Skyfell Campaign: Session 4



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.

 The cast is:

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

Session 4: The Piruna Run, "The Cursed Guardian part 2"

Preparation

Fortunately for me, I finished all the major preparation for The Cursed Guardian for session 3. In the weeks leading to session 4, however, I started thinking through those plans and decided I wanted to make a few changes. I wanted the climax for this part of the arc to involve more role playing and provide some additional problem-solving opportunities beyond the simple hack-and-slash that I had worked out.

 Also leading up to session 4, it occurred to me that I knew someone who was a pretty big D&D fan (all the way back to the 80s) and who might want to join the campaign. The wrinkle was that he doesn’t live in the Sacramento area so the only way for him to participate would be to do so remotely. I have some limited experience playing remotely; I had the good fortune of playing Fifth Edition Fallout remotely with Scorched Dice and a few other awesome folks. So I had a general idea of what would be needed. But technology is always an adventure.

 After getting buy-in from the group (because I’m really loving the energy we all have together) I asked Pat if he wanted to play. He accepted the invite and we started discussing not only his character but the practical technical needs for playing remotely. I fiddled around with the camera the weekend before trying to figure out the best combination of apps given my equipment. Roll20 did not really work for what I wanted or needed. I finally settled on Skype. It took a bit of fiddling to get my C920 camera working with it for some reason. Overcoming those initial hurdles aside, the test session went quite well.
C920 Camera Mounted on PVC

 The group also had some difficulty planning when the session should be. We settled on a date that everyone but one player (Jeff) could make. I promised him that someone would control Omagoshno for the session so that he could earn some experience and that no one would treat the character as fodder for any baddies that might be thrown their way. (In hind sight, I think they did a really good job of this.)

 As a side note, I was also getting ready for a one-shot for an event that Time2Tabletop was putting on. That got me thinking about the difference between doing one-shots at public events and story arcs for campaigns. I realized that all the experience I’ve had lately doing these one shots has really affected how I think about the story arcs and not always in a good way. I’ll probably blog more about it in another post, but it is something that I’m thinking about.

Pre-game

Since I was busy playing my horizon walker gnome the night before, I was left to do most of the preparation for the session in the morning of the session. This included not only getting the game table ready but also setting up the new gear and making sure everything worked okay. I was a little nervous because I didn’t want technical issues to dampen everyone’s fun and that certainly had been a problem during the Fallout 4 streaming.

 It also occurred to me that in session 3, Meribore had transformed into a wolf. Technically speaking, there are no large mammals in Skyfell. There really are only various flavors of dinosaur. So, I had to do a little ret-con with the Laura, which the players were fine with. We decided that instead of a wolf she would have wild shaped into a deinonychus instead. This worked because her circle allowed her to wild shape into creatures with a CR as high as 1 even at her lower level.
Wild Shape Druids Choose Deinonychus Wild Shapes

 We decided that since Jeff had been unable to play we would rotate his character sheet through each of the players giving everyone a chance to control Omagoshno. With everything in place, and after a quick recap, we resume the story.
All Set to Begin

In-game

Safely barricaded in the gnome quarters, the party set camp for a long rest. While they settled in, Omagoshno took extensive measurements of Bronte's severed arm in order to start designing a mechanical replacement for him. Before the party could fall asleep, however, there was a knock at the door. A friendly enough female voice speaking in Common with a goblinoid accent asked to be let in. Tauffae, being an orc of action, opened the door.

 Sure enough, there was a female goblin dressed in robes with a frying pan and a meat cleaver tucked into her belt standing in the hallway. 
Frit Nimbly, the Goblin Monk Arrives

 She introduced herself as Frit Nimbly. She explained that she had been on the island searching for exotic ingredients and collecting gnome recipes. She had stopped in at the tree for a visit and found the place in its current state. She was naturally concerned since, though she might not consider the gnomes good friends, they were at the very least acquaintances that she did not want to see hurt.

 Tauffae let her in (re-barricading the door). After some more introductions, the party explained what they were doing there and what they planned on doing next. All the while, Frit brewed up a selection of teas tailored to everyone’s tastes, including a nice black-root tea that is a favorite of the firbolgs of Piruna Fields. Frit asked to accompany the party on their investigation since she knew the gnomes. They agreed and then settled down for the evening, putting Slinky on guard duty. Omagoshno rigged a makeshift alarm on Slinky to be set off in case of danger.
The Party Settles in for a Long Rest

 During the night, Drekzhar dreamed he was performing in the Groggy Hideaway, a dive bar back in High Water on Doraku. The audience was well entertained except for a single hooded, female humanoid sitting at a table in the center of the room. As his attention focused on this individual, the rest of the room faded away until only she and he remained surrounded by darkness. She rested her hands on the table; her extremely long, clawed fingers gently scratching the wood. “I’m here to warn you,” she said. “You will find a door unlike any other you've seen. Do not pass through it. Doing so will trigger an event on the scale of The Cataclysm. The door must remain shut. At all costs, it must remain shut and you must not pass through it.”

 (Skyfell History Note: General knowledge has it that many thousands of years ago Skyfell had been a single gigantic land mass floating in the Open Skies. The Cataclysm broke up that mass into the continents that fill the Open Skies today. The exact cause is not well understood, but is believed to have been the work of a great evil bent on destroying reality itself. That's usually how those things go, at least.)

 Despite his injury, or maybe because of it, Bronte slept quite well. He met Hiatea in a wide field full of green grass that swayed in a gentle breeze. There, the god praised him for his accomplishments thus far and promised his sacrifice would lead to something wonderful. She sat. Bronte rested his head in her lap. She told him stories about woodland creatures, gnomes, and firbolg mystics. All and all, it was a calming dream that left Bronte focused and content when he woke the next morning. 

 Tauffae had a horrible dream in which his father beat and ridiculed him for not being as tough and as masculine as a male orc should be. Most unsettling was that this abuse was heaped upon him not in the usual surroundings of his childhood home but instead in the very room in which he was sleeping. He woke into fear and anger, convinced his father was hiding behind the door the party hadn’t yet investigated. Shoving aside the bed that was barricading that door, he charged into the room beyond. Fortunately, the earthen chamber was empty save a dozen doorless cages for tiny animals. Its walls had a number of tunnels either dug out of the earth of formed from roots. Meribore explained that the feral gnomes made “pets” of many tiny and small animals and treated these companions not as possessions but as equals who were free to come and go as they pleased. Omagoshno recounted the tubes he had seen in the lookout room in the tree. Those root-tunnels looked a lot like tubes that were here. In fact, the smell he had noticed on the surface was the very smell that filled this room now.

 The morning excitement over, the party ate a hearty breakfast prepared by Frit. They then continued on their adventure. The only way open to them was through another passage formed from the controlled growth of roots and branches that descended further into the earth. Though it too was lined with luminescent mushrooms that gave off a pleasant enough light, it was also filled with a thick fog that effectively blinded everyone as they made their way through it. The tunnel’s curvy nature and uneven floor meant they had to go slowly otherwise risk walking into a wall or tripping. And, of course, this was a passage made for gnomes so the fit was a bit snug and they had to proceed in single-file.
Making their Way through the Mist

 After a short time, Meribore felt a chill pass through her. It chilled her soul and left her physically weakened. Already on edge because she was living through the first part of her premonition and because of the events of the previous day, she instinctively wild shaped into a deinonychus. The dinosaur form was a bit shorter than a firbolg but its body was much longer and so made for a tight fit between the other party members.

 Her transformation alerted those near her that something was wrong but in that form she couldn’t say what. As they tried to get answers from her, the same chill passed through Tauffae leaving him feeling weakened as well. He was not shy about letting everyone know that something had just attacked him.
The Party is Attacked in the Mist

Now keenly aware there was danger nearby, Meribore noticed a disturbance in the fog around Tauffae. That disturbance pulled away from him to slip up against the wall and make its way toward Bronte. As it passed, Meribore lashed out. Her beastly maw and claws dug into something tangible and cold. The disturbance quickly turned on her, taking on a disturbingly humanoid form before wrapping itself around her. Another chill pierced her soul, weakening her further and leaving patches of rotted flesh across her body. She let out a growl of pain.By now, Bronte spotted Meribore's assailant and let lose a Guiding Bolt that disintegrated the thing immediately.

 Worried that they might still be in danger, the party hurried as quickly as they dared out of the tight confines of the tunnel. They emerged out of the fog to find themselves in an irregular chamber whose walls, floor, and ceiling were shaped from woody growths. At its center was a knotty pillar of tightly woven roots. A section in its middle formed an open compartment that looked a little like a cage. A seed the size of an unshelled walnut floated inside this cage giving off a waning green glow. A half dozen skeletons were scattered around the pillar. Most were gnome-sized but there was also a skeleton from a humanoid of some other kind.

 At the far end of the room, an elderly woman gently rocked in a chair while she knitted. A bent, pointed hat sat high on her brow. Sprigs of stiff hair sprouted out from beneath it like the frayed ends of rotting rope. Her dress might have been stylish once but was now tattered and soiled from inattentive abuse.
The Old Woman Greets Omagoshno
Omagoshno was the first into the room with Slinky at his side. He headed straight toward the woman and called out a greeting. Meanwhile the rest of the party filed into the chamber and spread out, keeping to the shadows and as out of sight as they could.

 “Come in,” the woman called. “I’ve been waiting for all of you. Come in.”

 “What are you doing here?” said Omagosha, cautiously advancing toward the woman all the while scanning the room for any dangers. His path took him past a scarecrow propped against a nearby column of twisted roots. As he neared the center of the room, it became clear too that the pillar and the seed inside it were covered in a clear, viscous material that oozed onto the skeletons that were on the floor.

 “My small part, is all,” she said. “Let me tell you, you all are a happy sight for these old eyes. I was beginning to worry that there weren't any of you left? And then what would I do, eh?”

 “Your small part in what?” Omagoshno asked. He halted at what he felt was a comfortable distance from their host. It was then that he noticed another scarecrow at the far end of the chamber.

 “Remaking this place,” the woman said. She set her knitting in her lap. “So that the rest of my kith and kin can settle here. Come sit at my side and I’ll tell you all about it.”

 “I can hear you just fine where I am now,” Omagoshno said. “I want to know more.”

 The old woman sighed. “Oh come now, be kind to an old woman. My old voice tires easily over such distances. Come a little closer.”

 Tauffae reached the end of his patience for this chatter and rushed the old woman fully intent on cutting off her head to spare himself the misery of having to keep listening to her. (Here, I started playing my Spotify combat playlist for The Cursed Guardian.) Meribore, still in the deinonychus wild shape, followed Tauffae’s lead and charged forward with a speed that surprised everyone. She mauled the old woman before anyone else could react. Frustrated that his foe was defeated before he had his chance, Tauffae turned on a nearby scarecrow. His altered course, however, caused him to swing wildly and miss his target.

 It was then that the eyes of the scarecrow flared into a red, glare that paralyzed Tauffae with fear. The scarecrow at the other end of the room also came to life and cast its hateful gaze upon Bronte and Drekzhar. A pitched fight followed with Tauffae and Frit against one scarecrow and Bronte and Drekzhar against the other.
The Scarecrows Attack

 Omagoshno remained in the center of the chamber trying to decide what to do next when the gelatinous material that encased the seed struck him with a pseudopod formed from its own mass. The physical blow was bad enough, but the strike also reach into Omagoshno’s mind. He had a sudden splitting headache and was overwhelmed with the worry that he had forgotten something very important. Regardless, his role in this fight was now obvious and he and Slinky attacked the clear goo. 
The Party Battles the Scarecrows

 Tauffae and Frit were barely holding their own against their scarecrow in spite of a spate of bad luck and the damnable fear that the thing caused in both of them. So, when the nearby roots sprang out to entangle them it felt just a little unfair. Looking about, they saw another figure step out of the roots. Omagoshno immediately recognized her as the entity he had spoken with earlier.

 “I don’t want to hurt you,” she yelled. “But I can’t stop myself.” She disappeared back into the roots.

 In another few moments, both the gelatinous foe and the scarecrow with which Bronte and  Drekzhar were fighting was destroyed. That left only the scarecrow on Tauffae and Frit. But then, the entity emerged once again from the roots. This time, however, she shouted something at the scarecrow and attacked it. Though her blows came to nothing, they distracted the thing long enough to be finished off by the party. They then turned on the entity.

 “It’s all right,” she said. “They're out of my head."

 As she said this, the material that had engulfed the seed broke apart and fell away in sticky clumps. The seed began to glow brighter. The sense of sadness and dread that had plagued Meribore since spotting the doorway into this lair dimmed as the light grew brighter.  She felt new life filling the chamber. (While I narrated this conclusion, I played Cornfield Chase-Piano-Cello Version, by Hans Zimmer, Alex Gibson, Ryan Rubin, and Michael Forster.)

 “My name is Sil-tsinia,” she continued, “and I’m the last spirit of this tree.” She went on to explain that not too long ago, creatures emerged from a doorway inside the gnome’s burrow from a place she didn’t recognize or understand. They spread across the island, killing off the natural spirits that inhabited it to remake the island in their own image. They had attacked other trees like her own. Some of those ancient souls were now dead. Others were not far off from the same fate. She hoped though that now that her tree was freed that she might recover enough to help the others.

 When the party asked Sil-tsinia about Swiftwords and the trade party, she explained that she remembered seeing them shortly before the trouble began. She also mentioned that she knew of a gnome that was not from Moss Creek who was hiding from these monsters. “I hope at least some of the folk from the burrow escaped with him,” she added.

 The party decided that their next stop must be the burrow. First, though, they would help clean up the chamber and take a long rest. They also sent Slinky back to the Stout Crow with a note explaining what was going on and where they intended to go to next. This was done more as an attempt to ensure the ship didn’t leave without them. During their cleaning, the looted the old woman and recovered a wand that Omagoshno identified as a Wand of Webs. 
The Witch had a Wand of Webs

They also found three coins of an origin no one knew. Both Bronte and Meribore did recognize that the imprint on the coin used the same letters as the ancient writings on some of the ruins scattered all over the Piruna Fields. 

 End Session 4.


Experience earned:

Bronte - 504 (1281 total)
Drekzhar - 523 (1312 total)
Frit - 500 (1269 total)
Meribore - 523 (1292 total)
Omagoshno - 500 (1267 total)
Tauffae - 518 (1315 total)

Supplemental Materials:

Here is the original map I drew up for The Cursed Guardian. What's neat about this is that it captures what my earliest plans were and how they were different from how the sub-arc actually unfolded.
Map of the Cursed Guardian Sub-arc

Awesome Quotes:

"You complete my armor class." - Dan
"I am Tauffae, Arm Slayer." - Rodney



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