Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for May 28, 2024, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Claude Dill Budshire (Sokari Sorcerer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), Komorebi (Kitsune Bard played by Josh Jenkins), Notch Bowman (Human Fighter played by Andrew Renfrow), and Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The ship swept up a terrifying sight, a shiver of scavvers (one-eyed space sharks)!  Several of the beasts had broad flat heads and enormous gaping maws.  The rare hammerhead scavver!  They “swam” along through the bright rainbow Phlogiston toward The Perry seeking tasty meat!  Along with them swam a trio of brown scavvers and a much larger midnight black scavver of prodigious size and ferocity! 

Notch was manning the magical ballista, and so he immediately used its magical lance ability to injury several of the incoming scavvers!  Helg cast spiritual weapon to create blade of force that began ripping into the scavvers (and continued to harass them the rest of the encounter).  Komorebi enhanced the team with inspire greatness and cast mirror image.  One of the hammerhead scavvers then swept in and gobbled up Claude!  Meanwhile, Snaggy invoked his battle tactics and greatly improved the party’s overall cooperative abilities.  A brown scavver came up and used its acid breath weapon on some of the team!

Hekera pulled forth a potion of enlarge person and grew to an impressive size!  The enormous black void scavver bit and grabbed Khesen, pulling him into its maw!  The other scavvers circled in and began biting! 

Notch began utilizing his bow to sink arrow after arrow into the beasts.  Helg cast divine power to greatly enhance his combat prowess.  Komorebi began an improved dirge of doom to shake the foes and then made great use of ear-piercing scream.  Khesen had been swallowed, but suddenly his knife-hand attack suddenly burst out its side, and he cut himself out!  Hekera was able to cut apart the hammerhead scavver that had swallowed Claude, freeing him! 

Arrows continued to sail, spells flew, and scavvers bit and thrashed.  Snaggy pulled forth a unique figurine that transformed into giant wasp!  Snaggy climbed astride the wasp and began fighting the scavvers from among them, his axe-hammer swinging right and left! 

The fight was bloody and visceral with several of the team badly bitten by shark-like scavvers, but ultimately the team was able to defeat them without casualties! 

Game summary for May 21, 2024, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Claude Dill Budshire (Sokari Sorcerer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), Notch Bowman (Human Fighter played by Andrew Renfrow), and Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The crew called out the alert. “Body off the port! Possible survivor!” The team remembered that people lost in the Flow who ran out of oxygen did not perish but instead petrified. These drifting individuals sometimes floated into the gravity plane of passing ships weeks, years, or even centuries later. They remained petrified for an hour or so before their flesh returned to normal; most survived the process, but some died in the transition back.

Not long ago, the team had rescued Faylen Windstrider, an elven veteran of the Unhuman Wars some four centuries earlier, from a similar fate as well as the new team member, Snagyndar. Who might this person be? From where had they originated? How long had they been out here?

As the body drifted closer, they could see it was tiny, only about three and a half feet tall. It was solid gray in color currently, of course. It was about the size of a goblin, halfling, or gnome. Its head resembled that of an octopus with four short tentacles around the mouth. They immediately thought “mind flayer” but had never heard of one so short. Normally they were slightly taller than an adult human male. What was this thing? The group tied up the body and threw a sack over its head.  When it revived, they began talking to it.  It introduced itself as Wizzlecrank.  After talking a while, they learned this creature is a gnome ceremorph, a lesser version of a mind flayer.  They learned out here it seems disconnected from the hive mind but still possessed a wealth of knowledge.  It had much in common with the tinker gnomes; in fact, it had served as a similar role on a nautiloid 230 years earlier.  After much discussion, they struck an agreement with the creature.  They would take it back to Greyspace and it would work on The Perry to help with repairs.  It started with the door frame of the shrine on the cargo barge.  Although nervous, the tinker gnomes were intrigued by this strange guest. 

Game summary for May 14, 2024, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Claude Dill Budshire (Sokari Sorcerer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), and Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team sailed the last few days through Realmspace uneventfully and passed through the Crystal Sphere into the Phlogiston.  Two days into the Flow, they came across a Flow Survivor who had been petrified by the bizarre properties of the Phlogiston’s atmosphere.  When revived, he introduced himself as Snagyndar “Snaggy” Blackthorn, a huldran (half-orc / half-elf) war master.  Approximately a month ago, he had escaped from a group of orcish raiders unlike any he had ever encountered aboard some kind of scorpion-shaped ship.  They were disciplined, organized, and coordinated in their tactics.  He had never seen orcs like this.  He only escaped by catapulting himself into the Phlogiston. 

The team welcomed Snaggy aboard, and he began settling in.  The next day, the group discovered a large ship drifting out of the Phlogiston, some kind of groundling vessel designed for ocean voyages.  It was riddled with siege weapons and crew packed the gunwales.  They were thin, gaunt, pale-skinned humanoids wearing a variety of clothing styles and carrying sharp sweeping scimitars.  Canine fangs protruded slightly, and their sunken eyes gazed at the team hungrily.  One of the crew cheerfully hoisted a black jolly roger high upon the mast!

As they approached, the party was awash with dread: vampirates!  These horrific undead hordes plunder ships and consume the crew.  Dozens were visible, and who knew how many hid below?  With their very touch draining life, the party could not expect to get through a fight unscathed.  They opted to try and out-maneuver the creatures! 

The team rallied and tried to do everything they could to help the crew of The Perry outpace the vampirates.  Helg used his knowledge of undead to understand their foes and educate the team.  Claude helped fool them with zigzag flight patterns.  Khesen used his spacehand expertise to directly assist the crew.  Snagy displayed an astounding connection with animals and motivated the giant space hamsters to new levels of performance.  Hekera’s engineering acumen cemented their ability to keep putting distance on their foes. 

The party encountered several complications in their retreat, however.  First, they crashed through a dense cluster of Phlogiston crystals that threatened to damage the ship.  Fortunately, they were able to avoid any serious damage.  Next, they came across an unstable rift creating a dangerous gravitational field.  This was quite the problem and whipped the ship around and hurled it closer to the vampirates!  Eventually, they navigated past it, but it was quite the effort.  Finally, the vampirates unleashed swarms of bats to accost the group and try and slow them down!  The biting pests hurt the group quite a bit, but they eventually were able to break free of the swarms and disappear into the Phlogiston, losing their pursuers! 

Game summary for May 7, 2024, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Claude Dill Budshire (Sokari Sorcerer played by Peyton Harmon), Edonna Match Wushu Lu Klighke (Dragonborn Oracle played by Casey Scruggs), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), Komorebi (Kitsune Bard played by Josh Jenkins), and Notch Bowman (Human Fighter played by Andrew Renfrow). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

For a week, The Perry continued at spelljamming speed across the Realmspace sphere heading toward the Crystal Shell so they could enter the Phlogiston.  The ship lurched out of spelljamming speed as it entered the gravity plane of a seemingly drifting dragonfly vessel, the Sky Seeker.  The ship appeared abandoned, and what appeared to be blood splatter and gouging from something heavy being dragged adorned the upper deck.  The team approached and then boarded.  Komorebi used his amazing gloves to see through the floor down into the cargo hold; however, with no light source, it was pitch black.  He then moved up to the upper deck and used the gloves to peer down into the bridge.  It was dim and contained several items of furniture, such as a metal chair (perhaps the spelljamming helm), a shelf, a crate, and a chest.  Edonna cast a detect thoughts spell and sensed some jumbled thoughts in a language she did not understand. 

Some of the team cloaked Komorebi, Edonna, and Khesen in an invisibility sphere.  Notch, Claude, and Hekera would remain up top while those three did a quick recon run down the stairs into the bridge.  They opened the door and filed down the stairs noting something heavy had been dragged up them.  Edonna, with darkvision, led the way.  She noticed the bookshelf lick its lips.  It licked its lips!  Suddenly the floor flowed up like a pseudopod and slammed Edonna and then began wrapping around her!  Of course, she (and everyone in the hallway) was invisible!  Notch, at the top of the stairs, could see the pseudopod but not any of the team!  Suddenly, something warm and wet splashed across Komorebi and Khesen.  The floor had crushed the life right out of Edonna! 

Khesen fled up the stairs and turned visible as he left the spell effect around Komorebi.  Komorebi then fled as well and began a bardic performance to encourage the team.  Claude came around the corner and blasted a Bogg’s cinderball spell down the hallway.  The horrific blast ripped through the ship with concussive force and fire!  Screams came from the bridge as shapeshifters burned!  Unfortunately, the glass windows in the bridge blew outwards in a shower of glass, and the explosion burst forth and rocked the party’s adjacent cargo barge!  Fortunately, it did not burst into flame but was scorched and battered. 

The trapper, dragging Edonna’s corpse, slithered out of the now open front of the ship and came over the top while the furniture, revealed to be mimics, came charging down the hallway.  Khesen met the trapper on the upper deck while Hekera engaged the mimics.  Notch consumed a potion of haste and Komorebi cast blur on Hekera.  Claude cast a shrillfire spell down the hallway, catching all of the mimics (and Hekera) in the blast!  Hekera chopped away with his sword, Khesen slashed away with his knife hand chops, and Notch unleashed a deadly volley.  Soon, all the shapeshifters were killed. 

The group searched the ship and found a trapped chest.  Hekera accidentally triggered the magical glyph and was hit with an enemy hammer.  Fortunately, he was able to hold on and prevent himself from being used as a pummeling tool while Komorebi dispelled the effect.  In the chest they found a magical wand.  In another room, they found six polished skeletons, the digested remains of the trapper and mimics’ previous meals.  In the cargo hold, they found 5 tons of valuable dyes and inks!  To load the heavy crates, Hekera hacked the entire side out of the ship, and they pushed them onto The Perry!  They mourned the loss of Edonna and headed off to continue their journey.