Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for February 28, 2017, Reign of Winter campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Alfbern Winterbloom (Half-Elf Inquisitor played by Preston Harmon), All Might (Human Warpriest played by Andrew Renfrow), Argun Longtusk (Wereboar-Kin Druid played by Parker Harmon), Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Belda), Kenwrec Battleglaive (Dwarf Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Svala Alehorn (Dwarf Unchained Barbarian played by Todd Hughes), Tiswichtt (Orc Witch played by Casey Scruggs), and Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team arrived in the Fishcamps outside of Whitethrone to look for Ringeirr and discovered he was “arrested” by the Fishcamps Guard.  This group of extortionists was milking the town dry.  The team found a group of the guard and beat up on them until they revealed Ringeirr’s location.  The party found the guardhouse, and Magnus kicked open the doors.  Within a pair of surprised ogres stood protectively around Marcian Enarxion.  All Might rode in on his horse as Ten-Penny ran toward the rear of the building.  Argun cast enlarge person upon Magnus and stepped back.  Deska swept in and knocked an ogre down with thunderstomp before unleashing a flame blade.  Tishichtt washed a wave of flames over the fallen ogre using burning hands.  Alfbern ordered his bear into the fray as Kenwrec charged in to engage Marcian in the back.  Svala entered a rage and swept about with her mighty axe.  Marcian used a series of feints to nearly slay Kenwrec while Deska killed an ogre with her flame blade.  Alfbern’s bear mauled an ogre to death while the team surrounded Marcian.  He had no choice but to fight for his life!  Svala moved in and cut him down with her deadly axe.  Meanwhile, Ten-Penny found and rescued Ringeirr.  The team agreed to his terms of assistance, which included leaving Nadya behind.

The group agreed to help Ringeirr slip food into the starving citizens of Whitethrone in exchange for help getting into the city through the Howlings Gate, getting forged papers, and getting a meeting with the Heralds of Summer’s Return.  The team packed up fish into carts, buried their weapons on the bottom wrapped in oiled rags, and walked up to the gate late in the afternoon.  The team bribed their way past a stunningly beautiful guard named Greta.  She remarked upon the magnificence of Magnus and invited him to drinks at the Frosty Weasel tavern and inn.  Intrigued, Magnus agreed.

The team sought to hide out in a shack until dark and just narrowly avoided the notice of a mirror man guardian.  Magnus and Deska slipped out to meet with Greta once night fell.  Magnus went in first and started drinking and carousing with her.  She was obviously accustomed to strong drink and easily paced Magnus who was trying to go easy on his consumption.  Greta was obviously spoiling for a fight or other form of excitement the more she drank.  After a while, Deska walked up as if she just happened to stumble into the area.  Greta seemed suspicious and perturbed.  She invited Magnus upstairs to her room, and he decided to join her.  From outside the door, Deska heard things she wished she could unhear.  After a respectable amount of time, Magnus and Deska returned to the rest of the team.

The group got their fish carts and set out under the cover of darkness to deliver the fish.  Along the way, they attracted the attention of some goblins.  Ringeirr had warned them goblins were full citizens of Whitethrone, and tangling with them could result in criminal charges.  Several of the team managed to grapple the goblins and choke them unconscious.  They stuffed them up in some gutters so as to not be seen.  After a bit, two of the party were spotted by an approaching mirror man!  As he got close to stare at them, Greta emerged from the darkness and smashed the mirror, telling the team to follow her quickly.

Game summary for February 7, 2017, Reign of Winter campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Belda), Svala Alehorn (Dwarf Unchained Barbarian played by Todd Hughes), Tiswichtt (Orc Witch played by Casey Scruggs), and Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team came upon a summer pocket created by druids resisting the power of the Winter Witches.  A great elk was under attack from a pair of worgs, and the team was able to drive the beasts off and rescue the megaloceros.

The team then found a ruined temple of Desna and met a pair of old priests.  The team made came in the ruins as night fell.  A haunt overtook the area revealing an ancient horror:  giants and trolls slaughtered a group of children rounded up by the priests.  The team learned the priests, in the ancient past, betrayed their deity and the children by offering them as sacrifice to Baba Yaga during the Winter War.  This resulted in the death of the kids and the priests who rose again as heucuva, blasphemous fallen priests that appear as normal humans during daylight.  The team was able to destroy these two undead abominations once and for all.

A few days later, the group discovered a woodsman shack under siege from a twigjack and quickling fey.  The woodsman was dead on the lawn, and the fey tore into the party.  The team took them down and discovered a third quickling beating the homeowner’s bastard half-breed son with a shovel.  The faun was distraught over what had happened to his mother’s spouse, and his grief awakened his fey nature.  His falling tears healed the slain woodsman and restored this family.  Nadya, who knew this family from her travels, agreed to leave her kids with them now that the danger of the fey was eliminated.

As the group approached a bridge, a trio of freshwater merrows clambered up to block the path.  They demanded the team’s papers.  Tulvur walked up and handed them a crude handwritten note.  One of the merrows snatched it up and read it, or pretended to.  They demanded a “small tax.”  When asked, they said they wanted Tiswichtt as a tax.  Instead, Tulvur drew Icebiter and tried to kill them.  Battle erupted, and one merrow grappled Tulvur but was slain by his blade.  The group closed in and took down the merrows and discovered a previous victim hidden under the bridge.

Approximately 8 days into their journey, the team was ambushed by four Winter Guard falconers and their falcons.  As the creatures swept in, Deska noticed a winter wolf creeping around to flank the party.  She used wild shape to assume wolf form and charged after it.  Svala, Nadya, and Ten-Penny took the fight to the falconers right up the middle.  Tiswichtt summoned a bat swarm that brutalized one of the poor guards.  Deska tried to talk to the winter wolf, and it called her a “Wolf Sister” and told her to flee, but it had to kill the others for their crimes against the Winter Witches.  It then darted around her, dragged Tulvur to the ground and mauled him nearly unto death.  Nadya moved in to try and rescue him and was tripped up by the fearsome creature.  Deska failed to catch it in entanglement as well.

Meanwhile, falconer archers riddled Tiswichtt with arrows and falcons clawed at her face.  She distracted two of them with birdseed, and fell back.  Ten-Penny and Svala cut a deadly swath through their foes, leaving falcons and falconers dead in the snow.  Nadya landed a pair of critical hits on the wolf from the ground, and Deska charged in and bit it in the flanks.  Now outnumbered and badly injured, the winter wolf turned and fled into the snowy forest.