Haven't done a post for July yet or an update on DND since April so here goes.
There have been 7 sessions since the last update. They had just turned level 8, now they are level 10. Hm.
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On reflection, Roll20 is just fine for now, mainly due to the processing demands required by Foundry et al. also having to learn a new VTT. Maybe if this campaign ends I might look into Foundry and what people can and can't do and go from there.
Some other thoughts: as much as I love the crunch and gameplay factor of 5e and how that is so easy to do with a VTT in one tab (roll20), all the resources of DND Beyond in the other (recently got Hero Tier membership) and any question answerable by a quick new tab and Google search, the roleplay is suffering.
It's not totally dead but I do miss how much better as a player I was getting in person pre-2020 and am wondering can I bring back my abilities from my 2008-2016 run as a GM, today. 5 years and counting since I've ran a game in person, wild.
People (including me) don't want to be on camera all game or at all and microphones can be good but you can deliver an epic line or someone else will and there will always be somebody saying 'can you repeat that' or stepped away from computer at that moment. Not a complaint, just an observation and makes me wish for in-person gaming again a good bit. A mixture of both would be amazing, tablets/character sheets, VTT in the centre of the table and in-person. I think it was kind of going that way pre-pandemic but yeah.
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So they defeated the demon army by and large with lots of fire and then advanced to the primary objective, the mortarhouse on top of the hill.
^ They got delightfully mauled. I find the tighter the space, the more punishment they take. Heh. A Hezrou with a green stink aura slowly waltzed up while they fight a displacer beast and a tanarukk. The Goliath Barbarian Ephrim the Bold holds the centre; Ari the Fairy, Elven Fighter and her Nightmare mount Gregg fight the Orc demon Tanarukk while the Fire Genasi Wizard Scorch and Aarakocra Rogue (GMPC) look on. Slightly off screen, the GMPCs that have helped them thus far in this sidequest prepare to arrive and help out.
^ The actual mortarhouse, just below them to the right. An Armanite prepares to go out the gate and blast them with lighting (I love lightning spells/effects). At the top of picture a Cambion devil sizes up the battle outside. Top right, Erin the rogue/bard PC sneaks around and blows up the mortar. Bottom right, mortar crew of Dretches and Manes don't know what's coming. Bottom, a Chasme prepares to fly again, love those guys. In the centre, the green clawed thing, the Glabrezu commander. This is a more feminine one so think the Slaaneshi daemonettes.
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^ They fought a load of Rutterkin and Bulezau here, a giant Chasme nest. A bunch of prisoners, maybe 5, were staked to the nest as food but they managed to free 1 who made it back, there in top left. All the others died one way or another...
^ They came across this monstrosity which the freed prisoner insisted was a gate they were leading prisoners into. What the hell they decided, le't go in there. It was of course guarded by Barlguras and ROPERS who were quite fun to run. Lots of grappling and dragging by them and some munching by their stone teeth. Barlguras went invisible and appeared at the back and mauled the wizard.
^ This is where they ended up after. A collection of elemental foes fought them next, namely a Salamander, a Galeb Duhr, a Water Weird and an Invisible Stalker. The Salamander engaged the fiery fighter in single combat, the Galeb Duhr created two clones and mauled the party with a rolling attack, the Water Weird dragged people into the evil river and the Invisible Stalker survived to the end, sneaking about.
In the Quarter Finals the rogue was one-shotted by a giant psychic attack. The barbarian defeated the wizard called Lightning. The party wizard was slain by a mysterious robed fighter with a Nine Lives Stealer, essentially ripping his soul from his body BUT he was secretly an ally in disguise so was brought back to life in the back. Yay! Finally the fighter was gunned down by the artificer gunslinger girl (a former lover of hers) who then shot and killed her with a pistol, revealing herself as the Deck of Many Things enemy. She also took the Crystal of Fire. Woo! But this is not the end of Ari, Pretender to the Elven Throne...
So for semi finals - the barbarian will fight the psychic rogue NPC who hates the queens and on the other side the revolutionary leader who hates the queens disguised as a queen supporter will fight the traitorous artificer. 3 of them are anti-Queens, so the plan is to attack the Queen right as the prize is being handed over, a moment of weakness. Then kill a 2000 year old demi-goddess who enslaves women and makes them do everything.
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The updated kill list and experience gained.
Some more stats. I rationalised the experience points a few sessions ago, just easier. They've drawn 13 cards between them in their career of the possible 22. The wizard did use 1 Wish but it was too much so I asked him to take it back or I would do a genie on it 'it won't be quite what you want' and neither of us wanted that. They had 3 houses but lost 1 via card. Rations are there as they almost ran out unbeknownst to them. They also have a big trip coming up.
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So that's it! More to come and I'll post an update some other time.
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They blew up mortar and systematically tore apart the defenders, except a Cambion who escaped again. They long rested in the farmhouse from the previous battle then the Aarakocra left them to resume his courier job. They continued down south to find the prison camp and liberate the prisoners who were largely townsfolk who failed to make it into the safety of Moonwheat's walls.
^ They fought a load of Rutterkin and Bulezau here, a giant Chasme nest. A bunch of prisoners, maybe 5, were staked to the nest as food but they managed to free 1 who made it back, there in top left. All the others died one way or another...
^ They came across this monstrosity which the freed prisoner insisted was a gate they were leading prisoners into. What the hell they decided, le't go in there. It was of course guarded by Barlguras and ROPERS who were quite fun to run. Lots of grappling and dragging by them and some munching by their stone teeth. Barlguras went invisible and appeared at the back and mauled the wizard.
^ This is where they ended up after. A collection of elemental foes fought them next, namely a Salamander, a Galeb Duhr, a Water Weird and an Invisible Stalker. The Salamander engaged the fiery fighter in single combat, the Galeb Duhr created two clones and mauled the party with a rolling attack, the Water Weird dragged people into the evil river and the Invisible Stalker survived to the end, sneaking about.
The 'puzzle' afterward was to open all 7 'doors' on top simultaneously. They figured it out pretty quick, well, the rogue did anyway. In they stepped and only after they stepped through did they see the back of these double doors, ordained with card suits - Deck of Many Things time!
The fighter Elf drew a shiny +2 dagger and someone they trusted now hated their guts.
The barbarian Goliath lost d4+1 Intelligence (he rolled 3 in the end so lost 4) and gained 50,000 gold.
The rogue got cursed -2 to all saving throws and gained possession of a castle somewhere far away.
The wizard is now the enemy of a powerful devil and gained 1d3 wishes (!).
^ The duels! How it all went! In the Round of 16, the barbarian defeated a cloud giant, the rogue defeated a vampire who was exposed to sunlight and the wizard defeated a war priest. The fighter player wasn't there so got a bye on her fight.The fighter Elf drew a shiny +2 dagger and someone they trusted now hated their guts.
The barbarian Goliath lost d4+1 Intelligence (he rolled 3 in the end so lost 4) and gained 50,000 gold.
The rogue got cursed -2 to all saving throws and gained possession of a castle somewhere far away.
The wizard is now the enemy of a powerful devil and gained 1d3 wishes (!).
^They then fought Jolly Polly, an agent of Chaos who had appeared before and killed the duplicate of the revolutionary leader they had been assisting. This was a great encounter in the end, full of drama, multiple party members downed, more cards drawn... he was a homebrew creature I messed around with and toned down a bit. He had lair actions and legendary actions that I tracked in the fog there haha. The three copies on the extreme right are his Mirror Image copies, which were effective at keeping him going. The extreme bottom right is the level 4 fighter who appeared via card and was killed soon after. There were a bunch of villagers standing around that suffered some collateral damage too...
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Anyway they emerged from hell at level 9 and returned to Moonwheat. On the way they encountered the Lacour Army, which marched north to liberate Moonwheat from its blockade and siege. No more tracking rations for a small town yay! They were strongly urged to teleport back to Lacour to compete in the Regional Arena, especially after fighting in the Local and Area Championships (working titles) for the entertainment of one of the three evil Queens who rule Lacour.
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Anyway they emerged from hell at level 9 and returned to Moonwheat. On the way they encountered the Lacour Army, which marched north to liberate Moonwheat from its blockade and siege. No more tracking rations for a small town yay! They were strongly urged to teleport back to Lacour to compete in the Regional Arena, especially after fighting in the Local and Area Championships (working titles) for the entertainment of one of the three evil Queens who rule Lacour.
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^ They fought in an empty arena Gauntlet match from the get go. Round 1, they fought a progressively increasing CR 0 to CR 8 battle, which escalated nicely. They fought a CR 0, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1 monsters from the first turn and and then randomly the 2-8 CR monsters emerged. CR 8 was a Hydra that underwhelmed but some of the others were good.
Round 2 they fought after a break wherein they went one on one with a CR 9 creature and so on. An Abominable Yeti started the fight, followed by a Dullahan, a Roc, an Archmage, an Adult Copper Dragon and finally a Skull Lord. At 15 rounds they had beaten all the other Gauntlet groups so decided to stop there, won 15,000 gold to share and levelled up to level 10 (reduced experience due to intermittent long rests, but still).
In the Quarter Finals the rogue was one-shotted by a giant psychic attack. The barbarian defeated the wizard called Lightning. The party wizard was slain by a mysterious robed fighter with a Nine Lives Stealer, essentially ripping his soul from his body BUT he was secretly an ally in disguise so was brought back to life in the back. Yay! Finally the fighter was gunned down by the artificer gunslinger girl (a former lover of hers) who then shot and killed her with a pistol, revealing herself as the Deck of Many Things enemy. She also took the Crystal of Fire. Woo! But this is not the end of Ari, Pretender to the Elven Throne...
So for semi finals - the barbarian will fight the psychic rogue NPC who hates the queens and on the other side the revolutionary leader who hates the queens disguised as a queen supporter will fight the traitorous artificer. 3 of them are anti-Queens, so the plan is to attack the Queen right as the prize is being handed over, a moment of weakness. Then kill a 2000 year old demi-goddess who enslaves women and makes them do everything.
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The updated kill list and experience gained.
Some more stats. I rationalised the experience points a few sessions ago, just easier. They've drawn 13 cards between them in their career of the possible 22. The wizard did use 1 Wish but it was too much so I asked him to take it back or I would do a genie on it 'it won't be quite what you want' and neither of us wanted that. They had 3 houses but lost 1 via card. Rations are there as they almost ran out unbeknownst to them. They also have a big trip coming up.
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So that's it! More to come and I'll post an update some other time.
