Reign of Winter — Game Session — 025

by: Charles Plemons - April 25th, 2017   Filed under: Gaming, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Reign of Winter Add Comment

Game summary for April 25, 2017, Reign of Winter campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Kenwrec Battleglaive (Dwarf Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Ten-Penny Tacey (Half-Orc Rogue played by Shane Bradley), and Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team proceeded to the dawn piper’s tree and found her standing about ten feet up.  She warned the team to leave, but the group swarmed in.  Magnus jumped up and hit her as a twigjack emerged and blasted the team with thorns.  The dawn piper activated a fly spell and rose into the air activating her terrible beauty which struck Ten-Penny blind as Greta chopped down the tree.  Tulvur shrugged off his shield and started firing crossbow bolts with amazing accuracy.  The dawn piper charmed Kenwrec who nearly killed Ringeirr.  Ten-Penny slipped a few sneak attacks in with her hand crossbow between moments of being blinded.  Magnus hurled spell after spell at the dawn piper with frustratingly little effect.  Greta hurled icicles from her finger repeatedly with some effect.  The twigjack was taken down quickly, but the dawn piper continued to fly about hurling spells and causing mayhem.  Finally, Tulvur placed a well-aimed bolt and killed it and destroying its elemental font.

Small Adventures — Game Session — 005

by: Charles Plemons - April 22nd, 2017   Filed under: Gaming, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Small Timers Add Comment

Game summary for April 22, 2017, Small Adventures campaign, for Small Timers. Session included: Elsbeth Blackburn (Half-Elf Druid played by Maddy Smalling), Kylar Van Bane (Human Sorcerer played by Jack Smalling), Kyras Sonata (Half-Elf Monk/Rogue played by Noah Smalling), Reth Steelarm (Half-Orc Fighter/Rogue played by Luke Smalling), and Valetin Krupova (Halfling Paladin played by Jared Smalling). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

J1: Entombed with the Pharaohs adventure, part 2.

Following the battle with the embalmed entrails, the team found a “safe” corner of the pyramid to make came and nurse their wounds.  The next morning the group decided to descend to the lower floor to explore.  They discovered a room filled with gold coins and wealth too great to count.  Elsbeth used wild shape to assume owl form and flew up onto a wall to look around.  To her horror, she discovered the room from up above makes the shape of the encircled rune of the desert!  She shifted back to human form and yelled back her findings to her companions.  Behind her, a mummified blue dragon emerged from the coins and blasted her with its electricity breath weapon!  It then flew up on the wall with her and bit her savagely!  She wild shaped into a raven and fled at top speed!

The team had a moment of panic as people ran up and down the halls trying to figure out if they fight or flee.  Kylar hurled a fireball into the room and injured the monster.  Neferet stood seemingly dumbfounded at the door muttering to herself.  Valetin charged in activating his smite evil ability!  He was unable to reach the dragon, so he hurled his sword, but it fell well short.  Reth followed him in and hurled a dagger just as inaccurately.  The dragon jumped down and mauled Valetin, but he was able to smite it with sling stones!  Elsbeth lit it up with flaming sphere while Kylar unleashed scorching ray.  Much to their dismay, the team discovered the mummified dragon had an encircled rune of the desert inscribed on its chest, exposing most of them to another portion of the curse.  Finally, Reth ran up the dragon’s back and drove his dagger through its skull, ending its reign of terror.

The team decided to stuff everything they had with gold, go and make charcoal rubbings of the history room above for the Pathfinder Society, and then flee the pyramid with a fortune.  Much to their chagrin, they discovered some sort of curse prevented them from going beyond the runes reading “Point of no return.”  Valetin studied a while and deduced that defeating all the pharaohs would break the curse and allow them to leave.

The group returned to the treasure room and cautiously opened the stone sarcophagus they had found.  Within they discovered a desiccated body.  Afraid, they poked it with sticks.  When it didn’t move, they burned it to ash.  They then found a secret compartment filled with puzzle pieces.  One was another rune, but the other they believed overcame this pharaoh’s part of the locking curse.

The group rode up the golem “elevator” to the third floor.  They found illusions showing life in ancient Osirion as if they were windows looking out at the people around the pyramid.  The team entered a room with a floating glowing sarcophagus.  About halfway into the room, the team ran into some sort of barrier or wall.  The sarcophagus opened, and an oddly beautiful mummy emerged.  She began speaking to them in Ancient Osirion but quickly grew bored even with Neferet translating.  She opened a secret door and sat down on a large throne as a cat-headed panthereon golem entered the room!  She threw a level, and suddenly the entrance collapsed trapping most of the team in the room but Kylar on the outside in the hallway!  They found the floor was now on a counter balance, and the golem dragged weights out of alcoves onto the floor which caused his side of the room to sink down and the party’s side to raise toward the ceiling!  The group realized with enough weight, it would crush them alongside the old brown bloodstains on the ceiling.  They discovered weights in alcoves on their side, and a frantic race ensued with each side pulling weights down onto the floor.  The floors went back and forth until the mummy tried to “tip the scales.”  She summoned an earth elemental!  The heavy creature gave a significant advantage, but the team still held their own pretty well.  After a while, the elemental dissipated back to its own plane, and the sudden shift in weight caused the golem’s side of the platform to fly upward and smash into the ceiling, destroying it!  However, the team is currently trapped between the rocky floor before them and the fallen slab behind them.

Reign of Winter — Game Session — 024

by: Charles Plemons - April 20th, 2017   Filed under: Gaming, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Reign of Winter Add Comment

Game summary for April 20, 2017, Reign of Winter campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: All Might (Human Warpriest played by Andrew Renfrow), Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Belda), Ten-Penny Tacey (Half-Orc Rogue played by Shane Bradley), and Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team continued traveling through the wooded maze and discovered another home surrounded by trees.  As they explored, a female winter wolf came charging out ordering the team to form up in a protection ring and escort her out of the woods.  The team talked to her and she continued to bark orders.  They found three of the Winter Guard inside the home dead from earlier injuries.  They turned their back on her and walked way, which enraged the wolf.  So, she breathed a cone of cold over all of them!  She then charged Deska and began mauling the team.  They were able to recover quickly and fight back.  In short order, the wolf was defeated.  Greta then taught them how to skin the wolf to create a rimepelt.

Further down the path, the team encountered three men and three women coming out of a home and drinking wine around a large campfire.  The men were obviously drunk, and the women were stunningly beautiful redheads.  They offered to share their wine; Deska tried to pretend to drink, but they noticed and encouraged her, so she sipped the wine.  Ten-Penny also tasted the wine, and both agreed it was delicious.  The team wanted to leave, but the women begged them to stay, and for some reason Ten-Penny plopped down and drank with them.  Soon, Tulvur was sitting with them as well.  Deska went inside and started the cottage on fire and slipped back outside.  However, she found herself sitting calmly on a log as the flames engulfed the house.  The women became angry at the destroyed wine within and attacked, their beauty shifting into hideous monstrous visages.  All Might fought valiantly alongside his warhorse, but he took several devastating shots.  The drunken men attacked, and surprisingly, so did Ten-Penny and Tulvur!  Ten-Penny began brutally injuring Greta, and the barbarian woman had to fight her way out.  She cut a drunken man in half with a single swing of her axe and fended off several attacks from Ten-Penny, but several more slipped through.  Deska shook off whatever was affecting her and transformed into a polar bear!  She began mauling their enemies as All Might’s horse trampled one of the creatures.  Finally, the team killed the last of the three women, and their charmed allies shook off the supernatural effect.

With numerous wounds inflicted by their own colleagues, the team took a few moments to try and patch themselves up.

Reign of Winter — Game Session — 023

by: Charles Plemons - April 11th, 2017   Filed under: Gaming, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Reign of Winter Add Comment

Game summary for April 11, 2017, Reign of Winter campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: 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), Ten-Penny Tacey (Half-Orc Rogue played by Shane Bradley), and Tiswichtt (Orc Witch played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team advanced into the mystical woods and discovered a reality siphon blocking the way to the Dancing Hut!  The team began to explore and found a dawn piper playing a flute and standing upon a stone platform orbited by six boulders.  The team spoke with him, and he warned them to leave.  They backed off, and Deska used wild shape to scout the area.  She saw two more dawn pipers from her higher vantage.  The team decided to ambush the dawn piper on the platform.  Ten-Penny drank potions of invisibility and pass without trace.  She borrowed Deska’s magical robe and snuck up on the piper as the team tried to distract him from a different direction.  Ten-Penny used a magical patch from the robe to open up a pit in the platform, but the nimble piper perched on the edge precariously instead of plunging in!  Magnus hurled himself across the snow, dodging the orbiting rocks, leapt into the air, and bull rushed the dawn piper!  He blasted the fey off the platform down to ground on the back side of the platform and narrowly avoided falling into the pit himself!

The team swarmed in, and Kenwrec began grappling the fey.  It activated a spiked pit spell and plunged Tiswichtt in, but she drifted safely to the ground via feather fall.  She was able to extract herself with her flight hex.  Svala maneuvered in as the dawn piper unleashed its terrible aura which struck three of the party blind.  The group landed several solid blows, but the dawn piper activated calm emotions, which forced peace upon several of the team.  Meanwhile, Deska swooped in, grabbed, and broke the piper’s flute!  The piper tried to make some difference and dropped his guard just long enough for Svala to decapitate him with a devastating axe blow!

The group decided to seek the strange tree near a second dawn piper because they believed if they could eliminate the pipers, they could bring down the reality siphon.  As they moved through the maze, horrific perytons attacked!  The creatures were extremely dangerous with brutal attacks.  The creatures stole the likeness of several of the team’s shadows which made them even more effective against the party.  The nerve of some of the party broke, and the team began to scatter, but several rallied and were able to kill the perytons!

Reign of Winter — Game Session — 022

by: Charles Plemons - April 6th, 2017   Filed under: Gaming, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Reign of Winter 1 Comment

Game summary for April 6, 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), Ten-Penny Tacey (Half-Orc Rogue played by Shane Bradley), and Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team ascended to the third floor and released Bella Belvorica from a locked room.  They tried to convince her to help them ambush the dragon, but she was too scared.  Deska took eagle form and flew out a window to look around.  She found the dragon crouched above waiting to ambush them.  The group used a wand of spider climb to be able to scurry out the windows and swarm up over the sides of the tower level.  The team surprised the dragon and quickly cut it down despite taking a few heavy blows.  The group dug a wealth of treasure out of the ice and set off the fireworks to unleash revolution.  The team then went back to the shrine of Milani to nurse wounds and prepare for a charge for the Dancing Hut.

The group went to the maze of trees in Market Square surrounding the Dancing Hut.  They charged a trio of ice trolls, and with the help of Deska and Svala, burned them all up.  The team then found a house perched precariously up in the boughs of the magical forest.  Ten-Penny climbed up and found a man with a broken leg and two children.  The man begged Ten-Penny to save his children.  Meanwhile, Tulvur tried to climb up and dislodged the entire structure!  The crash resulted in serious injury to the dwarf and the man.  The two children, unfortunately, died in the fall.  The team helped the poor man nurse his wounds and bury his two kids.

Small Adventures — Game Session — 004

by: Charles Plemons - April 1st, 2017   Filed under: Gaming, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Small Timers Add Comment

Game summary for April 1, 2017, Small Adventures campaign, for Small Timers. Session included: Elsbeth Blackburn (Half-Elf Druid played by Maddy Smalling), Kylar Van Bane (Human Sorcerer played by Jack Smalling), Kyras Sonata (Half-Elf Monk/Rogue played by Noah Smalling), Reth Steelarm (Half-Orc Fighter/Rogue played by Luke Smalling), and Valetin Krupova (Halfling Paladin played by Jared Smalling). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

J1: Entombed with the Pharaohs adventure, part 1.

The team was sent to Osirion on behalf of Jalden Krenshar of the Pathfinder Society to meet with the Mithral Scarab.  This contact allegedly could provide information about the lost pyramid of the Four Pharaohs of the Ascension.  They arranged a signal they would use to identify themselves to the Mithral Scarab at the Sothis city auction.  The group bid on numerous items related to the pharaohs and interacted with several other patrons of the auction.  They met the nefarious Paracount Julistar and got in some bidding wars with him.  They also met a halfling and half-orc they did not realize was in league with the Paracount.  In need of a translator, they hired on Neferet Anu, a local woman able to read Ancient Osirion.  At last, they met up with the Mithral Scarab.

The Scarab led them to a crazy man wearing a blindfold who told them all about his failed foray into the pyramid of the Four Pharaohs approximately 50 years before.  He warned them of the curse of the encircled runes which turned his former ally into a mummy!  To avoid ever seeing the last rune, he has lived with a blindfold ever since.  He gave them enough information to get started on their quest by seeking the funeral mask of the pharaohs which could call back the pyramid from another plane of existence.  During the conversation, they found the halfling spying on them on behalf of the Paracount!  They let him go and followed him back and learned a bit more about his operation and his plan to steal the mask!

The team discovered the mask was in the museum, but in speaking with the curator they learned it was a fake!  The team made friends with him and learned the location of the real mask with the rich businessman, the Crook Bearer.  The team went to meet with him and bargained with him to use the mask in exchange for a cut of the treasure.  He sent them with five armed thugs… er… guards, to protect his interests.  They then went back to the curator and arranged with him to let the Paracount steal the fake mask so they could follow him.

The team waited until nightfall and watched the heist from afar.  They trailed the group outside the city where they had a group of camels ready to go.  The Paracount better examined the mask and learned it was a fake!  Enraged, he threw it into the sand and led his group back into Sothis.  The characters trailed him and enacted a brave heist to break into his home and steal his star charts showing the location of the pyramids right out of his lap while he dozed!  The group then ran out and stole all the camels as well.

Along the way through the desert, the group got into a fight with a hieracosphinx.  The beast temporarily deafened Kylar, but otherwise the team beat the creature soundly.  After a few days travel, they found the pyramid location and used the mask to call back the pyramid of the Four Pharaohs!  Kylar used his slippers of spider climb to scale the pyramid and drop a rope down for the others.  The group scrambled up and entered the tomb.  Down the hallway they found runes saying “point of no return.”

Further in, the group fought a mummy that tried to kill them!  The team used fiery magic and brute force to cut it down.  Deeper in, the party found a room filled with hieroglyphs, and they learned numerous stories about the pharaohs, many of which were quite disturbing.  They also found a strange “elevator” operated by some kind of stone automaton that could scale the walls of the pyramid.

In a large chamber, the team found 56 wax-sealed jars.  From within one, they could detect magic.  Elsbeth and Kylar melted the seal and unleashed swarms of embalmed organs!  The horrible bits of flesh and sinew tried to choke, claw, and gag the party to death.  Elsbeth used cure moderate wounds like a weapon and dealt great damage.  In a moment of desperation, Kylar unleashed a fireball that hit the entire party but also burned to death all the organs.  As the smoke cleared, the team realized they had been freed of the monsters.  They heard a ring hit the ground, and to their horror, some of the party saw one of the encircled runes!

Still, the rest of the pyramid beckoned begging to be explored.