CARRION CROWN CAMPAIGN JOURNAL

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CARRION CROWN CAMPAIGN ---- SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD ----


Adventure starts in Ustalav region in Golarion, on the 11th day of Lamashan's month (October) in the 4706 Year.


5e Current House Rules : Dnd 5e House rules - ed08.62.pdf (398.06 KB)

[phil]

11-10-2021 Session



Characters (Lv 1)

Boomer Pyre (Cris), Bedrork (Reggie), Dina (Raymond), Knicker Knackers (Clement), Chang Kindbelly (Andrew)



Key events

- party decided to go to Lepidstadt to try to find the Lepidstadt Beast (10,000 GP reward for arrest and conviction)

- sudden snow storm struck on 11th Lamashan evening (with epicenter far to the north) and lasted most of the night

- party left the merchant caravan to continue on foot toward Ravengro and Lepidstadt

- party defeated 4 wolves, 3 were infected with some ghoulish disease; 3 wolves fled

- Nina was injured and infected but finally managed to overcome the disease thanks to her companion's care

- party heard terrifying howling in the distance when approaching Ravengro town

- party spent one night at the Outward Inn

- party heard about several experienced hunters who encountered a huge Wolf when trying to leave town

- one of the hunter was severely injured and was being taking care of at the Pharasma temple

- next morning, Sheriff Benjamin Caeller attempted to arrest Bedrork

- Bedrork presented his official letter of safe passage and managed to avert the arrest

- party went to Pharasma temple and met Kendra Lorrimor, daughter of the late Professor Petros Lorrimor

- Knick heard about the Professor as being a genius (although very humble) inventor of ghosts traps

- Kendra was in tears as she was trying to get help from the temple to find her father body

- Kendra explained that her father died 2 days ago in an accident when exploring again the old prison ruin

- Kendra explained that her father body disappeared during the night but nobody is willing to help her

- party went to the Restlands cemetery to immediately investigate

- Bedrork spotted tracks leading away from the chapel annex where the body was stored

- party is now following the tracks toward the center of the cemetery



Wealth acquired

- none



Wealth spent

- 5sp for Inn entry cover charge

- 12sp for 1 night lodging

- 3sp for late night dinner



(House) Rules updates / clarifications / reminders

- max 3 Hero Points per character; Hero Points can be carried over to next session

- each session starts with min 1 Hero Point per character

- no need to describe material components for spell casting bonus as long as there is sufficient cinematic description

- rituals follow the rules specific to each Class feature description

- magic users can teach spells of compatible origin at the same cost and time as learning from a spellbook

- spells from arcane origin are strictly different from those of divine origin, even if same spell name and effect

- roleplay your characters weaknesses / flaws to get Hero Points !


Kendra

[phil]

18-10-2021 Session


Characters (Lv 1)

Boomer Pyre (Cris), Bedrork (Reggie), Dina (Raymond), Knicker Knackers (Clement), Chang Kindbelly (Andrew)


Key events


- on 13th day of Lamashan’s month in 4706 AR Year, party continued its tracking in the Restlands cemetary

- Knick detected that party was skillfully tailed by some humanoid shape hidden amongst the tombstones

- party eventually entered the mausoleum and Chang disabled some ancient glyph with Osiriani runes

- party cornered Professor Lorrimor’s undead incarnation and defeated it

- party got the Professor corpse purified (with holy water and Gentle repose) at the Temple of Pharasma

- the corpse was transferred back to the cemetery chapel in a tightly secure and chained coffin

- funeral has been re-scheduled to next day

- party saw the heavily injured ranger and advised the junior priest about risk of undead raising at night

- party went back to Kendra’s house and investigated the Professor laboratory in the cellar

- Bedrork was awarded an inspiration point while trying to enter the house through the narrow front door

- Bedrork got bored with the books and complex equipment in the lab and went to eat at the kitchen

- Bedrork ate apples outside Kendra’s house and made friend with a young crow (Natural 20 !)

- Knick amazingly found the code to decipher the Professor’s journal which Kendra will start de-coding

- one of journal page indicated that the mausoleum contains a cache of items designed to fight undead

- Kendra awarded 150GP to the party for securing her father corpse

- Kendra kindly requested the party to resolve the mystery around her father death, she will offer extra 300GP

- Kendra agreed to let the party use the items in the laboratory’s metal crate to help with the investigation

- Kendra insisted that the 4 books found should be returned intact to the Lepidstadt University

- Dina attempted unsuccessfully to seduce Kendra who is still grieving for her late father

- Dina powered-up the ectoplasmic manifestation detection device which pointed toward the old Harrowstone jail

- Kendra admitted that she and her father could see in the dark and have a similar white hair streak

- party went back to mausoleum and Bedrork opened the sarcophagus in the last room

- Guardian iron cobra struck Bedrork who fell asleep due to treacherous poison

- the Crow assisted in the fight and provided flank to Knick while protecting its new master

- Guardian was finally burned down by masterful uber firebolt cast by Chang

- party went back to Kendra’s house to have a well deserved rest and Levelled up to Level 2 !!!!


Wealth acquired

- 150GP (please also deduct wealth spent as appropriate)

- a case of ten silver arrows

- a rack holding four rods (one empty slot) with a metallic lead cap, once the cap is removed a daylight spell is activated for 1h then the rod becomes inert

- six flasks of holy water

- a case of ten +1 bolts

- a case holding five +1 ghost touch bolts (nullifying physical damage resistance and immunities for incorporeal undead) & two +1 undead bane bolts (granting +2 extra enchantment and +2d6 dmg vs undead) (three missing bolts)

- a padded wooden rack holding five potions of cure light wounds and two potions of lesser restoration, 1 oil of ghost touch (1h duration)

- a stack of scroll cases holding: a scroll of magic repose, two scrolls of protection from evil, one scroll of greater restoration, one scroll of detect evil, two scrolls of divine favor


Wealth spent

- none


Objects found but belonging to Kendra

- 2 completed + 1 incomplete ghost traps with 2 golden power cylinders each

Golden siphon (cylindrical shape) standalone use: hand-held cylinder can be activated once as one action to cause 3d6 11hp radiant damage only on undead, haunts and creatures weak to radiant damage to 1 target within touch range; the siphon becomes green if it caused damage to a haunt or an incorporeal undead. In that case the siphon becomes a necrotic energy vial causing 1d6 necrotic damage upon impact. 2 Golden Siphons can also be used to power-on the ectoplasmic manifestation detection device and the ghost traps

Ghost-trap with 2 golden cylinders use: the ghost-traps have rough wheels and can be pushed 10’ (or 5’ if difficult terrain) as 1 action and can be triggered through a 15’ cord as a manipulate action. The trap will in priority attempt to capture an incorporeal undead within 5’ by causing 36hp temporary radiant damage or 50% if target succeeds save vs Charisma DC 14, if reduced to 0hp the incorporeal undead is pacified and auto captured, if failed save but not reduced to 0hp the undead is captured but can try to escape by succeeding a Charisma save DC 14 every round or taking 6 additional temporary radiant damage per failed attempt, once it reaches 0hp it is pacified and can not escape. If no incorporeal undead, the trap acts as if 2 golden siphons were simultaneously activated on nearest vulnerable target.

- 1 ectoplasmic manifestation detection device (not identified)

- ciphered Journal

- Family pictures

- 1 cylindrical cypher

- 1 masterwork silver dagger

- 1 heavy book with dark green cover and brass scarab with jade eyes secured inside a locked thick metallic frame

- “On Verified Madness” black book about Aberrations and Dark Tapestry, grants Advantage to any knowledge checks related to those topics if book was studied at least 1h in the past 1 week; reading the whole book takes 48h by blocks of 8h min and succeeding 6 consecutive Wisdom checks may lead to releasing additional permanent effects on the reader; a note attached to the book first page clearly caution to never read the book more than 7 consecutive hours

- “Serving Your Hunger” is a rich brown book about Undead and Urgathoa’s cult, grants Advantage to any knowledge checks related to those topics if book was studied at least 1h in the past 1 week; reading the whole book takes 48h by blocks of 8h min and succeeding 6 consecutive Constitution checks may lead to releasing additional permanent effects on the reader; a note attached to the book first page clearly caution to never read the book more than 7 consecutive hours

- “The Umbral Leaves” is a dark red book about torture and Zon-Kuthon, grants Advantage to any knowledge checks related to those topics and to Intimidation using torture if book was studied at least 1h in the past 1 week

- 1 brass spiritual planchette with inscribed letters and pointing device allowing to trigger an Augury (1min preparation) once per day if the user fails a Charisma save DC 15

- 3 scrolls of Sending

- 4 vials of Holy Water

- 3kg of silvered powder (33GP)

- 8 vials with mercury based compound

- runic chisel typically used to inscribe runes or magical writings into hard material (+1 to DC)

- talisman representing a gagged mummified skull wrapped in heavy cloth and inside a lead box

- 1 oil of Silversheen covered weapon is considered as silver for 1h


(House) Rules updates / clarifications / reminders

- please refer to updated House Rules with changes highlighted in Yellow attached in very first post

- key change allows to maintain Hidden status at the end of Sneak if Stealth succeeded and if end location is eligible for Hide + half-speed when Sneaking

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Additional information

- Kendra went to buy food in the evening as somehow all the food stored in the kitchen vanished

- Kendra spent a sleepless night grieving her father and slowly deciphering recent entries in his journal

- in the morning (on 14th day of Lamashan's month) will be the hopefully final burial of Professor Lorimor


Professor Lorimor (PL) Key Journal portions selected and translated by Kendra

- 5 weeks ago PL noticed in the morning that the ectoplasmic detector indicated an unusual disturbance in the direction of the Harrowstone prison; PL seemed surprised as he thought that all necromantic influences from inside the ruins should have been properly contained; PL went to examine Harrowstone and discovered that his precautionary containment runes had been partially unearthed

- during next few nights, PL cautiously monitored the ruins and finally spotted a group of hooded figures tampering with his runes and talking in hushed tones; he witnessed how one of the taller but somewhat bulky hooded figure cast a very rare undead conjuration spell originally designed by a secret Necromancers Cult called the Whispering Way, the spell allowed to summon skeletons laborers who were promptly ordered in Necril to further unearth the containment runes; the spellcaster had long and messy red greyish hair partially visible under the hood and was walking with a slight limp

- PL commented that he was concerned that the Way had found him and that it was time for him and Kendra to flee again, however he was worried that the Necromancers had found a way to re-awaken the evil necromantic energies dormant in the ruins and put Ravengro townfolk in mortal danger

- PL decided to start preparing to leave the town forever but first he would try to understand further what the Way intended to do in order to devise a solution to block them; PL also sent warning messages to BB and ED (Kendra thinks it is Bernard Balthazar in Caliphas and Judge Emreth Daramid in Lepidtstat) to ask their advice

- PL visited again the ruins and found that his containment runes had been tampered at several locations and altered with some occult writings, he attempted to disable those writings without leaving noticeable traces of his manipulation

- over the next 2 weeks the ectoplasmic detector went quiet again and no more hooded visitors showed up; PL hoped that he had somehow managed to disrupt the Way's plans by disabling their runes

- 3 weeks ago PL appeared to be busy with an unexpected urgent order to build ghost traps; he accepted the order as he would sorely need the money when leaving Ravengro

- 4 days ago (on the 10th day of Lamashan's month), while working late at night on his third ghost trap, PL decided to re-plug the ectoplasmic detector siphons which had been diverted to power-up the traps; as soon as the detector was activated it went frenzy and indicated a huge surge of necromantic energy from the direction of Harrowstone; overcome with worry, PL took some last notes in the journal

- PL thought that he must have missed some crucial information related to the horrible events that happened in Harrowstone almost 40 years ago, maybe there was more to the fire which destroyed the jail and killed dozen of guards and prisoners, maybe some of the prisoners had particularly strong evil essences that the Way was now trying to harness; something very extreme must have happened to have attracted the Way's attention to this place

- PL put his equipment in the metal crate and left a note to Kendra with 3 Sending scrolls letting her know that he needed to do some urgent investigation at the ruins and did not want to be disturbed; the scrolls were to be used to contact him in case of emergency or to contact BB and ED; he then went to Harrowstone in the middle of the night


Party latest status

Party tracking.ods (17.52 KB)

[phil]

26-10-2021 Session


Characters (Lv 2)

Boomer Pyre (Cris), Bedrork (Reggie), Dina (Raymond), Knicker Knackers (Clement), Chang Kindbelly (Andrew)


Key events

- on 14th day of Lamashan’s month in 4706 AR Year, party went with Kendra to attend PL’s burial

- Dina defused the hostility of a local townsfolk group opposed to PL’s burial in the Restlands

- party investigated the local memorial defaming with a bloody letter V which had been written at night

- Boomer amazingly managed to follow tracks with faint traces of drying blood up to a shady house

- Boomer found a hidden metallic bucket with dried blood, a war razor and a rough brush

- party found a drunken human in the house, the same one who led the hostile townsfolk in the cemetery

- the human, called Gibs, denied any wrongdoing and expelled the party from his house

- Dina reported the crime to the sheriff and was held the whole day as key witness

- the Sheriff decided not to prosecute Gibs and also let Dina go due to lack of direct evidence

- party went back to Kendra house and found her with Professor Bernard Balthazar (BB)

- BB insisted to buy-back PL’s books and ghost-traps, but Kendra finally refused

- Knick detected magic from local school and from general store

- party went to talk to the local school old teacher named Alendru Ghoroven

- Alendru shared some information about Harrowstone and admitted having magic scrolls and a magic book

- thanks to Chang magic fortune, Knick managed to somewhat befriend Sheriff Benjamin Caeller

- Knick was assaulted by a dwarf ghost wielding a hammer and surrounded by a flying broken skull

- Dina was assaulted by a lean cloaked ghost wielding an axe

- Boomer mended an unearthed broken flagstone bearing protective runes near Kendra’s house

- on 15th day of Lamashan’s month in 4706 AR Year, party made further research (see below)


Wealth acquired

- none


Wealth spent

- 10GP donation to Pharasma temple


Findings from Research and social interaction

(1) HARROWSTONE

Harrowstone is a ruined prison—partially destroyed by a fire in 4668, the building has stood vacant ever since. The locals suspect that it’s haunted, and don’t enjoy speaking of the place.

Harrowstone was built in 4594. Ravengro was founded at the same time as a place where guards and their families could live and that would produce food and other supplies used by the prison. The fire that killed all of the prisoners and most of the guards destroyed a large portion of the prison’s underground eastern wing, but left most of the stone structure above relatively intact. The prison’s warden perished in the fire, along with his wife, although no one knows why she was in the prison when the fire occurred. A statue commemorating the warden and the guards who lost their lives was built in the months after the tragedy—that statue still stands in the town square.

Most of the hardened criminals sent to Harrowstone spent only a few months imprisoned, for it was here that a considerable amount of Ustalav’s executions during that era were carried out. The fire that caused the tragedy was, in fact, a blessing in disguise, for the prisoners had rioted and gained control of the prison’s dungeons immediately prior to the conflagration. It was only through the self- sacrifice of Warden Hawkran and 23 of his guards that the prisoners were prevented from escaping—the guards gave their lives to save the town of Ravengro.

At the time Harrowstone burned, five particularly notorious criminals had recently arrived at the prison. While the commonly held belief is that the tragic fire began accidentally after the riot began, in fact the prisoners had already seized control of the dungeon and had been in command of the lower level for several hours before the fire. Warden Hawkran triggered a deadfall to seal the rioting prisoners in the lower level, but in so doing trapped himself and nearly two dozen guards. The prisoners were in the process of escaping when the panicked guards accidentally started the fire in a desperate attempt to end the riot.


(2) WHISPERING WAY

The Whispering Way is a sinister organization of necromancers that has been active in the Inner Sea region for thousands of years.

Agents of the Whispering Way often seek alliances with undead creatures or are themselves undead. The Whispering Way’s most notorious member was Tar-Baphon, the Whispering Tyrant, although the society itself has existed much longer than even that mighty necromancer.

The Whispering Way itself is a series of philosophies that can only be transferred via whispers—the philosophies are never written or spoken of loudly, making the exact goals and nature of the secretive philosophy difficult for outsiders to decipher.

Exact details on the society are difficult to discern, but chief among the Whispering Way’s goals are discovering formulae for creating liches and engineering the release of the Whispering Tyrant. Agents often travel to remote sites or areas plagued by notorious haunts or undead menaces to perform field research or even to capture unique monsters. Their symbol is a gagged skull, and those who learn too many of the Way’s secrets are often murdered, and their mouths mutilated to prevent their bodies from divulging secrets via speak with dead.


(3) FIVE PRISONERS

Originally, Harrowstone housed only local criminals, but as the prison’s fame spread, other counties and distant lands began paying to have more dangerous criminals housed within this prison’s walls. At the time of the great Harrowstone Fire, the number of particularly violent or dangerous criminals imprisoned within the dungeons below was at an all-time high.

The 5 most notorious prisoners in Harrowstone at the time of the great fire were :

- Sefic Corvin aka Father Charlatan (fat but charismatic human monk with bald head and robes and multiples holy symbols depicted on his robes / talismans / rings)

- Vance Saetressle aka The Lopper (skinny human male)

- Ispin Onyxcudgel aka The Mosswater Marauder (dwarf in blacksmith attire)

- The Piper of Illmarsh (Real Name Unknown, hooded male halfling)

- Hean Feramin aka The Splatterman (human wearing glasses in elegant professor attire)

[phil]

01-11-2021 Session


Characters (Lv 2)

Boomer Pyre (Cris), Bedrork (Reggie), Dina (Raymond), Knicker Knackers (Clement), Chang Kindbelly (Andrew)


Key events

- at night, Knick is attacked by the ghostly figure of a dwarf wielding a hammer

- Dina is attacked by a gaunt cloaked ghostly figure wielding an axe and receives a scar on her neck

- on 16th day of Lamashan’s month in 4706 AR Year, party goes to inspect Harrowstone

- Dina is overcome with fright when entering Harrowstone courtyard

- party notices a circular area of strangely dead vegetation in the courtyard

- party purchases 3 scrolls of Protection from Evil from the Pharasma temple

- Knick sets-up an Alarm on the memorial and at night around 12.30am, the Alarm is triggered

- Bedrork arrives first at the townsquare and manages to stealthily approach

- in a swift single blow Bedrork knocks-out Gibs, the man who was desecrating the memorial

- Dina is attacked again by the axe wielding figure and falls unconscious

- Dina now bears a deep scar on her throat

- Boomer managers to dissipates the haunt using her radiant damage spells

- Knick notices a momentary dark necromantic smoke coming out from Gibs war razor

- Gibs is handed over to the Sheriff

- on 17th day of Lamashan’s, party hands over the war razor to the temple priests

- Dina stays at the temple as collateral

- party goes back to Harrowstone but the fright effect in the courtyard now seems to be subdued

- party finds unearthed flagstones with silver runes around the south walls with abjuration magic

- south-western flagstones also bear additional dark runes and emanate necromantic magic

- party takes one the flagstone for further investigation

- party explores the house in the courtyard and Bedrork finds a broken chest under the debris

- the walls partially collapse causing some damage to the party, Boomer manages to partially dodge

- in the chest, there is a destroyed journal and a waterproof scrollcase

- in the scrollcase there is a rolled velum with a painting

- party goes back to Kendra’s house to rest and Chang vainly tries to identify the flagstone magic

- Chang decides to start reading the “On Verified Madness” book until late a night



Party default positioning when exploring and entering new location


(1) Bedrork

(2) Knick

(3) Dina

(4) Boomer

(5) Chang



Wealth acquired

- 3 scrolls of Protection from Evil purchased from the temple

- 1 velum with a painting



Wealth spent

- 120GP


Rules clarification

- no penalty for doing non-lethal damage when dropping target to 0hp, can only be done with melee weapon
- hp recovery for Short Rest now follows regular rules but the limitation is still 2 Short Rest per day

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Common knowledge on Ghosts researched by Knick

- Speed 0 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover)
- Damage Resistances Acid, Fire, Lightning, Thunder; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
- Damage Immunities Cold, Necrotic, Poison
- Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained
- Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 11
- Ethereal Sight. The ghost can see 60 feet into the Ethereal Plane when it is on the Material Plane, and vice versa.
- Incorporeal Movement. The ghost can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
- When not exposed to daylight, Incorporeal Undead’s physical damage resistances become immunities and resistance to magical physical damage is gained
- All Undead gain additional immunity to Charmed, Poisoned, Frightened, Exhausted conditions and are immune to Diseases and are typically unaffected by social skills effects when interacting with the living. Undead are also highly resistant to Magical Effects from Enchantment School, gaining resistance to damage and Advantage on saves against those Effects. Those additional immunities and resistances do not apply if the related Effects descriptions specifically include Undead as a possible target.
- Undead immunity to Charmed & Frightened conditions and social skills is bypassed if the Effect is Necromantic or if the source of the Effect is (another Undead or typically Undead controlling creature (such as a Necromancer, Evil Cleric, Minion of a Deity related to Undeath, …)) of Level / CR strictly above the targeted Undead Level / CR
- Any Radiant effect or damage which (Radiant Effect Spell Level x2) or (Radiant Attack CR, based on Weapon/Object Rarity or attacking Creature CR) is higher than the targeted Undead CR, is treated as if the targeted Undead had Weakness vs its Radiant damage and Disadvantage vs its Radiant effect
- Undead powers can be significantly bolstered by rituals, unhallowed / cursed / haunted ground, evil deities temples / shrines / altars, desecrated areas or when commanded by powerful necromantic forces; also undead may experience a surge of power during the Witching Hour (between 12am and 1am)

[phil]

08-11-2021 Session

Characters (Lv 2)

Boomer Pyre (Cris), Bedrork (Reggie), Dina (Raymond), Knicker Knackers (Clement), Chang Kindbelly (Andrew)


Key events

- Chang completes reading 8h of the “On Verified Madness” book until 9pm

- the painting depicts an officer with his wife

- on the back of the painting, “Lyvar and Vesorianna Hawkran (4665)” is written

- this is the Harrowstone Head Warden and his wife who both died during the prisoners uprising

- Party went to Pharasma temple at night to watch over the war razor

- at 12.40am, the temple bells started to erratically and violently ring without anyone pulling the ropes

- it has to be noted that the bells weight is about 7-8 tons apiece

- while the town crowd gathered around the temple, a bloody “O” letter was written on the memorial

- Dina used the Augury planchette and lost 10 SP

- the Augury spoke with the voice of Vesorianna and requested the party to help by completing 1 task

- task to be completed : either bring her husband’s “badge of authority” or neutralize the 5 main ghosts

- on 17th day of Lamashan’s mid-morning, party goes back to Harrowstone

- party climbs the South Western balcony and defeats a haunted War Scythe

- Bedrork smashes the reinforced door on the balcony and party enters the Prison 2nd floor

- Harrowstone’s interior maximum light level stays at dim light which can not be overcome by Darkvision

- Knick used one of the expendable Daylight rod to overcome the dim light

- Party defeats 3 stirges, 4 skeletons and bravely fights the Ghost of the Piper

- Bedrork was knocked out during the fight

- after an epic fight where all party members contributed, the ghost is captured by Knick using 1 ghost trap



Resources acquired

- Piper ghost secured in one of the ghost trap



Resources spent

- 1 ghost trap (now imprisoning the Piper) with 2 spent Siphons

- 1 Daylight rod

[phil]

15-11-2021 Session

Characters (Lv 2)

Boomer Pyre (Cris), Bedrork (Reggie), Dina (Raymond), Knicker Knackers (Clement), Chang Kindbelly (Andrew)


Key events

- on 17th day of Lamashan’s early afternoon, party goes back to Kendra’s house

- Knick collapses from exhaustion while Chang continues to read another 8h of his book

- shortly after midnight, the house is attacked by 1 Ogre Zombie, 6 Orc Zombies and 3 Flaming Skulls

- Dina is again knocked-out and suffers additional scars

- party vanquishes the foes but Kendra’s house burns to cinders and party has to stay at the inn

- party manages to salvage PL’s metal crate with the ghost trap as well as his journal and wealth

- during that night, undead rise in the cemetery and a bloody “R” is written on the memorial

- on 18th day of Lamashan’s mid-morning, Knick buys lead and 2 boxes from Jorfa the blacksmith

- Knick works until evening to add lead layer to the boxes while Chang reads another 8h of the book

- rest of the party goes to visit Councilwoman Mirta Straelock to deal with the house property compensation

- Dina manages to convince Mirta Straelock to reduce the compensation from 1,600GP to 1,000GP

- Dina and Bedrork propose to solve Ravengro’s undead menace durably in exchange of waiving last 1,000GP

- the Councilwoman will discuss with remaining Council in the evening to align on the 1,000GP write-off

- party goes to Pharasma temple and Knick manages to convince the clergy to let the party stay there

- Knick explains the whole story to Father Vauran Grimburrow who offers free hospitality to the party

- on 18th day of Lamashan’s late evening, party gets ready to spend the night at the temple infirmary


Resources acquired

- various purchases and crafting done by Knick


Resources spent

- gold required for various purchases done by Knick

[phil]

22-11-2021 Session

Characters (Lv 2)

Boomer Pyre (Cris), Bedrork (Reggie), Dina (Raymond), Knicker Knackers (Clement), Chang Kindbelly (Andrew)


Key events

- on 18th day of Lamashan’s night, party is woken-up by the temple bells

- Dina goes to investigate and shoots 5 flying UFO out of the sky

- the 5 objects are retrieved and appear to be melted holy symbols of various gods

- a bloody “I” is written on the memorial during that night

- town-council confirms decision to waive 1000GP debt for Kendra for solving the undead menace

- town-council also agreed to add a 500GP reward once Harrowstone has been totally cleansed

- party goes back to Harrowstone second floor and finds the remains of a prisoner chained with holy symbols

- Knick collects 15 prisoners skeletons and the chained remains

- party is unable to breakthrough a reinforced vault door

- party finds an auditorium with a cold spot

- party finds a large half-burned room with a deep pit leading to an underground area

- a haunted furnace burns Dina who again collapses unconscious and get scarred

- Knick enters the furnace and retried a smoldering sobbing skeleton

- Knick pushes the skeleton to the auditorium cold spot and neutralizes the furnace haunt

- party defeats an invisible ghost in the old infirmary and finds some potions

- party levels-up to Level 3 !


Resources acquired

- 4 potions of healing + 3 greenish concoctions


Resources spent

- 1 daylight rod (30min duration left)


Rules updates / clarifications

- Resistance also allows to ignore relevant damage as long as it is below the originating (Spell Level) hp or the originating (creature or object CR/2) hp if no applicable Spell Level

- Radiant damage weakness / disadvantage is added to a targeted undead (if it is not already resistant/immune to radiant damage) as long as the originating effect’s (Spell Level x2) or the originating (creature CR) (if no Spell Level) is higher than the targeted undead CR

- Cantrips are always Level 0 spells as per PHB but can be heightened by using a relevant Spell Level Spell Slot

- A critical miss provokes AoO from the target being attacked.

- Sanity Points are removed (too much bookkeeping with no actual effect), instead DM decides which events / triggers may cause madness

[phil]

29-11-2021 Session

Characters (Lv 3)

Boomer Pyre (Cris), Bedrork (Reggie), Dina (Raymond), Knicker Knackers (Clement), Chang Kindbelly (Andrew)


Key events

- party goes to the roof terrace and defeats a giant corrupted Stirge

- Knick manages to unlock the vault and finds a secret alcove containing 5 prisoners belongings

- Bedrork slashes a corrupted spider in 2 in the jail’s chapel

- party finds documents in the Warden’s office but is unable to open the safe

- party defeats various monsters and haunts without any harm thanks to Knick’s infinite hp party pool

- Chang finds a new way to use Holy Water by soaking his cloak with hit and then using the cloak to attack

- Bedrork’s raven is promoted to War Raven Initiate, use same statistics as Eagle with extra 4hp on top

- party meets Vesorianna’s ghost who seems confused and affected by multiple red corruption tendrils

- Dina manages to calm down the ghost despite initial offensive actions done by the party

- on 19th day of Lamashan’s 1PM, party goes back to the temple infirmary

- Chang spends 8h to continue reading his book

- Great announcement was made by Raymond, a new historical Era is going to start !



Resources acquired

- 5 Holy Waters (PHB 151), 1 Scroll of Lesser Restoration, and a Scroll of 3rd level Cure Wounds.

- 1 pair of old manacles

- set of masterwork thieves’ tools

- a bronze war medallion from the Shining Crusade (worth 40GP)

- an unframed Taldan painting of Stavian I (worth 100GP)

- a set of a noblewoman’s silver hair clips (worth 35GP)

- a masterwork nice decorated longsword (300GP)

- a pouch containing a dozen sling bullets +1

- a masterwork silvered halberd (450GP)

- 1 potion of heroism, 6 potions of greater healing, 2 potions of lesser restoration

- 1 magical Bloodstained Handaxe

- 1 magical Collection of Holy Symbols linked through a thin sliver chain

- 1 magical heavy blacksmith hammer (can also be used as a warhammer)

- 1 magical tarnished solver flute

- 1 magical sealed spellbook



Resources spent

- 1 daylight rod now fully consumed

- 3 vials of Holy Water



Rules updates / clarifications

- Failing a Death Saving throw does not cause Exhaustion any longer as per popular request

- Tmp hp are treated as regular hp but are consumed first

- Knowledge skill attempt for a specific topic can only be re-tried after leveling-up, but initial result can be improved without leveling-up by accessing necessary knowledge resources; multiple characters can try but only the best result is considered

- Other skills attempts can be re-tried but failures consequences have to be accepted for each attempt, a critical failure is likely to prevent any further fruitful outcome

- Alternatively, instead of re-rolling and if circumstances allow, a longer duration attempt can be started immediately after the failed one to improve the initial roll; in that case for each 1 minute (or basic attempt duration is longer than 1 minute) spent on the attempt, the initial roll is cumulatively increased by 2 up to a maximum of “20”, this “20” is not considered as a natural “20” although critical success can still be achieved if result is 10 or more above the success DC

[phil]

05-12-2021 Session

Characters (Lv 3)

Boomer Pyre (Cris), Bedrork (Reggie), Dina (Raymond), Knicker Knackers (Clement), Chang Kindbelly (Andrew)


Key events

- party saves Knick at night while he was haunted by Father Charlatan

- on 20th day of Lamashan, party goes back to Harrowstone

- Knick unlocks the Warden’s office safe

- party retrieves the Warden badge, returns it to Vesorianna and defeats all 5 prisoners ghosts

- Chang is killed while fighting the Splatterman

- 5 items belonging to the ghosts become non magical but the hammer retains its masterwork bonus

- PCs agree to accompany Kendra to Lepidstadt

- party level-up to level 4 !

- Book 1 completed !!!



Resources acquired

- 500GP awarded by Ravengro’s Council

- 470GP from Warden’s safe

- 3 potions of greater healing, 2 potions of lesser restoration, 1 potion of spider climbing

- 1 longsword +1 named “Fiery Vengeance”, adding flaming quality would take 50% less time and less cost

- 6 chainmails, 6 studded leather armors, 4 longswords, 4 mauls, 2 heavy crossbows, 120 crossbow bolts

- 10 magic +1 bolts, 2 potions of greater healing, 1 rope of climbing, 1 cape of water breathing

- 1 ring of protection +1

- as PCs agree to accompany Kendra to Lepidstadt, she will also offer 1 Periapt of Wound closure and 1 Pearl of Power

- 2 coils of 50' hemp rope purchased



Resources spent

- 1 daylight rod

- 1 vial of Holy Water

- 2GP for 2 coils of hemp rope



Rules updates / clarifications

- Artificer’s Protector tmp hp are assumed to be average each round when activated (rounded up)

- Death Saving Throws do not benefit from Constitution modifier (re-aligning with RAW)

[phil]

14-12-2021 Session


Characters (Lv 4)

Boomer Pyre (Cris), Dina (Raymond), Knicker Knackers (Clement), Un-Holy Chang (Andrew)


Key events

- Boomer wanders alone to a haunted farm and comes back possessed by an evil spirit

- Boomer seems to be now obsessed with spending quality time alone with small animals

- Chang completes reading the “On Verified Madness” black book (which then nowhere to be found)

- Chang appears to constantly follow Dina, stare at her intensely and stay close to her no matter what

- Knick completes its universal tool crafting

- on 27th day of Lamashan, party leaves Ravengro with a caravan

- on 2nd day of Neth in the evening, party arrives to Lepidstadt

- next morning, party goes to talk to judge Embreth Daramid (ED) and returns the sealed book with brass scarab

- ED reveals that The Beast (TB) has been arrested and that final stage of trial starts on the next day

- ED requests the party to investigate TB alleged crimes and find evidence to ensure that there will be a fair trial

- ED offers 500GP upfront and then 100GP per clue that will be accepted as evidence by the court

- ED requests the party not to reveal their agreement as she is supposed to be a neutral party

- ED indicates that the party should register at the courthouse to become part of the Defense team

- Defense team is led by the lawyer Gustave Kaple

- party finds a gargantuan wooden man being build on the town square in front of the courthouse

- townsfolks appear to be very excited about preparing the pyre and are celebrating TB’s downfall

- party learns that TB was arrested a few weeks back while vandalizing Lepidstadt University Antiquities Department

- Gustave informs the party that TB is being accused of 3 grave crimes committed over past 1.5 years

- first crime was 14 months ago in fishing village of Morast (3.5h travel time) where TB is accused to have killed 9 people

- second crime was 7 months ago in farming community of Hergstag (4.5h travel time) where TB is accused to have murdered 6 children

- third crime was 4 months ago at the Karb Isle Sanctuary (2h travel time) where TB is accused to have burned down the place is killed 3 staff members and 11 asylum patients

- each crime will be sequentially debated at court over next 3 days

- sessions at court start at 9am, nobody is allowed to enter afterward unless there is a recess (12pm-1pm lunch break is considered as a recess)

- each party presents its list of evidences by 10am then evidences are reviewed 1 by 1 during the day

- anyone can leave at any time; it takes 1h to present an evidence; sessions end at 4pm

- party meets TB in its cell under the courthouse

- Knick identifies TB as being an unusual flesh golem who appears to be sentient and extremely strong

- Dina manages to establish rapport with TB and grants it a name : "Shirley"

- TB appears to be totally demoralized and claims to be innocent

- TB says he was living in a swamp and did not know how he ended up at the University

- TB says he had a friend child called Karin who was put under ground at the farming community

- party travels to Morast on 3rd day of Neth and arrives there at 6pm

- party defeats a ferocious giant Blood Caiman

- party finds following potential clues :

• TB was seen as a 7 foot tall humanoid, either hairy or wearing a hide armor
  
• TB was severely beaten at the left shoulder by a giant Blood Caiman
• TB was swearing using elaborate slum slang (typically used in shady taverns and similar places)
• 8 tombs have been emptied on the tribe cemetery island
• clothing found on the island was for a 6-7 foot tall person
• an emptied potion of darkvision was found
• an extremely accurate human face mask
• a set of high quality surgeon tools was found bearing a tiny raven mark

- party went back to Lepidstadt at midnight

- Boomer went for a long rest while rest of party went to investigate tools origins

- all party members who did not take Long Rest get 1 Level of Exhaustion

- party finally identified that the tools were bought by Master Vorkstag of Vorkstag & Grine Chymic Works

- it is 8am, party needs 30min to reach next place and court session starts at 9am sharp


Resources acquired

- 500GP from ED

- 1 set of high quality masterwork surgeon tools (200GP)

- 1 giant Blood Caiman head


Resources spent

- “On Verified Madness” black book

- sealed book with brass scarab


Rules updates / clarifications

- none

    judge Embreth Daramid

  The Beast (while sobbing)

[phil]

20-12-2021 Session

Characters (Lv 4)

Boomer Pyre (Cris), Dina (Raymond), Knicker Knackers (Clement), Unholy Chang (Andrew)

Key events

- party arrives to courthouse at 8.30am on 4th day of Neth month, to discuss with Gustave before proceedings start at 9am

- Gustave found the name of next day Witnesses :Three sisters named Garrow, Starle, and Flicht living at a Windmill nearby Lepidstadt, they were former residents of Hergstag

- Knick and Boomer go to spy on Vorkstag & Grine Chymic Workshop and finally observe an aristocratic human (with a mustache and a hat) exiting the Workshop

- the gate is opened by a 6-foot tall slightly hunched deformed humanoid with one arm longer than the other, asymmetrical eyes, and covered with a short fur; it wears a heavy apron and chemical factory protection outfit in poor condition

- Knick arranges to rent 3 draft horses and 2 ridding ponies with basic gear (260GP deposit has to be paid in full first)

- Dina masterfully defends TB and 2 evidences (perpetrator shorter size, no bite mark on TB) + 1 circumstantial evidence (items found on the isle) are accepted by the court

- party discusses with the 3 sisters and discovers the following clues :

     - TB killed the 6 kids but nobody actually saw it killing the kids

     - TB brought the lifeless body of Karin back to the village while grinning evilly and laughing

     - TB was chased away by farmers armed with sticks and pitchforks

     - Another kid (part of 6 kids total count), Elsa, died in her room at night a few days later

     - Ghosts of 6 kids haunted the village but only Karin’s and Elsa bodies were recovered

     - neither Karin nor Elsa body had any mark of injury or disease

- party reaches Hergstag’s outskirts at 4PM

- Dina activates the ectoplasmic detector which points to a nearby hill with a scarecrow on top

- party fights and heavily injures a dark ghostly figure with swarming red eyes and buzzing hornets sound

- it is now 5PM on 4th day of Neth month, sun will set at 6PM


Resources acquired

- remains of 4 kids, mostly intact (few non life threatening broken bones)


Resources spent

- 260GP deposit for horses and gear (will be refunded minus daily rental fee of 3%)

- 3 charges spent from ectoplasmic detector (27 remaining)


Rules updates / clarifications

- incorporeal creatures can enter square with other corporeal creatures and momentarily halt their movement there but will have to exit a square occupied by another creature by the end of their turn; same rule apply for corporeal creatures vs incorporeal ones

- objects have AC (= DC to hit and damage them), hp, damage threshold (similar to hardness but with conditions), may have resistances/weaknesses/immunities and can be damaged critically; typically inanimated objects crit fail Dex saves + are immune to mental effects + have a static Con / Str save or opposed ability check result equal to their AC (although this is adjustable by DM depending on object and circumstances)

[phil]

26-12-2021 Session

Characters (Lv 5)

Boomer Pyre (Cris), Bedrork (Reggie), Dina / Damien (Raymond), Knicker Knackers (Clement), Unholy Chang (Andrew)

Key events

- dark ghostly figure with swarming red eyes kills 3 horses and Dina’s altar boy

- party defeats it but Dina's life essence is syphoned away during the fight

- party defeats Karin’s specter and retrieves Karin’s and Elsa remains buried near the abandoned chapel

- party ascertains that Elsa’s room on the first floor was not physically breached and that nobody attempted to climb the walls

- party comes back to Lepidstat at midnight and everyone manages to have a long rest

- Gustave found the name of next day Witness : Karl was the assistant of Doctor Brada, he saw TB exiting the burning asylum, he lost his eyes when trying to rescue the doctor

- Chang defends TB fervorously and following evidence is accepted by the court :

     - TB’s “evil grin” is actually a cry of pain and sadness

     - the victims had no physical injuries

     - Speak with dead cast on Karin indicated that TB was her friend and that he did not kill her

     - Elsa’s house and room was not physically breached and the events happened after TB was chased away

- for court decision purposes, those evidences count as 6

- party talks to Karl and finds out that Karl was hoping to rescue the Doctor from the secure basement but unfortunately the building had collapsed upon the interior entrance and even the back trapdoor

- Karl indicated the TB was hairy and about 7-7.5 feet tall

- party investigates the Asylum and defeated a horrible ectoplasmic creature composed of the tortured spirits of all the burned victims

- party recovers various documents : ledger with receipts and letters including multiple receipts related to purchases of chemicals and limbs from VGCW. In the ledger an incoming shipment receipt from 5 months ago has an annotation from Doctor Brada complaining about VGCW’s deliveries dropping quality due to contaminated legs and expired sedative with a total estimated loss of 200GP. Multiple letters from VGCW over past couple of years are politely requesting Doctor Brada to sell some of his patients for 300-400GP, last letter from VGCW 4 months ago is very insistent and aggressively demands to buy one of the patient for 550GP for “a group of very important customers” and manual notes added by the Doctor show his outrage and decision to respond violently and threaten to expose VGCW to the authorities

- party talks to Doctor Brada's spirit and finds out that he was killed (stabbed) by someone working at Vorkstag and Grine Chemical Workshop due to some irreconcilable disagreement

- party manages to stop violent crowd demanding Justice and Vengeance, assembled in front of the courthouse and disables the 8 instigators without killing anyone

- Knick notices that the instigators seem quite professional with solid equipment (crossbow and alchemical fire flasks)

- party goes to Vorkstag and Grine Chemical Workshop; Knick manages to infiltrate the building through the chimney

- party defeats 1 flesh golem hound with a “C” emblem on the forehead and 3 mongrelmen guards

- it is 10.30pm on 5th day of Neth month


Resources acquired

- Elsa’s and Karin’s remains; Doctor Brada's remains

- Chemicals, documents and alchemical gear from the Asylum’s basement

- desk lamp with permanent light cantrip

- 102GP refunded out of 260GP deposit for bringing back 2 ponies with 5 mounting gears

- 380GP from Asylum’s desk


Resources spent

- 2 charges spent from ectoplasmic detector (25 remaining)

- last daylight rod is consumed


Rules updates / clarifications

- none