Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for January 31, 2023, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Intevar Dagella (Centurian Drow Silent Hunter played by Casey Scruggs), Jiraiya (Hurwaeti Freebooter played by Andrew Renfrow), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), and Neko (Half-Orc Magus played by Peyton Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The echoes of battle had just begun to fade when Shafi’s counterstrike arrived.  More armed humans and tengu swarmed in.  Behind them skuttled a drider!  It carried a large mace and had long flowing blonde hair.  They weren’t quite sure if it was originally male or female.  The drider recognized Stanley and Simmons and snarled.  “You!  You and your boss are so meddlesome!  This moon isn’t big enough for all of us.  You keep showing up and interrupting our business!  We’re not gonna take it.  No, we ain’t gonna take it.  We’re not gonna take it anymore!”

Stanley snarled as well.  “It’s Dee, Dee Spider.  He’s twisted, sister.”  With blades drawn, the two forces crashed together! 

The drider split the room with wall of fire and burned several of the party.  Dastardly cads and tengu vandals engaged the party with various degrees of success.  The divided room slowed the party’s advance and effectiveness.  Dee Spider cast create pit and tried to drop Helg into it but failed.  The pit further slowed the team.  Simmons took a devastating blow but countered with a lethal one to his opponent.  Intevar put her bow to very deadly effect while Jiraiya began his deadly dance.  Neko unleashed magic missiles and fireballs.  Khesen was blasted by a fire-converted lightning bolt that nearly killed him.  Dee then fled using dimension door! 

Game summary for January 24, 2023, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Intevar Dagella (Centurian Drow Silent Hunter played by Casey Scruggs), Jiraiya (Hurwaeti Freebooter played by Andrew Renfrow), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), and Neko (Half-Orc Magus played by Peyton Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team decided to do some equipment shopping and then went out and found two more businesses for investments.  The first was Muckbuckle’s Marvelous Munchables, a tinker gnome bakery that hasn’t had an explosion in hours.  The second was Lezah’s House of Practical Magic, a place where they teach how to use magic in industry and everyday life.  The group invested 10,000 gp in each.

The group sat around the Low Dive enjoying an early evening dinner and talking to the locals when a tiefling strolled in.  The locals gave him a wide berth, and he walked up to the table.  He introduced himself as Stanley and invited them to come meet with his boss, Mugsy.  After he left, they asked around about him and confirmed he is a local criminal, and Mugsy is the neighborhood crime lord.  Stanley is a wicked sorcerer known for a love of magic involving skulls and demons.  He also has a maniacal axe-wielding brother named Simmons.  They also learned the Low Dive pays protection money to Mugsy. 

A few hours later, Stanley returned to get them and led them through the under halls where they met up with Simmons.  They escorted the party to meet the criminal mastermind, the one and only Mugs Money.  The harengon crime lord was quite gracious and hired them to strike out against his new rival, Shafi Schmuck.  He sent Stanley and Simmons with them, and the brothers were chomping at the bit for some mayhem. 

They arrived at a chamber where Shafi was moving goods stolen from Mugs.  Shafi ordered his human and tengu guards to attack while he fled out the back.  Simmons entered a rage and swelled to double his normal size!  The team moved in and engaged.  At first, both sides exchanged a couple solid hits.  Helg cast ring of blades and rushed in.  Khesen attacked a tengu who redirected his attack right into Intevar!  JIraiya nimbly moved about the battlefield whacking opponents with his flail.  Intevar setup some flanks, and Neko unleashed mind thrust.  A margoyle swooped in from the darkness above and attacked Neko.  Meanwhile, Simmons scored a critical hit and cut one of the humans, a despicable cad, completely in two.  Moments later, Neko did the same.  Stanley cast a calling and brought in a gelatinous cube!  The ooze began engulfing guards and dissolving them!  The team took down the rest of the enemies, and Stanley and Simmons began feeding bodies to the ooze and leading it away from the chamber! 

Game summary for January 17, 2023, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Intevar Dagella (Centurian Drow Silent Hunter played by Casey Scruggs), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), Neko (Half-Orc Magus played by Peyton Harmon), and Sienna Whispermist (Half-Elf Cleric / Illusionist / Rogue played by Todd Hughes). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The Perry arrived at Refuge, and the party could see the famed gardens and sprawling city on the small moon.  Orbiting the base were 24 massive stone golems equipped with spelljamming helms, ballistae, and armed crew—flying animated ships of destruction!  Swimming about the docks were space remora, void fish large enough to serve as mounts.  Astride each were armored knights carrying lances.  Cruising around to keep the peace was another blue and yellow squidship.  Stretching out behind Refuge as far as the eye could see was the Salvage Ring, a collection of shipwrecks used for parts, repairs, and salvage. 

Once docked, the team paid 67 gp in docking and air refreshment fees.  They talked to the tax collector and learned where to find Renaldo’s Respectable Reclamations, a place they could sell the vipership.  While walking through the dock ward, they heard a merchant yelling for a thief to stop.  A giff guard caught the man, and the man began screaming.  Next to the party, another man began screaming as well.  After a few moments, both exploded!  Not in gore and viscera, but into clouds of dust leaving only their clothing behind!  Everyone looked on in stunned amazement.  A woman fainted.  The guards began trying to usher people along claiming it was an illusionist trick. 

The group moved along and visited Renaldo.  He went with them to the docks to inspect the ship, and they haggled a bit.  In the end, they sold the ship for 43,500 gp!  After making the sale, they decided they should start investing rather than walking around with mountains of coins.  Following much debate, they decided they wanted to buy into a tavern.  They went into the Low Dive, a tavern near the docks.  After meeting the owner and carousing with the locals, they decided it was just the place they had in mind.  They invested 10,000 gp into the tavern.  They also decided they wanted to seek out a place that teaches magic and a tinker gnome enterprise to invest in.

While in the bar, they listened to the locals and gathered some rumors.  They weren’t sure how much truth was in each, but they did take note of several:

1. The entire city of Refuge is riddled with secret doors, hidden tunnels, and interconnecting ways.  They say every building has one to three secret entrances.
2. The underground tunnels are ruled by the Watcher Below, a gigantic beholder who kills and eats everything it catches.
3. The Arcane are strict in their laws and often remove trouble rather than try to arrest or detain.
4. A recently arrived ship was filled with a dead crew covered in crawling green worms. 
5. A contingent of rastipede traders have infiltrated Refuge and are slowly stealing trade from the Arcane.

They were able to confirm with their new business partner, Bueford, that the Low Dive does have a secret entrance into the under halls. 

Game summary for January 10, 2023, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Jiraiya (Hurwaeti Freebooter played by Andrew Renfrow), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), and Neko (Half-Orc Magus played by Peyton Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team nursed their wounds and searched the last room of the viper ship hold.  Within they found supplies to repair a ship along with a single medium chest.  Jiraiya tried to pick the lock only to later discover it wasn’t locked at all.  Within they found a horrifying item, a severed mind flayer head!  They realized it was preserved and tentacles braided together down into a handle.  Someone had crafted and enchanted a flayer flail!  Jiraiya immediately adopted it into his arsenal.  They also found several copper ingots and some amethysts. 

As they began searching the enemy bodies, they heard the giff and several human soldiers board the ship from the squid ship.  They met each other and began talking.  The giff, Captain Horatio Macefist, was thankful for their taking of the goblinoid vessel and let them know it was theirs by right of plunder.  Thus, the team acquired another ship, the Deathbite.  They learned it was powered by a lifejammer helm that permanently drains lifeforce to power the ship.  Unwilling to make that sacrifice they realized they lacked the helm-power to get the new ship, the cargo barge, and their ship to port.  After debating cutting the barge loose, they then asked Captain Macefist if he had any spare helms.  He told them he had an emergency furnace helm he could loan them since they were heading to his home base of Refuge.  He let them borrow it and stationed one of his men with them.  The tinker gnomes were overjoyed to have the unstable, potentially explosive, dangerous helm strapped in to their ship!

Two days’ journey later, they came across another Arcane squid ship, the Pride.  Jiraiya used semaphore to communicate with them and learned they were looking for them specifically and had a visitor seeking them.  The ship came alongside and requested permission to board.  Several soldiers crossed over along with an aging red-robed catfolk with brown fur and black stripes (tinged with silver).  He walked with a cane and urgently asked to speak with Botticelli.  He introduced himself as Needle and told the tortle that he had traveled from the nation of Wa in the lands of Kara-Tur of the planet Toril in Realmspace, the home of Botticelli’s egg clutch.  He informed Botticelli he is prophesied to be one of four heroes destined to become the mightiest samurai ever known.  Needle had come to return him to Kara-Tur and begin his training in the martial arts.  He also offered to hire the Perry and team to take them to the planet, which is just a short jaunt away from the Rock of Bral.  The party agreed, and he paid them 500 gp now, five potions of cure moderate wounds, and will pay another 2,500 gp when they arrive.  Next, he presented Botticelli with a beautiful matched set of daisho—a samurai katana and wakizashi. 

Botticelli’s training began immediately, and the team watched the proceedings in wonder and fascination.  Needle noted their interest and offered to teach the basics of ninjitsu to them as well.  So, the party has begun the process of learning from Master Needle! 

Game summary for January 3, 2023, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Intevar Dagella (Centurian Drow Silent Hunter played by Casey Scruggs), Jiraiya (Hurwaeti Freebooter played by Andrew Renfrow), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), and Neko (Half-Orc Magus played by Peyton Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Helg channeled positive energy and healed his allies.  The team then surged down into the main deck searching for more foes.  They found a hobgoblin in the galley, but he was cut down quickly.  The team opened the hatch to the cargo deck and found it full of enemy crew!  Enemy crew hurling lit fuse grenades through the opening!  Jiraiya rolled into the cargo hold and engaged the entire force himself!  He disarmed one and dealt several blows before being forced to flee.  Helg cast create water and put out two fuses.  The third was extinguished by Intevar.  Neko stepped forward and cast fireball through the hatch and burned the enemies below, but it also hit Jiraiya!  The already injured hurwaet was rendered unconscious from his wounds. 

Helg rushed forward and spontaneously cast cure critical wounds on Jiraiya.  Hekera, Intevar, and Khesen went down into the hold.  Intevar used targeting foreknowledge and tore into a corsair.  Khesen and Hekera then finished up the stragglers. 

Game summary for December 27, 2022, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Intevar Dagella (Centurian Drow Silent Hunter played by Casey Scruggs), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), and Neko (Half-Orc Magus played by Peyton Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The viper ship, not secured to the Perry, separated and started moving away with half the party on one ship and half on the other!  Intevar and Neko, stuck on the Perry, started shouting for the gnomes and fighting the blaze on the top deck.  Helg began channeling energy to heal the badly injured Hekera and Khesen, while the two of them began positioning to hurl area of effect items through the hatches.  One of the tinker gnomes came on deck with some kind of gnomish fire suppression system.  He promptly blew himself off the side of the ship, knocked himself out, and had to be rescued by Neko.  Intevar was able to finish extinguishing the fire.

Back on the viper ship, Hekera hurled a swarm spider grenade down one hatch while Khesen hurled a dung grenade down another.  Screams (and smells) erupted from down below!  The group opened the hatch to the helm a bit too early, and the swarm was driven out by the fires from the helmsman.  The spiders flowed over Helg and Hekera, biting and stinging!  They soon disappeared into ether as the magic ran out, however.  A trio of pirates swarmed up out of the other hatch and tore into the group, but they were quickly cut down. 

The Perry came around, and Intevar and Faylen used a rope and the ballista to tether the two ships.  Meanwhile, the squidship got closer and cheered the team on for using explosives!  The Perry was able to pull alongside the viper ship, and Neko tried to jump aboard.  He tripped and fumbled, falling down between the ships and was smashed as they bumped together!  Badly injured, he dragged himself back up onto the Perry. 

A trio of enemies came up out of the helm and attacked the team.  The corsair was brutal with its cutlass, and the pitborn bugbear evoker nearly killed Hekera with a magic missile!  However, the group rallied and brought to bear a horrendous assault, cutting down the rest of the enemies. 

Game summary for December 20, 2022, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Intevar Dagella (Centurian Drow Silent Hunter played by Casey Scruggs), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), and Neko (Half-Orc Magus played by Peyton Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The Perry swept in alongside the goblinoid viper ship after the team cast a couple spells to prepare.  The upper deck was swarming with goblinoids and their allies, and four goblin vulture pilots circled overhead.  The goblins hurled bombs down at the party and started the Perry on fire.  Neko blasted the monsters with a fireball, killing several.  Hekera jumped onto the viper ship to engage with his sword upon which Helg had cast bane weapon.  Shockingly, the massive ogre began casting a spell!  It covered the Perry‘s upper deck with a stinking cloud and incapacitated much of the team (and one of the vulture riders). 

Khesen (on fire) jumped blindly out of the fog onto the viper ship.  He and Hekera fought against the creatures in melee while orcs and gnolls unleashed arrows at them.  One of the ogren corsairs charged across deck and savaged Hekera with its cutlass.  The ogre cast snakeball but none of the party were poisoned.  It then cast deep slumber at Hekera, but he shook it off.  Neko unleashed scorching ray and magic missile while Intevar used arrows.  Faylen killed a hobgoblin that jumped onto the Perry, and put the ballista to work on the ogre.  The team cleared the upper deck and then killed all the vultures out from under the goblin pilots! 

Game summary for November 22, 2022, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Intevar Dagella (Centurian Drow Silent Hunter played by Casey Scruggs), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), and Neko (Half-Orc Magus played by Peyton Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The Perry had smooth sailing for a few more weeks through the beautiful Flow.  While sailing along, a pair of vicious flowfiends swept up over the rail and attacked the crew!  A flowfiend ripped into Hekera with its four arms and teeth!  Another grappled Neko and flew off the deck with him!  It took a ballista bolt to the side for its efforts and fled toward the edge of the air envelope with Neko while the other continued tearing into Hekera.  Khesen charged into the fray while Helg slashed away with spiritual weapon.  Intevar made her way on deck and hurled shuriken at the fleeing flowfiend.  Khesen drank a potion of fly while Hekera cut down the flowfiend fighting him.  They learned, though, it was regenerating!  Helg told them it required fire to kill them, and they are in the explosive phlogiston!  Neko used mind thrust III and a wand of magic missiles to incapacitate his assailant, and Khesen used his magical flight to outstanding effect to shuttle the unconscious flow fiends to the edge of the air envelope and off into the Flow.

The team made it to Refuge and spent a couple days seeking a portal.  Once within, they talked to Botticelli and convinced him to sign on as their cook rather than departing in Refuge. 

They went two days into Refuge and came upon a battle!  A squidship flying the flag of the Arcane was embattling a vipership packed with goblinoids!  The team debated and took a vote.  They would board the vipership and help the Arcane vessel!  The Perry began to close in as the team prepared their spells and weapons.

Game summary for November 15, 2022, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Intevar Dagella (Centurian Drow Silent Hunter played by Casey Scruggs), Jiraiya (Hurwaeti Freebooter played by Andrew Renfrow), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), and Neko (Half-Orc Magus played by Peyton Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

About two weeks further into their phlogiston journey, they swept up a petrified body in their air envelope.  Having once been lost in the Flow, Jiraiya leapt into action, literally.  He tied off a rope and jumped 30 feet into the air and grabbed the floating body!  The team then reeled them both in.  The body was that of a female elf wearing archaic armor.  She was also missing her left arm right below the elbow, and it was tied with a tourniquet.  They placed her in the barge shack, and Jiraiya and Neko stayed to watch over her as she “thawed” from stasis. 

The woman came awake and desperately sucked in air!  She fell out of the hammock and panicked when she saw Neko standing over her.  She snatched up one of Helg’s Valhallan idols and brandished it with her good arm.  She threatened Neko to stay back and started asking questions.  Initially hostile, she eventually calmed when Khesen came in to speak with her.  They soon figured out she was a sailor and marine in Elven Imperial Navy during the Unhuman Wars… over 4 centuries ago!  Her ship was under attack, and her arm was severed in the battle as she was thrown overboard.  She was somewhere outside of Krynnspace at the time and had drifted all the way out here! 

They told her where they were and where they were going, and she asked to hitch a ride.  She is native to the moon Selûne, which orbits the planet Toril in Realmspace.  The team is currently making its way to the Rock of Bral located in the Trail of Tears asteroids that follow behind Selûne.  She was very excited to have opportunity to return “home.” 

Close to a week later, the Perry flew into a spore cloud!  Large puff-like spores drifted all about, and when touched exploded in caustic acid!  The team rushed to action!  Khesen and Intevar used some outstanding spacemanship to help maneuver.  Hekera used his survival skills to protect the hull and crew while Neko engineered some makeshifts ways to generate some wind to blow the spores back away.  Jiraiya used his amazing jumping and acrobatics skills to use himself much like a fan as well and was occasionally joined by the shockingly nimble Intevar!  Several of the team suffered some minor acid burns, but the Perry made it through with only minor damage. 

Game summary for November 8, 2022, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Intevar Dagella (Centurian Drow Silent Hunter played by Casey Scruggs), Khesen Pavel (Human Brawler played by Parker Harmon), and Neko (Half-Orc Magus played by Peyton Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The Perry arrived at the edge of Pirtelspace’s Crystal Sphere and a portal into the Phlogiston.  First Mate Flick reminded them of safety precautions in the Flow such as not using sources of heat, fire, or sparks due to the explosive nature of the gas.  Also, extra-dimensional travel and spaces are inaccessible, so things like bags of holding, dimension door, blinking, and summoning monsters will not work.  He also reminded them that divine casters may use spells over 2nd-level, but they may not recover them until returning to a Crystal Sphere because the deities are unable to reach into the Phlogiston.  The team went through and stowed away their fire-based equipment.  The trip to Refugespace is estimated to take 45 days. 

The team then proceeded to leave Pirtelspace into the radiant splendor of the Phlogiston!  Its shear beauty was nearly overwhelming, and the immensity of it nearly maddening.  A day or two into their Flow travels, a pair of space stingrays were swept into the gravity plane.  While the creatures began to awaken, the party unleashed a barrage of ranged attacks upon them.  Neko used his wand of magic missiles, Intevar opened up with her hand crossbow, and Helg cast spiritual weapon.  When the stingrays came to, they began using fly-by attacks and proved fairly nimble at maneuvering.  The stinging creatures hit Khesen and Hekera with their barbed tails, and both were poisoned.  Khesen took the worst of the effects and fled into the ship for safety.  Helg enhanced his combat capabilities with more spells and began landing numerous hits with spiritual weapon.  Intevar had some success with her crossbow but was unable to poison the rays.  Neko used a mix of magic missiles and mind thrusts to tear into the animals.  Hekera finally caught one within reach and cut it down, and Helg brought down the other. 

After the battle, the team swarmed to their poisoned allies and nursed them to some semblance of health.