Session 1: Report

General Summary

Session 1: Of Ale and Ashes, began with the reading of a story, "The Wish."

The party found their selves in a tavern, "The Rusty Lantern." They were all established to be regulars here, but all relatively new faces to the tavernkeeper, Tobin Harth. Some, like Korvik and Bolk have been coming for a why - months maybe, while others, like Rune and Althea, have only begun visiting the tavern recently. Some have personal quests, and specific reasons to be there, while others are just there to drink and escape from the perils of the world.

Vido, the tiefling rogue (David) was there because the thieves guild he is a part of, "The Umbrage of Wolves" uses the tavern as an underground meeting point to transfer funds and resources within the guild. He comes here often (within the last couple years), ensuring the package is received, and stays to hear the word of the town, pick up on some new tips, and occasionally have a drink.

Althea, the wood-elf druid (Alyssa) had only been in Redwick, staying at the village Inn, for about a week. She spent a lot of her time at the tavern to speak with travelers, read, drink, and relax as she is on her aramente.

Selene/Rune, the dark-elf cleric (Courtney), similar to Althea, had only been in town for a little over a week, staying at the nearby Inn. She also comes to speak with locals and travelers in search of odd jobs, and information to aid her in her ultimate quest to liberate and take revenge on the Covenant of Penaith.

Naerys, the aasimar storm sorceress (Erin) had also only been here for a couple months. She had temporarily settled here after finding acceptance of her kind to be scarce in the surface world. Redwick was a fresh start for her, where she was able to hide her wings and pretend she is simply human. Her main goal of finding a way back home to her parents was put on hold here as she almost began to settle in this new life. Discrimination still followed her there, but many key individuals stood up for her, especially the tavernkeeper, Tobin, who always aimed to create a welcoming and inviting environment within his tavern, and believed that fighting over what she was or wasn't was trivial and had no place in his tavern.

Korvik, the goliath paladin (Caleb), similar to Naerys, had been staying in Redwick for around 4-6 months. Months ago, he had stumbled into the tavern late at night, already wasted, and approached the counter asking for another drink. The owner, Tobin, was working the bar that night and immediately knew what to do. He whipped up a drink that tasted exactly like alcohol, with no alcoholic content in it, and offered Korvik some food. He then did what he does best, and talked to Korvik for hours. It was the first real conversation Korvik had with a person who wasn't afraid of him. Astonished by his kindness and compassion, Korvik decided to settle near Redwick and visit the tavern often, having a drink with the old man. He always put up a front though, never revealing what he did to Tobin, but Tobin never pressed. He also became fairly close with the tavernkeeper's daughter, Sarlin, who was an incredible player of the game Shade, which Korvik took an immediate interest in as he does with all opportunities to gamble. He even began to make acquaintances with some other regulars of the tavern, who he would drink and gamble with often, one of these people being Bolk.

Bolk, the swamp goblin artificer (Trent), like Korvik, had been staying near Redwick for a few years. After he escaped the slaves, he took refuge in an area of swamp right outside the Rotting Glade. He often visited nearby villages, pulling his schemes; scamming and cheating to get by. He visited Redwick and The Rusty Lantern often to grab a drink, gamble, and get a closer look at the people he's trying to cheat. It was also a warm place for him to tinker in peace.

For the first 20-30 minutes of the campaign, the party took some time to chat/look around the tavern.

Notable moments:

• Korvik: Took some time to chat with Tobin and gamble with Sarlin, who he lost to twice.
• Bolk: Mostly followed Korvik around, shadowing him and encouraging his drunken losing spree.
• Vido: Did his job in ensuring the package for the guild was received. Spent most of the time sitting around having a drink.
• Selene/Rune and Althea: First, attempted to get a drink from Sarlin at the bar. When Sarlin asked how old she was, she responded with "old enough," only for Sarlin to laugh and refuse to serve her. She was given a drink by Tobin though. She later Investigated the message board on the tavern's wall, which included a bunch of unimportant job listings and a wanted poster for an unhinged assassin, who is said to aggressively pursue his targets, leaving trails of bodies in his wake. He is referred to by many names: The Death Knight, The Fellblade, Rynval, etc.. Rune also met and befriended Althea at the message board as they were looking at the same thing, and shared a brief conversation about it. Together they explored the tavern a bit and eventually came to a table where Naerys sat reading a book. The two inquired what she was reading and learned that she was reading a book on Aasimar culture.
• Naerys: Spent her time reading a book on Aasimar culture. She was looking for something that could explain the events that lead to her fall from the heavens. When Althea and Selene approached her, she was nervous of them finding her out, but calmed as she noticed that one of them was a dark-elf, another race that is heavily discriminated against from what she has seen in her short time on the surface. Still, she kept her identity hidden when speaking with the pair.

Adventure Begins: Just before the night could really begin, the party jumped to later in the night, outside the tavern, surrounded by dozens of bloody bodies. Among the bodies were a few familiar faces of people they had just spoken to moments before in the tavern, including Sarlin Harth, the tavernkeeper's daughter. The party themselves were covered in blood and wounds, standing in a circle gripping their weapons as if they had just partaken in a great battle. Their HP was also cut to half of their maximums, and no one had any recollection of what transpired within the jump.

The party chose to investigate the area for a while, which led to mostly nothing other than noticing giant slash marks on the ruined buildings, and what looked like a massive track, partially washed away by the rain.

After a while, as the party began to investigate the interior of the tavern, about a dozen townsfolk emerged from the taverns cellar, lead by Tobin, Rellick (the cook), and Ella (the village elder), all of them missing the memories of what transpired as well.

The party first attempted to reason with them. Rune walked over and healed one mans arm, which was severed around the elbow. She managed to stop the bleeding completely, but to do so, she had to use her covenant healing spells, requiring her to harm herself with her blade. This was off-putting to the commoners, who saw it as a form of dark magic. From there, it didn't take long for them to turn hostile, believing the party to be responsible for the attack and their missing memories. The group of villagers doubled the party in number. They ran at them all at once to attempt to detain the party. First to be taken was Rune, who was backed into the corner of the tavern and flanked by two men. The next were althea and vido. Althea had attempted to leap onto the beams of the tavern, but a mixture of her poor acrobatic skills and the instability of the beams caused them to collapse, knocking her prone and giving the villagers the opportunity to surround and detain her. Vido was simply outnumbered and flanked, making him the next caught. Throughout the whole confrontation, many villagers were all trying and failing to take down the goliath, Korvik, to no success. He fought back with fierce strength, but he too was ultimately taken down by 3 villagers grappling him all at once, securing his hands and legs with rope and chains. The nimble goblin trickster, Bolk, made his way quickly evading capture throughout the tavern, but was ultimately next on the list to fall. Last was Naerys, who had ran out at the first opportunity she had. 6 villagers chased her down until she chose to hide in a nearby house, freshly destroyed in the attack. Ultimately, her poor stealth gave her away and found her captured as well. The whole party, now detained in ropes and chains, were locked within the basement cellar of the tavern.

Naerys had the brilliant idea to use the torch on the cellar wall to burn her rope away, to begin untying the rest of the party. After being freed, they chose to explore the cellar a bit before finding a way out.

Notable finds:

• Bolk chose to investigate a desk on the far end of the cellar, lit up by a single lantern. It was unclear exactly who the desk belonged to but within and around the desk he found:
• Numerous letters from Tobin's wife, pinned to a board on the wall.
• A picture of Tobin and Sarlin in a picture frame on the desk.
• In the desk drawer, scribbled brewing instructions for the taverns homebrewed ale, illegible.
• Also in the desk drawer was a diary belonging to Sarlin, the last entry reading of a strange stone which she found by the river. The stone had strange runes inscribed in the top, with a faint glow emanating from them. When she showed it to her father, he saw nothing of importance to it, but encouraged her excitement and curiosity. Also within the diary were entries which delved into more detail about how Sarlin was planning on leaving home soon to explore the world, against her fathers wishes.

The door was locked, but Vido used his lockpicking skills to pick the lock, and open the door.

The door was being blocked by something large and heavy. At first, Korvik attempted to push through on his own to no avail. It took the combined strength of the entire party to get it open just enough for Bolk to get out.

After he slipped through the door, before he could decide if he wanted to leave them or help them get out, heard the voices of Tobin and two other men (Eric and Bolin) entering the tavern. He overheard them speaking about how Tobin wanted to go down and interrogate or torture the party to find out what happened to his daughter, but the other two men were talking him down, telling him to wait for the guard to get there.

Bolk attempted to sneak across to the other side of the tavern, to a point where he could sneak up behind them and take them out, but he failed in this and got caught, and hogtied.

The party, thinking Bolk left them, began to panic and continued pushing on the door.

Eric and Bolin noticed this as Tobin dealt with Bolk, and went to move the bookcase and barrel that were blocking the door to get in and deal with the party. Once they open the door, the party pretends to still be tied up.

The party catches the two men by surprise, revealing themselves to be untied and attacking the men. They first take out Eric, and then Bolin. Tobin jumps in to help the men, dropping Bolk in the process. Bolk takes this opportunity to cast mage hand and untie himself to join the fight.

From there, the fight was over quick with Korvik taking the final blow on Tobin. He lifted him up by the collar, yelling, asking why he is so dead set on the party being responsible.

Tobins answer was unsavory, telling them all that he never once trusted them. He always kept a close eye on them, knowing they would bring trouble one day. He may have been speaking in rage and emotion, but his words cut deep, especially to Korvik. In a fit of rage at his betrayal, as Tobin was one of the very first people to accept him, he nearly snapped Tobin's neck before Naerys charmed Korvik, calming him enough to let go of Korvik. As he put him down, Vido prepared to take lead in the interrogation, but before they could get another word out, they all heard a lot rumbling from upstairs, and the flapping of giant wings.

They all went upstairs to investigate, leaving Tobin tied up within the cellar. Outside the tavern was a giant, gargantuan mythical beast of a bird, the storm raging far more than it had been before.

Before they could react to the sight, a blade flings in from out of the darkness- dark and jagged, connected to a long chain. At the end of the chain was a man, clad in dark armor, and a black hood draped over his head/helmet. In one attack, the creature fell, its head tumbling to the ground beside it.

Althea and Rune recognize the man as the man on the wanted poster.

He retracts his blade, and places them back on his sides, walking slowly down the path, past the party, not even so much as glancing at them. The party tries to speak with him, to learn his name, or thank him, but he just slightly turns his head and turns back forward to continue down his path.

And that is where Session 1: Of Ale and Ashes concluded.

DM Notes for the party

• Metagaming: As we are all figuring out the game and how it works, some rules can and will be bent to allow a certain amount of metagaming. This will change as we get used to the games rules.
• Tactics: Planning during combat is allowed, but keep in mind if you are talking and creating tactics in the middle of battle, there is a good chance your enemy or enemies hear you. I'd advise the party to make plans and tactics before hand, and keep in mind where they are in relation to each other and enemy creatures in the middle of battle. I will determine if they can hear you or not. Also keep in mind time, as each round is only 6 seconds of in-world time, so you would not have time to have a full conversation on each turn. This also keeps the game moving faster, so we can get through the encounter and move on with the session.
• Character Agency: It's important that you make choices for your character based on what they know in game, and not what you know as a player. If you hear me tell another player something that they heard, and I specifically say only they heard it, make sure to ignore that piece of information unless it is relayed to your character or they find out another way.
• Character Personality: It is also important to keep in mind your character's personality, and how they might act. Choosing to do things that are out of character tend to break immersion and sever that suspension of disbelief. The goal is to have fun, but part of the fun for everyone is playing your character and building connections and making decisions faithfully as if you are living through your character. If you don't like the personality of your character, talk to me and we'll figure something out to change it naturally through character development.
• What I suggest: On your character sheet, write down a brief description of your character's personality, quirks, and other unique traits like accents or random tics they might have. The better understanding of your character you have, the easier it will be for me to understand your character and create scenarios for them specifically, as well as for the party to get to know your character and interact with them consistently.
• Combat: To make combat more fun for everyone and go by quicker, both the party and the DM need to work on a few things.
• Use the environment: One of the things that I will be implementing more is more options to use the environment for different varying styles and tactics in combat. I, as a DM, do need to do a better job of describing the environment to you to give you these options, but know that just because I didn't describe something, doesn't mean there is nothing. If you have a question about the environment, ask me, and I will give you a more detailed breakdown.
• Examples: Breaking through a hollow patch of the floor to get to the level below, lighting a barrel of alcohol on fire with a spell or torch that you find on the wall, etc.
• Use your movement: Another thing I've noticed is that everyone seems to ignore the fact that you are able to use movement unless you are in a chase. Remember that there are different tactical advantages you can take with using movement, like flanking, which grants you advantage on your attack roll when you and another allied player are positioned on either side of an opponent. Also keep in mind things like range of attack (ex: melee attacks can only be used within 5 feet/1 square of an enemy), opportunity attacks (when you or enemy retreat or walk by their opponent, it leaves them open for an opportunity attack reaction), etc. when choosing what movement to take, if any. This will also come with me making the enemies take more tactical decisions in battle as well, so you can see what that actually looks like in game. I'm aware that if I'm not doing something, it's hard to expect you to do it, so it's something we all have to work on.
• Use your imagination: Battle can often be boring when it is just "roll. hits. what's the damage? 5 hp left. next. roll..." Use your imagination to describe what your character does. Instead of saying "I move here and use a dagger attack," make up what this scene looks like, what your character does. Maybe you slide past an opponent, dodging their opportunity attack with a saving throw, and slash an enemy across the field in the ankle, inhibiting their ability to walk or move properly. Gameplay-wise, it would be the same thing, but it makes combat a lot more engaging when players engage and roleplay with the combat. Some other examples would be swinging across a rope on a ship and kicking an enemy overboard, or brutal slashing an enemy in a fit of rage, over and over.
• Use attacks/spells outside of combat: You already do this a decent amount, but remember to keep in mind that attacks and spells are not limited to battle encounters. For example, spells like entangle can be used to create a bridge, or thorn-whip to break a lock off a door.

DM Notes for Myself

Battle Design: When crafting encounters and battle maps, make sure there are plenty of opportunities for players to use their environment. Even if it is not intentional or fully thought-out what they can do with these things, include plenty of filler so that they can brainstorm in the midst of battle and feel more heroic. This also includes setting up different types of terrain, battle settings, and enemies so every encounter feels unique.

Monkey See, Monkey Do: Make sure you're doing everything that you want the party to do: Use your imagination, roleplay in battle, use movement and tactical advantages. Enemies would be making tactical plans too, so make that clear, the party will follow doing the same thing.