Skyfell Campaign: Session 2

Skyfell Introduction

I started a once-per-month Dungeons and Dragons game in my Skyfell campaign setting. I wanted to provide my players with a log of their adventures and then realized that such a log might make for fun blog posts. See the Session Index for a complete listing.

And so here we are, with session 2.

Session 2: The Piruna Run, "The Howling Wind"

Preparation

Because I did much of the planning prior to session 1, there was little additional prep needed for this session. I had a general idea of what I wanted to happen, and I had a general idea of where I needed the session to be at its completion. The maps, creature roster, and other materials were mostly already done.

The biggest difference over session 1 was that this was going to be at my house (instead of at the comic book store). I love gaming at home because I can use the map tiles from the Heroscape combat game and the vintage props from the Heroquest board game, as well as the various other tidbits I’ve crafted. So, the biggest part of this prep was really about assembling the map. In the end, it looked something like this.

The Map Mostly Ready to Go for the Session

The three-leveled white structure represents the Howling Wind, the airship the players were looking for during session 1. The cutouts are a holdover from another game. While they were useful in a pinch, I discovered during the actual game that they are not to scale for what I really need. So, at some point I'll probably make another set to the right scale, especially if I continue to use the same class of airship.

The gray box in the bottom right is the dice jail I made a few years ago. It saw a good bit of use during session 2 much to the consternation of one player in particular. It was nice to be able to have this out on the table. Usually my maps are too big for there to be a place for it.

During preparation, I listened to the storyteller recording of The Hobbit, the 1977 animated feature by Rankin/Bass. This is becoming something of a tradition for me. It's a fun way to get my brain into the right mood.

Pre-game

In between the sessions, Jeff let me know that he was feeling no strong connection to his character but had become very excited regarding a different idea. Since we were already losing one character to attrition and we had only one session under our belts, I told him he could switch to this new concept without losing his experience from the previous session. He agreed and Omagoshno the rock gnome Artificer was born. 

At the start of the session, Jeff announced his character switch. Upon hearing that there would be two gnome artificers, Rodney expressed a wish to also change his character for some very similar reasons. He also have some concerns regarding RP opportunities given some of Fizzlestick's quirks. While he tried to decide what to change his character to, he became very excited about a miniature of a well-dressed orc in a top hat that he had. From there, it was very easy come up with his new character, a charismatic but not so bright orc fighter who speaks like Thurston Howell III from Gilligan's Island.

+ =

His name very much became a group effort that eventually landed on Tauffae Twofeather Topshelf.

The new cast was now:

Dan - Drekzhar - male minotaur Bard 
Jeff - Omagoshno - male rock gnome Artificer 
Laura - Meribore Softwalker - female fitbolg Druid
Michelle - Bronte Whitewinter - male firbolg Cleric
Rodney - Tauffae Twofeather Topshelf - male orc Fighter 

I did not bother with an in-game explanation of the change in characters. It was only the second session and I didn't feel it was needed. Rodney did, however, find a perfect explanation for Tauffae; he was one of the orcs on the ship. Fizzlestick remaining with the ship (and therefore out of the game) also made sense once again given his quirks. So that worked out nicely. For Omagoshno, it will always be one of those unexplained mysteries. He just showed up.

During the character switches, the rest of the group did a little record keeping. All of the characters had leveled up to level 2 for the first session. I had given everyone a little extra experience to make that possible. Some of the characters gained new powers and/or had the opportunity to select a sub-class. I also took a  moment to reiterate to everyone that I wanted the campaign to very much be a group effort in storytelling and in fleshing out the setting. I want my players to contribute to Skyfell. I want them to own it just as much as I do. They seemed very happy about this.

With these pre-game tasks all neatly wrapped up, I performed my usual ritual of playing Leonard Nimoy’s Ballad of Bilbo Baggins to kick off the new campaign at my house. I was super happy to see that some of the players sang along! #LLAP. I gave a recap of Session 1. I then queued up the ambient sounds for the session, using Jurassic Forest by Plate Mail Games for the start of the game and we began.

In-game

PF-92 (Moss Creek)

After landing on PF-92 (Moss Creek), Captain Ka-aaw briefly reminded the party that their task was 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 Howling Wind (Swiftwords ship) was parked just shy of the treeline a few hundred feet north of where the captain had put down the Stout Crow.

The Howling Wind's wings were folded up and locked in docking position. (Imagine the Imperial shuttle craft from Star Wars.) The cargo ramp in the stern was down. There was no obvious movement on the ship's top deck. In fact, it appeared quite serene, as though it were taking a mid-day nap in the middle of a large field of tall grass.

The party disembarked the Stout Crow with Drekzhar playing a series of tunes on his lute. Tauffae proudly marched directly toward to the Howling Wind's cargo ramp with little regard to danger, strategy, or his companions. Omagoshno quickly followed after him. Bronte and Meribore took a more cautious approach, keeping to cover and using the tall grass to their advantage. They remained apart from the others so that the party was not bunched up in a group. They headed to the bow of the ship to do a little investigation prior to boarding her.

It wasn't long before everyone noticed the sour odor of rotting flesh. At first, it was subtle. As the party came nearer the Holwing Wind it grew more potent. This was not the stench of a single beast in a natural state of decay but rather the harbinger of a mass slaying. It wasn't hard to guess that the corpses were likely somewhere on the ship. 

With increased caution, Meribore and Bronte examined what they could of the bow of the Howling Wind. The hull and the few ports in it were covered in a thin crust of dust and other wind-blown detritus. A thick undergrowth beneath the ship gave the impression that it was resting on a bed of grass. Its landing skids were barely visible through the tangle. Little gaps in the verdure hinted at the activities of tiny tunneling animals but none were about.

Tauffae and Omagoshno came up to the ramp with far less caution. Drekzhar followed, keeping a weather eye for anyone or anything that might come at them from out of the forest or coming down a path that cut through the trees. Peering inside the cargo hold, Omagoshno could make out the shadowy angles of crates, supplies, and other materials. Dirt and leaves were scattered across the floor. There were no signs of tracks or any other disturbance in the debris. There was no sign of life at all for that matter. The stillness was unsettling.

The Lower Deck (Cargo Hold) of the Howling Wind

Omagoshno wanted to go into the cargo hold first. Tauffae pushed his way out front, determined to take the brunt of any harm that might come their way. Meribore and Bronte hurried to catch up with them. Drekzhar remained on the ramp, covering their rear should an enemy try to pin them down inside. There was nothing especially interesting here except for one chest that grabbed Omagoshno's attention. It was built more solidly than the others, had a hinged top, and was locked with a heavy padlock. Immediately he set about attempting to pick the lock to the exclusion of all else. 

Bored with Omagoshno's obsession, Meribore headed for the stairs to the mid deck with Tauffae following close by. Because the mid-deck had fewer sources of light, it was much darker than the lower deck. (I started playing Darkness by Plate Mail Games.)

The Mid-deck of the Howling Wind

Meribore took a moment to examine the bridge of the ship. There were signs of a struggle here. The controls were broken. The airmap was missing. Tauffae moved into the engineering room where he heard a soft clacking sounds, as though someone were gently prodding a piece of metal with a small tool. As he rounded a storage shelf, he saw a kenku sitting at a workbench fiddling with some kind of mechanical contraption. There was something wrong with this fellow, though. He was missing large patches of feathers on its back, shoulder, and torso. The feathers near these patches were matted and stiff. His remaining feathers were bent and flared. As Tauffae's vision adjusted to the darkness, he could make out a gaping hole in the kenku's torso and a bloddied, mangled mass where his left eye should have been. The sight was enough to stop Tauffae in his tracks. He called back to Meribore for help.

The Party Explores the Howling Wind

Meanwhile, Omagoshno finally managed to open the lock and the chest. It was filled with straw. There was also what looked like a support frame. His tinker gnome interests excited, Omagoshno dug through the straw until he found a brand new construct resting inside.

Omagoshno's Find

It was about this time that Bronte heard Tauffae calling for help from the mid-deck. He hurried up the stairs to see what was happening. Omagoshno was too excited to be bothered with something as trivial as a call for help. Instead, he asked Drekzhar to drag the chest to the ramp where the light was better. The minotaur obliged.

The strange kenku continued to "work" on the device, which gave Tauffae enough time to find himself. He recalled many sailing songs and stories about the dead crews of shipwrecks coming back to life under the curse of an evil power. These stories in mind, he charged forward to attack the obviously evil monstrosity that was before him. His first strike was true, cutting cleanly through the monster and spilling its inside all over the workbench and floor. The gore overwhelmed Tauffae, who immediately vomited up his last meal and good portion of the one before that. Fortunately for him, Meribore and Bronte joined the fight.

The Party Splits Up

The sounds of fighting were not enough to pull Omagoshno away from his new toy. Drekzhar lifted the construct out of the chest for the gnome, all the while still watching for any enemies that might come from the forest. Omagoshno rooted through the straw in the chest for anything else. He found the manual, a thin tome detailing among other things a 10-minute ritual needed to activate and bind the device. So, of course, Omagoshno started to perform the ritual.

In this time, two more undead kenku emerged from other rooms on the mid-deck to attack the Tauffae, Meribore, and Bronte. It was a messy fight, but they destroyed the creatures with little harm to themselves. They took a moment to catch their breaths and discuss what they knew of the expedition. These were clearly the kenku crew. That left the Swiftwords, the minotaur captain, the gnome engineer, and the five half-orc soldiers/sailors. The party hoped that the remaining members of the trade mission hadn't met the same fate as the kenku.

With the missing crew in mind, the party set about investigating the rest of the ship. They found signs that one of the undead kenku had been in the kitchen "preparing" food in much the same way the first kenku (the one that Tauffae had discovered) had been "repairing" the device. The third undead kenku had been back in the ready room (in the stern next to the captain's quarters) fussing with some books.

They were in the ready room when they heard the heavy footfalls and rustling of a large creature in the captain's quarters. The party immediately guessed this was the captain and assumed that he would be in the same state as the kenku. They hatched a plot to draw the undead minotaur out of his quarters and hack at him in a more open area. To this end, Tauffae took up an appropriate hiding place in the engineering room while Bronte and Meribore went around into the the room.

The captain was there, sitting at his desk. His body was broken and torn in much the same way as the kenku undead. He appeared to be writing something but there was no paper and the quill wasn't much more than a stunted nub. They cautiously advanced until they were within striking distance. From their position, they could see what the captain was writing. The words "We cannot leave this island," were etched into the desk. The two watched, horrified. And then, the undead monster let out a sorrowful, moan.

The Captain of the Howling Wind
(Yes, I know this is a skeleton and not a zombie.)

Heartbroken by this tragic creature, Meribore knew she must end its suffering. She struck and then ran. Immediately, the minotaur broke out of its cursed routine to chase after her. Bronte took an attack of opportunity before chasing after it. The three charged out of the captain's quarters, through the ready room, and down the hall toward the engineering room, skirmishing with each other the whole way. As the minotaur rushed past Tauffae's hiding place, he landed what should have been a killing blow, but the captain's undead nature kept him from being totally destroyed. The fight that ensued was brutal, but the odds were against the captain and he was finally cut down.

By this time, Omagoshno had completed his ritual. Nebelun, the gnome god of invention, was watching over Omagoshno that day as the bond that resulted from the ritual was stronger than expected. He could sense that the construct would not only follow his instructions but also act of its own volition with his best interests in mind. It was more than he could have hoped for. Happy with his success, he and Drekzhar went up to the mid-deck where they found the aftermath of all the fighting.

With the captain destroyed, the party searched the rest of the ship.

Omagoshno immeidately recognized that both the drive and stabilizer had been deliberately sabotaged.

Bronte found the ship's log in the captain's quarters. "The crew has turned. We cannot leave this island," was written on the last page. The party decided to keep it for further research to try to understand what happened to the expedition.

Meribore found a secret compartment where the captain had kept three sets of very fine clothing (including a dress uniform), and a very fine minotaur sword. Drekzhar claimed the sword, then he performed a rite of honor for the fallen captain that included collecting his horns to take back to his family. (This was a brilliant bit of roleplaying by Dan; the rite is now Skyfell canon.)

Tauffae scrounged up the ship's manifest, searching for certain items that might improve his ensemble. He found none.

The party decided that they should return to the Stout Crow to report their findings and then go on to try to find the remainder of the trade missions. They hoped for the best but feared for the worst.

End session 2.

Experience earned:

Bronte Whitewinter - 227
Drekzhar - 239
Meribore Softwalker - 223
Omagoshno - 221
Tauffae - 227

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