Haven: Dragons in the Snow

On January 18th, Rowan and Ragnvaldr, finding that for the third week in a row other adventurers are busy, are considering a return to Wraecliff’s castle to continue mapping his demesne when a satyr bursts into Citadel House raving about dragons in the West Vale.

• Rowan (MiM): Level 7 Elf Magic-user
• Ragnvaldr (TrS): Level 6 Human Fighter
  • Subdued Owlbear

They decide to go check it out, thinking it’s probably just drakes, and the Dragon Empire ambassador insists on coming along to confirm that it isn’t dragons. They’ve never known him to fight, but allow him to come along. (This was an excuse to help them recognize opportunities to harvest monster parts.)

Primordial Frontier S22: Together

The Raven’s Roost adventurers, having deftly wended their way through a part of the world now buzzing with alien patrols after the battle between Devil’s Gate and the Mothership, arrive in Devil’s Gate.

• Rathdar (ByW): Level 7 Human Vampire Paladin of Vardor
• Bilbil (RiH): Level 7/5/1/1 Harpy Thief/Alchemist/Technician/Tinker
• Amhran (BiW): Level 7 Fey “Pucca” Cleric of Emedia
  • Clarence: Level 13 Four-armed Skeleton Gunner with Revolvers
  • Mazur: Level 9 Dead Lord
  • Level 1, Level 2, and Level 6 undead Pilots
  • 2 Level 3 undead Gunners
  • Level 3 undead technomancer

They find the city still scarred and whole districts in ruin, but having finally shaken pursuit with powerful magical air mines. They get permission to land at Tiernan’s estate and soon join him for drinks.

Biweekly Monster-Giant Stick Bug

Insect Beacon. Forests where giant stick bugs dwell are noticeably more populated by all sorts of insects. The giant stick bugs are like kings to them and they rally to where these mighty bugs roam. The giant stick bugs benefit from the added protection these swarms of insects provide.

Impersonation. Giant stick bugs stay safe by looking like trees or, sometimes, like treants. This impersonation is not known to trouble treants in any way and they can sometimes be found coexisting in the same forest. If anything the presence of the stick bugs exaggerates the numbers of the treants and serves to further discourage the felling of trees.

Haven: Tame the Owlbear

On January 11th, Year 6, Rowan and Ragnvaldr return to Earl Wraecliff’s castle to continue their exploration of his Demesne. This week they move further West, planning to explore an area that includes the gnomish shack with the trapped fey lord.

• Rowan (MiM): Level 6 Elf Magic-user
• Ragnvaldr (TrS): Level 5 Human Fighter

With the land covered in deep snow, but fair weather ahead, they anticipate being able to thoroughly explore about 10 square miles in 6 days, less than their previous week.

Biweekly Item-XOR Bident of Death

XOR Bident of Death
Weapon (trident), legendary (requires attunement)

You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic and unrealistically massive weapon.

When you attack a creature, you may choose to simultaneously attack an adjacent creature at disadvantage with the other prong. If both attacks hit, both creatures take an extra 8d6 necrotic damage. If neither attack hits, you take 8d6 necrotic damage.

Another New Years resolution to be lazy. I’m not going to be trying too hard this year to balance items or take them seriously. Look forward to a lot of silliness, puns, and chaos. Going to be over-using that legendary rarity.

Raglan’s Journal 33

Having secured the town of Duonia, the last of those attacked by pit fiends, we considered what our next move would be as a party. They contingent sent to garrison Duonia is not expected to arrive for another day, so we could stay and protect the town until then, but Anduin and I were itching to do something with the rest of the day to put an end to the war, whether confronting an army, taking a city, assassinating House Grey, or killing the dragonborn Tiamat worshiper.

Before leaving the town unprotected, though, we decided to sweep the area and make sure there were no other threats nearby. We spotted a scout who fled when we pursued, but Juniper in an animal form soon overtook him. We interrogated him and though for a while he seemed ready to help us infiltrate Meteon and reclaim it for House Damian, or even to go with us to confront the dragonborn, he suddenly fled when we suggested asking the folk of Duonia if they knew him. I was forced to kill him, but I believe I had Anduin’s approval since he had implied we should kill him and resurrect him later if it was a mistake.

This war is hardening all of us, but still Juniper remains reasonable, capturing the man rather than killing him. I do not know if I have the patience for reason when this war must be soon ended. Anduin, Juniper, and I now intend to teleport directly into House Grey’s citadel in Inverness and end the leadership in this war so we can turn and face the otherworldly invasion for which it is a front.

These journal entries are going to be in-character play reports from ByW’s campaign, which we alternated playing with the Tyranny of Mundanity campaign and now the Primordial Frontier campaign. My character, Raglan “the Light”, admires RiH’s character, Anduin Damian and follows him believing his place in history will be as a companion of the royal adventurer. He is impressed with their elven companion, Juniper (played by BiW), but does not know her well.

Biweekly Monster-Brown Mound

The thing hurtling down the tunnel was definitely a shambling mound, but what was it doing underground? The lack of light had done a number on it and all of its foliage was browning. In this condition, perhaps fire would work well after all.

When Alber’s firebolt hit the creature, however, it seemed to grow as it rushed toward them.

Hungry Mold. This strain of brown mold comes into existence at the intersection of magic and need for heat. When a heat source starts to die where brown mold has previously thrived and the right powers are present for a magical evolution, brown mounds may begin to emigrate from the dying heat source to hunt other warm things.

Self Preservation. When a brown mound is about to be destroyed, it may collapse voluntarily in a feint of death in hopes its enemy will pass it by and allow it to live to hunt another day.

Primordial Frontier S21: Suicide Mission

With Devil’s Gate in flames and on the run, the crew of Yuletide have volunteered to try to slow down the massive ship bearing down on it. After a brief discussion over whether or not they can find a better pilot, they decide to try to rush through the cloud of ships around the big ship and target the big weapon on the top of the enemy ship.

• Captain Saoirse (BiW): Level 11 Psionic Ospryte Thief
  • Various pilots, gunners, and systems operators
• Tiernan (ByW): Level 11 Human Dragon Slayer
• B4-R311 (RiH): Level 11? War Facsimile

The Yuletide’s pilot weaves through the enemy fighters with anti-ship guns on the mothership firing on them and despite some incredibly maneuvers, they take a few shots, one direct hit destroying their starboard gunner station. The pilot can’t line up a shot with their main cannon without taking heavier damage, but their catapult launches Tiernan and his commandos (with the last of their bombs) to the big gun and they deal quite a bit of damage. B4-R311 also fires on the big gun with his artillery, scoring it deeply.

Raglan’s Journal 32

In the morning we headed down into the city. With our familiars spotting overhead, we determined that the devil was in the Northeast, but when we started to move to confront it, we saw that the House Grey soldiers were holding and interrogating prisoners near the river side. We decided to free prisoners first.

Biweekly Item-All-Seeing Blinder Helm

All-seeing Blinder Helm
Wondrous Item, rare (requires attunement)

The wearer of this helmet is blinded with regards to normal sight but gains darkvision 120 feet, blindsight 60 feet, truesight 30 feet, and ethereal sight 60 feet.

Cursed. This helmet cannot be removed except by means of a remove curse spell, a blindness spell, or by poking each of the 22 eyes as an action for 1d6 psychic damage to the wearer for each poke.

This one came to me via DM-Nastics. If you’re a DM and want to keep your brain in good making-stuff-up shape, you should follow them.