Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for December 13, 2016, Reign of Winter campaign, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Argun Longtusk (Wereboar-Kin Druid played by Parker Harmon), Kenwrec Battleglaive (Dwarf Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Svala Alehorn (Dwarf Unchained Barbarian played by Preston Harmon), and Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The party donned the clothing of the slain Pale Tower guardsmen and bluffed their way in the front gate of the Pale Tower.  Within they found a courtyard with an elaborate ice dragon sculpture surrounded by kennels.  A large female ice troll emerged from one and began to sniff the party.  She attacked in a rage when she realized dwarves were among them.  Her rending claws caused horrific damage, and the team’s blades cut its flesh, but its regeneration quickly healed them.  The team rallied and beat her to the ground where Argun was able to use produce flame to burn it up.

The team rushed through the doors into the tower proper.  They stood around for a few moments allowing a force of guards to rally and attack.  The sergeant stepped up and went toe-to-toe with Magnus.  He was impressed with her stature and moxie right up until she ran him through with her blade.  It broke his heart, but he had to cut her down.  Svala drank her flask of whiskey and charged recklessly into the fray as Argun grew tusks and started goring with wild abandon.  Kenwrec and Tulvur swept across the room taking out the rest.

From beyond another door, they could hear men struggling into armor.  Wasting no time, Magnus kicked open the door, and the team swarmed through.  The team fell upon the disadvantaged guardsmen and cut them down as they pulled swords from scabbards.  The fighting was one-sided and swift leaving devastation in its wake.

Game summary for December 6, 2016, 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), and Tiswichtt (Orc Witch played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team looted the bodies of the fallen fey and discovered a lock box in the troll’s cave filled with gold, silver, and jewels!  The team debated what to do next when a black-clad rider emerged from the swirling portal!  His horse disappeared in a swirl of black mist, dumping the man to the ground.  The team could see he had been stabbed by a blue bolt of ice and was nearing death.  He removed his great horned helmet and revealed himself as a frail old man.  He looked up on the slaughtered fey and troll and beckoned the party closer.  He told them he is known as Black Midnight, the infamous Black Rider of Baba Yaga.  The Queen of Witches’ daughter, Queen Elvanna has betrayed Baba Yaga, slain the Red Rider and White Rider, and stolen the Dancing Hut.  The evil queen plans to plunge the entire world of Golarion into a frozen eternal winter!  The Dancing Hut has the ability to locate Baba Yaga by retracing her steps.  She must be found, for only she can undo Queen Elvanna’s magic!  Operating the hut requires the use of keys, but Elvanna’s magic disabled them.  The Rider announced he could recharge them if the party would agree to take up his quest.  The team agreed, and he pulled forth a lock of white hair and a plague doctor mask.  He held them aloft and slashed his own throat with a dagger!  As his lifeblood spilled across the items, they surged with power.  The man crumpled to the ground, dead.

Black faerie magic swirled and rushed into the members of the party.  They realized the Black Rider, Herald of Baba Yaga the Queen of Witches, had passed on his mantle into each of them!  They were all now bound to Baba Yaga and the quest.  They realized they had a deep burning drive to fulfill their mission and suspected they would be unable to resist the urge long even if they wished.  They did not gain the full power of a Black Rider as the power was diluted among them all; however, the energy did bolster them greatly and enhance their natural aptitudes!

The team plunged through the portal and stumbled upon travelers besieged by a giant praying mantis!  The team defeated the mantis and befriended the travelers led by a ranger named Nadya Petska.  She invited them to travel with them to shelter from the approaching storm.  They learned they were now in Irrisen, land of the White Witches.  They also discovered the witches were looking for the Black Rider to finish him off.  In the evening, as the storm approached, an exotic stranger named Mierul Ardelain walked into camp.  The bizarre woman was obviously faerie but seemed something else as well.  She certainly made Nadya very nervous.  Mierul is a well-known bard and agent of the White Witches, and she was subtly asking for information about the Black Rider.  Nadya lied about the party being from a border town instead of being foreigners, and they believe she bought the tale.  After a while, she walked off into the swirling storm unconcerned by the ice and cold.

The next day the team continued toward the small town of Waldsby.  Along the way, a murder of crows swarmed the party!  Nadya and her friends threw tarps over the team to hide them from being spotted by the crows, notorious spies of the witches.  Once in Waldsby, several of the townsfolk figured out they were foreign.  However, the team managed to make a few friends and learn more about the movements of the soldiers of the Pale Tower of a White Witch named Nazhena Vasilliovna.  They had been sent out all over scouring the land for signs of the Black Rider.

Later in Nadya’s cabin, she told them her youngest daughter, a blond seven-year-old named Thora, had been kidnapped by Nazhena after she insulted the witch in the marketplace.  She had hoped to bribe the witch for the return of her daughter with a shipment of food, which the party had helped protect from the mantis, but it had not worked.  Suddenly, Pale Tower guards arrived at the door demanding entry!  Nadya urged the party to hide while she went to talk to them.  They began to arrest her for conspiring with foreigners, and the party emerged to fight the guards.

A terribly brutal fight ensued.  Kenwrec charged in and landed a telling blow as Ten-Penny shot another guard in the throat with a crossbow bolt, killing him instantly.  Kenwrec was suddenly swarmed by guards and quickly cut down, bleeding onto the snow.  Magnus charged in as well, but he just couldn’t land a solid shot with his greatsword.  Tiswichtt cast chill touch and began sapping the strength of one of the guards.  Meanwhile, Nadya broke free and picked up a longsword from a fallen guard.  Magnus fell under a barrage of blows as the ladies moved in to help Tiswichtt.  The three were able to slay the remaining guards and dump a potion of cure light wounds down Magnus’ throat.  The revived cleric then channeled lots of positive energy to heal the party.  With the guards dead, Nadya said she had only two remaining choices:  abandon her home leaving Thora behind or storm the Pale Tower and try to kill Nazhena to rescue her daughter.  The team agreed to help her storm the tower.

She invited them back into her cabin where she revealed a domovoi fey living in her home!  His name is Hatch, and he once worked in the Pale Tower.  He had fled and taken refuge in Nadya’s home.  He knows the layout and was able to give the party information they needed, including the pass phrases to activate the teleportation crystals between several levels since the tower has no stairs.  The team revealed to Nadya they are collectively the Black Rider, and she beamed with encouragement at the thought of going into battle with the enemy of her enemy!  She retrieved her bow, axe, and pick and told the team to rest up, it was going to be a bloody day.

Game summary for November 29, 2016, 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.

As Tulvur plunged into the pit, a pair of winter-touched sprites and an atomie attacked!  Tiny frigid arrows whipped through the icy air staggering Tiswichtt.  Deska quickly dropped her spear and tied a rope around her waist to try and help Tulvur out of the ice pit.  Before she could drop the rope down, the atomie shrunk her with faerie magic!  It followed this with hurled magic stones from its sling.  Ten-Penny was able to engage and bring down one of the sprites while Tiswichtt went toe-to-toe with the other.  Deska managed to extract Tulvur and draw her dagger to assist Tiswichtt.  The atomie also shrunk Tiswichtt!  Tulvur unleashed a barrage of crossbow bolts at the atomie and drove it off into the forest.  He then spun about and put a bolt through the face of the other sprite.  The atomie returned having consumed a healing potion as a moss troll emerged from a cave!  It plunged its spear into Tiswichtt as she hit it with a chill touch to sap its strength.

Things looked bleak, but Tulvur was able to put pressure on the troll by closing into melee with Icebiter as Ten-Penny hit the atomie with a tanglefoot bag.  She was then able to kill it as it was stuck to the top of the igloo.  She worked her way around to flank the troll, and the team unleashed upon it.  As it fell, Ten-Penny yelled, “burn it!”  Needing no further prompting, Deska pulled out her flint and steel and lit it on fire!

Game summary for November 22, 2016, 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), and Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team proceeded down the trail and found a warning written in the snow stating, “Turn back before the winter devours you.”  The team ignored it, and it exploded in a blast of frigid cold harming much of the party and killing a horse and a pony.

The team pressed on and ran afoul the injured giant weasel that tore into the party.  It attached itself to Magnus and ripped his flesh open, spraying crimson blood across the snow.  The team was able to defeat the animal and save Magnus, but he was badly injured.  He used the powers granted him by Gorum to heal injuries, and the team began setting up their pavilion to rest.  Kenwrec and Tulvur headed back the way they came to investigate the exploded snowbank a bit further.  Meanwhile, some elemental creatures of winter attacked Magnus, Deska, and their companion, Ten-Penny Tacey.  Magnus again took a beating while Ten-Penny managed a critical sneak attack to drop one of the creatures.  A charge from Magnus killed the other.  Finally, the rest of the team returned, and they made camp.

The next morning they awoke to find Deska and Magnus ill with chillbane shakes!  Using guidance, they were able to treat one another and nurse themselves back to health over a couple of days.  They then set out and found what they believed to be the winter portal surrounded by igloos.  Tulvur crept into the first igloo and plunged 20 feet to the bottom of an icy pit!

Game summary for November 15, 2016, 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 secured a pony for Tulvur to ride and headed back into the forest looking for the winter portal.  Along the way, they came across bloody tracks leading them to the frozen body of Dryden Kepp.  They discovered a journal on his person and learned he was hunting a giant weasel and had set out bear traps.  He apparently injured it and ended up getting mauled to death by it up on the ridge.  The team recovered a couple magical arrows and a flask of applejack.

Soon the team came upon a clearing where something had been digging.  Deska moved up to uncover the buried items and was attacked by frost firs!  The wooden creatures swung violently, and Deska fell back and caught one with entangle while Tulvur shook the other with his fearsome demeanor.  Tulvur’s axe proved particularly well-suited to fighting the trees, and the team defeated them in short order.

The group continued through the forest and found Dryden’s bear traps which they claimed for their own.  They then came upon a field of icy boulders setup in some kind of maze before a log hut.  A little girl kept yelling at them as they moved through the ice and eventually warned them to run.  The group began noticing frozen corpses within the ice, and Tulvur had a bit of a breakdown.  The party dragged him along, and they stood before the hut. Sitting in a chair was a small child-like doll that resembled the little girl; however, the doll was old and wrinkled.  It possessed one blue gemstone eye and one mirror eye reflecting the sun.  The party found odd things began happening, like lights appearing in the hut, doors opening and closing, and so on.  Eventually, Deska tried to attack the doll, which provoked it to stab her in the neck!  The doll came to life and began to hover in mid-air.  It succeeded in charming Tiswichtt, but the team brought it down before the witch could unleash wrath upon her allies.

After defeating the doll, the team found a trail behind the cabin leading further into the valley.

Game summary for October 25, 2016, 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), and Tulvur Xandersen (Dwarf Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team charged out the doors of the lodge to engage the zombies and the bandit leader Rokhar Cindren!  Deska cleverly cast entangle and impeded several zombies and the cleric too, allowing the team to close the distance unscathed.  Ten-Penny proved her worth by flanking and backstabbing a zombie to death.  Tulvur and Kenwrec engaged two other zombies while Deska and Magnus moved in toward Rokhar.  The evil cleric cast hold person at Deska to no effect.  She retaliated by hurling a dagger over the ensorcelled ground to strike him in the ribs.

The zombies proved ineffective combatants, but they did force the team to slow down and bunch up.  This allowed Rokhar to blast members of the party with channeled negative energy!  The continued barrage nearly killed Kenwrec, collapsing him in a heap.  The team was able to cut down the zombies, and Deska realized she had to dismiss her entangle spell to allow her team to get in close.  The moment it dropped, Magnus charged with his greatsword and cut down the priest.  The team looted his body and divided the spoils, with his bizarre magical cloak of the yeti going to Deska.

The group returned to the lodge and unlocked the mystery chest using the keys found on Rokhar’s body.  They went upstairs and discovered a captured sprite, Vrixx, enclosed in a cage.  Magnus healed his wounds, and Deska tried to befriend him.  Tulvur continued to nurse his distrust and dislike for Ten-Penny while Magnus debated how attracted he was to a half-orc.  After talking to Vrixx they discerned Lady Argentea was in a cellar.  They found a trapdoor beneath the bearskin rug.  The noblewoman was dirty but unharmed.  She was grateful for rescue but uncontrollably haughty.

The team rested the frigid night in the lodge and prepared to leave the next morning.  They went outside and realized they forgot to stable the horses, and all three froze to death.  Fortunately, the did discover three more in the stable.  The team rode out and returned to Heldren.

Once outside the winter circle, Vrixx told them the source of the cold was a magical winter portal deeper in the woods.  In exchange for freedom, he agreed to divulge what he knew.  He let them know the portal leads to the land of Irrisen.  He expressed great fear of the portal guardian, a troll named Teb Knotten.  Vrixx wished them luck and hoped Teb did not eat them.  He then flew off to parts unknown.

Lady Argentea awarded the party a purse of 500 gold coins for her rescue.  Meanwhile, Councilor Ionnia Teppen voiced her concerns for the continued winter storm just outside the town.  Tulvur went about trying to find someone who may know Ten-Penny or something about her past or trustworthiness.

Game summary for October 11, 2016, 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.

Bloody brutality erupted as the bandits charged to kill the intruders.  Kenwrec leapt forward and cut one down with a single swipe of his mighty dwarven axe!  Magnus and Deska darted across the field toward the archer.  Tulvur gutted another bandit as Tiswichtt spun her orc double axe in a mighty arc to decapitate the bandit assaulting her!  Deska mortally wounded the archer while Kenwrec cut down the last of their foes.

The team swept into the lodge and began searching rooms.  They discovered four sick bandits coughing with flu-like symptoms.  The team managed to intimidate them into leaving the lodge!  They then moved into the kitchen and found themselves facing the loaded crossbow of a powerful young half-orc woman named Ten-Penny Tacey.  After some negotiation, she agreed to join them in the search for Rokhar in exchange for a full share of the loot.

The group moved upstairs and found a room occupied by two frost skeletons empowered by winter’s fury.  The frigid creatures possessed a damaging aura anathema to most life.  Kenwrec jumped up on a table and ran toward a skeleton, only to miss in his attack.  Deska closed in and narrowly avoided a deadly swipe by using her windy escape spell.  Tulvur noticed something brush past him and heard the stairs creak.  Magnus channeled positive energy to disrupt the undead and moved to the balcony to watch the doors to see if anyone was trying to escape.  Tulvur cut the leg off the table with an errant power attack while Deska tried to bull rush a skeleton through a window.  Ten-Penny emerged from the shadows and dealt a lethal sneak attack to one of the frost skeletons.  Tulvur managed to cut down the other.

Meanwhile, Magnus darted downstairs and went out the front door in pursuit of someone.  He found tracks in the snow and discovered four of the bodies of slain bandits rising up in a mockery of life!  The zombies turned and lurched toward the lodge!

Game summary for September 27, 2016, 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), and Tiswichtt (Orc Witch played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team got up and packed their pavilion.  Heading out into the woods, they came across a frozen body lying partially buried in the snow.  They found it appeared to have been flash frozen.  The team recovered several items and some coins.  On the hilt of the dagger they found the name “Dansby.”

The group continued through the forest and discovered a line of hoof prints which they tracked through the snow.  Eventually they heard arguing and found three men standing by a trio of horses.  The men argued over a pouch and who would get the larger shares.  The team listened and heard them talking about someone named Rokhar and raiding a caravan.  Eventually the argument broke up, and one man went to the horses and another to relieve himself by a tree.  The group ambushed the team at that moment!  Kenwrec ran from the cover of the trees and hurled a dagger into the back of the occupied man.  Tiswichtt hurried out behind the dwarf and cast chill touch on the surprised man, freezing him to death.

Magnus charged out of hiding, and in a booming voice demanded the remaining two men surrender.  The one by the horses leapt upon his steed, but Magnus’ sword met him in the air and sliced across his throat.  The man fell to the ground and died from the grievous wound.  The remaining man lost his nerve and tried to flee through the snow.  Kenwrec and Tiswichtt, wearing snowshoes, pursued quickly!  The orc witch was able to bash the fleeing man across the back of the head with the flat of her axe, knocking him unconscious.

The team spent time interrogating the man and learned he is a bandit working for a man named Rokhar who is holed up in a lodge in the woods.  Rokhar had kidnapped a woman and was holding her hostage.  The man said about a dozen men were with Rokhar, and he even gave them the gang’s safe passphrase, “We’ve come to join the party.”  The team ended up letting the man go free as they got on the horses and rode off to the lodge.

The group spied on the lodge for a while and eventually decided to approach under the guise of looking for work as bandits.  One of their horses tripped a wire that caused a crossbow to fire into Kenwrec’s arm and sound a crude alarm.  Bandits poured out of the lodge and aimed bows at the team.  Parley ensued, and Magnus uttered the passphrase.  The man barking orders sneered and yelled, “Hear that, boys?  They’ve come to join the party.  Kill them!”

Game summary for September 20, 2016, 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), 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 across a trail of hoofprints crossing their route.  As they examined them, a great white stag appeared and began to speak with the team.  The team was a bit surprised at the stag’s higher pitched voice.  They talked for a while about why they were in the forest and the fey allegedly all around.  After a while, Deska approached the stag which seemed to agitate it.  Soon the animal was eating out of the druid’s hand and yet protesting the whole time.  Deska realized something was not right.  The stag’s behavior did not match what it was saying.  She realized a fey was involved!  A winter-touched atomie revealed itself when it attacked her.  It used fey magic to shrink her spear to toothpick size.  The team stormed in and tried to surround the faerie.  It attacked with a rapier and tried unsuccessfully to shrink Deska.  Tulvur stepped up and killed the nasty creature with Icebiter, the cold iron longsword they gained from Yuln.

The group traveled on to a frozen creek and discovered a snowman with a sign warning against trespassers.  Tulvur fired two crossbow bolts into it with little effect.  The team approached, and the snowman spoke!  It again warned them to leave.  Tiswichtt got closer and triggered an explosion of sound.  It stunned the witch and caused two ice elementals to emerge from the water.  They attacked the party viciously with their frigid touch.  Tiswichtt recovered and hit one with chill touch.  All Might moved in to try and flank, and Tulvur tried to slide across the ice into better position but plunged through!  The team quickly put down the elementals and hauled their dwarven friend out of the water.  He stripped as Deska built a fire and All Might began erecting the pavilion.  Afterward the team used healing skills and spells to nurse injuries and settled in for the evening.

Game summary for September 13, 2016, 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), 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 woke up in their pavilion and stowed it for their continued journey.  Deeper in the woods the snows swelled into great drifts slowing the team to a crawl.  Deska noticed movement under the snow as a great arctic tatzlwyrm burst from the snow to pounce her.  She uttered windy escape and avoided its attack and then countered with a devastating spear thrust.  The team converged, and All Might landed a killing blow.

The team moved on and found an area of more shallow snow.  In the trees they discovered frozen crows riddled with arrows.  As they looked, lights in the trees behind them began to glow.  Deska spoke in Sylvan trying to elicit a response.  Winter-touched sprites revealed themselves from the branches of nearer trees and unleashed a barrage of tiny frigid arrows.  Tiswichtt spun about and scorched a tree with burning hands as Kenwrec stumbled over to chop at another.  Deska attempted to entangle a sprite without success.  All Might called upon the power of Gorum to bless the party.  The team found movement through the snow frustrating as the sprites continued to hit them with arrows.  Deska caught one of the sprites, Pym, with a hurled spear.  All Might galloped his horse forward and bravely stood in the saddle.  At the last moment, he leapt into the air and cut Pym in half with his axe before crashing into the ground no longer occupied by his running horse.  The sprites flitted from tree-to-tree unleashing arrows and taunts all along the way.  Both eventually used their color spray abilities to try and incapacitate the team, but no one succumbed.  Magnus doomed one of the sprites, and Tulvur methodically kept a stream of crossbow bolts flying at the annoying fey.  One finally connected and impaled a sprite, Shor, to an embankment, killing her instantly.  The final sprite’s resolve broke, and she flew out through the forest and over the snow to parts unknown.