5e WNW - The End

5e WNW - Session 27 of the weird new world campaign was played on Saturday 10/3. This was the final session of the campaign, and spanned an entire afternoon rather than the usual 3 hours. This is the second half of the session report.

The party consisted of the following:
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 7 (Erindel)
Kethra, Human Fighter 7 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 7 (Erik)
Riia, Human Ranger 7 (Hanna)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 7 (Nadia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 7 (Allison)
Egan Gorman "Bingles" Sharpless Rosenberg, Gnome Fighter 7 (Julia)
Zugun, Coffin-bound Human Priest (NPC)

Upon waking the next morning, the party looked out the door briefly before ascending back up thousands of stairs. The day was dawning a little darker than before. The moon shining blood red, full, and unmoving directly above seemed closer but a sliver was being eclipsed.

Hours later, after a brief rest-bite, the party emerged upon the top of the mountain. While Guy had seen it before, the rest of the party spread out and looked around, noting the central obelisk, the swirling stones set into the ground, and the even darker and closer moon above. Riia noted that in the darkness of the moon, faint lights, like those of cities viewed from a great distance twinkled. The ground shakes were becoming more frequent as well.

With no sign of Boak the Chaos Lord, they set to waiting, guessing correctly that he would appear as the eclipse reached it's totality. They take positions around the doorway, and wait...

As the sun sets the eclipsed moon fills most of the sky. Cities of bizarre layout can be clearly seen on it's surface. A loud crack echos around the bowl, and a dark crack appears in the air, wreathed in green flame. It expands into a gaping hole through which step a quintet of figures. Two are clearly demons, one wears the robes of a wizard, and the other is armored in full plate, his ancient skull like visage. All seem momentarily disoriented.

"We should talk to them! Distract them! Try to make them reconsider what they're doing!" Bingles urges his companions. Everyone hesitates.

Boak shakes off the disorientation, points at the party sending the demons scurrying toward them, and runs toward the obelisk. Zugun screams out "For Justica!" and the chains binding the coffin shatter, the lid busts open, and a blinding white light rushes forth into Nessendra who was charging in to stop Boak from reaching the pillar. As she runs, the light surrounds her, and she begins to grow to giant proportions. The wizard in the back lobs eldritch bolts at the party.

Anya causes the ground around the demons to burst with thorny vines, catching Boak at the edge. Guy drops his illusory cloud over the demons, but the thorns barely slow them down, and they ignore the tearing of their flesh. Kethra, Bingles, and Riia charge in on the demons, focusing on the one furthest from the pillar. Guy swoops in from above.

Boak also pulls through the thorns, and reaches the pillar. As his hand connects, he is entirely wreathed in flames. Nessendra hesitates for a moment, then swings her mace into the flames, connecting solidly, and feeling little more than a light toasting of her fingers. Anya and Bach take shots at the flaming figure, to no apparent effect. The Bach and the wizard keep throwing bolts of energy at one another.

The focused attacks of Kethra, Bingles, Riia, and Guy drop the first demon, and then the second one. Boak, inside a cocoon of flame grows in size, and morphing into a demon lord. Nessendra keeps pounding on him. Reaching his final size, Boak is released from his fiery cocoon and slams hard into Kethra.

With the death of the second demon, Kethra, Bingles, Guy, and Riia charge the wizard. Bingles hitches a ride on Kethra's shoulders, and launches himself at the wizard's face, sending both of them crashing to the ground. In a last ditch effort, the wizard drops a fireball on himself, not nearly inflicting the injury he'd hoped (whole lot of 1s and 2s on the dice). Seconds later, a singed Kethra brings her dwarven warclub down on the wizard's gut, splattering intestines all over the mountaintop.

Nessendra and Boak continue to pound on each other, both driven by external powers to destroy the other. Bingles leaps onto Boak's back, chopping with his scimitars. Kethra, Guy, and Riia all move in behind Boak. Bingles holds on for dear life, hacking all the while, as everyone pounds on Boak. Kethra claimed the killing blow with her magical club smashing Boak's spine, sending him crashing into the obelisk breaking it in half. Bingles went tumbling to the ground, as chunks of stone fell all about.

As the party gathered together, dusted themselves off, laughing with the release of knowing they'd completed their quest, a hot wind carrying the smell of brimstone blew over the mountaintop. They looked around, and saw first that the eclipse ended, and the moon seemed to instantly return to it's normal place in the sky. Then they saw a black cloaked distinguished looking man with a craggy face who smiled, put his hand on Guy's shoulder, and said "Time to go."

"You sold your soul?!?" Nessendra yelled, gripping her mace tightly. Guy shrugged and smiled as the smoke and brimstone consumed him and the black cloaked devil.

***

Thus ended the 5e Weird New World campaign. With the departure of Erindel and Niki (Nessendra and Kethra), we've decided to shelve 5e, and take up the Star Wars game we'd used as a filler game.

I'll be sharing my thoughts and a bit of behind the scenes stuff that I couldn't share while things were ongoing in another post shortly, as well as the character aftermaths!

5e WNW - Trolls in the Mountain

5e WNW - Session 27 of the weird new world campaign was played on Saturday 10/3. This was the final session of the campaign, and spanned an entire afternoon rather than the usual 3 hours, and so will be split into two posts.

The party consisted of the following:
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 6 (Erindel)
Kethra, Human Fighter 6 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 6 (Erik)
Riia, Human Ranger 6 (Hanna)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 6 (Nadia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 6 (Allison)
Egan Gorman "Bingles" Sharpless Rosenberg, Gnome Fighter 6 (Julia)
Zugun, Coffin-bound Human Priest (NPC)

The first order of business after killing a dragon is looting the lair! Bingles was tied to the end of a rope and lowered down the side of the bridge, and swung back and forth toward the cave opening. Guy, after retrieving the javelin of lightning, flew back up, grabbed Bingles, and carried him to the cave mouth. The rope was tied off, and everyone except Bach and Zugun made their way across. Within the cave they discovered that Blightfang had a thing for left shoes, teapots, and a wide variety of bric-a-brac. Aside from these oddities, there was a large pile of coins and gems as well as a couple of magic items! A Tiara of Blasting, a matched set of twinning short swords, and a dwarven maul. Anya claimed the tiara, except for when the party made camp, when Bingles would wear it because it made him feel pretty. Riia claimed the swords, and Kethra the maul.

Returning to the bridge, the party continued on to a doorway set into the sheer side of the mountain. On the face of the door was a trio of nested spinning dials. Nessendra consistently proved that she's "not that kind of cleric" when she blew yet another religion check, all the while proclaiming that she did fine on the tests in school... Guy got bored of watching everyone look at the dial, and flew up to the top of the mountain. There he saw the bowl shaped depression with a black monolith pointing to the full moon directly above. He also saw a doorway leading into the mountain. Figuring that it would take him to the other side of the door, he entered, and took the stairs down... fast! 300 feet later Guy stumbles into a large square chamber. With barely a moment to catch his breath and look around, a large grey head pops out of one of the other doorways, snarls, and lumbers toward Guy, drool dangling from its lips.

Guy turns and runs back up the stairs, flapping his wings for that extra bit of push. He can hear the troll behind him wheezing as it follows behind, but Guy doesn't pause to look, taking flight just as soon as he clears the doorway, and gliding back down to the party. He relays what he found, and they continue to stare at the doorway. Bingles finally gets bored, steps up to the door, and spins the dials! Everyone but Bach scatters for whatever cover and distance they can find.

Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click the dials go round... coming to a rest... and blasting Bach and Bingles with magical electricity, knocking them back hard. Bach dusts himself off, and starts blasting at the door. With each blast the magical trap goes off, but because of the distance, harms no one. Eventually the door crumbles and the trap is destroyed. Beyond is a long dark hallway... and then some stairs... that lead up to a large room that's familiar to Guy.

Stone pillars line the room, and a large black table with sparkling stones is set in the exact center of the room. At the center of each wall is a doorway...

Unfortunately none of this is seen initially as Bach steps purposely into the room, and is promptly pummeled by a hulking troll that was lurking next to the doorway. Worse, 2 more trolls emerged from the doors and closed to attack. Bingles tries to distract the troll, and ends up destroying the harness he used to attach himself to Bach with, and then slices into Bach's tail! Kethra charges in dropping on troll in a single round. Unfortunately it pushes itself back up to bite her before being knocked back down and flamed. Riia slices and dices with her new swords, while Anya uses her bow and debates using the tiara.

Bingles leaps around the battlefield, keeping behind the trolls as best he can, and mostly is ignored, much to the detriment of the trolls. as seen below.

Searching around, the table is discovered to be a star chart with moonstones set on to the obsidian surface. The troll's lair contains an verdi green brass astrolabe that gives off a faint trace of magic. Another set of stairs winds down deeper into the mountain. Deciding that they've got time, and rather than having an unknown behind them, they descend the stairs...

And find another troll lair!

This time there is only one, and he is quickly put down, but not before grabbing Guy by the face and chomping on his shoulder. The only item of note is the barred door. Guy removes the bar, and opts to try to kick it open. The inward swinging door doesn't give, and Guy breaks his toe. Cleaning out the room, the party rests here for the night. The following morning they see a disturbing sight... The moon above has begun to eclipse, and is also much larger in the sky.

5e WNW: The Return of Blightfang!

5e WNW - Session 26 of the weird new world campaign was played on Friday 9/25.

The party consisted of the following:
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 5 (Erindel)
Kethra, Human Fighter 5 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 5 (Erik)
Riia, Human Ranger 5 (Hanna)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 5 (Nadia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 5 (Allison)
Egan Gorman "Bingles" Sharpless Rosenberg, Gnome Fighter 5 (Julia)
Zugun, Coffin-bound Human Priest (NPC)

Following the witch's directions, the party heads off. About a minute after departing, Guy gets a funny look on his face, and runs back to the witch's cabin. Using his stashed funds, he buys the lightning javelin, and pumps granny for more information. She doesn't know anything else, but says her patron might, he's older than she is, and could be helpful.

Guy returns to the party, a big grin on his face. Everyone just sighs, and mutters about how Guy has the morals of a tomcat. Climbing up higher into the mountains, the trail mostly peters out, but Anya's skills keep them from mishap. She is that kind of ranger, it turns out! The ruins of an old path on the far side of the river are spotted, but the party sticks to their path. Thanks to Anya, the party makes excellent time, arriving at the bridge near the end of the day.

Spanning the raging rocky river a hundred feet below, the ancient stonework seems remarkably stable, especially given how several large chunks are missing. On the far side of the river a dark cave mouth is set into the cliff. The party sets it's marching order, and begins to cross... keeping a close eye on the cave.

And, predictably, from the cave emerged a massive form that launched itself into the air, diving under the bridge before swooping up and landing on the far side. Her green scales shimmering in the strange glow of the full blood moon, appearing almost black. Blightfang hissed at the party "You! I remember you..."

"Oh mighty Blightfang!" Bach began.

"You did NOT do as you promised... word of my majesty was not spread by you. You snuck off like insects, scuttling away like vermin, breaking your word to me... TO ME! How dare you come before me now..."

"Oh great Blightfang, we were swept away in the currents of time, thrown forward. It isn't that we didn't want to... We most surely did!"

"Excuses! Pitiful squeaking of cave mice has more meaning than your noise. You failed me, and you will suffer..." With a loud crack, she snaps out her wings to their full extent and roars, spraying most everyone with her poisonous breath. Nessendra, Bach, and Bingles are impressed by the sight, but Anya, Riia, Kethra, and Guy are all cowed by the frightful presence of Blightfang's fury!

Riia hides under Zugun's coffin. Bingles decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and hoofs it back to the rest of the party, in spite of not actually being feared.

Guy falls back to where Kethra is bravely cowering, and stops next to her. He's still shaking with fear, but has enough self control to dig his hand down his pants and pull out a long, thick, huge, hard thing and holds it out for Kethra to take. “I've been saving this for you”, he said never taking his eyes off Blightfang. Kethra cringes at the thing she knows resided at Guy's nether regions, but takes it anyway since she really needed it. It was, of course, the Lightning Javelin she'd been eyeing up at the old woman's hut! What were you thinking, Mr./Miss Gutter Mind!?

Kethra throws the javelin! And misses! But the lightning bolt still hits. Blightfang swipes out with her claws, and snaps her jaw. Nessendra calls upon her divine power and glows with a holy radiance filling her party with a sense of hope... that utterly fails to combat the overwhelming fear of Blightfang for all but Anya. Riia continues to hide under Zugun, Guy sticks close to Nessendra. Kethra falls back to Riia's position. Bach keeps trying to talk Blightfang down while blasting at her with his eldritch bolt. Anya uses her magic bow to little effect.

Blightfang moves further along the bridge re-positioning herself over one of the gaping holes and breathes again, exhaling poison gas over most of the party. Guy and Riia drop as the poison eats into their lungs. Blightfang grabs the prone form of Guy, and paws him through one of the holes in the bridge, sending him plummeting down to the rocks below.

Kethra pulls a healing potion from her pack, pushes Zugun off of Riia, and forces the fluid down her throat. Blightfang bellows, seems to jump slightly in place, and then falls over onto her side, a gaping hole in her belly. The party stares in shock as Blightfang's belly bulges and shifts. Out of the wound, Guy emerges, covered in guts. His black batwings slide out behind him, drooping with the gore. He flicks them to shake off the worst of the mess.

Most of the party takes a step back. "And where did you get those?!?" Nessendra asks.

"What, these? Always had them..." Guy grins, waving his hand as if to brush aside the question. "Let's check out the cave!"

5e WNW - Giant Issues

5e WNW - Session 25 of the weird new world campaign was played on Friday 9/18.

The party consisted of the following:
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 5 (Erindel)
Kethra, Human Fighter 5 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 5 (Erik)
Riia, Human Ranger 5 (Hanna)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 5 (Nadia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 5 (Allison)
Egan Gorman "Bingles" Sharpless Rosenberg, Gnome Fighter 5 (Julia)
Zugun, Coffin-bound Human Priest (NPC)

"Oh hell no!" Kethra mutters as she raises her club, and stomps toward the oncoming giants. Guy, Nessendra, and Riia follow behind.

"Throw me!" Bingles yells to Bach.

Bach grins, grabs Bingles by the arm and... rolls a 1 on his athletics check...

Bingles flys briefly... and rolls a 1 on his check, falling head first into the camp fire.

Meanwhile the giants lay into Kethra, hard! Anya launches an arrow between the giants, and causes a sudden growth of thorny vines to wrap around the trunk like legs of the giants. Guy, seeing the beating Kethra took, causes an inky purple cloud to form around the giant's heads. Nessendra runs up behind Kethra to heal her.

The giants ignore the thorns that tear at their legs, and step out of the cloud to bash Kethra and Nessendra.

Bach snipes with his eldritch bolts, Bingles rolls out of the fire, and charges in. Anya continues to send magic arrow after magic arrow into the melee. Kethra swings her club again and again at their knees, mostly bouncing off their hairy legs. Guy shifts the cloud around to try to block their views, and then closes behind the giants to poke them in the back of their knees. Bingles joins him, stabbing with gusto!

Eventually, they fall...

Camp is moved, and they bed down for the night. Aside from a light rain, things seem to be quiet during the overnight, until just before dawn (why are almost all the encounters right before dawn??) when a flash flood comes roaring down the rover valley. Everyone is ok, except Nessendra who gets swept briefly into the river, taking a bruising ride over several large rocks before pulling herself out. Collecting their things, they realize that Zugun has also been washed away!

They backtrack along the river for hours before finding the coffin washed up on the shore. Hours later, they're back at their old camp sight, and hours after that they spot a cabin... Hanging from the trees numerous animal skulls hang from braided vines.

"Careful!" Riia warns. "Killer trees..."

Bingles, followed closely by Bach ignore the warning and march right up to the porch stairs, and as they reach it, the door opens. A brown boar with intelligent eyes snorts and steps out, followed by an old crone with tight curly white hair. "What do you want?" she croaks. The party asks about the flat mountain top. "I know of it, though not where it is exactly..." she looks over the group. "I can tell you what I know, but I need something first. A giant's thumbnail."

The party sighs... another side quest... The witch describes the homestead of a family of giants not too far. They head off... back to where they'd already killed the two giants. Sadly, the flash flood seems to have carried the bodies away. By this time it's already full dark. They opt to continue, hoping to come across the giants asleep...

And they do! The massive cabin is dark and mostly silent, the only sound being the snoring that rumbles from behind the curtained windows. Most of the party keeps its distance while Guy and Bingles sneak around, scouting it out.

The cabin was divided into 2 rooms, the larger being the one that Guy and Bingles could actually look into. Within was an assortment of giant sized furniture, mainly a massive table and chairs, and also 3 sleeping giants. Two larger females in one corner, and a smaller male with a weird tentacle arm in another.

Guy stealthily crawls in through a window, dropping silently to the floor. Rapier in hand he stands over the prone giant, and repeatedly stabs him in the throat! The giant makes one desperate flailing attack, gurgling softly as he drowns in his own blood. One of the females grunts and rolls over as the male expires. Bingles, having only just pulled himself onto the window sill tosses Guy his handax, which is swiftly put to use lopping off the giants thumb. Guy then leaps over Bingles through the window, making a perfect landing, arms raised, ax in one hand, thumb in the other! Bingles drops from the window sill behind Guy, and the two of them hustle away from the cabin.

Returning to the witches cabin, she happily accepts the bloody thumb. In return, she tells them of an ancient stone bridge that spans the river another day or two further into the mountains. She thinks it might take them where they want to go... the party inquires about potions or magic items. She sells them some healing potions, and a potion of giant strength, as well as a pair of magical boots.

5e WNW: The Shudder Mountains

5e WNW - Session 24 of the weird new world campaign was played on Friday 9/11.

The party consisted of the following:
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 5 (Erindel)
Kethra, Human Fighter 5 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 5 (Erik)
Riia, Human Ranger 5 (Hanna)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 5 (Nadia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 5 (Allison)
Egan Gorman "Bingles" Sharpless Rosenberg, Gnome Fighter 5 (Julia)
Zugun, Coffin-bound Human Priest (NPC)

The sky still fushia, with a blood red full moon that refuses to set, the party departs the "castle" and heads down the road. One of the guards points them toward the town of Bent Pines, also known as Brie.

Following the road, the party crests a hill after a ways, and sees a small collection of buildings. No more than a dozen or so rough log structures with sod roofs. Standing apart from them is a whitewashed clapboard building, a temple to the Sovereign (the local aspect of the god of civilization and justice). Tossing a blanket over Zugun, they walk into town, splitting up to investigate the temple, general store, tavern, and smithy.

Guy is disappointed with the general store, and annoyed that the blacksmith isn't willing to try to silver his rapier, and just fed up with the fact that no one is selling anything magical. Bingles and Riia sample the offerings in the tavern. Anya, Kethra, Nessendra and Zugun visit the temple. Anya quickly gets bored, and buys supplies from the general store. Bach wanders around town, attracting the attention of every child around.

The local priest shows up at the temple to lock up for the night, and is shocked to find anyone within. He invites them to join him at the tavern for dinner. By this point everyone else has already converged there, and many stories and tales are told. Rumors of a witch, sin eater, giants, devils, and the Bad Lick Beast are sprinkled though the tales. They also get a general lay of the land, though no one seems to have a map.

Nessendra and Kethra are offered space in the priest's home to rest. Bingles gets a hayloft. Bach finds himself snuggled in the home of the largest family, bedded down with all the kids who think the dragon-man is neat! Anya and Riia pay a silver each to crash in the tavern's common room. Guy ends up with one of the local logger's wife. The logger is out on a supply run.

Departing early they make for the witch's home, hoping she'll know of the mountaintop ritual site. After a day of travel they arrive at the spot where the river forms from the converging of 3 smaller rivers, and begin to make camp. Across the river a large hunched form. Guy and Bingles waved at it... Until Guy noticed that it wasn't attractive, and was barely humanoid. But it did talk, rather than just charging into the middle of their camp. Mostly he (she? it?) wanted something to drink. Bingles handed over a small cask of beer, which it promptly chugged, belched, and then asked for more. Since that was all the beer that Bingles had, and no one else was forthcoming, it then asked for shiny. Everyone handed over a coin, dropping them into the empty cask. Chatting with the big guy, he talked a bit about the mean speller down the river, and how he didn't like spellers. He then asked if anyone in the party was a speller. Bach cheerfully revealed that he was a spell caster. The big guy narrowed his eyes, and then pummeled Bach down hard, shrugging off the magic backlash of his Armor of Agathys. Rather then engage him, Guy created an illusion of a wild looking mage on the far side of the river, pointed at it, and yelled "Look, another one!" The creature looked, and then charged the illusion, crashing though it's insubstantial form.

Grabbing their belongings, they ran into the bushes, hiding there for over an hour as the thing stomped back and forth along the river bank. The next morning they pressed on toward the witches hut. As the day ended, they found a nice spot to camp, but just as they were setting their packs down, a pair of massive figures stepped from the tree line...

5e WNW: To Escape Wonderland

5e WNW - Session 23 of the weird new world campaign was played on Friday 9/4.

The party consisted of the following:
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 5 (Erindel)
Kethra, Human Fighter 5 (Niki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 5 (Erik)
Riia, Human Ranger 5 (Hanna)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 5 (Nadia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 5 (Allison)
Egan Gorman "Bingles" Sharpless Rosenberg, Gnome Fighter 5 (Julia)
Zugun, Coffin-bound Human Priest (NPC)

Tizala the Bride of the Red King departed peacefully, and the party packed up and headed out. Shortly before lunch they came across a perfectly cute cottage. The party approaches, and knocks on the door. It opens to reveal an old woman with a GIANT head.

"Well HELLO!! Do come in!!" She says in a positively saccharine voice, grabbing elbows, and dragging everyone inside, sitting them gently upon plastic covered couches. Pale pink wallpaper, crocheted doilies, and small ceramic knick-knacks are the dominant features of the room. She seems overly happy to have visitors, and gives everyone a cup of tea, whether they want one or not, as well as scones and crumpets. Bingles is repeatedly shown back to his seat. Riia excused herself to use the bathroom, and investigated the mirror hanging above the sink. While large enough to fit her head through, it wasn't much help, though on the other side she say a rough outhouse style bathroom (two seater!) designed for larger than normal sized people. While Bach drained his teacup, everyone else just held theirs, and tried to get answers from the old woman. They learned little, only that she wasn't native to the land and came through a lake to get there. That she avoided the vampires, and they seemed to avoid her. That the flower children were planted by "The Gardener" and that it's not a nice creature. Finally she said she didn't have a mirror to offer. The party quickly thanked her for the tea, and scurried from the cabin at a less than polite speed.

Further down the trail they heard, but didn't see, wolves, and then stumbled into the middle of an extremely well tended bit of wilderness. Spotting a sphinx sitting off to the side, watching them like mice in a pantry, they again flee. The sphinx yawns at their departure.

A little beyond that, they come to a small mountain lake, the far side of which stood a group of men, 3 in red, one in blue. At the same time, a large brown rabbit with a horn hopped by muttering about being late, chased by a girl in a brown dress. They either didn't notice the party, or ignored them as they went down a flight of stairs that went underground. The figures at the far side of the lake caught sight of the party and advanced cautiously.

"Did you see them?" The man in blue asked the party. "Did you see the rabbit and the girl??"

The party pointed at the stairs, and the man in blue "I'm the doctor, but you can call me Bones" points to the guys in red and says that they didn't see either the rabbit or the girl. Focusing on the party, he pulls out a small wand and waves it at them. "I'd really like to get some samples, if you wouldn't mind." Looking at Nessendra "What color is your blood?" Conversation was interrupted when a troop of vampires in black and white came marching from the trees. Bones looked at them, then at the party, and decided that he needed to report this, and that clearly this wasn't a good location for shore leave. With that, he yells "Bring us up!" or something like that, and they disappear.

Deciding, once again, that they had a mission to get on with, they ran from the vampire troop. Hours later they spied a large stone tower with a turret sticking out of the side, that had a turret sticking out the side, that had a turret sticking out the side, that ALSO had a turret sticking out the side. There was a single door at ground level, and a single window on the highest turret. They knocked on this door, and a pale man with long black hair, and red lacquered armor answered blearily after a short while.

"Vat do you vant?"

"We're selling girl scout cookies!" Riia blurts out. Guy quickly conjures boxes of illusory cookies.

He stares at Riia. "Made with real girls counts?"

"Yup! Brownies, and sprinkled with daises!"

He invites them into the entry chamber. They use Zugun as a table, and pile the boxes on top of him. They settle on the price; a full sized standing mirror, which the second vampire up on the balcony above went to get. When the party gets the mirror in front of them, they basically begin to jump into it one by one in rapid succession. The vampires aren't down with this behavior, and leap to attack. Anya flails about ineffectively for almost the entire fight, Guy gets jumped on, but the vampire's fangs stick in the leather collar of his armor. Bingle's chucks an ax at one before being dragged through the mirror by Bach, and Kethra hulks out on the other vampire (Puny vampire!) while Nessendra grabs Zugun and tossed him though. One vampire briefly comes through the mirror still attached to Guy, knocking the mirror over in the process.

On the far side, the mirror tumbles to the ground as Guy and the vampire jump through. The mirror shatters, and the vamp is quickly dispatched.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my castle!" A plate armored man with a flaming sword boomed out.

Looking around, the party realizes they're in the entry hall of a wooden keep. Several guards stand around the room wide eyed with disbelief and a bit of terror. Riai apologises for the party's barging in uninvited and asks where (and when) they are. The lord confirms the date (only a week or so since they left the chaos citadel) and that they're somewhere in the middle of the Shudder Mountains, and asks would they please vacate his castle!

Thanking the lord for his time, the party departs the castle out onto a fairly wide cart path.

5e WNW: Red and Weird Encounters

5e WNW - Session 22 of the weird new world campaign was played on Friday 8/28. We welcomed Julia this week as a starring member of the group, upgraded from the special guest star role she's been enjoying the last few months.

The party consisted of the following:
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 5 (Erindale)
Kethra, Human Fighter 5 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 5 (Erik)
Riia, Human Ranger 5 (Hanna)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 5 (Nadia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 5 (Allison)
Egan Gorman "Bingles" Sharpless Rosenberg, Gnome Fighter 5 (Julia)
Zugun, Coffin-bound Human Priest (NPC)

Guy's success at capturing Jack was short lived. The white rabbit looked deep into Guy's dark eyes with his soft pink unblinking eyes and said, quietly but firmly "Put me down." Much to Guy's dismay, he found himself doing just that... Jack flicked his ear, thumped his hind leg, and dive through a bush and down the rabbit hole he'd been going for all along.

After some general complaining about how they'll never get back in time to stop the ritual, especially as now the mirror is smashed, they press on. Hours later, near time to set up camp, Anya hears a baby singing a lullaby. Investigating she spies a giant rose tree cradling a swaddled squirming form. Not knowing what to make of the situation, and not wanting all the XP for herself, she returns to the rest of the group, and reports on what she saw. Riia was ready to charge in instantly, and screams of pain hardened the resolve of the rest of the party. Blades flashing, they quickly chopped through the thick stem of the plant, causing it and the swaddled figure to plummet to the ground.

Once dethorned and unwrapped the small gnome introduces himself, and in spite of asking to be called "Bingles" is dubbed "Rosie" by the majority of the party.

Moving off a ways, they make camp. That evening, near sunrise, a figure appears at the edge of the firelight. Everyone but Guy is woken with a swift kick or nudge and the woman steps closer to the fire and introduces herself as the Princess Ildna. Riia quickly apologises for trespassing, but Ildna waves it off as immaterial. The land is contested anyway. Her pale skin and sharp fangs hint at her vampiric nature. She warns the party of her sisters, and asks them, should they encounter one, to cause her pain. And that they look like her, but dress in both white or black, as opposed to her red, and that they might appear as black kittens. Due to the late hour, she doesn't tarry, but invites them to visit her at Castle Poenari, as it is filled with mirrors.

As the sun crests the oddly squared horizon, Nessendra discovers that her prayers go unanswered... disturbed, the party continues to the Northeast, further away from the castle and (they hope) the weirdness. Such is not to be as they come across the site of a recent battle. Among the bodies are a herd of large green pigs, all grunting, snorting, and hurling insults. Once they catch sight of the party, the insults are directed to them. One in particular, a boar of impressive tusks, hurls equally impressive barbs at the party, and accuses them of not playing by the rules. The party responds, rather quickly, with a resounding NOPE, and hustle away as quickly as they can. The pigs give chase!

Eventually the pigs get board and wander off. Some hours later they come to a bridge, under which a troll reclines in the muck. She questions the party, and then jeers at them for not playing by the rules, and informs them the boars have spread the word far and wide throughout the forest. He also tells them they do not want to go to the Northeast, but they don't listen and continue on...

...just in time to come across a large lizard. It croaks at them. Anya casts speak with animals, and begins to chat up the lizard. He doesn't seem particularly interested in talking. "Hungry" he croaks, fixing his dead eyes on Guy.

"For what?" Anya asks.

"Beef Stroganoff."

"Just eat them!" Squawks a giant blue bird of paradise from a branch above.

"Hungry. Beef Stroganoff!" the lizard croaks more forcefully.

At this, Anya decides that she doesn't want to become lunch, shoots at the bird, and a brief scuffle breaks out. Guy, Anya, and Bach flee in 3 different directions, Guy vomiting all over himself as he runs. Meanwhile the bird flaps awkwardly from the tree, landing on the lizards back and says "You should have just eaten them..." The lizard croaks in reply.

Collecting their comrades, the party finds a nice spot for a camp. Once again they have an evening visitor, a black kitten that Anya finds curled purring on her neck. It bites Anya, draining some of her blood. At first it's a pleasant sensation, but quickly turns painful. She tears the kitten from her neck, and tosses it into the darkness with a yell. Everyone stirs at that, and a moment later a white clad vampire introduces herself as Princess Tizala. She apologizes for the discomfort, but was hungry. Guy quickly drains a couple of HP into a cup and offers it to the stunningly beautiful woman.

Tizala then invites the party to the castle since, in spite of what the boars said, they seem actually civilized. Plus, she'd really like for them to kill her 'sisters' if they should happen upon them. However then Nessendra insults her, and gets a lace glove across her face in challenge. There is then a significant amount of eye rolling as Tizala explains the eminently simple dueling rules. Rather than go through with the duel, Nessendra offers a most sincere apology and a cup of her own blood. Tizala sniffs it, lamenting that a rare treat such as elven blood would be so contaminated by coming from a holy-woman, and pours the blood out sadly.

5e WNW: 2 Dead Demi-Gods, a Rabbit, and a Mirror

5e WNW - Session 21 of the weird new world campaign was played on Friday 8/14

The party consisted of the following:
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 5 (Erindale)
Kethra, Human Fighter 5 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 5 (Erik - Absent, kindly played by Nadia)
Riia, Human Ranger 5 (Hanna - Absent, kindly played by Allison)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 5 (Nadia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 5 (Allison)
Zugun, Coffin-bound Human Priest (NPC)

Taking a very brief moment to catch their breath, the party quickly follows after the spiders. Up to the balcony, through a small door, and down a narrow corridor that leads deeper into the mountain, the party comes to a large stone chamber carved into the mountain. In the center of the chamber stood a wooden coffin supported by a stone plinth. Bach and Guy charged forward, grabbed the lid of of the coffin, and threw it open. Within swarmed hundreds, if not thousands of spiders! Guy changed his mind about punching the vampire in the face, and instead blasted it with a bolt of flame. Bach followed suite with an blast of eldritch energy, and Nessendra with a flash of holy radiance. The rest of the party shuffled into the room. The swarm of spiders burst forth from the open coffin and attempted to envelop Bach, but he quickly leaped back. Anya's magic bow found it's mark, as did another round of blasts, the last of which turned the remaining spiders into a blackened smear on the smooth floor.

Guy rifles through the coffin, finding a twisted and rune covered stone tucked under the pillow. As Guy holds it up, a shimmer passes over the stone's surface, and the runes flow languidly around. Nessendra wraps the stone in her cloak while Guy continues to dig around in the coffin, cutting the lining, ripping the pillow, and even carving into the wood. Meanwhile the rest of the party heads back to the basilica. As Guy continues to carve, the coffin shifts, revealing a hidden compartment embedded in the plinth. He shoves the coffin off with a loud bang, revealing a large mirror, a sack of coins, and a white rabbit in a locked cage.

"Everything ok?" The party yells back to Guy.

"Uh, I had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. I'm fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?

The party sighs "We're going back to see what he's up to."

Guy panics and stuffs the heavy jingling bag of coins in his backpack. "Uh, uh... negative, negative. I had a reactor leak here now. Give me a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak, very dangerous." he yells back.

The party shows up as Guy guiltily turns to face them "I found a rabbit!" He points into the hidden compartment.

At this point the rabbit introduced himself as Jack, and asked to be freed to he could go home. No one thought this was a good idea. Guy wanted to keep him as a pet. Most of the rest of the party just wanted to leave him behind. Jack pointed out that he was stuck in a cage full of his own shit, without food or water. Further questioning revealed that the rabbit worked for a queen, who's name he declined to provide, and that he was spying on the vampire and got caught, and that he isn't native to this plane, but from a realm that seemed to correspond with the Feywild. The party put off the decision, and Guy tied the cage and mirror to his pack, and headed out of the vampire's lair.

Given the poor state of the party, they made their way back toward the holy shrine to camp, but when Nessendra cracked open the door to the antechamber and found it full of gargoyles playing "Don't Blink" so she quietly closed the door. Having had enough of the citadel, they made their way carefully back down into the dungeon, through Zugun's chamber and back out onto the side of the mountain. There they made camp. The hours of darkness passed uneventfully, but as the sun crested the horizon Nessendra spotted a serpentine dragon with large yellow eyes further down the mountain heading northward. Even from as far away as they were, she could hear... something. Thwacking Kethra, who was also on watch to see if she'd seen it too, Nessendra discovered that Keth had fallen asleep!

Over breakfast the party decided to try to use the stone on Affleck. so back into the castle they went. Finding the tower was less of a chore than they'd expected, and his stony form was right where it was supposed to be, gaping chest and all. Most of the party stayed in the stairwell, while Nessendra walked behind Affleck and tapped him with the stone. Instantly his form reverted to flesh and he stumbled a step forward, looked down, touched the hole and said "But I'm a fucking demon god!" before falling face down. Bach checked the body for loot, but came up empty handed. So he took some of his feathers.

Taking a breather, the party went back out onto the walkway over the waterfall to discuss their next steps. Zugun pressed for getting to the ritual site as quickly as possible. Jack again pleaded to be freed, and offered to take them all with him through the mirror, reminding everyone that distance is different in the Feywild, and that he can drop them off deeper into the Shudder Mountains. Zugun admits he knows little of the Feywild, but thinks that it might work... if Jack can be trusted. The party agrees, and unlocks Jacks cage. He instructs them to set the mirror against the wall, and then tells them to go through. Nessendra (the elf) went first, and Guy took the rear, bringing Jack with him.

They found themselves standing on a familiar looking mountain, looking down into a familiar looking river valley... Instead of a citadel over a waterfall, a large wooden cabin next to a stream. Also, the land seemed to be divided into some sort of grid pattern, with each block a different height from the surrounding blocks. Jack hopped out of Guy's arms and called the party to follow him. A couple of hours later Jack stopped suddenly and flattened himself, shaking in terror. Down the mountain was the same yellow-eyed dragon, or as Jack named it 'Jabberwocky'!

Grabbing Jack, they ran as far and as fast as they could... and came upon a group of 5 figures standing 15' tall on needle like stilts! Stilts that protruded from the bloody stumps of their legs! Jack again squirmed from Guy's grip and ran toward the figures yelling "HELP!! HELP!!" They turned their bloodstained mouths toward the party and moved with shocking agility toward them. The stilt-walker vampires seemed excessively hungry, but failed to get a single drop to drink. Guy spent the entire fight scurrying after Jack, and caught him after the last of the vampires fell.

5e WNW: A Charming Web of Lies

5e WNW - Session 20 of the weird new world campaign was played on Friday 7/31

The party consisted of the following:
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 5 (Erindale)
Kethra, Human Fighter 5 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 5 (Erik)
Riia, Human Ranger 5 (Hanna)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 5 (Nadia - Absent, kindly played by Julia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 5 (Allison)

After a peaceful night's rest, and for Bach the first one without nightmares in as long as he can remember, the party continues their exploration of the citadel. They find a spiral staircase that climbs up one of the citadel's towers, and head up, Bach at the lead with Guy not to far behind. Nessendra and Riia lugging Zugun's coffin at the rear. Bach passes a chamber, but doesn't even pause to look in, wanting to see the top of the tower. Taking the stairs two at a time, he quickly makes it there, and discovers something that delights him. Not the view, but a large bell, the walkway circling around it. He decides to ring it. Putting his back to the wall, he charges and leaps onto the bell. It hasn't been rung in years, but it swings and tolls once, startling everyone still on the stairs, and causing a ringing that may never quite go away.

Realizing that the room with the pull rope was the one he'd passed earlier, he charges down the stairs with glee. Guy, thinking that ringing the bell looked like fun, tries the same stunt that Back just pulled.Unfortunately his much smaller frame, and a bit of bad timing almost sends him out through one of the tower's windows! Bach passes the rest of the party before turning into the rope room. They're just beginning to remove their hands from their ears, when they collectively decide to head back down to what seemed like the top level of the citadel's central keep. Meanwhile Bach quickly glances around the dusty and cobweb filled chamber, and grabs the rope. Guy, following down the stairs watches the rest of the party continue back down, and decides to hang out with Bach instead, poking through the dusty corners hoping to find something interesting.

As the rest of the party reorganizes itself a huge spider appears a bit down the corridor. "Why do you come into my home, breaking things, killing my minions?"

Riia clears her throat, happy to not have to (immediately) fight the giant spider. She explains that they're looking for an item to help a friend. "Ah, you seek the Arat Stone..." the spider smiles.

The party collectively shudders at the sight of a giant spider smiling.

"Perhaps we can discuss this further someplace a little more pleasing. Follow this hallway until you come to a set of stairs. Take the stairs up to my basilica." At that, the spider disappeared, and Bach and Guy come strolling down the stairs. They tell the guys what happened, Bach nods, and charges toward the trap.

Bach quickly arrives at the bottom of the stairs, and looks up. Three large archways open up to a massive room beyond. Standing guard are a pair of amphibious looking humanoids with spears, wholly unconcerned at the appearance of a large dragon-man. Nodding once to himself, Bach takes the stairs, and walks right in through the central arch. Guy, who'd followed Bach most of the way, keeps looking back and forth between the arches and the rest of the party still trying to decide what to do.

"You come alone" the robed figure at the far end of the Basilica "That's very brave of you. Perhaps you'd like to make a will save?"

Predictably, Bach fails, and suddenly this robed dude doesn't seem so bad. Really, he's pretty cool.

Guy gets frustrated at the rest of the party's deliberations, and heads up the stairs and sees Bach chatting with the robed man. "Well hello. I didn't see you before either. I'd have remembered someone so well dressed." Guy is a little shocked at the friendliness of the man. "Would you care to make a will save for me?" He smiles, and sharp fangs peek out from behind blood red lips. Unsurprisingly, Guy also falls for the man's charms.

The rest of the party decides to head up the stairs after Guy and Bach, only to find everyone chatting amicably. Hoping this was a good sign, they try to begin negotiating for the stone. The robed man turned his gaze on Nessendra, and she laughed at him. He then turns to Riia, who it turns out thinks he's SO NICE! Kethra has had it, and moves to attack.

Robed vampire evil priest summons a pair of demonfire worm things and calls all his BFFs to his side. Bach is confused and doesn't understand why everyone is fighting, but is pretty sure the hellfire worms are bad news.

Battle is joined. The guards attempt to take out Kethra and Bach, fail miserably, and die quickly. The fire breathing hellworms last slightly longer, long enough for the robed guy to call to Anya "Don't you think this is all quite distasteful, us all fighting this way. It would be great if you could make a will save, and maybe come stop your lady mercenary friend from cutting me open?"  Anya agrees that this is probably a good idea, since friends shouldn't fight, and leaps onto Kethra's back, pinning her arms... briefly.

Silence is dropped over the robed man right after that by an exasperated Nessendra. Zugun asks "What's going on?"

Anya is flung off by Kethra, and continues to attack the robed dude. Guy thinks Anya was on the right track, and tries and fails 3 times to pin Kethra. It isn't all bad for Guy, as it's the most physical contact he's gotten with her. Riia tries and also fails.

By this point, with his hellworms dead, and having suffered some serious damage, he reaches out and grabs hold of Riia draining her life force, but snapping her out of the charm. He then turns into a giant spider and tries to web everyone. This is semi-successful, and gives him the opportunity to drain Kethra before the burning hellworm bodies set fire to the webs, causing a little fire damage all around.

At this, the giant spider collapses into a huge swarm of tiny spiders that all scuttle towards the walls and pillars climbing up and over the railing of the upper balcony and out of sight.

The End of the Campaign...

My Friday night 5e Weird New World game is gong to be wrapping up on October 2. About half of my group will be leaving the area, and I think the general consensus is that we're going to switch to d6 Star Wars for a while. But before we do, this gives me an opportunity to really end a campaign, to bring it to a wrapping up point rather than just let it die like most do. Hell, the fact that this campaign has gone on for 20 sessions already is pretty amazing to me! That there are only 7 or 8 more sessions...

It might be a little early yet, but I'm trying to come up with ideas on how to end the campaign. I've been building up to a major confrontation against a chaos lord, but depending on what decisions the party makes, the last sessions may skew off.

So I guess I'm looking for some advice... how do you end a campaign, and make it memorable?

5e WNW: Finally a Reward!

5e WNW - Session 19 of the weird new world campaign was played on Friday 7/24 (game was skipped on the 17th to go see Ant-Man)

The party consisted of the following:
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 5 (Erindale)
Kethra, Human Fighter 5 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 5 (Erik)
Riia, Human Ranger 5 (Hanna - Absent, kindly played by Allison)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 5 (Nadia - Absent, kindly played by Julia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 5 (Allison)

After recovering from their harrowing encounter with the waterfall back in the storage room, the adventurers once again brave forth into the depths of the Citadel of Chaos. Retracing their steps they come to a large door opening into a massive hall. The hole in the ceiling allows light to enter, revealing ancient rotted banners, barely clinging to the poles they're hung from. The floor was littered with overturned tables, benches, broken crockery, and deadfall from the mountain blown in through the hole. Tucked in the brace of support beams holding the ceiling, a giant bird's nest, over the edge of which peaked two women's heads. Their stringy greasy hair hung limply over their sore spotted faces... faces that quickly twisted from confusion to glee, and in their glee they began to sing a most wretched song!

"Harpies!" Kethra called out, slapping her hands over her ears.

Guy, of course, was instantly enchanted by these beautiful ladies, and wanted nothing more than to be with them RIGHT NOW! Everyone else made their saves...

The harpies took off from their nest, flying about the roof of the hall, and dropping stones on anyone why entered the room. Unfortunately for them they took hits left and right, and quickly decided that survival was worth more than defending their nest, and took off for the hole. One made it out, only to catch one final shot in the back, sending her crashing to the roof. Helping Guy off the wall was the next challenge. He'd climbed up halfway to the nest.

Guy pulled down the nest, and rifled through the mess within. Thankfully there was no baby harpy or even an egg to deal with. Even better, there was some coinage and a few gems!

Exploring deeper into the citadel, the party, after finding numerous empty rooms, comes to another large chamber coursing with oil-slick rainbow colored lightning. Beyond the lightning dividing the room stood several creatures. Guy advanced to talk to them. After a brief conversation with the obscured creatures, Guy discovered they were really into pain. Maybe even more than Guy was able to handle. Right about this point, Bach got bored and blasted one of the pillars that seemed to support the wall of lightning. With a bright flash, the lightning ended.

2 hulking cyclopean monstrosities with a curving horn protruding from their foreheads flanked a pair of smaller lanky figures covered in spikes, thorns, barbs, and piercings. Kethra charged forward to help defend Guy, while Anya tried to get in front of Bach before he could get hurt. Anya wasn't quite fast enough, and one of the hulking beasts charged forward, goreing Bach, and sending him flying back onto his ass.

Kethra faced off against the other hulking brute, while Guy engaged the spiky one. Anya went toe to toe with the other spikey one, who'd joined his hulking friend, while Nessendra did her best to take down the hulk that had gored Bach. Back, still laid out on the stone stairs that stopped the brute's toss, shot eldritch blast after blast.

"What's going on?" Zugun called out from the hallway.

Riia joined Anya up front, just as Guy took a mighty blow dropping him into unconsciousness. At this, Nessendra called upon Corellon's power to heal everyone, and shortly after that the first of the hulks fell, followed quickly in turn by the other. The spiky guys took a little longer, but they fell a few rounds later.

Beyond stood a pair of brass doors covered in runes of the dark tongue, warning all against entry. Zugan, once having the scene described to him confims that this is the armory he spoke of. When the doors were opened a sense of peace and rightness washed over the party. Within, a shrine to the gods of order, and an assortment of magical treasures! Guy received the ring of free action. Bach donned the cloak of displacement, and Anya swapped her armor for a suit of scale mail of force resistance.

5e WNW: Waterfalls - Alternate Take

5e WNW - Session 18 of the weird new world campaign was played on Friday 7/10

The party consisted of the following:
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 5 (Erindale)
Kethra, Human Fighter 5 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 5 (Erik)
Riia, Human Ranger 5 (Hanna)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 5 (Nadia - Absent, kindly played by Julia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 5 (Allison)

Previous report of this session here. This report was written by Nikki:

SO... Expanded recount.

Last Friday we had wiped out a clutch of gargoyles. One was attempting to flee. As we resumed, our Warlock (dragonborn who seems to think he's a barbarian) was giving chase. The fighter (basic human me) was following the warlock because omg. Two rangers (one ranger and a "city ranger" *coughROGUEcough*) an -actual- rogue *coughManWhorecough* and the cleric are also following.
The two rangers are encumbered by carrying a sarcophagus (what happens in dungeons, stays in dungeons) so they miss the action. I manage to catch up to the gargoyle as it exits onto a balcony. I body slam that sucker (which we have decided looks like Brooklyn) and start choking it with my great-maul. (As much as one can choke a stone thing. The maul is from a "small" giant's leg bone. Many bone jokes. Many, many bone jokes.) As the gargoyle is stone and clearly not having any issue with the choking, he decides to launch himself off the balcony with me on his back.

I shriek for help. The party pours out the hall door onto the balcony (except the rangers who are at least three rounds behind us because sarcophagus). The warlock fires a few eldrich blasts at the beastie, one of which bounces off the shield strapped to my back. I begin to include the warlock in the set of vile curses that had previously been reserved for the gargoyle (the cleric reminds me about my language in her best Captain America tone).

The gargoyle moves to leap off the balcony, which is over a waterfall and a hundred foot rocky drop to the pool below to the tune of rushing water and free-flowing cussing. The cleric smites the gargoyle with some kind of holy fire crap that amazingly doesn't hurt me (Yay D&D and cleric spells meaning no friendly fire!). The gargoyle begins to disintegrate, with me still on it's back, as it's falling off the railing.

My bone-maul goes flying into the nothingness and drops down to the pool below. I try desperately to run down the gargoyle's spine and back onto the railing. Or jump off it's tail. Or... Something... But fail my dex save. I use my inspiration point, and CRIT fail my dex save. I fall. I hit rocks. I bounce off rocks. I splash down in the pool a hundred feet below. I sink. I -don't- fail my constitution save. I remain conscious... ... ... For now.

The rogue (man-whore-thing) not-so-selflessly throws himself off the edge to save me. The whole party speculates what he'll do to "resuscitate" me when he gets to me, while he hits the same rocks I hit on the way down. He splashes down in the pool, managed to take less damage than I did (which is fortunate, because he has fewer hit points than I do), and flounders in the bubbles a bit. He quickly comes to realize that the bubbles... tickle... Oooh...

One of the rangers (the real one) drops her end of the sarcophagus and joins the rest of the party on the balcony. The cleric prays for help from Korlon. The warlock retrieves rope from his pack and throws it over the edge... The warlock pulls FIFTY feet of rope back up from the ONE HUNDRED foot drop, demands someone else's fifty-foot rope and begins to tie the ends together.

I remain conscious! I can tell up from down, but not much else. Everything hurts. I think my armor is dented up into my spleen. I grasp at the rocks on the bottom of the pool and start dragging myself... somewhere... I hope it's toward the shore. Not sure how long I'm going to stay conscious...

The ranger (real one) takes up the double-length rope and throws herself over the side to repel down to my rescue. The warlock's eyes must have gone pretty wide when he saw this, since he hadn't managed to tie the end off anywhere yet. Warlock fails strength check, and the rope tears through his hands for ten points of rope-burn damage ("They look like big, strong hands, don't they? I always thought; that's what they were...") The ranger realizes her mistake, makes a dex save like a boss, and turns that free-fall into some Olympic diving action. She spots the rogue and my helpless self right off the bat. The rogue appears to be … erm... Enjoying the bubbles, so to speak... I don't seem to be having such a grand time, so she swims my way, while the cleric heals the warlock's hands.

The cleric prays to Korlon further for divine intervention, convinced she's killed one of her allies, as I fail to realize that the tugging and pulling is someone (the ranger) trying to save me and fight to cling to the rocks that I'm using to pull myself... To shore? I hope that’s the way to shore... The ranger probably hates me for resisting, but that's the way the bitter bastardly dice roll.
The other ranger finally manages to push the sarcophagus out onto the balcony above the cliff with the warlock and the cleric. “Where is everybody? And what was all that screaming about?” The warloc takes rope from the cleric and the other ranger *coughRoguecough* and the they spend even -more- time fumbling with tying these ropes together since “I'm not that kind of ranger!” Though to their credit, they secure this rope. >.>

I finally pass out, making it much easier for the ranger to drag my dead weight to the shore. The cleric, quickly descending the latest rope, rushes right over for some much needed healing. The rogue quits playing with the bubbles and pulls his pants up. The “city” ranger devises a clever pulley system, which the DM points out we lack the materials for and is thus nixed. I'm stabilized, and everyone is climbing back up to the balcony. The cleric is down to one healing spell and we're all damaged to some degree or another.

But wait! Where is the warrior's bone (great-maul)?! I tell the rogue (man-wore-thing) that if he can find my bone, he can touch it. The rogue quickly descends the rope and spends an hour swimming around the pool below to find my weapon. But he does persevere and return with my great-maul. So we head back to the vault where we found the sarcophagus, toting the sarcophagus with us, to set up camp for a full rest to restore hit points and spell slots.

That, my friends, is how a dead gargoyle almost killed half the party.

Next week: Plot advancement... We hope. XD

5e WNW: Waterfalls

5e WNW - Session 18 of the weird new world campaign was played on Friday 7/10

The party consisted of the following:
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 5 (Erindale)
Kethra, Human Fighter 5 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 5 (Erik)
Riia, Human Ranger 5 (Hanna)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 5 (Nadia - Absent, kindly played by Julia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 5 (Allison)

Instead of a usual write up, I'm going to share these tweets from the session.

J. L. Gribble ‏@hannaedits  Jul 10

Friday night #DungeonsAndDragons! Let's kill some plants!

Friday night #DungeonsandDragons! Apparently while I was gone the other players broke my bow. Good thing I'm a melee ranger!

Friday night #DungeonsandDragons! Effective combat is less effective when the players keep making dirty "sword and sheath" comments

Friday night #DungeonsandDragons! The cleric just blasted the fighter off a cliff. "Accidentally."

Friday night #DungeonsandDragons! Rogue just threw self after fighter. Warlock throws 50ft rope over 100ft cliff. We are so bad at this.

Friday night #DungeonsandDragons! Cleric is praying for help. Other ranger tries to rappel down cliff. Warlock was not holding end of rope.

Friday night #DungeonsandDragons! I am 2 hallways back shoving a coffin and just hear a lot of screaming

Friday night #DungeonsandDragons! Our campaign is actually in danger of ending due to waterfall.

Friday night #DungeonsandDragons! Turns out my ranger can't tie 2 pieces of rope together. "I'm not that kind of ranger!"

Friday night #DungeonsandDragons! We might actually survive this! Except now the party is split. Never good.

Friday night #DungeonsandDragons! They have to get back up cliff. Everyone keeps claiming that they have a rope. Rope still not long enough

Friday night #DungeonsandDragons! I MacGuyver a pulley system to get everyone back up cliff. I am that type of ranger!

Friday night #DungeonsandDragons! Dungeon Master @archmage45 says I did not actually make pulley system. #sadface

Friday night #DungeonsandDragons! We did not further plot whatsoever but this was one of my favorite sessions ever!

5e WNW: Citadels and Chained Coffins

5e WNW -
Session 17 of the weird new world campaign was played on Friday 6/26

The party consisted of the following:
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 5 (Erindale)
Kethra, Human Fighter 5 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 5 (Erik)
Riia, Human Ranger 5 (Hanna - Absent, kindly played by Allison)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 5 (Nadia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 5 (Allison)

Back in town, with the Alabaster Lady breathing down their necks, the party makes a quick investigation to determine the best fastest way to the citadel. While the land to the north, following the river becomes less swampy the further north it goes, it isn’t easy going, so they decide to hire a boat.

This proves easier said than done, as apparently the tale of the crazy adventurers from 2 centuries back still is told. The first boatman they find even turns out to be the great great grandson of the boatman they’d hired before, and with an awful lot of cajoling and begging finally relented and said he’d rent them his boat for 300gp. Annoyingly this was more than the party really had readily available, as the last time they were in town they’d spent the vast majority of their gold re-equipping.

Well, except for Veidt.

Veidt, who’d decided to stay in town and spend some time focusing on research…

Guy went begging. Riia and Bach appealed to him as a fellow nobles. Nessendra appealed to his (questionable) good side. Kethra and Anya simply looked on with their puppydog eyes (Yeah, right).

With a great show of annoyance, Veidt relented, and *loaned* the party the necessary cash, but insisted on delivering it himself. He wished them well, and a speedy return of the boat. Standing on the dock, the party once again realized that not one of them knew how to adequately operate a boat. With some muttering, they headed back into town toward the bars. Bach walks into the first open bar and loudly announces that they’re looking to hire for a dangerous mission to the citadel of chaos!

Riia and Nessendra drag him out and attempt to instil a sense of appropriateness of the situation, when a teen waves at them from around the corner of a building. He’s a young sailor, and is willing to captain their boat, as long as they’re willing to listen, and to pay. The party quickly agrees, and then he drops his final requirement - don’t tell his dad, the guy who rented them the boat…

The passage upriver was remarkable only for its ease.

The boat came to a rest against the side of the river. Ahead of them, thrusting from the generally low and flat land that they’d seen since arriving on this new continent stood the first in a chain of mountains. A great waterfall, the source of the river poured down, frothing the water below. Crouched over the every edge of the waterfall the citadel perched.

Guy summoned his crow familiar, and sent it scouting. The citadel was remarkably intact in spite of its abandoned appearance. The only damage to the structure seemed to be a hole in one of the towers. The crow also spotted a small cave with a circular stone covering the entrance. Deciding that going directly at the citadel may not be the wisest of decisions, they investigate the side cave.

They struggle to move the cover stone, until Nessendra pushes it the other way, then follow the dark path down into a large chamber. A scattering of bones surrounds a metal coffin, covered in blasphemous runes and adamantine chains. Moving in to investigate, the skeletons rise up to no one's surprise. The party recognizes the inhuman shapes of the single eyed beastmen skeletons they’d faced back 200 years ago. This time, they weren’t nearly the trouble they were before, as once again Nessendra saves the day, turning and destroying the skeletons.

“Hello?” a dry rasping voice called out from the coffin. “By Justica, is someone there? Finally?!?”

The party had found Zugun, the priest and brother of the man who became the Chaos Lord in the last great war. Unfortunately the victory wasn’t complete… While Zugun stopped his brother from becoming a true demon prince, he didn’t (or couldn’t) kill him, and during the final battle was wounded, captured, and imprisoned in the magical coffin. Worse still sometime soon, the stars would again align allowing the ritual to be attempted again.

Zugun needed their help… but he believed they could do it, with his help.

Skepticism abounded.

“We’re only just 5th level”
“We only have one magic item in the whole party”
“We don’t have a mage anymore!”
“You’re a crappy DM and we hate old school play!”
“Why do you keep pulling out DCC stuff? We’re supposed to be playing 5e!”

“Ah, but there was an armory here in the citadel. There may still be items of power within.”

“Items that could turn powerful beings to stone?”

“Yes, items just like that!”

“Do you know where”

“Well, no… not exactly.”

Grabbing the chains wrapped around the coffin, the party hauled it with them deeper into the cavern, and through a worked stone portal that continued on as a dungeon corridor. They passed by a store room, mostly empty, and a series of crypts. Guy couldn’t help himself, and began pilfering the coins left on the eyes of the dead.

As Guy defiled the dead, an audacity of gargoyles appeared at the far end of the hall, their stony visages craggy in anger. Not so easily defeated as the skeletons, they were tough opponents in every sense of the word, even resulting in Anya shattering her sword against one of them, and Riia breaking her bow trying to get enough draw to pierce their skin. When the last gargoyle stood against the bloody but still standing party, it turned and retreated, flying into the darkness…

Bach in hot pursuit!

5e WNW: The Heart of a God

Session 16 of the weird new world campaign was played on Friday 6/19

The party consisted of the following:
Veidt, 1/2 Elf Wizard 5 [John (Absent, but kindly substituted by Erindale)]
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 5 (Erindale)
Kethra, Human Fighter 5 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 5 (Erik - Absent, but kindly substituted by Hanna)
Riia, Human Ranger 5 (Hanna)
Guy Noir, ½ Elf Rogue 5 (Nadia)
Anya Bowen, Tiefling Ranger 5 (Allison)

5th Level!

With the beating heart in hand, the Master crumpled to the ground, and for the first time a look of real fear passed over his eyes. The zombies also crumpled, and the island began to fall apart. The party booked it for the (relative) safety of the swampland, and immediately hoofed it as far and as fast as they could.

It wasn't long before they realized that the Master was following them above. When they finally couldn't go any further, both from exhaustion and the lack of daylight, the party stopped and made camp. The Master was never far, but seemed hesitant to try a frontal assault. Instead he tried to talk to them, offering to cure them of their ailments. Unfortunately for him, Nessendra's newfound abilities allowed her to do that herself. He cursed in frustration and took again to the sky.

A quiet night passed, and the party continued north, encountering nothing except the Master the whole way. He followed, helpless to stop them from giving his very existence away. When the party reached the boardwalk, about a mile from Anura, he again tried to talk to them, begging them to give him back his heart, offering the moon and the sky, even a way for them to free Anura without his own death. "I have a scroll that will allow you to go to the citadel at the source of the river where the forces of Chaos once stood strong. There, within it's walls, you might find the artifact that turned him to stone in the first place."

A brief discussion followed and the party made a counter offer. They'd wait 3 days, and he could go to the citadel and get the item. He stamped his foot, blustered, and finally agreed. So they camped, for 3 days and 3 nights, and on the 4th day, with no sign of the Master they prepared to pack up and go to Anura. As they did so, the boardwalk began to vibrate slightly, and a troop of about 20 mercenaries, 6 lizardmen, and the Alabaster Lady marched up, demanding to know why they have not yet delivered the heart to her husband. There was some hemming and hawing, and then together they all went to Anura's glade.

Anura's stony surface seemed to ripple, and his eyes glowed even brighter as they approached. Stepping forward with the heart, Anura lurched forward, grasping the beating thing between his great claws.

And then it stopped, turning to stone, and Anura froze once again. The Alabaster Lady screamed in grief, and then turned on the party. They quickly agreed to go to the citadel themselves to either free the Master and/or gain possession of the item that turned the divine beings to stone. Quickstep they returned to the boardwalk, and to the city on the river...