Wardens of Heroes Gate

Scene Notes – C01.S02.09

Scene Notes (Spoilers Ahead)

What happens in this scene / session?

I skipped over Yartar and Triboar… perhaps the two large cities were uneventful? Abarissi was to sent a message to the Harpers about the events witnessed in Calling Horns… lets assume that did happen. There is no reason to draw out the journey any further… the mystery has been introduced. Unless… is there reason to have an encounter with Lady Tamalin in Yartar? It is a big city… such an encounter would not be random… but Leely did find evidence that Lady Tamalin and all of her guards were expected in Yartar. It could be innocent enough – why would anyone suspect it was part of a conspiracy to allow the village to be gathered into an army of the undead? I’d say that the guard at Calling Horns was likely well-skilled in fighting off trolls… so the conspiracy makes sense… pay to have the people unprotected – easy fodder for the unwitting killers who would also join the undead. The same scenario will repeat itself. Our party needs to hear of at least one other such occurrence, perhaps two (The Rule of Three Clues) so that when something similar begins to take place in Phandalin, the party recognizes it and fights to prevent it.

What Moogwa is in the Yartar – Evermoors region, Nezznar is to the Triboar – Neverwinter region… and there are others. The Twisted Rune wants the Sword Coast… the entire Sword Coast. And they want an army composed of all its dead inhabitants. Bowgentles Spellbook is critical to their goal as is the Wave Echo Cave. The Harpers are all concerned about the Red Wizards… as they should be perhaps… but it is a red herring to our story. The real threat is the Twisted Rune. Stopping Nezznar and securing both the Wave Echo Cave and the spellbook of Bowgentle is critical to the block – beyond what any of our heroes will be able to discover until much later.

Side note… perhaps there is a tie between Everwelte and Iron Aegis in this dragon of the Twisted Rune? Perhaps Sharpfangs knows Sapphiraktar and goes searching for the dracolich… why? Idk yet… Sharpfangs probably wants a body like she had lost to the stone beneath Treyvigg Monastery. But I was going to tie Sharpfangs to the opening of Hoard of the Dragon Queen, and perhaps I should. Afterwards… in her new Blue Dragon body… Sharpfangs seeks Sapphiraktar in Memnon.

But back to our current scene…

Leely, Ileel and Abarissi arrive in Conyberry to meet Sister Garaelle and then go on to Agatha’s Lair.

Abarissi is carrying a relic for Agatha – it was her asking price for information regarding the whereabouts of Bowgentles Spellbook.

Sister Garaelle is not found. What happened? My first thought is that she had an encounter with the Redbrands and it locked away in the cellar of Tresendar Manor along with a few other townspeople. Perhaps this is where Deynn and Roonoo meet the Roven’ris sisters… Abarissi sends them ahead to Phandalin to find out what happened to Garaelle?

The relic which Abarissi plans to swap for information is the black pearl that goes into the scepter which controls the Taros Hoop –  a relic (thought to be destroyed) that could move someone through the planes of existence. Abarissi and her fellow Harpers had confidence that the Taros Hoop was not functional so they assumed Agatha wanted the pearl for other reasons – perhaps only sentimental ones.

Our party arrives in Conyberry and does not find Garaelle… what do they find? Should I add an encounter here before going on to Agatha’s Lair? If they do not find Garaelle, perhaps they dare not attempt to meet with Agatha?

But the encounter with Agatha must happen. The Spellbook is a critical plot component. Agatha sold the spellbook to Tsernoth the necromancer – perhaps she needs the black pearl relic to peer into the dimensions to see where the spellbook is. He lived in the Iriaebor region. He was a gnome, originally from Silverymoon. He studied the Spellbook for years in an underground lair near the unassuming village of Asbravn and discovered what no one else had… Bowgentles theory of a magic to prevent necromancy could be used to strengthen it beyond reason. A weapon forged of iron and copper with the Wave Echo Cave could be so enchanted that merely being killed by it invoked a necromantic spell. The plot is to produce thousands of such enchanted weapons and equip the army of the undead with them so that anyone they kill joins the ranks within minutes – no necromancer needed to be present.

Tsernoth learned the theory and told someone with connections to the Twisted Rune (or perhaps he himself had connections) what he was working on… but before he could actually implement it he was killed. (The Riders suspected Tsernoth of being a Zhentarim agent and brought him to justice) The knowledge location of his underground lair, and the spellbook hidden there, died with him. The Twisted Rune has been searching for the spellbook ever since. And it is true that the Red Wizards seek it as well… but only because they learned that the Twisted Rune were seeking it. They did not learn why, only that they were investing a lot to find it, which meant it was valuable.

Now about that encounter. I threw in a note about the forest area leading up to Conyberry having been destroyed by fire (I probably need to enhance this… sight, sound, smell, sensation… and more on area of effect.. Forest beyond to the North is intact, likely because of the cliff wall that separates the town from the Neverwinter forest) and so I began wondering what kind of monster might be attracted to a cinder forest… dryad I thought, a twisted dryad… one who fed on the cinder forest like a crack addict on… well… crack. A Cinder Dryad… It is paranoid and highly irritable… perhaps too focused on getting a fix to really notice the party at first. A regular Dryad is only CR1… Like meth can hyper drive the adenaline of a junkie, the Cinder Dryad is amped up… double the HP of a Dryad and an extra attack. Tree stride works on smaller, burned out trees.

It has the ability to summon Mephits to it from other planes (3 or 4 per hour?). Use Dust Mephits (or smoke?) but these are different… they are, of course, Cinder Mephits. (or would Sooty Mephits be better?) or maybe a Smoke Mephit is already the thing… this one in particular.  There are tactics offered for mephits. The Monster Manual characterizes them as “tricksters”. They like to ambush their victims… but…. enjoy combat and rush headlong into it, slashing with their claws. If a smoke mephit can draw its opponents to within 20 feet of its position, it uses its spell-like abilities to create an ember storm. they lead with Cinder Breath, which, like dust mephits’ Blinding Breath, can blind opponents in its cone of effect.

A smoke mephit stands about 4 feet tall and weighs about 2 pounds. They are generally lazy, but quick to anger.

How to introduce? Party looks for Garaelle but does not find her… they will wait for a time… but Adalissi says that they should on their way before Last Shadow. (It is over 100 miles between Conyberry and Phadalin so they will have to sleep outdoors again. )

While they wait… one of them hears a scratching sound, like a critter, perhaps, biting off chunks of cinder bark from the burned trees to the south of town

Maybe… something different?

Maybe another adventuring party arrives – full of false confidence… here to destroy the famed witch ghost of Neverwinter…

Use the cinder dryad later – upon return – but hint at her presence somehow

https://joe.nittoly.ca/dd5e-3rd-level-pre-gens/

Pick 4-5 of these

Maybe all half orcs? Or mostly? Grog Strongjaw!

They show up in Conyberry to kill the ghost of Neverwinter

They are all drunk and brash

Bragging about how they are going to kill the famous Agatha

Adalissi does not want them to jeopardize the mission so a tough choice must be made

They will not listen to reason and one even draws a sword on the high priestess – leely jumps in and initiative gets rolled

Add the tabaxi bard

A sober one, well kinda… He tries to calm things down

Perhaps he will return as npc later? Perhaps several will?

Maybe use a couple of the essentials kit premades?

Ransor’s Rally

A new adventuring party from Triboar. Andlen Roedatch is the Captain. He grew up on stories (mostly false) about the heroic adventures of his grandfather Ransor Roedatch. (While Ransor did indeed have some combative adventures… most they were just with small handfuls of hungry bandits on the Long Road while transporting goods from Waterdeep for his provisions shop in Triboar). Andlen is gifted with charm but is not the brightest lad… and he is even dimmer when he drinks… which he does more often than not. One recent day while lazying about the newly renovated Talking Troll, he somehow managed to gather four adventurers into his drunken reverie and they decide to form Ransor’s Rally. They spent weeks talking about how to make a name for themselves in the Dessarin Valley.

Brin Axetooth

Hill Dwarf Fighter (2)

Grimhorn

Dragonborn Fighter (2)

Stitch in a Sock (Stitch)

Tabaxi Bard (College of Swords) (4)

Nekari (The Gale-Hand)

Half Elf Monk (2)

Andlen Roedatch (Grandson of Ransor Roedatch)

Human Fighter (2)

DM Notes – C01.S02.06

DM Notes – C01.S01.11

[Campaign Note]  [A Note on Notes]

So then… I guess the party will not be going down into the mining site of the deep gnomes who are excavating Red Tears under the monastery… at least not yet.

Originally I had imagined a deep gnome touching the staff of shoon in claw of Sharpfangs sometime after the party went below. From there, some kind of underground chase scene… but then Rasi and Joloobo ended up witnessing the escape of Sharpfangs in the possessed body of Snirla Terrabones.

It left some options for how to reveal things… Elder Thaola wants the Red Tears kept secret even from the party – probably due to the soon debut of her new wine… Red Well… not sure why she feels so secretive about it… but that is for figuring out later.

Joloobo awakens after nearly being killed by the deep gnome female Snirla. She is also laid out there unconscious and Olilrasi is missing… along with the staff Snirla carried out of the mine. It becomes apparent, if Snirla is believed, that she was possessed of something. The notion that it was an ancient dragon is hinted at but the facts are not certain.

Arrodon, being Rasi’s adoptive father (has that full story been told in gameplay? If not, find a place for it ) is concerned and sends out 3 search parties. At first, the trail of Rasi is easy to follow… she is a blind albino dragonborn teenager after all… but then the trail suddenly just stops. This is due to teleportation… if I had to guess… from the staff of shoon (which is in keeping with canon… and also somehow responsible for Sharpfangs being trapped in solid rock these last 100 years)

When I devised the Vale of Soxolone, I imagined a secluded and peaceful valley tucked safely within high cliff walls – accessible only from the opening where the monastery sits (unless one can fly… or somehow fall from a great height safely). The name Soxolone went through a few variations first – before I even considered it might possbily be someone who still lives in the valley – that sort of came about during game play. Once I “discovered” Soxolone was an ancient Treant who has called this magical place home for a century or more… I was left with the decision on how to encounter Soxolone, if at all. As far as any one knew, Elder Arrodon was the only person to have ever had a direct encounter with Soxolone… so I could have left it all to a off-scene encounter. With the trail of Rasi gone cold… it seemed the right time to introduce the one who sees all in the vale. Being a Treant, I figured conversation might be odd and awkward… of course LotR must come to mind… I thought “how can make the treant difficult to converse with?” turns out… I really just make the encounter difficult to write well… but “what if Soxolone spoke only in questions?” It needs more attention to be certain… and could be extended a bit more to reveal additional details about the Treant NPC and his place in the Small Teeth.

Of course the party is heading back into the crevasse… that seemed an obvious choice. The fire troll sub-plot remains unsolved, and the mining tunnels beyond just the one which trapped Joloobo remained unexplored. The water wight was another possible destination…. But Soxolone gave us a pass. Besides… the Rrellette probably would have lost to the staff anyway… and maybe she did… but Yisi knows better than to get too close to the lake now that he nearly spent his final minutes in it. We are now in our first “dungeon crawl” I found a map of a large mining complex to work through. It obviously has a history… but I need to discover what it might be. I has been there a long while but only recently did the crevasse opening into the Vale of Soxolone happen. That means there is one ore more other entrances… Joloobo was trapped in the room at the far south of the complex with other poor unfortunate souls… an untold number, but at least a few at not all at once.

What else is in this mining complex? Well the spiders had to have a matron of sorts… but Rasi (aka Sharpfangs) would have had to deal with the giant spider had she come through here… and so she did… the beast is all tangled up in its own webbing and quite dead – probably from an Arcane Bolt like that which nearly killed Joloobo. But then, I cannot have every monster in the complex be dead ahead of the parties arrival. There is opportunity for some creatures to have been bypassed by Rasi/Sharpfangs – like a few ooze jellies perhaps. It is also possible, in fact likely that Rasi / Sharpfangs is not navigating the mining complex with a lot of expertise… can the soul of a dragon get lost in a maze while inhabiting the body of a blind girl? One must assume it is possible and even likely. So then I need a few underground monsters to fight and some that have been fought by Rasi. But then that leads to a question… how will party encounter Rasi? Or even… will they? Could I leave that part unresolved for the time being? For some other cycle two or three levels down the road? If there is a combat, 3 against 1 might prove fatal, and party does not want to kill Rasi – they are here to save her. The DM wants to save Rasi as well.

The soul of Sharpfangs just might find another host… maybe even a fire troll (although that seems unsatifying). If another host was found, party would find Rasi unconscious like Snirla was found. However I rather like the idea of leaving that end loose… Rasi escapes the mining complex and is somewhere in the world while party takes on other adventures. I would think Sharpfangs ultimately wants to regain a true dragon form… probably a Blue Dragon specifically… this opens up the possibility of running Tyranny of Dragons for this shield.

But then… a large campaign such as tyranny would advance characters to level 7 or 8… I had other plans for Heroes Gate… I could run Tyranny as an alternate universe thing. Or maybe these characters interact with the tyranny story line in some limited way… taking on just an episode or two without getting sucked into the whole plot. That would allow me to stay on track with Heroes Gate…

Level 3 and 4 are prequels… at the beginning of level 5 each party is formed into a “sheild” and takes their first “contract”. I had previously planned on introducing both Shaggy and Zoony in the next cycle of The Everwelte Shield… Midnight Managerie… Shaggy is actually connected to Dawndra’s backstory, but it is Yisi and Valea who were to  first encounter him.

And Midnight Menagerie was going to be introduced by Rey Ko Toh – a Brownie with some Q-like powers, and traits… he is someone of legend in the feywild… and will interfere when it suits him… though not as a malevolent. I originally imagined Yisi and Valea hitting a dead end in the chase after Sharpfangs, and Rey Ko Toh would appear in time to give aid… at a price… He will continue to be a reoccuring character and quest giver in the future for the Everwelte Shield. Zoony is actually his main motivation to start… Although from another dimension entirely, at least by birth, she was brought into the feywild as an infant by her father – who was a flighty fellow? Or maybe running from something in Theros? Or maybe Rey Ko Toh originally saved him in order to save Zoony… at any rate, Rey Ko Toh has a special vested interest in Zoony which remains to be discovered. He sees into her future shadows and knows she has a place like family with the Wardens Guild – and specifically with Yisi and Valea. Perhaps Zoony is actually the way which Yisi ends up falling into unbridled Sune worship? Don’t quite know yet… Zoony and Sune sound alike – is it cheesy to make such a connection between them? Or expected?

All that to say… within the mining complex I need to create an opportunity for Rey Ko Toh to appear and offer a deal. Perhaps another magical dead end chamber like Joloobo was captured by? What are these chambers about? Certainly they are not part of the original mining group… no they were put in place after the fact – perhaps as a way to capture food. The giant spider only took advantage of the one but was not its creator. Question is… where is the creator of these traps? (I should probably go back to the earlier trap scene and include the bones of monsters in addition to humanoids… whatever is feeding probably intended the traps for creatures of any sort.)

The mining complex…. As I’ve been calling it… what is its story? Was it carved by dwarves? Or by gnomes? Deep gnomes… Murlaasta Marbleye… She lead an expedition here from the underdark (Rrinnoroth) some hundreds of years ago. For a time, it was known as the Marbleye Mithrilfield. Murlassa was a reknown master jeweler and enchanter who made circlets and bracelets of mithril. A thick vein of mithril was discovered in the depths of the Small Teeth and Murlaasta chased it upward until it splintered and spread out into a large field of thin veins. Somewhere in the Marbleye Mithilfield is her workshop. Deep Gnomes have legends about the mystical workshop which has caused many expeditions to be sent out in search of it – particularly any knowledge about how she was able to enchant mithril with illusion magic. A few of her creations are still at large in the world today – most of which are used by the most elite theives because of the magic which allows them to appear as someone or something else… or not appear at all.

But I am way ahead of myself… illusion magic did not create the traps in the Marbleye Mines… something else did, someone else… a caster of some sort… but one who feeds on any sort of creature because the traps are about food. Werewolf of some sort? I previously used werewolves who keep their “food” in a village of cages… what sort of underground creature would eat most anything caught in its trap? Perhaps a drow werewolf?  A drow sorcerer with lycanthropy? And a Murlaasta bracelet…

I need a few encounters before reaching any sort of finale in the Marbleye Mines… minor ones but maybe at least one which hints at a werewolf? Or maybe they need to find the workshop? But they are on a rescue mission… even poking around in crates for left behind gems is bad form when Rasi could be getting further and further away. As they get closer to the center vein of the mine, the monsters get harder… because the center leads into underdark. There are no surface entrances… well there were not any until the crevasse opened up. Why would a fire troll travel all the way out to the valley to eat however? Who knows… do I need to sort that at all? But I do know it came from the center vein which travels deep… players will not need to venture that far to encounter the fire troll… it surfaces for fresh meat.

Before that, however… players get stuck in a trap. Rey Ko Toh appears to inform them that their friend is in grave danger – currently in combat with Mr Something… the Drow Sorcerer Werewolf. He can help free them but favor-for-favor. They need to free a friend of his… in place where he is powerless. (Menagerie). He transports them to another location in the mines where Rasi/Sharpfangs is fighting the werewolf… what will they do? Fight the werewolf I expect – rather than join forces with him. But when the combat turns against him, the werewolf will transform into Rasi… so the party will not know which to fight. He has a magic bracelet and can appear as any form. He also has wild magic… ? Being a sorcerer… Level 6 Sorcerer? Is it worth building out this vNPC that far? Or just a stat block.

At some point, the vNPC transforms into Rasi… he will have a staff but will not actually use it. His eyes will appear blind but he will not behave blind like Rasi does… how to communicate this to the PCs? (or to players?) I know how this battle will end… which raises some interesting thoughts about what I am doing here… in normal tabletop play it is sort of required to leave results to themselves… not plot them out. What I am doing in txtplay is different… I am plotting… I am planning a full story. I might still be able to generate an adventure for tableplay based on this, but I cannot plan and plot the story. Still, this is valuable because I am practicing what I might need to do on the fly as DM.

So I should try the following process

• Outline an adventure
• Txtplay the adventure
• Refine the scenarios
• Cut the plots and publish

DM Notes – C01.S01.10

[Campaign Note]  [A Note on Notes]

I had initially planned on Joloobo encountering a Fire Troll in Scene 08, but the dice rolled differently. And maybe that is for the best because that Fire Troll should come in handy later.

At some point I will fast forward again, maybe that point is here in scene 10

What needs to happen during the fast foward?

• Yisi and Valea needs to earn the Keen Defender feat
• Valea needs to learn the Fierce Mobility feat from Fable
• Yisi needs to learn the art of infused inking for his calligraphy
• Joloobo needs to discuss a few of the items he found in the spider tunnels
• Rasi needs to become more endeared to the party
• Elder Arrodonn needs to return (with Elder Thaola) and a conversation needs to happen about Yisi’s parents? I had the thought to tie Arrodonn to Yisi’s largely unknown past – as if that was a secret reason why Teacher Solomvar sent him here.
• The discovery under the monastery, which happened before party arrived, needs to come to light.

Then – the ground needs to shake – Sharpfangs unleashed into a deep gnome through the enchanted and sentient staff. The deep gnome will speak draconic… as a way to show the possession

Total time planned at Treyvigg Monastery was 6 tendays (2 months). There are 5 remaining. Main encounter happens in the last tenday

So then.. Scene 10… The beginning of the last tenday?

In the recap, give the new feats

Elder Arrodonn returns “You look much like your father” he says to Yisi

Elder Arrodon is actually Prince Lamruil Moonflower… Son of Queen Amlaruil…

He knew Yisi’s parents, Rhidellvhann and Ayllavina. (I think I changed these somewhere… or maybe shortened them as nicknames? Vhann and Vina) They were among those who left Evermeet to establish Auseriel over a 100 years ago, and after it was destroyed they were there helping to rebuild. Last he saw them was in Auseriel. Elder Arrodonn will notice that Yisi bears Rhidellvhans unusual weapon, but it is now somehow duplicated and smaller. (in time, Yisi will be able to morph the magical material of his Trisula – it is a liquid metal that can take any form. Also – the fact will somehow come to light that Valea’s Basto Sticks are in fact the same material and share a backstory somehow) When Rhidellvhan fought with it, the weapon was a single longsword shaped just as the two smaller weapons at Yisi’s side – a long center spike with a needle point and two needle sharp prongs as hilt guard.

Elder Arrondonn will not reveal his secret identity, nor the secret location of Auseriel, but he will mention the name as the last place he saw Yisi’s parents in 1380. Since Yisi is not quite 30, all of Elder Arrodonn’s knowledge of his parents is well before his birth and whatever has befallen his parents. He will recount their bravery and fierceness in battle, also their love for each other – they could not be separated, even on the battlefield, the two were one.

What else?

Praise for Guide Dawndra

Praise for Teacher Solomvar

A hint of the surprising discovery beneath the monastery

Mention of the fire troll? Rrellette?

A sidequest?

A gift? A blessing? A boon?

Mention of the Red Tears being excavated from the mountain?

How to move into action?

Earth quake?

Or maybe just a deep gnome running out of secret entrance with a long staff and racing to the nearest person (Rasi). Rasi changes, maybe even attacks someone, then runs into the Vale of Soxolone. Party can chase after her, or investigate the secret entrance, or just question the deep gnome (perhaps she fell unconscious with the transfer)

Snirla Terrabones

Deep Gnome female.

Part of the crew under Treyvigg Monastery extracting Red Tears from a secret cache.

She was nowhere near the dragon… she thought – but she encountered a giant claw grasping something very unusual… she could not make out what it was but its material was unlike anything she had ever seen (unicorn horn). The last thing she remembers was  touching the material to see what it felt like.

What then?

Pursue Rasi to save her?

Thru the Vale… into the crevice of the Fire Troll… through the spiders and other underground horrors… Will Rasi be an ongoing villian or will party find some way to rescue her? How might they rescue her? Sharpfangs might want to stay in her body… certainly will want to short of something better… Or maybe coax her out into a another dragon? Or maybe kill her. maybe destroy the unicorn staff? Would that purge sharpfangs? kill Rasi?

I don’t know yet….

DM Notes – C01.S01.09

[A Note on Notes]

In this “scene”, Yisi and Valea discover Joloobo is missing when he does not meet them for waking meal. They decide to assume the worst. After speaking with Dawndra, the two venture into the Vale of Soxolone to find Joloobo. Instead… they find a Rusalka.

Before that… I probably need to describe the Vale of Soxolone a bit more. I created this hidden place in the Small Teeth with the intent of making it feel like a magical place to be. I sort of rushed into the fire troll hunt and failed to really do much description.

[Writer Notes] Heroes Gate is really just a schoolhouse for me. I am taking several classes there, how to roleplay, how to DM, how to develop characters, how to write description, and several others… If you are reading any of this and saying to yourself… “well maybe he has potential, but this… this is not good writing” I am going to agree with you. I’m not writing Heroes Gate to display my writing prowess to the world… but rather, my writing progress. The project has no end except where I decide to stop. Where ever that is, I hope my writing and crafting and all-round imagination skills have visibily improved. I am writing all these notes as an effort to “make my work visible”. Perhaps no one will read them… but it is how I am “getting to better” as a writer and creative.

[End Writer Notes]

So this Rusalka introduces herself as Rrellette and  claims to know what they are seeking. She essentially does a cold reading on them… on Yisi to be particular. She quotes some ancient verse and sees his eyes light up and plays it from there. To Valea and Fable, Rrellette is harmless… she sees other females of any race as friends… but males? Rrellette sees males as food. She will drag them under the waters and they will disappear. She transports them to a small pocket universe where they have no escape. She will feed upon their fear until die of it.

There appears to be some controversy around the Rusalka… are they fey water spirits or undead beings? For my own sake… why get involved in controversy… Rrellette is in fact an undead fey. It has been done before… Rrellette was once a beautiful eladrin who met her fate in the feywild at the vicious hands of her lover (or was it her own hands because of a vicous lover? Same thing?) Something happened to curse her with undeath and she raged in the feywild for some long time. Eventually, she was confronted and banished to exile within a small pocket universe. She found a way out – into another realm…  at the bottom of the lake in the Vale of Soxolone. Perhaps she cannot travel too far from the gateway? Or maybe the water itself has become fused with the pocket universe and so remains her prison?

Is that too much of a rewrite?  Do I really need to spell all of this out? No… not for the sake of the game at least. Perhaps only for the sake of the exercise. But there is danger in filling out the background so much that I end up feeling like I must jam it into the story rather than just let it sit in the background and color the story

Well… I took a slight turn… Fable it seems has had dealings with Rrellette. She knows the danger of the water wight, and she knows females are generally safe, seen as kin if not friends. But perhaps Rrellette is hungry, more hungry than usual, more hungry than she can bear… maybe she will not care today about the gender of her visitors… she can feed on a womans fears if need be, though she has an obvious taste for the male.

Does it make sense that in incorporal fey spirit would be hungry? Would need to “eat” the fear of a victim? I think it surely is a thing even among the living… some folk get a taste for inflicting terror upon others… it feeds something. Something unholy, something twisted, yet something that can exist.

I think I need to set up the encounter a bit more. Now that Fable actually knows about Rrellette (rather than it being a random encounter with an unknown monster) some exposition will help make the scene more meaningful.

I’ve written myself into another tight spot… is this what writers deal with on a daily basis? Or is it just my lack of experience… I decided to let the encounter begin in the perspective of Yisi who stands on the hill rise watching, rather than from the perspective of Valea who is down at the lake shore. Rrellette will attempt to charm Fable and Valea even though they are female. Both will have to save against charm… How would I play this out at table? All players are listening, but only one of them is the focus of the narration… this is perhaps one reason why they say “don’t split the party” it just leads to problems…

DM Notes – C01.S01.08

[A Note on Notes]

In this scene, which takes place a full tenday after the partys arrival at Treyvigg Monastery, will focus on Joloobo the Troll Hunter.

I am a little afeared to send him out into the Vale of Soxolone on his own. But Yisi and Valea spend their days in training and whats a Troll Hunter to do…

He will take on a troll that far outclasses  him… so he will have to do something to even the odds. Or… I can drag out the encounter – perhaps as party is chasing after sharpfangs into the vale…

So then, this scene, Joloobo is hunting the fire troll, and finds clues, but not the troll. He will have to find some other trouble. Perhaps the female peryton? Or something more… nefarious. A Rusalka in a small lake… (CR3 rather than 8)

In this scene/sequence, Joloobo finds a crevasse on the far side of the vale. The sides of the narrow crack were scarred black, like something squeezed though while aflame.

Joloobo should also have his first contact with the deep gnomes working under the mountain. Perhaps not actual contact… but he sees 2 or 3 of them enter a small shack set up against the cliff wall in the back of the “backyard”. The do not exit again. Joloobo takes note, assumes the shed leads into the mountains but does not give it more thought than that

Also… Elder Ysthorn… at some point… offers to teach Joloobo some advanced tracking skills. He was, once upon a long time ago, a Tomb Guardian and was highly trained as a ranger. He can teach Joloobo in the Vale of Soxolone [Give extra survival prof and favored terrains]

When I Get Stuck

This happens often. I can be on track and think I know where I’m going and what will happen, and then I get stuck. In this scene, I got stuck trying to create something for Joloobo – the Rabbit Fur Sash. I don’t need to define it now, the character cannot use it until he gets it identified by someone with the skill, unless he realizes it is magic and risks attuning to it without knowing what it is or what it does. Now I cannot decide what happens next… does Joloobo keep exploring? There should be a combat encounter in the old mines… but what kind? I cannot decide… perhaps because I don’t know why this abandoned mining area is here… Why did I create it? To give a Fire Troll egress to the Vale – and I did that so Joloobo would have a sidequest while Yisi and Valea are training. Why is a Fire Troll here if the Small Teeth are not active volcanoes?

Perhaps the mining area opens into an old lair of the thieves guild [fingers]? Perhaps mining efforts were spreading through this area and inadvertantly opened into a section of the “Chapterhouse” – old hideout of the thieves guild and lair of Sharpfangs. When Sharpfangs escapes, she will try to reach her lair…

But what of this area now? And why a fire troll? It is a sidequest – so no need to tie it to Sharpfangs or anything else…maybe someone, a cult, is trying to raise the City of Xander?

Lost Xandar: Two miles east of Kossuth’s Eyes is the site of the last known volcanic eruption in these parts. During the time of the Korrunhel Dynasty of Tethyr, its King Matamid as a vassal of the Shoon Empire, but he dreamed of empire building. He wanted his children and heirs to rule the rich lands between the Forest of Tethir and the Small Teeth as a new part of Tethyr. At this site, now marked only by small pine trees on the slopes and foothills, a new capital city was built for Matamids son from the fourth year of the dynasty until its completion in the next to last year of Matamids reign (233 to 250 DR). When the city was complete, the aging king named it Xandar, for his son, and it became a second capital after the Tethyrians capital at Zazesspur. On a state visit there in the tenth year of his reign (260 DR), King Xandar died in an unexpected volcanic eruption of lava and boiling mud that engulfed and buried the 10-year-old city and all its people under thick rock. Local folk know that many riches of the city of Xandar, including the royal prince himself and his jewelry, lie under the topsoil and thick rock, but few want to destroy their farms and grazing land for what they might find beneath it. (Its almost impossible to get through the rock, besides.) A few have dug down anyway, using magic, and found many buried homes and skeletons but precious little gold or other valuables. Historians and sages would like to examine the ruins, but uncovering them is a real problem.

Or maybe something completely different…

Now I know…

Joloobo cannot exit that room. There is a field which allows one-way travel.

Yisi and Valea will look for Joloobo in the morning, and will go into the vale to find him. Meet the river ghast lady (ratulin?) who pretends to have whatever the players need – including information about Joloobo’s whereabouts. Play her like a cold reader – in fact that is maybe the monster… a cold reader. Like ratulin, resides in water

Play that out somehow..

DM Notes – C01.S01.07

[A Note on Notes]

In this session… I finally get to some of the things I’ve been looking forward to. You may have noticed that I’m using the Monk class quite a bit. Don’t worry… there are more monks on the way. I mentioned this in Session Zero, but there are several reasons why so many of  these characters are monks. First reason… I just like playing a monk. More on that later. Another reason is that I have played the monk class more than any other and with this writing project I figured it would just be easier if I didn’t have to manage a lot of different kinds of characters – I know the basics of a monk really well. On top of all that, it gives me the opportunity to really develop some things while not having to develop others. You might notice that most of my characters backstorys are connected to their homebrewed subclass and/or their weapon. I know part of the fun of D&D is finding or obtaining new weapons… but I’ve choosen to make several of these weapons specific to a character and their backstory.

For example, Dawndra. Her weapon is a pike. But it not just any pike, and it is not just any magic pike. This 8 foot long ice pike spends most of its time as a small hairpin holding her immensely long and thick hair into a neat bundle. More than that… when she was found as an infant, that very same hairpin was tying the wrapping closed that kept her warm. She has never been far from it. And… she would know if she was. The greater-level attunment between Dawndra and her weapon creates a  gravity of sorts. If someone were to make off with it (not that any would try) Dawndra would feel a pull. She could home in on where the item was by sensing it. I also gave Yisi the same sort of greater attunement. Valea probably will as well since her weapon is very important to her story. With all three of them, their backstory is tied up with their weapon and their subclass abilities spring from the weapon. Mo Ka Bu is similar. His “weapon” is a magic shield made from the wing and tusk and hide of his long time Arcanax companion. In fact the shield is sentient with the spirit of the Arcanax. But that is enough digression…

What I really wanted to note down was the contents of this scene. When I was younger, I loved Kwai Chang Caine and the Kung Fu TV series. Perhaps the larger part of why I choose so many monks for Heros Gate was because I wanted to spend time a Forgotten Realms version of a Shaolin Temple. I want to try to recreate the martial training scenes, the philosophy training scenes, and the general vibe of Caines early life in the monastery. I’m hoping to avoid some of the obvious Shaolin tropes – but not all of them. These monasteries (Song Moon Temple, Treyvigg Monastery, and The Abbey Ironwall) each have a distinctive flavor and feel that should only slightly resemble the monastery of Master Po and Master Kan. The Abbey was founded by a master from Kara-tur, but other than that, there is no reason why monasterys in Faerun should have a strong eastern feel to them. (Interesting side note, there was a Kane from Yellow Rose)

But the basic concepts of disciplined training, meditation, philosophical balance – these I hope to portray in all three monasteries. Starting with Treyvigg…. I began with a scene in Song Moon Temple and I’ve give thought to going back and re-writing the beginning to include the elements of temple training. Instead I set up the adventure hook and sent the heroes on their way. Perhaps I will rewrite it once I feel better able to… or more likely, just send Yisi and Valea back home and include some training scenes then.

We are now in Treyvigg. They have not yet met Guide Dawndra but Valea is about to. I set things up for this scene when Valea was energized by the long grueling climb up the carved stair in the cliff face. She will do as she said and go to offer the Wwaldyrs a farewell in the morning, but as she exits the gate she will see Dawndra in the front yard performing stance training which turns into forms training. Valea will be hypnotized by the form, its grace, its… art. She will silently mimic the movements. This will become the creative balance Teacher Solomvar asked her to seek. It is in line with both desires – to be martially adept and to balance the martial with the aesthetic.

I feel like I need to determine the colors worn by the various roles at Treyvigg