[Curse of Strahd] Session V

 Following Ismark, he gets approached by some villagers who need to talk to him about stuff. He asks them to wait. During this time, the party sees an old woman selling pies, who has a short conversation with them. Granny offers each a free one, "because you must be so tired after such a journey, dearies." They each pick a different flavour of her three options; meat, maple nut, & bread. After a short bit of gossip regarding the town, Ismark returns & they resume their trip to the tavern Blood on the Vine; during which they notice a raven with blue-tipped wings following them.

At the tavern, they hear of the story of the village, of which they're inadvertently a part of. About nine months prior, Doru (son of the village priest) gathered up a dozen men to fight back against Strahd; but never returned. Shortly after, an elf approached the village, announcing that Strahd would give them nine months to put their affairs in order before he punished the entire village. Since then, much of the village had left for the other two settlements; those that remain include those too old & young to travel, as well those convinced by Ismark that it's better to stay & fight. Undead have laid siege to the town for almost a week now, every night breaking themselves against the barricades.

There's a big argument between Ismark & Bildrath, the town merchant only staying because his nephew was convinced by Ismark's rallying cry, clearly upset (Bildrath's sister died in one of the attacks). After that scene, they head up to the Burgomaster mansion to meet Ismark's father & his sister, Ireena. There's debate of what to do next, & the Burgomaster explains that the party is trapped until the siege ends; as literal thousands of undead wander the forests surrounding the village, inexplicably sending but a tiny fraction to attack at night. They're assigned to the Western Barricade, and wait.

It's a rough fight, bringing Soorsha to ~3HP, as they fight multiple waves of zombies, a couple ghouls, a wight, & even a hulking undead with virulent miasma streaming from its mouth. Ultimately, they prevail with only a minor breach in the barricade, of which none of the undead manage to actually cross.

[Curse of Strahd] Session IV

It's a rough and tumble fight with the mass of flesh, pustules & muscular tendrils flailing about. Eventually, they carve out enough to reveal a ghostly infant in the center, umbilical cord tied to the mound & partially shielded by something akin to a rib cage. This horror of the remains of Walter bounces around, smacking & getting stabbed, until it's finally defeated.

A spectre of Mrs. Durst appears, swearing to tear down the entire building down upon them before dissipating. As collapsing begins, they run into the ghost of Gustav, who meekly asks them to stay because that's the only way to keep her calm - to which they just blast him with radiant weapons & swords. Upon reaching the surface, they jump out the window, willing to risk the mist; but find that it's receded & they are safe outside as the building is consumed by the earth.

Bebriska, Nyanka, & Viggo come out of the stables nearby, saying that the mist enveloped the building right after they entered. They were too scared to venture far, even though they lost track of the children. At this line, the children reappeared as ghosts themselves to thank the party for putting Walter to rest, at which point they passed on.

Heading for the gates into Barovia, the mist following them close behind. They eerily open before them, welcoming newcomers & closing behind them as they walk down the path. A mile later, they come upon the remains of someone just off the road. Viggo recognizes it as another member of their group that tried to leave, who was supposed to bring a horse, but never met up with them; so they supposed he had gotten cold feet. There was an arrow (& 13 tally marks) carved into the tree right next to the corpse, following an animal trail. Checking along it, they found the corpse of a horse next to another tree with an arrow (& tally marks) leading deeper into the woods. This third tree had the same markings, but no additional corpse was to be found, & the path lead into a wall of mist. Rather than investigate, they retraced their steps, noticing a complete absence of either corpse (not even indents in the earth where they had laid).

As they approached the village of Barovia, they noticed it was set up for defense. Outer buildings were abandoned. Barricades were set up. A blonde fellow in armor was organizing a major barricade for repairs. This blonde calmed down the two armed rooftop villagers who got very accusative of the party being undead. With introductions over (blonde being Ismark Kolyana, son of the Burgomaster), they are asked to join for additional conversation while he has a moment. Ariadne attempts to help with barricade repairs, but the villagers aggressively avoid her - being a stranger w/white hair, traveling with what seems to be monsters, setting them off according to Ismark.

[Curse of Strahd] Session III

 As they delve down into the web-filled spiral staircase, they reach an equally cramped hall dug through the earth. With walls 4' apart & a ceiling only 7' high, larger PCs would feel claustrophobic. Distant, unintelligible chanting doesn't help one feel at home. Neither do the empty crypts they find, each carved with names of the Durst family. To call them empty is a misnomer, though. Elisabeth's coffin explodes with a swarm of biting insects that burrow painfully into Sorshaa's fur before they're sufficiently mushed. The 'queen' still in the coffin, a disgusting vermin nearly half a foot long w/parts seeming to be undead, is saved & stored in a jar by Ariadne.

There's some heavy debate on how exactly the party will handle Merlin; whether to leave him upstairs, what kind of leash to use. It's ultimately decided that they'll use some of the curtain ropes as a makeshift, adjustable leash that they'll use to lead him from behind. Echo will keep a lantern, as will Sorshaa, to allow the latter to be able to see & for Oswald's Investigation to operate without penalty.

Continuing exploration reveals a series of long-abandoned, yet clearly used, chambers of a bloody cult that lived & operated in. Some gemstones survived, as well as a set of studded leather armor from another traveling adventurer caught some time ago. They even manage to barely evade a pit trap.

This series of ominous, yet uneventful, rooms is broken up by a hallway intersection where a pair of ghouls burst out of the walls to reach for fresh flesh. This is a rough fight, where Oswald takes some solid damage, but they otherwise overcome it.

Deeper down, they find Gustav's corpse hanging from rope (which Ariadne takes for their equipment, because it's something that's not rotted through) along with a suicide note. Along this area's wall is a hidden door that reveals the ceremonial room where a dagger waits, the chanting that had gotten clear (He is Ancient. He is the Land.) instantly stopping as they enter, & a long tendril of flesh leading to a hole in the wall. They debate some while Sorshaa adds the rusty dagger of sacrifice to her collection, before they set their weapons to aim at the wall of pulsing flesh.

[Curse of Strahd] Session II

Our intrepid adventurers enter the house of Durst, but through the windows in the back into the dining room where they heard the sound of a party. Cracking it open & parting the curtains, the sound disappears, the lights go out, but the warmth & scent of a feast within remains. Once the last member of the group climbs in, the window slams shut, a clock somewhere in the house strikes six, & blood weeps from the painting over the empty hearth.

Beneath this dwelling lurks a beast
Who hungers for a bloody feast.
He sleeps until the midnight chime
Then wakes to feed his dark design.
If morsels seek to flee their doom,
Then bring toward his secret room
A gift to soothe his savage mood
But mind the servants of his brood.

Some checking reveals that mist has moved up to the window, which means they’re trapped based on their understanding of what walking through the mist will do (thanks to Viggo’s testimony). Barefoot, only one of them even wearing regular clothes, they make their way to the central room & up the stairs. Finding several suits of breastplate armour on display, Ariadne & Cotswold suit up, the former grabbing a Durst family longsword above the mantle. This is helpful when the very fancy suit of animated full-plate attacks them as they reach the third floor.

Other than that one fight, they avoid everything creepy & even potentially hazardous, including the movement out of the corners of their eyes coming from the mirror in the room adjacent to the nursery. They open the door with a weapon, seeing dried blood marking infernal circles around a crib w/the sound of a cooing baby coming within. With incredible caution, they find a woman’s finger under the crib & the crib itself is empty (the sound disappears as they looked). At this point, they go to the mirror in the last room, where the reflection shows a fair maiden in servant’s clothes standing next to them; her eyes sewn shut, her fingers gone as well as her nose & ears & lips & teeth. Still able to hear, but clearly unable to speak, they learn that the baby is downstairs. Asking for how to get there, she steps out of view from the reflection’s PoV as the mirror swings open to reveal stairs leading to the attic.

Up the stairs, they begin looking with intent rather than making a beeline, grabbing what may be of value to toss out the window if not of immediate use (figuring the mist won’t destroy it & they can examine in greater depth if they escape). Echo has a pact weapon that he summons to use as the de facto tool for touching anything they investigate. It’s when they pick a padlock to what is revealed to be the bedroom for Rose & Thorn, their skeletons lying in rest at the centre of the room, that their ghosts appear to answer questions. Rose asks them to go to the basement, where they’re certain their mother took their baby brother, & where the monster is. Their dollhouse is a perfect model of the house they’re in, & they use this to pre-check hidden rooms & possible valuables to investigate the place.

They find a collection of (study reveals them to be high-quality shams) ritual books in the library, as well as a halfling corpse w/armour that Echo can wear. Spending some time, they learn more of Gustav’s poorly hidden affair w/the nursemaid, Elisabeth’s anger, & Walter’s bastard heritage. At the conservatory, they find a stray dog (a chocolate Carpathian shepherd dog) whose collar says Merlin, whom they adopt.

It’s at this point, they ascend to the secret entrance in the attic, which is a spiral staircase that will take them to the basement.

[Curse of Strahd] Session I

We begin with everyone introducing their characters, who are all coincidentally traveling together on a merchant caravan.

• Ariadne Weaver ♀ Dhampir half-elf fighter, rat-catcher extraordinaire w/partially sundered & patchwork soul (hence dhampir nature) due to a run in with a phase spider
• Spindle ♀ familiar. Remnants of original phase spider, otherwise a blue-white tarantula
• Coswald ♂ High elf wizard, a historian who has decided to expand into arcane lore
• Echo Silence ♂ Kobold paladin, protector of the oppressed & lover of dragons
• Sorshaa ♀ Harengon rogue, dagger-loving thug that understands friendship

Sleep in the colourful forest of Rotak is fitful, eventually waking to an exceedingly dim dawn. The camp is gone. Their packs are missing. All each of them have is their bedroll and what they were wearing that night (dagger for the rogue, 150gp for Echo’s “bed”, and that’s it); as it happens, Spindle was sleeping on Coswald’s spellbook that night, so it came with them.

They’re not in Rotak anymore, but some dim, dun forest of thick fog. Searching the immediate area doesn’t pull up any information as to where they are beyond “not home.” They forage some makeshift clubs & staves. Eventually, they find a twisted, winding road that should hopefully lead to civilization. It’s slow-going, but by mid-day, they see lights off the side of the road; three drab, scared humans with pitchforks & torches.

• Bebriska [40, ♀ human] Anxious, hands randomly grip & grasp the air in a tic, very flat affect
• Nyanka [20, ♀ human] Stressed, premature grey, presumptive widow of a lost wizard husband
• Viggo [22, ♂ human] Riddled with rickets, very knowledgeable of Barovia’s flora

There’s some back-and-forth before productive dialogue begins, as they initially think Echo to be some kind of fiend, Sorshaa to be a beast, Ariadne an ill omen, & Coswald an unsettling fellow. Honestly, them all being in their bedclothes helps them in this instance. The humans are locals who got desperate & decided to try to leave the land & its curse, but can’t make any further progress without the Mist stopping them. Some Persuasion later, they agree to act as guides back to civilization in exchange for protection, the three having given up hope of escaping.

It’s during the rest of the day & into the night for their camp that they learn some of the lay of the land; its ruler, their woes, some Vistani slurs, etc. Sometime during the next day of travel, they come upon a ruined ‘hamlet’ (like six buildings along the road. The tallest building, a three-story brickwork affair, has two crying children in front. They speak of their parents fighting a monster in the basement, of how they forgot their baby brother in the nursery.

[Petals & Thrones] Session 21: Death of the Stabsman

Session XXI

Deciding things were getting pretty heavy, our heroes retreat to the surface to take an extra long short rest, including Thoradin doing a 10min healing spell. This gives Tarmont time to reorganize the remaining undead, but since they don't find the PCs, they don't congregate.

Taking out a couple patrols on the way, they manage to get the attention of Tarmont's scout due to Ribbles's familiar. Alerting the entire dungeon, ghouls & zombies begin to swarm upon them. Their combat is pretty decent, but several critical hits along with poor saves against ghoulish paralysis (Tarmont's fireball didn't help either) leads to a very poor situation. It's when Morluck falls to Tarmont's magic missile that they decide to flee, but not before Thoradin is ripped to shreds by ghouls.

It's at this point we have a conversation as to the trajectory of the campaign due to half of the party dying in the sewers. Ultimately, they decided to put the campaign on hiatus. We'll be playing Ars Magica in the interim, maybe returning to this module sometime in the future.

Commentary

While it wasn't an issue in this dungeon, the players largely felt that the module's five-minute short rest mechanic was a trap, as it tempted them to use it at risk (which really hurt them in the goblin cave & the Great Hive).

[Petals & Thrones] Session 20: Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun

Session XX

The Heroes of Ramshorn help direct the forces of Hillsreach into Karis for defense, redistribute the Order of the Third Eye (sending fifteen patrols to reinforce Karis), and proceed to be attacked by 70 patrols of the Order of the Lion. It's not a great result, as the heroes are outflanked in the first round and only have 45 patrols to defend Karis, but they proceed to engage in a maneuver to upgrade it to a bloody mêlée, increasing the kill count by five patrols. They debate heavily whether to continue the mass combat into the next round, but decide to cut their losses and retreat; the Lions losing 9 patrols and them losing 7.

Regrouping in Valence, the players walk around the Great Forest to pick up Wesker from Rivermet. Once that's done, they return to Karis under the cover of darkness to evade Lion patrols, entering the sewers from the river. Once inside, they quickly encounter ghouls, and equally quickly take them out. Ribbles uses dancing lights to provide sight for Wesker, as he's the only person in the team that doesn't have darkvision. They're taken by surprise when Morluck awakens the bloat zombies in the cesspool by getting too close. This surprise is taken even further when Ribbles discovers that they're healed by toll the dead, though they're not as surprised when they explode in acid due to their collective history of video games.

Taking out the bloat zombies involved the use of shatter, which alerts the burning ghoul nearby. This fight makes them a bit concerned as they see the numbers appear, especially as Ribbles ends up healing the burning ghoul with toll the dead. They take a round breather when the last of the undead, and then we end the session.

[Petals & Thrones] Session 19:

Session XIX

The short rest was ominous, the unflickering glare of Ribbles's dancing lights flanking them with jade green halls of impenetrable darkness. Acrid smoke still lingered from the scorched spawning pits, and the ichor of slain vermin made for a truly macabre scene in their isolation. Aquilan's sharp ears could pick up an unnerving skittering deeper in the Great Hive. Upon receiving their rest, the heroes Ribbles, Thoradin, Morluck, & Aquilan unsheathed their tools of violence to delve farther into the hive; Sharra, Vincent, Pierrot, & Talon accompanying them.

Having barely taken two turns, they come upon a pair of giant scorpions, who simultaneously notice the invaders and bellow a truly primeval screech of mandibles scraping on mandibles. As they finish the first scorpion, they see behind the behemoth threats a truly vast number of giant ants. The ensuing fight is a slog of blade & spell upon ancient weapons of carapace & venom. Giant vermin are replaced literally faster than they can slay, and when the mortar ants begin to connect with their attacks, followed by a smaller group coming up from behind, is when the party realizes they may have to retreat.

Their attempts at retreat are truly hard fought. Vincent is the first to fall, followed by Pierrot & Sharra. Talon only manages to keep up through Morluck's use of his wand of web to at least slow down the giant army ants. There's literal discussion of which tunnel leads them out of the Great Hive as they run.

Then they meet the spiders.

At one of the junctions, spiders had begun to carve a nest, which nearly overwhelms them as they hear army ants and the dreaded mortar ants slowly catching up. Their attacks are fortunately not true, especially after Ribbles drains the last of his spells with a well-timed use of shield. Ultimately, they do finally escape by the skin of their teeth, returning to their base battered & bloodied.

As their long rest continues, they hear news of Prince Darius picking up the pieces, personally leading a charge into the Great Hive. The threat is finally ended, and the Order of the Wyrd joins the cause against the Lunatic Court's rebellion.

[Petals & Thrones] Session 18: March of the Garden Ants

Session XVIII

Our heroes find the spawning chambers of the Great Hive, which activates a number of the local guards. Ribbles throws a fireball, which goes around a corner and kills a leafcutter near one of the huge pools, ultimately spawning a mega centipede, giant tarantula, & a huntsman before they move Sharra to throw down another wall of fire to ignite all of the nearby pools to stop them from further spawning.

By this point, emergency protocols are activated, so by the time the heroes slay the local stuff, a score of garden ants from the West begin to attack while leafcutters skitter near the huge pools untouched by the players for fear they activate the small pools nearby.

Fortunately, after a prolonged combat, including a few spare spawns from the East, they ultimately kill everything. They take another short rest to recoup and spam necrotic/poison cantrips to clear out all of the pools in the chamber.

Of course, the rest of the Hive begins to fully realize it's under attack, and respawns are beginning during this time.

[Petals & Thrones] Session 17: Creeping Crawlies

Session XVII

Our intrepid heroes work their way deeper into the Great Hive, finding the laboratory. The fights are easy thus far, and they toss torches onto the spawning pools as they find them. Their casual approach takes a turn for the wide-eyed concern when they see into the queen's chamber, as a horde of army ants & giant jumping jacks begin to swarm at them. A web gives them some time, followed by a fireball to severely injure the army ants, gives them some hope. They still feel the heat of so many threats, so they have Sharra throw down a wall of fire to give them time.

As they step back for a breather, they notice leafcutters are finishing extinguishing one of the pools they dealt with, so they slay these surprise ants, then set it ablaze again. Farther back from whence they came, an eclectic mix of vermin start heading for them, so they start trying to fight them off. While back there, they find one of the other pools had been doused as well, so they start having Sharra & Ribbles blast it with poison & necrotic cantrips to fully kill the larvae.

By this point, the wall of fire ends, and the swarm of defending army ants & jumping jacks begin to head for them. Thoradin whips out a maximized lightning bolt the vast majority of the army ants to be taken out. This, followed by some army ants coming from another room, gives them quite the fight. Fortunately, no more vermin seem to pour of the chambers after them, so they take the time for a short rest.

...as does the rest of the dungeon.

[Petals & Thrones] Session 16: Hives & Hill Giants

Session XVI

Our heroes take up Caspar's favour and ask around Sormont for information, eventually learning some of the darker suspicions of the Order of the Third Eye by the locals. They look for Caspar, but he's already left for Hillsreach. They ask about an underground river in the area; having to improvise what they know of it, I establish that the Third Eye knows of the river, but only through earth elemental scouting to know the area better. Confirmation of the river was established, but not an entrance, nor much in the way of details either because the Third Eye didn't want to accidentally rile up any potential activity from the Underdark (not that they found any active presence).

Done with the area, they use the gate to Valence and seek an audience with the head of the Free Company. Letanis greets them in her villa, given a robe as she exits the pool. Her request for the Free Company to break their vow of independence is taken into consideration as they leave, and the party adds her to their list of organizations that need to be removed from the playing field when they have time.

They reach Hillsreach and we get past my misunderstanding of the book, didn't realize it had it's own exploration section to find Ned/Ted rather than hearing directly from the giants (and I still don't fully know how Galdul interacts with the Culorate Empire faction). They wander the forest, help out the merchants they find, and greet the fire hobgoblin they rescued a few weeks ago. Afterward, they run into an angry Ted, calm down Ted with a promise to resurrect Ned at the end of the week, and go have words with Galdul about the incriminating forensics.

With the Hillsreach Giants on their side, they head down to the HQ of the Order of the Wyrd to ask for their support in the war. Deciding control of the forest will be more important, they opt to help them before dealing with the Vlatla's request, figuring their alliance with the Vlatla will hold long enough. Zipping along, they find themselves before the entrance to the Great Hive with three members of the Wyrd and Pierrot added to their group. This ball of murder goes along pretty calmly, though they're a bit puzzled as to how handle the spawning pools (they're hoping just leaving them on fire will do).

We end the session after the first spawning pool is encountered, the rest of the hive to be handled next session.

[Petals & Thrones] Session 15: Frontier of Morality

Session XV

Thanks to their earlier attempt at recruiting, the players know where the leadership of the Zodiac Society are meeting. That night, their ambush makes very short work of the realm of depravity, followed by Morluck chopping up the bodies into artful poses with clues a 4th grader can solve leading to the Lunatic Court being the "culprits" for the Zodiac Society's membership to find. Aquilan puts his calligraphy skills to excellent use here. The next day, they ensure that the Zodiacs join the Lunatics, then get some intel on what the Lunatics know about the Free Mithrallavien movement and the Sormont rebels.

They meet with Wesker during lunch, arranging for him to meet with them later in the week in Karis to seize the dangerous Scepter from a rogue necromancer. Afterward, they make toward Sormont, running into the Red Maw Clan partway through. Morluck did well to extract their requirements for joining the coalition, but simply wished them a good hunt as they left, personally contemplating going after them like they did the Zodiacs.

The evening hunt with the regent of the Order of the Stag left them with a similar feeling in their mouth. Aquilan openly wondered if there were any good people in the Eastern Frontier.

Balthazar's requests are simple, but not necessarily comforting to Aquilan, as their intel of the Sormont's rebels indicates their grievances aren't founded on falsehoods. Regardless, that day they head out into the wilderness, using the wizard's familiar to scout ahead. They encounter the hags, attempting to start parley, but an Insight allows them a chance to stop their attempting flank; the counterspelling & resistances make them exceedingly worried, as well as the knowledge that manticores, chimerae, & winter wolves are nearby. Once they discover night hags can turn ethereal, they run.

Their encounter with Sormont rebels & Veyna go much more smoothly, initiating combat before Caspar can even see them fully, though he still recognizes her face. Stabilizing the naga, they bring her unconscious before Balthazar, allowing for questions about Caspar's familiarity to be made. Balthazar dismisses such concerns in a way that is eminently plausible with his personality rather than any kind of malice/deceit, also off-handedly killing her with a cantrip while commenting on how her kind are functionally immortal.

Caspar makes the personal request. The players make their shopping list with the Order of the Third Eye's quartermaster, then prepare for use of their portals to make the Hillsreach trip faster.

[Petals & Thrones] Session 14: Siege of Fort Briar

 Session XIV

The Battle for Fort Briar starts off strong, as the players go special forces on the reserve garrison inside its walls. Aquilan in particular does excellent work tanking the archers' shots. Once they take the fortress, they sneak in five patrols of the Lunatic Court, interrogate Vincent for likely strategies, and subsequently cause a rout from the counter attack. Their other 7 patrols waited for the retreating Lion forces in the entrance to the Great Forest, at which point, they caused another rout. All told, the players took out six patrols of the enemy, lost two of their own, and gained Fort Briar.

After situating their units in Fort Briar, they went to Rivermet to finish off the next part of Goldblum's quest, check out the the minor factions, and finding Wesker. After a short conversation with Brac & Orlac to get them part of Goldblum's network, they arrange for a meeting with Forktongue at the Lapis Tea House. His request for control of a place to raise his peoples' eggs makes them a bit uncomfortable, but they at least act cordial and somewhat consider it.

The meeting with the Martyrs goes less smoothly, apparently revealing that the players draw the line at bioterrorism. Afterwards, jokes are made that as a DM, I have more trouble doing the RP of a serial killer than a bioterrorist; but I give them a summation of the Zodiac Society. They consider recruiting them later once they realize the best way is to kill the leadership, allowing them to get rid of the flunkies through Operation: Human Shield.

The conversation with the leader of the Steel Company leaves a sour taste in their mouths, and their pocketbooks are a bit too lean to consider hiring them anyway; though they privately discuss the idea that if they were hired, they would need a chaperone just to keep collateral damage minimal.

At this point, they make plans for a big meeting with the leadership of the Zodiac Society, and we call it a night.

[Petals & Thrones] Session 13: Karis Kapture

Session XIII

Previously, on Petals & Thrones 12, our players had outright slain Bishop Cornelius and prepared to make a decision on what to do next in the war.

Round 3 With a +13 bonus, they get themselves another rout. Wanting to take out Dame Leona, they opt to do mop up.

Thanks to Colombina & the ranger hireling, they have a strong stealth advantage, and basically have their choice of forces to take on. This fight ends up pretty solidly in their favour, taking out a lone patrol, followed by a more prolonged mêlée. They almost had Dame by having her polymorphed into an octopus, but she falls off the roof, takes enough damage to "die", then climbs back onto her horse, & flees further into the city. With the sheer volume of archers where she falls back, the party takes their victory and falls back themselves. By this point, they personally took out four patrols.

Round 4 It would have been just a +3 bonus, but the casualties have shifted it to 36 vs 13 patrols, favouring the Lunatics. Therefore, this is a +8 bonus, and they roll a 4, resulting in a bloody mêlée (35 v 10).

Round 5 Due to the increased numerical advantage, they encourage Harlequin to press the advantage with their +10 to this roll, and get a rout. This outright takes out every single patrol on the side of the Order of the Lions without any further casualties on their side.

Having captured Karis, they recruit the Ba'alzamon Society, and begin the War Council.

Harlequin shows them the distribution of forces, and there's a fair bit of chatter as I establish the movement struggles and ability to recruit the various factions, which the party are assigned to handle while she handles the logistics of the war itself. After that is fully understood, they make some decisions.

Harlequin takes 35 patrols to attack Goblin Town. The party pays a retainer to the Raven Company to support the Ba'alzamon Society's forces and garrison Karis whenever the Lions send forces from Old March. The party themselves take 12 patrols for the attack on Fort Briar.

But before the war effort begins, they take their first long rest and head to Ramshorn to pick up Morluck's magic item order. Upon arrival, they Rinn Taylor, who explains that a caravan had been attacked/massacred by a group of trolls, to which Morluck responds...

After calming down, they get an understanding that they'll have the assistance of a militia to help deal with these trolls, and so make a promise to join in this hunt after the mass combat.

[Petals & Thrones] Session 12: Plenary Assault

Session XII

Having assembled the map & units for overland travel, the trip to Karis from Ramshorn is much less eventful. They find the adventuring corpses, and while passing by Lion Patrols, tell them of what they find and it seemed to be the work of dire wolves. Upon reaching Karis, they meet up with Harlequin, who informs them that the goal of liberating the Eastern Frontier from the oppressive Lions begins today. Morluck attempts to get a better idea of Harlequin's motivation & goals, which partially runs into my own limit of conversational political discussion; forcing me to give an outline of her goals and a "this is a long form debate that we don't have time for."

After a quick bit of deliberation, the party offers the advantage of their allegiance not yet being known, and perform reconnaissance on Karis. They buy some things in the market, repair the contact with Goldblum's supplier (bribing him to make his caravan guards stay at one of Ramshorn's taverns), figure out troop numbers/placement, chat up Bishop Cornelius in the local temple, and Aquilan goes super spy into their central area where contingency plans are stored. After everything is done, they return to Harlequin and begin the war.

The first round is a rout. Offering to improve things even further, the party opts to cut off one of the heads of the leadership, Bishop Cornelius. Surrounded by three Lion patrols in the streets of Karis, he isn't a simple attack; but Harlequin's animate objects provides ten flying knives that really absorb the blows of their counterattack, made all the easier by a fireball from Ribbles. The Bishop was seemingly rescued by an extra patrol that comes up and carry his unconscious body on a knight's steed in the fifth round, but Thoradin takes a ladder to a roof and uses a maximized lightning bolt from his wand (and class feature) on the Bishop. From there, they flee as two more patrols start moving forward.

This assassination assists the Lunatic assault greatly, and allows them to break the enemy line for even more casualties in the second round of mass combat. At this point, there's some debate whether to do yet another assassination, this time for Dame Leona. They retain access to a casting of pass without trace and Colombina's blessing grants advantage to Stealth checks to one person (nominally Thoradin).

It's at this point, we end the session and I prepare things for the next part of the Battle of Karis.

Combat Summary

Round 1 With a +12 bonus, the Lunatics routed the enemies solidly

Round 2 With a +6 bonus, the Lunatics had initially outflanked the Lions, but the PCs upgraded the results to breaking the enemy lines by outright killing Bishop Cornelius.

Round 3 Due to round 2's positioning bonus and the death of Bishop Cornelius, the Lunatics are back up to a +13, the results to be decided next session.

Current Force Disposition

Lunatics 37 patrols

Lions 28 patrols

[Petals & Thrones] Session 11: Troubles with Trolls

Session XI

Word spreads fast of the party's success with the saboteurs from the Clans of Tiamat, and the Lunatic Court hosts a party a day later to celebrate such. At this party, the heroes play the part of loners, occasionally asking questions as they hear about the growing shadow of war in the Eastern Frontier. Toward the end of the party, Morluck approached Harlequin to ask if he can join the Lunatic Court; getting a solid thumbs up of approval from her and a suggestion to meet in Karis toward the end of the week.

The following morning, everyone but Thoradin hungover from the party, they head downstairs from the Accidental Gryphon & see the mass of merchants and other NPCs ready to offer quests. They go back to their rooms, sleep an extra hour (mumbling "quest log full"), then come back down and begin to talk to the mass to learn of the various needs of the merchants and wizards of Ramshorn. Ultimately, they decide to escort Bruen & Hawk to Mithrallavien and hopefully rest for a few days before they head north to Karis.

The trip to Mithrallavien is quite eventful. As we're using the d20 encounter process, it proves to be pretty eventful as the party runs into five trolls. These galumphing giants are felled, but not before consuming four 3rd level, two 2nd, and two 1st level spells in a terrible mêlée of blood & tears & flame. After a quick rest and slaked thirst from their skins, they return to the trek to the elven village.

That's when the wyverns attack.

Fortunately, they are not ambush predators, so they have some time to gird their loins. Unfortunately, one wyvern descends down upon Morluck to the tune of 65 damage, knocking him out with a flash of blood and venom. After the clash of blade and song of spells are over, everyone takes two short rests to attempt to recoup some of their loss.

Elf town is passing pleasant, especially with two elves leading the group. Morluck cover's Hawk's 100gp tab to ensure the trade deal is made. Once this is done with, they return to Ramshorn and sleep in the Accidental Gryphon's familiar beds. After a few days, the day of the Battle of Karis is at hand, and they set out.

[Petals & Thrones] Session 10: End State

Session 10

Returning to their exploration of the goblin caverns, they find themselves in the meandering chamber with a number of hobgoblins. About a third survive long enough to retreat to the chamber with Sir Dagai, whom they nearly kill with a fireball from Ribbles, and is finished off with a rapier through the eyes by a surprise jester of the Lunatic Court. The rest of the fight in this room is essentially a rout, with only the goblins surviving to retreat further into the caverns. In an attempt to circumvent a more drawn out fight with cornered goblinoids, Morluck brokers a peaceful withdrawal (Persuasion 17), allowing all remaining goblins in the caverns to exit and seek to rejoin their brothers in the Great Forest without further death.

They get some information out of the thankful red jester, who mentioned working with the goblins against the Order of the Lion and was rescuing the new fiery hobgoblin who was trying to defect back. They sift through the treasure hoard, I presume Sir Dagai's spellbook has all of the spells he's got with his character, and haul it all back to Ramshorn. Morluck takes the long rest to go with Goldblum's next caravan to sell all of the arms and armor they've picked up during these past four weeks.

Upon his return, they hire one of the rangers as a hireling and start their breakfast just before dawn, and are approached by a tiefling they've seen walking around once in a while. She tells them she's found evidence of dragonborn from the North may be infiltrating the woods, and leads them to the woods for them to investigate and confirm one way or another (Deception 28, they fully believe her honesty). Once fully inside the woods, she asks if this is enough evidence, and four dragonborn pop up and begin their attack.

...and the ranger hireling crits the spellcasting dragonborn to death just before he can act, Morluck gets brought to zero by the paladin of Tiamat (having done some damage), and Thoradin manages to find a spot to blast a maximized lightning bolt. The threat of these foreign provocateurs was ended in less than a round. They rifle their pockets for loose loot, tie them up for interrogation, and we end the session with a level up and me preparing for the next module.

[Petals & Thrones] Session 9: The Cryptillion

Session IX

The Vlatla Clan has invited our players as well as the Order of the Third Eye to the crypt that had been cleared out. Morluck attempts to inject himself into the conversation between Balthazar & Petre, but the conversation proved to be sufficiently academic that he bailed swiftly. This left Ribbles to pick up the slack, who provided impressive insight toward their academic debate.

Morluck moved over to another conversation, convincing Lilith that she could still have fun among all the stodgy academics, which proved to be 12-year old giggle worthy when she interjected with innuendo during the next conversation about the vermin hives in the Great Forest. The entire party brainstormed quite a few ideas and suggestions for dealing with said vermin while keeping enough around for study.

On the way back to Ramshorn to sleep off the party, they run into a slew of spiders scaring the townsfolk, wandering through the main streets. They notice a Vlatla thrall applying a pheromone to one and demand answers, informed that they were providing free defenses of patrolling spiders to the town, especially since Morluck had very consistently talked about people getting together to help with the region. After calming down the citizens of Ramshorn, the PCs run back to the crypt to talk with Petre Vlatla, and convince him to coordinate with the local leadership before taking such actions. Their friendly relationship works in their favor, so Petre agrees to such a mindset going forward.

The next day, the PCs suit up and head for the goblin cave. As one of Goldblum's hirelings was taken out by a goblin raid on his caravan, and the spiders are shoring up local defenses, he goes ahead and hires all but Trym Tosscobble to protect his caravans this week. They take their route through the backwoods rather than the road, figuring they would be less likely to run into any ambushes (they're right) en route to the goblin cave. Once at the cave, they begin their systematic process of murder and surprise. However, the goblins continue to roll exceptionally well with their Stealth checks to run for cover and warn their hobgoblin friends deeper in the cave. Several well-placed hits certainly make them feel the pain. We end the session right after they find Sir Dagai's correspondence with an unnamed draconic-speaking ally (that it's a draconic-speaker that wrote to the elves is noted).

[Petals & Thrones] Session 8: A Time to Stomp

 Session VIII

Our party continues their trek deeper into the spiders' nest. We are without Parth this session due to RL conflict. Ribbles, due to his deep gnome heritage, is proving to be by far the stealthiest person in the party (essentially never goes below a 22 with the Stealth check). All of their hirelings are kept in the back, using them as reserve forces for when they enter a larger room. As before, Aquilan's high AC and Morluck's strong attacks keep the smaller encounters from being a threat. They're mildly paranoid, but in a joking way, of the the occasional trapdoor spider due to their surprise attacks.

The second large room they come upon reveals to them the elf corpse's notes necessary for messing with pheromones, and they stop for a time to make a couple doses of self-destruct, which they end up forgetting about and only use one on a spitting spider in the final egg room. 

They are low-key surprised to find the skeleton of a brass dragon in this room, along with its hoard. Morluck negotiates with the Vlatla Clan for additional reward in exchange for the elf corpse's notes on pheromones, managing to get Ribbles access to one of the thrall's spellbook to copy from.

We end the session at this point, skipping the return trip to Ramshorn due to the late hour. Tune in next time for when they do that and attend the Occult Conference.

[Petals & Thrones] Session 7: Bug Hunters

 Session VII

In this session, we gain a new player to the group. His presence isn't going to be as reliable, so he will be coming in and out in all likelihood.

Parth

• Race: Shifter (Wildhunt)
• Class & Background: Gloom Stalker Conclave Ranger

Delving into the spider caves, they make exceedingly quick work as they progress from cavern to cavern. Due to the house rules I'm using for Stealth, the spiders have advantage on their Passive Perception, but not automatic detection. This gives Morluck advantage half the time for the opening round of combat, which combined with Parth's first round insanity, means it's not until four encounters in that a spider even gets to attack. Granted, that one that did attack was a recluse, whose poison damage terrifies the party as it bloodies Morluck in a single blow.

That the spiders aren't organized, nor in communication with each other, giving our stealthy party a severe edge, but the consequences are failure (once realized) are sufficiently high that they feel the tension and dread with the fact they haven't reached the egg room yet. They do, however, run into a large chamber with three giant tarantulas and have a rousing combat there.

They have been searching the bodies for valuables, and we end our session with them finding magic items on slightly fresher (as in a few months instead of a year or two) corpses of members of the Order of the Third Eye. They are debating taking the hour rest for casting identify on the items in this chamber, since there's no alarm from the spiders.