Campaign Logs/D&D/General/The Side Quest

The Lonely Coast Campaign – Seeking Cynric’s Folly Part 7 (Session 14)

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When we last left the party, Thalimor had gotten himself arrested by the Warden of the Lonely Coast while the rest of the party had blatantly disregarded a direct “request” from the man appointed by the Baron to see to the safety of the Lonely Coast. Rather than return to the Wolf’s Head Inn and remain there, they followed the goblin tracks in the hopes of finding the abducted children. This group remained just a bit ahead of the troops led by the Warden and the manacled (and gagged) Thalimor. When the heroes arrived back at the ruins, they found the children in the “temple” area along with Aerlium, a badly tortured Malvenos, and four of the wrath creatures. They were unable to rescue the children at this time and, after fighting a large number of goblins in the woods, were hustling towards the sounds of a combat…presumably between the goblins and the Warden’s force.

That is where we pick up after the break. Rachel and Muse were missing this session and, unfortunately, Thomas had to cancel at the last minute due to illness. So we were missing half of the players and so everyone played two characters. In addition to their normal characters, RJ played Isenthorne, Miles played Osric, and Todd played Thalimor. Rachel’s absence, unfortunately, also means that the group’s note taker was missing. I rely pretty heavily on her notes when writing the recaps. Because I make up so much of this on the fly, I can’t always keep track of what happened in what order. So it is quite likely that this recap might have more mistakes and less detail than those when she does take her five or six pages of notes.

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Campaign Logs/D&D/General/The Lonely Coast Campaign

The Lonely Coast Campaign – Seeking Cynric’s Folly Part 6 (Session 13)

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No, really, the heroes really are seeking Cynric’s Folly…they just keep getting caught up in other things.

In our last session, the heroes returned back to Swallowfeld to deliver Berangar to the authorities and to make various preparations for seeking out Cynric’s Folly after having gained some additional clues as to its location from the elderly priest, Godric. However, nothing is ever quite that simple. Instead, various hijinks ensued that ultimately resulted in Thalimor engaging in some cross-dressing and expressing a strong interest in an alternate sexuality to avoid, well, an engagement. After all that hilarity, Pounder was woken early the following morning by a pounding on his door and someone shouting, “The children are gone!”

And that is where we pick up after the break.

I’m going to add a little something that I haven’t done before with the session recap. I’m going to add the days that the action takes place. Things are now getting to the point that I need to keep track of the calendar or it will get a bit too confusing for me. So, I had to come up with a calendar for the setting. It is a 13-month lunar based calendar with four weeks per month and seven days per week. Each month starts on the full moon. The campaign is currently in the month of Plognath or Plow Moon in the old language (Elderspraech or Reorde) of the Thioda, the Thaeden cultural ancestors. The days of the month are notated not by a number like we do nowadays but as the first, second, third, or fourth Haelfdag (or whichever day it is) of Plognath (or whichever month it is).

So with that all out of the way…

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Campaign Logs/D&D/General/The Lonely Coast Campaign

The Lonely Coast Campaign – Seeking Cynric’s Folly Part 5 (Session 12)

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When we last left our heroes, they had been investigating a purported suicide at the Temple of Vélen when additional bodies started to be found dead. The priest, Aethelric, who was reported to have committed suicide had come back from the dead for vengeance against those who had wronged him. The heroes had just “killed” the creature with repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated attacks (i.e., it took a LOT of damage to drop). Fortunately for them, the thing had been solely focused on slowly squeezing the life out of one of the other priests rather than attacking them. When we pick up after the break, we start to learn about what had actually happened to Aethelric and a bit of other things about the temple.

The Southern Shakespeare Festival (with a production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream) also returned to Tallahassee this past weekend after a 15+ year hiatus. There must have been something in the air as we had elements of secret identities, cross-dressing, arranged romances, cross-dressing to avoid arranged romances, and the like. I made a comment the next day to one of the players about how I kind of felt like some of the session was inspired by some Shakespearean elements and she had been thinking the same thing. It wasn’t really intentional but it was pretty fun. I had actually prepped something for this session but we never even got close to it.

RJ was missing this week and so Todd played Bay. Spoiler Alert: This session is partially based on and largely inspired by the old Dungeon Magazine adventure, Unhallowed Ground, from Issue #54.

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Campaign Logs/D&D/The Lonely Coast Campaign

The Lonely Coast Campaign – Seeking Cynric’s Folly Part 4 (Session 11)

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In our last session, our heroes had made their way to the Temple of Vélen to both deliver the package given to them by Galden Hearthtop in Wolverton and to seek more information about Cynric’s Folly. Their arrival was marked by spotting a relatively fresh grave outside of the temple complex and with significant suspicion…bordering on hostility…from the gate’s guard, Malvenos. Once inside, they completed their delivery, learned that little of the famed library and, more importantly to them, no writings on Cynric’s Folly remained, and met the largely dysfunctional “family” of priests who still resided in the complex. They also learned that the fresh grave was that of a young priest and promising scribe who had recently committed suicide and, as a result, was not interred in the temple’s catacombs.

When we ended the prior session, the party had retired for the night in some of the many vacant cells in the temple’s dormitory and were awakened by the sound of the temple’s bell ringing…though somewhat muffled. And that’s where we pick up after the break.

Miles missed this session and so RJ played Magnus. Spoiler Alert: This session is partially based on and largely inspired by the old Dungeon Magazine adventure, Unhallowed Ground, from Issue #54.

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The Lonely Coast Campaign – Seeking Cynric’s Folly Part 3 (Session 10)

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When we last left our heroes, they were rising from their sleep at the Wolf’s Head Inn in the village of Swallowfeld. It had been a pleasant evening particularly in comparison to their last couple of days involving undead, a malicious imp, and a “blessing” for one character, Bay, from the imp’s mistress…whoever she might be. The hospitality of their host, Kettle, was quite welcomed. Their intent for this day was to head out for the Temple of Vélen and see if they could find any information about the location of Cynric’s Folly as well as deliver the pouch that Galden Hearthtop (at the Fellowship Hall in Wolverton) had tasked them with giving to the head priest at the temple.

Fair warning for those that like action and combat, there wasn’t much during this session. Well, actually, there wasn’t really any…except a rather one-sided sparring match between Pounder and Thalimor. This was another one of our crappy sessions that was pretty much all in-character roleplaying [yes, crappy is tongue in cheek]. It was also a bunch of setting building via the roleplaying. Swallowfeld got a bit fleshed out as did the Temple of Vélen.

As you read this, keep in mind that the temple has fallen from its glory days and is dilapidated and underpopulated. There is also an element of dysfunction that I hoped started to come out as the PCs had the opportunity to interact with the PCs. In some ways, perhaps at least in terms of the “mood” of the temple as a setting, I had the movie, The Name of the Rose, in the back of my mind throughout this session.

Muse was missing this session and so RJ played Osric in her absence which, I’m sure, probably has Muse wondering, as she reads this, just what kind of trouble RJ got Osric into this session. The last time he played Osric, he had the big fighter go and hug a zombie which, of course, earned Osric a few nibbles on the neck as a result. Rather than keep Muse in suspense any longer, the session recap is below the break.

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Campaign Logs/The Lonely Coast Campaign

The Lonely Coast Campaign – Seeking Cynric’s Folly Part 2 (Session 9)

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Things had gotten a bit dicey and complicated for our party at the end of our last session. Thalimor, apparently, had released some sort of demon or devil type creature that had been trapped in a magical box for untold centuries. The party took to calling the thing an imp and it introduced itself as Aerlium. The imp had found the two children that the heroes had been searching for and had also released the various undead that were in the complex. Various bargains had been offered by Aerlium for the lives of the children and safe passage through the complex. Eventually, the bargains struck left Bay running from the complex carrying the two unconscious children (with one of the vicious creatures found in the complex hot on his heels) while the rest of the party prepared to fight their way through a long line of undead as Magnus had refused to even give his name to the imp, let alone agree to any bargain, and was thus not party to the safe passage of the others. We pick up with this action after the break.

Todd has rejoined the group for the next few months. He is playing a half-orc paladin named Pounder. With a Strength of 20 and a big warhammer, the name seems pretty apt. After some catching up and a bunch of pizza, we got to playing.

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Campaign Logs/The Lonely Coast Campaign

The Lonely Coast Campagin – Seeking Cynric’s Folly (Session 8)

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Yikes! Zombies! Again? Really?!? Yes, zombies again but at least these aren’t pirate zombies like encountered on the Nydam (or pibies as I started to call them). In out last session, our heroes arrived at Wolverton. They rested, restocked, and sought out some information before deciding to head west towards Swallowfeld and the Temple of Vélen to discover if any information about the location of the lost keep of Cynric the Ironwolf. During their travels they, of course, found adventure in the form of dead charcoalers and a recently unearthed complex of some sort. The complex looked like it might be Dracmosi in nature…a civilization that predates the Thaeden (the current dominant culture) by at least two civilizations.

In their explorations of this complex, they had opened a door and loosed a zombie.

And that is exactly where we pick up this session’s recap after the break. Thomas was missing this session and so RJ played Thalimor in his absence.

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Campaign Logs/The Lonely Coast Campaign

The Lonely Coast Campagin – Wolverton At Last (Session 7)

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Wolverton at last! When we last left our heroes, they had survived their adventures in Brea’s Garden and had returned from the Feywild, with Danu’s help. Along with the two surviving sailors, they were in the Nydam’s landing boat with Stansig Point in sight and the sounds of Wolverton’s docks coming from beyond the point. Unfortunately, there were no oars in the boat and Danu and their new faerie friend, Olive, were nowhere in sight. Relief at having survived was mixed with concern for what their actions in the Feywild might lead to. Things certainly did not seem to have ended well.

We pick up with this session with the party in the landing boat after the break.

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Campaign Logs/D&D/The Lonely Coast Campaign

The Lonely Coast Campaign – Brea’s Garden Part 3 (Session 6)

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When we last left our heroes, they had learned quite a bit more about Brea’s Garden and had collected some of the items that would necessary to gain entry into the palace. They also had just attracted the attention of a some sort of very large and green humanoid at the edge of some trees. Said giant had just started moving towards the heroes and that is where we’ll pick up after the break.

We had a full table of regular players plus we were joined by Bridgett. I don’t know if it was just because RJ’s mom was in town to babysit or if my Korean BBQ tacos played a part in luring her out as well (we did a potluck for dinner). Regardless, she joined us and took on the role of Olive Cattree. Olive is a sprite; one who only recently arrived in Brea’s Garden and has found the whole situation to be entirely too much of a damper on having some fun…which is pretty much what she wants to do. Olive had just finished chasing some bees in the meadow when she also had her attention drawn to the heroes and the green giant approaching them.

Spoiler Alert: This session is heavily influenced and based on the adventure Beyond the Crystal Cave, both the original (UK1) for AD&D and the 4e version which was part of the D&D Encounters series.

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The Lonely Coast Campaign – Brea’s Garden Part 2 (Session 5)

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When we last left our heroes, they had been “rescued” by the Fey Queen, Danu, who put them ashore on an island that they soon realized was Brea’s Garden from old Cesvani legend. Their early exploration of the island showed that something strange was going on. A hag had somehow interrupted the “proper” transfer of power from the island’s sleeping Lord and Lady to their mortal avatars and had gained much of that power herself. She had corrupted some of the island’s fey and the party had been attacked twice already. Some of the fey, however, were only bound to their particular areas of the island and not yet corrupted. These fey had provided bits information and had asked favors in exchange. The party was deciding if they should take on another task to gain the favor of another faction of the island’s fey as we ended the last session.

Spoiler Alert: This session is heavily influenced and based on the adventure Beyond the Crystal Cave, both the original (UK1) for AD&D and the 4e version which was part of the D&D Encounters series. I’m going to depart from my normal format to say a few things about this before diving into the session recap.

Once I had hit upon this as one potential “out” for the party from being stranded way out at sea (yes, there were other options that would have happened if they had declined Danu’s offer…who’s to say if they would have been better or not), I decided to use the 4e version as the primary inspiration. So far, with 5e, I have used modules from all prior editions of D&D in this and our Side Quest campaigns except for 4e. So far, all of the “conversions” have pretty much been on the fly and have been relatively painless for me. So I was curious about 4e’s convertibility.

Mechanically, I don’t think the conversion is a big deal. Instead, what has really jumped out at me is the structure of the adventure particularly in comparison to the original UK1 version. The structure of the 4e version is, essentially, a series of scripted encounters while the original was much more open. There is, for example, no overall map of the area covered in the adventure for the 4e version; instead, only encounter maps. The original is pretty much the opposite with an overall map but not many encounter maps.

This, of course, isn’t an indictment of 4e…there are LOTS of published D&D adventures that are highly scripted (adventure paths anyone?). The difference is just how blatantly scripted the 4e version of Beyond the Crystal Cave is in comparison to its predecessor and I’m finding that to be rather jarring. Perhaps it is a result of it being a D&D Encounters adventure and I probably should have considered that before I started using it. Regardless, I’ve found it difficult to run because it is largely a scripted plot rather than a situation. I’m sure I’d have just as much difficulty with an Adventure Path.

It has been so long that I had kind of forgotten how much the adventures I ran back with 3.5 and 4e both needed to be prepared or strongly scripted…at least for me…to run relatively effectively. Despite running 4e for a year and 3.5 for a number of years, I never ever really got comfortable running things on the fly in those games. I’ve largely lost interest in overly scripted games. 5e, and I guess this is the point of all this, has been really easy to run in a non-scripted fashion. I probably should have given the 4e version of Beyond the Crystal Cave a closer look before committed to using it (even if it was just a committment to myself).

Oh well…in for a penny in for a pound, right? We pick up with our heroes, particularly Isenthorne, deciding if it is worth engaging in carnal activity with a satyr to gain favor with his lord, take on a different task offered by the satyr to gain his lord’s favor, or to simply carry on with other tasks on their to do list. So, obviously, I’ve departed from the script a bit…the encounter with the satyr in the adventure certainly doesn’t include one of the PCs being pimped out by the rest of the group. 😉

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