Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for July 3, 2018, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Baknarla (Adlet Shaman played by Shane Bradley), Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Averdick), Kenwrec Battleglaive (Kobold Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Dwarf Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Nikolai Pavlenko (Human Fighter played by Casey Scruggs), Svala Alehorn (Orc Unchained Barbarian played by Todd Hughes), and Tulvur Xandersen (Troglodyte Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Six of the ectoplasmic mediums stopped restraining the ghost of Tsarina Alexandra and attacked the party!  Kenwrec bravely stepped forward and was killed almost immediately.  Greta blessed the party while the mediums walked through walks to try and surround the party.  Deska used her cauldron to summon a fire giant and two stone giants, which nearly filled the house!  Magnus and Svala engaged with their powerful melee weapons while Nikolai unleashed a barrage of bullets still enhanced by Greta’s magic weapon spell.  The giants proved helpful in the battle and allowed Deska to maneuver to blast off a fire snake that devastated the entities.  Several of the team took hits and negative levels, but they maintained the pressure and soon wore their foes down.

After freeing the Tsarina, they began talking to her.  They learned that Anastasia is not only an heir to the Russian throne, but she is Rasputin’s daughter, and thus, granddaughter of Baba Yaga!  They were a bit shocked and realized there were plots within plots going on.  They figured out the spirits were holding the Tsarina to prevent her from telling anyone about Anastasia’s lineage.

The team then searched the house and found Viktor’s plans for the World Engine!  Tulvur’s expertise in engineering proved extraordinarily valuable, and he was able to make out a lot of information including that reconfiguring all four World Anchors within one hour of each other could force the World Engine to bring back the monastery.  Meanwhile, Magnus found a black cloak that he identified as a powerful magical item.  Deska immediately put it on and discovered it was cursed!  She burst into flame and flailed about on the floor trying to extinguish herself.  Magnus pulled out a scroll and was able to remove the curse long enough for Deska to extricate herself from the cloak of immolation.

Game summary for June 19, 2018, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: All Might (Human Warpriest played by Andrew Renfrow), Baknarla (Adlet Shaman played by Shane Bradley), Kenwrec Battleglaive (Kobold Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Dwarf Cleric played by Chris Harmon), and Nikolai Pavlenko (Human Fighter played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

While nursing their wounds, a soldier slipped into the barn and introduced himself as Captain Nikolai Pavlenko and told them how he has slipped the mind-control of the Brothers Three and would like to assist the team in getting the Romanov children out of the camp.  With his assistance, they got out of the barn and across the camp.  They decided to explore the Abbott House believing the Brothers Three and Rasputin to be in the monastery in the Thrice-Tenth Kingdom.

The team burst in and found Rasputin sitting in a chair holding a matryoshka doll!  Baknarla believed him to be an image and walked up to poke him.  Indeed, this was just an image!  However, Rasputin’s image hit Baknarla with a destruction spell!  The mighty adlet survived but barely.  Meanwhile, Kenwrec for some reason opened another door and found 8 spectres with ectoplasmic tendrils holding a ghost in stasis.  Rasputin then released four Romanov souls, the spirits of the sisters Olga, Tatiana, and Maria and their brother Alexei, to attack the party!  Baknarla was slain by the spirits, and Kenwrec was brutalized as well.  All Might’s death ward spell protected him from the spirits, and Magnus cast a holy sword to combat them.  Greta enhanced Nikolai’s rifle with magic weapon, and the firearm, similar to what was used in their execution, proved quite effective against them.  Eventually, the team was able to defeat all four spirits, but not before several of the party members were cursed and forced to suffer the spirits’ last moments of execution.  Meanwhile, Rasputin’s image disappeared to parts unknown.

Game summary for June 5, 2018, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: All Might (Human Warpriest played by Andrew Renfrow), Baknarla (Adlet Shaman played by Shane Bradley), Kenwrec Battleglaive (Kobold Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Dwarf Cleric played by Chris Harmon), and Yelnoth the Dark (Winterborn Triaxian Sorcerer played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team went to investigate the bear barn, and they stepped into numerous bear traps!  The barn door flew open, and the Bear Hunter, dressed in horrific spiked armor, blasted All Might with both barrels of a double-barrel shotgun!  Blood sprayed across Magnus behind him, and All Might nearly went down.  A trio of polar bears snarled and paced behind the Hunter.  Kenwrec used a slayer’s advance to close in on the fight but then found himself grappled by bears and batted around back and forth between them until he was ultimately mauled to death.

Yelnoth used disintegrate to wound the Bear Hunter, and Baknarla and Magnus moved into melee range.  All Might found himself unable to free himself from the bear trap, so he cut through the chain and clomped around with a trap on his foot.  Greta healed some of his damage, as did Magnus.  The Bear Hunter proved a formidable raging foe piercing away with a nasty boar spear and her frightful headbutts.

Much to their horror, the team realized the soldiers in the trench a few feet away heard the shotgun blast, and the sound of machinegun fire ripped through the air.  The team was nearly torn apart in a hail of gunfire.  Then, the soldiers in the guard tower by the gate began shooting down on the team.  Yelnoth went down under the barrage, but Greta breathed life into him again.  Baknarla had hit the trench with an ice storm, and Yelnoth had used a fireball, but they were still engaged.  Baknarla dropped an obfuscating sleet storm over them.  Meanwhile, Magnus hit the tower with flame strike, which started it on fire and caused the burned soldiers to scurry down to the ground.  Then, the trench soldiers hurled a dozen or more grenades into the snow.  The resulting explosion sent Yelnoth right back into the cold embrace of death.  However, since they were throwing blindly, they did not realize they were ripping apart their allies as well.

The team dropped the Bear Hunter and the bears, too late to rescue Kenwrec, and fled into the barn.  Greta, badly injured from explosions and dozens of bullet wounds, cut down the remaining soldiers and charged in after the group.  They managed to close the doors and started tending to their wounds for a moment knowing the entire army would soon converge on this building.  How will the heroes escape?

Game summary for May 29, 2018, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Baknarla (Adlet Shaman played by Shane Bradley), Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Averdick), Kenwrec Battleglaive (Kobold Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Dwarf Cleric played by Chris Harmon), and Yelnoth the Dark (Winterborn Triaxian Sorcerer played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

First, the party walked up to one of the towers allegedly housing a world anchor.  The guards asked what they wanted, and eventually they walked away.

The team decided to explore the prison barracks.  Inside, they found thirty prisons chained to beds and seemingly insane.  One man, Oleg, spoke with them thinking at first they were soldiers.  They revealed their illusionary disguises and talked to him about joining their cause.  They examined the prisoners and became convinced the Brothers Three are vampires feeding on these people. For some reason, they believed they could starve out three vampires among a camp filled with hundreds of soldiers by murdering the defenseless captives.  Yelnoth blasted a horrendous fiery spell across half the room, brutally slaying several prisoners and setting a conflagration to consume the rest.  The group then ran out of the barracks.

The guards in the tower outside the barracks demanded to know what they were doing.  Deska began hollering back, but since she didn’t speak Russian, they got suspicious and opened fire.  Several of the party were hit by numerous bullets before Baknarla dropped a fog cloud and allowed the team to slip away.  Soldiers came running from all around as the team carefully tried to look inconspicuous in their disguises.  Half-a-dozen headless Cossacks thundered past, and the group decided it was a good time to explore the Cossack camp.

Inside the camp, the group found a hideous rotting goat with a lantern hanging about its neck.  Yelnoth cast true seeing and realized a soul was trapped in the lantern.  The group moved forward and were washed in the lantern’s light which broke Magnus’ nerve.  The goat then charged and injured Kenwrec.  The team swarmed around and killed it.  They then smashed the lantern, propped the goat up on a stick, and cast light on the lantern fragments before fleeing back into the camp.

Next, the group walked through the inner gate and approached the bear barn…

Game summary for May 22, 2018, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: All Might (Human Warpriest played by Andrew Renfrow), Baknarla (Adlet Shaman played by Shane Bradley), Kenwrec Battleglaive (Kobold Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Dwarf Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Svala Alehorn (Orc Unchained Barbarian played by Todd Hughes), and Tulvur Xandersen (Troglodyte Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team summoned Zilvazaraat the Mercane and purchased hats of disguise.  They also collected gas masks from the defeated soldiers.  Kenwrec was able to drive the vehicle, and the team was able to get past the gate.  They then began walking around the complex under disguise.  They walked by a spring and encountered a nude faerie woman who tried to get them to come closer to her.  The group, pretending to be soldiers, claimed to be on patrol and left.  They roamed a bit following the map the captured soldier had sketched.  They slipped into the surgery area and found it inhabited by an interlocutor kyton!  It tried to kill them and add them to its growing body, but the team cut it down.

Exploring the horrific hospital, they found two teenagers in the closet!  The girl seemed confused and a bit crazy.  The boy continued trying to comfort her.  They learned the girl is Anastasia and the boy is Alexei, the heirs to the throne of the Russian Empire!  The girl went back and forth from believing Rasputin is her friend or enemy, and Alexei continued assuring her Rasputin was a friend who brought her back from death.  Anastasia kept saying someone had dragged her into a basement and shot her, although the team could find no sign of injury.  Finally, the team convinced the kids to continue hiding in the closet until they return.

The group then investigated the brewery and found it taken over by a family of zemlemer trackers, Russian yetis!  A short but violent skirmish ensued.  Baknarla summoned an ice elemental, All Might blasted down with a flame strike.  The team took down the yetis and extinguished the now burning building using the melting elemental!

Game summary for May 15, 2018, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Baknarla (Adlet Shaman played by Shane Bradley), Kenwrec Battleglaive (Kobold Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Dwarf Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Svala Alehorn (Orc Unchained Barbarian played by Todd Hughes), and Yelnoth the Dark (Winterborn Triaxian Sorcerer played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Baknarla used wind walk to approach the complex and was driven back under a hail of machinegun fire.  She was badly wounded, but the team was able to heal her.  Baknarla then used commune with nature to get some more information about the complex.  They decided to try and capture some soldiers and use their uniforms to get inside.  They waited and ambushed two jeeps full of soldiers and used blasts of cold to try and kill them.  Several threw grenades, and they opened fire on Yelnoth.  Kenwrec used his sap to bash one soldier unconscious.  Greta took several severe hits from bayonets before unleashing a blast of negative energy that dropped several of the soldiers dead in their tracks.  The team soon overwhelmed the remaining soldier and forced the two prisoners to drive the jeeps to the Dancing Hut.  They took the bodies, and Shatha used his cold breath and wings to cover their tracks.

The team interrogated the soldiers and found out a lot of information.  From observing the prisoners, they deduced they are somehow magically dominated or compelled.  The team confirmed they are in a far-off land called Russia.  They learned the monastery was recently consumed in a blaze of purple light, but by the grace of God it returns to its former glory from time-to-time.  They learned of four World Anchors in the towers built by Viktor Miloslav, a hunchbacked inventor with a prosthetic leg.  He apparently disappeared after being dragged before Rasputin and several chaplains (called the Brothers Three) and some strange goat with a lantern.  They learned the camp is built through an old cemetery, and there is a strange little girl who seems to lurk around there.  The group learned the correct gestures and passphrase to get passed the gate, so the team plans to walk right in wearing stolen uniforms.

Game summary for May 8, 2018, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Baknarla (Adlet Shaman played by Shane Bradley), Kenwrec Battleglaive (Kobold Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Dwarf Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Svala Alehorn (Orc Unchained Barbarian played by Todd Hughes), and Yelnoth the Dark (Winterborn Triaxian Sorcerer played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

After defeating the fiery corpse orgy, the team noticed the Dancing Hut was agitated and went crashing through the woods in a swathe of destruction.  The group quickly followed and found a large expanse of area devoid of trees.  Across the way stood a huge compound and some kind of ruined monastery.  Two strange metal hulking contraptions rolled up, and everyone except Magnus hid.  The things unleashed a barrage of gunfire upon Magnus.  He then tried to jump on one and instead got run over.  Baknarla then got run over.  And then, Kenwrec and Greta.  Greta hit one with a flame strike, and Yelnoth teleported inside one and blasted it apart with a flurry of icy spells.  Svala hurled a grenade, which damaged the other and mulched Magnus’ corpse.  Svala then charged in and used her magical axe to rip apart the other.

The group fled into the “safety” of the Dancing Hut and spoke with the Coffin Man some more.  They reincarnated Magnus (into a female dwarf), and he used some magic to study his surroundings more.  He realized this world, Earth as called by the Coffin Man, is mostly magic dead.  However, this structure is overflowing with dangerous stolen power funneled in from somewhere else.  The team speculates it must come from Baba Yaga’s Thrice-Tenth Kingdom, a faerie land of dark power.  The group also realized the Dancing Hut seems somehow warded from entry and that Rasputin’s guards are not attacking the Hut.

Game summary for May 1, 2018, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Alfbern Winterbloom (Half-Elf Inquisitor played by Preston Harmon), Baknarla (Adlet Shaman played by Shane Bradley), Kenwrec Battleglaive (Kobold Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Koloth Kruge (Centaur Ranger played by Parker Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Trollkin Cleric played by Chris Harmon), and Svala Alehorn (Orc Unchained Barbarian played by Todd Hughes). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Baknarla provided the team with more cover using a fog cloud over the metal contraption.  The group moved across the street to investigate a large fire as the machine began shelling their former position.  The team noticed a bearded black-garbed man standing by the fire.  As they approached, they realized the flames were burning a large pile of corpses!  They spoke with the man, who could speak thickly accented Common, and realized it was Grigori Rasputin!  He warned them they are too late, that he will soon control Baba Yaga’s Thrice-Tenth Kingdom.  The group talked a while and finally decided to attack.  Baknarla summoned a heard of ice elementals!  However, they discovered this was merely an illusion or projection of Rasputin.  They tried to rush passed and go up the road, but he spoke some mystic word of command, and the team was unable to move from their location.  Only Baknarla avoided the effect.  Then, a fiery orgy of corpses rose up from the burning pile and attacked!  The animated monstrosity tore into the team, particularly Baknarla.  The group struggled, mostly unable to advance, so spells were hurled and arrows fired.  It took some time, but finally the group wore it down, and Shatha’s cold breath weakened it enough for Baknarla to kill it with her spear.

The image of Rasputin faded away as he warned he would see them soon.

Game summary for April 24, 2018, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Baknarla (Adlet Shaman played by Shane Bradley), Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Averdick), Tulvur Xandersen (Troglodyte Fighter played by Taylor Averdick), and Yelnoth the Dark (Winterborn Triaxian Sorcerer played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team sat down and played cards with the Coffin Man and found he was willing to gamble knowledge.  For each hand they one, the party could ask a question.  For each they lost, he asked a question.  The team discovered that Baba Yaga had been lured to this planet and entrapped by her son, the “Mad Monk” Grigori Rasputin.  She came because he had been murdered, yet he did not die.  He managed to somehow use magic and technology to imprison her.  They learned he and his army have taken over a small town in this frozen landscape.  The Coffin Man warned Rasputin’s army possesses terrible and deadly technology.  Finally, they sufficiently befriended the Coffin Man, and he agreed to let them pass.  He gifted them with a trove of magic to help rescue his “cousin” Baba Yaga.

The group emerged from the hut into a wintery land with a burned out village at the bottom of a hill.  As the team descended the hill, they came upon strange metal discs buried in the ground.  Several in the group accidentally stepped upon these discs, and they exploded!  The explosions alerted strange men in the village below.  They pointed long sticks at the party, and sharp sounds erupted.  The snow burst up in tufts as whizzing projectiles hurtled all around.  Then, a THUMP! sound shook the air, and a strange oblong object arced through the sky and fell among the team.  When it landed, it exploded!  Showered in snow, stone, and shrapnel, the team began to try and close in.  Tulvur charged through a minefield, hitting several on his way.  Shatha flew over the field to land beside him.  Greta and Deska dropped flame strikes on the burned buildings sheltering the masses of soldiers.  Yelnoth came around behind the group using teleport.  Baknarla was concerned about a large metal wheeled contraption nearby and pummeled it with ice storm.  She also dropped a sleet storm over the enemy troops.  Yelnoth blasted away with fire, Shatha breathed cold, and Tulvur waded in with sword swinging.  Finally, all the troops lay dead, and the team collected a couple odd contraptions.

Game summary for April 17, 2018, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Kenwrec Battleglaive (Kobold Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Svala Alehorn (Orc Unchained Barbarian played by Todd Hughes), and Yelnoth the Dark (Winterborn Triaxian Sorcerer played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team discovered a pair of bogeymen in the candy room, and a nasty battle ensued!  One of the bogeymen used phantasmal killer on Magnus, and his heart gave out.  The noble cleric dropped dead from fright!  Svala recognized the fey and their weaknesses.  He entered a rage and used his dwarven axe to good effect.  Greta picked up Magnus’ fallen sword, knowing from Svala, that its heavy enchantment would damage the fey.  Yelnoth attempted a lightning bolt, but it failed to overcome spell resistance; however, his wall of fire was effective.  Kenwrec struggled to deal damage with his axe, but its flaming quality was somewhat effective.  Before moving on, Magnus was reincarnated into a female trollkin!

The team then climbed up the chimney and found themselves in a room filled with skulls with flickering flames in the eyes.  Whiskey barrels were scattered about the room, and a doll lay on a table.  They noticed the skulls were whispering “Vasilisa” over and over.  The group found the doll was nailed to crossed boards and had been bashed, gouged, and abused.  Suddenly, the doll moved and muttered.  Yelnoth cast communal tongues, and they realized the doll was begging for help.  They realized it looked oddly malnourished, so they fed her.  They used magic and determined the nails were trapped and would cause something horrific to happen with the skulls.  They tried smashing a skull, and nothing bad happened, so Magnus cast protection from energy (fire) and then painstakingly smashed every single skull.  Afterward, they freed the doll and healed it with mending.  They learned this was Vasilisa’s doll long ago, but it may have been trapped and tormented here by Baba Yaga for hundreds of years.

The doll was able to tell them of another exit from the room, below the barrels.  The group descended and found a skeletal creature sitting at a chair dealing cards.  It claimed to be Baba Yaga’s cousin…