Date: 27 Wealsun, 609 CY (Friday October 31st, 2014) Attendance: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recap: After taking a short rest in the glade, the party notices a strange beast moving through the trees. It seems to match the description of the Sparklebeast, so they track it (a bit too conveniently, for it leaves a glittering trail of slime) to a dilapidated mansion. Here they spend some time contemplating a means of entry, and Jericho notices that the home's interior is well-furnished and welcoming. Stepping through the front door, however, reveals an interior quite unlike what they saw from the outside. What proceeds: Party kills a crazed Orc, driven mad by hunger; Clifton finds a journal on the Orc's dead companion mentioning that they were led to the mansion by a goblin made of gold. An apparition appears and presents a riddle, which Ash solves. The ghost tries to possess Jericho but fails. On the second story, an old, ruined kitchen, the party fights two shadows without taking a scratch. (25 XP Bonus) The third level they find a heavily-locked door and another door directly ahead. The apparition of a ghostly child appears and answers some questions. She says she'll permit them to meet her father if they can stump her with a riddle. Thruskk manages to do so. A ladder manifests from nowhere and leads to a strange room that is clearly not the attic. A fight with a tentacled horror occurs, but the party manages to destroy it. Another ghost emerges from the corpse and, with the help of some old journal entries, explains that he was possessed by some otherworldly creature. He claims that he and his family are now set free, and offers the party a reward in the form of magical jewels. There's a brilliant flash of light, and the party finds themselves back in the Dreadwood. The mansion seems to have disappeared, however. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Experience: Clifton – 215 XP (590 XP total) Ash – 215 XP (590 XP total) Thruskk – 215 XP (515 XP total) Jericho – 215 XP (515 XP total) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loot: Clifton - White Jewel ("Shall bring back the recently deceased.") Ash - Green Jewel ("Shall give thee and thy friends the power to strike against
evil.") Thruskk - Red Jewel ("Shall imbue a single strike with Pelor’s might.") Jericho - Blue Jewel ("Shall pierce the darkness and bring forth the light.") ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inspiration: Thruskk, for devising that riddle while still remaining very Thruskk-like. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes: To begin, I want to start by saying that I'm not against things like climbing up through the second story window. It might have come off like I was trying to railroad you through the front door, but that was only because, had Ash/Thruskk climbed through the second story window, they would have been in a very empty house while Clifton and Jericho found themselves in the Haunted Mansion (the arch of the front door was actually a portal to a demiplane). I've split the party in ways like this through Maptool, but Roll20 does not allow players to be on different maps at different times as far as I can tell. It would have just been an unnecessary headache. As for the jewels, here are their attributes: Automatically attuned to each individual; is rendered useless permanently if no longer attuned (if you die or lose it for 24 hours, the magic is gone). Blessed with a one-time use spell that can be used regardless of whether it's on class' spell list; activation is done by breaking the jewel. Cannot be attuned to anyone else, nor un-attuned or re-attuned. I won't outright say what each jewel's spell is, but a tiny bit of detective work will easily reveal what each one casts. (Although one is slightly modified, for purposes of balance.)
