Isle of Dread

October 5, 2020

The group pauses after meeting the beholders.  Beholders!  Shyrrik is glad they didn't fight them.  He wasn't sure how it would go.  And four!  He shudders again and represses a third.  They made a deal with them and seeing the tattoos on Dakxer and Drewgan just reminds him of what they signed up to do.  Eventually, ever pragmatic, they start talking about the items they have.  They start swapping out magic items, giving those who would get the most use the top items and then spreading the rest out to those who could use it or didn't have something like it. 

When they come to the money, they have this desire to spend it.  It could help them get some better equipment.  They talk about going to Silverymoon and Drewgan says he has a few ways to get there.  The riskiest way is to use a new spell that lets them travel via plants.  

"But, I warn ye," he says.  "We might make it within a thousand paces or it might be tens of miles further out.  Can't say until I cast it, and then it's too late to change."  After some discussion, they agree to take the chance.  

Drewgan leads them into the Moors.  He extended his senses out feeling the trees.  Oaks, maples, pines, birch, and cottonwood called out to him.  He would go and touch an oak and try and see if one was enough like it that he could use it.  It wasn't just a matter of finding a simple oak, as there were many types of oak trees in the moors and near Silverymoon.  There had to be a deeper connection.  The Gods of Nature created connections, to the roots, to the ground, to the water, to all of the creatures that use nature.  There could be a northern pine tree here and a northern pine in the middle of Silverymoon but it doesn't mean that Drewgan could connect them.  

After only fifteen minutes of searching and feeling the systems, Drewgan finally comes to a Northern White Pine.  He senses there is a connection near Silverymoon but isn't sure how far.  Drewgan finally nods and has everyone touch the tree, including the dogs.  The spell takes a few minutes as Drewgan takes his time to feel the connection.  Down to the earth through the roots.  The dirt.  The worms.  The bugs.  The tree near Silverymoon.  Contact.  The world twists.  The group feels like they slid around the tree, the bark shifting and almost biting into them.  Then it's over.  Drewgan sees they are still a few miles away from Silverymoon.  At least it was that close.  They start walking to the town.

It's late and there is a line of people to get into the town.  It will take them an hour.  However, Drewgan spies a rat watching the line.  The rat twitches a bit and its nose wrinkles then it walks up to Drewgan.  It squeaks at Drewgan.  

"Um, I guess we are.  Be you expecting us?"  

Squeaks.

"Oh, your master were?  Who be your master?" 

More squeaks.  Then the rat has a wooden token in it's paws and hands it Drewgan.  While Drewgan is down low to get the token, the rat jumps up onto him and climbs up onto his shoulders.  

"Um," says Dakxer.  "You seemed to have picked up a rat."  

"This be the familiar of a local mage and this token should get us into the town now."  So saying, Drewgan steps out of line and heads to the front.  There is grumbling but Shyrrik also catches several watching, waiting with bated breath to see them go to the back of the now longer line.  

The guards do stop them.  "Um, this'll be getting us inside."  He holds up the token.  The guard stiffens and almost salutes and then lets the group into the town.  There are grumbles and some shouts further back but then the group is inside Silverymoon.  

Silverymoon is a strange mix of human and elven craftsmanship.  Buildings flow into one another and bolster each other.  Parks pop up on the walk to where Drewgan is still taking directions from the rat.  Fruit trees are among the parks and children of all ancestries are gathering or eating fruit.  Even the market place stalls look more like small trees formed into booths, with natural shade for the vendor than what they think of as a marketplace.  

They go to a place of obvious human construction, probably one of the few with dwarven influence.  It's all corners and straight lines, perfect geometry.  The door faces perfectly west, which puts it at an odd angle to the rest of the houses on the block.  The small courtyard does have some trees and herb gardens, and the scent of onions, peppers, and chives fill the air.  The building itself is made from white granite and its worn face belies its age.  More shock awaits the group when Drewgan goes inside without knocking.  The entryway is more granite, showing off a wide open room, with two stairways on each side flowing up to meet in the middle.  Side tables dot the area and below and the paintings seems like typical ones, with some landscapes and some people.  Marcus senses the magic of them but before he can do more than ponder it, the rat scurries from Drewgan and into the house.  

"We be waiting 'ere," proclaims Drewgan.  The wait isn't very long.  

A middle aged human dressed in a simple blue tunic and red pants comes down the hallway, with the rat now on his shoulder.  His white hair and long white beard seem stereotyped.  The group feels the power from this man, both in the magical sense, but confidence as well.  

"Thank you for following my familiar to me.  I am Taern Hornblade, high mage of Silverymoon.  I am a diviner, which is how I knew to send my friend to get you."  In turn, as they go to ask a question, Taern seems to know and answers it.  

"I know of what you are doing and I know that if you don't stop it, it could reach Silverymoon.  I aim to help you to stop that."  

"I know you have extra coin and Silverymoon will have better odds of what you need than Nesme."  

"I have prepared rooms here for you to stay and base yourselves.  I won't have much time with you myself, there are other pressing matters, but my friend will be here as will my staff."  

"The main places to go are Handful of Stars, for wands and other magic.  Optym's Blade offers the best weapons.  The Shining Scroll has scrolls of course but also miscellaneous items."

"These letters of introduction will help smooth things over with the owners.  And I have prepared letters of credit for a hundred thousand crowns.  I would think that covers all you found?  It can be adjusted a bit as needed."  

The stunned group waits until he is done before thanking him.  Soon, he is gone back to his study.  

Over the next several days, they manage to find many magical items to help them.  Rings to booster defenses and also communicate to each other.  A further enchantment allows healing magic to be shared.  They meet and discuss options with the owners and for most of them, the makers of the items.  Their rooms at Taern's allow them to rest without having to answer questions.  They can go about their business and still get a drink or two and not be peppered with questions.  It allows them to focus on the task at hand.  They know they need fragments of Kydri before his corruption or they won't be able to hurt him.  For some reason, these pieces must be kept near him.  Marcus and Dakxer try to explain that some beings, even corrupt ones, still can't be separated from their essence.  And magic usually has a price to pay but Raz merely focuses on other things.  

When they finally pick up the last of their equipment, Taern isn't there directly but his familiar, Vesk, wishes them luck via Drewgan.  Wanting to get back to it, they leave the town.  Drewgan takes them to the same tree they used to arrive.  And is worried.  Using it to power the spell altered it.  Where Drewgan expected the bond between the two trees to be stronger, it was actually weaker.  Putting that in the back of his mind, and not wanting to worry the rest of the group, Drewgan again concentrated on making the connection.  It took much longer and was to another Northern White Pine a few miles west of where they were.  Raz and Shyrrik might notice the difference but the other's wouldn't.  And as he finishes, again, there is this twisting motion.  The group arrives back in the Moors.  

They travel South through the rough countryside.  Shyrrik and Raz are better at picking out when it will be tough or impossible for the group to pass and just find the easier route.  They have to ask Drewgan a few times, who had gone off to scout as a hawk.  Drewgan saw the small lake, perhaps six square miles of water.  It was wrong, though.  When they arrived at the edge of it, they all could tell it was wrong.  The strong smell of brine was in the air, not fresh water.  The water was darker and deeper, with the floor of it dropping down a hundred feet or more six feet from shore.  Shapes glided in the water,  Sharks.  

Marcus felt the summoning magic as cows appeared.  A while herd of them over the water  With plaintive moos, they fell into the water.  The sharks didn't hesitate.  Soon the water churned with feeding.  Bits of cow would float up to the surface and their blood make the water darker.   They focused on the island.

Perhaps a thousand yards out, the island wasn't very big.  Probably no more than a few hundred acres.  They could see the three towers at the edges.  Another structure rose up in the center.  Their eyes kept traveling back to the towers.  Even from here, they could feel their power, a humming in the air like a thousand bees.  Shapes moved around the two towers they could see.  

After some discussing, the casters had no easy way to get them across, so Raz and Shryyik led the group in getting logs and making a raft.  They didn't want to land near the tower so went around to the west side, equidistant between two towers.  They found ruins of another tower.  It was forty feet on each side and made of a dark shale.  The inside must have been hollow but still had four foot thick walls.  Remains of something covered the inside and the best they could tell, something blew up with enough force to topple the tower.  The group knew if they went into the island without dealing with the other towers, the buzzing, which they felt even more, would do ... something.  

They traveled around south but found that tower would take too much work to clear.  Thorns grew forty feet outward from the tower and ten feet high.  Hacking through it showed the vines and thorns regrew at tremendous speed.  They did think magical fire could bring it down but it would use up a lot of energy.  Finally, they decide to check out the tower to the north.  

The northern tower stood in the middle of dead trees.  Several large stumps were around, covered in lichen and a moss.  As they moved closer, a figure greeted them!  He introduced himself as Pyotr and wanted to talk.  However, they saw the fangs and recognized undead when they saw it.  While a few tried to talk, Raz eventually roared and charged!

Raz managed to slash one of the new arrivals that Pyotr had called, Livinia or Veronice, he didn't really care.  And the bitch then touched him, draining him of his life and using it to negate most of the attacks he had done!  That just made him more mad.  

(Stopped mid battle, so no xp from me but still bonus xp to each other)

GM Notes

• I'm torn on the emphasis of equipment.  
• One of the downsides of PF1 is that ACs get too high, imo.  
• More than that, the numbers start to skew.  What a Martial type makes easily, is difficult to impossible to do for casters and vice versa, depending on the check in question.
• Equipment only makes this worse. 
• I still haven't figured out, now that it will be more and more of an issue, how to deal with outrageous ACs. 
• A while back, I said I would limit bonuses to ten and only allow a few.  Or hard cap at something. 
• I don't know if I still want to do that.  We are seeing the gap start to widen, though, between martial and non martial, for both bonuses to hit and the ACs they have
• There are options I can do, like inherent bonuses instead of certain bonuses that still keep thing competitive but not impossible. 
• I'm also torn on the pacing of the game. 
• It gets further conflated by having six players. 
• Over the decades of gaming, asking, and talking to players, I have learned:
• People seem to enjoy my DM style.  They keep coming back.
• There are nights when some players won't like what is planned and others love it.
• As much as I try and make it fair, it only works out that way in the long term, not down to the session.
• I try and adjust to the group I have as best as I can but it doesn't always work out.   
• From a story standpoint, I think having several days of rest and relaxation after some very tough battles that lasted a tenday, make sense to me.
• It doesn't mean it's always fun for the players.  I'm open to feedback and how to make all aspects of the game fun!  I want to learn how to do DM even better.  It's a work in progress.
• Ritual spells. 
• I like bringing back good ideas to whatever edition I'm using.  I like the idea of various non combat spells being done as rituals.
• The transport via plants is an example of this from this session.
• I'm still working on the naming of magic items in a way that can be used in speech instead of by the bonus. 
• I see this as how the meeting with Taern went but it's not how it played, nor should it be.  Artistic license for the write up.
• I didn't have time to make the three tower maps and I should have.
• When they went to one I hadn't prepared, I wrongly kept describing it as having a thorn area that they couldn't cut through. 
• I should have either been up front with not being prepared, switched it, or figure out something else.  I do feel like I took a choice away. 
• I didn't send out several emails of items and other descriptions.  I need to get better about that or deal with it in the session.   

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