Skyfell Campaign: Session 6

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:

Laura - Meribore Softwalker - female fitbolg, Druid (Circle of the Moon)

Jeff - Omagoshno - male rock gnome, Artificer (Artillerist)

Rodney - Tauffae Twofeather Topshelf - male orc, Fighter (Champion)

Dan - Drekzhar - male minotaur, Bard (College of Swords)

Pat - Frit Nimbly - female goblin, Monk (Way of Shadow)

Michelle - Bronte Whitewinter - male firbolg, Cleric (Tempest Domain)

Session 6: The Piruna Run, "Into the Burrow part 2"

Preparation

The day after session 5, Jeff started texting me about the arm Omagoshono wanted to make for Bronte. He had many plans, including an arsenal of magic wands built into the thing as fingers. It sounded a bit OP but he was enthusiastic so I was willing to give him a fair hearing.

Jeff Had Some Big Plans

Over the next week or so, we discussed what seemed reasonable, what would not make for an OP item, and what the rules for making the arm should be. Eventually, this conversation moved to our Discord channel so that Michelle could join in. We settled on the following:

The arm would be a rare magical item (which means unarmed combat with the arm would count as magical bludgeoning damage). Per Xanathar’s Guide (the best Dungeons and Dragons supplement ever made) a rare magic item requires 9-12 components, costs 2,000 GP, and takes ten weeks to complete. I settled on this arm needing 11 components but stated that the salvage from Slinky included 2 of these). Moreover, since Omagoshono is an Artificer, his crafting cost is cut in half so that he will only need 1000 gold. The components include the following:

1. Mithril rotators (salvaged from Slinky)
2. Electrum servo
3. Gold wiring (salvaged from Slinky)
4. Volcanic salt
5. Raw amethyst
6. Mithril ore
7. Drake hide
8. Death cap mold
9. Soul fire gem
10. Crude black bile
11. Psychic anchor

I let them know that most of the items could be bought, traded for, or hunted with moderate effort (taking little more than a one-shot to acquire). The important exceptions would be the crude black bile and the psychic anchor. The crude black bile, a substance made from something I had not yet determined would require acquisition and processing. The psychic anchor would require a bit of work on Bronte’s part as it required him to invest a part of his psyche into an object of sentimental value.

Writing the session 5 summary got me thinking about how I fielded the phantom vision and bone monster. While I did take one character into death saves and destroyed Slinky, I didn’t use the creatures very effectively. I should have had the bone monster attack while the phantom vision was wailing. So, I’m going to be more aware of creature Cooperation in the future. Watch out player characters!

Also, I realized I wanted to start taking a “feelings inventory” of each character at the start of each session. I believe this will get the players thinking more deeply about their characters and give me a chance to gauge where both the player and character are at regarding the in-game events. It will also give me some additional resources to use in the game.

Let's Take a Feelings Inventory
Source: The Santa Claus 2 movie

Finally, since I was feeling like the Piruna Fields story arc was going to be wrapping up in a session or two, I wanted to get some buy in from my players regarding what they might want to do after the arc ended. There are currently several possibilities that have surfaced just from the natural flow of the game play. I had started using my commute time to think through what some of these adventures might look like should they choose to follow one. The players might also have ideas of things they want to do. So I wanted them to start thinking about that. And, of course, I still wanted to do the Stranger Things adventure and the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. Yep, there is definitely no shortage of adventuring possibilities. This, as with all the other messages I sent along, was all done through Discord.

Oh, and I found the perfect shirt to wear while DMing Skyfell. It's a Hawaiian dinosaur pattern. This amuses me beyond what is rational so I'm super happy for the find. It will forever be my official dungeon master robe.

Pre-game

I prepped the table and laid out the portion of the burrow that the players had already explored. I also worked on the late lunch I would be serving. 

Fifteen minutes prior to the game, I tried to connect to Skype. Microsoft, however, wouldn’t let me log in and it took a few minutes to figure out that they had locked my account. Fortunately, this hiccup only postponed the start of the game by five minutes. 

Once all the players were assembled, I did a quick recap of the previous session. (Oh, I also took another cast picture.) I then asked each player how their characters were feeling regarding the events up until that point. The discussion was interesting. In general: 

Bronte continues to believe that losing his arm was part of a greater plan by Hiatea, especially given what is happening on the island. He has also come to the conclusion that Meribore no longer needs his protection, what with the whole wild shaping into a dinosaur thing.

Drekzhar wants to complete the mission they were hired to do and get home. The events on the island, while tragic, are not the primary goal and he’s missing the civilized culture from which he draws his inspiration.

Frit has seen some really bad stuff in her time. The events on the island, though bad, are not outside of that experience. She simply wants to know what is happening.

Meribore is traumatized by being thrusts directly into the doomsday prophecy that has haunted her. She’s also confused and disappointed in her own behavior so far since she has always believed herself to be a pacifist.

Omagoshno has certainly found the adventure he was looking for. His near-death experience has stoked that desire to experience all he can of life while learning what makes everything “tick.” Part of this, of course, is to finish the mission and find out what is happening on the island.

Tauffae has grown very attached to the members of the party. He is starting to view them as a family that accepts him. He’s also disturbed by everything he has so far seen on this mission and wants to help in some way.

After these conversations were done, I felt like everyone had a better sense of each character’s state of mind. We then resumed the arc.

In-game

In the interest of full disclosure, a lot of things happened during this session. I can guarantee I have some of them out of order. I did my best though. Players, if you catch a mistake please let me know and I’ll make corrections. Now that that is out of the way...

Tauffae and Drekzhar, who had succumbed to the fear illusion triggered when Frit opened the doors into the burrow proper, regained themselves once the illusion dissipated. They rejoined Meribore and Bronte. The four of them crossed through the doorway. (Drekzhar was a little disappointed that the fear illusion didn’t go off again. He is, apparently, an adrenaline junky. So that's canon now. I'm looking at you, Dan!) They could hear Frit engaged in a conversation in a language no one recognized. Omagoshno hushed the group and warned them that Frit was talking with someone in goblin but he wasn’t sure what was happening. 

The Party Slowly Enters the Burrow

Frit was in fact “chatting” with a pair of orcs in goblin, a female and a male. The female did all the talking. She claimed to be the commander of the orc troops assigned to protect Swiftwords during the trade mission to Piruna Fields. She also expressed suspicion that anyone, especially someone the size of Frit, should be able to get past the undead horrors that had blocked their own escape for months. 

The Female Orc
Created with HeroForge

Tauffae, hearing the exchange, got bored and decided to go see exactly what was happening. He immediately recognized the orcs as those who worked for Goldfinger (the same merchant lord who hired the party to find Swiftwords). He knew the female was named Bilga and the male was named Grutak. They, of course, recognized Tauffae. To say they were not friends would be an understatement. Insults were exchanged. Tensions ratcheted up very quickly. Frit prepared a little bile tea, a popular drink among orcs, in an attempt to smooth over the interaction, but by this time the other members of the party joined the conversation and just made matters worse. The party even called out the orcs for their inability to kill the monsters outside.

Chatting with an Orc

Despite the bad will, Bilga consented to taking the party to meet Swiftwords. They were there to rescue him after all. She led them from the main entrance area, a place designed for visitors of a stature larger than the average gnome, into the main thoroughfare into the burrow itself. I should mention that the party did not investigate or ask about two doors that were near where the conversation took place. Frit, having visited this burrow before knew that one was a guest room and the other was a barracks but she never communicated this to the others.

The thoroughfare was still large but much more suited for smaller folk. Thankfully, the bigger party members had only to slightly bend over to avoid hitting their heads. No one would be hopping around any time soon though and they certainly wouldn’t be swinging two-hand weapons. Their path led them past a passageway clearly gnome-sized and filled with the same sort of fog that filled the way into the heart of the tree. (See session 3 and session 4.) When asked about this, Bilga replied that monsters came out of this fog. They were two-legged, hairless monstrosities whose body amounted to little more than a gigantic mouth with concentric sets of razor teeth. She and the other orcs had managed to repel every attack so far though so they amounted to little more than a nuisance.

Bilga brought the party into a large gathering chamber complete with dining tables and an elevated stage. The room was dirty, showing definite signs of being lived in, but was not exactly filthy. There were no bodies here either. 

The Party Enters a Gathering Chamber

On the stage, there was a slightly primitive but rather grand chair. Upon it sat a mature gnome with well-fed features. His elegant, full beard and very expensive formal attire hinted at a rather posh sort of fellow. Spread about the room were four other orcs. Another female was in the corner nearest the entrance they came through. Two males flanked the gnome. Another male stood by an exit directly across from the entrance. There was also another exit but that, like the passage before, was filled with a fog that did not cross into the room.

The party distributed themselves about the room, highly suspicious of the entire situation.

The gnome introduced himself as Swiftwords and expressed much delight in finally seeing someone, anyone really, other than the orcs. They had been his constant companions for four months now and he was very desirous of some interaction with other people. The party asked Swiftwords to recount the last four months. He became very excited at the chance to tell his story. He ordered one of the orcs, this one named Rhorog, to fetch ale for everyone so that they might have a real celebration. Rhorog exited through the passage on the other side of the chamber. He had to bend over and even then it was a tight fit.

Omagoshno chased after him despite some disappointed protests from Swiftwords. “Fetching things is what Rhorog does best.” Frit joined Swiftwords on the stage though as a bit of a show of support and interest in what the gnome had to say.

Omagoshno found himself in a chamber packed with work benches filled with the sort of equipment used by alchemists, potion makers, and herbalists. There were also dozens of cabinets that housed a host of plant and mineral materials. Omagoshno managed to find some death cap mold with only a minimum of poking around while Rhorog began pouring out mugs of ale from the largest cask Omagoshno had ever seen. 

Omagoshno and Rhorog in the Herbalist Chamber

Back in the gathering chamber, Swiftwords began his tale. He explained that they had entered the burrow only to find everyone inside dead. When they tried to leave, monsters ambushed them just outside the burrow and they were forced back in. He thought it best to wait it out in the burrow until help arrived. In that time, they had been attacked by creatures inside the burrow too. These came out of the fog that filled certain areas but the orcs handled them fairly easily. He cautioned the party to stay out of the fog. Fortunately, since this was a burrow for a population of a couple hundred, there was enough food for the time being. There was even ale for when the constant company of orcs was too much to endure.

Swiftwords Tells His Tale
Created with HeroForge

While Swiftwords told his story, Meribore used detect magic to suss out that an he carried was imbued with conjuration magic. The fog hummed with conjuration magic too. Perhaps a bit unsettling was the fact that Bilga had a general aura of necromantic magic about her. Drekzhar was also carefully observing Swiftwords and began feeling as though the gnome’s story was a carefully arranged piece of theater the goal of which was yet unknown. It was even a bit difficult to tell whether any of it were true.

Rhorog and Omagoshno returned with the ale and handed out a mug to everyone. Swiftwords very quickly finished off his and called out for another. Of the orcs, only Rhorog drank and even he did so only halfheartedly. No one in the party drank the ale either. Drekzhard did, however, start playing music in an attempt to lighten the mood. Again, Swiftwords very eagerly took to the music. Neither the orcs nor any members of the party joined in. If anything, the atmosphere became more strained, especially as the party members continued to question the orcs’ fighting abilities and their motives. Even Meribore, who thought of herself as a pacifist, found herself angrily suspicious of the orcs and beginning to distrust Swiftwords as well. 

Things came to a head when Tauffae blew Bilga a taunting kiss. In response, she stomped over to him, grabbed him by crotch, and told him that whatever he might be he certainly wasn’t enough man for her. To this invasion of personal space, Tauffae began to draw his sword. Bilga asked if he really wanted to start a fight. Everyone tensed, waiting to see what was going to happen next.

Drekzhar drew the first blood. He stabbed Bilga in the back. Before he could withdraw his sword, the room filled with an inky blackness that blinded everyone. (Frit and Tauffae noticed that the orc in the corner of the room had made a hand gesture of some kind just prior to the appearance of the darkness.) In another moment Drekzhar was knocked out cold. Meribore managed to ensnare Swiftwords with a thorn whip spell and pulled him to her. She demanded that he call off the orc attack.

Swiftwords, quite flustered by the sudden turn, demanded that everyone take a deep breath and relax. “Please. Please. We’re all friends here.”

Bilga once again asked Tauffae if he really wanted to get into a fight.

Tauffae smiled and said that he was only scratching his back.

At this, the darkness dropped. The orc who had been in the corner (the one who seemed to have caused the darkness to appear) was now next to Meribore.

The Orc is Ready to Kill Meribore

Meribore put down Swiftwords, with his back to the passage that was filled with the fog. He didn’t seem too afraid of the fog though. Instead, he called for another round of drinks and once again called for everyone to remain calm.

Players Discussing What to Do Next

After some more questioning, the party suggested that Swiftwords should gather his things so that they could all go back to the ship immediately. He eagerly agreed, expressing a desire to return to civilized company specifically and civilization in general. Meribore and Drekzhar became doubly suspicious of his eagerness. 

Omagoshno went with Swiftwords to help him pack. Omagoshno asked about the construct that was listed in the ship’s manifest but was not in the hold. Swiftwords explained that the engineer had taken it. The engineer had lost his mind upon hearing about the state of the burrow. He had turned on the crew, sabotaged the ship, and escaped into the woods. He was likely dead. Regardless, he wasn't worth worrying about.

While they talked, Swiftwords led Omagoshno through a doorway at the eastern end of the herbalist chamber and into an interchange with several more passages. One was filled with fog. They went through another passage that was clear of fog and opened into a large chamber with a central courtyard and what was effectively a two-story apartment complex cut directly into the rock. It’s edifice was woven from roots that were penetrating down through the ceiling. Additional structures, such as balconies and railing were attached directly into the living roots. Omagoshno estimated that there were perhaps 50 apartments here. There were numerous personal items scattered around the courtyard, leaving the impression that the residence had been in the midst of their normal activities when they had been forced to evacuate, dropping the few personal effects they might have been able to grab as they ran from their homes. There were no bodies here though. It was a ghost town.

Swiftwords went into an apartment on the lower level of the complex. Inside, there was a small hoard of objects that most likely had belonged to the residence. Swiftwords ignored these and instead picked up a few personal possessions from a bedroom, including traveling clothes. While he packed, Omagoshno suggested that maybe the orcs were using the ale to control his mind. He was visibly worried by this proposition and expressed relief at the notion that all would be well once they were off the island and home. They then headed back to the gathering chamber. 

Frit slipped out of the gathering chamber to explore the fog-filled passage leading from the herbalist chamber. She went into the fog with no problems and emerged into a circular chamber whose walls were lined with bleachers. In the center of the room standing upon a dais was a statue of a male gnome standing in a welcoming manner. 

Frit in the Temple

The face of the statue was hacked apart and a mask of a gaping maw covered what was left of it. There were a half dozen remains of gnomes at the feet of the statue that appeared to have been either hacked up or partially eaten. The injuries were quite old.

The Mask Covering the Face of the Statue
Source: Races of Stone

Frit left the chamber and met up with Omagoshno and Meribore. She related that she found a temple with a statute whose face had been chipped away and replaced with a mask. (She did not describe the mask.). The three of them began to wonder whether Swiftwords and  the orcs were under the same sort of control as the Sil-tsinia (the dryad they had rescued in the tree) had been. Meribore remembered that both she and the old woman had said there was a force determined to transform the island. She worried that there might be some sort of disease at play here. The members of the trade mission might be infected with that disease. In that case, returning to Doraku could spread that desease to that continent too. Meribore was now determined to stay in the burrow longer and figure out what was going on.

The three adventurers returned to the gathering chamber and rejoined their party. They announced that they needed to remain overnight so that everyone was well rested before returning to the ship and leaving the island. Swiftwords was a little disappointed. He very much wanted to get off the island but he of course relented. With the announcement that the party would take a long rest, the session came to a close.


End session 6.

Experience earned:

Bronte - 547 (2426 total)
Drekzhar - 520 (2388 total)
Frit - 556 (2363 total)
Meribore - 547 (2395 total)
Omagoshno - 520 (2340 total)
Tauffae - 520 (2463 total)

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