#Corrick can fucking GET THIS

[lilyharvord]

All you hoes claiming Maven is King Ruthless/Angst boy extraordinaire have clearly never met Prince Corrick “I have murdered and tortured many MANY people and have to physically hold myself back so I don’t make the woman I love hopelessly sad even when she’s not around but I will do those things if I have to at the expense of others because I love my brother and will do anything to keep him on the throne and will do vile things to save my skin and the skin of only those I care about” of Kandala and it fucking shows.

#he’s literally a merciless fucking asshole #who is cunning and wicked and vile sometimes #but fucking hell if it’s not HOT #He is the only anti-hero I would ever root for #I never loved maven #but Corrick #Corrick can fucking GET THIS #defend the dawn #destroy the day #defy the night #Corrick #Corrick and Tessa are what the mareven fans WANT mareven to be #sorry not sorry but he is faaaaar more edgelord than maven #(and far more superior) sorry not sorry #(*shut up lily*) #I said what I said Red queen fandom #you heard me #red queen #I’ll say it with my fucking chest in that tag #go ahead and come for me #I’m too old for this but I’m spoiling for a fight #glass sword #kings cage #war storm #maven calore

[donegeonsndragons]

Narratuary: Session 15 Highlights

Research notes are found, power can drive you mad, and a clusterfuck of a fight happens.

Premise: the party has stumbled across a strange area built deep within the mines, and have defeated the flaming skull guards...

After some discussion, the group decides to push forward and not take a rest

The next set of doors are metal and very large, and Karn points out that it seems to be bolted from the other side

However, with the combined help of Igtbtgh and Baldwin pushing the door, Aurora firebolting the metal bar, and Carlin squeezing through the new gap and lifting it up with newfound strength, the group is able to get through

Going down the corridor cautiously, they find an unlocked wooden door

They now find themselves in what appears to be a circular room that acts as someone’s study, with a desk piled with books, a full-length mirror against the wall, and an empty pedestal 

Baldwin and Corrick investigate one of the older piles of books

The books belonged to a scholar named Gryffin Darkdrop

Gryffin was asked by her friend Aeqar to study whether red mithril can be used as a way to hold vast amounts of feyarc energy 

It notes that Aeqar has made a machine and is looking for a way to power it, and since Gryffin is familiar with mithril, she’d work on that while Aeqar works on trying to crystallize feyarc

Aurora investigates another book with some extra help from Innchie

Gryffin had been able to create a red mithril rod that was able to hold a lot of feyarc

As a test, she funnelled transmutation magic into it, which had the side-effect of making a rod of transmutation

Unfortunately, when she went to go test it up north in Aeqar’s lab, it didn’t work out

She notes that Aeqar seems to be almost done with the breakthrough, and that they agreed she’ll continue her research until a breakthrough happens

There’s some time, and then around 150 years ago, Gryffin makes a note that she hasn’t heard from Aeqar in awhile and should visit him soon, and then those notes go into a panic about the Magidemic

Carlin unfortunately isn’t very interested in research notes so he doesn’t pick up much from his stack of books, but Innchie helps

After the Magidemic, Gryffin has come to the realization that red mithril may be dangerous as it seems to be absorbing large amounts of wild magic, especially the rod

The writing seems to get more sporadic and paranoid, with some notes on making traps based off of Aeqar’s designs (which she then burned) as well as a secret entrance (which she also burned the design for)

Also makes mention that when the mine reached her abode, she made a deal with Amber Torenn to leave her be

The last entry was from a few months ago, and it was barely legible

Baldwin and Aurora take a look on the desk and find some diagrams of the red mithril rod as well as a lot of spilled ink

Karn and Igtbtgh take a look around, and Karn notices that the mirror is on railings and can be moved, and the party notices that they actually can’t see their reflection (but can see the reflection of the room)

With some help, Karn was able to move the mirror along the railings until it reached the end of the tracks behind the desk, where a secret corridor was revealed with the “mirror” being a portal

The corridor goes downwards and then around a corner

Karn mutters a bit sulkily that he only knew what to do because he thought he invented it first 

He notes that the mirror has to be held in place since it seems like the railings have been warped in such a way that it’ll start sliding back towards its original position

They send a ranger in to take a look, and upon first entering the portal, ends up standing on a drow woman’s corpse

Upon examination, they’re able to conclude that this must be Gryffin herself

The ranger ventures in with a rope around his waist and turns the corner, saying that there appears to be steps but there’s no light so it’s difficult to tell

Within a few moments, the party hears a scream of pain and they start hauling the rope to pull the ranger to safety, only to realize that it’s definitely dead weight

After getting the ranger’s corpse back, Karn volunteers to go in, armed with Igtbtgh’s shield

Without fully going around the corner, he’s able to tell that the stairs do lead up, but there doesn’t appear to be a clear entrance

As he says this, the group sees a spear fly from down the steps and embeds itself into Karn’s shoulder before flying back up

Karn runs towards the portal as an elven man with plate armour, tattered vestments with the symbol of a sun, and a red mithril rod steps into few

Carlin feels the tug to go see this really cool rod and steps through the portal

As Carlin gets closer, he hears the elf muttering to himself about how he can’t do it again, but “it’s mine it’s mine it’s mine”

And this is where the clusterfuck of a battle begins

Carlin attempts to grab the rod from the elf’s grasp, manages to hold onto it but is almost thrown against a wall

Igtbtgh gets into the fray and manages to do some damage to the elf

Aurora attempts to charm the elf and fails miserably, and she stays behind to tend to Karn’s wounds and make sure the rangers keep the mirror put

Baldwin, using thunderous smite, is able to grab hold of the rod and blast the elf prone (though it also blasts Carlin prone as well)

Holding the rod, Baldwin feels the temptation to take it for himself and use it to uphold Morai’s will, but he manages to shake it off

The elf mutters that he can’t do this by himself he has to get what’s his, and calls for his friends: his former adventuring party of 4 transformed into zombies

As the party deals with zombies for a bit, the elf is back to trying to grab the rod back from Baldwin, even transforming the rod into a spear that dug itself straight into Baldwin’s shoulder

Carlin attempts to grab the rod by climbing up onto Baldwin, and Baldwin swats Carlin off of his back using his hammer, knocking Carlin unconscious

Innchie’s eldritch blast pushes the elf into Igtbtgh, who sees an opportunity

Igtbtgh takes the hilt of his sword and punches the elf in the face with it, and then, with the sword in just the right spot, brings it across and just about slashes the top of the elf’s head open

It was a pretty fucking awesome HDYWTDT moment

Blood falls on pretty much everybody in the corridor, and they finally manage to dispatch the zombies

Corrick takes Carlin to the study and heals him, though Carlin is still fairly shell-shocked

Baldwin tucks the rod into his bag and then investigates the bodies, finding some basic adventuring things like potions and gold, as well as a letter from a High Council councillor giving permission for the party to explore and recover anything of interest in the mines

Two rangers investigate the top of the stairways and found that the exit had been blocked off by a cave-in, and although the party was tempted to blow it up, they decided to backtrack instead

They camp out in the fresh air and then make their way back to Omi’s Crown, informing Councillor Camden that the mine is dangerous and should be shut down once and for all

He thanks them, and offers them a magical weapon or armour upgrade, one each

The party levels up, and are on their way to their final task to the north...

#charisma and bs #Donegeons and Dragons #dnd #d&d

[donegeonsndragons]

Narratuary: Session 8 Highlights

New skills are learned, libraries are slightly ruined, and rumours are gathered.

Aaaaaand we’re back! Although finishing finals and traveling was super fun, I’m happy to be back in the DM chair and having adventures with my friends (I missed them). 

Before we get into the highlights, just a little sidenote from me: I’m gonna be on a D&D livestream! The great people at Encounter Roleplay, a show that I immensely enjoy watching, had open call for some viewers to join for a game or two. I decided to apply after being encouraged by some of my players, and now I’ll be playing my bard Mari Stagheart this Thursday! If you want to watch me struggle be a player for the first time ever, catch me on https://www.twitch.tv/encounterroleplay this Thursday May 18th from 4-7 p.m EST. Hope to see you guys there, and drop a hello in the chat if you do drop by!

Now back to the “regularly” scheduled programming... Premise: due to a panicked wizard and an exploding wand, everyone except Baldwin and Corrick has been body swapped, leading to some internal chaos. Aurora is in Carlin’s body, Carlin is in Innchie’s body, Innchie is in Igtbtgh’s body, and Igtbtgh is in Aurora’s body. After apprehending Kevamros Silentread, the wizard who was responsible, they headed back to Fortuna to jail Kevamros, figure out how to switch back into their normal selves, and create a plan for recovering the next item, which is in the estate of Councillor Evans Galonodel in his city of Keltar (next to the capital Salv). 

So everyone has about 3 days of freetime together to figure shit out

Aurora decides to teach Igtbtgh how to use magic, as he is quite literally the most magically illiterate character in the body of a sorcerer (oh irony, how much I love you)

She rolls terribly, he rolls a fucking nat20

Great start of the night guys

So while Aurora sits and ponders on how to describe her spells and magic just beyond basic descriptions, Igtbtgh somehow just...wills it into happening, casting light on a stone

While Igtbtgh practices, Aurora heads out and searches for somebody in the city that might be able to help in reversing the body swap magic

She finds a monk named Toman, who tries his best to manipulate her body’s energy to fix the magic

She, Carlin, and Igtbtgh feel a strange flickering as they seem to switch between their current bodies and just....nothingness

Toman stops, saying that the magic that body swapped them seemed to have been tinted by wild magic, and thus he would find it unsafe to continue as he has no expertise

But he recommends her (and the rest of the party) to his former adventuring partner Allura Cardin, a wizard and librarian of the Salv library with a specialty in wild magic

Carlin, trying to find someone to help, also stumbles upon Toman about a day later (to Toman’s amusement) and receives the same information

Afterwards Carlin, in Innchie’s body, decides to take a shower and buy a simple green dress (much to Innchie’s chagrin)

Carlin (OOC): Oh god now I’ve seen her naked

Innchie, in the spirit of this, buys Igtbtgh a new fancy cape

People are almost having fun with the body swap things, until they realize that the abilities and weapons that they’re comfortable with are very out of reach now

Baldwin is checking in with the Morai following in Fortuna, including the printing press of pamphlets run by Maude

He makes a great sermon, further solidifying his presence in the city

He also uses his network to search for rumours about Councillor Galanodel to find out more about him and why he and Councillor Astorio are at odds with each other

He learns that Councillor Galanodel is considered an upstanding and well-loved High Councillor, having been elected into his position many times over 

Councillor Galanodel is also known to be strict but just and kind, and that no one knows why he and Councillor Astorio are at odd other than the fact that he was known to be close with her mother, the deceased Councillor Terra Astorio

The party starts suspecting that there might be some romantic history between Councillor Galanodel and Councillor Astorio’s mother, even theorizing he might be current Councillor Astorio’s father

With new info (and a convenient visit to Salv scheduled anyways by Councillor Astorio before the event at Councillor Galanodel’s estate) they head to Salv

Upon reaching it after a few days of travel, they find the two-story library in the second ring of the city, which is interesting as it appears to have no windows and made completely of white marble 

Baldwin goes off on his own with Corrick to try to glean some more info and plan for the retrieval of the item

As they approach the wooden doors, two High Council guards stop them and say that there’s an incident inside that is under control but the group isn’t allowed inside until it’s taken care of

The party persuades the guards to let them in and help out

Inside the foyer are a bunch of librarians and other workers with cuts all over them 

They say that the main room of the library is closed (both literally behind the next set of doors and figuratively), as something was wrong with the latest shipment of books from a recently deceased wizard in Salv

They also say that Allura is inside the main room dealing with the situation at hand

Igtbtgh manages to bluff them into thinking that the party was called in to help, and were given access into the main room

Carlin stayed outside to gather information from the librarians about Councillor Galanodel and the event at his estate while Aurora, Igtbtgh, and Innchie creak open the doors

The inside of the main room of the library is beautiful, with the walls lined with books up to the ceiling, magical ladders that extend upwards, a balcony-like ring along what would be the second floor, and the marble walls thin enough to let a glow of light in

It would be stunning and awesome if there wasn’t a giant vortex of flying pages in the middle of the room with a few figures fighting it

Fight begin!

If I’m to be completely honest, I was tougher (but not merciless) during this fight because I was bitter about my crystal golem being defeated so easily 

The vortex lashes out, attempting to slash at the players with the pages but misses

Aurora tries out using daggers, which seem to have no effect on the paper vortex and she nopes out of there, trying to hide or escape without invoking an attack of opportunity

Innchie uses her (Igtbtgh’s) shield and charges forward, attempting to get to the middle of this vortex, getting cut in the process

Igtbtgh starts using fire spells (especially after the figures in the background yell that fire is probably the best way to defeat it)

Unfortunately, Igtbtgh’s sense of aim isn’t what it used to be and many a fireball goes off and hits some priceless books

The other figures, fortunately, are getting some fire hits in 

Innchie reaches the middle of the vortex, coming across a 12 foot tall figure made completely out of paper, tall and spindly with wings and a face made out of pure swirling arcanic energy

It’s a living spellbook, but not wanting to give it away, I start referring to it as “paper monster”

The players made fun of me for using the term...and I might’ve gotten a little meaner at that point

She uses the longsword to cut it, and the figure lashes out in retaliation with a spell with a shit ton of force damage, causing Innchie to fall unconscious and out of the vortex

Igtbtgh: I’m too old for this shit

Rounds go by with the living spellbook and Igtbtgh exchanging fire magic while Innchie receives more damage and has to start making death saving throws

Igtbtgh, in a bit of a panic, attempts to use mage hand to remotely give Innchie a healing potion

Unfortunately, due to reduced visibility and lack of skill, he only manages to feed half of the bottle to her 

At this point, Aurora manages to get the door back open and stumble out, asking for help

Igtbtgh follows, only to have a surprise attack of opportunity from the living spellbook and fall face-first out of the doorway unconscious

They get him back to some health with potions of healing, and with Carlin now with them, they make their way back inside

The living spellbook is getting wailed on by the other people inside, and is quite visibly on fire

Carlin helps by shooting a bunch of eldritch blasts, hitting it quite easily

Innchie, at this point, has failed two death saving throws

Igtbtgh stabilizes Innchie with a decent medicine check, then brings her back to consciousness with potions of healing

With the pages starting to lose control, everyone can now see the figure of the living spellbook within the vortex of pages, also on fire

The living spellbook starts to move away from everybody, clearly in distress, and casts shield 

However, Carlin gets in a powerful last shot

I implemented the Critical Role��“How do you want to do this” thing for the killing blow, where the player gets to narrate how they kill the boss

Me: how do you want to do this Innchie (OOC): what do you mean?? Carlin (OOC): ...swiftly?

It took some explaining but they got it eventually

With the final spell, Carlin shouts “THIS IS TO AVENGE MY FRIENDS” as the living spellbook shrieks and just falls apart into lifeless pages

Fight end!

One of the figures fighting the living spellbook introduces herself as Allura, saying that she was grateful for their help

Aurora totally forgot the name of the person who sent them to get her help, but thankfully Allura knew she was talking about Toman (can you tell I was going easy after the fight?)

She says that helping to reverse the spell is the least she can do to help after what they did

Using some powerful custom glyphs, she manages to switch them back into their original bodies safely 

Afterwards, Carlin briefs the group on what he learned from talking with the librarians in the foyer 

He says that the event is meant for Councillor Galanodel to get to know people of the High Council and other members of higher society outside of a formal business context, and he holds these events every 6 months or so and tend to be fairly open (though with invitations given to guests of honour and high status)

The estate itself acts as both his office and his home, and so the house tends to be fairly open with some wings that have restricted access

Their suspicions might be correct that Councillor Galanodel and Councillor Astorio’s mother were romantically involved, but rumours seem to say that it was one-sided on Councillor Galanodel’s side

The Serpent, the thief that had sent their calling card to the Galanodel estate stating they were going to steal the item, is known to be a mysterious gentleman thief that always sent a calling card ahead of time and has never been caught

Carlin also knows that Councillor Galanodel has hired on a traps and engineering specialist to help secure the room with the item in it

Bidding farewell to Allura and the rest of the grateful librarians, Carlin strikes a final heroic pose, enhanced by his Cloak of Heroic Flapping

With this new information in hand, the party decides to prepare for the ball with help from Councillor Astorio 

Aurora and Baldwin are going as more influential and affluent guests (with Baldwin not needing to bluff considering his background and standing in Fortuna)

Innchie and Carlin will be going as less eye-catching middle-class guests to stay under the radar

Igtbtgh is going disguised as a security guard

And next we see them, they will be at the ball!

#charisma and bs #Donegeons and Dragons #dnd #d&d

[donegeonsndragons]

Narratuary: Session 7 Highlights

Combat is messy, transmutation magic is confirmed as weird, and my April Fools plan works.

It’s been a few days since this session actually happened and I’m only now getting a moment to sit down and actually write this out. Hopefully my players forgive me if I forget details.

Premise: in between their major quests, the party had received a short request from a wizard named Kevamros Silentread to retrieve his stolen familiars. The last we left them off, they had just entered combat...

To sum up: this combat is messy

After Baldwin tackled the Zhentarim thief to the ground, the tents opened up as another human thug and a half-orc woman exit accompanied by two wolves

Combat quickly clogs up the entrance to the encampment and there’s a lot of people there at any given point

Baldwin, Corrick, and Igtbtgh are very aggressive while Innchie stays back, Aurora sneaks around, and Carlin takes down the cages from the tree

After quickly dealing with the thugs and wolves, Corrick and Igtbtgh brutally take down the half-orc by bringing her down to her knees and stabbing her repeatedly

After combat ends, Baldwin gets Corrick to stabilize one of the thugs 

They wake the thug up and start interrogating him, in which the thug says he’s just a lowly thug that steals things on the road and sends them to higher contacts

Content with that, they start to drag the knocked out thugs back to the town, Baldwin picks up the fancy robes and gold pouch, and Igtbtgh picks up a crossbow for his acid arrows finally

As they tie the cages to Igtbtgh’s pike, they realize a couple of odd things

Aurora sees that the cages are transmutational cages, meant to transform whatever is inside into something else

Baldwin realizes he doesn’t sense any celestial or fiend presence from the familiars, which is odd to both him and Innchie as familiars are usually celestial, fiend, or fey

After handing the Zhentarim off to the authorities, they head to the tavern to speak with Kevamros

Kevamros is immediately grateful upon being given his robes and seeing that they have his familiars

However, upon being questioned on what’s up with the familiars, he becomes more somber and asks them to step outside instead

Kevamros: the cages are meant to make my familiars more docile, easier to deal with  Baldwin: *rolls high insight* Me: he’s fucking lying

Kevamros: they’re magical creatures being brought to Arca for some experiments that we’re doing, nothing too odd Baldwin (OOC): ...is he lying Me: he’s definitely hiding something

At this point, Innchie uses awakened mind... Innchie: Listen to the big man, the big man is scary and knows you’re lying

Kevamros is raising his hand, and the magically adept people can see there’s a faint glow of magic 

At that, Baldwin decides to try to grapple him

But before he can restrain him, Kevamros conjures his wand to his hand and casts a spell

There’s a blast of white light that temporarily blinds everyone

When it fades, everyone sees that Kevamros’s wand has shattered and that everyone (except for Baldwin and Corrick) has changed bodies

Aurora is in Carlin’s body, Carlin is in Innchie’s body, Innchie is in Igtbtgh’s body, and Igtbtgh is in Aurora’s body

Aurora has no magic ability, Carlin and Innchie have limited magic abilities, and Igtbtgh has so much magic ability

Everyone immediately knocks Kevamros down and while Innchie uses hr newfound strength in Igtbtgh’s body to drive the pike straight through Kevamros’s knee, Baldwin starts breaking Kevamros’s hands and fingers 

Breaking hands and fingers is now Baldwin’s trademark intimidation/interrogation tactic

After a lot of threatening, Kevamros won’t say the true nature of the things inside the cages, telling them to open the cages themselves

He also says that he can’t fix what he’s done, as he doesn’t know what kind of spell it was and his wand is beyond repair

They do get him to surrender and agree to be given over to the authorities as long as they stop hurting him

However, they don’t have enough time to go back to Arca before their deadline to arrive in Fortuna, so they decide to blindfold him, tie him up, and sling him over their camels (which they still have) alongside the cages

Innchie: Let’s just go back to Fortuna and teach each other how to use each other’s bodies Innchie (OOC): .....that sounded wrong Me: TOO LATE IT’S BEEN SAID

They head back out, figuring out their new bodies in a hilarious montage of tripping and playing around with their new skills and abilities

As they get to Fortuna, they meet up with Councillor Astorio 

They inform her of what happened, and got Kevamros locked up while keeping the cages in her office until she can pass them onto Lerissa

Councillor Astorio says that she doesn’t have anyone on hand to fix their swapped body situation, but if she can find someone in Fortuna she will let them know

She then tells them that they will be headed to Salv in two days, as Councillor Galanodel’s event in his city Keltar is right next there, and the next item is in his house

She leaves the planning up to the group, and she will supplement them with disguises and blueprints and invitations or false identities in

And so the group sets out to explore Fortuna for some help with their situation and to plan for the retrieval of the next item...

#charisma and bs #donegeons and dragons #d&d #dnd

[donegeonsndragons]

Narratuary: Session 4 Highlights

The party searches for the next item, cults are suspected, and bosses are defeated way too easily.

Oh boy.

5 hours long session with a bunch of DM “OH SHIT” moments. I’ve created a group of extremely careful players and it’s coming to bite me in the ass a bit. Whoops. 

Premise: on their first mission for Councillor Astorio, they head to the port city of Prospos to try to recover the magical mirror that can be used as a powerful arcane focus. Also, since last time, Carlin got a badger friend, Baldwin has a cleric acolyte named Corrick following him, and Innchie has a celestial familiar. 

Warning: this is a fucking long post

Entering the city, they reach the city square with a bustling marketplace

Carlin and Innchie immediately go for the arcane merchant there and are immediately skeeved out by him

The merchant says that they can get regular magical items at normal market price, or they can play his “spin-the-wheel” game and get a random magical item for only 15 gold, but that he’d also give a discount to Innchie

Carlin and Innchie play along, Carlin gets a periapt of health (immunity to diseases) and Innchie gets a Lantern of Human Detection (which detects humans within 10 feet)

Aurora sees a crying woman who’s pleading for help and goes to talk to her

The woman explains that her daughter had gone missing since last night and she doesn’t know where she could be, but there are rumours of people going missing around town

Meanwhile, Igtbtgh talks to 2 workers tearing down a platform and asks them what’s up, they tell him that this platform is being deconstructed as it has no use now that slavery has been abolished

With a blessing from Baldwin, they leave the woman and head to the docks 

Carlin tries to steal from randoms, but is spotted by Corrick and is thwarted 

In his frustration, as they head towards the docks, he intimidates a dwarf named Janus to become his friend and rolls really really high (Janus is now his “friend”)

Janus confirms the rumours that people have been disappearing, especially girls at the Out Inn

Igtbtgh OOC: what if they’re getting kidnapped for a satanic ritual? Me: *sweats nervously*

Why are my players so good at guessing plot points...

For the rest of the game, it was just “yep cults” anytime something weird happened

They talk to a group of sailors who explains more about the slavery situation, and how the people of Prospos don’t really like the High Council and Councillor Astorio

But they like the adventurers, so they invite them out for a drink at the Blind Eye and then maybe some more fun at the Out Inn *wink wink*

Innchie (both in and out of character) didn’t get it. I had to explain it was a brothel

Honestly I’m surprised they didn’t catch the innuendo sooner

Anyways since the Blind Eye and the Out Inn don’t open until the evening, they go to kill time by exploring the houses on the cliff (that belong to the wealthy citizens and merchants)

Carlin and Innchie perform music well and loudly (accompanied by Carlin’s flailing badger), and they attract the attention of servants (and scare off one of the servant girls)

Aurora uses her charms to talk up a cloth merchant named Rodon Dag, and Baldwin uses this opportunity to get more info on the relation between the merchant businesses and the recent slavery abolishment

Innchie realizes that the lantern is useless and so she goes back to the merchant and yells at him, where he allows Innchie to reroll for free and get a new item, the lightstone

I’m sad they didn’t get to see the other items at this stall, but I get to recycle them so it’s all good

After getting more info, it’s finally evening and they go to the Blind Eye, a gambling and drinking den

Baldwin and Corrick notice a man watching them and go talk to him with Aurora, while Innchie and Carlin play dice games and Igtbtgh gets drinks

The man asks Aurora, Baldwin, and Corrick to deliver a sack of candles to one of the houses on a cliff belonging to widow Navarra Holm, and when they accept, he pays them and leaves

Now they all go to the Out Inn to talk to Rosie, the matron

She tells them that she bets most of the girls who have gone missing have runaway with the money or the client, and that the latest missing girl is Amber

Baldwin convinces her to give him the key to check out Amber’s room, and before headed upstairs, notices a maid looking at him

After getting her to come up with them, the maid tells them that Amber’s frequent client is Rodon Dag and that she’s sure Amber didn’t just leave

Aurora is offended that Rodon didn’t just like her

Carlin flirts with some of the girls and gets info while Innchie asks Rosie the process to becoming a brothel girl (to which Rosie says “if you were cleaner you’d probably pass”)

They sleep the night in a normal inn and wake up next morning to go do the delivery right away

First thing in the morning, they head back to the cliffs and go to deliver and explore again

Aurora, Baldwin, and Corrick go to Navarra Holm’s house on the edge of the cliff

Innchie casts detect magic on the cliffs, and detects weird magic below her feet near the cluster of houses that raises red flags

Detecting that magic, she then sends her familiar Rupert to fly down the cliff and explore (and look through Rupert’s senses)

She discovers an opening, leading to tunnels that have bloodstains on the floor and leads to a basement of one of the houses (alongside a branch that leads somewhere she didn’t explore)

She’s catatonic during all this, and Carlin has fun trying to poke her awake

Without having success, Carlin rolls two atheletics checks: first time he rolled a 3 and barely did anything, the second time was high enough to poke just short of straight-up punching Innchie in the face

Meanwhile, Aurora, Baldwin, and Corrick have been invited inside for some tea

This is where I fuck up

Me: did you drink the tea? Innchie OOC: ....now we don’t want to Me: wow, who do you think I am?

The 3 of them refuse to drink the tea, but I still had them make constitution saving throws against a powerful sleep spell thing

Me: *laughs evilly* Innchie OOC: SEE

I forget sleep stuff doesn’t work on people with elven blood WHOOPS

Anyways we manage to kind of slide through this as Aurora passes out and Corrick gets blasted by Navarra (who, surprise surprise, is not an evil mage)

Baldwin gets hit by divine weapon, but he manages to heal himself completely and yells out for the other party members outside

Hearing him, the rest of the party goes inside and combat starts!

Baldwin immediately grapples Navarra, and that’s when I knew I was fucked

Intense combat happens, Navarra never escapes that grapple, she tries to use an item but is straight up knocked out before she can do anything

They discover that the item she tried to use is teleportation powder (which Carlin snatches out of Baldwin’s hands before sneaking it back into his pocket)

Meanwhile, Navarra’s body has started to turn into weird mist, and so Baldwin just straight up kills her (in which she fully turns to mist and disappears into the depths below)

They killed my boss before the final showdown

Really, now that I’m thinking about it, I could’ve just had her disappear after serving tea and that would’ve made everything work (whoops)

Anyways, they now decide to explore the basement to see if they can find the underground network, and surprise surprise there’s a tunnel

Carlin goes first and hears some cultists, and so when he comes back they hatch a plan to have Aurora use Disguise Self to become Navarra and have the rest of the party follow her

Marching forward, they find a natural cavern which has dead bodies in a corner, a crowd of 14 cultists surrounding an altar with a small girl and the true-sight mirror on it, and they’re chanting “Great One open our eyes” in a language only Innchie knows

Surprise, it’s a cult of Tharizdun (Innchie’s otherworldly patron and part of her past that she doesn’t know)

Aurora manages to just scrape by with her deception rolls while Innchie tries to communicate with one of the cultists, who turns out to be the magic merchant from the marketplace 

The merchant calls Innchie “the true child of Tharizdun” which peaks her interest

After some fumbling conversation (and the cultists trying to convince that Innchie being there is a sign that the sacrifices are working), Aurora crit fails her deception (for the third time that night)

Time to fight! (much to my chagrin of having to deal with 14 CULTISTS)

Thankfully, with a combination of Carlin’s ball bearings and Baldwin’s thunder spell, they knock out/kill them really quickly

As Baldwin and Aurora go to put the true-sight mirror in a bag, they catch sight of their reflections

Baldwin sees himself as a reaper with scales, and Aurora sees herself as a child version with no red hair and no markings

Baldwin takes this as a good omen and packs the mirror away safely

Much to everyone’s protests, Innchie revives the merchant to 1 HP and asks more about what he said

Aurora helps call for High Council guards and brings the mother to the child, while Carlin and Igtbtgh move the dead out of the cavern

Baldwin is pragmatic and takes all of the cultists’ gold and weapons, and gives the profits to everyone 

Before getting arrested, the merchant tells Innchie that she’s the most pure form of Tharizdun’s energy he’s ever felt, and that she must be Tharizdun’s true child

With the mirror recovered and the cultists arrested, the party is met by Solvrye who gives them their payment and directions to Arca, their next destination to deliver the mirror

#charisma and bs #donegeons and dragons #d&d #dnd

[donegeonsndragons]

Narratuary: Session 16 Highlights

A holy sidequest calls, goddesses are visited, and repairs are very important.

Premise: having left the cursed mines, the group is heading towards the northern forests to find the mysteriously disappearing building...

Knowing that Morai’s Gate, a formerly holy place for Morai, is along the way to the north, Baldwin says he’ll be making a detour there and that the group is welcome to come along

The entire party decides to go

Baldwin also tells them that he had set up a pilgrimage before they had left Fortuna, and that they should be arriving at Morai’s Gate soon so he needs to check in on that

They come across the city of Morai’s Gate, with walls that are made of sheer seamless black stone and large metal gates

A couple of scouts that were part of the pilgrim are camping outside the gates, and they tell Baldwin that the pilgrimage is about a day or two away and that the people living inside Morai’s Gate won’t let them in 

The party approaches the gates and knock 

Baldwin: hello? Person inside: FUCK OFF

After some conversation and the party promising they’re not part of the High Council, the person on the other side of the gate lets them in

Morai’s Gate is mostly abandoned, with one section of the city becoming a home for mercenaries and other ne’er do wells

The man who lets them in, Manny, tells them that there’s nothing much to do other than rest and hire people on 

Manny points them in the direction of the makeshift inn, and tells them to “head towards the creepy building” but warns them not to go in there cause it seems unnatural

As they head there, they notice the occupied buildings contain groups of mercenaries and thieves groups (including the Zhentarim)

Baldwin asks one of his rangers to go with Carlin and see if there’s any other way to enter into the city

The rest of the party decides to go towards the strange building

This building is a 2-storey box made of the same black stone, with stairs that lead to the second floor and a metal door with the carving of Morai’s raven on it

Karn takes a quick look and presses the raven, unlocking the door

The group enters into a room with several rows of benches along each wall facing towards the center of the room that has a podium for a speaker

Aurora, Innchie, and Karn decide to poke around as Innchie declares that “this isn’t creepy at all” while Igtbtgh takes a nap

Baldwin spots a door leading downwards and takes Corrick with him 

They enter into a room softly lit by lightstones and a large circular pool of black liquid in the middle flanked by two statues of one-winged celestial beings

Praying and chanting, he and Corrick look around the room, and spot some carvings on the wall that seems to illustrate a ritual

Consulting his books and the archaic holy symbol of his deceased mentor, Baldwin is able to see that this is the Ritual of Rebirth, a ritual that takes place in this place and allows those who go through it to meet with Morai, though the participant has to either literally or figuratively drown and then be brought back if Morai deems them worthy

Following the ritual the best he can, Baldwin gives his clothing and equipment to the statues, gets Corrick to cast some buffs on him so he won’t be afraid of dying, and slowly steps into the liquid as he clutches his holy symbol

He submerges himself completely, and as he feels himself drown, he is suddenly in the void 

A woman with ebony skin and stark white hair and eyes approaches him, her black dress trailing behind her, and Baldwin’s divine sense is off the charts celestial 

Morai tells Baldwin that she has been watching, and gives him some advice that he should be less worried about the laws of mortals and more about the universal law

She reassures him that his current path is the right one, and that she tasks him with reigning in the chaos and enforcing order

She says that she hasn’t had such an interesting paladin in so long, and is interested to see how it unfolds

Morai steps towards him and places a cold hand on his chest, gifting him with her blessing, telling him that unless he dies under her name, he will be unkillable 

She says that she hopes that he will do well and return to her side, and with that Baldwin is back to the material plane and surfaces from the liquid much to Corrick’s awe and amazement 

Meanwhile, Aurora, Innchie, and Karn go to the inn and get some rooms, gamble on some dice games, and get some drinks

Innchie asks the bartender whether she knows anything about the building in the forest, but the bartender says nobody travels into the forests and comes back untouched by the wild magic, and so nobody goes there

Baldwin wakes Igtbtgh up and they head to the inn, meeting up with everybody and Carlin, who arrives telling them that there’s another set of gates on the more abandoned side of town but that the mechanisms seem to be rusted and broken 

The next morning, Karn takes a look at the gate’s mechanism and sees that he can probably fix up the gears, but the chain has a high chance of breaking in its current state

The party is able to find a replacement chain and Karn is able to fix the gates so that it can open wide enough for one person at a time, though he says he can’t promise it won’t all break 

They test it out, and satisfied with the results, they rest for the remainder of the day

Baldwin and the rangers camp out at the newly repaired gates while the rest go back to the inn

In the middle of the night, Innchie wakes up to the sound of wolves howling, not just right outside the city, but also within...

#charisma and bs #Donegeons and Dragons #dnd #d&d