Session 47: Regrouping and Finding a Fight
General Summary
Summary: 3 points
Saf muses about the group's responsibility for the various goings-on (aside from the bit with the Cult of Ogremoch, where the faith was a bit closer to being forced). Kolvonnin opines that Bursk is a pretty clear indicator of the faith being forced.
Sunny and Kolvonnin plan to do a little shield practice.
Saf returns the Cloak of Protection to Maya, who hands it off to Leucis.
Maya changes the topic slightly to inquire if Leucis is similarly concerned, as he seems more excited than anything else. Leucis admits that he's excited to see how it all unfolds, to the extent that he might have to make some inroads with the faith if the god of Knowledge were to have a resurgence. The druid is a bit incredulous at this, inquiring if Selune would take it amiss, but the cleric assures him that he would be gaining knowledge to better serve the interests of the moon. The pair muse about the apparent futility of directly assaulting a deity but consider alternate means of diminishing any enemy gods that arise (based on the information in Domains and Pantheons).
Maya winds up the discussion by advising the cleric to not lose sight of the bigger picture in the excitement of the unknown things coming.
He's able to fight off the worst of the cold, but it's taking a toll on him. He sees a hint of light to the east, the false dawn before the real sunrise. Kolvonnin recollects his prior experience of this vigil, trying to recall how long he still has to wait and how he held out before. He's in his plate mail, but not the better set he acquired on the journey, the set he was first allowed to wear on this occasion as he is becoming a paladin.
Kolvonnin's eyes lock on the horizon as he kneels and prays to the sun god for strength and wisdom. The cold still drains at him, but he's able to fight it off a bit better, despite it seeming more difficult in this dream than it was in the waking world. The paladin expects the sun rise at any moment, as it happened before: breaking over the horizon and bathing the world below in golden light.
The sun that rises is not the one he knows - far dimmer and further away, it barely brightens the sky near it, like merely a larger star. It gives off no warmth and barely any light - he can't even see the ground beneath the hill he's standing on, and he feels as though the sun itself has been dragged far away.
The sun is faint and far away, the world below is cold and dark. In this moment, Kolvonnin's resolve is to stand the watch, make it through, hold the line and become what he was meant to be. Maya and Leucis note that Pelor's Rising Sun next to the paladin's body begins to glow, as if reacting to this inner struggle. Kolvonnin feels a radiating warmth, not from the distant tiny sun, but from his connection to Pelor - radiating out from the paladin rather than the sky.
The sun reacts by swelling and brightening, less small now and shedding some light of its own, revealing the ground below. Expecting the familiar vista of the area around Hillfort, Kolvonnin instead sees a road winding off towards the horizon and the sun itself. Drawing on his intuitive understanding of the faith, the paladin recognizes this as the symbol of the Daybreakers.
Kolvonnin snaps awake, feeling refreshed and unharmed. The cleric and druid inquire about his experience and mention that his morningstar was glowing - the paladin recalls that part of the blessing from the Prince involved enabling the weapon's strength, and it seems to have strengthened Kolvonnin's connection to Pelor.
Kol recounts the dream of the vigil experience and mentions the surroundings not matching the place in his memory. Comparing with Leucis's dream experience with Selune (see Session 15), Kolvonnin explains that he was not spoken to, but eventually felt a presence, and that the sun and the road were not what he was familar with. Once he speaks that aloud, however, he realizes that the road is the journey he's always been on and he's only just seen it for the first time.
While the group is discussing what to do next, the sounds of combat continue. Leucis and Maya are fairly sure it's a wolf or werewolf howl, but as they're listening it gets brutally cut short. There's a moment of silence, and then an answering howl from further west. Considering the relative closeness of known lycanthrope territory, the party decides to investigate.
Both scouting efforts are able to get eyes on the situation - several wolf-men are in combat with orcs riding boars, as well as a large bear-man. While they aren't fully clear on what the situation is, the group elects to intervene, and regroups about 100' out from the fracas. There's an open area in the grass where the hostilities are taking place.
Heather: Hearing the descriptions of other people's abilities and blessings was fun. It was fun having little character moments, sparring with Kol, figuring things out, that was fun. Finding ourselves in the middle of something else, I like the fact that we didn't immediately murderhobo; we kind of tried to figure out what was happening before indiscriminately killing people. First time I got to use Tongues, so that was fun, too.
James: I enjoyed the roleplay at the front and character development and so forth in the ever-shifting world that we encounter. Combat's interesting, but I can't figure out what's going on yet, still assessing. I passed to keep things moving, not because I was especially salty. I'm working on Sendings (bullet points) in progress for retcon. I'm running out of ideas for the elders questions, so if folks have ideas I'm open to suggestions.
Jeremy: Back and forth and development in the roleplay was great. Furtherance down the Daybreaker path seems very wonderful and fun. The combat has a different dynamic, I really enjoyed it. I think we're starting to get a clear picture of where we want to go with our support. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
Matt: I don't like the juxtaposition that you offered, of "here's a really interesting combat that y'all have to figure out" but "hey, combat's going, go go go!" I'm like "Wait, no no no no. Please, one or the other on that. That's not ok, I don't like it." Other than that - I don't see any issue with how it went, but it was difficult for me to enjoy because I felt pressured. I think there's a bit more conversation we could have had. For example, there's someone in the party who knows more about werebears, and might chime in that it's really likely that's a werebear. But that conversation never happened, before combat when we were figuring stuff out. I'd appreciate clearer lines between in and out of game time for how long folks have to do things. The need to get up into the fray before we got some key information made it so we ended up in the fray but doing nothing, which is strange. I don't think the idea doesn't have merit, I'm just not sure this is exactly how you wanted it to go. Roleplay went well, as everyone else said.
Meg: Nice development in the story and kind of in our characters knowing each other. Yay morally ambiguous fight that we have to sort of figure out.
John: Unlike most, this combat is a murky situation. I didn't properly communicate the division I had in mind between the players having some time to work things out that the characters would not have had given the time-sensitive nature of the combat. I had to seize an opportunity to run a scene I didn't originally have planned for this session (the vigil memory) and it put me sort of "behind" where I expected to be, and I suspect that's a contributing factor on my failure to communicate my expectations on time - that's my bad and I'll own that. I'm glad to hear that folks think it's an interesting combat, that was kind of the idea. Things not being 100% clear cut, there's a certain amount of that that is by design. I don't want everything to be cut-and-dried, but some clarity around the difference between "down" and "dead" is a fair distinction so I'll have to look into that. I'm glad the roleplay went well - it was really nice that I didn't have to do a whole lot about that aside from occasionally "Were you guys planning to discuss all the shit that just happened?" Aside from tossing a match into it, y'all ran with it which is great.
Ironday, 9th of Longharvest
The party squares with their blessings from the Prince and continues on their journey.Settling in for the evening
A tweak to watches
Maya arranges to swap watches with Kolvonnin so the druid can confer with the cleric about recent events.Remarks on the strange occurrences of late
Harb points out to the group that there's a lot of strange interactions with divines or other powerful beings. Sunny's enthused about these events, but Maya is a little more concerned about the potential threat these powers present. The druid is also a bit concerned about the things waking up more quickly than he expected (based on his discussion with Shadi Moonglow a few weeks ago).Saf muses about the group's responsibility for the various goings-on (aside from the bit with the Cult of Ogremoch, where the faith was a bit closer to being forced). Kolvonnin opines that Bursk is a pretty clear indicator of the faith being forced.
Sparring, trading pointers, and moving the cloak
The group spends a few minutes talking over what their respective blessings entailed.Sunny and Kolvonnin plan to do a little shield practice.
Saf returns the Cloak of Protection to Maya, who hands it off to Leucis.
Overnight watches and activities
Sunny and Harb
Harb sketches out the symbol for Tyr and shows it to Sunny.Maya and Leucis confer
The druid asks Leucis how he's holding up, given the strange events occurring lately. The cleric says he's excited but a bit overwhelmed by the scope of what's going on. Maya admits that the world is bigger than he expected, and the changes are coming quickly enough that he's concerned, especially when it comes to things like Ogremoch trying to get into the world. Luecis counters that there's always evil as well as good, so it's to be expected. The cleric elaborates that perhaps these changes are a natural process. Maya muses about whether or not other deities are awakening, as well.Maya changes the topic slightly to inquire if Leucis is similarly concerned, as he seems more excited than anything else. Leucis admits that he's excited to see how it all unfolds, to the extent that he might have to make some inroads with the faith if the god of Knowledge were to have a resurgence. The druid is a bit incredulous at this, inquiring if Selune would take it amiss, but the cleric assures him that he would be gaining knowledge to better serve the interests of the moon. The pair muse about the apparent futility of directly assaulting a deity but consider alternate means of diminishing any enemy gods that arise (based on the information in Domains and Pantheons).
Maya winds up the discussion by advising the cleric to not lose sight of the bigger picture in the excitement of the unknown things coming.
A dream memory of a vigil
Towards the end of the last watch as the day dawns, Kolvonnin has a vivid dream. He awakens alone in darkness, knee deep in snow in a bitingly cold wind. As the paladin's eyes adjust to the darkness, he can see a few faint stars, and recognizes one of the hills of Hillfort. He realizes this is a memory of his first vigil in the service of Pelor (see Church of Pelor). He has fasted and stood the whole day, through the long night, and is awaiting the dawn of the longest night of the year.He's able to fight off the worst of the cold, but it's taking a toll on him. He sees a hint of light to the east, the false dawn before the real sunrise. Kolvonnin recollects his prior experience of this vigil, trying to recall how long he still has to wait and how he held out before. He's in his plate mail, but not the better set he acquired on the journey, the set he was first allowed to wear on this occasion as he is becoming a paladin.
Kolvonnin's eyes lock on the horizon as he kneels and prays to the sun god for strength and wisdom. The cold still drains at him, but he's able to fight it off a bit better, despite it seeming more difficult in this dream than it was in the waking world. The paladin expects the sun rise at any moment, as it happened before: breaking over the horizon and bathing the world below in golden light.
The sun that rises is not the one he knows - far dimmer and further away, it barely brightens the sky near it, like merely a larger star. It gives off no warmth and barely any light - he can't even see the ground beneath the hill he's standing on, and he feels as though the sun itself has been dragged far away.
The sun is faint and far away, the world below is cold and dark. In this moment, Kolvonnin's resolve is to stand the watch, make it through, hold the line and become what he was meant to be. Maya and Leucis note that Pelor's Rising Sun next to the paladin's body begins to glow, as if reacting to this inner struggle. Kolvonnin feels a radiating warmth, not from the distant tiny sun, but from his connection to Pelor - radiating out from the paladin rather than the sky.
The sun reacts by swelling and brightening, less small now and shedding some light of its own, revealing the ground below. Expecting the familiar vista of the area around Hillfort, Kolvonnin instead sees a road winding off towards the horizon and the sun itself. Drawing on his intuitive understanding of the faith, the paladin recognizes this as the symbol of the Daybreakers.
Kolvonnin snaps awake, feeling refreshed and unharmed. The cleric and druid inquire about his experience and mention that his morningstar was glowing - the paladin recalls that part of the blessing from the Prince involved enabling the weapon's strength, and it seems to have strengthened Kolvonnin's connection to Pelor.
Kol recounts the dream of the vigil experience and mentions the surroundings not matching the place in his memory. Comparing with Leucis's dream experience with Selune (see Session 15), Kolvonnin explains that he was not spoken to, but eventually felt a presence, and that the sun and the road were not what he was familar with. Once he speaks that aloud, however, he realizes that the road is the journey he's always been on and he's only just seen it for the first time.
Starday, 10th of Longharvest
Towards the evening the weather changes a bit, and some cold air blows in from the northwest. Not a wintry chill, but definitely a sign that winter is on its way. As the night goes on, the group is glad of the hut and the as-yet-unnecessary cold weather gear.Clothday, 11th of Longharvest
Morning dawns clear and crisp. The weather from last night has blown through and it's a perfect autumn day. About midday the party crosses the Wandering River again.Sunday, 12th of Longharvest
Cloudy and overcast, cool but not cold.On the morning trek
The party can hear a ruckus in the distance, a bit west of their current course and a few hundred feet away. While the high grass obscures direct sight, there's some noises of impact, like weapons hitting meat, and footfalls of what sounds to be largish creatures. Estimates on count run close to 20 creatures.While the group is discussing what to do next, the sounds of combat continue. Leucis and Maya are fairly sure it's a wolf or werewolf howl, but as they're listening it gets brutally cut short. There's a moment of silence, and then an answering howl from further west. Considering the relative closeness of known lycanthrope territory, the party decides to investigate.
Scouting ahead and above
Maya (as a lizard) and Saf move stealthily forward on foot, while Leucis uses Steps of Night and takes to the sky with the spyglass. The rest of the group closes the distance a little but hangs back to avoid attracting attention.Both scouting efforts are able to get eyes on the situation - several wolf-men are in combat with orcs riding boars, as well as a large bear-man. While they aren't fully clear on what the situation is, the group elects to intervene, and regroups about 100' out from the fracas. There's an open area in the grass where the hostilities are taking place.
Werewolves and boar-orcs and a...bear? Oh my...
Round 1
The party closes, but stays far enough out to not attract immediate attention.- Recognizing the tongue spoken by the orc and the man-bear as Orcish, Sunny casts Tongues. Now able to understand the boar riders, their speech makes it clear they are coordinating and that the bear-man is in charge.
- Leucis calls forth a Moonbeam.
- The two werewolves in the Moonbeam are forced into their original forms (human and half-orc).
Round 2
The party isn't sure what to make of this combat as yet. They decide to establish a dialogue to determine what the situation is as yet.- As one of the boar-riders starts moving towards Kol and Saf, the bear-man snaps a command (Sunny can understand "Don't kill them yet, we don't know why they're here!") They note as he rides by that the orc looks angry, but not at them, it would seem.
- The bear-man seems a bit confused at seeing Saf in her apparent finery (Glamoured Studded Leather (DnD Beyond)) and says "I don't know why you're here but you're going to get yourself killed if you're not careful" in Common. Saf replies that "We're trying to prevent death," and the bear-man comes back with "Then we're on the same side." Saf, noting the very dead corpses in the immediate vicinity, takes some issue with this assessment and points, but the bear-man does not respond. Attempting to read the bear-man's intentions, Saf can tell he's not attempting to be duplicitous but he's very confused by these newcomers. Kol can tell from the manner of the bear-man's greataxe strikes that he's seen his share of battles.
- Harb moves in and tells the bear-man "We're out to break the curse, we have the magic to do so." The bear-man seems shocked by both the fighter's appearance and his words. Harb sheathes his dagger and pulls out HeadOn.
- Sunny hears one of the boar-orcs call out to the bear-man: "K'gruk! What do we do with these people?"
- Sunny calls out "We're with K'gruk!" (Persuasion 21) and casts Vicious Mockery on a werewolf in the form of a "you mama" joke in Orcish. A few of the boar riders chuckle, but the leader and the most wounded ones don't react.
- The group notes the werewolves seem to be attacking with a reckless disregard for their own safety.
- A werewolf sinks teeth into the bear-man, but the wounds close right behind them as they pass through the flesh.
Session ended at round end due to time constraints
Combat summary:
- Total duration: 2 rounds (so far)
Overall Next Steps
- Scheduled:
- Next Wisdom today (in-game) - consider questions
- Retconned Sendings (note that responses to these will of necessity be somewhat inconsequential - providing any response that would prompt immediate action would require tremendous retroactive continuity issues)
- Sunny to Moon
- Maya to Maya's mom
- Maya to Chai
- Leucis (?) to Mia to advise about satchel delivery
- Leucis to Harridra
- Between session tasks:
- Players: Suss out the combat objectives/guidelines
- Knock out werewolves? How many?
- Kill orcs/bear guy to save the werewolves? What if they kill the ones the party knocks out?
- Sunny has called out fairly persuasively to the orcs that the party is "with K'gruk" (but the party may not know that as yet since it was in Orc)
- DM: determine how to mark "down but not definitively dead" creatures in Roll20
- DM: Adjust recurrence of Wisdom cycle
- DM: Remove recurrence of Mia Sendings
- DM: Respond to Sendings
- Players: Suss out the combat objectives/guidelines
- Out of Character tasks:
- Review recent Discord thread about fast forwarding
Feedback
Eddy: I have to agree with James - I really liked the first part where people were roleplaying. I think not knowing a situation is cool, it's kind of another thing we have to figure out. I think Harb knows by now one side is not the kind of lycanthrope we want to associate with, hence mentioning the magic. But I doubt they're going to take prisoners since they've suffered losses. I'm looking forward to the next session. I plan to comb over the chats with the Elders.Heather: Hearing the descriptions of other people's abilities and blessings was fun. It was fun having little character moments, sparring with Kol, figuring things out, that was fun. Finding ourselves in the middle of something else, I like the fact that we didn't immediately murderhobo; we kind of tried to figure out what was happening before indiscriminately killing people. First time I got to use Tongues, so that was fun, too.
James: I enjoyed the roleplay at the front and character development and so forth in the ever-shifting world that we encounter. Combat's interesting, but I can't figure out what's going on yet, still assessing. I passed to keep things moving, not because I was especially salty. I'm working on Sendings (bullet points) in progress for retcon. I'm running out of ideas for the elders questions, so if folks have ideas I'm open to suggestions.
Jeremy: Back and forth and development in the roleplay was great. Furtherance down the Daybreaker path seems very wonderful and fun. The combat has a different dynamic, I really enjoyed it. I think we're starting to get a clear picture of where we want to go with our support. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
Matt: I don't like the juxtaposition that you offered, of "here's a really interesting combat that y'all have to figure out" but "hey, combat's going, go go go!" I'm like "Wait, no no no no. Please, one or the other on that. That's not ok, I don't like it." Other than that - I don't see any issue with how it went, but it was difficult for me to enjoy because I felt pressured. I think there's a bit more conversation we could have had. For example, there's someone in the party who knows more about werebears, and might chime in that it's really likely that's a werebear. But that conversation never happened, before combat when we were figuring stuff out. I'd appreciate clearer lines between in and out of game time for how long folks have to do things. The need to get up into the fray before we got some key information made it so we ended up in the fray but doing nothing, which is strange. I don't think the idea doesn't have merit, I'm just not sure this is exactly how you wanted it to go. Roleplay went well, as everyone else said.
Meg: Nice development in the story and kind of in our characters knowing each other. Yay morally ambiguous fight that we have to sort of figure out.
John: Unlike most, this combat is a murky situation. I didn't properly communicate the division I had in mind between the players having some time to work things out that the characters would not have had given the time-sensitive nature of the combat. I had to seize an opportunity to run a scene I didn't originally have planned for this session (the vigil memory) and it put me sort of "behind" where I expected to be, and I suspect that's a contributing factor on my failure to communicate my expectations on time - that's my bad and I'll own that. I'm glad to hear that folks think it's an interesting combat, that was kind of the idea. Things not being 100% clear cut, there's a certain amount of that that is by design. I don't want everything to be cut-and-dried, but some clarity around the difference between "down" and "dead" is a fair distinction so I'll have to look into that. I'm glad the roleplay went well - it was really nice that I didn't have to do a whole lot about that aside from occasionally "Were you guys planning to discuss all the shit that just happened?" Aside from tossing a match into it, y'all ran with it which is great.
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