Reign of Winter — Game Session — 098

Game summary for March 26, 2019, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Baknarla (Adlet Shaman Ranger played by Shane Bradley), Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Averdick), Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), and Tulvur Xandersen (Troglodyte Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team entered the cave and were swallowed by the frost worm!  They were whisked through the portal into a thick old-growth forest before a wooden cottage.  Smoke wafted from the chimney, and using her wolf senses, Deska could detect the smell of cooking stew. 

The group approached and found a trail of breadcrumbs leading to the door.  Beside the door, Deska discovered Baba Yaga’s besom, an artifact level item!  The group entered the building and were soon attacked by living mannequins shaped like chess pieces.  The team suffered several solid blows, but he most concerning attacks came from the splintered effect of the creatures where they explosively launched shards of wood in all directions.  This damaged the team pretty severely, but magical healing stemmed the flow of blood.  The group engaged violently and reduced the figures to piles of broken wood.  The team searched the room and found several valuable carvings.

Next the team opened a door and found a large furnace oven with some cookies and stew.  An open child-sized cage hung over the oven.  The cookies were all missing a bite, and they discovered a note inviting them to eat a cookie and make themselves at home…

Reign of Winter — Game Session — 097

Game summary for March 19, 2019, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Baknarla (Adlet Shaman Ranger played by Shane Bradley), Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Averdick), Erris (Arctic Elf Bloodrager played by Casey Scruggs), Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), and Tulvur Xandersen (Troglodyte Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

With instruction from Baba Yaga, the team plunged the athame into the khala’s corpse and imbued it with Baba Yaga’s death.  They then submerged in the pool and emerged back at Vigliv’s tree.  They used the athame to open another level of the doll and were imbued with more of the Witch Queen’s power. 

They then learned they must seek Baba Yaga’s life, which is protected by her daughters.  However, Baba Yaga warned that Elvanna will have made precautions to prevent them from retrieving it.  She guided them toward a cave and warned them that within they must be swallowed by a massive worm to activate the portal! 

On the way up the to the cave they were ambushed by four bone devils!  They divided the party with a wall of ice and began clawing and stabbing with their poisonous tails.  The devils landed several blows but overall were pretty ineffective against the team’s armor.  After vanquishing them, the party ascended to the landing before the cave and found an illusion masking a pair of advanced ice devils!

The larger, nastier devils overlapped cones of cold across the team and tore into them with barbed spears.  They led the party to divide into two groups and hammered away with spells and melee.  Their spell resistance thwarted several attacks, and their regeneration allowed them to recover from several attacks.  The devils were mostly a nuisance instead of a true threat, though, as the team quickly wore them down and vanquished them both. 

Reign of Winter — Game Session — 096

Game summary for March 12, 2019, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Averdick), Erris (Arctic Elf Bloodrager played by Casey Scruggs), Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Tarik (Human Bard played by Andrew Renfrow), and Tulvur Xandersen (Troglodyte Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Erris cast haste on the party and moved into the room with the khala dragon where it immediately hit him with a polar ray!  It then moved around behind a pair of pillars for cover.  Deska moved in and hit the dragon with a quickened flame strike and finger of death!  Tulvur tried to sneak in and hide behind a pillar for a surprise attack.  Meanwhile, Magnus cast quickened lead blades while Greta cast baneweapon on his sword.  Shatha came and swung his glaive between the pillars.  Magnus came in and charged the dragon!  Erris and Tulvur ended up getting staggered by the dragon’s critical hits, and Erris was grappled!  Tarik enhanced several of the team members with his bardic abilities and spells and granted them the ability to deal sonic damage which began to add up as blows landed.  Erris slipped free, and the khala flew over to engage Deska who had polymorphed into a crystal dragon! 

Once there, it breathed a line of cold hitting several of the team but they avoided being encased in the dragon’s ice.  Tarik then cut off the battlefield with a wall of force, and Deska tried to summon a herd of elephants but wound up grappled.  The party swarmed in and landed numerous blows, but the khala dropped a cold-based incendiary cloud on top of them all and flew to the other side of the room with Deska.  She broke the grapple by wild shaping into a mammoth!  Greta was in position to land lots of blows and Magnus was able to hit it with a flame strike and slay the beast! 

Reign of Winter — Game Session — 095

Game summary for February 12, 2019, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Baknarla (Adlet Shaman Ranger played by Shane Bradley), Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Averdick), Erris (Arctic Elf Bloodrager played by Casey Scruggs), Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), and Tulvur Xandersen (Troglodyte Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Good to her word, the Queen took the party to the witch tree, which they promptly discovered to be a quickwood!  The tree tried to eat them, but the team rallied surprisingly quickly and chopped the tree down in just a few moments. 

Deska shifted into dire wolf shape, and with the assistance of some others, dug up the grave beneath the tree.  Within, they found a witch-doll golem that animated and attacked!  It dealt some devastating injuries with its needles, but it too proved no match for the team.  Within the golem, they found a metal coffer.  Baknarla failed to pick the lock, so Tulvur studied it to determine its weak points.  Deska then chomped it with her wolf teeth and burst it open!  Baba Yaga’s athame fell to the ground, and the team retrieved it. 

They were then led by Baba Yaga to a cave and encountered carnivorous crystals!  The razor-edged creatures dealt several serious injuries, especially to Magnus who was nearly sliced in half.  The group realized the crystals are slow, so they fled down a hallway and sealed it with a wall of stone.  They continued down the hallway into a larger cavern with a pool of water.  There, they discovered a three-headed dragon!

Reign of Winter — Game Session — 094

Game summary for January 29, 2019, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Baknarla (Adlet Shaman Ranger played by Shane Bradley), Erris (Arctic Elf Bloodrager played by Casey Scruggs), Iguruzu Koshin (Human Monk played by Peyton Harmon), and Tarik (Human Bard played by Andrew Renfrow). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team regrouped after the evening battle, and at dawn the final assault came in waves.  Nuckelavee swarmed the beaches while a great column of water rose up and deposited several advanced troops behind the lines.  The party rushed to defend and found six Buyan nuckelavee and two elder water elementals confronting them.  Tarik used mirage arcana to fool them into coming a different route and not being able to focus their attacks.  Baknarla pelted the creatures with ice storm, while Erris and Koshi landed an onslaught of hastened attacks.  Tarik inspired his team and also confused some of the foes with song of discord.  Despite being outnumbered two-to-one, the party proved far superior in the battle.  Enemies died on both sides of the divided front, and soon the team stood victorious as the nuckelavee army was routed!  The maftets threw a huge celebration and began carving statues in honor of the heroes.  The queen vowed to personally take them the next day to the witch tree!

Reign of Winter — Game Session — 093

Game summary for January 15, 2019, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Erris (Arctic Elf Bloodrager played by Casey Scruggs), Iguruzu Koshin (Human Monk played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Svala Alehorn (Orc Unchained Barbarian played by Todd Hughes), and Tarik (Human Bard played by Andrew Renfrow). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

As they regrouped, a quartet of hezrou demons formed out of the fog around the party and attacked!  They unleashed chaos hammer and unholy blight, mostly ineffectively.  So, the creatures moved into melee and began grappling.  Their horrendous stench overwhelmed Magnus, and then he got grappled in the mouth of a demon.  He was nauseated and threw up in its mouth.  Tarik inspired the team while Erris cast haste.  Greta cast baneweapon on Svala’s axe, and he charged in.  The demons were spread out, so the team was divided.  The demons hit fairly hard, but with their magical enhancements, the team was able to deal lots of damage.  One-by-one, the demons were brought down under slashing axes, swords, and spells.

Ruins of Undermountain — Game Session — 023

Game summary for January 12, 2019, Ruins of Undermountain campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Harm Incorporated. Session included: Boran Gibbs (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Kalil Bakran (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Paddy Brandywine (Halfling Bard played by Preston Harmon), and Rumbald Shieldcracker (Dwarf Ranger played by Peyton Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team entered a room occupied by a slithering syricta.  Its spell resistance thwarted their initial assault, and it grappled Kalil and envenomed Rumbald.  It then made several snake overruns, trampling the party with its bulk.  Paddy was able to set up a resonating word in the creature, which continued to damage it.  It was then hit with a lightningball and a ki shout.  It was stunned long enough for Rumbald to severely wound it with an aberration-slaying arrow.  The group soon defeated it and found a ring of spell knowledge III shoved in a crack in the floor.  Kalil taught the ring fireball and gave it to the bard. 

They investigated the double doors which triggered a summoning that brought a couple elementals!  Paddy summoned his own air elemental at the same time using a magical gem and snuffed out the fire elemental, but not before it set Kalil on fire.  His efreet heritage protected him from the damage, however.  The group traded blows with the water elemental and eventually brought it down too. 

Opening the doors, they found themselves confronted with an adult blue dragon!  They cast haste and charged in.  The dragon cast mage armor and began to hover, blinding them with its cloud.  Paddy and Kalil turned invisible, which proved partially effective.  The dragon cast shield as well and recognized through the spellcraft skill with Boran warded the team with communal protection from energy.  The team threw a barrage of spells and attacks at the dragon to find them mitigated by its spell resistance or high armor class.  Boran cast righteous might, which allowed him to resist some of the dragon’s attacks.  The melee was as fierce as the team had ever seen.  Kalil continued to slip a spell or two in on the dragon as the rest of the group landed a blow here and there.  Suddenly, Kalil devastated the dragon with a disintegrate!  It was badly injured and fought with fury, slaying Rumbald!  The team managed to close in and slay it!  Boran then raised Rumbald as the team sacked up the dragon’s massive treasure hoard!

Reign of Winter — Game Session — 092

Game summary for January 8, 2019, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Baknarla (Adlet Shaman Ranger played by Shane Bradley), Erris (Arctic Elf Bloodrager played by Casey Scruggs), Iguruzu Koshin (Human Monk played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), and Tarik (Human Bard played by Andrew Renfrow). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team awaited the nuckelavee invasion, and as night fell a supernatural fog rolled in.  Nuckelavees swarmed onto the beaches, and maftets flew to the attack.  A quartet of the long-haired nuckelavees came up through the woods, and the Queen asked the party to engage.  They spelled up and swarmed out to fight.

The battle was engaged in moments, and the brutality was shocking.  A holy aura struck a nuckelavee blind, but it began blasting its breath weapon indiscriminately, inflicting disease and fatigue.  Tarik inspired his allies with bardic performance while Erris hastened everyone.  The horrifying aura of the creatures caused Erris and Koshi to turn tail and run.  For the most part, the party held their own pretty well until the creatures summoned huge water elementals into the fray.  Magnus took a beating between the elementals and lost a heal spell to a failed concentration check.  Soon, Erris and Koshi returned and rejoined the battle.  The nuckelavee were cut down, and Baknarla dropped a fog cloud over the elementals, and the team used haste to outrun them until they returned to their own plane.

Reign of Winter — Game Session — 091

Game summary for January 1, 2019, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Deska Starseeker (Half-Elf Druid played by Kaliegh Averdick), Erris (Arctic Elf Bloodrager played by Casey Scruggs), Iguruzu Koshin (Human Monk played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), and Tulvur Xandersen (Troglodyte Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team had an audience with Queen Esmyra of the maftets and agreed to help her defend her city against invading nuckelavees in return for her taking them to the tree under which Baba Yaga’s death is allegedly buried.  The Queen was supposed to offer herself as sacrifice to the nuckelavees to spare her people, but the party used that as an ambush on four of the monsters.  The creatures unleashed horrible diseased breath weapons that harmed several of the party.  However, Shatha breathed cold upon them, and Magnus’ holy aura struck two blind.  Deska and Magnus converted weapons to cold iron using magic.  Tulvur slashed away with Icebiter, and Deska called down divine fire to devastate the creatures and then finished some off with fire snake.  In a few short moments, the creatures were killed.  Deska’s scouting owl overheard several nuckelavees in the water give the order to invade.  The team then tried to convince the Queen to take them to the tree right away, but she refused saying she would only do so once her city was safe.  The group reluctantly decided to help but seriously considered abandoning them to their fate.  They divided the citizens between the two buildings and kept the owl patrolling.

Ruins of Undermountain — Game Session — 022

Game summary for December 29, 2018, Ruins of Undermountain campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Harm Incorporated. Session included: Boran Gibbs (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Kalil Bakran (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Paddy Brandywine (Halfling Bard played by Preston Harmon), and Rumbald Shieldcracker (Dwarf Ranger played by Peyton Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The group came across a cavern with old Duergar runes and a large stone sarcophagus flanked by large mushrooms.  Purple light flared to life in eyes that opened beneath the mushroom caps as the two mushroom golems activated!  Paddy cast haste on the party and entered the room and noticed wild magic-infused faerzress that caught his interest.  Boran and Rumbald moved in and found their slashing weapons quite effective against the golems.  Kalil cast scorching ray and discovered it was completely ineffective, so he switched to his crossbow.  Paddy activated the faerzress, and it permanently turned his skin bright blue!  He then activated another node and enlarged himself for a time.  The party defeated the golems, and Paddy activated the last node, which summoned a friendly rhino.  They used the rhino to smash open the sarcophagus after triggering a negative energy mist trap!  Inside, they found an old Duergar corpse with a great magical buckler claimed by Boran.

Suddenly, four wights and a lake aptrgangr emerged from the scum-covered water behind them!  Kalil destroyed the wights with a lightning arc instantly.  Boran ended up getting beaten horrendously by the aptrgangr and suffered eight negative levels!  A disintegrate spell finally destroyed it.  They used a wand of restoration to recover their cleric and then found a chest filled with some treasure in the water.

They proceeded through a portcullis into a room decorated with the Mulhorandi depiction of Sharess.  Green energy flared to life in wall sconces, and two cursed kings with crocodile heads appeared!  Rumbald and Kalil cowered in fear for a time while the undead attacked.  The team fought back and destroyed them fairly easily, but their bestial curses afflicted Rumbald and Paddy!  Fortunately, both Boran and Paddy had ready access to break enchantment spells and were able to remedy the situation.

The group then entered a room and were attacked by a bonethorn fungus!  The creature tore into the party with deadly strikes, but the team unleashed a barrage of magic upon it.  With such an onslaught, the creature was quickly killed.  Searching the area, they found a loose stone hiding a platinum and diamond scepter of great value!