[Petals & Thrones] Session 3: Wetwork

Session III

Our intrepid adventurers recover from the brutal fight that was the attack on the Order of the Bear, especially Roland and his punctured stomach. During this time of recuperation, they are approached by members of the Order of the Third Eye and Vlatla Clan, the latter getting a bit of flak from the local Knight of the Order of the Lion. Their eyes bulge when I show them what lighting bolt does, in relation to the Third Eye's offer for the tentacles. Victor uses a bit of Deception to double-speak to make the Lion Knight think they're turning down the Vlatla's offer, and actually take this as their priority mission once they are ready to leave the safety of Ramshorn.

Roland is given the plate armor from the fallen Bear Knight, Victor purchases two ritual spells from the town wizards, Brigitte procures a Pearl of Power, and they collectively also buy a Bag of Holding.

At the start of the week, a number of Goldblum's mercenaries arrive, and they manage to eke out one to be available for them to hire; Diesa Balderk, the Life Cleric. Tossing her the 15gp, they suit up, prep their pack animals, and head out into the forest again. They are near immediately ambushed by jumping spiders, but much to their surprise, they swiftly slay these spiders. Downright giddy with their good fortune, they almost don't mind being ambushed by a pack of wolves; sending most of them running after two were killed.

Things take a turn for the ominous when they come upon the sahuagin guarding the sunken temple. Their original goal was the catacombs, but they legitimately think this detour for shoggoth tentacles will be a minor detour. Not even fully halfway into the dungeon, and they've taken three or four short rests and have been walking around the place with a light spell running; pretty solidly warning the place of their presence. This makes the final fight one against a merrow, four sahuagin, the shoggoth, and the priestess. It was a brutal fight, and Roland hits zero HP at least three times before they just barely take out this group.

Aftermath

Their stumbling return to Ramshorn, with a minor detour to walk away from the werewolf pack's threats, is tinged with frustration at how tough that fight was. A silver lining helps, as they are looking forward to the wands and to the fact by the end of this long rest, they will be level 4 (insert Final Fantasy victory music).

[Petals & Thrones] Session 2: Bear Naked Tower

Session II

Our players come upon the perimeter guard of the goblin caves, and fairly readily take them out, ultimately deciding not to chase down the lone goblin escapee. In fact, they pointedly avoid the direction said goblin fled to, figuring that whatever location the goblin felt safe would not be the direction of the Order of the Bear's base of operations. The next perimeter guard they fight, that of the hilltop with Bear archers and infantry, is definitely not as easy. It's a prolonged fight, and because the warlock strives to be as far out of LoS of any possible enemy, nearly all attacks go toward the cleric and fighter, and Roland's 16 AC quickly forces him to hide in the bushes on a smidgen of HP to jack-in-the-box those who come close. The cleric, forced to be the tank, goes full defense and slowly moves toward the archers in the back nearly completely unscratched.

Once that squad is defeated, the players follow long enough to confirm that the small army of Bear Warriors is indeed right over the hill, and then high tail it back to Ramshorn. They deal with some local fauna, warily greet a vampire they pass by, and return. After some deliberation, they decide to enlist the aid of the Order of the Lion with taking out the Bear clan. They are thanked by the Bastard Prince, and ride out the next day for the Watchtower.

This is where things get very dicey. The single wave takes out half of the squad given to the players as backup, and the personal guard of Sir Brander fully takes out everyone but the warlock (again, stays as far back to avoid being an option for targeting) is K.O.'d. We check as to whether they stablize, and they do, and I rule that since the overall fight was fairly good - Prince Darius and the rest of the surrounding military takes out the Brander's Bears, so the party ultimately wakes up as one of the wounded and are thanked for their service.

Taking their pay, they return to Ramshorn a bit worse for wear and slightly more scarred, but ultimately still heroes.

Aftermath
There is going to be deliberations on what kind of goodies are available for sale, which will be discussed over between-session chats. Unfortunately, there will be no Lunatic Fete because of their decision to side with the Order of the Lion - though they still have a chance down the line.

Space Madness: A Bent Man

Recently, I have finished production of a new TTRPG called Space Madness! and put it up for sale on DriveThruRPG's website. It's written by Bobby Derie, and much of what I can say about it was already stated by Chamomile on his blog.

Now - go forth into the stars and check out the first adventure written for it - A Bent Man

[Petals & Thrones] Session 1: A Story of Ice and Bears

I have a group of friends I see on the regular, and we realized we hadn't gamed much in the last while. As I'm running a decent number of other games, I decided to try something a bit easier on the mind and break my unwritten rule and run a prewritten module. Specifically, I will be running the 5E version of Chamomile's Strangers in Ramshorn.

Cast

Roland

• Race: Variant Human (Polearm Master)
• Class & Background: Battlemaster Fighter & Soldier
• Boons: Beak’s Defense, Got Gud

Victor

• Race: Variant Human (Warcaster)
• Class & Background: Hexblade Warlock & Criminal (Spy)
• Boons: Beak’s Defense, Got Gud

Bridgitte

• Race: Hill Dwarf
• Class & Background: Forge Cleric & Guild Artisan
• Boons: Spiderproof, Martial Advantage Advantage

Session I

I read highlights from a separate piece of material, called the Primer to Vintaria, to the party; the Warlock got a natural 20 on History and chose to be a politically-minded criminal. We describe that as the three of them conversing with each other over what they know about Ramshorn and the Help Wanted ad that Goldblum had left hanging around.

After getting an idea that maybe 5sp/head is overly high for a toll from the Order of the Bear, Victor throws some Persuasion around to lower the price and gets a receipt along with it. Approaching the city of Ramshorn, they see a small trail of smoke, hear some distant sounds of combat. They don’t take kindly to the gruff Bear soldiers, and take out all but the archer, who flees while Bridgitte takes a couple rounds to stabilize the “survivors”.

The rest of the raid on Ramshorn is dealt with with surprising ease. Andie dies due to a natural one on the death save on the first round, but otherwise, every possible villager who’s interested in joining attaches to the party; the player for Rolan being the only one willing to run their stats, and feels like a warlord of tiny men. He's particularly proud of Ront's performance. They put in the effort to stabilize two of Harlequin’s people while otherwise assisting with taking on the Order of the Bear, and were certainly wide-eyed at her own martial prowess.

Once the raid is taken care of, they have some pleasant conversation with Harlequin (surprised to learn the Lunatic Queen herself was there) before she leaves. Upon realizing how expensive it will be to stay in Ramshorn, they go back to loot every single fallen member of the Order of the Bear. They’re mildly frustrated at how little they can sell the armor and swords, but very high Persuasion gets them able to sell their bolts and arrows for some proper fraction of their worth (the module cites that the NPC mentions making arrowheads from the scrap metal, so those are obviously a desired piece). They ultimately stay at the Accidental Gryphon for the discount offered.

The next day, after chatting with Goldblum about the need to find the Bears’ hideout, they head out in search. They continue to debate which faction they should curry favour with with this valuable information once found. They run into three encounters before I have to end the session. One of them, the three giant spiders they run into successfully flee once reaching their end condition and Victor throws down a 24 Persuasion at the sahuagin patrol to gesture a lack of hostility as they back away from the river. Next session, they will be ambushed by hobgoblins.

Takeaway

The warlock loves his Armor of Agathys, though he also gave a couple petty remarks about how I “nerf-hammered” the Celestial Warlock by revoking its access to Cure Wounds (in light of separate material written for Cham's variant rest mechanic); but that’s par for the course for him. The remarkably few times the cleric did get in range to contribute before the others killed the enemy, poor rolls stood in the way. The fighter looks forward to next level when he can stop enemies from using the disengage action, which has instigated at least a couple shaken fists of impotent rage.

Melinya Culture Focus: Western Alahbmah

Lay of the Land
A massive series of salt pans and shallow lakes rarely deeper than two feet. The ridges between the features and some pans are covered in thick and vibrant red moss and lichen. Other colours exist, and are visually striking when mixed. The mineral deposits in the frequently dry pans can conceal dangerous, acidic mud pockets, which the natives are familiar with enough to avoid. The eastern border consists of an abrupt and massive mountain ridge that cuts off access to the rest of Alahbmah, of which none live because of the cataclysmic conditions that continue unabated. The mouth of the one river that breaks through the ridge is struck nearly continuously by lightning.

Major Cities
At 300,000 sq km in size and a population of barely a quarter million, it can be literal days before one sees a settlement. Buildings are constructed of mud and mineral sheets, visible for miles because of the flat terrain, built to only accommodate an extended family. Most settlements are extended families herding several iccu and harvesting edible moss, and can go months between contact with others.

Alignah is the most urban settlement, where eight of its ten thousand residents live in the Palace of Alignah, a literal labyrinth. Formerly the home of the Mad King Nedoh, it was donated as a monastery after his conversion to Celmsim, serving as the home for the August Guru and center for the entire Celm faith.

Economics
Subsistence moss-farming and iccu herding are the dominant activities, resulting in a largely self-sustaining population with little need for trade or money. Greater than normal harvests can lead to excess iccu, traded with pilgrims and iccu traders.

Law & Order
As the dominant religion throughout the known world is Celmism, Western Alahbmah’s chief export is religion. Donations and converts divesting themselves of their material fetters from across the nations serve as the primary source of economic activity, including the construction of monasteries for a guru.

In families, the family member with the most monastic experience is generally the final arbiter for disputes except for situations of punishment, which require travel to the nearest to confer with a monk. As Celmism forbids killing, hindering or depriving a sense is the most common form of punishment, other punishments including a period of sensory deprivation for bogies to punish them.

Government
A full Cemlite theocracy, the August Guru nominally holds influence well beyond the borders of Alahbmah. Amongst the lay folk, temporary devotion to monastic study is performed in response to most significant life events; naming, childbirth, engagements, momentous financial events, etc.

Melinya Culture Focus: Tii

Lay of the Land
A massive peninsula, the continental border lined with perilous mountains. The mainland is predominantly lush, rolling hills and thick forests of idyllic weather conditions.

Much of the coastline near the continent is dangerous for ships because of the sharp, barren rocks and shallow islands. Farther out on the peninsula, the coast becomes calmer and friendlier to larger ships.

Major Cities
By far the most populous nation, with ten million people, Tii is a naval powerhouse and the breadbasket of the known world. Visitors usually first encounter Tii through Chalea, the trading hub at the Great Road where it passes through the mountains; an almost lawless city due to complex treaties with the barbarian kings of the mountains. These same barbarian kings also command influence over Shard Pirates that live in the dangerous waters near the peninsula.

Mirroring Chalea on the far side of the nation is the port & capital Linnea, where the multi-nested palace monastery dominates. Each of the Great Houses of Tii send their own for monastic study and at least nominally designated as monks for life; many swearing to the Solipsistic Precepts, a variant on the Chelm ethical code that permits killing.

Economics
With the rich and developed agricultural infrastructure, Tii’s premiere export is food. Their triceratops herds provide huge meat reserves. Tii-breed chocobos are renowned, and the Tii cavalry see yearly competitions with international acclaim. As part of the syncretic absorption, skulls are featured heavily in religious and cultural activities, and are in sufficient demand to sustain a strong market for import. When sufficiently used, the skulls are recycled at the bone mills to produce high explosives.

Law & Order
The Solipsistic Monks serve as the dominant demographic for military and civilian law enforcement. Individual villages are controlled by council of descending representation: monks, nobles, and commoners; each council answering to the House Lord for their territory. In disputes between nobles and commoners, the noble is obliged to compensate the commoner several fold the damages inflicted upon the commoner, while the commoner’s obligated only proportional compensation. Disputes between equals are generally resolved to favor equilibrium.

Religious law concerning bogies can get esoteric, such as no consumption of honey less than an hour before performing any business transaction, but they are only enforced on holidays. On such holidays, many stay indoors to nominally cleanse their minds of potential bogies.

Government
A Cemlite theocracy in all but name, the gurus of Linnea act as advisers with absolute veto power over the king and each of the House Lords.

Melinya Culture Focus: Gallina

Lay of the Land
The fjords are angled and crowded to the banks of the river with agricultural terraces. The sky is pregnant with smog from industry and have a glow even at night from the lights below. To the casual visitor not a single acre is untouched by civilization.

The noncasual visitor will find the snowy peaks of the land the closest thing to virgin territory, but they will not visit long, as the storms and snowfall is nearly continuous.

Major Cities
Kuyam is also known as the Nine Ways City, its megalithic roadways spiraling out like spokes in a wheel across the known world. This metropolis, spiraling upward as much as it sprawls outward, dominates everyone’s view of the nation. Even the aqueous miners of Ayinaa & bureaucratic distributors of Itanik, both sizable cities in their own right, consider themselves as Kuyamics living abroad. Of course, if they didn’t, their economic ventures take an inexplicable nose-dive and few wish to tally themselves before the Writ.

After millennium under the rule of the All-Father, the cumulative architectural accomplishments make the three metropoli of Gallina megalithic, and continue to grow to accommodate the influx. Even the ruins of Azdas have yet to be dented from the company using it as a quarry.

A fraction of the size of the three main cities is the military farm Azdawa, where the unique ironroot is grown for use in paper mill for printing money, as is the byproduct used in the classified recipe for high explosives.

Economics
Originally the capital of the All-Father, Gallina is first and foremost a trade economy. While its banking system isn’t as advanced as that found in Aikoh, it makes up for it in size, which gives it a particular resilience to economic shakeups.

Law & Order
To be a citizen is to be a civil servant, and vice versa. After the Long Holiday, the vast majority of government employees work in a manner not unlike the USA’s National Guard. To the common citizen, the budgetary control office (the Writ) is the most feared branch of the government. Criminal enterprise apes the general structure of the public sector, except for the Solar Bear Gang, which is a dangerous drug-trafficking gang that continues to follow the indigenous religion that claims to predate the arrival of the All-Father.

Government
A republic that is run as a corporation for its standard operations, the Board of Directors being the only elected positions. In the founding document that remains enforced, no elf of greater than 1/16 purity is permitted to hold position in the Board of Directors or as head of any department, and so heritage records going back four generations to prove this claim are required.