and lay the groundwork for the themes and major conflicts of the campaign. These were also first level characters, so I couldn’t go too wild with what I threw at them. This was actually a little harder than I expected. There aren’t many low CR creatures outside of goblins, kobolds, and other humanoids that were also appropriate for my needs and interesting to field.

After a bit of thought (done mostly during my commute), I settled into the adventure fairly satisfied with my idea. I started a new Google doc to capture the basic details of the story. I included a hook (a two sentence description to catch the player’s attention), a What’s Really Happening section that described the basis for the adventure (including just enough backstory to ground it in the setting), a list of NPCs and their stat blocks, and a list of other creatures that I might want to use or need. I also created what I call a Monster Roll, which lists all of the creatures I might use in a table format along with their AC, HP, and speed. I use this to track hit points and for quick reference so I don't have to keep going back to the books.

For the player’s, I also put together a Locations document and an NPC document. Both simply list in appropriate information, with images I found on the Internet and any important notes. As the campaign goes along, I'll update the notes to reflect player interactions and other events.

Pre-game

We all met at the game store and quickly went over some basic ground rules. This included getting buy-in for some homebrew rules I like to use. (I'm going to write a post about these homebrew rules a little later.) We then went through basic character descriptions one by one. The cast was:

Dan - Drekzhar - minotaur Bard 
Jeff - Morphos - tiefling Warlock
Laura - Meribore Softwalker - fitbolg Druid
Michelle - Bronte Whitewinter - firbolg Cleric
Rodney - Fizzlestick - rock gnome Artificer

There was a sixth player who dropped in for this session but did not carry on with the campaign. I, unfortunately, do not recall his name, but he also played a Tiefling warlock.

There was some discussion about which characters already knew each other. The players settled on pairing the two firbolg; Meribore left the Piruna Fields in search of answers to premonitions of a new cataclysm and Bronte followed her to keep her safe. Drekzhar and Fizzlestick were sailing buddies. The two Tieflings grew up together. With these preliminaries out of the way, we kicked off the game. We were starting the game on Doraku, which is the continent where the city of Highwater is located. 

In-game

Each of the characters (in their respective pairings) were in need of a little gold and headed to The Job Boards in Garrison Market. They and other would-be adventurers gathered around Pel - The Adventurer’s Profit to listen to him pitch the bonded contracts he had on offer. One in particular piqued all of their interests. The mission: to discover the fate of Swiftwords Kedlen, a gnome trade negotiator who went to PF-092 in the Piruna Fields aboard an airship called the Howling Wind to negotiate a trade deal with a local population of feral gnomes. The expedition had set out four months earlier with a complement of one ship captain (a Minotaur named Trovick), three crew (all kenku), five soldiers/sailors (all orcs), one engineer (gnome rock named Springeye Reese).

The contract was put up by Merchant Lord Goldfinger for whom Swiftwords worked. For a fee of 3GP per day each, the party was directed to find the trade mission, rescue survivors, return the dead, and recover any of the goods that Swiftwords had brought for trade if it turned out that the worst had happened.

The party set out on another airship owned by Goldfinger named the Stout Crow. It was captained by a kenku named Ka-aaw, with a kenku engineer named Sa Phraa and a handful of orc crew. In Skyfell, the orc, goblin, and other traditionally villainous races are not so evil. They are just another race simply trying to live their lives among all the other races. There are definitely tensions, but there is no notion of an entire race being innately evil.

The 10-day trip to PF-092 was uneventful, easily earning them 30GP for relaxing on the deck, playing music, eating, sleeping, and otherwise mingling with the orc crew. Though, to be fair, Fizzlestick did eagerly volunteer to take on the role of ship’s cook, a decision that made the crew and adventurers extremely happy. 

As they approached Piruna Fields, a giant sky turtle passed by the ship. It’s shelled back was covered in moss, grass, bushes, shrubs, and other vegetation that had managed to root in the dirt and other debris that caked its back. To the party’s surprise, several pteranodon that had made the turtle's back their home descended upon the ship to pluck away victims and drag them back to their nests. The party fought off these dinosaurs, but in the process one of the orc crew was killed and carried away.

As the sky turtle turned to make another pass, the party helped one of the orc crew to with the ship-board ballista and opened fire on the creature even while Captain Ka-aaw was taking evasive maneuvers. Meribore cast Entangle on the creature’s back, entangling one of its flippers. The monstrosity tried to break free but this only made things worse. With its movement slowed to practically nothing, the Stout Crow sped away to safety. 

The ship arrived at PF-092 shortly after. The island appeared to be about 35 miles at its widest diameter. A temperate rain forest full of evergreens, mosses, and ferns dominated its geography with only a few scattered fields and lakes to break up an otherwise impenetrable canopy. The captain circled the island in a search for the Howling Wind. In that time, Meribore and Bronte were able to deduce that the island's real name was Moss Creek, but beyond the name and that it was inhabited by feral gnomes, they knew little else about it. Fizzlestick did what any good cook would do and set about carving up the pteranodon carcasses for a BBQ. 

Eventually, the Howling Wind was spotted on the south-east end of the island in a flatland full of grasses and scattered bushes. Ka-aaw put down at a safe distance from the ship and the tree line. The party prepared to investigate, taking in their surroundings and figuring out what to do next.

End session 1.

Experience earned:

Bronte Whitewinter - 300
Drekzhar - 300
Fizzlestick - 300
Meribore Softwalker - 300
Morphos - 300

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