Dyvers Session 005: A Case of Mistaken Identity

If you're new to the Dyvers Campaign you can start from the beginning by reading the article The Dyvers Campaign Begins. You can also catch up on all the related campaign notes, session write-ups, house rules, and campaign fluff by reading the Dyvers Campaign Page.

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After the battle with the werewolf the groups' nerves were on edge. It didn't help that Jar'Kell, paladin of Heironeous, had fled before the battle in the grips of a violent illness; that had left them a man down during a tough fight.

"This mother fucker's a god-damned werewolf! 
Get this fool!"

With the dawning of morning they began to disassemble their campsite, only to be joined by the missing Jar'Kell. Silaqui the Sorceress was in no mood to mince words with the paladin, and spotting him first she made him hold at the edge of the encampment. There she had him strip naked so that she could begin to inspect him for bites, claw marks, and a large silver piece that she had shoved into the back of the werewolf during last night's battle while Yonkal the Artificer readied herself to strike him down if he resisted.

Together the pair inspected him their best but were unconvinced with their results so they asked the cleric Nef of Boccob (who had joined them that morning) and Gwaine, cleric of the Red Knight, to inspect the paladin. The two clerics moved slowly about the preening Jar'Kell until Nef had positioned himself behind the paladin - it was then that he struck. Swinging his heavy flail Nef struck down Jar'Kell proclaiming, "This mother fucker's a god-damned werewolf! Get this fool!"

That attack let loose the tension and resentment that had been bound up in the group, and before Gwaine could correct Nef's proclamation the paladin was down. Silaqui crouched over the unconscious paladin with her dagger at his throat as Gwaine vehemently argued that Nef was wrong, Jar'Kell was not a werewolf, he had fucking rabies. Silaqui would not be convinced until Nef confirmed Gwaine's diagnoses, and even after the cleric of Boccob had done so she got one last strike in against the foolish paladin.

The first room and already down a man

While the remainder of the party continued to fight amongst themselves over what to do with the damned paladin Elias the Monk sat quietly near the cavern's entrance and so was the first to notice the sounds from the mountain's top. There he heard a great commotion and he drew the groups attention away from their internal struggles and toward the greater problem at hand. Their own problems forgotten for the moment the group quickly decided on a course of action: into the caverns they would go and hope to sneak up on whatever is happening above.

Entering into the cavern they once again approached the underground lake and the canoes that had been set against the shore. This time they did not hesitate to enter them and pushed off into the unknown. In the first boat Elias the Monk and Silaqui the Sorceress rode, in the second came Nef, Cleric of Boccob, and Yonkal the Artificer, and in the final boat rode Gwaine, Cleric of the Red Knight, and Jar'Kell - who still slumbered in the boat.

The group moved along the wall and its massive relief of snakes, hybrid snake men, and of men being fed to some vile snake god. The walls seemed to writhe as they passed it, and perhaps it was some vile magic at work for they were distracted and did not see the gigantic crocodile that swam under them. 

It was too bad that they did not see it; for when it struck it shattered the boat Yonkal the Artificer and Nef, Cleric of Boccob, rode. Nef was knocked unconscious as he was thrown from the boat and within short order he was consumed by the crocodile. Meanwhile, Yonkal would be battling for her life against four smaller brutes!

From left to right, Biggboy (arm only), Kid Icarus, Master Planner, and the Glorious L

It was then that Elias the Monk sprang into action; leaping out of the boat and running across the large rock he vaulted onto one of Yonkal's assailants and began a battle deep under the water against a foe far more at home in those murky depths.While far above him Gwaine, Cleric of the Red Knight, strode across the rocky outcropping aglow with divine providence as he sought to aid Yonkal.

Great, devil-men, werewolves, and giant crocks. It's like we're in a fucked up version of the Wizard of Oz!

Gwaine would unleash his divine might against the crocodiles surrounding Yonkal as she made good her escape, but was unable to harm her assailants. Yet even as Yonkal made to higher ground all held their breaths waiting to find out Elias fate. 

For tense moments they scanned the waters only to find Elias had not surfaced. Then, just as hope began to fade, he burst from the water dragging his foe from the lake. And with the gentle patience that only a monk could muster, Elias calmed his foe and released him back into the wilds. 

"Great," said Silaqui the Sorceress, "devil-men, werewolves, and giant crocks. It's like we're in a fucked up version of the Wizard of Oz!"

What I've Learned

This session was a blast and after several sessions of feeling like I'm just one step off of my game I finally feel like I've knocked one out of the park. It really felt good to do that.

Couple cool things I've added to my game. When New Boy sat down at the table I presented him with a choice of envelopes. One would hold a full understanding of what happened to his paladin, Jar'Kell, during the previous night and the other would provide him with nothing. He, unfortunately for him, chose the one that revealed nothing.

That sort of choice seemed to really work well for him as it prevented everyone else from meta-gaming his responses and added a new level of tension to the proceedings that can often go missing without some form of private correspondence. 

I also provided 3 envelopes for the only skill check of the night that I could foresee: was Jar'Kell the werewolf. In the first envelope for checks with a score of 15 or less I wrote the message, Dude is absolutely a fucking werewolf. Get him yo! For checks of 16-19 I wrote, Could be a werewolf, could just be fucking sick with something foul. And for results of 20 or more I wrote, Dude has rabies - mother fucking rabies!

Biggboy, one sexy bastard.

 

I would be lying if I told you that those messages, which could only be read by people who made the check, weren't a hit. They had players laughing and they were able to add to the tension as Biggboy failed his first check and immediately moved to kill New Boy (which I predicted he would).

Really a lot of fun.

Dyvers Session 004: A New Chapter

If you're new to the Dyvers Campaign you can start from the beginning by reading the article The Dyvers Campaign Begins. You can also catch up on all the related campaign notes, session write-ups, house rules, and campaign fluff by reading the Dyvers Campaign Page.  

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He questioned their guides about the "Devil-men" and soon recalled a story told only in passing of a chaotic force bound to the destruction of the universe. A legend he had thought it, but perhaps not.

After traveling for several weeks through torrential downpours and wading through swamp muck the group of brave adventurers had finally gotten a clue as to where the threat hinted at by Tomas might come. They had found themselves in the company of the Lake Geneva Wahoos, a friendly tribe that had welcomed them with open arms, and began to hear tales of a vile group of devil-men who had been raiding local tribes.

Paige the Gully Dwarf was delighted to hear that the village needed help - so delighted in fact that she struck a hard bargain for the groups' aid: two quivers of arrows and a ceremonial dagger that was so rusted that not even Yonkal Hillstrider, the artificer, believed she might fix it. All the same the deal was made and the group traveled east with their guides Moe, Larry, and Curly. As they traveled along listening to their trio of brave guides their newest party member, Gwaine the Cleric of the Red Knight, seemed to be ill at ease with these "Devil-men." He questioned their guides about the "Devil-men" and soon recalled a story told only in passing of a chaotic force bound to the destruction of the universe. A legend he had thought it, but perhaps not.

At last the guides had brought the party to the great totem pole which protected the tribe from the Devil-men. Here the guides announced that they would go no further and ran from the spot. Jar'Kell, the scarred Paladin of Heironeous, attempted to goad them into staying but without any success.

Slowly, the group began to move forward up the sloping path toward the top of the mountain. The path they traveled had clearly seen lots of traffic as they could plainly see numerous tracks leading up and coming back from the mountain top. Ruts in the path made the going somewhat difficult but the group of brave adventurers were able to navigate the way without incident. 

Night was fast approaching when Paige the Gully Dwarf noticed a hidden cave entrance off to the west. She announced her discovery to the group and made her way over to the entrance where she boldly hid in the bushes as Gwaine inspected it for ambush or traps. Finding neither, Jar'Kell led the way into the cave where he quickly found a very deep pit. There was a discussion over how deep the pit was and how best to discern its depth when Paige grew tired of their blathering and dropped her Sunrod down the pit.

Gwaine sputtered over the loss of such a valuable item while Silaqui the Elven Sorceress counted the seconds of its descent. Forty seconds did the sunrod fall and so she reasoned that the pit was some 200 ft deep. A great discussion was then had as the group debated how to traverse the pit. Eventually a decision was met and everyone successfully made it across - only to find that Jar'Kell could not spend the night in the cave. 

"When that fucker returns he's stripping naked, and if I find a goddamned silver coin in his back I'm slitting his fucking throat!"

It was agreed that the group would spend the night at the cavern's mouth and take watches throughout the night without a fire as the full moon would give them plenty of light to see any approach. Throughout Yonkal's watch Jar'Kell seemed to be coming down with some ailment that only got worse as the night wore on. He claimed that his skin seemed to be on fire and his belly burned. He vomited blood and soon found himself running as fast and as far away from the cave as his legs could carry him. Yonkal watched him go without a word spoken and woke up Paige the Gully Dwarf to cover his shift. 

Paige sat up watching the night pass while everyone else slept. What thoughts crossed her mind as she watched the path up to the Devil-men's village and listened to the howls of a growing number of wolves I cannot say. But as the wolves came closer she woke the others - only to find herself too late as a werewolf broke through the undergrowth and attacked!

The battle was fierce but in the end the group won the day. Yonkal was badly injured and Silaqui now voiced her belief that Jar'Kell had been the werewolf. Stating flatly that, "When that fucker returns he's stripping naked, and if I find a goddamned silver coin in his back I'm slitting his fucking throat!"

What I've Learned

After last week's disaster of a session what a relief tonight was. Things went well and everyone seemed to have a much better time of things. I changed up from my normal grid-less style of play to providing the players with some visuals. Normally we don't even use miniatures but tonight I wanted to try that out and see if it improved the overall play experience. So far the verdict is in the positive.

New Boy was better behaved on this occasion and seemed to enjoy the game quite a bit more than last time. He has apparently not learned that when you provide a Dungeon Master with a hook into your character that a good one will yank on it. His scarring was done at night by an animal that he never got a look at, so he didn't know what happened. 

I love when players say things like that.

During combat I intentionally moved New Boy out of the scenario so that I could let him run the monster. This way he would get to see how combat in my games works when you're not directly involved in the conflict and it would alert him to the idea that he can't really let himself be an inactive participant in the game when his character isn't there.

Dyvers Session 003

If you're new to the Dyvers Campaign you can start from the beginning by reading the article The Dyvers Campaign Begins. You can also catch up on all the related campaign notes, session write-ups, house rules, and campaign fluff by reading the Dyvers Campaign Page.  

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The session began with Tomas talking with the group after the previous night's events. In a stuttering, restrained manner he explained that he could not help them directly with their situation as events were beginning to unfold in the world of Oerth that brought dark tidings and if he were found to be involved with them things would only be exacerbated. What he could do, however, was to introduce them to some new traveling companions that might help them in finding the root cause of these bizarre events and point them in the direction of Deadfall Moors.

Rillen the Changeling and Yonkal Hillstrider (the only two original characters that were being played that night) were introduced to Tok the Half-orc Bard, Meg the Half-elven Sorceress (and sister to Tok), Brian the Brawling Sorcerer, and Jar'Kell the Paladin of Heironeous. The group mulled their options for most of that day as Jar'Kell argued that they should avoid the Deadfall Moors and instead head to Veluna so that they might combat the hordes of humanoids that threaten to overwhelm that once proud land. By the following day he had relented and agreed to follow everyone else into the Deadfall Moors. 

Rain was coming down heavily as the group made their way east and hunger soon had them making camp. Brian laid down in Yonkal's tent and was fast asleep while Tok attempted to play his lute without much success. As Tok's out of tune lute playing continued Yonkal and Meg attempted to learn about each other.; while Rillen the Changeling and Jar'Kell left the camp: Rillen to hunt and Jar'Kell to scout ahead.

Yonkal and Meg wisely choose to stay the fuck away from the big fucking deer.

After some time Jar'Kell determined that his scouting was essentially fruitless and decided to hunt instead. He stealthily moved through the woods until he came to a clearing some hundred yards north of the campsite. There he spotted a deer larger than any he had ever seen before. It was easily three feet broad and its antlers were so large that his six foot wing span could not encompass them. He took aim, fired, and watched in dumb disbelief as the massive beast turned on him and charged. 

With a single strike the deer bloodied Jar'Kell and tore the front of his armor to shreds. He cried out as it then stomped on his leg and turned to leave. Unfortunately for poor Rillen it turned just in time to avoid his magical strike.

All of the commotion of the battle had gotten the attention of the camp and soon Yonkal, Meg, and Tok had abbandoned Brian as they rushed to discover what had happened. Yonkal and Meg would be the first to arrive; just in time to see Rillen's now lifeless body being shaken like a ragdoll by the massive deer. Jar'Kell drew his falchon and attacked the beast only to be dropped as well. 

Yonkal and Meg wisely choose to stay the fuck away from the big fucking deer.

Tok, on the other hand, charged into the beast and was soon enraged. It was then that Meg revealed his secret to Yonkal: Tok was no bard, rather he was a barbarian. Tok and deer exchanged blows until finally Tok cleaved its head from its shoulders.

What I've Learned

After nearly a five week layoff from playing Dungeons and Dragons we finally got to play the Dyvers campaign again. I love running an ongoing campaign but after such a long layover I should not have allowed three new players to come in; but my brother and his wife were able to play for the first time in three years and I just couldn't say no to them and I wanted to interject some new blood into the group . . . The end result was a night where the game did not live up to its normal levels of enjoyment for me or for the group. The Master Planner in particular seemed to have a terrible time and that just bummed me the fuck out. I take a lot of pride in how my sessions go and when things get wonky I take it very personally.

The other problem was New Boy. He has potential to be a really good player, but he has been around too many bad players up to this point. He has no table manners and attempts to dominate the game. Twice I had to instruct him that it was someone else's turn and that he would have to wait for his to come up again. A third time and I would have kicked him from the table. 

Biggboy will just fucking kill his character and move on.

I can clearly see where he has been playing and who he has been playing with in the two years since I last gamed with him. I can see their fingerprints in how he role-plays and how he thinks the action should take place. From Neverwas, the World's Greatest Liar, and the Madman he's been taught that each player should attempt to dominate the action and that the others should just fucking suck it up. He should be contrary and self-important. In a word: a douche. 

I will break him of sucking eggs just as I have every other player who attempted that shit at my table and I will enjoy watching the Master Planner, Step-up, and the Might She as they mold him into a great player that can hang with the best of them. That is unless Biggboy comes in with the next session. 

Biggboy will just fucking kill his character and move on.

My plan now is to go back to my old stand-by and relearn my craft by reading my Referee's Toolbox file that I keep on my computer. I've filled it with all the important articles on Dungeon Mastering I've encountered over the last few years. It seems like every time I have a bad session rereading that file really helps me get back into the proper groove.