BG3 – A bit stuck

I have had about 7 weeks away from the game. It was was report writing time at school and that made me very busy. The first thing cut away was BG3, though I suspect there was a second factor in that decision.

I’m a bit stuck. Though I think I am slowly getting unstuck, we will have to see.

So after wandering about in the keep in the mountains for some time, my party wandered back into the cursed region. This time they worked to release a young boy, following a series of quests that took them into the Shadowlands. I think. I am a little mixed up here, I do apologise. They were successful in this, helping the boy return, but he is connected to this land and won’t heal until Ketheric is dead. So, another link into to getting rid of him.

Shadowheart completed a whole string of trials to qualify as a Dark Justicar, her lifelong dream. This was a cool series of tests and explorations.

I also found my way into another place, where the Nightsong is revealed to be a person. Here seems to be an important juncture for Shadowheart. Her goddess is demanding that Shadowheart kills Nightsong. It is up to your relationship and dialogue choices to see which way she goes.

Both seem to be significant, and I will admit I have a save after both choices (I played both to see what might happen). There are immediate effects either way and I suspect some long reaching ones too. I chose the one that seemed more good, at least in the short term. And who am I if not someone who annoys gods (the Gith “god”, Shadowhearts “god”, the Divine Dream visitor as well).

This led us to attacking the castle where the cult seems based. I had explored it before, but this time we attacked. Most of the battles within the castle went fairly well, and I had some supporters from the Last Light Inn to help.

Until the roof, where you face Ketheric. Now I had a few goes at this, but it seems, at least in basic terms, there is no way to kill him, or not get Nightsong killed. At this point the castle shakes and a tentacle erupts, killing her and Ketheric flees down the hole. He leaves and you have to clean up the adds. This isn’t too hard, as long as you stay on top of the additional spawns they cast.

The tentacle attacks

There is a chance for respite here, before descending into the hole yourself. You find yourself in the source of the worms, a Mindflayer colony existing right under the castle.

eww, but that’s where we must go

Here is where I am stuck. You can clear the place out, using resources, spell slots etc, but there seems no way to have a full rest in here (like the old hags domain). There is a route through to Ketheric without facing anyone. I will use this path for now, at least until I get unstuck.

There is other stuff in here, including a rare rapier you can get if you have Wyll in your party. I usually don’t, but have attempted the next battle with him… I’m undecided.

I am stuck fighting Ketheric. Well not so much him as who spawns when he “dies”. I use the term loosely as I’m not convinced he won’t come back.

Trouble coming…

Fighting Myrkul.

Yes, him. He spawns. After you’ve fought Ketheric, a mindflayer and several minions. And here’s what I have so far. In not particular order.

• Ketheric is immune until the lady is released, so do this quickly. You can get there in a turn or so. Try Misty Step, Dash etc.
• He’s resistant to poison and necrotic (I think that was right).
• I would also concentrate on getting rid of the mindflayer as he hits hard too, and has a AoE attack.
• When he is basically dead (though I’ve had it happen earlier, maybe it’s actually a turn count?) it will (again) change to a cut scene and he will sacrifice himself to bring in Myrkul.
• Myrkul is big and hits hard (no surprise)
• If you are within about 10feet of him YOU WILL NOT HEAL.
• He seems to stay in the one spot, but has a 10foot melee range.
• There is a pointy part of the ledge (towards the entrance) (you’ll know what I mean when you’re there) where you are out of melee and can heal.
• He is also resistant to poison and immune to necrotic (I will have to double check that). Sadly, doesn’t seem vulnerable to anything.
• AoEs should work nicely on him. He’s big, so you don’t have to worry about damage to your fighters, and he can’t move (or doesn’t), so things that are fixed work well too.

My strategy, in development and not yet successful is… release the woman and get her into the fight so you can kill the mindflayer. Then smash as much other stuff and Ketheric, using as few spell slots as possible.

When he switches places, I will now try AoE and ranged attacks on him. Perhaps someone like Lae’zel to move in, strike and move out. Keep the melee fighters out of melee range (I hope) and able to be healed. I’ve nearly got him down. About 1/5 of his HP to go last time he TPK my party.

D&D – When you get to do stuff

I’m in the middle of a campaign through Dungeon of the Mad Mage. I’m playing a duregar paladin who has been ostracised (and hunted down) by the others as he follows the dwarven goddess Haela Brightaxe. This makes him something of an oddity.

Anyway, I was interested in playing yet another dwarf, but who wasn’t a dwarf. I’m not an extreme min-maxer by any stretch, but I do like to create characters that will work well in the adventure. So as duregar, Dalgal gets particular abilities, such as better dark vision, and as an Oath of Vengeance Paladin, certain more. He’s a few levels up, so picks up invisibility, but also took Blind Fighting and gains Vow of Enmity. I often create these characters and then never end up using most of their abilities. Like my Gloomstalker, who are invisible to other creatures who use dark vision, but only when there is no other light around. And then he adventures with a party that is half full of people who need lanterns in the dark….

Anywho. So the party is a few levels down this dungeon and they open a door to find a zone of darkness. I can’t remember if there was an attempt by another member, but for whatever reason we suspected that there was actually some creatures in there attacking us. Forgive me, this tale starts during the previous session, so it was close to six weeks ago. Dal stepped up, turned invisible and crept through the darkness.

He found it contained a couple of Drow and a Drider.

Before he could sneak back, some of the other party came in and were attacked. Combat ensued, which included one of our party dispelling the darkness, only for another to recast it. The party fought on with area attacks (that sometimes hit Dal, who was still in the darkness) and people getting poisoned all over the place.

BUT, Dal has advantage against poison… another tick for my build! And resistance, but it didn’t get that far.

I swore my Vow at the Drider, giving me advantage. Even in the darkness, I didn’t suffer disadvantage because I could see within 10′ of me. So swing away I did.

Dal did suffer some wounds in return, but then Lay on Hands helped that.

And the Drider fell and quickly the party recovered and then Drow fell as well, at least two fell to Dal’s Knock (what’s Knock? See below). It was so much fun having all these abilities, that I had picked in order to make Dal a tough opponent in the darkness of the dungeon, come together so well.

Oh, and his magic Warhammer has been named Knock because initially we didn’t have anyone who was good at locks. But Dal would step up and simply bash the door with his Warhammer. And so it become “Knock”. I’ve even edited it in Roll20, so when I attack with it, Roll20 says Knock and not Warhammer +1.

D&D Witchlight 2 – Into Prismeer

Sorry, I really haven’t been keeping up with this game. It’s weekly, but with work and lives, we get 3/4 of the people, usually fortnightly.

After a bit of dithering about, the party managed to get Witch and Light to help them into Prismeer, and the last time all three players were together, they stepped through the portal and I finished the session, Witch and Light’s last clues hanging in the air.

Since stepping through they have been stumbling their way across Hither in Prismeer. Among other escapades was their attempt to leap onto the travelling inn. This ended up with a few miss leaps.

They saved a fey dragon in a locked gilded cage, but couldn’t open it without help from the goblin Jingle Jangle. That led them to a confrontation with the haregon bandits. They sold their special memory for that. The dragon was freed, the bandits ignoring them and Jingle Jangle and the sentient hill hopeful that they will deal with the hag.

Some more small adventures and they now approach Downfall.

We are hoping to run a long session in these holidays (we’re all school teachers and it’s a term break). However with our rubbish ability to actually meet up, I think we are going to be disappointed.

Witchlight2 – Session 2 and 3

Our sessions are quite short, but that’s made up for by running the game every week. Well, that what’s supposed to happen, but, of course, life gets in the way and we’ve really only managed every other week.

Our heroes have split the party. One pair riding the giant dragonflies above the carnival as the other two make a desperate chase through the tents as the mysterious person tries to lose them. The rogue character kept rolling high perception, so I had to keep extending the chase – it was very annoying. They eventually gave up when they lost him in the Big Top. As they lost sight of him for a moment, she, (Kettlesteam) recast disguise self into a new form and they didn’t know who they were looking for in the crowd. This pair made their way back to the others, but did stop to shoplift along the way. This lowered the “happiness” meter, so it’s been a bit up and down with this crew.

Back together, the party headed towards the Hall of Illusion. As they approached, they witnessed the disastrous marriage proposal event. Again, two chased the halting who ran, and two ran up to the laughing one. These two both got affected by the Hideous Laughter spell.

Inside, the pursuit ended in front of the mirror which is the portal to Prismeer. They caught a glimpse of Sowpig, before she disappeared. Reuben, the halfling, was convinced to return and speak to his (hopefully) fiancé. The other pair of the party explained how the weird booth has an area effect and this settled the poor lad’s nerves. There was a successful reproposal (Raising the happiness level) and the pair left.

The party went back inside to investigate the mirrors. They tried a few things which included smashing one of the mirrors (I made the portal pretty much invulnerable to protect the story at this point). They tried to see if Candlefoot (the Hand running this attraction) knew anything, but he was mostly dismayed at the damage (And down goes the meter again. Also if they keep this up, they will probably get asked to see the bosses, or kicked out). They left, somewhat contrite for their actions.

At this point, I decided to remove the “missing niece” distraction. I had them found and a message came to the party to visit Dirla at Lost Property. The parents had been contacted and all was fine. The party were given extra tickets. Alistair, who was the uncle, decided that there was no way he wanted to be around when the parents arrived, so he encouraged the party to be somewhere else in the carnival. And now the party has time to enjoy the carnival and I get to run more of the place.

The party headed to the carousel. They started by trying to sneak a ride onto Diana, which was not taken well (as she points out, she’s not a centaur, she’s a human who made a bad deal). They went for a ride and sorted out the names. The each learnt which hag has their lost item. This was the end of the session.

And the following session we were still missing one player, but decided to play anyway. Leaving the carousel, the party headed for the Gondola Swan ride. Here they boarded and started the tour. Some light conversation was had, but nothing of real import, before they asked what was behind the big hedge. Feathereen told them about the private, staff only area.

Snell asked to go around again but as they went back past this point he tried to leap out to the bank.

This did not go well and his foot caught on the edge of the gondola, putting him into the water with a splash. Even Wiz’s pilfered firecracker distraction didn’t help. He clambered back into the gondola as they floated further down the river.

They went around the river again… this time they played sick, asking to move over to the side so they could leave. They could have just gotten off at the end of the ride and then walked there, but players are players…. This time they all had a go. Wiz and Cameron found the small couple of feet space quite simple to traverse. Snell, again, found the step a bit more challenging and managed to trip and fall, partly on the bank, partly in the water.

They gathered themselves up and Wiz decided to scale the hedge. On the other side, he finds himself in a gathering of caravans and watches carefully to see what he can find out. He communicates with the others through the hedge, saying he will look around. He starts searching the caravans.

Outside the hedge the others move along, and as they find a small opening, they also meet a bugbear wearing a pumpkin. He challenged them to find out what they were doing. They apologised and moved on, only to come back to the hedge further down. Where they were spotted again. This time, the conversation went something like…

“We’re meeting a staff member.”

“Who?”

“Bob.”

Roll persuasion (it was good, but not great).

“Umm, ” he was unsure but, “that doesn’t sound familiar, but I’ll go check.” The bugbear turned and went back around to the entrance. Cameron pushed his way through the hedge and then on the other side cast disguise self, appearing now as a Witchlight Hand. He was approached by the bugbear.

“I’m looking for Bob” he says to her.

“That’s me”

“Are you expecting someone?”

“Yes, are they here.”

At this, the bugbear went back out and collected the last party member. There was a small discussion to establish the disguised persons identity (the other party member never saw the spell cast).

The rogue chose this moment to sneak between two caravans. He had seen his party member in conversation with some random Witchlight Hand. Then the Hand saw him and started charging across the space towards him.

D&D – Down with Strahd

It’s been a long and fascinating campaign as my party has wandered through Borovia trying to defeat Strahd and find a way home.

Initially Tilm (an investigative rogue) was my character, but I got a bit bored with him, so the DM and I concocted a plan for him to be kidnapped by Strahd and for the party to meet his cousin, Sister Fredis Braunforge, a War Priest of Moradin. The party also really needed some holiness and some healing.

This adventure went well and great fun was had by all as we explored across the land deciphering our Tarokka readings (the DM was using them as our milestones, so we were keen to level up before Strahd).

It had been expected that it would finish in the session 2 weeks ago. Tension had been building (and the DM was adding to it) as we explored through his castle, looking for the last item. We were nervous about bringing what we assumed was a castle full of minions down upon us, so kept away from our usual explore every room and clear every room to just slip quietly through for our item.

We faced him in his brothers tomb and with the weapons and knowledge we had gathered helped as we battled him and minions. With some injuries, but nothing that we couldn’t handle, we got him to the point that he dissolved into mist and fled.

Initially there was some discussion about hunting him, then exploring the castle, before we remembered that if we didn’t find him son, he would recover. Guessing that since we were in his brothers crypt, there was a good chance Strahd’s crypt should be nearby.

We headed back out into the maze of smaller crypts. We found his parents and had a small run in with a couple of giant spiders before one of our party disappeared. He was replaced with a wight.

We quickly dispatched the creature and our friend returned. Our rogue stepped forward. Only to disappear as well, and another wight appeared. We pushed this one back into the space and snap, it disappeared.

We had uncovered some kind of teleport trap. We thought we must be close.

Sister Fredis cast a dispel magic and it seemed to temporarily clear the trap. The group hurried forwards to find our way blocked by a portcullis.

The lizardfolk fighter gave a stretched and simply lifted it manually! The group hurried in, but to get the fighter through we wedged Fredis spare warhammer (she had found a better one in the adventure). It lasted long enough for the lizardfolk to get through before snapping. The haft clattering to the floor near her feet.

Inside we found a coffin. The plan was that the fighter would open the coffin, then Fredis (as the cleric) would strike with the haft of the warhammer. We had doused it with holy water.

Strahd, inside, had heard us clatter and bang our way into the crypt so was ready when the coffin opened. He let out a blast of necromancy at the fighter as Fredis struck. She called on Moradin to guide her strike (take a +10 bonus) and pinned Strahd to his coffin with a stake through his heart.

At this point the fight was over. He was paralysed and as long as the stake wasn’t removed (or damaged) we could simply hit him until he died.

So we did.

And then destroyed his coffin.

We had won and defeated the evil of Strahd.

Took us over 14 months at 2 hours, once every two weeks. It was a fun game, and story. Even though I have the book myself, I haven’t read it so had no spoilers for myself.

Next up, a Spelljammer campaign and I break from tradition and play something other than a dwarf.

2022 – a year in review

If you say that right, it even rhymes!

2022, things change, things get back to normal.

About Bikes

MOTOGP! Finally. And the ride there and back was great, and the racing was excellent. I stayed in budget (very important this year). I camped, I had adventures… yup, read the two stories here and here. Was worth the wait. The only thing that didn’t work out was Jack Miller getting taken out by Alec Marquez at the new “Miller Corner”. I do think I will stick to my two year cycle and aim for 2024 for my next ride down. It’s at an awkward time of the year, work wise.

2022 Philip Island -Australian MotoGP

I hit most of the roads I had planned, changed a few over, mostly due to the bad weather.

My first night motocamping.

Otherwise the bike was a garage queen at least by comparison to how it (and my other bikes) have lived. It was lucky if it got a ride to the shops once a week. As the year finishes off, I think I’m in the market for a new battery. Even commuting is off the menu at the moment, as work is only 10mins away and I drop my two kids at school on the way.

I got a new bike… sort of. It was fun to build at any rate.

LEGO’s M1000RR

No bicycle riding to speak of really. Some fitness rides on the commuter.

Enjoying the sunshine and open space…. in the middle of the suburbs?

About Babes

Two girls in high school. Both doing well. One won a State Championship for her gymnastics so really well done there. Next year will be interesting as the other one can start learning to drive!

About Bytes

Nothing hugely dramatic here. My Surface is finally getting used a lot, I use as my school device and it’s been great. Except for a dead TypeCover. Replaced, but I am suspicious of the durability of this part.

I upgraded my iPad Pro 9.7 (v1) to the Pro M1 11”. It has been excellent, really nice jump in performance from my last one. They did eventually release an M2 version as I suspected, but it didn’t get the mini-LED display, so I don’t feel like I missed anything. Its keyboard cover has also deteriorated (common theme this year), there are some places where the soft covering material has worn through. It is still working, but has been put away and hasn’t been replaced.

The new PC has been working fabulously, though I really should step up the graphics card. Otherwise it’s been fast and reliable. I’ve since spent many hours using it for gaming, completing the last 3 Tomb Raiders and spending over 100hours in the Baldur’s Gate 3 pre release.

And I can play BG3 on the Mac too

The iMac also has been going well. It has also recently received a new keyboard, a Logitech MX Keys (not the specific Mac one). I’m really happy with this keyboard too.

Having all these devices has meant all my work is available everywhere. The school mostly uses Google’s environment so that was something to get used to. But with it all in the cloud (along with my OneNote) it’s easy to work anywhere. I also switched over to iCloud Photos and this has been working well too.

D&D has been fun all year. Wild Beyond the Witchlight finished up just a few weeks ago. That was a fun campaign for all. It’s been replaced by a journey in the Dungeon of the Mad Mage, which I am not DM, so currently I am a player in 3 campaigns (Dungeon, Strahd and a face to face home-brew) and not a DM anywhere. It’s so relaxed! Strahd is likely to finish up soon and the DM wants to put us in Spelljammer (D&D in space). I have never played in that environment, so I’m a little unsure. I’m writing my own home-brew adventure for when I get a DM slot again.

About Me.

My offical career change occurred in mid-April (not Christmas as planned), I stayed in order to finalise a couple of medical issues with work. Even though that was the offical date, I was on holidays from that work from Christmas until April and actually working as a teacher full time.

I am enjoying my teaching. My school has a really nice community working environment. There are some challenges, partly due to the children and partly due to my limited experience. However, the school has always been supportive.

The pay is a significant cut from my old pay, at least in these first couple of years. Once I complete my proficiency after two years it will jump up and be a lot closer. I don’t think it will ever surpass it.

To help make up for this, I have secured some part time work in my old career for the school holidays and that will be a nice bonus for me. It’s also a way to stay relevant and connected to that old career in case I am needed.

Next year will see me having my own class, and it looks like it will be a Year 5/6 one. Equally excited and nervous, but everyone at work assures me I will do a great job. That makes me feel very supported, but then also nervous that I don’t want to let them down!

My class, as it was handed to me… a blank slate.

2023, here goes…….

D&D – Witchlight – The curtain falls

And with a bang and a flash, Wild Beyond the Witchlight is over.

After dispatching the hag so quickly last session, the party realised that they were above the room where their rogue had scouted out the “leader” of the mercenaries. Without delay, they slipped downstairs, only to find an empty room.

This had them a little unsure of what to do next, but eventually they decided that they should head back and finish destroying the cauldron. Once the powerful fey in charge of Prismeer was freed they could take their time chasing any loose ends.

Casually they entered the room, only to be challenged by Warduke, the merc they had paid off and the bearded man they had heard about. These two were over by the cauldron.

A conversation ensued as the leader, Kellek, tried to convince the party that first he was in charge and they could leave, or he wasn’t in charge but would happily be out of their way once he collected an item, and that the current owners wouldn’t mind him doing that, as long as he tied them up first before the cauldron spell was dispelled.

The party wasn’t having any of this, especially when Kellek suggested that one of those to be tied was Zybilna. The wizard began to cast.

(We had pre-rolled initiative, so at this point Kellek was first in the list).

Seeing a spell about to be cast, Kellek let off a fireball into the group and a battle ensued.

With this being the third fight in a row (including the Jabberwock) the party was injured and primarily the wizard, had used a lot of their resources. Kellek hit hard too. Warduke joined in and he also hit hard.

After a couple of rounds the party finally managed to drop Kellek. Warduke immediately surrendered and the party eliminated the cockatrice who were Kellek’s pets. Not before the Paladin started to petrify though.

With a mighty heave, the lizard folk tossed the cauldron into the maelstrom below. For a moment nothing happened, then a mighty noise and the Palace shook. The cleric was tossed to the ground, but as they all looked up, the time lock spell had broken and the Palace came alive again. Zybilna was free.

And that was kind of it. A little anticlimatic, but mostly because I found myself a bit disorganised. The paladin was returned home (we weren’t really keen on the player continuing with our group) and the rest of the party was returned home…

Or at least to a ship that seems to be heading into port that is home….

So the adventure is over, and I am comfortable that everyone had a good time, including me. They missed a bunch of side things and some of the flavour, partly as they were so high. However, even so, I think they found the adventure interesting and challenging. The story took over a year as we started back in October 2021, playing pretty much every fortnight for two hours, so let’s say about 50 hours of play. I will put together a review shortly of the adventure.

I’ve deliberately left the party in somewhere that they think is home, but it doesn’t have to be. If we kick off these characters again, I have an adventure from the Tales of the Radiant Citadel in mind. The wizard is the only character and player to make the complete journey from Lost Mines of Phandelver, through to Witchlight. He’s been with almost my entire DM experience from back in August 2019. All the other characters and players were picked up along the way.

That’s it for me as DM at the moment. I do have a couple of campaigns in planning, but one of the other players asked to take my slot to run Dungeon of the Mad Mage, so thought I might take a break. Work in the new year is likely to be busy too, so this might help.

I will still play – I have a dwarf war cleric in Curse of Strahd (we’re getting close to the end, a homebrew Spell Jammer adventure has been listed to replace it), a dwarf fighter in the face to face game (homebrew), and my duergar (dark dwarf) vengeance paladin in Dungeon of the Mad Mage. That’s a game every week, with face to face once a fortnight.

D&D – Witchlight – Session 14

The fight with the Jabberwock continued… with two of the party dazed and confused from the babble of the creature, the other three stayed well away, but their attacks continued and eventually the creature had used all of its legendary saves and found itself taking the full brunt of these attacks. This started to turn the tide and I think the turning point was when the rogue, lost in confusion, attacked the nearest creature, delivering a solid blow to the Jabberwock.

From my perspective as the DM, it was almost as if the first half of the battle (in the last session) the party was surprised and confused. Then in this second part, their experience kicked in and they quickly set to the business of killing it.

Just as the creature dropped to the ground, a couple of the party noticed one of the doors from the room closing quietly. Clearly someone had been watching them (Warduke had come to investigate the great booming sound, from the knock spell, to discover a party locked in battle with the Jabberwock)

The party moved to attack through two different doors. The rogue and lizard fight teaming up as usual to quietly slip into the corridor. Luckily their opponent had just been distracted when the paladin (forgetting all his lessons) decided to try to boot the door in. The cleric took a few paces back in alarm as he did so and so was missed by the lightning bolt from the door. The paladin failed to open the door, and took some damage in response.

The cleric simply opened the door, and spotted Warduke. At this point the paladin decided that he would negotiate, and offered Warduke a significant sum of gold to change sides. Warduke promptly did – he was here for money and had just seen the party eliminate the Jabberwock without barely any damage and certainly no casualties. That was a surprise for the rest of the party. He promised to find the others of his group and pass an ultimatum – take the cash and leave or face the consequences. They had one hour to decide. (Here the paladin player continued to demonstrate his lack of playing experience, contrary to what he actually told us when he joined, he would time him on his watch, oh no watch, the sun then? In a demiplane with no sun visible and from inside a room with no natural lighting? He decided he would guess). At least that was the paladin’s offer, I’m not entirely sure the rest of the party was so keen.

The rogue followed behind using Warduke to lead him to the rest of their opponents on a reconnaissance through the castle. Meanwhile the party had some discussions about the cauldron and spent some time healing.

The rogue followed the mercenary through the palace until he entered a throne room. Here the fighter had a sometimes heated discussion with another about intruders, dead Jabberwock, and what else he had seen. The rogue left after a little while to report back.

In the meantime, the party attempted to wake Zybilna, but it was clear that was not her true name. With the return of the rogue and her info, they decided they would destroy the cauldron by tossing it out a window or off a balcony. The paladin experimented with picking it up, finding it heavy but not impossible. The wizard opened a door they hadn’t tried, to find a balcony looking over the maelstrom in the centre of the palace.

Here he had a revelation. Back when the hag had escaped them he used a scry spell to see where she went. At the time, the hag had been in a large circular room looking through a large hole in the wall at a knight, suspended above the maelstrom, locked in time. When he opened the doors he saw the knight from the other side, still locked in time, and a large hole in the brickwork some 40’ up from where they were.

“Stop!” He cried to the paladin who was carrying the cauldron to its expected doom. “I’ve found the hag” and he points up to the hole in the wall, “or at least where she was.”

A plan was hatched to cross the maelstrom. The wizard would cast fly on three of the party, then dimension door himself and the last member across. First would go the rogue, then the two melee fighters and lastly, himself and the cleric.

The rogue stealthed up and landed. Immediately she spotted the hag, took cover. The hag only saw the lizard fighter land. He charged across the room as the rogue fired as well. Significant damage. The paladin landed and added his bow to the mix, but it was the holy light and fire from the cleric that turned the hag to dust.

And the session ended. Certainly not where I had expected it to. The hag will return in 24 hours, but I’m not sure what she will find when she does. Will the party think to rescue the warrior suspended above the maelstrom? What will the mercenaries do when they meet the party? Will the party destroy the cauldron?

D&D – Witchlight – The giant

While most of the party stood back, the paladin shook off the lightning bolt and charged through the door. He was quite disappointed to find more frozen people and a kitchen. Behind him, the party’s rogue closed and locked the door with a shake of his head.

He picked another door and charged it.

The door didn’t take too kindly and let out a lightning bolt again. This was shrugged off (he was actually taking some damage) and into the next corridor he went. He was focused on finding and sorting out the mercenaries.

Meanwhile the main group decided that they had waited long enough. The rogue unlocked the door and they found themselves in the same overgrown kitchen that the paladin had charged through. It was clear which way he had gone by the scorch marks on the floor. The party picked another door.

Further ahead the paladin found himself in something of a dead end. Ahead there was a locked door with a porcelain stag’s head above it. He checked another door, but was loath to attempt any attack on the door. ignoring the stairs in the middle of the room he turned around, disappointed. No mercenaries here.

The main party quietly slipped into a great dining hall. At the far end, a large, giant was eating grotesque amounts of food. A couple managed to sneak into the room, hiding under the table. The wizard turned himself invisible and got ready to attack.

The lizardfolk fighter also tried to creep in, but wasn’t as lucky , attracting the giants attention. This was the signal for the party to attack.

In the corridor outside, the paladin heard the giants roar and turned back the way he had come to reach the party. He made it all the way down the corridor and charged into the room.

The rogue, who wasn’t really a fan of the paladin, and was in the middle of combat saw the new person enter the room and let off a crossbow at the Paladin. You know, as a reaction.

To his credit, the paladin thought no more of it and looked up to see the giant fall to the combined power of the party.

At this point I headed off for some admin, and returned to hear the rogue giving the paladin player a stern, but fair talking to. Mostly about being a team player and to match their goal with the party’s. Honestly it did seem to help, at least for this session.

After the giant, the paladin let the party know about the locked doors at the end of the other hall, so the party headed out the back of the dinning room.

This led them to a back hallway and they started to check the doors. This time the paladin (See he can be taught!) let the rogue check them over first. No more lightning bolts.

The first door the rogue cracked open he shut very quickly. They had found the cauldron, and the Jabberwocky. Asleep, surrounded by time frozen people. The rogue whispered to the party and they decided to look elsewhere to try and find Bloodybeak.

The very next door they opened, along the hallway a bit further, they found Bloodybeak. However, they are faced with a problem. The bird is time frozen and on the other side of a row of iron bars.

And that is where the session ended. I think this adventure only has a session or two left. I was planning a homebrew, but one of the other players wants to run Dungeon of the Mad Mage. So I might let him do that.

D&D – Witchlight – In the Palace

Our session started with the party arriving in the Palace. They were set down in the garden beside a marquee, from which voices could be heard.

The tabaxi and a couple of others wandered over to investigate and shortly found themselves being greeted and welcome as fellow petitioners and were offered tea and cake. The party joined in the conversation, but found that these folk had come from far and wide to visit with the Queen of Prismeer seeking help and had little real information. They did not know how long they had been here, partly because the tea and cakes magically replenished. The paladin kept trying to threaten people which the rest of the party managed to quash. I’m tempted to have his god start being annoyed at his actions. Perhaps some of his abilities will wane.

Leaving the folks to their own devices, the party set out across the garden. Shortly they noticed that things were unmoving. Instead of flitting about, birds and bugs were stationary, immobile as if statues, in many cases floating in mid air. Water wasn’t flowing and it looked as if the Palace had been put on pause. They had learned enough by this stage of the adventure to suspect that Zybilna was being held, somehow, by the hags. This let the hags rule Prismeer as their own place. They started to suspect that somehow the hags had managed to freeze the Palace and everything inside of it.

Across the garden the party found the main door. This was topped by a porcelain lions head, which meant very little to the party. They explored along the entranceway before seeing a higher level balcony. The group quickly made their way up there, finding themselves an easier way to access to the Palace.

The paladin again was making noise at this point. Going on about how this fortress was stupidly designed and where are the patrols and such. It seemed to go right over his head that this was a PALACE not a FORTRESS and not designed for warfare.

I also can’t remember if they picked up the crown from the lake. They certainly haven’t investigated anything about them.

They started exploring, moving back and forth along the battlements and exploring a few turrets. They found a couple of strange gems which they used mage hand to delicately place in their bags (separately, they were worried what might happen if they touch).

Eventually they found themselves inside the Palace proper, having found a door that led into what was clearly sleeping quarters.

Here they found Thinnings, a servant who had escaped the time freeze. After some convincing (that they had killed 2 hags already helped a lot), Thinnings opened up a lot more. The party learned that the time freeze had been caused by the hags so they could take over. The hags had used a magic cauldron, owned by Zybilna, against her. The cauldron was the only way to unfreeze everybody, though the party also learnt that touching someone with a unicorn horn and speaking their true name could also do that on an individual basis. The last tidbit was that there is a fearsome beast, called a Jabberwocky, that rests around the cauldron. It is something like a nasty dragon. Even the mercenaries that the hags have made a deal with, fear to go near the creature. However, the Jabberwock is terrified of Zybilna’s pet giant owl, Bloodybeak. Thinnings had a lot to say to be honest.

This is also the point where the party just kind of let the paladin do what he wanted. His plan was to attract these mercenaries, then offer them a choice, convert and join him, or die. He charged off to find them. No talking from the party about letting the rogue handle the doors (you know, traps, locks…). Or about the actual party’s goals seemed to sway him.

At this point the players were a bit fed up with trying to keep this guy in line. He had these far out ideas of storming the Palace and taking it for his own, with his armies (who knows where they would be coming from). I made it quite clear that I wasn’t going to do that as a DM, and if he wanted to he could do that after this adventure he was welcome, but with another DM (good luck).

The Paladin was a little disappointed when his first kick at the door bounced off (a terrible roll). But persistence paid off and eventually the door slammed open. The door didn’t take too kindly to that, and let off a lightning bolt at the Paladin. Let’s just say that the next door, and the next, showed that he could learn but it takes a while. He charged off ahead of the party.

And that’s where the session ended.

We are continuing to have issues with this newest player. He’s not much of a team player, very set with his own ideas and won’t listen to advice. He talks a big game about his D&D knowledge, but as the last few sessions have shown, he’s either not that experienced, or any other groups he plays with very much let him run things. I am not keen on letting him continue with us after Witchlight.

The final chapter of Witchlight, some 12 sessions in (so about 24 hours of playing time). Will they free Zybilna? Can they find Bloodybeak to drive away the Jabberwock? Will the paladin storm off and find himself overwhelmed in the strange world of the fey?