Oh wow, I have five campaigns going on (1 that meets very infrequently, 3 that meet once a month, and 1 that is currently meeting weekly but usually meets biweekly; DMing one of the ones that meeets once a month and the other that meets biweekly and it's the same campaign).
Not sure if I should include the DMed stuff, but I will definitely be back with updates from the other three where I am a player.
~Dysole, noting that a number of these have been going for a bit so may require some backstory first
Yup. This group has been (with one notable early transition) consistent & weekly for almost 3 years. Two hours a week, with occasional breaks. The only long break was between January & March of this year.
It's switched back and forth between two campaigns. The only other campaign I'm in is an online play-by-post campaign I'm running: the incredible Curse of Strahd.
With regards to the level 8 Druid, I am a level 4 Dwarf druid in a 5e campaign. We haven't played since January because of schedules and then because of social distancing we're not getting together.
But the DM, my buddy Brian, is setting up Roll20 for us to play on. He has played as a character on it in another group but not DM on it, so it will take a little bit for him to figure that out.
As for my druid character, I'm of the Circle of the Moon, so I have more emphasis on changing into animal form. I've been a cat and a rat for some sneaky Recon missions, but when it comes to combat, I've done well as a brown bear, with both a bite and claw attack. One time when hitting on a natural 20. I ripped a guy's head off and threw it at another enemy to do damage to him.
But lately I've embraced spells, and offensively, I have Flaming Sphere, Moonbeam and Call Lightning (which is pretty badass).
I have been pretty good at dealing damage throughout the campaign so far.
Hand of fate is moving and the finger points to you
...Iron Maiden - The Wicker Man
Very cool Hahma. There is a Run-DMC line that reminds me of our action. "The unbelieving receiving, prophecy so true.
I cut the head off the devil and I throw it at you."
OK, here is one from 15 years, maybe closer to 20 years ago. My first character in my own RPG. Shaft was his name and killing his game.
My friend, the Healer and I were the only ones to attend every game so the campaign centered on his character and my quest to keep him alive and sometimes get him killed apparently.
This is pretty long so I will bring it into chapters.
Spoiler Alert!
PROLOGUE
I am Shaft. An elf assassin trained in the longbow. Young and cocky I left the homeland of my kin to make a name for myself amongst humankind. Since the end of the Druid Wars there was little opportunity for adventure in elf lands. My goal was to join the toughest most famous mercenary unit known to man, the DragonSlayers. Amazingly I was accepted and immediately sent out on a suicide mission. I barely survived an epic battle with demons and undead. Afterward, I was rewarded with a new mission and an incredible gift, the Sword of the Darkstar. This weapon was forged from a rogue meteor and has the ability to cut through anything.
My new mission is to assist a human healer in stopping the evil Winter K and his conquest of the Northern Kingdoms.
BEAU and the CAP'N
My new companion is known as Beauregard and looked a little wet behind the ears. After adventuring with veterans, this left me a little bit unnerved. However, there was something about him, perhaps he is a fated soule, destined to shape the world around him.
Our first task is to investigate the the whereabouts or a powerful artifact believed to be stolen from the church of the Star God in a town under siege.
To reach the town we must travel by way of the Giant train. These are massive coaches drawn forth by pairs of enslaved Giants. The fare is well outside our budget and we are forced to seek employment at the local docks with a salty dog named Cap'N Smurf. It was a good deal, hard work for good pay and we learned about sailing in the process. Cap'n Smurf even offered to drop us off at the town, as he was already committed to going that way. There was no doubt that this trip was for illegal affairs as the waterways were barricaded due to the siege that over ran the town.
Slipping through at night we approached the town in the morning to find it in smoking ruins. Piles of bodies lie in the street. It appears as if no one was spared. The church was looted, the artifact stolen. Crumbled stone and charred corpses attested to the use of powerful magic. Many lost their lives breaking through the church's defenses.
Upon leaving we find ourselves surrounded by Cap'N Smurf and a half dozen of his cronies. He intended to hand us over to his boss Winter K and receive a hefty reward. I responded with a lightning fast arrow shot through one pirate's eye and drew another arrow on the Cap'N. The fools underestimated my skill and failed to even bring crossbows. I let the Cap'N know he must choose between death or giving me safe passage. It is agreed, Cap'N smurf will take a skeleton crew and sail us out of the blockade. We shove off as planned and everything is going good, too good. I ask Beau to check out the cargo hold while I help the crew. The minutes drag on, he has been gone way to long and I begin to wonder if I had sent him to his death. Panic sets in, I feel trapped. In times like these I seek high ground.
Cap'N Smurf is manning the wheel on the upperdeck. I climb up and spill his guts with the Sword of the Darkstar. My assassin training serves me well. "Looks like you need a healer, and I don't see mine." The crew begins to scurry and call for help.
One, braver than the rest clambers up to engage me. The Darkstar opens up his chest before he tumbles to the deck. Now the rats are showing fear. I take this opportunity to ready my bow. My first shot silences a loudmouth with an arrow through his throat. Soon many more are emerging from the hold. They are climbing up on both sides of me and I hold them at bay with relentless shots. I begin yelling "Bring out the healer if you want to save your captain".
Just then the crewman known as The First comes out dragging a hog-tied Beau behind him. He commands the others to attack me and let the Cap'N die. Now that is the kind of leadership I just don't need. I declare myself as captain and reach down deep to deliver a devastating shot to The First. He was one tough SoB, for it took three more shots to bring him down. I get support from the remaining crew by announcing that whoever released Beau would become The new First. It works and before I know it, Beau and I have control of the ship...
My orders? Sell the ill gotten booty and return to our original port. There we could pay for Giant Passage with our new found wealth. Everything went well up until we got on the Giant Train. Here we were met by two Knights of Winter K. We were convinced to join one of K's friend's besieged by war and deliver a message.
[EDIT: In hindsight, this makes no sense, as we already went to the town we were buying passage to. Oh well, I am sure we would have been captured regardless. ]
BRIGHTEYES and the BARBAR
OK, we weren’t so much convinced as we were captured. Locked up tight in a foreign land with our possessions just out of reach. So maybe we should have read that message we were carrying. Whatever it said it must have made us look like the enemy. Luckily I didn’t have time to dwell.
We were busted out by a veteran Dragon Slayer known as James Bond. He had brought with him a fighter named Sir Goochi and BrightEyes, a gnome and fellow DragonSlayer who practiced a strange form of magic. He was a Beast Shaper and focused his energy into his companion, a weird little rock creature. Weaving his spells he could transform his Beast into progressively more powerful incarnations. His magic required perfectly cut gems to augment his abilities.
We bolted. We were in a walled in city that was preparing for siege. Fortunate for us most of the town defense was at the main gate soo we attempted to scale the back wall. What a mess. I climbed up no problem then tied off a rope for the rest. Too bad a lowly sentry spotted me and raised an alarm even after I plunked him with my bow. Another arrow gone. A horrible thought crosses my mind. I may have to choose between trying to save a party member or to reserve ammo for another day.
A world of hurt was coming down on us and these jokers couldn’t climb a rope to save their lives. Survival instincts took over and I decided I better at least save myself. I pulled up the rope and used it to climb down the other side. Just as I did the gnome’s companion burst through the ground near my feet followed by the gnome. Very resourceful, I have a feeling these two little fellows are going to be a big asset to our cause. I then realized the hole was going to be too small for the others.
Guards were closing in from the top of the wall on both sides and I knew they had to be closing in on ground level on my companions stranded on the other side. Had I left Beau to his possible death again? No way, I had to try something. So I tied the rope to my bag of gold and tossed it back over the wall. The seconds lasted forever and then I finally saw Beau. But it was going to be too late. They were almost on him when he jumped. I quickly discovered that the Warrior was tied to the other end of the rope. He served as a counterweight in an gutsy move that saved both their lives but left them broken.
We escaped into the woods and made our way to the nearest road. There we ran into a group of Winter K’s knights and one of them seemed to be using some kind of locating device. And it looked like he just located us, by pointing right at us. I am not big fan of being spied on, I will do the spying thank you, I decided he needed some longbow lovin. That punk lived and sent all those frickin knights after us. Good thing that plate armor sucks for woods movement or we would have been toast. Still we could not lose the knights.
Then we came to a clearing and everything felt strange. The Beast started freaking out and the next thing I knew this tree thing was talking to us. Heavy words that supported my belief that Beau is indeed a fated soule. When the creature finished speaking I had another strange feeling and we found ourselves somewhere else.
We were teleported to the outskirts of the last kingdom holding out against Winter K’s tyranny, a well defended city known as Tyyr. We seemed to lose the fighter in the port but we gained a gnome and a savage. Both intrigued me. The savage because I had never seen one of his kind and the gnome because he looked exactly as the Beast Shaper. I began to wonder if perhaps one was a magical consruct. I later learned he was Ja-Keef, brother to Bright Eyes. I was soon informed by a priest of the star gods that these were thieves sent to help us. Great news because I wasn’t really looking forward to being the group thief.
The priest said we were to meet him later in the city so Beau could learn his destiny. We went into town stocked up on supplies and decided to make plans to head to Misty Falls after our meeting with the priest. I also made arrangements with my Inn Keeper to store 100 arrows for me for up to one year. Most likely a waste of money but if I spend any amount of time here I want a massive supply. Besides who knows I might make it back here someday.
The meeting took place in a stone circle where again I was ported somewhere else. This time I knew we were somewhere in the mountains. We soon learned we were in a range to the far north of the human kingdom. This was the land of the BarBarians. Stronger cousins of the humans they were a little intimidating, though I did my best not to let it show.
We then met a seer known as the Dweller. She began a long tale. As fate would have it Beau was revealed as the son of the BarBar King. What was more is that his is a bloodline that molded fate and must do so again. He was linked to the magical artifact we were seeking.
I was given a golden arrow and was told only gold could stop the the magic of the artifact, which I learned was an Orb. Again very heavy. I hope Beau’s young shoulders can carry the weight of this new knowledge. Before we knew it we were off to war against a rival clan.
Bloody and pointless to my bruised elven eyes all I could do was watch the horror. In the end the BarBar’s got their revenge but at a heavy price. The King was mortally wounded but Beau tried to save him anyway. I really got to see him in his element for the first time. He was like an organized whirlwind of bandages,herbs,salves, and prayers. And he almost did it, but alas the damage was too great and Beau’s power was not yet enough.
Now things are really scary. Beau is next in line to be King but strength rules the BarBar and glory in battle. How will he win over his lost kin?
That night we laid the King to rest in the way of his kind. A mighty fire and a mightier celebration. We were not exactly asked to join the festivities. Beau left to talk with the late King’s right hand man. I recommended that the Beast Shaper seek out the clan’s shaman for guidance. I decided to fire a few arrows at a crude shooting range.
It was a bit dark so I invoked my ring of nightvision. Ahh much better. I fired off a shot. Bullseye. Sweet. Fired another. It slipped just before full draw. The arrow went zinging deflecting off a tree. I heard some laughter. It was a BarBar of slightly smaller stature carrying a menacing Warbow. He chuckled again at my shot and I thought to redeem myself by attempting a shot with his bow. I am strong for an Elf but certainly no BarBar. I did manage to pull it back but just for a second. The arrow went right into the ground. Damn.
That provided more laughs for my new friend. He took back his bow. Drawing it with ease he held it for a second and released. A perfect shot splitting my original arrow. I was humbled. I tempted fate one more time. The gods smiled upon me as my arrow struck his embedding itself in its shaft. The BarBar was truly impressed. He introduced himself as Longshanks, a veteran ranger. He invited me to join his friends and I lived their culture that night. I got loaded, things got blurry and I passed out on the ground somewhere.
I awoke fresh and awake in the morning, thanks to some healer magic. Gotta love them guys, note to self don’t leave the healer to die.
We learned there was going to be a meeting of the clan leaders, so we were off. I knew this would be a critical time. We must unite the clans but how. I highly doubted that any would follow Beau. I would follow him to my death, even if he is not a DragonSlayer (I will have to remedy that someday soon). These people have a hard time following anything but strength.
The meeting went bad. Clans refusing to fight with other clans. I thought they were going to battle each other. Ignorant folk, though you have to respect their loyalty. One loudmouth (I hate loudmouths) got fed up and told his people to leave.
It looked as if a lot of the other clans were going to do the same thing. I had it. I challenged the brute stating “I will gladly slay you if that's what it takes to unite the clans”. He rushed me sword overhead. In one swift motion I destroyed the man’s armor and split open his chest spraying his blood over the crowd. He crumbled and I put my sword to his throat.
Weapons were drawn all around me. I am not sure that was the reaction I was looking for. However Longshanks spoke up for me and I released the bleeder. At this moment I changed inside. Its hard to explain but I knew I was different. For one thing when I think of myself the first thing to come to mind is Elf. Now I think Slayer. Also I feel a dependence on this sword,the DarkStar, and truly appreciated its value when I saw the eyes of all those BarBars when I split open one of their own like a ripe melon. A weapon like this can attract unwanted attention.
Better to make another little show to keep em all on the up and up. I licked the blood off my blade glaring at the fallen warrior who was now creeping off with his kin. I left him with a few choice words. I can’t imagine his Clan will follow him much longer. How can they respect someone who got crushed by a little elf.
More words were spoken and some began to rally around the idea of joining the clans. However a leader was needed and nominations were starting. This was an absolutely critical moment. Beau decided not to nominate himself so I called out Longshanks. I figured if we could keep control of the massed clans within our original clan, we would have a better chance later of possibly moving Beau into that role, after he proves himself to the BarBars. I also had another evil thought. I could always slay Longshanks later to make room for a new King. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. What kind of person am I becoming ?
I guess I knew what I was getting into when I began training as an AssAssin. Well it worked for the most part. Many BarBars left but many more stayed and joined Longshanks. Not all bad. We returned to Longshank’s clan to find the whole village destroyed , burnt to the ground, all lay dead. Far too much death in human lands. Longshanks stood trembling so I looked for tracks. Finding one print I called him over. He saw things I never could and he stated that groups left in three directions. They were heading towards the other clans.
Vowing to slay them all Longshanks ran off following the tracks. We followed and after a day of hard travel we caught a group of them. An arrow dropped the gnome thief and his brother sent his Beast toward the archers. These were knights of K. About a half dozen, two with bows. I started with them. I fired on the second bowmen before he could get off his first shot. The arrow struck the side of his face ripping off his ear. I finished him off with another shot. The Beast moved in growing to a Frey (think Minotaur) sized version of itself. Impressive. I shot the other bowmen striking him in the arm, he dropped his weapon. Beau moved in to save the thief. The Beast seemed to shrug off vicious attacks as if they were mere scratches. I would not want to face one in battle. More knights moved in. I managed to avoid the one on me while shooting the other knights on my comrades. It was all over pretty fast. We won though we lost another BarBar. Now that we united the Clans would there be anyone left alive?
Wow, has it been so long since anyone posted here?
Oh well. The thread was fun for a long time. I'll catch up Del's campaign (most of the past year was Sand's, which I'll just leave aside for the moment), because that's the current one. First, though, I have a question for the two or three people reading this post:
There is a Level 8 druid in my 5E party. I am suspicious that he doesn't really know what he's doing in combat, because he seems *really* ineffective. He's fond of the one-round invisibility to get separation and Erupting Earth. He will heal sometimes, when we desperately need it.
It feels like he's a second-rate healer and a second-rate damage dealer with third-rate battlefield control effects. I'm pretty sure he's capable of more (battlefield control? something?), but I am in constant fear that if I go down, we're pretty much sunk at any high level combat. So any advice I can pass on to a Level 8 5E druid would be welcome.
The dramatis personae:
Del: That's me! A Level 8, half-elf sorcerer. At your service.
Thraag: A mighty Level 8 gnome barbarian.
Aejeon: A mediocrely mighty Level 8 druid. (See above.)
Finn: A mighty Level 8 halfling monk.
The party went on a series of adventures in & around Daggerford, clearing out nests of orcs, gnolls, and (ultimately) demon-worshipers. Something is definitely up with demons in the area.
Anyway, Sue the mostly-useless ranger got killed in a town we liberated from orcs. It was there that, as a Level 7 Sorcerer with a powerful magic item, I began to feel the power of trivializing some encounters. Orcs in guard towers can shoot us? The Staff of Tides can put fog cloud on them. Problem solved. Party pushed against the wall, spread apart and injured? Polymorph the badly wounded monk into a Great Ape, capable of mauling any bad guy anywhere near him.
It was a long night of adventuring, though, clearing out that town, and eventually Sue fell. A room of casters and hard hitters was too much for us!
Soon thereafter we encountered Aejeon, a druid who wanted to help, and we did a few more area jobs. Something wicked was going on in the area, for sure. The point was driven home when we returned to Daggerford, after one long jaunt, and the Duke rolled out a fancy feast for us. With a huge reward of gold coins!
And then, lo and behold, a seductress we'd been keeping an eye on steps out from behind the curtain, and basically tells the duke to kill us. She gave Del a quick stab with a nasty dagger, and then the Duke took out a huge magic greatsword and hit Del 3 times in a row with it. Out go the lights! Without even getting to me on the initiative tracker! Not even getting a chance to put up Mage Armor!
Luckily, Aejeon threw a heal at me, and I recovered enough hit points to come awake & cast Polymorph on both the Duke and his mysterious femme fatale advisor. As a sorcerer, I could "twin" the spell, and hit both. And, luckily, they both failed their saves. In the place of the two big bad guys, we had two small turtles!
We worked with the trusted castle lieutenant to get them stashed safely in the cells below the dungeon. Del released the polymorph on the Duke, but instead of releasing it on the femme fatale, he cast Banish on her instead. After a minute, if she was native to the prime material plane, she would come back. But if you're from somewhere else - say, one of the planes of hell - and you've had Banish cast on you, you don't come back at all. Back to hell with you! And she did not return.
By now, we are all Level 8, as I said. And Del has received word from his old friend in the Clasp, Sybil, who has asked him to lead the party to White Plume Mountain, where we can head off some adventurers sponsored by the Myriad.
So we've now reached a swampy path that should take us to White Plume Mountain, where we'll probably all die. On our way, we just encountered a very nasty group of gnoll things, accompanied by massive magic snail creatures and a giant crocodile. I attempted to trivialize the encounter again, by using Control Water from the Staff of Tides. It lets me basically throw enormous waves in bodies of water, and we were in two feet of water. So I got to turn the environment against its inhabitants. I've whooshed away 4 of the 5 bad guys, with only the giant crocodile remaining.
Wish us luck! And please give me a tip for how an 8th level Druid can make himself useful, because so far it's just Erupting Earth and occasional heals!
Spoiler Alert!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper
I haven't updated this in awhile, and I'd like to keep it more or less upt to date. Also, I'm secretly hoping that, by bumping this thread, we'll find out about
@quozl
and the campaign he was developing to play with his daughter.
Where we last left our characters:
Spoiler Alert!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper
The level 6 dramatis personae, again, in our D&D 5E campaign:
Del ~ My character, a scoundrel half-elf wild mage sorcerer
Thraag ~ Gnome barbarian
Finn ~ Halfling monk
Sue ~ Human ranger
Keylee ~ Halfling rogue, cousin to Finn, and a DMPC
Our heroes have gone deep, deep into an underground fortress / cave system, looking for Finn's & Keylee's clan, which supposedly was enslaved by something or someone down in the darkness. It's been a long, long, long time that the party has been underground, and we're nearing what surely is the bottom.
Last time, in DS's journals:
Spoiler Alert!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper
Excellent! I recently rolled up a halfling archer myself, for capsocrates' Pathfinder game. It sounds like yours is a rogue, though, and mine is a paladin. I look forward to hearing more stories of his/her derring-do, perhaps but not necessarily including the name of him/her/it.
Continuing the story of Del, Thraag, Sue, and Finn, from three (or so) posts above:
We've had a combat-heavy few weeks since I last posted.
Del & Co. followed a tunnel along an underground stream bed that led them to a few old prison cells, likely unused in a century or more. We probably found a few odds and ends; I don't remember, and that bit of exploring is shrouded in my memory, shrouded by the terror that followed.
We re-rolled stealth after checking the prison cells and rolled, as a group, very poorly. We disturbed the roper
Spoiler Alert!
concealed in the darkness on the other side of the stream.
With its long tentacles it slapped us around and dragged some of us toward its gaping mouth, leaving others helpless to watch from the other side of the stream. It was a very bad situation, maybe the most perilous we've been in. Thraag, our barbarian, tried to help by throwing his magic javelin at it, and the rest of us chipped in doing different ineffective things. It grabbed the Sue's pig - Curly - and we successfully pulled him free, only to see him drop into the rushing water. He was only saved by a lucky athletics roll, courtesy of I-don't-remember-whom.
I cast a powerful illusion spell to make the roper think it was being attacked by a scary goliath, and we did a couple other things to extract our party from the scene without anybody actually dying. It was very close, and we ended up leaving behind the magic javelin.
We brushed ourselves off, took a short rest, and made our way to a large door we hadn't opened yet. We followed a long passage to a small dead end with a few statues. By looking far longer than should have been necessary, we found a secret door, which led us down into one entrance into what would have been a massive throne room, in ancient times. Now, it was occupied by a half-dozen duergar (dark dwarves), who tried to scare us away and then attacked us.
Long story short: we fought six, then reinforcements came in from two sides, and it probably should have been a grueling, long fight. But they rolled poorly a couple of times, and they huddled together at the beginning of the fight which was a mistake because fireball, and later in the combat they had a couple casters hiding near each other in the back which a mistake also because fireball, and also I now have counterspell. So I'm often not the star of combat but I was this time, and then when two survivors tried to hide in a neighboring room we found them and killed them, plus we interrogated one about captured halflings (I refer you to Act III, Scene i, when we established that we are searching for Finn's family), and he gave us a clue or two and then behaved like an evil bad guy so we killed him.
We pushed on a bit further, finding a network of secret halls behind the throne itself, and it led us to a room with a couple of ghosts. That room was pretty tough, but Finn eventually figured out that we could put the gathered skeletons on a small funeral pyre, and the ghost still occupying our friendly neighborhood NPC would go away. And it did.
Finally, we started exploring the surrounding rooms, and encountered some animated armor racks that we've now beaten into submission. My plan is that we will close the door on that room, with us inside, and take a much-needed long rest tonight.
Sorry this was so long. It's been awhile since I posted, and you have nobody but yourself to blame for reading it.
We missed three weeks in the month and a half (or so) since I posted that, but we've had a couple very eventful sessions that I haven't written about yet.
So, overnight while we rested in the room with the weapon racks, we were attacked by some kind of vampire ghosts. Luckily whoever was on watch (I don't remember anymore) saw them enter the room in their mist form, and we woke in time for a proper battle. We beat them back, and went back to sleep.
We encountered a number of empty rooms the following day, but one room appeared to be untouched in the many years that had passed since this was an operational fortress. We were highly suspicious, and prodded at the room from a few feet away, ultimately provoking an attack from a huge Rug of Smothering. Even though we were ready for it, it still managed to snare Keylee, and we nearly killed her in our effort to extract her from the nasty thing.
We had a second big combat that day, in the burial tomb of the king who had built the fortress. There was some undead nasty spellcaster, and two undead giants defending the tomb. It was much easier to kill them than it had been to kill the rug.
We moved on to the one room we hadn't yet explored on that level. In it was what appeared to be a pretty young maiden who claimed to be a prisoner, but we were not fresh off the pickle boat, and were immediately suspicious. The ranger can detect humanoids, and he did a quick check and quickly determined that she was not, in fact, what she appeared to be. Combat ensued.
It turned out she was a succubus. She charmed and very nearly one-shot Finn with a single kiss, but we managed to put her down. We found some valuable journals in that room, and some other minor goodies between the three rooms, but we had to call it a day. Finn's maximum hit points had been reduced to near zero in the last encounter, and we needed a rest.
It was a quiet night. I studied one of the journals we'd discovered, which explained that there were occasional "froghemoths" in the lake at the bottom of the underground waterfall.
The following day, we descended the rope ladder by the waterfall. Some voice in our heads, in the watery underground caverns below, promised us the release of Finn's & Keylee's family, if only we would dispose of the monster in the lake. Not getting any better offers, we approached the underground lake, where we were attacked by a froghemoth.
Despite all the warnings, we were still caught off guard, and we might have been killed, but the session ended there and we had a couple of weeks to plot the best course of action. When we picked up again last night, consistent with our plan, the ranger dropped a Fog on the froghemoth, and I cast Enlarge on the barbarian, and we arrayed ourselves so that we we could flank it when it attacked.
Sue (The ranger, of course. What do you mean you don't remember who's who?) lifted the fog and we braced ourselves for the attack, which ultimately came. It was a long and bruising fight. Del used Bend Luck, an ability allowing slight manipulations of die rolls, repeatedly and effectively, but it was draining all his resources. The thing had resistance to fire, so my heavy fire attack didn't do much damage. It had a multi-attack and whipped most of us repeatedly about the head and shoulders, ultimately - just as it was beginning to show signs of weakness - swallowing Finn whole.
Del, in desperation, ran over and cast Misty Step to teleport to right on top of the thing's massive body, so he could try to use Shocking Grasp - as an electrical spell, very effective against this creature - to try to rescue his friend. Unfortunately Del couldn't get the Shocking Grasp to land. Keylee, also mounted on the back of the froghemoth, slashing it with daggers, could not kill it.
Thraag managed to finish it off, though. Raging barbarians put out a *lot* of damage. Finn was still trapped inside.
"Hold my feet," said Del to Keylee, "and get ready to pull." Del dived right down the gullet of the froghemoth, and successfully grabbed ahold of his friend, the dying and unconscious Finn. Keylee successfully pulled Del and Finn back out of the monster's gullet, and we all live to fight another day.
Huzzah!
The current dramatis personae:
Del ~ My character, a scoundrel half-elf wild mage sorcerer
Thraag ~ Gnome barbarian
Finn ~ Halfling monk
Sue ~ Human ranger
The massive froghemoth we defeated in that dark lake turned out to be the final ne'erdowell in that massive dungeon. We did a bit more exploring and rescued the captives, including Finn's and Keylee's clan. (Yaaaayyyyy!)
We led them all the way back to the surface, where we met a few wandering elves, who were part of a party that had been in the area. It turned out that their woodland sanctum was also under threat from the same wild, evil forces that seemed to be at work all over the eastern seaboard of Geroth. They told us about a powerful witch, in the mountains to the northwest, who might have information about what to do next.
We gave Keylee a significant amount of gold, including a significant gift for the Clasp in exchange for its support for us, and custody of the freed halflings. I cannot remember how we came to be persuaded to do this, but we decided to go looking for this mountain witch.
We battled our way through a few woodland encounters and made our way to her mountain lair.
WARNING:
I think my brother may be blending in some official licensed D&D campaign stuff now. I don't know whether it's an official campaign or where he got this stuff but I suspect it's from somewhere.
IF YOU THINK A MOUNTAIN WITCH WITH SOME KIND OF WEIRD SECRETS SOUNDS FAMILIAR to your campaign, then maybe don't read anymore. I don't want to spoil your campaign.
Anyway. We are now Level 7. I can polymorph.
You've been warned. Plot points incoming.
We found this cave witch, the name of whom I forget. She offered to do some stuff for us if we provided her a service. We had a couple of services available, one of which sounded like a lot of work, and one of which was that our gnome barbarian would *ahem* spend the evening with her.
Our barbarian, who is not the most enthusiastic of role players, was perfectly happy to sacrifice himself that way. I used my new spell to turn myself into a bug, once during the night, to crawl under the door and make sure she wasn't eating him or anything, but apparently all was ok. So my brother & the gnome barbarian had some private time, and then we all got back on the call and that was that. The next morning, Thraag made some passing comments about how the witch had said something like she'd planted a demon seed or something in her, and we moved on. (!!!???).
In exchange for Thraag's *ahem* service, the witch pointed us to Daggerford, far away on the west coast of Geroth, as the place to investigate next. Also, she provided Sue - our ranger, who kept losing his piggy animal companions - an Imp to be his companion next. What an upgrade!
We made our way down to Hong Zhou. Thanks to our generosity with the Clasp, we were offered access to some teleportation magic that would help get us to the Daggerford area, which otherwise we could not hope to reach for a long, long time.
Our teleportation magic took us near Daggerford but not directly to it. We had to battle & sneak our way to the town gate, which we ultimately did, where found a town in the midst of some unrest. Refugees were camped outside and could not enter; meanwhile, inside, the absentee lord had suffered a theft of some magical doodad.
All kinds of drama. We diplomacied our way through the gate and have been investigating the missing magical doodad, though (as far as I can recall) we were starting to feel like we'd hit a dead end with the investigating.
Things broke off temporarily because of other developments. . .
Not fresh off the pickle boat eh? That's a good line
Sounds like you don't have much confidence in going to White Plume Mountain.
I hate getting hit hard before my turn in initiative order comes up. Nasty. But at least you got healed and did th Polymorph spell to turn them into turtles. Never had any characters in our group with that spell.
Our current group of 5th level characters are:
Me, a dwarf druid with Circle of the Moon concentration.
Christie, a high elf Paladin who shoots first and asks questions later.
Ron, a half-orc Paladin who tools poorly the most in our group and is tempted to become an oathbreaker.
Brandon, a tiefling ranger, who likes to be more of an overwatch player and cover us with his bow. He has generally been the player that tends to overthink things and drag things out.
Shawn, is on there once in awhile and he's a halfling bard. He's newest to the group and has only played like 4 or 5 games of DnD total, so he's the least confident and useful to the group so far.
Hand of fate is moving and the finger points to you
...Iron Maiden - The Wicker Man