Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for June 6, 2017, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Denessia Rapidarma (Dwarf Gunslinger/Paladin played by Casey Scruggs), Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Belda), Kenwrec Battleglaive (Dwarf Slayer played by Peyton 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 giants rushed in with violent aplomb, seven more in addition to the one the party slew earlier.  Great bloodshed followed as the team exchanged blows.  Deska’s summoned herd ran amok among the giants drawing blood and preventing them from moving too much around the battlefield.  Kenwrec began studying the giants and methodically cutting into them.  The Dancing Hut ran about kicking and pecking away with its beak causing grievous injury.  Ten-Penny deftly used stealth and her hand crossbow to deal devastating sneak attacks.  Tulvur charged into the fray in a rage and flailed about with Icebiter, cutting a swathe of destruction.  Kenwrec took as good as he got, and perhaps only through the healing ministrations of Denessia did he survive.  Greta took several massive hits, but she returned the onslaught in spades landing critical hits on two different giants.  The Dancing Hut revealed it possesses spell capabilities by unleashing an incendiary cloud on the giants followed by multiple irresistible dance spells.  The weak-willed dancing giants proved easier targets for the party, and against all odds the team stood triumphant among eight slain frost giants!

The team began nursing their wounds as Greta started some kind of odd ritual with the bodies of the giants.  She danced about and drank their blood while calling upon the power of Thremyr.  This horrified Denessia as she realized Greta is some kind of follower of this dark and wicked deity who allegedly created frost giants.  As a paladin, he was quite put out by her ritual and powers she must possess.  Using his detect evil ability, he confirmed the darkness residing within the mysterious warrior woman.  He told the team he thought she was doing some kind of burial ritual to honor these slain creations of her dark deity.  Still dripping in their blood as she finished her ritual, Greta scoffed and told them the giants possess a measure of Thremyr’s power, power she had now taken into herself.  This did not put Denessia at ease.

The Dancing Hut settled into a spot, and a bone fence rose up around it.  The party made camp for the night and set out the next morning.  Deska determined North, and the team moved deeper into the woods.  About a mile from the hut the team ran into four centaurs.  Kenwrec discovered they spoke Giant, so he talked with them a while.  The team agreed to return to their camp to meet their chieftain.  At the camp, the centaurs were excited because they had never met dwarves, elves, half-orcs, or humans before.

The chieftain, Korak Kaag, emerged from a great tent and spoke with the party.  He revealed he spoke both Elven and Common, although with a heavy accent.  He asked several questions which Deska tried to answer deceptively; however, Korak revealed a centaur scout had been spying on them and observing the Dancing Hut from afar.  He was aware they had emerged from the hut and killed the frost giants.  How he will react to this is yet to be seen; however, Deska did an amazing job trying to talk her way out of upsetting him.

Game summary for May 30, 2017, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: All Might (Human Warpriest played by Andrew Renfrow), Denessia Rapidarma (Dwarf Gunslinger/Paladin played by Casey Scruggs), 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 Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team found the third raven seer, Moc, and heard his riddle.  They proceeded to find a massive fiendish dire boar that smote Tulvur and gave the team a brutal fight.  The team struggled against the creature and its defenses:  damage reduction against non-good weapons, spell resistance, and energy resistances.  It badly injured several of the party.  Denessia suffered an embarrassing setback when her magical pistol exploded in her hands!  Fortunately, only she was injured by the blast.  Eventually, Svala was able to lay the Beast of Gelglast low.  The group then realized the answer to Moc’s riddle were the boar’s tusks.  He presented them with the third amulet and another clue.  The team now had three sets of clues, one from each Liar Seer:

Moc’s amulet with the Iobarian rune for “dragon”:

This amulet holds only one of the three clues you seek.  It reveals the first ingredient for Baba Yaga’s kettle.  Look for this key where time catches up to us all. 

                Look for the Mother when the moon is full!

Rozum’s amulet with the Iobarian rune for “gold”:

You have taken upon yourselves a great burden, for that which you desire, the changeling holds.  Know this as well—you will find the Crone only when the moon wanes. 

Tryva’s amulet with the Iobarian rune for “Artrosa”:

So be it.  Seek now the sisters three who are one:  Mother, Maiden, Crone.  But know that the Maiden is elusive, and may only be caught with the waxing moon.

With the riddles solved, the group was able to see through some of the illusions and realized the hallway was a large twisting loop.  Upon returning to the main hut room, they found double doors they did not notice previously across the hall.  Perhaps they had been hidden by the same illusions distorting the hallway?  On the other side of the doors, they found a room filled with all kinds of things they didn’t have time to fully explore.  They spoke for a time with a man named Ratibor the Bold, a barbarian warlord enslaved by Baba Yaga to kill anyone other than her who enters the Dancing Hut’s front door.  Since the party entered the room from the hallway, he was not compelled to fight them.  He was able to reveal some secrets of the Dancing Hut to them such as that it gains a new configuration for each location it travels.  When it goes, the other rooms are still in existence “somewhere” just unavailable to the people piloting the hut.  He told them he had only seen Baba Yaga and Zorka recently.  He also revealed to them they could re-enter the library using the index.  Finally, they learned he might could be freed from enslavement (and thus not have to try and kill them when they return) if they use Baba Yaga’s cookbook which he saw her carrying the last time she went into Iobaria but did not return with it.

The group went out the front door and discovered a frost giant guarding the entrance!  Unable to exit and help them, and a bit amused by the welcome the team received in his harsh homeland, Ratibor shut the door behind them.  If the party died at the hands of the giants, he would not be forced to murder them all later.  The team traded blows with the giant as other giants came rushing through the forest.  Several of the party took devastating blows, and things were starting to look bleak.  However, after a few moments the Dancing Hut animated and attacked a giant!  Svala landed a deathblow and felled a giant as well.  The team regrouped and readied to engage as more giants came crashing through the snowy wood!

Game summary for May 23, 2017, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Denessia Rapidarma (Dwarf Gunslinger/Paladin played by Casey Scruggs), 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 Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The raven repeated its riddle and the team entered the adjoining room.  They found a sparse bedroom with a bloodstained sheet.  The team looked around, and Deska blew out the candle plunging the room into darkness.  When she re-lit the calendar, and flickering, hazy woman stood beside her!  Some of the party recognized her as Yelizaveta, the 13th queen of Irrisen who disappeared at the ascension of Queen Elvanna one hundred years ago.  The began drawing forth negative energy and using extreme fear against the party.  The group tricked her by bowing to her and feigning to be her loyal subjects, and she ranted about her wishes to leave this room and have her vengeance against Baba Yaga.  The group then ran from the room and told the riddle answer to the crow.  He awarded them an amulet in return marked with the Iobarian word “Artrosa” which is a row of three gigantic statues carved into the confluence of three mountains.

The group traveled on and found the chamber of night and met another of the Liar Seers.  They went into a room with a stone platform, a table with five silver goblets, and a large area of shallow water.  The team could not translate the writing on the cups, so Magnus drank from one causing stone steps to rise up and a light shine down upon a cage nestled in an alcove.  Ten-Penny, Tulvur, and Kenwrec went to investigate and retrieved an hourglass from the cage.  Ten-Penny, however, touched the water and nearly drowned from some kind of magical affliction.  The team continued drinking from goblets and causing steps to rise.  They tried to discover a timing pattern to the stepping stones rising and lowering from the water.  Eventually, Ten-Penny revived from her near drowning and suggested they use spider climb to avoid the water entirely, which the team eagerly tried successfully.  They then returned to the raven oracle and presented the hourglass.  The raven presented them with additional information and another amulet marked with a word they failed to translate.

Game summary for May 9, 2017, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Denessia Rapidarma (Dwarf Gunslinger/Paladin played by Casey Scruggs), 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 Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team eased up onto the porch of the Dancing Hut and could see it was larger inside than outside!  Deska touched the chain holding the hut, and it shattered!  The group then entered and began to explore.  The main room held a massive cauldron and shelves of various magical and alchemical items.  The group explored the loft overhead and then went through some double doors to discover a bizarre room with a magical map of Irrisen surrounded by iron thrones.  A bone golem rose up and attacked the party nearly killing Ten-Penny!  Denessia slowed it with positive energy which drastically reduced its effectiveness.  The team swarmed in and flanked it, and Kenwrec was able to bring it down.

The group then discovered a great library and learned a bit more about the hut.  The took the magical index with them and then threw the two keys they received from the Black Rider into the cauldron.  They were surprised to find the room shifted a bit, and the only exit now went into a seemingly infinite hallway.  Deska used her serpentine owl to scout and found some double doors.  The team approached and found an emblem resembling the dawn etched upon it.  Inside, they encountered an albino raven!  Ten-Penny recognized it as one of Baba Yaga’s “Liar Seers”.  It posed to them a riddle and offered to help them if they not only solved the riddle but also faced the answer to the riddle and learn its desire…

Game summary for May 2, 2017, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: All Might (Human Warpriest played by Andrew Renfrow), 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 upon the final dawn piper and prepared to engage.  A spriggan emerged from the woods and grew to large size!  It attacked Svala as Greta charged the piper.  The dawn piper caught Ringeirr and Tiswichtt in an aqueous orb in which the ranger eventually drowned as it rolled through the forest.  Tiswichtt, however, broke free.  Ten-Penny was able to slip in and slay the spriggan, allowing the team to focus on the piper.  All Might found his cold iron battleaxe particularly effective against the fey, especially after he blessed the entire party.  The piper tried to unleash its blinding beauty but to limited effect.  Soon, it was cut down and the elemental fonts shut off.

With the way to the Dancing Hut open, the team swarmed in only to be confronted by an ice golem and the White Witch, Nazhena Vasilliovna!  She told the team they had taken too much from her already, her tower and her apprentice.  They would not also take the Dancing Hut!  She summoned an ice mephit and then flew 30 ft. up into the air.  Svala moved up and hit the ice golem with her axe but found it quite resistant to damage.  Tiswichtt advanced and unleashed an empowered burning hands, but to her horror, it just rolled over the golem to no avail!  Meanwhile, Ten-Penny activated her rimepelt to shapeshift into a winter wolf!  Nazhena then separated the party with a wall of ice which slowed them tremendously.  Greta, All Might, and Ten-Penny all struggled to get past the wall while the mephit and golem both breathed cold upon Tiswichtt and Svala, sickening them.  Tiswichtt hit the White Witch with a lightning bolt.

Nazhena used a slumber hex upon Tiswichtt, but Ten-Penny was able to nudge her awake.  Tiswichtt hurled a molten orb upon Nazhena while the mephit her Tiswichtt with magic missiles!  The golem also hit her with its clubbing limbs, staggering her.  All Might cast spiritual weapon and began driving the witch back.  Svala chopped down the ice mephit while Greta chopped down the ice golem.  Nazhena cast ice storm to devastating effect, killing Tiswichtt!  All Might charged on his horse and hurled his axe at the witch, narrowly missing her.  Ten-Penny leapt into air and hit the witch with a cold breath weapon.  Svala used a lasso to snag Nazhena and pull her lower.  Ten-Penny was able to jump again and rip out the White Witch’s throat!  The team mourned the loss of Tiswichtt and prepared to enter the Dancing Hut!

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.

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.

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!

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.