za3k > aldenmarsh > party > recaps

See the discord for the latest recaps. I'll copy them over here every once in a while.

Session 39: 2021-10-06

The party searches the monastic rooms, finding a bunch of loot. They then examine a museum to the east, where they see a copy of the Holy Book of Baneth and loot a number of ancient relics.

They go down the "open eye" path to the left, through a series of rooms each with a different magical effect. They pass two monks ringing bells and gongs, one of whom notes them and doesn't stop them.

In the center, they find a huge room with a tight wire between the sides. They ignore some glass plates and instead go for the pile of treasure on the other side, crossing the rope. As they reach for it, a large mangy dog transforms into an angelic knight with silvery skin, who interrogates them on who they are. When they lie, she swears to kill them. They defeat her with difficulty, and start gathering up the loot. Erlan accidentally rings a gong, which summons three coatls. They try lying to the coatls and telling them to go off and defend another part of the vault, but the coatls see through them. At the end, three of the party (Zorrinn, Elira, and Cal) are unconscious in the vault, and two (Erlan and Talus) have barely escaped to the other side of the intact ice boulder, fleeing safely out of the Still manor.

The current date is the afternoon of Year 422, Day 182 (Truth). The active party is outside the still, and three members are unconscious in the vault.

Elira, Zorrinn, and Talus should bring replacement PCs for the next session (Cal can optionally if he wants).

Session 38: 2021-09-29

The party preps to raid the Still Vault. They buy equipment, including "throwaway" equipment in case of divination or scrying, and prep spells and tactics. Talus acquires a floor plan for the Still from Stumpy for a significant fee. Zorinn organizes a last night of debauchery and partying.

The party openly goes out of the city, then camps out in the wild for a while in Tiny Hut, leaving a misleading paper trail. They enter the Still and get to the second underground floor first try no problems, without seeing or alerting anyone. They go down what they think from the floor plan might be a jail, but turns out to be the monastic living cells, and fight four priests. They are victorious, and a search of the living space does not reveal any alarms. Zorinn blockades the stairs down with a huge ice boulder during this, and destroys a teleportation circle.

There seem to be some magical effects in place. There is an artifical "muting" or "silence" effect quieting everything, making it hard to cast spells with verbal components. Annoyingly, this doesn't seem to affect the priests. Talus's tattoo reacts strongly to some kind of anti-fiend protection. And, there seems to be some minor healing magic present, stabilizing everyone who would make a death saving throw on both sides.

The current date is the monring of Year 422, Day 182 (Truth). The party are in the underground level of the Still.

Session 37: 2021-09-22

Talus signs up with the Steel. Erlan tries to get answers about the black thumbprint on him. Stumpy won't answer, but he starts tracking backwards when someone re-applies the print. Cal visits the Watch--both he and Grub and not sure what to do about the Blinded Eye, but decide to learn plans for the explosives. Zorinn asks Robert about the Blinded Eye, and they end up hooking up at an inn. Cal and Erlan track down two of the three remember Blinded Eye members by using Locate Object. There's an abandoned Blue cloak in a warehouse with some identifying information, and they they find Grey's cloak in some crowded tenement housing.

At the meeting, everyone shows up. The Blinded Eye seems split on the new members but proceeds. They plan to plant the bomb in the High Sept at night, but they need Red to make it first, and they need to wait for a time they know it's empty. The PCs suggest doing it during the day instead, but clearing out the place of bystanders using magic. The Blinded Eye asks the PCs to raid and sabotage the Still vault before the explosives raise the Church's guard against sabotage. They agree, asking for details.

The current date is the evening of Year 422, Day 177 (Patience). The party just returned back home.

Session 36: 2021-09-15

Cal turns in a letter from the Flesh Brokers to the clerk at the jail. Talus asks Stumpy about what essence of pure fire looks like, while Zorinn and Erlan check out the same thing in the Mages' Guild archives. They hear Johnann Humanson (the head of the Steel and someone on the Aldenmarsh Council) was assassinated. The party scopes out the Red Alchemist at night--it's abandoned, although they spot Stumpy's friend Dave spying on them.

With a lot of magical assistance and spotters, Erlan steals a 50-gallon drum of essence of pure fire. The party identifies the cask and several other magical items. Zorinn casts sending to contact Laurel Fallenditch, who gives them an address for a letter in Agaria.

Level 6 reached.

The current date is the morning of Year 422, Day 173 (Light)

Session 35: 2021-09-08

Talus and Elira head back to the house with Robert and have a drunk conversation. Zorinn heads to the Mages' Guild, where he sees that his school rival Zeno is in town. Erlan and Cal persuade white to let them into the Blinded Eye despite the earlier fiasco. They go to a secret meeting room above a coffee shop, where they meet Blue, Taupe (Brown), and Grey. Red is in the hospital after some explosives went off in storage. They are asked to get essence of pure fire to manufacture replacement explosives, probably by robbing an alchemist. They are also requested to recruit Laurel Fallenditch or her friends. Cal memorizes all the cloaks.

Cal and Erlan let the party know everything from the meeting. Robert recuperates in the next room, and Erlan yells at him not to go around mouthing on about the Blinded Eye.

The next morning, the party splits up, casing the different alchemical shops they could target. They decide to target The Red Alchemist.

The current date is Year 422, Day 171 (Silence)

Session 34: Cancelled

Session 33: 2021-08-18

Downtime -- Zorinn visits the mages' guild.

Erlan and Elira visit the Watch. Elira adds Grub's name to her book, and will check in with him every few weeks. They persuade Grub to take a break sometime, and offer some advice on moving citizens to the north side of the city if an attack looks likely. Talus looks into the Standlin family, finding three properties in the city. Gasela's mother is not on record, but her father is Laron Standlin, a noble who still seems to be alive. He asks a Gardener for moral guidance. Zorinn and Cal visit the Tuz manor. They are turned away, but Zorinn uses invisible spider Ludwig to search the house. It looks like the Standlins are a family of four, all out of the house. Belmand has been gone for at least a month or two, and a guest seems to be staying in his sister's room. The Tuz finances recently are unusual, and there is information about troop movements.

The PCs show up to a Rebellion meeting with a bottle of wine. They talk with citizenry. The PCs and citizens are not pleased with recent Church decisions, including tariffs, travel restrictions, grounded ships, and a rumored 10% tithe going into effect. A couple of attending citizens are racist against Zorrinn, telling him to leave. After the meeting the hooded woman invites two of the party to another location to continue talking, along with Robert. Zorinn tries to have Ludwig secretly spy on them, and Talos starts following them. Talos appears, visible, in the middle of the street, after his armor clanking gives him away, and refuses to let his new friends go off into a possible ambush.

Talos casts Charm Person on Robert. Talos and Elira head back to the house to party. Meanwhile, Erlan and Cal follow the hooded woman to an alley where she changes out of her robe, and then back to a private residence. They knock on the door. Zorinn is MIA.

The current date is Year 422, Day 170 (Patience)

Session 32: 2021-08-04

The party briefly questioned Percy Cornwinkle, who said he was acting under the orders of Commander Edward Harris. The party took Percy Cornwinkle to Castle Hop, where they asked the other Watch members to keep him imprisoned indefinitely. He tried to escape the same night under Elira's watch. The party caught him quickly, and after a short interrogation, Talus killed him so he wouldn't escape again.

Arriving in Canyonport, the party delivered the dead to the military and the Mages Guild. They collected their payment (50,000 sp) and went shopping. Cal picked up the payment for the decanter from the bank, and Elira joined the Mages Guild. There was a loud explosion, which the party investigated, and put out the fire.

The party took a 12-day break, during which Cal made a magic item, and Erlan got a crash study course in noble education, including how to fake what he doesn't know. His instructor put a black thumbprint on his shoulder and disappeared. Elira mostly succeeded at hiding a wanted poster of her younger self, while causing a bit of a scene at a tavern. Erlan took Zorinn on a pub crawl. Zorinn gained Aldenmarsh citizenship, quietly receiving papers in the mail, and removed his brand leaving only a faint mark.

The current date is Year 422, Day 169 (Charity)

Session 31: 2021-07-21

The party started in silver hall with elira slipping away while invisible, a few attempts we made to find her and were failures, the party argued with some guards over why they were being trapped, elira got lost, cast remove curse on herself and took 5d10 damage, she then proceeded to come back to the party, confessed to being under a geas, and was told by the king that he believed her, the party proceeds to finish the trade deal, where they then got jumped by a dragon, all of the NPCs died, many of the party members almost died, in the end the dragon died. The party was then given some rewards as gratitude from the dwarves, eventually left the dwarves, and delivered the runes. The day after they delivered the ruins the person who would put a elira under a guise approached, assuming she was still under it, the party jumped them and captured them

The current date is Year 422, Day 154 (Truth)

Session 30: 2021-07-14

The party arrived at Silver Hall, and handed over their gold to the dwarves, who count it very slowly. They amuse themselves as best they can in a tiny empty locked room. Elira is up to something suspicious. She turns invisible, and the guards catch her as she's leaving.

The current date is Year 422, Day 144 (Light)

Session 29: 2021-07-07

The party mourns the death of William. They meet Talus and a mystery rebellion contact. At the mages' guild, Zorinn joins the guild. The party accepts a mission for the military to trade gold with some dwarves for anti-teleportation wards. They are closely interrogated in separate rooms.

At dawn, they leave for Silver Hall, and arrive safely.

The current date is Year 422, Day 140 (Truth)

Session 28: 2021-06-30

The party sneaks around customs at the Aldenmarsh border. At the Canyonport city wall they call the Mages' guild in to vouch for them, but get detained until the foreigners in their group show up. Zorinn and William are branded, and William is thrown in prison until he gets a visa.

Entering the city, they check in with the Mages' Guild to get William a visa and pick up their decanter. They check in with the Watch. Finally, they visit William in prison, but hear reluctant tales of the Ji-kon, some kind of shadowy organization that controls time travel. They warn the guards there may be a breakout attempt, but return later the same night to find him dead, aged hundreds of years in mere minutes, with the guards unaware of anyone entering or exiting.

Level 5 reached.

The current date is Year 422, Day 137 (Loyalty)

Session 27: Cancelled

Session 26: 2021-06-16

The party meets frog-people. They initially can't communicate, but offer rations to the tribe, which they seem to take as tribute. Cal's physical approach, Zorrinn's mage hand, Elira's sudden understanding of their gloopy language all rile them up, but the party defuses the situtation and backs away. They search the island themselves and by familiar, but don't find a second temple.

During the night, Cal is sent a dream by someone in the Canyonport Watch house: "This is not a dream. Aldenmarsh declared war on Grag'hesh. Return immediately. The Watch needs all members. Borders closing soon."

Zorinn debates whether he wants to be a foreigner returning to Aldenmarsh right now, or whether he'd prefer to see his fathers. The party tries to figure out how to return, given that the borders may be closed by the time they reach them.

The current date is Year 422, Day 125 (Family)

Session 25: 2021-06-09

The party hires Lane, an ex-student of Zorrinn's, to organize and answer their letters while they are away. Cal gets a letter back from Jacob. Zorrinn gets a letter from Kipper that Eldon has gone missing. They check in with the Watch. The party heads to Egg Island, arriving there a couple weeks later. They talk to the small finishing village, then head out into the forest. They find an abandoned kobold temple. While Elira's raven Corvus is out scouting for a possible second temple, a number of frog-people come up on them.

The current date is Year 422, Day 122 (Silence)

Session 24: 2021-06-02

Erlan joins the party.

The party arrives back at Canyonport. They deliver a stack of books to Strew Havenore, the master archivist at the Mages' Guild. She thanks them. The party goes to their usual tavern, the Lazy Ass, where they meet Erlan Mossfoot, telling a tall tale and standing round after round. They hit it off and decide to hire him to help with, but not to invite them back to the house. William is extended an invitation to stay at the house, gets a tour, has some allergy problems, and cooks a nice meal.

The party has some new mail, offering them various new jobs: to fetch a trident on Egg Island for the military or the Mages' guild, to find a stolen prayer lily in Canyonport from a noble, to deliver a Chaos Shard to the Dwarven Reach for the Mages' Guild, and to make a rubbing of a wall in Silver Hall from a Mages' Guild member.

The party visits the Kirkle Manor, talking to Evesta Kirkle and investigating the stolen prayer lily. They give it up as a cold case with no leads. Cal picks up his commissioned magic sword. Heading to the Mages' guild, the party buys a decanter of endless water from Elluin and commissions a second. They talk to Segarrellion but the job he offered them has expired. They are led to Siber, who tells them about a trident on Egg Island, which the Mages' guild wants to recover to give to the military.

The current date is Year 422, Day 109 (Loyalty)

Session 23: 2021-05-26

Mackian drops out permanently.

Zorinn and the party go to meet the chronurgist Eroan Jian, who finishes the last of Zorinn's book, and offers to take him as an apprentice long-term. The party then visits the Roughshade Monestary, with its world-famous library. They buy several books (including magic books, a map of the wastes, and some smut). and do some research. There, they talk to two scholars: Lo Rodon about the ruins filled with shadows they visited, and Pui Ni about the history of Humlend. They go play at the beach. Cal goes back to visit Eroan again, giving him a warning about hurting innocents. The party book a series of short ship voyages back to Canyonport "off-screen", lugging back some books for Strew Havenore.

The current date is Year 422, Day 108 (Silence).

Session 22: 2021-05-19

Becket more or less dropping out (for the forseeable future), Mackian joining.

The party leaves the Mirage of Dreams Inn and heads south. They run into some ruins, where they find strange shadows and lose their won shadows. Zorinn uses detect magic, and is blinded by the strength of the runes. They are some kind of coldbliss from the Arcane Flowering. They overshoot the Rifts to the west, and lose a little time. They rescue Makian, who had been hanging by his fingers on a ledge partway down a canyon. They cross using an ice bridge, and ignore the whispers and skeletons down the canyon. Continuing on, Makian spots a glowing cave, the hidden mushroom village his group had been looking for originally. The mushroom people seem friendly but the party and the mushroom people can't communicate, so they quickly leave.

The party reaches Va Popli in Bat Vadyne, where they immediately stop at the restaurant owned by their Watch contact, Barlar. They want to arrange some kind of tax structure, bu there's no centralized government. Barlar suggests finding a sponsor to pay the tax. They head to the workshop of Jescasti, a well-known philanthropist, who ends up buying the ewer of endless water outright instead. They party will send Va Popli a second decanter once it's made, from Canyonport.

Level 4 reached.

The current date is Year 722, Day 95 (Loyalty).

Session 21: 2021-05-12

The party talks to the orcs, but they end up fighting. The party is divided over whether attacking the orcs is legitimate, and fights amongst themselves. They bring the orc (Smelly) back to the town for the night, and make him lead them to his camp. He shows them a campfire, but the party threatens and beats him until he reveals the real orc warcamp, with 150 orcs and at least one giant wolf. They return to town, turning him over to the prison, and the guard runs off to tell someone about the warcamp. They try to get Neville at the Bracklehull Merchants Association to pay them without success.

They decide to leave for Bat Vadyne, and will travel by foot over the wastes (it will take 2-3 weeks). They stop by Fort Hydra to prepare, and set off after selling their horse and wagon. Four days in, they succcessfully find the Mirage of Dreams Inn, the last outpost before Bat Vadyne.

The current date is Year 722, Day 78 (Charity).

Session 20: 2021-05-05

The party talk to Grub and decided to go to Bat Vadyne to deliver them water. They shopped for magic items, finding some nice ones, and argued in- and out- of character about selling their iron ewer of endless water. They bought horses and a wagon, travelling south to the Bracklehull Merchants' association, where they talk to an unhelpful secretary about recent orc attacks. They managed to find an attacked merchant, and got information that the attack happened north of Bracklehull. Disguising their wagon as merchants' wagon, they headed north, where they spotted orcs coming up on them.

The current date is Year 722, Day 71 (Charity)

Session 19: 2021-04-28

The party found the Black Oracle, but there was a scary shadow creature in there. They defeated the shadow, and asked all their given questions, plus one accidental one--deciding not to ask any of their own in favor of getting money. The party exited the name immediately for safety, paid their assistants, and received a bonus of a bag of holding. They have several letters offering work at the house.

The current date is Year 422, Day 67 (Loyalty)

Session 18: Cancelled

Session 17: 2021-04-07

Welcome to William Johnson.

The party fights a ghost, and wins. During the fight they meet a mysterious stranger, William Johnson, who assists. They retreat back to the mages' guild to rest and recuperate, where they calculate that at a cost of 4500sp each, they can heal only one person--they select Zorrinn. Four of the NPCs leave (some bitter about not being healed), and are replaced. The party returns to the maze and cautiously approaches what used to be an unconscious minotaur.

The current date is Year 422, Day 67 (Loyalty)

Session 16: 2021-03-31

Corvus on a long break due to work stuff.

The party continues to explore the maze. They find several doors, and kick and an unlocked one. It's covered in bells, and they alert a nearby minotaur. They defeat it, knocking it unconscious. They continue to explore with their flunkies, encountering and kiting a gelatinous cube, which eventually stops moving. The party picks a lock on the door to the north, finding inside a furious ghost who terrifies and ages them. They begin to flee.

The current date is Year 422, Day 66 (Silence).

Session 15: Cancelled

Session 14: Cancelled

Session 13: Cancelled

Session 12: 2021-03-03

The trial takes place. Felicia Pinkvine explains the situation, the charges, and sentences the accused. Laurel Fallenditch is censured, stripped of her priesthood, and banished from Aldenmarsh for heresy. Ella "Storm" Baker" is given a mark and fined for assaulting a guard. River Shipwright is given a (second) mark and fined for instigating the riot. Kylie Smallmountain is not sentenced. The party talks to the Watch, and decides not to pursue Laurel farther as she's banished.

Segarrelion hires the party to ask a list of questions to the Black Oracle. They and 9 volunteers are teleported to the Minotaur's Maze, in Four Spires. They begin exploring the maze, and evade a pit trap.

Level 3 reached.

The current date is Year 422, Day 66 (Silence).

Session 11: 2021-02-24

Zorinn questions Laurel Fallenditch. Corvus questions River Shipwright, Kylie Smallmountain, and Ella "Storm" Baker. They submit boring written reports to John Elfwood about what they found. Zorinn looks into possible heresy charges at the High Sept. Becket looks into law and finds two case histories of heresy. Zorrinn takes Becket on a "date?". It is the morning of the day of the trial.

The current date is Year 422, Day 63 (Truth).

Session 10: 2021-02-17

Becket gets into the jail, but Iong Duan (the clerk) doesn't really believe his story, and finds his thieves' tools. He and Laurel Fallenditch talk a while about what started the riot (hooligans?) and whether she would support a revolutionary group or want to see them brought to justice. Becket remembers they might have an in with the investigator. Heading to the Watch house, they talk to Grub, and then Rerdar, a member of another investigation team who offers to get other party members on the riot/Fallenditch investigation team. The party goes to Church. Cal and Becket research the symbol Cal saw when his parents were attacked. The whole party goes to the Watch safehouse. Cal and Becket have vouched for the other party members, and they were all told about the Watch. They join as members, swearing an oath.

The current date is Year 422, Day 61 (Light). The trial is scheduled for Day 63 (Truth).

Session 9: 2021-02-10

The party talked to the jail clerk. They didn't get let in, but he was sympathetic to Cal's parents knowing Laurel Fallenditch. A brief explanation of the Aldenmarsh legal system. Becket talks to Stumpy, who tells him the judge for the case is Felicia Pinkvine and the Head Inspector is John Elfwood. A new graffiti symbol is appearing, a crossed out Baneth symbol, which might be the symbol of the resistance. Zorinn meets someone at the mage's guild, Saryarus Aejeon. The party house-shops, eventually buying a house in the Foreign quarter from Angrim Ironhead for 3000 sp, and equips it with furniture. Becket sneaks into the jail by rooftop and wakes up Laurel Fallenditch, who is reluctant to talk to a stranger sneaking into the jail without a clear explanation of what's going on. He says they will return during the day tomorrow and talk in her cell.

The current date is Year 422, Day 59 (Silence).

Session 8: 2021-02-03

Mirinda left permanently.

The group helps people warm up at the ruins of the Farm in Snaketon. Zorinn discovers he has the Shrieks, and Cal cures Zorinn and Corvus. The party returns to Canyonport during the Whirling Festival. They deliver all magical items and books to Leonard Kernelman as requested, receiving 1000sp each reward. Zorinn learns about book repair. Cal gets a letter from Skarra. The party discusses getting a warehouse over dinner, then goes out to enjoy the festival. Becket climbs a 5-story tree, getting a yellow sash from the top. The party bonds. The next morning, the Grub tells Cal and Becket about a priest of Baneth who wrote and spoke out against the church the day before and was arrested, giving them a copy of the criticisms. They party convenes and decides to visit the jail.

The current date is Year 422, Day 57 (Charity).

Session 7: 2021-01-27

The group investigates a stone house, discovers it more of a storage room, fights 2 snakes and 1 toad, the toad leaves and snakes are killed. Corvus investigate upstairs, while Zorrinn casts detect magic and investigates around the area. Zorrinn finds a barrel without a bottom, leading to a chute. Corvus finds a large water pool with a house in the center. Tries to swims and gets nibbled by fish. Rest of the party joins upstairs and we make our way over the water killing the fish. Inside the house, we look for the goods, find a crazy man, knock him out and kill him. Find 3/4 things, water starts draining. Leave the house for safety, Zorrinn gets swept away in the water. Cal and Elira return to the house and get the final item. Mirinda tries to find Zorrin and find him at the farm which is now a lake. A couple of people died, some of Zorrinns paper based items are wreck and he has a laughing fit.

Session 6: 2021-01-20

party found the ring, joined the wizerds guild. Heading to snaketon to recover stolen goods. Lved up

Level 2 reached.

Session 5: 2021-01-13

After a kerfuffle in the tavern a few adventures decide to try their hands at the special contest running in Canyonport. After a bit of trouble Cal got a ring from Maros (a member of the mages guild) and was told it was a clue and a few hours later the ring started to glow. With more hours spent the group mapped out the area it glows in and searched it the best they could, after a sleep and meeting in the morning the group starts to plan what's next.

Session 4: 2021-01-06

Kray dropped out.

The party interrogated the bandits, finding the location of the bandit camp. They confronted the bandits, and everyone was knocked out or died. Roland was briefly interrogated, and the survivors' throats were slit.

TPK: Total Party Kill.

Next session, we will start with a new party, in Canyonport. There will be no separate session zero this time.

Session 3: Cancelled

Session 2: Cancelled

Session 1: 2020-12-16

James Caldoni offered the party a pardon, gold, and training if they took care of a problem for the Church. They need to find some bandits on the road to Fort Eryfast, stop them, and find out who may have hired them. They set out in a wagon with Clerk Cassanda. Along the way, they play tricks on each other, drink beer, and kill a crocodile. They defeat the bandits.

Session 0: 2020-12-09

Everyone said hi! Everyone seems like nice people

IN game: Characters are all in jail, with evidence of a serious crime against them. They have not yet been sentenced to a specific punishment.

OUT of game: