Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for March 28, 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 Tiswichtt (Orc Witch played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team had the brilliant idea of slipping the kids out the window instead of out into the courtyard, so they let them all go free.  The group went up the stairs, and Magnus encountered an attic whisperer, a strange type of child-like undead.  They conversed for a while, with Magnus kind of making friends with it.  It warned them of the Gobbler in the kitchen.

The group swept into the kitchen and found the stove animated and roared to life!  Revealed, the Gobbler attacked.  The team swarmed around it and found their weapons bouncing off its iron sides.  It snatched up Tiswichtt and swallowed her whole into its burning gullet!  Magnus unleashed a spiritual weapon as the team continued to nick and scratch the thing.  Greta landed a few blows until luck failed her.  Magnus and Kenwrec scuffed it before it bit down on Magnus and started to swallow him as well!  Realizing the stove was animated by the spirits of the slain children, Magnus channeled positive energy in a destructive blast.  Inside the stove, Tiswichtt used alchemical liquid ice vials to damage and weaken the monstrosity until she finally destroyed it from within!

Next, the team encountered Granny Nan, a horrible old witch, talking to the attic whisperer.  Both attacked the party.  Ten-Penny slipped in for some flanking while the front line advanced.  Ten-Penny was able to slay the attic whisperer and advance on Granny Nan.  Magnus and Greta closed in but were frustrated by Granny Nan’s blink spell, which caused numerous attacks to miss her outright.  She cast hold person at Ten-Penny without effect.  Kenwrec moved to flank, and Granny Nan slapped him up and down with her cane but was so weak it didn’t harm him.  Finally, Ten-Penny landed a sneak attack to bring down the witch!

The group continued exploring and found the water closet.  They rescued another young girl and let her out the same window as the other children.  At last, they looted Granny Nan’s room and stole her half knit mittens.  The team then gathered at the stairs to advance to another level.

Game summary for March 23, 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 discovered two trolls in another room, and they tried to throw a bear trap in at them, but the trolls won initiative and started pounding on the team.  Deska cast flame blade as Tulvur and Ten-Penny get into melee.  Svala and Greta fell back to engage a third troll and trollhound coming up from another room.  The team fought on two fronts, but their fire was able to overwhelm the trolls after suffering only a few hits themselves.

Deska heard a voice on the other side of a door.  The team burst in to find a larger female troll speaking to a mirror.  She spun about and swung her mighty axe as the party flooded into her room.  She resisted their onslaught for a bit, but alone she was no match for the might of the team.

The team discovered a room full of cages housing six young children guarded by an albino wikkawak!  The creature tried to attack, but it was quickly surrounded, blinded, and knocked to the floor by a bag of marbles emptied by one of the children.  The team rescued the children from the cells and learned of a wicked “Granny Nan” who comes and eats the children.  One girl, Inga, said she had been taken upstairs to the kitchen once before.  She warned the group of a black dragon in the kitchen and a ghost that looks like garbage.

The party decided they needed to get the children to safety.  They went to the front door and found the animated statues still out there!

Game summary for March 14, 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), 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.

Ringeirr introduced the party to Solveig Ayrdahl, high priestess of Milani in Whitethrone and head of the Heralds of Summer’s Return.  He explained their mission, and she informed them she could help.  She is in contact with the remnants of the Iron Guard, the ousted military of Baba Yaga.  They are willing to rise up against the Winter Guard, but they are afraid of a white dragon named Logrivich.  The dragon has taken residence in the city clock tower.  If the team can defeat the dragon and fire off fireworks off the tower, that will signal the Iron Guard to attack the Winter Guard surrounding the Dancing Hut.  Solveig also asked them to see if they could rescue a singer named Bella who was kidnapped by Logrivich.  The party agreed and set out to fight their way through the ice trolls stationed in the tower so they could engage the dragon.

The team went and bought several flasks of alchemist’s fire and traveled to the tower.  They went through the bone gate and discovered the statues outside animated and damaged weapons when struck.  Greta cast obscuring mist to help cover their dash into the tower.  The group moved in as Deska tried to slow the statues with entangle.  Inside a troll opened a door and found the party pouring in through the front entrance!  He and his companion yelled in rage and attacked.  Deska knocked the troll down using thunderstomp as Magnus came back and chopped the creature viciously.  Greta cartwheeled into the room and brutally struck the troll as well.  Alfbern cloaked Argun with invisibility, and Ten-Penny used her great stealth to sneak into the room.  All Might tried to leap the troll as well, but it slammed its axe into his chest!  Meanwhile, Svala cartwheeled in as well, and she ignited some of her alcohol in a makeshift Molotov cocktail to burn the troll to death.

Kenwrec and Ringeirr struggled to get away from the statues, and finally Tiswichtt had to pull Ringeirr to safety.  The team shut the statues outside and barred the door.  Meanwhile, Ten-Penny snuck up and dealt a sneak attack to the remaining troll.  The team swarmed in and burned it to death as well.

Game summary for March 7, 2017, Reign of Winter campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Belda), and Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team piled into a hovel with Greta and answered some of her questions.  She agreed to help them deliver the fish and led them down a back alley to avoid more mirror men.  Along the way, they ran into a fleeing human named Jorhan scrambling to escape a pursing winter wolf.  The team learned the man was owned by the wolf who had decided to kill him.  Deska and Tulvur talked the winter wolf into selling them the man for 75 gp, and they put him to work pushing the fish cart.  They quickly dropped off the fish and then headed toward the forger’s house.

The group went by a rowdy bar, and two winter wolves, in human form, came out punching and kicking each other.  When they say the party, the hurled some vague threats to which the party responded arrogantly.  The wolves decided to have some sport and try and eat the team.  They shifted into wolf form and attacked!  Armed with only daggers and light armor, the team was sorely pressed.  Fortunately, Greta was fully armed and charged in alongside.  Ten-Penny setup a flank and began harming one winter wolf while Deska blinded another with spit venom.  Tulvur raged and slashed madly with his dagger.  Meanwhile, a wolf tripped Greta and menaced her, forcing her to fight with her axe from the ground quite ineffectively.  Tulvur demoralized the wolves and pressed his advantage, allowing Deska to square off with one using flame blade.  She avoided a nasty hit using windy escape.  The group defeated the wolves, and Greta revealed some magical talent unleashing healing divine magic upon herself and several of the team.

Just outside the home of Mortin the forger, the group came upon two ice trolls arguing with a pair of winter wolves in human form.  The trolls noticed the team but was too busy with the wolves.  As the team got to Mortin’s door, the trolls and wolves went their separate ways with the trolls looking for the party.  No one would answer the door, and Ten-Penny fumbled with the lock.  Deska rolled a bag of marbles into the street as Tulvur hurled a rock to distract the trolls.  Ten-Penny finally got the door open, and the team began fumbling through.  The distracted troll stepped on the marbles and fell flat on his back, which caused the other troll to roar with laughter.  This devolved into a fight between the two right in the street.  The team was able to get behind the door and close it, mostly forgotten.

A furious Ringeirr berated Mortin for not opening the door and risking their lives.  He ended up browbeating the man into forging papers for the team for free and also making papers for Jorhan to go free.  The team stayed overnight as he completed their documents.

Finally, the team headed for the gateway into Whitethrone proper.  They were stopped by a pair of mirror men who looked over their papers and found nothing amiss.  The creatures spoke to the team telepathically and warned them that public dancing remains strictly prohibited.

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.

Game summary for January 31, 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), Kenwrec Battleglaive (Dwarf Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), and Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons, and co-GM was Jared Smalling.

The team ransacked the upper level of the tower.  They discovered a vault with a trapped frozen statue.  Deska shrugged off the curse effects, and the team took the treasures.  All Might studied several tombs and figured out the ritual to close the winter portal.  He failed in his attempt to close it, and Deska used the knowledge he provided to finish the incantation.

With the Pale Tower conquered, the team decided to head toward Whitethrone to liberate the Dancing Hut.  Nadya Petska volunteered to be their guide under the condition they escort her children Orm and Mjoli safely to Ellsprin, and the team agreed.

About a day out, the party was swarmed by ravens and lost a few days’ travel due to injuries to Magnus’ eyes.  Also along the way, the fell prey to the malicious pranks of gremlins who cursed their food and spoiled it.  The team drove off the gremlins and recovered part of their provisions.

One evening young Orm got lost gathering firewood, and the team scattered to find him.  They could hear wolves in the distance as snow began to fall.  Tulvur and All Might stumbled off in the wrong direction, but the team found the boy right in the nick of time.

The team came across a small cabin and found a red-haired woman within.  She pleaded with them to save her husband from a moss troll she saw in a cave to the north.  Magnus became suspicious of her and noted she was trying to avoid getting too close to them or let them around behind her.  He accused her of lying, and he thought he caught sight of a fox tail beneath her robes!  Deska stepped up to calm her and realized she was dealing with a fey!  She had heard tales of faeries taking up residence with humans but that such relationships were often the subject of derision and violence.  Deska surmised that was the truth the woman was not telling.  They agree to try and rescue her husband and set out for the cave.  Inside a mossy creatures swinginig an axe attacked!  The team swarmed in with Kenwrec hurling a dagger as Ten-Penny shot a crossbow bolt.  They discovered the “troll” was actually Finngarth being controlled by some sort of mold or moss!

Armed with this new knowledge, the team was able to slay the mold and rescue the man.  For their efforts, the couple awarded the party an insidious bear trap.

Game summary for January 24, 2017, Reign of Winter campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Belda), and Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team found a door and listened.  They heard someone inside, so Tulvur knocked.  A female told them to come in.  The group hid on either side of the door, and Deska walked in.  She found a human woman of Ulfen descent holding a greatsword.  She demanded Deska come in, drop her weapon, and kneel down, which she did.  The woman bound the druid as Tulvur came in.  He tried to intimidate the woman, successfully, and in her panic she tried to decapitate Deska!

Ten-Penny slipped around the door and sank a crossbow bolt in the woman’s chest.  Tulvur and Nadya rushed in while Deska tried to sweep the legs out from under the woman.  Ten-Penny cut Deska free, and the team took the woman down and hid her body under the table with all the chairs pushed in.

Next the team went down the hall and opened another door which entered into a kitchen.  A gnome stood stirring a pot and began yelling at the team.  The group backed out of the room and shut the door.

With the second floor cleared, Tulvur went to the teleporting crystals and went to the top floor.  Up there he discovered a brown-haired man standing near a cauldron.  Tulvur hurried across the room as the man cast a summoning spell conjuring two wolves and two giant spiders.  A fracas erupted with fangs and swords flying.  The man cast blindness on Tulvur striking him sightless!  Ten-Penny arrived on the teleporter and was blindsided by a charging goat!  Deska arrived soon after and helped the half-orc fight the familiar back.  They moved closer to the man as Nadya arrived on the teleporter.  The man cast a spell hurling magical snowballs at the team!  Tulvur blindly swung his sword about as a spider and wolf tried to kill him.

The team started defeating the summoned creatures sending them back into the ether.  They killed the familiar goat, Valstoi, eliciting a cry of rage from the man.  He pulled forth an icicle and began stabbing Tulvur as the team closed in.  The man slipped past the blind dwarf and ran toward the teleporting crystals.  Ten-Penny dropped her weapons and tried a flying tackle.  They began furiously grappling as Deska ran up and assisted.  The ladies slammed the man to the ground and bound him.  They tried to interrogate him, learned he was a witch, and forced him to drop his spell rendering Tulvur blind.  The dwarf then killed the witch.

Game summary for January 10, 2017, Reign of Winter campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Belda), 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 explored the two rooms on the aerie level.  One was a bedroom with little of interest.  However, the other was a storeroom filled with dollhouses the fey utilized for housing.  Within was a magical silver dagger and a small fortune in jewels and jewelry.

Deska decided to try and track Thora using her wolf scent ability and made the discovery that Tiswichtt carried a sapphire covered in the girl’s scent.  Much to the party’s horror, Tiswichtt realized Thora’s fate; she had been executed and used to create a guardian doll!  The magical doll they had fought several days earlier had been powered by the little girl’s life force.  They told Nadya what they had learned, causing her to wail in grief.  After a while she composed herself and vowed vengeance upon the white witch.

The team then used the teleportation crystals to return to the second floor.  They went through some double doors to discover some kind of conservatory filled with plants.

One of the plants was a fearsome demonic blood-draining mandragora!  The creature shrieked and caused Tiswichtt to become nauseous.  The team closed in and began to hack on the plant.  It grappled Deska and began to drain her blood with its roots!  It didn’t take long for the team to bring it down, and they discovered it had been chained and apparently bound here.

The group moved down another hallway and discovered a bedroom with a locked trunk.  Ten-Penny was able to pick the lock and open the container to reveal a small fortune in gems and a cache of potions.

Down yet another hallway they found a room with a bizarre occupant.  Standing in the room was Lady Argentea Malassene!  The team was perplexed because the noblewoman did not recognize them.  They talked for a bit and finally they tricked the woman into drinking an elixir of truth.  She then began to answer their questions with brutal honesty, revealing herself to be a doppelganger!  The creature shapeshifted and attacked but stood no chance against the party.

In another room the team found the forlarren bard, Mierul Ardelain, they had encountered when they first entered Irrisen!  She cast a flame blade and moved to attack.  Deska cast whip of spiders and moved to engage.  Ten-Penny slipped up and landed a critical sneak attack!  Rocked, Mierul staggered back as Tulvur pressed the attack.  However, the demonic fey stepped to the side and critically hit Deska, dropping her unconscious!  The bard could not stand again the team, however, and died soon thereafter.  The team poured a potion down Deska’s throat, bringing her back to consciousness.

Game summary for January 3, 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), 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 ran across the hall looking through the tower.  They stumbled up into the battlements and found no one.  By the time they got down, they found three Pale Tower guards ready for them.  Their companion, Ten-Penny, shot the first with her crossbow, dropping him.  The team surged in and cut down the guards quickly.  They then activated a teleportation crystal and found themselves in a dinning room.  After looking around they were ambushed by a pair of winter-touched atomies!  The team dispatched them with ease and marched down the hallway to find themselves assailed by animated ice nymph statues!  These landed powerful blows, but Deska’s flame blade helped whittle them down.

In a hurry, the team went down another hall and found a teleporter.  Knowing the passphrase, the team went through.  As they emerged they found they were entering an aerie filled with an aggressive raven swarm!  Deska, the first through, had her eyes badly damaged and was flailing blindly.  Kenwrec was struggling against the ravens and trying to fight his way to the sylph cleric who seemed to command the ravens.  Tiswichtt found herself temporarily blinded by the ravens as well.  Things looked bleak.  Tulvur had the idea to protect his eyes by strapping his snowshoes to his face so he could come in and save his allies.  He was poised to do so when Magnus charged across the room and slashed the sylph nearly in two with a mighty swipe of his greatsword!  Upon her death, the raven swarm dispersed.  The group was able to heal their allies and restore sight to Tiswichtt and Deska.