Session Two

I'll figure out exact XP (and possibly some extra rewards) later, but for now, this'll be a place for post-session wrapup. Congratulations, you got the seal--and made some friends! I personally feel better about the running of the session, constant flubbing between /as and /em and /emas aside...there was a lot of time spent in conversation to avoid combat, but that *just makes sense* given the dangers involved in combat and it worked out quite well for the party. And I think pretty reasonably so, kobolds being more apt to engage in that kind of cooperation than hobgoblins. I was pretty interested to see how the group approached the dungeon. There were definitely lots of ways you could have gone--in fact there's likely more of the place you *haven't seen* than have. My hope was that by giving you a large area to explore but a very targeted goal in that area that some of the feeling of the sandbox hexcrawl/dungeoncrawl style would be evoked, even though you had little choice in heading there in the first place. At least for my part it felt that it was, more so than the more common assumption of, here's a dungeon, we should obviously kill everything in it. I'm more than happy to do some in-between light forum RP/narration to zip up some of aftermath of the session, but that's ultimately up to the players.

I was meant to ask about the gaps on the tunnel to the Kobold chief and see if they were further branches.

Yeppers

Hollis would like to search the room for tomes/scrolls/artifacts as well as the zombie priest for jewlry. past that, is it assumed we make it back to the surface? and starting back in town having succesfully completed or do we want to explore this dungeon more before returning to the top. If the latter do we want to do that in PBP (like, maybe we go back to that hidden iron vault thing) or just wait til next week?

also, take a look in chat. i redid my spell macros. the DC is saying 26CHA which is way to high, right?

Crunchy XP and Treasure details Monsters : 4 kobolds (25xp) = 100 3 hobgoblins (100xp) = 300 1 violet fungus (50xp) + handful of shriekers mostly-avoided (50xp) = 100 4 iron cobras (100xp) = 400 1 ghoul (200xp) = 200 RP/Objectives : parlaying successfully with Weebit, the kobolds, and Griznik = 400 finding and opening the door to the shrine of Moloch = 200 Treasure : (300xp) 100 gilded coins, discovered in the sarcophagus (1cp value each) 3 chrysoberyls, in the velvet bag wrapped around the priest's neck (40gp value each) (wrapped up carefully in some purple cloth at the back of the priest's "hole"): potion of hill giant strength a prayer book dedicated to Moloch a small painted egg, picturing a flayed open human In total, 2000 XP, split 5 ways is 400 XP each.

lee F. said: also, take a look in chat. i redid my spell macros. the DC is saying 26CHA which is way to high, right? Set the "custom DC" field on the spell to 0, the DC of 13 is already being calculated for you. past that, is it assumed we make it back to the surface? and starting back in town having succesfully completed or do we want to explore this dungeon more before returning to the top. This is of course up to the group. If desired (*rolls some dice...*) you can make it safely to the surface without incident and Jaroom will escort you back to Ophir.

so those of us here for session 1 should have 550xp each. and unless there any objections Hollis would like to hold on to the painted egg. edit: when leveling hp, it says, "Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per warlock level after 1st" do I roll the d8? or can I choose 5+con mod because that seems like the best option 100% of the time.

Take your pick as per the rules, yes, either rolling to take the risk of better HP or just the average. It'd be more "old school" to enforce rolling, but I feel like the group will need every scrap of HP that can be gathered. That's correct on the XP calc, keep in mind that I'd like to enforce that leveling must take place over the course of a long rest in a "safe haven" of some sort.

Drew K said: keep in mind that I'd like to enforce that leveling must take place over the course of a long rest in a "safe haven" of some sort. Noted. I've updated my sheet regardless so that it's ready by the time we get to a safe haven.

If there are no objections, Chuck Dagger would like to give Jaroom the ogrillon that copper (?) idol we found that was holding the black candle. I said I'd bring him back something nice and maybe we might need some muscle to help us out in Ophir sometime in the future...

Promises be promises, we should give the ancient coins to the kobold boss man.

There is the 25gp to split from the hobgoblins. Thoughts on asking the kobold chief about the other tunnels... and the iron vault is still an option since the chief just opted for half of what we found in that room. A reminder though, I am low on spells and Chuck has a bad leg for the moment.

Sure, give the kobold chief his due and see what else he knows. If Chuck can get his mitts on a set of thieves' tools, that iron vault is as good as open. His bum leg is going to be a thing for a while, however; he'll need to find a very powerful healer (capable of casting 7th-level spells) to get that fixed.

I assume you'll heal over time too if we dont find a healer?

Not according to the chart. Currently, Chuck's speed is halved, and he must use a cane or crutch to move. He falls prone after using the Dash action and he has disadvantage on Dexterity checks made to balance. Only magic like the regenerate spell can restore my leg to proper working order. I'm strongly considering retiring the character once he gets back to Ophir and bringing a new character into play. Rogues need their mobility and not being able to Dash without falling on his behind diminishes his 2nd-level class feature, Cunning Action, which allows Dash as a bonus action (among other things). A ranged bard seems like a wiser choice than a limping rogue at this point.

Sorry if it wasn't clear--I thought I'd mentioned it at the time. The reason I'd rewritten the entry as "damaged leg" rather then "lost..." is to preserve the the feel while not making it literally "You lose" result. Lower level magic than regenerate should suffice to fix the leg, and even without that the knee should heal given some time. The intent is to add some texture to characters and stories, not to ruin characters.

Alright then, fast forward to Ophir and a montage of Chuck Dagger doing stretches, deep knee-bends, and hot yoga, and he's back in business for 2nd level. He might keep the cane though because it's kind of pimp.

Que 80's montage music If we're going to fast forward, then this is an excerpt from Hollis' journal... I pocketed Moloch's Priest's egg. We paid the Kobold's per our deal and met with Jaroom to make the exchange of malachite for our freedom. I was thankful to no longer be thrall to slavers and anxious to find a bed and privacy to study the egg. I got a room at a nearby inn and quickly unpacked my few belongings before securing the door. I rested on my knees in the center of the room and examined the painting of the flayed man on the stolen egg. The flayed figure was drawn with horrific detail. It entranced me as I rotated the egg left then right then left...I must've fell under a hypnotic spell for what followed is not so clear. After what felt like some time I began to hear the familiar whisperings of foreign tongues creep into the recesses of my mind yet for all my effort I could not avert my eyes from the egg. My body was frozen in place. Paralyzed. My eyes became bloodshot and dry and before long...it was horrifying! The flayed man of the painting suddenly had eyes! He stared into my soul and shrieked a banshee cry of terrible agony as he bled! He bled! My hands covered in this painted mans blood and I couldn't move. I was fastened in place and then what I saw is beyound comprehension or words! No sane man could endure what I witnessed! Violet flames like I had only seen once before in what I thought was a nightmare was no all to apparent to me to be something of another world. Tentacles lashed at my face and cut me where I sat . The horror inflicted upon my body (my mind?) reached an apex and loathsome sound from the beyound followed it driving me mad and causing my ears to bleed. My body began to betray me, convulsing uncontrollably. I trembled until the world went black and I must have collapsed for when I woke I was in the middle of my room. My hands and the floor which I lay clean of any sign of blood. The egg, I discovered, was deliberately placed on the nightstand next to the bed in a cradle of cyclopian design. I picked myself up from the floor and walked to the window to determine the time for it seemed I had slept into the midafternoon. But when I saw the full moon high in the sky panic began to overwhelm me. I took three deep breaths and exited my room. The Inn was quiet. All were asleep. It was the middle of the night, yet I could see plain as day! I made my way to the wash basin and stared at my reflection in the water but the eyes that stared back were not mine. MY eyes were a brilliant light blue. These...daemon eyes...that looked back at me were a deep, crimson red. I began to tremble in fear. Had I been possessed?! Had a Vampyre turned me in the night?! But then I heard the familiar whispers of the alien tongues and a deep serenity took me over. In my state of calm I began to notice a new sensitivity to my surroundings...A new intuition. I somehow knew what magic felt like and it became clear that these were gifts from Y'Chak. I splashed my face with water and smiled thankful for the new gifts bestowed upon me by Y'Chak. "Ia! Y'Chak! Ia!" I shouted! unsure of what this strange utterance meant before retiring for the night. Hollis levels up to level 2! Hollis has learned Devil's Sight! (You can see normally in darkness, both magical and non-magical, to a distance of 120 feet.) Hollis has learned Eldritch Sight! (You can cast detect magic at will, without expending a spell slot.) Hollis has learned Arms of Hadar (You invoke the power of Hadar, the Dark Hunger. Tendrils of dark energy erupt from you and batter all creatures within 10 feet of you.) I thought it'd be cool if Devil's Sight effected the characters actual eye color and thought that could play into some RP down the road. If not, no big deal, I'll just edit that part of the above. The above "journal" entry is my attempt at invoking a Lovecraftian documentation of Hollis' Elder Dreams. Hopefully it helps explain Hollis' fits of mania. I expect for Hollis to be carrying this around with him if another PC somehow ends up reading it by stealing it/finding it laying around/etc. Also, i had totally forgotten that I can communicate telepathically with any creature for 30seconds. that would've helped with the kobolds lol and my Save DC's under spellbook are really high and im not sure why.

and my Save DC's under spellbook are really high and im not sure why. Set the "custom DC" field on the spell to 0, the DC of 13 is already being calculated for you.

i dun fixed dat shiz!

My montage comment was tongue-in-cheek, but lee F.'s response raises a good point: How are we handling the passage of time? In many sandbox games, it seems like every minute of the day is basically played out in-game. Are we going to just skip over time as above or are we expected to, for example, start next session at the exit to the dungeon and work our way back to Ophir, meet up with Muta, etc.? My personal preference is not to get bogged down in mundane things if we can avoid it. I really don't want to sit silently while people wander around town buying iron rations or the like, provided that shopping trip lacks conflict or some other gainful purpose with regard to the game experience. On the other hand, if we're hexcrawling, I would expect there is some measure of random encounter charts and what not that we'd have to engage with on the way back from the dungeon or whatever which implies that skipping ahead isn't feasible. What's the plan here?

My Personal preference is much the same as TH's? If we do decide to fast forward or not... I do think our freedom is our first goal and so far we have that ticket in our hands, Going back to town will allow us all to not only gain our freedom, but also heal (and level up). We might make a deal with the kobold chief to come back and search the caves and restart there are a few purchases... As for our treasure.... if no-one sees an issue or GM doesn't disagree.... Given to chief & Jaroom (Suggested by TH) 100 gilded coins, discovered in the sarcophagus (1cp value each) Bronze statue of Moloch Sold: 3 chrysoberyls, in the velvet bag wrapped around the priest's neck (40gp value each) which totals 120gp split into 5 is 24gp each... plus the 25 gp from the hobgoblins that make 29gp each. potion of hill giant strength (I vote Kriv, the fighter, should have, either way I don't need it)) a prayer book dedicated to Moloch ((Too which I would use to learn my new spell after studying it, afterwards anyone can have it, or I will destroy it and it's evil contents)) a small painted egg, picturing a flayed open human (Too which Hollis now has)

I'm more than happy to get to the interesting bits, so to speak. I'm not particularly interested in running every minute, etc. Of course when you're travelling cross-country through untamed wilderness, potentially every day is interesting... I'll be using a variation of what the Alexandrian talks about with respect to random encounters/hex encounters, and I've tried to make sure there's *some* kind of interesting feature of every hex, whether big or small. When it comes to heading back to Ophir, you're only moving about a hex in total anyway, and its through some of the only *tamed* land in the area, so there's not much chance of things going crazy, especially sicne you have an escort anyway. I'd suggest you deal with the kobold chief in some way, although if there's no interest in talking it out I'm content for the players to say: "we give him this and this". Once your freedom is secured there should be a great deal of options available to you in terms of how to move forward: back to the dungeon you were just in to see what else is there, the city of Ophir itself, following up on one of the rumors, or striking out into the wilderness. Along with trying to adjudicate fairly I will do my best to flex on these issues--I have the world and the "stuff" in front of me, and it's up to you the players to choose what to engage with. I'll use the content I have written to respond or make things up as appropriate. ;) I also just realized I never set the time for this weekend but I'll do so now: it'll be at the same time.

It seems I have won an Easter Weekend getaway for the family. Not sure if the cruise will have free wifi, but it seems I won't be making it this weekend with this unexpected, but welcome surprise!!! This is truly unusual of me to have anything planned on weekends and hate to drop from two of 3 starting games, but this is something myself and my family has earnt

I'll be there.

Perhaps a good compromise would be to start Friday where we left off last week. Do our bit with the Kobolds and figure out the logisitics of getting that stone slab out of the dungeon. Once out of the dungeon we can decide what to do from there which would be either. a) go back with jaroom and seal the deal fast forwarding the travel bit b) go back to further explore the dungeon c) wander into the desert as a bunch of desert weirdos d) ??? If we can skip inane things like travel and shopping it would free up a lot of time. We could post here before the session throughout the week the tedious things we do by ourselves while in town (like studying, sleeping, buying supplies, etc) and when we get to those sections in the game we can just reference those posts. So whenever we do make it back to town and/or have a long rest we could just reference my excerpt above for what happened during that long rest instead of spending 15min of me typing it in chat while everyone waits. sorry if that thought process was a bit jumbled in its coherance.

Spending a short amount of time talking to kobolds and wrapping up the quest sounds fine to me. If we can get the skinny on the rest of the dungeon from the kobolds, we can head back. That shouldn't take more than 30 minutes or our pizza's free. Chuck Dagger will, as he does physical therapy to get his knee back in working order, try to reach his criminal contact (background feature). When he does, he will try to see about getting a set of thieves' tools on the arm. (That'll be useful for dealing with that locked iron vault.) He will also ask about some shady dwarves he's heard about in Ophir and whether or not there's a score to be had. He'll spend the rest of his 29 gp on gearing up properly and a shiny new cane.