Welcome, lurkers, to our fabulous thread.
In this thread, we continue our journey in which our party (yet unnamed), embarks on an epic quest to thwart the assault of the Red Hand army on Elsir Vale, racing to prepare for the assault before the might horde ends the world as they know it.
The game is a long-term d&d campaign that run on the 3.5e system. It is mostly played on this board, with partial support on discord.
General details of the campaign can be found here:
>>132102 →Now, the party left off at the end of the evacuation of Drellin's Ferry, the townsfolk fleeing ahead of the advance of the horde. The Red Hand forces are mighty, and the party has been able to accomplish little to hinder the army, although the vengeful fury of a certain giant and his granddaughters may have bought the villagers some time, as distant sounds of thunder echo from the hills.
In part one, the party learned some vital information, from the the Wyrmlord Koth's notes, map, and conversations with many characters along the way
>The Red Hand horde means business. If it is going to be stopped, that will have to be at Brindol, the only place in Elsir Vale with a standing army large enough and the fortifications necessary to have a chance against such a large force.>Monsters are blocking the roads to the north, blocking any chance of reinforcements for Brindol>One of the leaders of the Red Hand is in the ruined city of Rhest.>The horde is going to steamroll the towns east of Drellin’s Ferry and keep going.>A powerful wizard named Cromar is retired in the BlackfensA partial archive of Part I can be found here:
>>133942 →And with that, let the games begin.
501 replies and 39 files omitted.
Aral, you still alive, m8?
Don't mind me, just copying my notes for tommow's session session in a place where I won't lose them:
Proper boat speed: check
Boat revision: check
Plot Encounters: check
Random encounter tables: check
Pre-rolled encounters: check
Travel time estimation: check
Enemy stats: check
Combatant NPC reactions: check
Commander Auras: check
Enemy/NPC morale levels: check
Terrain/weather effects: check
Lootpiles: unfinished/revise
NPC reaction flowchart(s): check
Boat speed(s): check, revise
Number/order of enemies: check
Building structure memorized: check
COUNT special ammunition: check
McGuffin(s): check/revise
Optional quest hook(s): unfinished/revise
Plot derailment flowchart(s): unfinished/revise
Ad Hoc plot fixes: check
Party battle maps: revise
Download maps: unfinished/revise
Artorias's sheet: unfinished/revise
Artorias's thing: revise
Dragon nonsense: unfinished/revise
Variant villain stats: check
Session timeline established: check
Night Shroud's thing: revise
Aral's thing: revise
Vomeo's thing: revise
DM notes with players: unfinished
Okay, this week's session didn't go anywhere because the party tank wasn't able to attend, and the rest of the party didn't want to go forward without their designated pincushion.
I took the opportunity to rewind time by five hours (not retconning), and pointed out to the party that they were at a distance where they could have freely chatted with one another in the five hours during which they were observing Rhest, making the session an RP session where the PCs got to know one another, and rolled some Arcana/Local/History/Religion checks to see what they knew about the region.
I gave them some hype about the War Wizard Cromar, the Wizard whome they had been looking for. Cromar was among the mightiest wizards in Elsir Vale, stronger than Immerstal The Red. His War Magic Study spells and War Weaving laid waste to entire armies of goblins in the last war. He was a genius arcanist who had developed a vast array of personal and unique [War] spells. Despite his decorations, he refused to join the lord's court after the last war, retired to the Blackfens in solitude. Cromar was a skincaster, who'd tattoo'd his spellbook onto his body, and kept his most personal spells in his spellshard: an item known as the Eye Of Cromar. When he retired, he took his spells with him, and all advancements in the school of [War] magic study.
They rolled checks about hobgoblins as well. They knew that goblinoids of all kinds have cowardly and selfish tendencies, but hobgoblins above all value hierarchy and power. Hobgoblins will proudly fight to the death under the command of their leaders, which makes them apt in becoming samurai trained in the path of the ironheart. However, as goblins, they're cowards at heart, and their morale can be break easily if their leaders are slain.
Religion checks revealed that the patron deity of the goblinoids is Maglubiyet, the god of battle. Hobgoblins will worship whatever gives them power, but the instance that all hobgoblins in the region would have united under worship of Tiamat instead of fighting one another is not a common occurrance. These goblinoids must have been influenced by something to convert them all in such a quick manner, something powerful.
Further Arcana/Local checks revealed that goblinoids do indeed readily form connections with chromatic dragons, especially blue dragons. Their power-hungry and tyrannical tendencies make them well acquinted with the great blue beasts of the wastelands. Mighty blues often "adopt" a nearby tribe of hobgoblins, while stories tell of tribes that raise wyrmling blue dragons to adulthood over many generations. Some hobgoblins even share blue dragon blood, and these hobgoblins are known as the sunscorched goblins. Sunscorch hobgoblins appear much like their fellows, except for their brilliant azure eyes. They display exceptional cunning and patience, but often share the vanity of blue dragons. They have a natural love of power; when a sunscorch hobgoblin isn't leading a warband or tribe, he is likely the voice of wisdom behind its leader.
So if the party sees a hobgoblin with glowing blue eyes, he's likely one of the leaders.
The piss-goblin Cleric and the Sorcerer the party fought earlier are exanples.
Further Arcana/History checks revealed draconic hobgoblins ruling over hobgoblin tribes since generations ago. Legend tells of the Blood of Morueme, an organization made up of the dragon and draconic hobgoblin descendants of the legendary blue dragon Morueme. The blood of Morueme is likely to have seeded the radicalization among the hobgoblin tribes in the name of Tiamat.
So, basically, if the party sees a half-dragon hobgoblin or draconic hobgoblin, it's almost definitely a leader.
There were some religion checks rolled about Tiamat. She's basically dragon-Satan, and she's not a goddess you want to be involved with. The fear of The Dark Lady may be involved in fueling the hobgoblin morale, because dying in battle is preferable to sacrifice on the Altar of Tiamat.
Oh, and Aral's fancy new longbow is an intelligent weapon (because I hate myself, and went ahead and rolled all of the tables...). It appears to be compatible with him, but he has not figured out how to communicate with it yet. He may learn more about it when he's spent some more time with it. (And when I get around to fleshing-out this unexpected NPC...))
Artorias's egg-thing remains a mystery. All Artorias knows is that the temple wasn't hesitant to give it away at all, and that it's supposedly essential to the final steps in his training.
The metallic egg-shaped device is clearly manufactured; this being revealed by the rivets on its surface. Artorias wasn't given any instructions on how to incubate it, so he can't assume that it has any sort of creature in it. The device doesn't have any sort of magic aura either, so it's purpose is a mystery.
Artorias, having had this thing for several months now, may have been feeling that his temple just gave him this thing to get rid of him, when they sent him off on an ambiguous crusade to a far-off region. However, the mysterious prophecy of an army of doom rallying under a red banner has proven itself to be true, so maybe this heavy trinket might indeed be important to his carreer as a Cleric.
For some reason this egg wouldn't upload.
Oh, and for any of you lurkers who read this ugly thread, RHoD is still accepting new players. We could use another tank or a blaster.