Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for July 30, 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.

Their perilous journey racing against their air supply had come to a joyful end. The Perry had dropped out of spelljamming speed, and before them lay the beautiful cluster-world planet, Greela. Greela was comprised of thousands of planetoids within a larger atmosphere. Some of the planetoids were fairly close together, while others were separated by many miles. Each planetoid had its own gravity and atmosphere, so some spun, others drifted, and some tumbled end-over-end.

The party flew into the planetary atmosphere, and the immediate refresh of their own air supply was nearly overwhelming! Like a great weight lifted, they no longer had the fear of suffocation and being lost adrift in Wildspace. Wizzlecrank directed them to a region of planetoids known as Frontier. Frontier was a loose confederation of towns, primarily occupied by humans, who had settled to mine the vast mineral wealth found within the planet’s swirling earth bodies. The largest town, and capital so to speak of Frontier, was Bonanza. It was known as a freewheeling community, more than a little wild, like many growing mining towns. People came here seeking to strike it rich or to hide from the wider multiverse. Laws were enforced brutally, but who made the laws and what constituted the law was often debatable.

Wizzlecrank’s alien mind-voice slithered into their brains and informed them that the Hive Mind had revealed to him a tavern in Bonanza where they might get some rest and prepare for the next leg of their journey toward Ginsel. The Dusty Pistol was a quality tavern that boasted the fewest number of fights per week in all of Frontier. It was also allegedly near the dock, so it should have been a short jaunt after they made land.

Bonanza was a bustling town but certainly smaller than most of the ports the party had recently visited. It might have been considered backwater in comparison. A small lake was located outside of town, and the planetoid appeared somewhat arid and rocky. The group could see cacti growing around the outskirts of town, and a tumbleweed blew down the dock as they landed. Only a handful of ships could dock there at any given time. Two appeared to be unloading cargo currently. The dockmaster, a green-scaled dracon (a dragon-like centaur) wearing a poncho, was collecting taxes from the ship captains.

The streets were dry and dusty, and the buildings were sturdy and practical wood constructions. Wares from the ships were loaded onto wooden carts drawn by oxen. Most of the people they saw were human, or at least partially human. They also noticed a number of dwarves among the residents.

The party was moving through the crowd when they accidentally bumped hard against a muscular dwarf. He roared in anger, and several other rough-looking dwarves and humans joined him. His fingers danced around a holstered pistol, and the locals scattered. A fight in the busy street could have caused tremendous collateral damage.

“You ain’t from ’round here, so you don’t know. But you know today. You stand clear of the Ironjaw Reapers.” He spat a wad of chew toward their feet and slowly walked away. His companions laughed as they followed. One even pointed finger guns in their direction and chuckled.

Helg stopped the dwarf and apologized profusely, and the dwarf told him to not let it happen again before walking off.

The team found their way to The Dusty Pistol.  The establishment was a lively, single-story tavern in Bonanza, Frontier. A wide wooden porch, complete with creaky rocking chairs, led to the swinging saloon doors. Inside, the main room was filled with long wooden tables and sturdy benches. The bar, made of polished oak, was adorned with hanging lanterns that cast a warm glow. A large stone fireplace dominated one wall, crackling with a cozy fire. The atmosphere was filled with the sounds of a piano, rowdy laughter, and the clink of glasses.

A unique feature of the tavern was its enchanted chandelier made of crystal pistol shapes, each glowing with a different magical hue. Behind the bar, a grizzled half-orc bartender polished glasses and kept a wary eye on the patrons.  A talented gnome pianist, dressed in a fine suit and bowler hat, played while a stunning red-headed half-elven lass sang a line of “Whiskey Goes Good.”  Komorebi struck up a conversation with the gnome, Rufus “Quickdraw” Carter, and joined in with them for a number. 

The party took a seat, and the bartender took their orders.  The singer, Ella, brought the beverages and took their food orders as well.  Quickdraw started playing cards with the group and lost the hand to Komorebi, and the party declined to play further.  Snagy made a few crude passes at Ella who shut him down completely.  Half the team decided it was the night to party and blow off steam, and they spent the entire night drinking and gambling.  All of them ended up earning money in their endeavors. 

The next day they overheard some locals talking about a notorious band of outlaws using an abandoned mine near Bonanza as a secret base.  There was some discussion of going over to check it out before someone reminded them this is a single mining community in a planetary region of mining towns, and they didn’t have any idea which mine this could be.  Snagy remembered he had an old contact in Bonanza, a former adventuring companion.  The man, Verran, was serving as undertaker to the community, which was interesting because Snagy knew him to be a somewhat accomplished necromancer! 

They went to visit Verran, and the two exchanged pleasantries and caught up a bit.  The party showed him the repaired skull of Iskra the watchghost in hopes he could restore her, but it was beyond his capabilities.  He didn’t know anything about any outlaws hiding out of town, but he was able to tell them a bit more about the Ironjaw Reapers.  They send him lots of business!  He did tell them though he’d heard rumors of black market deals and trading with a particular recent interest in weapons, especially magical ones.  They purchased a scroll of speak with dead from him and left.

They drifted through the market looking for magical weapon dealers but found none.  They decided they did not have time for distraction and started heading back to The Perry to resume their trip.  Along the way, they were distracted by observing the Ironjaw Reapers beating up a merchant and leaving him bleeding in the street.  The party made their way over and talked to the man.  They learned the Reapers seem to have run of the town after killing Sheriff Bosco a few weeks ago.  The new sheriff, Hayden, never left the jail and was terrified.  Claude handed the man coins to replace what was stolen by the Reapers.  He told them about the leader of the Reapers, Jeb, who has an actual iron jaw because his was ripped off by an owlbear!

Game summary for July 23, 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 ship lurched and spun! The party was still traveling at incredible speeds, but something was wrong! Looking over the railing, they saw they had been swept up along with a rogue comet streaking through Greyspace! It had a powerful gravity field and emanated strange energies affecting your gnome propulsion technology. Their ship, The Perry, was tumbling and twisting and struggling to move under its own power. Even worse, bits of the comet tail came ripping through their atmosphere. It was so cold it caused the oxygen to solidify into light blue crystals that began bobbing along their gravity plane and bouncing out into space! If this continued too long, they might lose significant amounts of their dwindling air supply! If larger parts broke off, they could rip The Perry in half!

Bobbing along behind the comet were shattered chunks of ship hulls, mute testament to the terrible deadly danger the team now found themselves in!

The team came together in a remarkable way.  Hekera’s studies in engineering paid off immediately, and the group began aiding one another on skill checks and racking up successful tasks trying to get the ship back under control.  Helg cast flame strike repeatedly to melt the frozen oxygen back into gas to further reduce the loss of atmosphere.  Eagle-eyed Notch, Snagy, Khesen, and Claude were all quite successful perceiving threats and changes in the movement of the comet.  In about five minutes, they were able to shake free of its gravitational pull and into freedom! 

Free of the comet, The Perry stabilized. However, they were not alone. Bobbing along in their atmosphere was a shattered Viking drakkar. The ship had been broken in half. Maybe last week. Maybe last century. There were no bodies or creatures visible. However, the group could see what appeared to be crates and barrels lashed to the deck. Perhaps there was something salvageable?

Hekera used a grappling hook to snag the wreckage and drag it alongside while Claude cast detect magic and discovered several auras within the containers.  The team cautiously boarded the broken Viking ship and started going through the crates.  They found several coins and gems along with a magical wand, a magical ring, and a lesser battle staff designed by the famous elven wizard, Melf! 

Game summary for July 9, 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 Notch Bowman (Human Fighter played by Andrew Renfrow). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The party was flying through Greyspace on the way to Greela, hoping to find a source of air. They were fearful they would have insufficient oxygen for the journey. Things had been quiet since the Koopa Kingdom warp invasion. Greyspace was cold and enormous.

Objects came bobbing into their gravity plane. Several black spheres bounced up and down. Among them bobbed several bodies. The spheres came crashing into the side of The Perry where they unfurled! Skeletal hands grasped the railing and rigging, hauling aboard walking dead men. These undead skeletons were glistening black, almost as if constructed from blackened steel. Within the hollowed eye sockets burned small red pinpoints of light.

They vaguely recalled hearing old mariners talk about skeleton minefields, dangerous murder zones created by the goblinoid races during the Unhuman Wars. Nearly 400 years later, these were few and far between, but since the mines were undead, they were as dangerous as ever. These deadly monstrosities drew razor-edged short swords and advanced, their horrific grimaces frozen on their skulls.

Several of the other bodies came crashing onto the deck. They looked like they were slain by sharp blades some time ago. Were they dead adventurers killed by the skeletons at some point in the past? Were they carrying anything useful?

The black skeletons wielded twin short swords and attacked with amazing alacrity and skill!  Their hits were shallow and not devastating in raw damage, but each sapped the strength of the target!  The monsters slashed and weakened the team’s best melee fighters while Notch, Claude, and Helg blasted away with volleys of arrows and powerful spells.  Magic arced across the deck of The Perry while the team tried to repel the vicious attack.  Notch was finally able to destroy one of the skeletons weakened by the rest of the team.  Khesen ripped a sword from the hands of another and grappled it.  Positive energy washed across the decks dealing wounds to the dread invaders.  Lightning splayed out from Claude’s fingers in powerful blasts.  Even terribly weakened by the strength-sapping energy, Hekera still flailed about with his greatsword and cleaved his foes.  Finally, he was able to cut down the other two.

The group then searched the remains of the skeletons and the bodies of the dead adventurers.  They discovered a bandolier filled with powerful magical draughts the likes of which they had never heard of before.  They also found a magical lyre and a small fortune in gems and gold!

Game summary for July 2, 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.

Three days into the journey in Greyspace, the ship rumbled and a warp sound ripped through the vessel.  Green warp pipes materialized and invaders from the Koopa Kingdom swarmed through!  They came through on all three levels of the ship forcing the party to split!  Before Hekera was able to get down below, a goomba tore into several of the crew.  Notch could see through a port hole as they screamed for help!  Nick (or was it Vick?) came screaming up a ladder as a blue spike top came up behind him. 

A pair of dry bones and a red koopa troopa had emerged on the upper deck and ripped into the team.  The fear aura of the dry bones combined with the ship’s stale air really presented a problem for the team.  Snagy was able to counter the fear, and Helg channeled positive energy to damage the dry bones, but they recovered the damage at prodigious speed.  Claude tried blasting the koopa troopa with electricity, but it was unaffected.  The spell then bounced (due to his magical rod) to a dry bones, but he could not overcome its spell resistance. 

Notch tried to shimmy over the side of the ship to clear some distance and slipped over the rail and down unto the bill of The Perry.  However, from there he was able to consume a fly potion and take to the air to rain down volleys of arrows.  Snagy engaged with his axe-hammer and hit kickers, but fate frowned and kept him from being extremely effective.  Khesen tripped one of the dry bones while the other was inflicting its terrible dry rot disease among the party. 

Helg cast cherub’s burning blade and moved to engage while Khesen grappled and eventually pinned a dry bones!  Hekera was able to defeat the spike top and goomba down on the second floor.  Claude took down the koopa with an acidic energy dart. 

Suddenly, the warp sound filled the ship!  Pipes materialized once again and sucked in the remain dry bones and the slain creatures!  Fortunately, Khesen was able to avoid being sucked into whatever dimension as well. 

Game summary for June 25, 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.

Twenty-four hours after leaving the derelict Ombre Émeraude behind, the group heard the sounds of teeth gnashing against bone from all over the ship. Most of the crew and party were paralyzed, and ghostly teeth materialized and began eating everyone!  The three gnomish crew, Rick, Nick, and Vick, were slain in moments!  Helg channeled positive energy, blasting the haunt, while Hekera consumed a mushroom drop to heal those around him with its aura.  Snagy snatched up the swarmbane clasp they had brought over from the ship assuming it to be haunted, hung it around a ballista bolt, and fired it deep into the Phlogiston!  The moment it passed beyond the air envelope, the haunts disappeared and paralyzed crew recovered.

The group nursed their wounds and decided to try to use raise dead on the gnomes while still in the Phlogiston instead of waiting until they reach Greyspace for fear that it would not work.  Their gamble paid off, and they were able to use their scrolls and raise the fallen comrades.

They passed into Greyspace, just a day behind schedule, and Sailmaster Tuk plotted their location.  They are 85 days from Ginsel, 82 days from The Spectre, 54 days from Greela, and they estimate they possess 45 to 55 days of breathable air remaining!  They are starting to strategize on how to conserve oxygen.  Also, they are pretty certain Wizzlecrank has reconnected with the illithid hive mind!

Game summary for June 18, 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 Komorebi (Kitsune Bard played by Josh Jenkins). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Beyond the galley, the team found the captain’s quarters, which had been ransacked.  They found pages from her journal strewn all about, and Komorebi was able to piece enough together to learn of the terrible cannibalistic fate of the crew some forty years ago.  They learned about a missing cabin boy named Roland, Captain Shadowblade, a helmsman named Matthias, ten other crew members, and some mysterious female named Iskra who seemed to be perhaps something not human from the clues in the journal. 

Inside the captain’s storage area, they uncovered a human skull inscribed with blue draconic runes spelling out “Iskra.”  After touching the skull, a shadowy figure appeared behind them and a female voice asked them to take her with them.  They turned and found a beautiful platinum blonde woman with deep black empty eye sockets.  Her long black robes covered her body, but her skeletal hands were visible.  They spoke with her for a bit and learned this is Iskra, a nearly-three-hundred-year-old watchghost originally from Waterdeep.  She warned them they should leave before the captain, now a ghost, confronted them.  She also warned that the crew seemed to also still haunt the ship.  They asked her about treasure aboard, and she indicated there is an amulet of some sort fallen down into a crack in the floorboards down below.  They also asked her about Roland, and she told them he had hidden behind a loose board in the pantry, got stuck, and died.  They looked and indeed found the cabin boy’s long dead corpse. 

They went to investigate the stern castle and were attacked by the captain!  She unleashed a frightful moan which sent Khesen into a panic!  Unfortunately, he was carrying Iskra’s skull at the time and dropped it.  It shattered on the floor, and the watchghost screamed and dissipated.  The ghost captain tried to possess Helg first and failing that, attempted to possess Hekera.  Helg channeled positive energy to blast the ghost while Hekera hacked away with his magical blade.  They temporarily discorporated her and rushed into the hold to search for this amulet. 

The group moved down into the dark hold and illuminated it with a light spell cast on a coin.  Komorebi used his magical gloves to try and look through walls, finding the rooms pitch black.  The slid illuminated coins under the doors so he could see.  Inside a crew quarters, Hekera heard whispers, shivered, and became extraordinarily hungry.  They found another room that from the cleaver and bloodstains seemed to be the room in which they dismembered the bodies of the crew as they consumed them.  In a crack in the floor, they found a swarmbane clasp.  Suddenly, the hold was filled with voices, and the faint outlines of the crew appeared in the dim light.  Their teeth seemed to physically manifest, and Claude and Komorebi were mysteriously paralyzed!  The teeth began rushing in and bite huge hunks of flesh from their bodies, and it seemed to disappear as if eaten, bite by bite! 

The team tried to fight the teeth but could not affect them.  The group began shoving healing mushrooms and potions down the throats of the paralyzed allies.  Komorebi, paralyzed, was able to mentally contact Wizzlecrank who realized these were haunts but that Komorebi was unable to communicate.  Wizzlecrank was able to contact Helg who began blasting channeled positive energy.  Eventually, he blasted the haunt out of manifestation.  The team grabbed their paralyzed allies, the amulet, and the fragments of Iskra’s skull and fled to The Perry.  As the ship flew off further into the Phlogiston, Helg cast mending and restored the skull hoping it would perhaps allow Iskra to reform. 

Game summary for June 4, 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 team was awakened in the night to screaming from the hamster wheel room.  Flick (or was it Rick) was waiving a wrench in the direction of a wide-eyed, and quite nude, halfling woman who was in the hamster cage with one of the giant space hamsters.  The other hamster was missing!  After providing a robe, the team learned the woman, Tilly Tumblefur, was a werehamster!  She actually was the missing hamster!  She had been transformed into a werehamster by a wizard named Morlax in Realmspace.  She had escaped and fled to Bral where she hid among the giant space hamsters and happened to be the one purchased by the party’s tinker gnomes.  After talking for a while, they offered to allow her to join the crew if she would continue to serve as their motive power on the hamster wheel and take on the role of cook.  She readily agreed and was given a hammock in the wheel room instead of having to sleep in the hamster cage.

Several days later, The Perry came out of spelljamming speed beside an old green squidship named the Ombre Émeraude.  Atop the forecastle tools had been laid out in piles to spell out the word “Help.”  The group immediately noticed, much to their chagrin, that the air was stagnant and old.  It intermingled with their air, drastically cutting the amount of “safe” travel time available to the ship and crew.  They saw a beautiful pale-skinned woman by the stairwell, and she turned and fled down into the bowels of the ship.  The group crept out onto the ship and began to investigate.  It was eerily quiet.  They found the cargo bay doors open and the bay seemingly empty. 

The group opened a door and found the ship’s galley filled with the bones of 11 humans.  The bone piles were mostly stacked neatly, although a couple had toppled or been scattered.  Hekera examined them and determined they had been piled orderly and respectfully.  The bones had been separated though with neat cuts at the joints as if chopped apart by a large metal blade.  Disturbingly, he also noticed human teeth marks on the bones.  While within the galley, Snaggy and Khesen overheard a scratching sound followed by faint cries or screams.  They opened a door and found what appeared to be the pantry, and it was completely empty.  With dread, the party began to suspect perhaps a doomed crew had long ago resorted to cannibalism in an effort to survive!

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!