Skyfell Campaign: Session 14
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:
Rodney - Tauffae Twofeather Topshelf - male orc, Fighter (Champion)
Michelle - Bronte Whitewinter - male firbolg, Cleric (Tempest Domain)
Session 14: Recombobulated
Preparation
I knew this session was going to see the conclusion of the Discombobulated mini-arc from Session 13 and the beginning of the party's new life aboard the Howling Wind II. I wanted to introduce them to some of the perils of traveling the Open Skies before the start of the next big arc. I set in my mind a general idea of what I wanted to happen and picked the creature. I didn't get into very much detail because I did want some of it to be fluid and reactive to the player's desires.That particular encounter out of the way, it was time to consider the next arc. Much like the Discombobulated arc, I had been thinking about the next arc for quite some time. I had an idea of how far the players might get into the story for the next session based on how long I figured it would take them to finish up Discombobulated, so I targeted that milestone. This meant having a good start on the outline. It also meant having quite a few NPCs. I would also need some NPCs. Oh, did I mention the NPCs I would need? Because, you know, I had to create a whole lot of NPCs.
Knowing the role the Howling Wind II would be playing, there were a few additional things I needed to suss out before the session. First, I had to rethink the airship rules. The artificer rules in the Eberron guidebook were slightly different from the Unearthed Arcana version. I had relied rather heavily on a couple of concepts in the UA version that are now no longer applicable (or just missing from the class.) That meant I needed to do a solid re-examination of my rules so that they remained compatible with the official ones. Eventually, I hit on the idea of throwing out all reliance on spells and moving to rituals. This meant any spellcaster with the Airship proficiency could learn the rituals needed to maintain a ship as long as they were the correct level. Conceptually, this pleased me quite a bit and it got around some issues regarding the spell levels that were bugging me. I will be updating my airship post with these new rules as soon as possible.
 |
| Artificer Source: Eberron |
Second, I wanted a character sheet for airships. The task was fairly straight forward. I opened the pdf for the standard character sheet into Inkscape and then modified it to fit my needs. I like the result. I settled on the Howling Wind II being a caravel class. (I see no need to reinvent ship classes here.) I used the ship stats from the Of Ships and the Sea Unearthed Arcana article as a guideline for the character's new home. I then added the concept of "expansion" slots which would allow the players to add and remove features to their ships as needed (assuming their characters had the correct skills, tools, gold, materials, and so forth to make the change). For example, the Howling Wind II has 15 expansion points on its top decks, five or which are already in use.
 |
| Character Sheet for a Caravel Class Airship Designed By Me |
The model for the Howling Wind II still needed a lot of work. I first wanted to get a nice base color onto the foam board. I was going for a wood-grain feel. I like the results.
 |
| Painting the Foam Board |
I then wanted to put in the walls. I had some ideas to use LEGOs but I didn’t like the results. So I’ll have to come up with a different approach. Part of the problem is allowing for redesigns of the interior without having to rebuild the entire model. I might try covering the foam board with acetate so that I can draw the walls in with dry erase marker. Something along those lines might work. I think there are sprays for that sort of thing too. We'll see.
In Session 13, we had made some mistakes regarding the spells. We discussed this on Discord and all agreed to read the rules more carefully from now on. It would be a group effort because, well, let's face it, I can't remember everything. Having the players chime in so that I don't have to sift through rules is wonderful. As a bonus, my players know how not to be rules lawyers so I think it will be fine.
Finally, Michelle was not able to make the session. We brought in someone else to pinch hit playing Bronte for her. This made it possible for Bronte to get the session experience even though his player was out. The pinch hitter is a player in the same game where I play Slothfinger, my forest gnome horizon walker soon-to-be-rogue.
Pre-game
I built mechanical tentacles the night before the session using LEGOs. I also printed out a picture of a junk heap for the monster they were going to fight. I then reassembled the room where the fight would take place, placing first the print then the LEGO tentacles. I love the result here even if the LEGOs were just slightly too big. |
| The Room All Set Up |
The session began smoothly as usual. We had pizza for lunch. I gave a quick summary of the previous session and then we jumped right into the combat since that was where Session 13 had left off.
In-game
The room filled with ozone as the last branches of lightning popped out of existence. While the party tried to take in what was happening, the giant tentacles that had assembled themselves out of the sundry metal bits of the junk heap threw themselves at Tauffae. He was able to sidestep and parry the attacks so that the garbage safely crashed down around him to redistributed itself back into the heap. In retaliation, Tauffae fell back to doing what he does best. He started hacking away at the garbage beneath his feet. This seemed to be the right course of action because the entire collection shuddered with each strike from Shadow’s Dark Bite.Meanwhile, the others distributed themselves about the room. Meribore, still in her snake form, made her way to the cage to try to figure out how to release the Rustmeister. She discovered a panel set into the wall with a collection six of small, square pieces of metal. A little experimenting revealed that they could be slid side-to-side and up-to-down. She was certain this was the key to releasing the elderly gnome but was not so certain on what to do. She instead fell back to her tail-language (patent still pending) to draw Omagoshno’s attention so that he could come solve the problem.
Bronte initially followed Meribore but quickly figured out that he was of no use with the panel or with rescuing the Rustmeister. He shifted his attention to flinging spells at the junk pile. Drekzhar joined Tauffae and after a few moments of indecision (he too was uncertain of what was attacking and how best to combat it), followed Tauffae’s example and set about hacking and slashing at everything around him.
Omagoshno ducked into the tunnel cut into the wall and planted an arcane turret between himself and the junk heap. He immediately started blasting away at the assortment of odds and ends.
While all of this was going on, the tentacles reformed several times to fling themselves at Tauffae but failed to hurt him every time. The clockwork snake that had fled the party earlier, crept out of the depths of the tunnel to strike at Omagoshno, but it too failed to do any harm. Gruumsh, Glittergold, Hiatea, and every other deity from the known pantheons must have all been rooting for the party because in very little time they managed to destroy their adversaries without so much as a scratch. (Something this DM is still a little salty about.)
 |
| So Much Junkyard Fighting |
It took Omagoshno little effort to figure out how to operate the panel and free the Rustmeister. He was weak, and a bit befuddled, but that didn't stop him from expressing his gratitude. He explained that he had made his way from the gear hoard down into a large cave where he had been attacked by mechanical spiders. These had knocked him unconsciousness. He came too holed up in the cage inside this room. But he wasn't alone. There had been three little green creatures with big ears, fanged muzzles, and three digits on each hand and each foot. One of them had had wings. That one had spent a lot of time in the little tunnel where Omagoshno had been. The other two (they had been wingless) had hurriedly collected up various things into a sack. They had also animated the junk heap and had set a magical trap on his cage. While he couldn't understand anything they had said, he could guess that they had been angry and filled with spite. The one that had set the trap on him had taken great delight in doing so, going so far as to pantomime what was going to happen to him when the trap was sprung. The Rustmeister was relieved that Bronte dispelled its magic when he did otherwise he would have been fried for certain.
Throughout his story, the elderly gnome kept referring to these creatures as gremlins.
Skyfell Cultural Note
The life of a clockwork invention, especially those of gnome tinkers, tends to burn brightly and end with a bang. That's because they are often plagued with malfunctions. (As described in the Session 13 cultural note, this tendency for inventions to fail or self destruct is why gear hoards are so commonplace in workshops.) Of course, most tinkers simply cannot accept the fact that their lovely creation has any flaws whatsoever. Love does tend to blind the lover to the imperfections of that which is loved. The only reasonable explanation, then, is that gremlins have sabotaged the clockwork thus causing an otherwise perfect creation to malfunction. It is, in fact, a well known fact that gremlins infest many workshops just as surely as velociraptors infest city alleyways. Their extermination can prove to be a tricky bit of business though. They can not only break whatever traps are set for them but they can also turn those devices against the workshop and its inhabitants. They're also a stealthy lot which explains why they are rarely ever seen. When a sighting does happen, it's a major event that sends ripples through the tinker community.
All of this went through Omagoshno’s mind as the Rustmeister spun his tale. Oma had always believed gremlins to be just an excuse for more crafts-gnome-ship. He’d certainly never seen one in his lifetime. Bronte, on the otherhand, fully accept the story. In a strange quirk of fate, he had become somewhat of an expert on gremlins while working with Omagoshno on the arm. He’d stumbled onto notes regarding them quite by accident. The notion of some creature hiding inside what would be a part of his body was more than a little disturbing. So, he had done a deep dive into their lore, scrounging up a vast array of notes and accounts that had made him feel a little sick. This is why he had so carefully tested the arm immediately after getting it and why he had played with the water in the cavern earlier. He was making sure there were no gremlins inside himself.
The Rustmeister was certain that the winged gremlin was a fifinella (a female gremlin) ready to lay eggs. Or perhaps had already done so. Regardless, it wouldn't be long before their would be a dozen or more little gremlins running around causing all sorts of trouble.
With this information, the party sent Rustmeister back to the gear hoard and then went to investigate the tunnel. It did end in a little room where there was a nest made of steel wool, wire, small gears, and other tiny bits of metal. In the nest was the bottom portion of a leathery egg with a pool of rotting green liquid inside. This was a good sign that the egg had been broken before it could hatch properly. The party also found a trap door that led into the sewers. They spent a little time looking around for any signs of gremlins, but lost the trail.
 |
| Remains of Gremlin Eggs Source: Gremlins |
With little to go on, the party decided that Gearmount Foundry would have to deal with the gremlins because they certainly were not equipped to do so. Besides, their job had been to find out what was stealing scrap. They had done that. With this in mind, they retrieved the egg for evidence and returned to the surface.
They talked with the Rustmeister a little more. He complained about being hungry and thirsty and tired and achy and just all around miserable. This got Omagoshno thinking that perhaps the elderly gnome was in fact a follower of The Glutton. (Hunger had been a recurring theme.) Most of these fears were assuaged when they learned that the Rustmeister had been in the cage for at least a few days. Hunger was a natural result of not being fed for so long. The party decided to treat him to a meal at The Groggy Hive. Once again, the gnome expressed his gratitude and promised that they could have free access to the hoard whenever they needed it.
 |
| The Rustmeister Recounts His Experience Source: Heroforge, Designed By Me |
At The Groggy Hive, the party filled the Rustmeister with good food and plenty of drink. This, combined with the halfling leaf he kept on hand for occasions such as the current one, sent the gnome into a pleasant if not sonorous slumber. The others relaxed and enjoyed themselves while Omagoshno went about collecting the components he needed to prove to Professor Knowledge (his potential teacher) that he was in fact a worthy student (see Session 12). The party was more than happy to oblige. Meribore went as far as to wild-shape into a velociraptor to contribute to the cause. Recall that Oma needed:
- One toenail clipping from a drunken orc
- One turd from a velociraptor
- Two eye boogers from a drowsy Minotaur
- Three nose hairs from a firbolg
- Five vomit-soaked splinters from a barroom floor
In the subsequent days, the team moved their belongings onto the Howling Wind II. Eldith (their hired quartermaster) finished stocking the ship’s supplies. Omagoshno visited Professor Knowledge where he received his spellbook and his apprentice robes. He was instructed to study the spellbook and to always wear the robes whenever he came to the Campus.
 |
| Eldith, The Ship's Quartermaster Source: Heroforge, Designed By Me |
With these activities out of the way, the party set sail. They first circumnavigated Doraku to get a feeling for how the ship handled. They also paid a visit to the continent’s gravity well where they watched scavengers pick through the garbage that always collects in such places. As a side note, Meribore discovered the joys of sky surfing during the trip to the gyre. The Howling Wind II handled pretty well for a merchant vessel. Satisfied that all was shipshape and Teskos fashion, Drekzhar set a course for the Piruna Fields. Since they possessed only a standard airmap, they were forced to target the only port in Piruna Fields on that map, Baervan’s Camp.
The party spent the next four days honing their skills and learning new ones. Omagoshno split his time between studying his spellbook and trying to learn more about flying an airship. In the afternoon of the fourth day, they stumbled into a sudden turbulence. Realizing that they could neither go around it nor outrun it, they followed the only course of action left. They went straight into it.
Skyfell Cultural Notes
The Open Skies are filled with a wide variety of dangers, from storms to gnoll reavers to cabin fever (see my Open Skies Encounters post). A turbulence is a common enough phenomenon generated by the interactions of various wind currents. In some ways, they are a reflection of The Tempest with its violent winds. They are, in fact, thought to be caused by the same force that causes The Tempest though no one really knows what that force is. What distinguishes turbulence from a storm is the lack of clouds and rain.
Fizzlestick was at the controls with Drekzhar giving orders. Eldith and Omagoshno were in the engine room. The others were on the top deck, tied down for safety but there to keep a weather eye for anything unusual. And there was something very unusual here. A large piece of the stern of a ship was caught up in the winds. Its path brought it directly into the Howling Wind II. Fizzlestick tried to avoid it, but he ended up crashing into it. This jostled everyone on the top deck. Gubrash and Huru lost their footing, but thankfully they were tied down so they were not thrown free of the ship. They were caught in the winds though some twenty feet above the deck. Meribore was not so lucky. Her rope snapped, throwing her out into the turbulence. It was only by dumb luck that she landed onto what was left of the stern wreck as it tumbled away from the Howling Wind II at an alarming rate.
The impact hurled Fizzlestick out of the cockpit. Omagoshno, seeing the ship’s pilot thrown into the engine room, dashed into the cockpit to take over the controls. Drekzhar bounded up to the top deck for a report only to find Meribore missing and both Gubrash and Huru being whipped around literally at the end of their ropes. While those left on the top deck struggled to get the orcs back to the ship, Fizzlestick returned to the cockpit where he helped Omagoshno regain control of it.
Just as the ship leveled out, a strange wind whipped through the cockpit and up the stairs to the top deck. It whirled around the deck, pummeling anyone it came near. The only hint to its presence was the collection of dust and other particles caught up inside it, giving it a ghostly form.
 |
| A Monster Made of Wind Attacks Source: Monster Manual, 5e |
While the crew fought this threat, Meribore struggled to regain her footing only find herself confronted by three small, impish creatures who appeared to be composed of dust and other tiny pieces of debris. One blinded her with a blast of dust while the others attacked her. She wild-shaped into a giant spider so that she could 1) hold onto the stern wreckage and not be blown free of it and 2) use the form’s blindsight to fight back. While this worked well, she took a goodly amount of damage before defeating her attackers.
 |
| Smaller Creatures of Dust and Wind Attack Meribore Source: Monster Manual, 5e |
The crew on the Howling Wind II defeated the strange wind creature. As its body dissipated, the turbulence also calmed. They quickly set a course for the stern wreckage to retrieve Meribore. In the debris that was now gently suspended in the Open Skies, they found the secured storage container of the wreckage as well as a badly injured and unconscious halfling. Meribore and Bronte tended to the halfling while the rest of the party did a damage assessment, salvaged repair material from the wreckage, and brought the secured storage container onboard. (The container was the size of a small room and very similar to the one on the Howling Wind II.) When the roguish approach to opening the locks on the container failed, Tauffae took a more blunt tact with a crowbar. Inside they found a crate with six, carefully-stowed flintlocks. The weapons appeared to be brand new and stamped with the Gearmount Foundry marker from Akima Prime. There was neither blackpowder nor shot for these weapons. There was a coffer of jewelry of halfling style. They also found a spyglass.
Skyfell Cultural Note
Flintlocks are rare weapons. Their use is generally limited and restricted to a very few contexts so that hardly anyone even knows what they are. In fact, they are often mistaken for magic staffs. The party had first seen flintlocks in the Temple of Garlglittergold in the High-tunnel Grind burrow in Doraku. (This is when they had turned over Raptorstein to Trickfinger in Session 12.). Finding a collection of six newly minted flintlocks was indeed a very lucky thing to do. Their being stamped with the Gearmount Foundry from Akima Prime was less notable as that workshop is the largest in all of Skyfell and is known for producing all manner of weapons.
After some minor repairs and making sure the ship was not seriously damaged, the party decided their best bet was to continue on to Baervan’s Camp. At least there they might find medical aid for their unconscious passenger. They were barely underway when Drekzhar, using their newly acquired spyglass, spotted what looked like a small landmass with a coliseum rising out of its top-side. The mas approaching them from the north. As it came closer, he could make out the words “Clockworks of Carnage” etched into the coliseum walls and painted a wild mix of colors.
Omagoshno began to squee and excitedly flap his arms. In between pleas of, “Can we go? Can we go,” he managed to explain that Clockworks of Carnage was a professional fighting league that traveled from continent to continent. It pitted constructs against each other in one-on-one and free-for-all bouts. It had a huge following, especially among the tinker community. He promised them that it would be so much fun. Drekzhar was easily convinced as he was feeling that after everything that had happened in just a couple of short weeks, the entire party really was in need of some R&R. The others agreed.
 |
| Clockwork Fighter Source: Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes |
They pulled into one of the many slips that made up a fairly sizable dock that ringed the land mass. The vast majority of slips were empty. There were several dozen small runabouts carefully stowed in one area though and two other ships. As the party disembarked from the Howling Wind II, they were met by a clockwork that looked like a humanoid. Its facial features were strikingly detailed. It wore a fine, black suit complete with pointy sandals that recalled the greeters at some of the fancier eateries in Garrison Market. The clockwork bore a badge with D84 on it.
 |
| Clockwork D84 Source: Heroforge, Designed By Me |
This clockwork was accompanied by two others dressed in pleated, green tunics that looked more like work uniforms than fancy clothes. Their facial features were less detailed and more similar to each other than to D84. Each of them also wore a badge: one was inscribed with V21 and the other with V10.
 |
| Clockwork Assistants Source:Heroforge, Designed By Me |
“My friends,” D84 said. Its voice was accompanied by the hiss of steam and the clicking of gears. Its accent was rather posh despite being jaunty and expressive.
V21 and V10 simultaneously pointed their arms upward. Sparks and small fireworks shot out of nozzles where hands would have been.
D84 spread his arms in a welcoming fashion. “Welcome to Clockworks of Carnage!”
End Session 14.
Experience earned:
Bronte - 2655 (13,175 total)Drekzhar - 2640 (13,846 total)
Meribore - 2675 (14,360 total)
Omagoshno - 2680 (14,765 total)
Tauffae - 2690 (14,348 total)
Supplemental Materials
The Map
Here's the map I made for the Discombobulated mini-arc.
 |
| The Map for the Arc |
Gremlins
The gremlin is not just a product of Chirs Columbus’ imagination (as seen in the 1984 film Gremlins). Gremlins are a bit of Royal Air Force folklore (for a lack of a better term) going back to the 1920s that explains the frequent mechanical failures of early aircraft and other mechanical devices. Their prevalence spread during World War II (as reflected in the stories told by the character Mr. Futterman in the film). In real life, Roald Dahl popularized “gremlins” in his children's book. Even Looney Tunes tapped into them. |
| The Gremlins Children's Book |
The novelization of the Gremlins movie describes the creatures as having an alien origin. They are the result of a failed genetic experiment to engineer the perfect pet, one that is docile and contemplative. (Seriously. Mogwai are aliens. Read the book. It’s awesome.)
 |
| Gremlins, The Novelization |
"Gremlin" is really the generic name for the species, kind of like how people say cow for every bovine they see (even the males). The term fifinella refers to the adult females. The term widget applies to male children while flibbertigibbet applies to the female children. As the Rustmeister explained, the females have wings while the males do not. That’s why the United States Women Airforce Service Pilots used a fifinella design as their mascot during World War II.
 |
| WASP Fifinella Patch |
I do have plans to use these creatures more often because if ever there was a place a gremlin might call home, it would be a place where engineering and magic intersect with unexpected and often disastrous results. I already have several NPCs planned out. I also have their character portraits but I am not revealing them yet. I want these to be a surprise.
Music for the Open Skies
I used the following playlists for sailing the Open Skies and for fighting the air elemental in the turbulence.RPG Adventure - Open Skies
RPG Combat - Open Skies
Music for Clockworks of Carnage
I used the following playlist for when the party first spotted and then landed on Clockworks of Carnage.RPG Mood - Clockworks of Carnage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me on one of these fine social media platforms:
Instagram: @hokumsean
Spotify: @hokumsean
Twitch: @hokumsean
Twitter: @hokumsean
Tumblr @hokumsean
Stop by my YouTube channel "Ovens and Dragons" and partake in the exciting world of cooking for gamers.
Also, check out my DMsGuild offerings:
- Epic Gnomish Inventing
Rules supplement for creating gadgets. - Gnome Concept Packages 1
Collection of gnome-related backgrounds, feats, magic items, and more. - Great House Servants
Collection of backgrounds centered on the servants of a great house. - Mildew's Revenge
A first-level adventure. - Random Plot Generator
A tool for creating adventure prompts for one-shots and story arcs. - The WhatNot Shop’s Absurd Accoutrements
A collection of unusual magical items. - The WhatNot Shop's Bracing Beverages
A collection of strange potions. - The WhatNot Shop's Common Curiosities and Trivial Trinkets
A collection of common magic items and trinkets. - The WhatNot Shop's Dastardly Doodads and Orc Oddities
A collection of orc-themed common magic items and trinkets.
Comments
Post a Comment