Summary:
Players with multiple characters sometimes will try to share magic items with each other even if they are not compatible. In this session, the attempt to do so resulted in a wizard being forced into a comatose state, and the cleric having all his spells taken from him after dictating to his god what he should do!

PC’s:
Gnoosh, Gnome Rogue 10/Illusionist 8 of Baravar Cloakshadow
Llewelyn, Elf Cleric 7/Wizard 7 of Sehanine Moonbow
Martin, Human Rogue 9 of Bacchus
Gorgat, Half-Orc Barbarian 8 of Haephestus
Kiaria, Human Seeker 6 of Bast
Arthur, Human Oathsworn 9 of Celestian
Edward, Human Bard 7 of St. Cecelia
Kyron, Human Cleric 8 of Zuul
Balthazar, Elf Wizard 8 of Arcanus

NPC:
Dhekeon “the Disgraced,” fallen skeletal paladin of St. Justus (seeking redemption)

Game Diary:
Kyron and Balthazar are both run by the same player. Although they are both chaotic neutral, Balthazar worships a neutral god of magic and Kyron was recently forced to abandon his god Charon for the chaotic neutral god of chaotic elements – Zuul. Kyron’s staff is called the Staff of Zuul, and it has special powers that make it quite formidable (it can cast lightning bolts, cones of cold, summon elementals, etc.). If you’ve read recent diary entries you know that Zuul – since being awakened from a centuries-long slumber – is out to regain followers and wants a new high priest to lead his faith, and Kyron is one such candidate. The subplot surrounding this has shifted into a major plot point in the campaign. A lot is riding on what might happen!

Now, it can be easy for players to see their characters as buddies who share things when needed. The players in this campaign are frequently lending money to each other for research and purchasing things and I have been willing to handwave some of the instances when two characters who would probably not be lending each other money or items do so. But sometimes you have to put your foot down.

We know from other RPGs and different versions of D&D that just handing off magic items to someone else is not something you normally can do (think of D&D 5E where items need a long rest to attune to the person). In this instance, the magic item in question is tied to a god who – unlike other gods busy dealing with massive numbers of followers – is much closer at hand while he builds up a new following after many centuries of being dormant. His staff is not some minor trinket that you share with your mates for fun – it is a very powerful magic item and he wants his priest to reach the point where he will acquire a level of fame and power to bring in followers to the faith (i.e. go from 8th to 9th level).

So let us get to the encounter where this all fell apart for Balthazar and Kyron.

The Army of the Light was in the Barrowmaze and was being approached by some eerie spirit from the east corridor. From the north Crypt Knights of Nergal were coming through a door and with their undead fear aura three members of the group were affected and fled both west and east and had to be grappled by three other characters before to stop them from running into more trouble (and trouble was indeed coming, for two fireballs were launched down the east corridor into a large chamber out of their range of sight and they heard a terrifying howl of terror which had awakened more undead!).

When at one point Kyron was grabbing one of the PCs fleeing out of fear, the player decided that Balthazar was going to grab the Staff of Zuul from him and use its powerful spells himself. From one perspective I see what the player was thinking, one of the powers that Arcanus gives his followers is the ability to use magic items beyond normal class limitations, thus, a wizard of Arcanus could use staves and wands that normally only clerics or druids could use (Arcanus is the god of magical taxonomy, magic sense, and magic item creation).

However, even though Balthazar is able to use an impressive array of magic items due to the powers Arcanus provides, the normal processes still have to take place. That is, you need time to attune to the item, and that assumes you can, for there can still be other restrictions, such as alignment restrictions, or racial/ancestral restrictions that Balthazar may not meet. In this case, it was a religion-based restriction.

When Balthazar grasped the Staff of Zuul from Kyron he heard a wind howl in his mind in the form of a voice saying “THIS does NOT belong to you!” Balthazar had to make a saving throw. He failed and fell to the ground in a comatose state, his mind overwhelmed.

Kyron didn’t waste any time, they were being attacked by undead knights and unknown spirits lurked in the shadows, so he knelt down and cast a remove curse on Balthazar to try and immediately restore him to fighting capabilities. As he was about to do so, however, he heard the familiar rasping voice of Zuul in his head say “NO, he needs to learn his lesson!” The player had Kyron immediately respond with forceful strength of voice “Listen, we NEED him!” and proceed to do it anyway! Well, if you are a cleric to a chaotic neutral god of elemental chaos, you should probably not try to dictate to your god what HE should allow YOU to do!

Zuul’s response to Kyron’s impudence was to immediately strip him of his clerical spells (although Kyron may still be able to cast his 0-level orisons)!

The session only had a few minutes left, so as it finally sunk into the player that one of his characters was comatose, and the other had now lost all his spells, the entire group could hear in the distance more of the metal boots of the crypt knights splashing down the flooded Barrowmaze corridor in the darkness toward them – and what was that spirit they heard howl?

Summary:
Within the flooded Barrowmaze the Army of the Light encounters a black tentacled aberration surrounding a lawful good clerics’ tomb, and then a medusa which turns one character to stone!

PC’s:
Gnoosh, Gnome Rogue 10/Illusionist 8 of Baravar Cloakshadow
Llewelyn, Elf Cleric 7/Wizard 7 of Sehanine Moonbow
Martin, Human Rogue 9 of Bacchus
Gorgat, Half-Orc Barbarian 8 of Haephestus
Kiaria, Human Seeker 6 of Bast
Arthur, Human Oathsworn 9 of Celestian
Edward, Human Bard 7 of St. Cecelia
Oswyn, Human Cleric 6 of St. Jasper [now petrified!]
Kyron, Human Cleric 8 of Zuul

NPC:
Dhekeon “the Disgraced,” fallen skeletal paladin of St. Justus (seeking redemption)

Game Diary:
Continuing right where we left off last time, the group was in the Barrowmaze where much of the underground complex was filled with 2-3 feet of water from the flooding that had occurred above in the barrowmoor.

There were two things they were looking for in this area of the dungeon – an oak shaped scarab to open the tomb to Rathgar, a once-famous ranger of the Northern Reaches, and the burial place of Palantis, a powerful lawful good cleric from days past (one group member already had some fragments of his armor).

They found the burial location of Palantis almost right away. He was interred in a white sarcophagus on an island surrounded by black water. Gnoosh, with his hat of telepathy, picked up the nearly incoherent thoughts of a monster (the player rolled a “1” on his attempt to decipher the alien language). Entering the room the group found six black tentacles emerge from the water to try and pull people in towards its mouth under the water while four tentacles with eyes emerged looking in all directions preventing flanking or back attack bonuses. Well-placed spells like color spray stunned the creatures and allies cut their friends free and stepped forward to cut it up.

Not wanting to take a chance with the water being poisonous, Martin, with his boots of striding and leaping jumped across to the island but realized that only a lawful good person could open the sarcophagus. Gorgat, the hearty barbarian did take a chance going across and opened it. Inside was part of his armor and his magical mace.

Moving on they entered a series of corridors and rooms with life-like statues. Edward, the bard, soon realized that this was the location of Moniphine a woman who once thought she was more beautiful than the gods, and in return, she was punished by them! Exploring rooms they could tell she was now a medusa, and she had collected quite a number of people who entered her lair and never left!

They eventually made their way to two double doors leading to a temple. They opened the doors and entered. In front of them were some lit brazier’s providing some light and lots of pillars and statues providing cover.

Immediately two arrows shot out from the stairway at the far end nearly 80 feet away. They could hear the rattle from a snake’s tail and knew it was Moniphine. Her arrows struck true! Arthur was hit and failed his poison save and lost 1 point of Dexterity as he felt his body become stiffer and less flexible. Gnoosh was also hit and lost 2 points of Wisdom as his insight and perception slowed down.

At the same time, the large variety of sticks that lay on the ground came to life as snakes!

If there is one thing that a group that is – or nearing – high level can do, it is to hurl some firepower at the problem, and that is what they did! Llewelyn used his Staff of the Pyromancer and launched a fireball in her direction. Kyron used his Staff of Zuul to create a cone of cold which killed all the snakes in front of them. Moniphine responded with another flight of arrows and Arthur was hit again. He failed his poison save again took more damage and lost 1 point of Intelligence as his mind began to cloud over. Gorgat used his barbarian whirlwind attack and destroyed three snakes as he cleared his own path, and Dhekeon swung his two-handed sword and killed four more snakes in clearing a safe path. Llewellyn hurled another fireball and that was what was needed, Moniphine screamed, fell forward and rolled down the stairs, her head facing toward the group. Gnoosh and Oswyn were looking in her direction when that happened, and although Gnoosh passed his save, Oswyn failed his, and the group saw him turn to stone as he pointed in fright at the frightening sight!

Spellcasters cast a fog spell around the body, obscuring the petrifying gaze that could still operate even after her death. Through the fog covering her head was cut off and reaching into it her head was placed in a portable hole (although one of the snakes on the head did get a bite in and the players learned that they were still poisonous!).

It was quite the adventure and the group remains still in the Barrowmaze. The group learned that the isolated and out-of-the-way chambers that Moniphine controlled in the Barrowmaze included a very comfortable and dry chamber (what was her bed-chamber) where the group could rest as well as a new exit point out of the dungeon (they assume it leads to a barrow mound on the surface). They can explore that next time.

Summary:
The Duchy of Aerik is struck by chaotic storms and the towns and swamps flood. The adventurers return to the Barrowmoor and are attacked by 14 crocodiles. Upon entering the Barrowmaze they find the corridors under 3 feet of water with danger lurking under the dark, peaty filth carrying all sorts of diseases!

PC’s:
Gnoosh, Gnome Rogue 10/Illusionist 8 of Baravar Cloakshadow
Llewelyn, Elf Cleric 7/Wizard 7 of Sehanine Moonbow
Martin, Human Rogue 9 of Bacchus
Kyron, Human Cleric 8 of Zuul
Balthazar, Elf Wizard 8 of Arcanus
Gorgat, Half-Orc Barbarian 8 of Haephestus
Kiaria, Human Seeker 6 of Bast
Wright Dawnbreaker, Human Paladin 5 of St. Luther

NPC:
Dhekeon “the Disgraced,” fallen skeletal paladin of St. Justus (seeking redemption)

Game Diary:
When we left off last time the druids had summoned rain to bring an end to the 4 months of sun that Zuul the god of Chaotic Elements had brought. However, once the druids summoned the rain Zuul changed tactics and used the druid’s magical energy against them by bolstering their rain and transforming it into a massive storm that hit populated areas as night fell. For hours throughout the night it spread across the parched land that was unable to absorb the rain and flash flooding occurred. The water rushed through the streets of Ironguard Motte propelling people’s belongings through the streets until they gathered against the interior walls of the town. Helix and Bogtown, not having walls, witnessed the water rush through devastating the area as belongings and structures were pushed out of town.

When the next morning arrived the cleanup began. Although many in the Army of the Light now are high enough in level that they have to look after castles, are assembling guilds, and engaging in other civic duties, others made another foray to the Barrowmaze. With large areas of standing water, Gorgat the barbarian new there would be increased risk of snakes and crocodiles and sure enough, as they approached the Barrowmaze 14 crocodiles encircled them.

art from Forgotten Realms Wiki

Balthazar and Kyron were looking forward to taking them out with cones of cold and fireballs, but with the crocs piling up on individual PCs this would’ve enveloped them all and they had to engage in melee combat. They were all surprised when fighting crocs proved to be quite challenging and when they were done they needed to expend some healing from the crocs that had bitten them, pulled them to the ground, and tried to drown them in the deep water.

Upon entering the Barrowmaze the halls were filled with 3 feet of standing, peat-colored standing water with floating moss and swamp debris. They re-opened the tomb to Pinto the Pyromancer (which they had looted months before) because it had a room that opened to a fiery realm. Upon doing so the water in the nearby corridors came rushing in and fell down into the fiery realm thus slowly lowering the water level in that part of the dungeon.

Progressing forward to some new tombs they encountered a venomous snake that Gorgat discovered and killed before it could hurt anyone. They then entered some bricked-up Egyptian tombs and as they went from tomb to tomb, Wright was struck by a wight that drained two points of strength from him. Kyria was then afflicted with mummy rot from touching a scarab (although the healers in the group managed to cure her of it). Gnoosh encountered a Grown Pudding and it ate away his backpack and most of its contents, as well as all of his clothing underneath his robe of eyes (the robe managed to escape getting dissolved). Finally, Wright awakened a mummy which gave him mummy rot as it slammed him with its fists. Wright also got the rot reversed from the healers, but his Charisma was drained by two points.

There is more they want to explore and with the corridors flooded (or at least damp) the moisture is bound to cause long-dormant spores and mold to grow, and there will undoubtedly be more snakes, rogue crocs, and perhaps molds and oozes traveling through the muck (along with the usual undead). The Barrowmaze has just gotten a whole lot more interesting as new denizens have entered the dungeon (and perhaps old ones have had to leave)!

Summary:
A 100% role-playing session. 1. A Wish avoids the consequences of the Deck of Many Things for 11 PCs. 2. One PC negotiates with an assassin contracted to kill another PC! 3. A Seeker finds a fortress in a hidden mountain valley! 4. The four-month drought caused by Zuul, the God of Chaotic Elements ends as the Celtic, Norse, and Greek druids of the area gather to summon rain, but Zuul uses their powers against them shifting their rain into a massive, ravaging, thunderstorm – flash floods are coming to the lands!

PC’s:
Gnoosh, Gnome Rogue 10/Illusionist 8 of Baravar Cloakshadow
Llewelyn, Elf Cleric 7/Wizard 7 of Sehanine Moonbow
Martin, Human Rogue 9 of Bacchus
Rosaline, Half-Elf (Elven lineage) Druid 8 of The Daghda
Kyron, Human Cleric 8 of Zuul
Balthazar, Elf Wizard 8 of Arcanus
Kiaria, Human Seeker 6 of Bast
Belden, Gnome Bard 7 of Aengus
Thaddeus, Half-Elf (Human lineage) Fighter 1/Rogue 1 of Bacchus

Game Diary:
The Army of the Light had accomplished a lot in recent adventures and subplots had been piling up and needed to get addressed, so this session was just role-playing with various NPCs as the players worked out the next steps for their characters.

Wish reverses effects on 11 characters.
First, after the emotional high last session with 19 PCs drawing cards from a Deck of Many Things(!) Thaddeus, who acquired a wish chose to reverse the bad effects that several players acquired (two lost their minds, one was imprisoned, etc, see previous game diary for more details). The player worded it well and for 11 of the PCs, it was as if they never drew from the deck (he wished that the 11 characters “never drew from the Deck of Many Things and that they go back to the way they were and where they were before they drew from the deck”). As a GM you always try to find a loophole in the wording a player uses when making a wish. But taking into account the context of the situation, I couldn’t think of any obvious negative side effects at that moment and the wish worked as the player had hoped (time-reversed for those 11 characters within the large but confined room where they had pulled the cards). There was one exception, though. Since they had all drawn from the deck in their HQ in Ironguard Motte and one of the players received a small castle which I had placed further away, although time reversed for those in their home base, part of the magic of the deck did go into effect and a vacant fortress will make its appearance within the borders of the Duchy of Aerik. How will things change in the Duchy of Aerik when a castle appears – or become vacant – in the near future?

Contract for assassinating Kyron.
In an earlier adventure, Kyron had awakened Zuul, the God of Chaotic Elements. The sun had been shining from March-July and the nearby lands were suffering from drought and the landscape was parched. Some began to consider following him (which will happen once he becomes 9th level – high-level – and he is able to acquire followers), but others have put a contract out for his life with the Shadow Hands thieves guild in Bogtown. Kyron had taken refuge with some cave people in the southern barrowmoor and an assassin named Vetle had taken the contract and along with his crew killed some of them off (I previously detailed Vetle in a character creation challenge post) and thus whittling away those that were protecting Kyron – he was very concerned!

It so happens that Vetle had once been in contact with a Slavic witch on a high cliff in the Moon Peaks who had a well-stocked garden where she grew exotic – and sometimes dangerous – herbs. The Army of the Light defeated her more than a year ago and now the druid Rosaline had taken the place over setting it up as her druid grove for when she reaches 9th level and can take in followers. Vetle met up with her and put forth a suggested arrangement where she could provide the Shadow Hands with some herbs and, in turn, she would be compensated generously and the Shadow Thieves would patrol the area and keep away any “unwanted” visitors.

Additionally, as a Celtic druid, Rosaline was not happy with the endless sun that parched the landscape for the last 4 months from the god Kyron awakened, so she was sympathetic to Vetle’s plan to assassinate Kyron with the hope that this would bring the weather patterns back to normal and bring balance back to nature. It was fun roleplaying players negotiating with an assassin NPC while the other player whose character triggered the environmental disaster sat next to them watching and listening!

Gorgat and Kyron lead two splintered factions of cave people.
The barbarian Gorgat has been drawing some cave people to him as admirers (and they will become his followers once he turns 9th level). Although the cave people had splintered between the lawful good Gorgat and the chaotic neutral Kyron, Gorgat thought the cave people would be better off unified as one people. Looking at it from another perspective, Kyron feared for his life and wanted the help of his friend, and because of this sought out Gorgat hoping there would be safety in numbers. There was some great role-playing here as the players roleplayed their character’s different alignments and their different motivations for coming together!

Kiaria discovers her fortress gained from drawing a card from the Deck of Many Things.
Kiaria had acquired a griffon’s egg a year ago. It hatched in the spring and she had taken up residence with Rosaline in her cliff-top druid grove to train it in isolation away from others. Although only 6th level and still a ways away from 9th level and inspiring others to follow her, she had picked a card from the Deck of Many Things that gave her a small castle. She learned of it when a faerie creature approached her and said there was a secret passage from Rosaline’s cliff garden to a secret fortress surrounded on all sides by mountainous peaks that obscured it from sight. The faery waved its hand and the tunnel opened up through the cliff that went on for hundreds of yards, on the other side was a sheltered and hidden secret valley with an old fortress. Surrounding it was land capable of farming, and an area perfect for flying creatures like griffons to grow and develop. She still needs to level up to gain a following, but her hidden fortress and land is already set up!

The Flood Gates are opened as the rains consume the land, with massive floods coming
However, although you would think making a wish reversing Deck of Many Things magic would be one of the highlights of the adventure, the campaign took another turn when Druids from the Celtic, Greek, and Viking pantheons met at different important holy sites relevant to their faiths and engaged in ritual magic for several days to summon rain and offset the four months of constant sun that had caused drought and starvation. Zuul had spent months holding back clouds and any other weather patterns from entering the region, but once the druids from the other pantheons summoned the rain through their gods, Zuul could not compete with that much power. However, he is clever and revels in chaos, so he effectively “flicked a switch” reversing and re-directed the power he had been using to hold back the clouds and rain and the result was like a dam that had been holding back all the weather pressure that had been building up for months. The flood gates were open! Funneling his chaos into the rain summoned by the druids he transformed the rain-filled clouds into dark, ominous, gray thunder clouds and vicious thunderstorms expanded at a frightening pace. An awesome display of nature was unleashed! It sent thunder and rain onto the parched landscape, and all the people in the lands looked up to the skies and knew that the dried and cracked land could not handle this much rain and that floods were now coming. In the next session, everyone will experience the results!