Two parts. One from like a month ago as a DM, the other just a few hours ago.
First, start of the month I had the last session of the summer as a DM in the city I study in.
Ended up being some great encounters to save a child from a mysterious kidnapper. And, well, I think the post-session responses speak for themselves about the climax:
I'm basically redoing a campaign I did a few years ago, but now with new players and new ideas for how to improve what I once ran.
So at this point they are on their first guild mission and are to try to find a child taken in a raid on a caravan, whose deceased mother the party had found notes about that she'd written in captivity. They have found the father in the city that has taken out a contract to at least retrieve remains.
(Minotaur Fighter, Gnome Rogue, Human Cleric/Artificer, Wood Elf Moon druid, Vulpine Wizard/Bard)
On their early morning trip up the creepy mountain that they heard rumors about an old shrine on, they first encountered a pack of gnolls in a shouting contest with a pack of red goblins. It's a narrow road on the mountainside, so they have to figure out a way to get that shouting contest to resolve, or risk spending a better part of the day finding a detour.
So the gnome rogue takes on a mission to sneak around both groups, maneuver on loose rocks on a rocky descent, then climb up a tree and angle an arrow shot at the gnolls in a way that makes it seem like the red goblins had actually attacked them.
After making Jade's player sweat a lot from the high-risk skill checks to even get to that point, she actually succeeds, and the further infuriated gnolls charge and rout the red goblins that were not prepared for actual fisticuffs. Tense, delicious encounter.
Then they reach the actual shrine, and shit starts to get weird. All sorts of hallucinations and magical terrain effects taunt the players and unsettle them greatly, especially the tree full of quiet ravens moving perfectly in sync, staring with eyes seemingly humanoid. Then the lead raven lands on a player's arms, and its head suddenly opens up half a dozen eyes before flying away with the entire flock into the shrine.
By the time they reach, the mystique and tension is at peak, before
Hexmerlda appears.
And here I basically went with the "color out of space" type of description by describing her appearance in terms that seem incomprehensible to the PCs, but the players themselves have reference: Most of her body sans the hair and eyes looks and moves like some early PS2 era video game character model, except there in reality with everything else that is photorealistic and grounded, causing a horrific uncanny effect.
She cackles at the party's poor positioning in their approach, and is cradling a swaddle with an infant in one arm, while standing next to a large black cauldron. She makes cryptic references to stuff and villains from the main quest and her intent to be her own faction and not side with them to take the players' mcguffin from the main quest.
However, she intends to have her "fun" and has some experiments she wants to run for her own ends, and propositons the players:
Each of them absorb a mercury-like floating orb, and she'll hand the child over, and even a resurrection scroll powerful enough to bring back the infant's mother. She promises as part of the contract that the experiment won't rob them of their souls or warp their bodies out of their natural shapes
However, all the while making the proposition she's openly antagonizing them to attack, seeming as unreliable as possible and leaning hard on the horror of the environmental circumstances (the raven flock sits at the top of the temple ruin and echo her like loudspeakers every time she laughs). She also regales that she's responsible for the tragedy of the infant's family. Why? Simple: The grandfather of the father had once slighted her many years ago, but died before she could get her cold revenge, so she just moved to the next of kin when it happened to be convenient. (this pissed the players off further, on top of the terror and tension) They inquire if one could take multiple orbs instead of others. Indeed, but Hexmerelda gleefully informs that a larger dose on a single individual means she can't guarantee no unwanted side-effects.
My music playlist is working fantastically and I even match speech patterns to the music as convenient, and the players are literally sweating and sliding to the edge of their seats. As Hexmerelda continues to goad them and gradually seems to loosen her grip on the infant right above the now boiling cauldron, the Gnome Rogue Jade agrees to the deal, pressing her finger to a magical blood seal contract. The Vulpine Wizard follows shortly, as does the Minotaur fighter, and then the Human Cle/Art.
But a complication: The Druid's backstory literally includes vows to never enter such dark magical deals, and the player is literally willing to fight to the death. And the party suddenly realizes that the contract is already in effect: Hexmerelda can't attack anyone that entered it, but they also can't hurt her. It would be the druid, alone, against Hexmerelda, who has made it clear she won't allow them to leave with an incomplete deal. She's clearly doomed, and the players can't intervene, only watch as she's slaughtered or worse.
But then the Human Cle/Art after much tense brooding speaks up and demands the druid's share, doubling his own dose.
Hexmerelda laughs with exuberation and seals the deal. Everyone is shocked as the orbs slam into their bodies, and the Human collapses in pain and experiences various sensations of pain and power before stabilizing.
In a quick wrapup the party are able to return to town, heroes, saving the infant and the deceased mother and returning them to the until now utterly distraught father. Yet they feel exploited, traumatized,
defeated.
The Cle/Art with his double dose goes to bed that night, and feels his heart palpitate.
End of session.
Each player that took a dose got two power bonuses from it. The human with his double dose is in for some fuuuuun stuff in the narrative...
Almost looking forward to the end of summer so we can pick it back up. This campaign would have been much further along if not for the pandemic in spring...
---------------------------
---------------------------
---------------------------
Finally got to play as a player last night in the local west marches campaign at the mid-tier level.
The premise of the campaign is a magically transported town and town parts that have sent people from various realms to one region, and players are then trying to make the city survive.
The town was betrayed by what they thought were allies, and is now occupied by the dragon theocracy, and the various PCs in different parties are leading a resistance and gathering allies.
This time the group I played in was tasked with raiding the town's warehouse, bringing along two portable holes to fill up with resources stocked by the occupiers.
My character is/was the town's crypt keeper shadow sorcerer. Heavily apolitical as a character, but the theocracy branded him a heathen for his practices and kicked him out. Literally the one thing that would make him explicitly take sides in a political conflict.
The session was a blast, and we almost accidentally stumbled upon the best course of action when, as things do, stuff went wrong.
Everyone got to do stuff:
The rangers (fairly fresh players) that triggered the magic ward alarms drew off a contingent of enemies away from the warehouse and skirmished with great effect.
My sorcerer's Hound of Ill Omens battled guards at the gate, keeping them from running inside, and the Oathbreaker Paladin rushed in to assist it and did a smiting crit on his very first attack, then having an epic stand against multiple enemies side by side with the hound.
The other sorcerer gather intel about the type of wards inside the city and rolled amazing on the wild magic table, also picking off guards that could witness his infiltration identity.
My sorcerer teleported the Minotaur Barbarian straight up to the ware house and we busted through the walls and fought off guard elementals
(the barbarian magically enlarged by my sorcerer) and then we hastily toppled shelves of goods into the portable holes as we heard adult dragons in the distance react to the chaos and start to come towards us. (we're like level 6-7)
Portable Holes filled, I manage to use my magic rake to teleport myself and the barbarian to an allied spot, recovering the loot. The rangers fled through cornfields and used
Pass Without a Trace to leave no trail, while the Paladin and other Sorcerer rode out on a Pegasus, which can outpace dragons in the air.
Huge success, and everyone got their moments of being useful and cool. Everyone played an important part. I even leveled up and got enough treasure points to buy the third attunable magic item I had saved up for: The Cloak of Arachnida.
Fantastic evening all-round.
