PSA

Public Service Announcement: For those who weren't aware of Sunday's adventure - all those characters who were taken captive by the Cult of the Crushing Wave have been liberated*. The liberation of Rivergard Keep continues as those involved look to rescue Zita and Agneren. *The cart and two mules have yet to be discovered

And a certain cleric/sorcerer's magical floating orb.

Rivergard Keep has been liberated and claimed by the party out of Red Larch (you guys should name your adventuring company). With this event the campaign has leveled to 4. All existing characters gained 2700 XP and all new characters start at level 4.

The Liver-haters...

The Paladins Make the Best Healers

Battle Trauma Brigade

The keep is on River Dessarin and all the factions came together to claim it - The Dessarin Alliance?

I like The Dessarin Alliance. For those who don't know, Feathergale Spire has been conquered. The campaign is now level 5 with all existing characters gaining 6500xp. The adventures continue but I want you guys to start thinking about what you want to do with your conquered locations. The DMG has information on maintenance costs for various structures. Feathergale Spire is a fortified tower. Rivergard Keep could be a small fort or a rural inn. The primary questions to answer are: - what is the location's function? - what specific amenities does it provide? - who staffs it? - who guards it? Be ready for some discussion next session. Your faction contacts have some ideas but I want you guys to have first say since it was the Dessarin Alliance's accomplishment.

You know "The Dessarin Alliance" has a nice ring to it. My vote is for this one. Dibble has some ideas for Feathergale Spire.  1) A place of worship to Tymora. Receiving tithinges and such 2) Also providing guides and scouts through the region for a reasonable fee  3) Aarakocra as guards. 4) Staff with hired followers of Tymora. That is my 2 cents. Feel free to add or suggest a different idea for the Tower.

Brothel, obviously. 

Rivergard Keep is a place of horror for many of our adventuring company.  That being said, it could very easily be made into a multi purpose in and tavern. There's barracks that could be cleaned up and converted into sleeping facilities for travelers.  The stables could be cleaned up and repaired and we might be able to entice a black smith's apprentice into setting up shop there.  The chapel could be made into a multi-faith chapel, similar to the one in Red Larch.  As for staffing, we did send someone back to Red Larch to recruit anyone willing to come. Feathergale Spire on the other hand, I think we should offer to the Aarakocra.  Ask them if we could use it as as well as a base, but turn it over to them as they could definitely make better use of the "stable" level than we can, giving them a defensible place to keep their eggs and to launch scouting patrols of the Valley.

I'm cool with that idea as an alternate Shawn only Dibble would want Tymora to be the primary faith.

I'm with Zamp!!

Since it's a sideways situation where you guys have two characters who probably belong to differing factions and therefore have differing views on how to handle things here's the plan: Prior to the actual adventure session there is going to be a Dessarin Alliance Council Meeting held in the great hall of Rivergard Keep (the only place that can accommodate so many people). There I'll ask each player what each of their characters' desires/goals/thoughts are. Then once everybody has had a chance to chime in you can have a general discussion and come to some sort of arrangement. If you're interested you can entertain your faction contacts as they have some input on the matter or you can ignore them as they really have no say in the affairs of the Dessarin Alliance. I will be making handouts for the two locations and tracking their staffing levels and whatever other arrangements you guys come up with. I hope you all don't mind morphing into this Dessarin Alliance thing. Each character maintains loyalty to their faction of course, but I think having an overall aligned guild or community is important (like what the Company of Thorn and Coin was for in the last campaign).

I like the idea of sharing the Feathergale Spire with the Aarakocra. They can have the stables to nest their eggs in return for mutually beneficial security and an allegiance. We can use the bedrooms as a barracks and the top as a look out point. Meld would be happy with all of this. Rivergard Keep on the other hand, Thad sees as an opportunity and base of operations. A Tavern so great people from Waterdeep would come visit, wenches to make us money and steal secrets from the customers, riverwalks along the Dessarin, and dinners in the throne room for the more established guests. We should think of a way to easily travel between these two places. We need a cost-benefit analysis on highways, flying mounts, magical portals, etc.

Quinn is newly arrived and is happy to go with what others would like to do with either location all he requires is a base of operations for his research in the area!  OOC I know a rather successful ex-brothel owner that would be willing to run the whore house Zamp surgested lol

After two more forays against the Cult of the Eternal Flame, the Dessarin Alliance was finally successful in taking the tower at Scarlet Moon Hall. Two were lost in the fight - Kelyn Denaris and Cretin aka Ebenezer fell to fireballs. Furthermore Lorelei Firehair, Leo Regulus, Avaene'essa, Kambei Shimada, and Jute Tagger-Napple were taken captive to some unknown fate in the Temple of Eternal Flame. The good news is that the campaign has leveled up to 6. All existing characters gained 14,000XP and all new characters start at level 6. Also, I forgot one thing: Elizar Dryflagon carried a +1 Dagger. Kragen Stonepeak and Krumdak should decide between them who gets it.

Due to a clerical error in the accounting department, the wrong XP value was given for the recent campaign level-up. 14,000XP was the total for level 6. All new characters start with this amount. All existing characters gain the difference between 5th and 6th levels, which is 7500XP. If you already added 14,000 to your total simply subtract 6500 and you'll arrive at the correct value. I will make time to verify totals prior to the session tonight. Rest assured the gnomes responsible for this error were sacked, punted, and fed to trolls.

Only thing you can do with a stupid gnome really!!

We've seen some new faces character wise lately. I'd still like a PM titled with your character name and all the background info listed in the character creation post. Especially things like villains and bonds I can use as story hooks in the campaign. Also I'd like to hear feedback on the idea of faction points being retroactive so that new people aren't behind the curve on magic items. Currently there have been two points gained campaign wide.

I like the retro active approach not that it will benefit Rand as he is loot drop but it still seems fairer across the board

That is extremely fair of you Ben, especially since you instituted the armory for random folks.  That is one thing I thought of when Kelyn died, "Wish I had spent my faction point."

The Sacred Stone Monastery was cleared. The Alliance continued their foray down into the Temple of Black Earth, clearing the first several rooms and then taking a short rest. That adventure continues. With the Sacred Stone Monastery - the Cult of Black Earth's front - cleared, the campaign has leveled up to 7 with all existing characters gaining 9,000XP. Further, Bruldenthar, the dwarf scholar, was rescued along with seventeen villagers who had been captured by the cult. They were picked up by the guards at Feathergale Spire and word of the Dessarin Alliance's accomplishments spread across the valley. The campaign also gains 1 Faction Point. Stay tuned this week as Bruldenthar shares a bit of history about the Dessarin Valley and the ancient Besilmer Ruins that the elemental cults have claimed.

With Marlos Urnrayle and Miraj Vizann disposed of, the rest of the Temple of Black Earth was finally cleansed. The campaign is now level 8, and all existing characters gained 11,000XP.

A few quick notes. Sunday's session was very spur of the moment, I had only just built it so I wasn't very thorough with how the orb of devastation works. I made it sound like a forest fire started at the point of impact. It's actually a heat wave that lasts 24 hours in a one mile radius with a 10% chance each hour to start a forest fire, which spreads rapidly. No big deal, nothing changed story wise and the roleplay thread is all legit (Rinn would have been very exhausted afterwards due to a compounding CON save every hour). Check the role play thread later for further info. Shawn you seemed surprised that a guard saw you even with your cloak of elven kind. I wanted to give a better explanation. When Sam and Frodo were hiding from the Easterlings under their cloaks of elven kind they were safe. But if Sam had leapt out and stabbed one, the other would have noticed, cloak or no cloak. That was more or less the situation on the cliff as I saw it. I also realized I didn't play the priests right. The Forgotten Realms is a fairly high magic setting so any spellcaster would know what silence is. It wasn't a major thing but in the future I think they'll know to scream and run in one direction until they can hear again. Finally, the former captives have a choice. Leo, Lorelei, and Kambei can remain intact stats-wise or they can opt for emotional scarring. If you choose PTSD you find it difficult to deal with other people and you have little patience for bland chatter. You have disadvantage on all Charisma ability checks. However your scars are also physical, and your time in captivity has given you resistance to fire damage.

Kambei gladly will take a hit to his Charisma for some fire resistance. :)

Lorelei will also take that hit to Charisma for fire resistance. And have PTSD and burns to her good side of her face. Sorry Dibble, but she now is all jacked in the face.

Well this is gonna be fun. Kragen throwing around fire magic and everyone just flinching from flashbacks.

That fire resistance is sooo tempting and the pay off stat wise is totally worth it; but RP wise I cant have Leo go PTSD, so... yeah. Either way he's sure to have some huge scars on the chest and back, probally from trying to stand up to the cultists when they hurt the others, and then being harassed for their amusement from the back while he worked the forge to break his spirit.

I'm always impressed with your dedication to your character Drizet. And in this case so is Torm. Take a Charm of Heroism instead.

Hey what about my dedication to my character(s) :( just messin wit ya.

So I learned something about myself today. I'll paste this into the "About Me" post because it fits pretty well there. This is related to the RP thread post I made, but it doesn't belong there so I'm putting it here. Forrest Gump would say, "Evil is as Evil does." Here in the Unites States of America, our judicial system says, 'Innocent Until Proven Guilty.' And our police force can't act unless a crime has been committed. I keep up on the news; local, regional, and foreign. And I see atrocities being committed everywhere. But on my weekends I like to get away from all that. So I play D&D. In the D&D world evil is a metaphysical force in the world. It acts without provocation or reason. Also there is no such thing as faith because the gods are very real and present in the goings-on in the world. There are no gray areas, racism is alive and well, and it's okay to murder a tribe of orcs, women and children, and take the their stuff. Because they're evil. Even if you didn't see them doing something evil, you know they were going to if you gave them time. And that's what makes D&D fun for me. I can set aside all the political correctness and gray areas of real life and engage in some blood-splattering of truly evil creatures at the hands of the good guys. When I DM I like to make the monsters as vile and reprehensible as possible. This makes it all the more satisfying when the good guys (you, the players) smash their teeth in and take their stuff. So this is why I won't run a campaign for evil characters. It's not fun for me, and I already mentioned Ben the DM's Axiom: The players can only have an amount of fun proportional to that which the DM is having. Hopefully this clarifies where I'm coming from and why.

The Temple of Howling Hatred has been cleared. The campaign is now level 9 and all existing characters gained 14,000XP.

Damn what did I miss. :(

I saved our baby Dibble. And his trainer. Now they are safe and in Red Larch. I expect some diamonds for that feat! And some lovin....tee hee

Rolling for attributes has been upped to twelve sets. Everybody gets one free reroll on attributes to see if you get something better (only way I know to make it fair). As usual make sure you have my attention before you roll, otherwise it's only practice. It doesn't count unless I'm ready to record!

Damn that's fuckin sweet!!!

No rerolls for endowment though!

Unless you're a halfling and roll a 1 Steffen.  That Halfling Luck is the best racial ability in the game.

In a literal blaze of glory, Celanor escaped death at the hands of a band of ogres. Although Bastian Thermander escaped the party, the Temple of Eternal Flame has been cleared. The campaign is now level 10. All existing characters gained 16,000XP. Double check  here

Damn where did that Friday session come from gutted I missed that I was up at half 1 too must of only missed your alert by half an hour

For those who are multiclassed, and have varying hit die sizes, here is a handy update to your Hit-Die macro: /w GM @{selected|token_name} spends ?{How many hit die?|1} hit die to regain [[?{How many hit die?|1}d?{What is the Die size (6/8/10/12)} +(?{How many hit die?|1}*@{selected|CON})]] hitpoints.

Perfect thx

Word spreads through the Dessarin Valley of the Iceshield Orc horde laid low by the Dessarin Alliance at Dellmon Ranch. The campaign gains 1 faction point, bringing the total up to 5. Further, the farmers didn't have much in the way of cash to offer but they replace the horses that were lost in the collapsed barn.

With the growing reputation of the Dessarin Alliance, and the clearly growing threat of the Elemental Cults, the individual factions have given orders to reinforce the Dessarin Valley. Rare items are now available. Previously held faction items may be traded back in for full value. See the  new tab.

I thought we already had 4 points??

Yes, 5.

The Dessarin Alliance has finally laid low the Temple of the Crushing Wave. They killed Thuluna Maah and Bronzefume as well as a number of cultists, while making a friend of one Crushing Wave Knight; Gordol. The campaign leveled up to 11 (+21,000XP). Furthermore, Bruldenthar's tomes were discovered in a hidden treasure vault of Gar Shatterkeel. He highly values these historical volumes on the Besilmer Dwarves, so they are worth another faction point, bringing the total to 6!

The party plunged further into the Fane of the Eye and encounter Aerisi Kalinoth, Prophet of Air. She was accompanied by her minstrel Windharrow and her assassin Whisper.  The party barely managed to overcome Thunderwaves, Shatters, and Chain Lightnings. But in the end Aerisi died in a whirl of wind, leaving behind the magic spear Windvane which was claimed by Krumdak. With the death of the second prophet, the campaign now has a total of 7 Faction Points. Spellbook Casters also have access to her spellbook. The Master Spell List has been updated.

No campaign level-up though?

The module is meant to end around level 15. You've got three campaign level-ups remaining according to the module's schedule. So no, not just yet.