Location: ...A Little Bit Of Everywhere
This Wednesday's session featured the debut of Makenna's new character Marilla Murvoma, a merfolk waterbender who came to the island Chult on a quest from her recently deceased mentor Shifu. Ashley couldn't participate due to personal emergency, but introductions between Agile Winter and Marilla went smoothly as she read out the cryptic prophecy that Shifu had left for her (and that I had spent a few weeks designing and painstakingly writing.)
The first two lines of the prophecy were an amusing, if clumsy, way to integrate Marilla as a member of the party: by referencing the alchemy urn that the players received at the Shrine in the last session, they were easily identified.
The second couplet warned of terrible consequences should Marilla fail in her quest and the party ultimately fail to end the death curse, and encouraged the party to "gather strength and advantage." My players being who they are, the lines were taken much differently from how I had originally meant them.
As a first encounter and to see what abilities Marilla had as a homebrew class, the party fought off a swarm of fire ants whose nest they had disturbed. Thanks to a critical hit, the ants did a fair bit of damage to Agile, but after emerging victorious and collecting fire ant venom from the destroyed swarm, the party continued on.
In the free time that the players had while travelling down the river toward nowhere in particular, Makenna remembered the properties of the alchemy jug. Particularly the fact that every sunrise, the carrier of the urn can order it to create 2 gallons of mayonnaise. Also, for the purpose of this adventure, I allowed mayonnaise to be classified as a liquid and therefore viable for Marilla to use in her bending attacks. Meagan then remembered that Agile carried around a few vials of acid, and, on the premise of creating and more powerful attack, mixed a few ounces of mayonnaise and acid, while also throwing in the fire ant venom for good measure. However, upon realizing that except for the few flasks of acidic-poisonous-mayo they had created, they had nowhere to move the rest of the 2 gallons out of the alchemy urn. The players also declared that this clearly counted as an "advantage" and that they would be interpreting the prophecy thus. I smiled and nodded.
Upon consulting with my DM mentor Lauran, allowing my characters to get away with this is questionable, but I abide with the primary rule of D&D: that the players get a part in shaping the story, no matter how ridiculous it gets. However I will be exercising my executive powers to say no to some things, so the mayonnaise incident should be the most extreme example of my leniency.
The party's next random encounter wasn't a combat encounter, but instead the party found a dead body wearing a symbol of a local mercenary group, the Flaming Fists. The scout's journal was also found on his body, and detailed the recent missions he'd been on and the location of the Flaming Fists' base, Fort Beluarian. Agile and Marilla expressed curiosity about the group, and convinced River, Flask, and Xandala to turn around and go in the opposite direction to investigate.
Since Marilla's tail restricts her to laying on her side when on the earth (I am told that she can walk by doing the worm,) she used her Move Currents ability to transport the party upriver in a matter of days rather than the weeks it would take going on land. Upon the party's arrival in Port Nyanzaru once again, Agile and Marilla browsed the markets for more containers to make more of their acidic-poisonous-mayo for a larger supply of their makeshift bomb or bending attack (which ever suited their purpose at the time.) After producing a generous amount of the stuff, the party continued on toward Fort Beluarian, in one of the northernmost areas of Chult.
About halfway to their destination and amid an attempt to forge Agile's name on a scroll of pedigree, the party was spotted by a Flaming Fist patrol. Since the Flaming Fist maintains tight control of that area of the jungle and prohibits adventurers that lack a charter of exploration from their Commander, Agile and Marilla insisted that they were just on their way to get one off those, and how convenient was it that they ran into this Knight Captain and his patrol?
At this point the Knight Captain insisted that the party surrender their weapons and be escorted, minus the two dinosaurs and the unconscious Casamir. At this, I had anticipated that a fight would break out, but Agile and Marilla agreed so as to keep their cover. In hindsight I should have upped the stakes and told them that they would not be given those weapons back, but that detail lost its way among the rest of the story. Certainly, a learning moment for me.
Upon arriving at Fort Beluarian, the characters were escorted to Commander Liara Portyr, who assured them that they would receive their charter in an unspecified amount of time, so long as they cooperated with the Flaming Fist. Agile and Marilla were then let loose on Fort Belaurian, and immediately headed for the raptor pens. I strictly reminded them that the party already possessed two dinosaurs, but all they did was converse with the man in charge of taming the dinosaurs for the Flaming Fists.
The next morning, Agile and Marilla were sent for my Commander Portyr again, and she proposed a barter with them: If the adventurers would travel to Shilku Bay and find a suitable site for the Flaming Fists next base, she would give them their charter free of charge. This is where the detail of their weapons was fumbled, as I had failed to realize that Shilku Bay was infact on the opposite side of the island, and I did not feel that it was necessary to bog down my players with this one side quest for the next month or three of real time in order for the travel time to be real. Instead, I insisted that their Flaming Fist escort knew shortcuts through the jungle and so they arrived in about 3 days. Incidentally, the escort was the Knight Captain who originally brought them in to the Fort; His name is Dave.
Shilku Bay, being the site of an active volcano and the ruins of a destroyed town, was bordered by sulfuric water on one side and chock-full of fiery monsters: specifically a salamander and a collection of fire newts. Agile once again lost almost half of his hitpoints in the following battle, but judicious use of his Sleep spell and Marilla's Watery Grave action brought the battle to a timely end. Agile also collected some of the sulfuric water to experiment further with the mayo-bending concept at a later date.
Afterward, in the interests of time once again, I allowed the players to practically instant-travel back to Fort Beluarian to receive their charter from Commander Portyr, and shortly reconnvene with their guides, their dinosaurs, and Casamir's unconscious body. I have sent the link for this blog to my players, so hopefully Ashley will not surprised by all the nonsense that sprung up in her absence.
The first two lines of the prophecy were an amusing, if clumsy, way to integrate Marilla as a member of the party: by referencing the alchemy urn that the players received at the Shrine in the last session, they were easily identified.
The second couplet warned of terrible consequences should Marilla fail in her quest and the party ultimately fail to end the death curse, and encouraged the party to "gather strength and advantage." My players being who they are, the lines were taken much differently from how I had originally meant them.
As a first encounter and to see what abilities Marilla had as a homebrew class, the party fought off a swarm of fire ants whose nest they had disturbed. Thanks to a critical hit, the ants did a fair bit of damage to Agile, but after emerging victorious and collecting fire ant venom from the destroyed swarm, the party continued on.
In the free time that the players had while travelling down the river toward nowhere in particular, Makenna remembered the properties of the alchemy jug. Particularly the fact that every sunrise, the carrier of the urn can order it to create 2 gallons of mayonnaise. Also, for the purpose of this adventure, I allowed mayonnaise to be classified as a liquid and therefore viable for Marilla to use in her bending attacks. Meagan then remembered that Agile carried around a few vials of acid, and, on the premise of creating and more powerful attack, mixed a few ounces of mayonnaise and acid, while also throwing in the fire ant venom for good measure. However, upon realizing that except for the few flasks of acidic-poisonous-mayo they had created, they had nowhere to move the rest of the 2 gallons out of the alchemy urn. The players also declared that this clearly counted as an "advantage" and that they would be interpreting the prophecy thus. I smiled and nodded.
Upon consulting with my DM mentor Lauran, allowing my characters to get away with this is questionable, but I abide with the primary rule of D&D: that the players get a part in shaping the story, no matter how ridiculous it gets. However I will be exercising my executive powers to say no to some things, so the mayonnaise incident should be the most extreme example of my leniency.
The party's next random encounter wasn't a combat encounter, but instead the party found a dead body wearing a symbol of a local mercenary group, the Flaming Fists. The scout's journal was also found on his body, and detailed the recent missions he'd been on and the location of the Flaming Fists' base, Fort Beluarian. Agile and Marilla expressed curiosity about the group, and convinced River, Flask, and Xandala to turn around and go in the opposite direction to investigate.
Since Marilla's tail restricts her to laying on her side when on the earth (I am told that she can walk by doing the worm,) she used her Move Currents ability to transport the party upriver in a matter of days rather than the weeks it would take going on land. Upon the party's arrival in Port Nyanzaru once again, Agile and Marilla browsed the markets for more containers to make more of their acidic-poisonous-mayo for a larger supply of their makeshift bomb or bending attack (which ever suited their purpose at the time.) After producing a generous amount of the stuff, the party continued on toward Fort Beluarian, in one of the northernmost areas of Chult.
About halfway to their destination and amid an attempt to forge Agile's name on a scroll of pedigree, the party was spotted by a Flaming Fist patrol. Since the Flaming Fist maintains tight control of that area of the jungle and prohibits adventurers that lack a charter of exploration from their Commander, Agile and Marilla insisted that they were just on their way to get one off those, and how convenient was it that they ran into this Knight Captain and his patrol?
At this point the Knight Captain insisted that the party surrender their weapons and be escorted, minus the two dinosaurs and the unconscious Casamir. At this, I had anticipated that a fight would break out, but Agile and Marilla agreed so as to keep their cover. In hindsight I should have upped the stakes and told them that they would not be given those weapons back, but that detail lost its way among the rest of the story. Certainly, a learning moment for me.
Upon arriving at Fort Beluarian, the characters were escorted to Commander Liara Portyr, who assured them that they would receive their charter in an unspecified amount of time, so long as they cooperated with the Flaming Fist. Agile and Marilla were then let loose on Fort Belaurian, and immediately headed for the raptor pens. I strictly reminded them that the party already possessed two dinosaurs, but all they did was converse with the man in charge of taming the dinosaurs for the Flaming Fists.
The next morning, Agile and Marilla were sent for my Commander Portyr again, and she proposed a barter with them: If the adventurers would travel to Shilku Bay and find a suitable site for the Flaming Fists next base, she would give them their charter free of charge. This is where the detail of their weapons was fumbled, as I had failed to realize that Shilku Bay was infact on the opposite side of the island, and I did not feel that it was necessary to bog down my players with this one side quest for the next month or three of real time in order for the travel time to be real. Instead, I insisted that their Flaming Fist escort knew shortcuts through the jungle and so they arrived in about 3 days. Incidentally, the escort was the Knight Captain who originally brought them in to the Fort; His name is Dave.
Shilku Bay, being the site of an active volcano and the ruins of a destroyed town, was bordered by sulfuric water on one side and chock-full of fiery monsters: specifically a salamander and a collection of fire newts. Agile once again lost almost half of his hitpoints in the following battle, but judicious use of his Sleep spell and Marilla's Watery Grave action brought the battle to a timely end. Agile also collected some of the sulfuric water to experiment further with the mayo-bending concept at a later date.
Afterward, in the interests of time once again, I allowed the players to practically instant-travel back to Fort Beluarian to receive their charter from Commander Portyr, and shortly reconnvene with their guides, their dinosaurs, and Casamir's unconscious body. I have sent the link for this blog to my players, so hopefully Ashley will not surprised by all the nonsense that sprung up in her absence.
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