Belldrone: A Tavern's Silencer

Artist: Aleksandar Ignatov

Designed by Draco Hallacan, a former adventuring wizard who turned to running a drinking hole called the Wight House, the Belldrone is a novelty of convenience. It's primary function is to manage the noise level in a tavern to a comfortable level. Draco's belldrone has become the de facto mascot, its light-emitting clapper having been adapted to adjust the colours generated and allowing for a dazzling performance.

It's been a popular design, and has seen variations made in taverns across the realms.

For a PDF of these stats, go < HERE >

[Petals & Thrones] Session 2: Battle of the Bear

Session II

Our intrepid heroes, after rethinking the wisdom of bringing squishy, squishy Bryce along with them, tread forward into the wilds of Ramshorn. They are mildly scarred by funnel spiders & jumping spiders, the latter making a critical pounce on Aquilan's face, but very swiftly slay them before they can attempt to escape.

They come upon their first group of Bear soldiers, and fortunately, one of them is a knight attempting to give the veneer of respectability. After some very terse diplomacy (and several gold in toll), they are given a warning and the party circles around them to the North, coming upon a pair of Bear infantry being attacked by giant wolf spiders. Saving them, they earn some goodwill and convince them to be escorted to the central camp...ultimately being recognized, increasing the guards' entourage and setting the tone with Sir Brander to be cool at best.

Fortunately, through Morluck's diplomacy and the goodwill of having saved two infantry men from death by spider, they're permitted a chance to walk away with a message that the Order of the Bear will collect their taxes soon. Running away, the party send word to the Lunatic Court, and speak with Pantaloon - who considers this a prime opportunity to achieve some goodwill with the people of Ramshorn, especially if they can outsource some muscle with the party (let them get paid in salvage).

Together with their group of Lunatics, they fought the first wave of Bear soldiers in the Battle of the Bear - 2 ogrillons, 2 elementalists, 8 archers, & 11 infantry (I rolled very high). The fight ends up remarkably well in their favor due to well placed tactics and lucky dice rolls, and none are actually slain. Thoradin uses a prayer of healing during the short rest, and they continue onward to fight Sir Brander at the Watchtower...

[Petals & Thrones] Session 1: Return to Ramshorn

I know it's been awhile since I've reported on the events of our cast of heroes, but life has gotten in the way as of late. Here's where we left off. Roland, Victor, & Bridgitte have perished in the caves of the goblins; having taken a rest a third of the way into their caves and thus giving the forces time to rally and slay them under a deluge of goblinoid bodies.

We now gather a new group of PCs

Cast

Ribbles Folkor

• Race: Gnome (Svirfneblin)
• Class & Background: War Mage Wizard & Sage
• Boon: Beak's Defense

Morluck Knife-Ear

• Race: Elf (High Elf)
• Class & Background: Swashbuckler Rogue & Courtier
• Boon: Sword Saint

Aquilan Thesalor

• Race: Elf (Wood Elf)
• Class & Background: Kensei Monk & Courtier
• Boon: Got Gud

Thoradin Battlehammer

• Race: Dwarf (Hill)
• Class & Background: Tempest Cleric (of Moradin) & Acolyte
• Boon: Martial Advantage Advantage

Session I

Things are more organized this time around. I compile a primer and such of the setting for people to peruse before the game begins. In a fit of deja vu, Morluck talks down the toll price, the party approaches the town, smells smoke, and begins stabbing belligerent Bear soldiers.

This time around, Andie manages to survive long enough for the cleric to stabilize her, and a number of Bear soldiers are also stabilized by Thoradin. Morluck is thoroughly running through them with a flourish, while Ribbles' owl manages to scout over the town something fierce. Aquilan & Ribbles (played by two of the original players from the prior attempt at Ramshorn) run into trouble with their dice rolling, but are there and contribute. Their jaws drop at the performance of Harlequin and her Lunatic Court, Morluck low-key fanboying.

After the raid, they have a short conversation, but then go into full negotiation with Goldblum, failing to improve his offer of 200gp in store credit after the Order of the Bear is handled. They also interrogate one of the surviving Bear infantry, discovering that he's a stupid one and just follows the archers when it's time to find the Order's camp, and all of the archers have either already escaped or were killed.

Gathering the fallen's wealth, they run face-first into Ront's policy of only buying weapons for scrap. So, they discover that Bryce is a priest of a forge god, and after a fair bit of high-rolling Persuasion (and about 30gp), they convince him to answer the Call to Adventure and join them as a hireling to manage their packmule in the hopes that they can get him to level 2 and leverage that sweet Force Cleric power. Tossing their haul into a room in the Accidental Gryphon, they set out that day to seek out the hidden camp of the Order of the Bear...