Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for October 23, 2018, 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), Svala Alehorn (Orc Unchained Barbarian played by Todd Hughes), Tarik (Human Bard played by Andrew Renfrow), and Tulvur Xandersen (Troglodyte Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team quickly healed themselves and rushed into the room once again.  The baykoks had gone back up to the balcony, and the team found themselves under fire.  Deska summoned a triceratops and four woolly rhinoceroses into the fray!  Svala unleashed a barrage a sharded axes while Tarik used spider climb to ascend to the balcony.  Tulvur and Shatha flew about and unleashed carnage with Icebiter and Shatha’s frosty breath weapon!  Baknarla rushed in and hit several of the creatures with a grenade scavenged from the Russian soldiers days before.  Magnus took to the air using air step and brought his blade to bear against the undead.  The combined carnage of the rampaging herd of dinosaurs and rhinos and the onslaught brought by the team was too much for the baykoks, especially after several turned on each other thanks to Tarik’s song of discord.  In a few moments, the team defeated them and then fortified the area and used magic to hide a campsite within.

Game summary for October 16, 2018, 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), and Tarik (Human Bard played by Andrew Renfrow). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The baykoks in the chamber unleashed a barrage of arrows at Magnus, injuring him badly.  Erris scooped up Deska’s bones into his backpack.  Koshi was paralyzed by a baykok arrow and fell into the water.  Tarik inspired greatness and cast song of discord on a group of baykoks, causing them to fall into battle with one another!  Soon the warsworn and baykoks were fighting among themselves.  Magnus fell unconscious from arrows, and Greta carried him out.  Erris then slammed the doors shut.

Greta revived Magnus who then healed himself.  The team layered buff spells like haste and good hope while the baykoks and warsworn finished fighting.  The warsworn then trampled the party.  The last baykok was cut down out of the sky while Koshi hit the warsworn with a fireball and Tarik hit with shout.  Greta put a baneweapon on Magnus’ sword.  He then charged the warsworn and killed it!  The team then used a scroll to remove the negative levels from Greta before planning to get back into the fortress to face the other 10 baykoks.

Game summary for October 9, 2018, 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), 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 Tulvur Xandersen (Troglodyte Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team rushed the fortress, and Magnus flew up to the gate house where he was attacked by an Abyssal retriever!  He proceeded to critically hit it with his holy sword!  Several of the team flew up, including Tulvur and Shatha, with Svala carried in the dragon’s claws.  Svala was dropped on the roof where he finished off the retriever!

The team saw the flooded inner courtyard and floating bodies.  They flew over to a landing and were attacked from behind by a massive warsworn, a conglomeration of dead bodies into one mass!  The monster began beating Greta and draining levels.  Baknarla dropped a sleet storm on it so the team could slip through the doors and get away.  Tulvur spurred Shatha into the air, and they charged blindly into the sleet where they eventually crashed into the wall!  Koshi tried to punch down the doors, which rang out like a bell.

The team began throwing themselves against the door trying to break free the rust.  Deska assumed swarm skin and skittered in as a swarm of army ants and began breaking free rust.  The team struggled and struggled against the door as Greta continued getting hit.  The noise brought the attention of four flying baykoks!  The creatures swooped in to attack as Magnus crashed through the doors carrying Greta.  He looked up at the balcony and found nearly a dozen more baykoks pointing their bows down at them!

Game summary for September 25, 2018, 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), 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 decided to fly to Queen Bremagyr’s fortress, and soon after taking flight they were attacked by a devourer riding on a nightwing nightshade!  The nightwing’s bite dispelled Koshi’s fly spell, and he fell to the ground.  The team swarmed in and cut the devourer down quickly, but the nightwing proved problematic with its spell resistance and high damage reduction.  Magnus cast holy sword, which proved particularly effective.  Erris hastened the team, and Deska unleashed a barrage of flame strikes  Tulvur and Greta rode on Shatha’s back and proved quite the team in landing serious melee blows.  The group suffered several hard hits but dropped the creatures just in time for another pair to arrive!  This pair stayed further back and used greater dispel magic to try and debuff the party.  Baknarla charged in and forced them to engage.  Deska unleashed more flame strikes, and Erris’ reach proved quite effective.  The nightwing killed Shatha and caused his corpse and all three riders to plunge to the ground.  Fortunately, Greta’s breath of life brought him back.  Deska bravely tried to use a heal as a touch attack but was killed in the attempt.  Magnus was able to recover her with breath of life as well while the team finished off the foes.

Game summary for September 18, 2018, 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 Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The weakened prison allowed the power of Baba Yaga to flow into the party, increasing their natural armor!  Vigliv re-emerged from the tree and told the team they needed to defeat Queen Bremagyr, a former servant of Baba Yaga who forgot her place.  Locked in her iron fortress of Vashliq, Bremagyr is being punished for her failures.  A portion of Baba Yaga’s power is still within the queen and can be used to further weaken the prison.

The empathic urging of Baba Yaga led them to the Canyon of the Drakes.  The group climbed up some cliffs and were attacked by half a dozen rift drakes!  The deadly dragons proved formidable with their razor jaws and exploding acidic spittle.  The team used magic to become aerially mobile and resistant to acid.  Erris flew out and fought in spectacular combat out over the canyon floor while Baknarla charged up the cliff to fight tooth-to-tooth with another drake.  Magnus hit several drakes with a maximized flame strike, and Koshi unleashed a lethal barrage of sling stones, sending one drake plummeting to its death.  Soon the team defeated the creatures and scaled to the top platform where they found a cave.

The group entered the cave and suddenly found themselves in a tent in another portion of the Dancing Hut!  Within the hut were six women serving a large demonic-looking div who introduced himself as Mametqul, servant of Baba Yaga.  The group talked for a while over coffee and learned he is an observer, witnessing Queen Bremagyr’s torture.  He revealed the frigid land beyond his tent, the fallen kingdom being slowly sucked into a whirling maelstrom of chaos!  He pointed out the iron fortress of Vashliq and told them to return with the queen’s crown, and he can send them back to Grandmother’s Cauldron.

As the team left, he muttered something about bats that Erris overheard.  He stuck his head back in the tent, and Mametqul warned them of enormous bats they may encountered along the way.

Game summary for September 11, 2018, 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), and Svala Alehorn (Orc Unchained Barbarian played by Todd Hughes). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team spent a few moments healing themselves and then ascended the tower to find the three coffins containing the recuperating Brothers Three.  The group tore the boards off the windows and burned them all up in the sun!  With the domination broken, they could see out the windows the soldiers to begin coming to themselves and getting confused.

The party then ascended the stairs behind the World Engine and found numerous open nesting dolls with tiny screaming souls within attached via wires to a large nesting doll painted like a matronly woman.  The group surmised it is some kind of battery and disconnected it.  This caused a prismatic blast throughout the room, searing several of the team with energy.  Koshi, holding the doll, suddenly had empathic feels of anger, hope, excitement, and desire to return to the Dancing Hut.  An explosion rocked the church, and the team headed downstairs to find the World Engine exploded.  They searched the rubble and found several magical items including ring gates and a well of many worlds!  For a while, they debated how to move among the soldiers with Rasputin’s slain body.  Finally, Greta threw him on the ground and shaved his beard and hair.  They had already taken his robes, so he no longer appeared at all the same.

The group used their hats of disguise to go to retrieve Viktor and Anastasia.  They found her locked in closet and Viktor dead from a self-inflicted gunshot.  The group disguised her as well and walked right out the front gates with other soldiers wandering off.  They discovered several of the mystical guardians of the camp inert or dead.

When the team arrived at the Dancing Hut, it went wild with apparent excitement before finally letting them in.  Inside, the Coffin Man and Shatha were playing cards.  The daemon greeted Anastasia as “honored granddaughter.”  Koshi had a strong feeling to go “up”, and the group ascended through a trap door and found themselves in some kind of large ravine filled with mist and a dusting of snow.  A warm pool of water surrounded by ferns and trees lie nearby filled with the crashing fall of water from up above, causing numerous rainbows in the misty air.  An enormous tree rose up by the falls, and the team approached.

From within the tree, a norn appeared!  She introduced herself as Vigliv and claimed to be Baba Yaga’s mentor and ally.  She told the team to rescue Baba Yaga and save their world, they must destroy the nesting doll prison in which she is currently imprisoned.  She told them they would need to gather Baba Yaga’s fate, power, death, life, and blood.  No sooner did she tell them this than an enormous catoblepas attacked from the water!

Koshi stepped up and began wrestling with the beast as the team closed in and hit it with axe and sword.  The monster breathed toxic breath across the entire team, but thanks to their ongoing heroes’ feast, none were affected!  Koshi pinned the monster to the ground and began squeezing the life out of it as the barrage of blades continued to fall.  Quickly, Erris landed a killing blow.

Vigliv re-appeared and instructed Magnus to take a golden thread of fate and wrap it around the doll, dip both in the toxic blood of the beast, and wash them in the water of the pool.  Doing so infused Baba Yaga’s fate from the thread into her prison and caused one layer of the nesting doll to fall off!  Immediately, the team could all feel the empathic feelings of Baba Yaga, not just the person touching the doll.  Her prison had weakened!

Game summary for September 4, 2018, 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), Iguruzu Koshin (Human Monk played by Peyton Harmon), Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), and Svala Alehorn (Orc Unchained Barbarian played by Todd Hughes). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team desperately began healing themselves with potions while nervously glancing at Rasputin’s corpse.  Erris began trying to hack it apart, and Deska used greater dispel magic on his antilife shell.  Koshi was able to move up and snatch away his magical amulet.  A few moments later, Rasputin sprung back to life!  He used a miracle to roll his magic spells and slots back a few rounds and began blasting the party with flame strikes.  Svala was able to hit with a sharding axe quite readily, and Erris landed a critical hit.  From a ways back, Deska tore into Rasputin with her lightning storm over and over.  Baknarla attempted an ice storm and a potion of green dragon’s breath, but both failed against the Black Monk’s spell resistance.  Likewise, Koshi’s fireball was ineffective.  Eventually, the team landed enough blows to kill him again!

The group scrambled to heal themselves, and in almost no time Rasputin sprang to life yet again!  However, the group could tell he was not nearly as healthy.  He ravaged the party with firestorm and attempted destruction on Svala.  The party used shapeshifting, hurled weapons, and various spells to keep the pressure on.  Try as he might, he just could not withstand the onslaught put on by the team, and Koshi’s sling stone brought him down!  With the final stitch broken, Rasputin truly lay dead at their feet!

Game summary for August 28, 2018, 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), 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 Tulvur Xandersen (Troglodyte Fighter played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Rejoined by the rest of the team, the party cast several spells and quaffed potions in preparation.  They can flying back into the church, and Svala blew all the church pews out of the way with a grenade!  As they came through the hallway, the Brothers Three engaged!  The team, now outnumbering them and immune to their domination, quickly turned the tide.  One of the nosferatu exploded into a swarm of bats and attempted to flee.

Over some machinery, Rasputin rose up into the air and yelled at the party!  The nosferatu were cut down, but Rasputin proved more of a challenge.  The team tried to charge him but found themselves hedged out by some kind of barrier.  Deska, however, blasted him with a powerful flame strike!  Rasputin retaliated with a fire storm and quickened flame strike of his own!  The team was burned terribly.  The team was somewhat stifled by their inability to reach him.  He tried some enchantment magic but their protection from evil prevented it from affecting them.  After taking a lot of damage, Rasputin healed.  The team groaned in frustration.

Another fire storm later, and Magnus lay dead and Baknarla cowering behind a wall.  Greta hit him with repeated negative energy channels.  Koshi began hurling sling stones while Tulvur tried his crossbow.  Erris had a great idea, though.  He cast enlarge person, and his new extended reach allowed him to cut Rasputin down!

The team won themselves a moment, but they all began to wonder how and when this “soul-stitching” would take effect!

Game summary for August 14, 2018, Reign of Winter campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Baknarla (Adlet Shaman Ranger played by Shane Bradley), Iguruzu Koshin (Human Monk played by Peyton Harmon), and Magnus Erlingsson (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team kicked in the doors to the chapel and found it warded with a powerful forbiddance spell.  Most of the team, except Greta, took damage entering.  This killed Anastasia!  Greta jumped out and gave her the breath of life.  They then tasked Viktor with taking her somewhere safe and hiding her.

They then found an old crone begging for their aid!  She claimed to be Baba Yaga and said she had defeated Rasputin in battle after the World Engine failed and freed her!  The team began asking her questions, and Baknarla challenged her to tell the keys to bring the Dancing Hut to earth.  In a rage, the illusion-shrouded erodaemon attacked!  Her snake-headed tail sank its fangs into Koshi, draining his Charisma.  She hit the team with crushing despair and slashed at the group, but she was unable to defeat them.

The group moved into another room piled high with precariously stacked church pews.  Baknarla and Magnus moved up to investigate, and it collapsed on them, burying Magnus!  The Brothers Three, hideous nosferatu, came scuttling across the junk like grotesque spiders.  They channeled negative energy but were surprised when, from beneath the crapalanche, Magnus channeled positive energy back at them!  The Brothers hit some of the party a few times, and then began dominating them.  It eventually became clear they were not fighting to kill.  They sent the dominated party members away.  The Brothers Three were stalling.

The party retreated to safety and called forth Zilvazaraat to buy scrolls of break enchantment, some potions, and a wand of communal protection from evil.  Re-armed, and no longer with anyone dominated, the team prepared for a second confrontation.