Monday MtG: Away Decks Playtest

Situations resulted in my getting most of Saturday to game, so I joined some friends (mostly former students from a decade ago) and traded and played Magic until I left with a mild headache.  It has been more than a decade since I gamed to a headache.

Regardless, we played numerous games, to include several runs of the Away Decks, both against traditional decks, and then one 4-way game against one another and my Sygg deck.  This latter game took nearly two hours to finish due to how evenly matched the decks were.  

It ended to Approach of the Second Sun being cast twice.  The BG deck controlled the game throughout, constantly recurring all sorts of nonsense (often Gray Merchant) with Sepulchral Primordial and Beacon of Unrest.   Along the way, lots of sweepers were played, to include a Blasphemous Act for 8R. Sadly, no Brash Taunter shenanigans played out, and poor Torbran ended up with a handful of 5 and 6 cmc cards in hand.

Favorite play of the day: Torbran vs Marrow-Gnawer vs Sefris of the Hidden Ways

The Marrow-Gnawer deck started as mine, and then I sold it to its current pilot, who has been tinkering ever since.  It worked this game, with an early Thrumming Stone followed by solid ripples into 25 Relentless Rats by turn six.  Once the rippling had finished resolving, Torbran used Brash Taunter on a rat to halve Marrow-Gnawer's life total.  Torbran followed up with Disrupt Decorum to buy a turn (sorry, Sefris), then Taunted Brashly again for the win.

Overall, I got some solid feedback on the various decks.  

UW should use Shabraz, the Skyshark as Commander, not Brago, because Shabraz gets scary quick and Brago takes some set up.  Otherwise, it does its thing (UW flyers) and does it well enough.  Sticking slavishly to a theme means missing out on otherwise good cards, and it hurts.

The BG deck needs finishers, and Exsanguinate and Torment of Hailfire were both specifically mentioned.  Torment is out of budget, but Exsanguinate is possible.  Given how often the deck had an army of critters on its field, Overrun or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa could work as well.  In this vein, Triumph of the Hordes is ideal, but like Torment, is out of budget.  Chevill's Bounty Hunting did some amazing work, making him worth paying 12 to cast at one point.  

Then again, I can lean into the creatures by adding Kamahl, Heart of Krosa and a suitable black partner - maybe Sengir, the Dark Baron.  

Everyone wants to see Sol Ring and the usual suspects of rocks in the decks, but I had to remind them that these are unlikely to actually be played as full commander decks, anyhow, which mollified them a bit.  

Overall, I consider this project about done, and look forward to the August-September timeframe, when these decks should migrate to their new home in Ohio.

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I also got in several Commander duels, most of which were dictated by who dropped turn 1 Sol Rings.  I can understand the arguments as to why it (and other cheap rocks) are banned in some Commander formats, notably Duel Commander (sometimes called French Commander).  It is too large an advantage to fight against, especially if your deck is not designed for dueling: average cmc of 3 or lower, all the rocks, tuned for efficiency, not interesting or bizarre plays.

Mostly, I am not a fan of duels, because I like the interactions of lots of people in a game, instead of one.  Plus, a dueling deck is its own animal and in Commander, needs to be of cEDH quality to be worth it.  By this, I mean lots of interaction via instants and more importantly, all the mana rocks, because speed is king in a duel.

Speaking of other Commander formats, I just discovered this - Dungeon EDH.  If nothing else, its worth a read.  

Other Magic-related discoveries from this game day: a decent Rogue tribal deck under Anowan, the Ruin-Thief is a strong deck; Traverse the Outlands is even more ridiculous than reading it suggests - if you own one, play it.  

 

Magic Item: Cloak of Shadows

This dark hooded cloak is cool to the touch and always smells faintly of damp earth (being created from used grave shrouds, it makes sense).  Detect Magic reveals transmutation and necromancy magic.  Those that look for it also finds the Cloak of Shadows radiates mild Evil and milder sentience and malevolence.

Donning the cloak does nothing, but pulling the hood up over your head provides the wearer with several traits of Shadows, nominally the amorphous and shadow stealth traits.  Removing the hood brings the wearer back to reality, which can be fatal if in a place to small for their body.

However, malevolent, necromantic, and evil magic always comes at a cost.  

Image found on Twitter, by Lemoris Ashcraft @infernalshroud

In this case, the cost is as follows:  after each use, there is a cumulative chance that the wearer becomes a proper shadow, with the cloak detaching and falling to the ground in heap.  

Each wearer starts at 0%, and adds 1% per hood-donning. When the wearer goes to remove the hood, percentile dice are rolled, and the if the numbers come up at the percent or lower, the wearer moves to NPC status as a full free-willed shadow.  At this point, the wearer's gear falls from shadow into physical space with a clatter and thump, the Cloak of Shadows atop the pile.  

In addition, keeping the hood up for too long can add to the cumulative percentage.  If the wearer stays hooded for more than one turn, they suffer a level of exhaustion for each turn or fragment thereof.  A PC that dies from exhaustion inflicted by the Cloak of Shadows becomes a shadow, drifting free of its belongings as its mortal frame turns to dust.  

From 0% thru 49% the Cloak of Shadows is just a useful tool for sneaks and scouts.

At 50% a remove curse spell is required to remove the cloak; unhooding requires a DC12 Wisdom save; the Shadow trait of Sunlight Weakness takes hold, so the wearer suffers disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws while in sunlight. 

At 75% the cloak whispers to the wearer, suggesting being used.  This plays out with the GM directly asking the player if the PC uses the cloak.  The unhooding save increases to DC 14.

At 80% the unhooding save increases to DC 16.  The Cloak whispers to the PC in dreams and when alone; long rests are disrupted by nightmares if the PC fails a DC 12 Wisdom save. 

At 90% the unhooding save increases to DC 18.  The Cloak's sentience and malevolence becomes active, and unhooding saves are at disadvantage.  Nightmares are a DC 14 Wisdom save and continue even if the PC successfully gets rid of the Cloak of Shadows.

At 99% the unhooding save becomes DC 20 at disadvantage as the Cloak is screaming into the PC's mind to join it in Shadow.  

At 100% the PC becomes a shadow as described further up post.

Nether Shadow, Christopher Rush, 1993 Magic Card

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GM Note: the GM can keep the growing number a secret if that is their jam, or they can create suspense and tension and paranoia by having the player keep up with the number, but not telling the player why.

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Something like this may already exist, and if so, someone please let me know.

Monday MtG: Away Decks Reprise

I've written about these away decks before.  Of the three decks, the UW and BG decks have only seen small changes, but the R deck has been torn down to the lands and rebuilt almost entirely.  This rebuild is due to both my continual dissatisfaction with it and the great card discussions in the FB Group Budget Magic.

The premise is still the same: A monored burn deck for a creature-heavy meta, where most games have 4-6+ players.  In a pinch, the deck needs to function as a true Commander deck, so the deck's construction follows the Commander rules of 100 cards, no off-color mana, and one (or more) Legendary creatures to feature as the actual commander.  Lastly, the deck will never be tinkered with again once sent off to Ohio.  Here is the final(ish) decklist.

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My first major reworking involves the anticipated commander.  Originally, the plan was Heartless Hidetsugu, with the deck kinda-sorta built around him.  Unfortunately, to run that commander properly, the deck needs at least a dozen ways to make haste, as well as a few ways to avoid the life loss, and doing so prevented other things I wanted to include.  So, while Heartless Hidetsugu is still in the 99, I now have other options.

Better options.  Far better options.

Krenko, Mob Boss is technically one of them, but to be a Commander, the deck would need far more Goblin support than I want to run, so instead Krenko is here to make tokens for blocking and Skullclamping, not swarming and winning. Besides, for Krenko to work, I would need to cast him every game, which would only happen IF playing Commander, and that is not a guarantee.

That said, Torbran and Toralf are both in the deck, with Torbran edging out the God of Fury by just a bit.  Both like burn, but Torbran supports it better.  Etali, Primal Dawn isn't under consideration, because, like Heartless Hidetsugu, it demands haste to work.  Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded is sweet, being an indestructible bruiser, but I simply prefer Torbran more.

Supporting Torbran are Toralf and Gratuitous Violence, which plays extra nice with Heartless Hidetsugu, popping any player with an even life total - even myself.  If this deck was still focused on Heartless, I would add more damage doublers, but as it isn't, I have more space for other nonsense instead, and am enjoying that freedom.

Loxodon Warhammer and Basilisk Collar can keep me alive and are plain silly on Heartless Hidetsugu.  Still, the bane of burn is excessive lifegain, and while there are several red ways to stop it, I am sticking to just Quakebringer, because he also deals upkeep damage AND hits for at least 5.  

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Being intended for multiplayer games, there are several cards in the 99 geared for that in the deck:  Court of Ire, Frenzied Saddlebrute, Disrupt Decorum, Emberwilde Captain, War's Toll, and Insurrection.  The last is there to win the game if nothing else does, and from experience, Insurrection does win games.  

Initially, I disregarded Court of Ire, but now that Torbran is the Commander, it seems a must, burning for 4 or 9 while Torbran is in play.  Drawing cards off Monarch is a bonus.

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The only thing better than burning folks with sorceries and instants, is doing so multiple times.  At 5 cmc, Pyromancer's Goggles is too expensive to consider ramp, but is just dandy for copying spells.  

I have other means to reuse/copy spells in the deck, but the Goggles promises to be the most reliable - or the most reliably killed, depending on how the game goes.  Increasing Vengeance, Wild Ricochet, Dualcaster Mage, and Radiant Performer all provide alternate means to copy spells.  Backdraft Hellkite is in the deck to provide a hint of recursion, for even more copies.  

(My dream play is flashing in Radiant Performer in response to the Chaos Warp that is also in the 99).   

There are other spells in the deck that I look forward to copying, notably Volcanic Offering, Mana Geyser, Seething Song, and Beacon of Destruction.  

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Drawing cards is difficult for monored, yet it is crucial for a burn deck.   My most reliable source of draw is Skullclamp.  To support it, the deck includes Kher Keep, Krenko, and both Squees.  Skullclamp is backed up by Reforge the Soul, Knollspine Dragon, Electric Revelation, and Monarch. 

Some indirect support lies in Etali, Hoarding Dragon, and Sunbird's Invocation.  In theory, an opposing draw spell can be copied or redirected, as well.

There are no other draw spells in the deck for two reasons. First, I am simply not a fan of red's 'exile and cast this turn' nor 'discarding to draw'.  Second, the Ohio group uses a houserule where a player can eschew a draw to reveal cards from the library top until a land is revealed, with the nonlands randomly shuffled and moved to the bottom of the deck.   So fewer support spells for more business spells.

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The biggest change to the deck has been the addition of Brash Taunter, Stuffy Doll, and a host of support cards for them: Fatal Attraction, Basilisk Collar, Blazing Sunsteel, Fiendlash.  The last two turning more of my creatures into death machines when I inevitably cast one of my mass damage spells. The Collar on Taunter means a free murder machine.  In truth, this might be my favorite use of the Collar, even moreso than on Hidetsugu.

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A card I am on the fence about is Repercussion. It is in the 99, because so much in this deck supports it, yet I only have one card in the deck that might keep me from losing to it, as well: Glacial Chasm.  

There are also two life-gaining equipment, but they're a more unreliable 'defense' than Glacial Chasm.   

Reprint this, WotC! Then make a creature version (with Flash!) and an instant version, as well.

One casting of Hour of Devastation or Storm's Wrath can end games with Repercussion in play, and combat math changes drastically while it is on the battlefield.  All things considered, I can see myself getting burned by this more often than not - which is fine.  I am good with a draw and occasionally being hoisted on my own petard.

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Red answers most problems with direct damage.  What damage cannot remove, is probably an artifact or land.  Enchantments escape scott-free.  Vandalblast and Structural Assault are for the artifacts that bother me, while Volcanic Offering and Ghost Quarter handle problematic lands.  Frankly, all red decks should run Vandalblast and Volcanic Offering - they are THAT useful.  Chaos Warp, Steel Hellkite, and Silverclad Ferocidons (kind of) handle everything else.

Ideally, Silverclad Ferocidons is run alongside Pyrohemia, but Brash Taunter works well, too!

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I'll close with the creatures that are mostly likely to carry the day to victory.  Being Red, there are several dragons and a few armies-in-a-can, backed up by support creatures mentioned earlier.  

Spawn of Thraxes, Hunted Dragon, Stormbreath Dragon, Inferno Titan, Siege-Gang Commander, Beetleback Chief, and Etali, Primal Storm.  This is in addition to the Steel Hellkite, Quakebringer, Silverclad Ferocidons, Backdraft Hellkite, Hoarding Dragon, and Knollspine Dragon mentioned earlier in the post.

I know what you're thinking - "wow, there's a lot of dragons in this deck!" and you wouldn't be wrong.  It turns out flying creatures are solid additions in a creature-heavy meta.  There's enough dragons that I'm tempted to add some Dragon-specific cards to the deck: Dragon's Fire, Spit Flame, Sarkhan's Triumph, Draconic Intervention, Sarkhan's Dragonfire, and Sarkhan, Dragonsoul.  I won't add them, but am sorely tempted.  

A remnant of my original deck's plan of Haste-for-all is Ogre Battledriver and Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded, both of which provide my team the haste needed to ensure they connect.  I believe that the more players in a game, the more useful Haste becomes, as more players means more opportunities for an unfortunate sorcery to remove the critters before they can swing.  

When there's a whip, there's a way!

As an aside, Purphoros is a bruiser himself, once there is enough devotion in play. Speaking of devotion, Fanatic of Mogis is also in the deck, as it plays nicely in a red permanent-heavy deck, especially when damage-doubling enchantments are involved.  Before Fanatic of Mogis was printed, I used Deathforge Shaman in this role - but that can be too mana-intensive and doesn't blink well.  

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Overall, I've made substantial changes, but I am now happy with the deck, especially the internal synergies it contains.  Average cmc is 4ish, which means I'm unlikely to do much during the early game, which isn't always an issue in games with lots of players, as early threats eat up the early answers.

By no means is this is the perfect Torbran deck, because odds are good it won't be used for traditional Commander games.  Being modeled on such decks, though, takes the deck an important extra step.  If this deck were guaranteed to be used in Commander games, it would include Manabarbs and Pyrohemia, as well as a variety of rocks.  

But, I cannot make that guarantee, so the deck goes without.

There are numerous other cards that could work in the deck, but the good-idea window is closed, both due to cost and due to it getting more difficult to make the cuts.  If interested in what I think those, follow the link to the decklist up near the top, and check out the maybeboard.

Lastly, I will at some point convert my Heartless Hidetsugu to a Torbran deck, using this decklist as a base, so when I write about that, we can compare notes, as that deck will lack budgetary restraints.

Ironguard Keep: Session 18 and 19

It turns out that I have only 18 sessions logged, and I have already shared the 18th and final write-up HERE.

That said, I am convinced (and our Discord Channel supports my conviction) that we held one more game after that session.

I don't have a complete write up for you, merely a notes compilation.

It follows.

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THE Group returned to Ironguard Keep, ready to celebrate their hard-won victory over Chaos.  Upon arrival, though, they found the Keep in disarray and fear.

It seems there had been several gruesome murders since the PCs last left, all related to that vampire Albrecht freed back in Session 12.  Theodotus of Byzantium had been busy while the PCs were off casting down a Chaos Temple.

Being heroes (and maybe feeling a bit guilty), THE Group nobly decided to put down the vampire threat.  They may have been egged on by the sentient sword Glory, that they recovered from the sarcophagus of under the Chaos Temple.

Through use of divination and magic sword, they determined there was a cave of sorts at the bottom of the well (Knowledge: Gaming Tropes), and down they went.

It being daytime, the vampire was asleep in its coffin (don't ask how it got down there - loyally charmed minions, no doubt).  So they went at it all Lost Boys style, staking and slaying.

Discord suggests victory. 

Thus ends the chronicles of Ironguard Keep, the first campaign.

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We plan to pick up again for the summer, though not with all the same PCs.

As a reward for following along, here is a link to a great series at the Alexandrian, called the GM Don't List.  A fairly quick read overall - go read it!

Monday MtG: Theorycrafting a Commander Deck

I was reading comments in the FB group Budget Magic and this card was mentioned. It intrigued me enough to start researching a deck.  There will be overlap between this deck and my Xenagod deck, if only in the creatures chosen.

Halana and Alena, Partners

For variety's sake, I am leaning towards using precombat sorceries and combat instants to pump up these two, and in turn pump up other creatures.

This allows me to make use of Wild Defiance, which is a card that has yet to find a home for me.  Between WD and various pump spells, I suspect this deck can end up quite... silly.

Granted, using auras, equipment, and +1/+1 counters would arguably be more efficient, but I really want to make use of WD and this is the best method. Gamble is the only way to reliably tutor WD up, but Green provides numerous options to pull it out of the graveyard, so there is that.  Related to WD is Primeval Bounty, which should play nicely with what this deck does.

Before I get too carried away, I need to do some backwards planning.  100 cards - 45 cards for land and dedicated ramp (rock or spell) = 55 business cards.  I'm thinking at least 25 creatures, leaving 30 various spells - some already addressed above.  

That in mind, I need Giant Growth variants that also cantrip.  Research suggests these instants: Aggressive Urge, Feral Instinct, Fists of Flame, Sudden Strength, Viridescent Wisps, and Wildsize.  Might of the Old Ways is a maybe, because I don't yet know how well coven works in play.  Sorceries are limited to Hunter's Prowess, Scale the Heights, and Unnatural Moonrise.  

I'll need creatures to pump up, otherwise, this entire exercise is for naught.  Halana, Kessig Ranger and Alena, Kessig Trapper are auto-includes.  So are Deus of Calamity, Hydra Omnivore, Managorger Hydra, Phyrexian Hydra, Gargos, Vicious Watcher, Inferno Titan (besties with Keen Sense and Snake Umbra), and Xenagod would all be in the deck. 

Recursion is always a good thing:  Cyclical Evolution, Increasing Savagery, Backdraft Dragon, Reckless Charge, and Seize the Day are the first cards that come to mind.

Answers are a must for any deck.  Answers that play into what I want this deck to do are ideal: Inscription of Abundance, Explosive Entry.  Sadly, this is it, except for spells that boost and damage creatures/planeswalkers, like Domri's Ambush.  If I lean into the fight mechanic, then Neyith of the Dire Hunt is a shoe-in, as well, which means Ulvenwald Tracker and Epic Confrontation, as well.

Fighting leads to Contested Cliffs if I end up with a Beast subtheme.  Beasts tie in nicely with hunters, trappers, and rangers.  

That handles creature-removal.

One card I know I want in the deck is Pyromancer's Goggles.  At 5 cmc, I don't consider it a piece of ramp, but a fine means of copying spells.  

I can only imagine the havoc this wreaks in a UR spellslinger deck.

So that is about 30 cards, and the rest will come about as I go through my boxes and draft up a full decklist.  Listing and linking the staples in these colors would make for an unnecessarily long post of expected results. Tentative Decklist.

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For variety's sake, I could take this a snow route. Doing so justifies running Spirit of the Aldergard, Blessing of Frost, Blizzard Brawl, Glacial Crevasses, Into the North, Scrying Sheets, Skred, and Svella, Ice Shaper.   Maybe even Dark Depths.

More importantly, it means I would need to pick up 15 or 16 copies each of Snow-Covered Forest and Snow-Covered Mountain, which is still cheaper than a like amount of Snow-Covered Islands, and to be honest, to build the Heidar, Rimewind Master Commander deck, I would need 30 or 32 Snow-Covered Islands.  And here I thought that a monocolor deck would have a cheap manabase.

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As an aside, I need to just build a Hydra deck.  I've been acquiring pieces over the years: Gargos as Commander, Hydra's Growth, Branching Evolution, Hardened Scales, Kalonian Hydra, Mighty Emergence, Primeval Bounty, Lifeblood Hydra, Evolutionary Escalation, Castle Garenbrig, and Unbound Flourishing. 

Ironguard Keep: Session 17

This fight was easily the largest set piece battle yet in the campaign, and maybe in all my years of running combats.  I don't know if 5e makes it better or worse.

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12/17/20 - PCs in attendance - Yelrah, Klayton, THE, Albrecht

NPCs in attendance - Kirsten, Morgan, pseudodragon, Ori, Ulster

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This session saw more cleanup of the Chaos Temple. 

That night in Klayton's cabin, Klayton read through those captured papers, discovering a proper map, a verbal map in a journal, a protection scroll, and a curse! 

As the curse took hold, Klayton’s skin and muscle became invisible, leaving him an altogether disconcerting being to look upon.  The retainers whispered among themselves, with glances at Klayton, but otherwise did nothing.

Their monstrous champion slain, the Chaos Cultists retreated to marshal the last of their forces.   The PCs obliged them, entering the next day, ready for owlbear.  Their explorations brought them to a small chapel, with four ancient blood-stained vessels upon an altar.  Albrecht moved forward to investigate and could see waves of pulsating evil emanating from them.  Klayton used Mage Hand and a vial of holy water to clean off some of the dried blood, but lo! the vessel washed began to bubble and pop and smoke under the water, dissolving before their eyes! As this happened, the same bell from last episode tolled again. 

Knowing a good thing when he sees it, Klayton washed the other implements away with holy water, tolling the bell repeatedly as the items melted and sizzled away.  The others readied themselves for inevitable combat and a probable last stand - and the Chaos Cultists obliged them.

Four acolytes charged into the room, but were handily dispatched by the party, with THE Group sustaining little damage themselves.  During this skirmish, Klayton’s pseudodragon flew down the hall and spied a large group advancing towards the party, and sped back to warn its master.

The final acolyte fell as a legion of undead (seriously - 20 skeletons and 20 zombies, right out of the B2 room descriptions) led by the high priestess arrived.  

An unending horde of undead, no doubt influenced by the cover of Dragon #69, forever etched in my mind.

Immediately after the DM described the priestess (flaming locks of auburn hair, ivory skin, and eyes of emerald green), an arrow from Kirsten not only hit with a 20, but the damage dice kept exploding, slaying Jolene before she could cast one lousy spell.  As the priestess tumbled to the ground, arrow through her black heart, her legions of zombies and skeletons advanced!

While the DM was chuckling and reaching for his virtual dice, THE Svetlo turned all but 5 of the undead! The turned undead shambled back from whence they came and the party made short work of the 5 that remained. 

Still mostly unscathed, THE Group advanced, leaving Albrecht and Kirsten to loot the bodies (mostly for the priestess’s platemail and a bag of rings (gathered from the crawling claws from last session)).  

Advancing, they found the main chaos temple, with its large iron bell, its undulating paints and overall horrid design.  More importantly, THE Group began to grind the undead down.  Despite laying waste to many skeletons and zombies, the undead kept advancing, and the party began a fighting withdrawal which damn near became a rout. 

This fight took most of the session, to be honest, with little to write about beyond dice rolls and moving about the map.

To the DM’s chagrin, no party members were slain, though many were reduced to single digit hit points and out of spells.  They now cower in the woods as I type this, debating their next move.  

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As might be imagined, pretty much the entire session was combat.  To somewhat speed things along, I broke the undead hosts into groups of five for initiative, but it only helped a bit.  

Next time, I am assigning NPCs to each player to run, since they are allied anyhow.

Ironguard Keep: Session 16

Like many campaigns, scheduling was impacting our game, and this was the beginning of the end.  As an important refresher, this game was played via Discord, hence the references to memes and such.

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12/10/20 - PCs in attendance - Yelrah, Klayton, THE, Albrecht

NPCs in attendance - Kirsten, Morgan, pseudodragon, Ori, Ulster

 

DM Note: Yes, it has been about three months since last session, and we had left off not so much in mid-battle, but in mid-response to battle.  Also, we now intend to play on Thursday nights.

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THE noble band of adventurers picked up from where they left off, and opted to loot the large chest, rather than escape and heal up.  Determining no traps upon it (by virtue of a 3 on a d20), the bold sorcerer Albrecht opened it (and failing a perception check at the midpoint) and was attacked by a swarm of Crawling Claws! Before falling under the onslaught of 8 of the 16 desiccated hands, he noticed glowing rings around many of the fingers. 

(DM Note - those blade-armed zombies from last session were foreshadowing! I wish I could cite the appropriate inspirational blogpost to give credit for this idea).

Klayton responded with a Burning Hands that lived up to its name, toasting 15 of the 16 crawling claws (as well as dropping THE and Kirsten into death saves, alongside Albrecht - exploding damage hit 5 times from one die).  After desperate measures and surprising dice rolls, the final Crawling Claw was ripped from Yelrah’s throat by ever-helpful NPC Ulster, who crushed it in his mighty grip.

Canny application of party healing brought THE to consciousness, and from him, Albrecht and Kirsten.  THE band then boldly looted the giant chest, ignoring the chainmail-clad cultist corpses.  The chest held numerous sacks, which Klayton fed to the living piggy bank of Albrecht (DM note - at some point this was acquired from Constanzo's shop and not documented in the session logs).  

As coins dropped into the slot, the pig grew into an irascible boar, snorting and being generally hard to deal with, as boars are.  Then Albrecht made an Animal Handling check (18) and calmed the boar enough to get it to follow the others out of the caves. 

The cataloged treasure in the chest was:

●      500 gold coins (dumped in fleshpig)

●      heavy sack full of hacksilver, dented silver and gold dinnerware, and some jewelry (THE?)

●      sack of assorted papers (Klayton took this and texted the DM about contents once they were safe)

●      heavy sack of golden nuggets (Yelrah?)

●      sack containing a fine fur cloak wrapped around a magic dagger with a tassel on the pommel (Morgan? - Albrecht has dagger)

●      sack containing 3 bolts of silk (Kirsten?)

●      a large ingot of Mithril - two person carry, Ori and Ulster carried

Leaving behind two large ingots of Mithril (identified by Ori), the glowing rings on the fingers of the crawling claws, and the unlooted bodies of the fallen cultists, the band retreated to lick wounds and store/identify loot in Klayton’s Cottage (the DM needs to find a way to kill this).  

The retreat was contested by the THING from session 15 and some cultists. Albrecht nobly stayed behind to bar passage (ala Gandalf memes), and fired off some dangerous snowballs.  In response, the cultists fell back, but the THING advanced, its tongue whipping out and wrapping around Albrecht.  As the tongue dragged Albrecht closer to its gaping maw, Albrecht fought back with all his might (and his d30 for the evening, rolling a 29) and escaped its saliva-y clutches!  As always, THE group’s response was memes, and they were on point!

Albrecht bought the time the others needed, because they reached daylight and started for the treeline when Albrecht joined them - grossly wet and panting - with the THING hot on his heels, it bellowing all the while. 

Our heroes, bravely leading a charge to the rear.

At this point, THE group made a stand.  They formed a semicircle facing the cave entrance and let loose with everything they had left (which wasn’t much) when the THING made its appearance! Javelins, axes, crossbow bolts, arrows, and spells all flew at it, to little avail. 

The THING’s tongue wrapped around Yelrah and began dragging him towards certain doom… at first, Yelrah used the d30 to escape (barely), but when caught again, used Stone Cleaver to its best effect and reduced the THING’s initiative to last place.  Kirsten ran up to sever the tongue, but it was too rubbery and/or her blades were too dull, for it missed. 

Albrecht mostly saved the day with exploding (another 4 dice exploded - I love this houserule!) Magic Missiles, dealing 34 damage from one salvo.

Falling to the ground, the THING began to bubble and pop and melt away, and a ghostly figure rose out the dissolving remains.  It appeared to be a knight of some sort, who smiled and bowed in thanks to the PCs before disappearing.  As this happened, THE group heard a bell toll from … somewhere.

A location was found to set up the carpet-cottage, and the session ended within.  What are the odds something will find them during the night?

DM NOTE: Klayton is going through the sack o’ papers and found 4 leather scroll tubes and three journals - the rest of the papers are just filler. 

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Exploding or cascading damage dice make every combat exciting, even when PCs die to them, like poor Avalon under the owlbear claws several sessions back.  The d30 rule is also fun as well.   I highly recommend both be added to your games, even if they do make combat swingy.

I need to go find my actual notebook, as I have a distinct memory of making a list of magical rings, and want to add them to the DM notes or use them later if the PCs left them behind.

The bell tolling is either lifted from the DnD adventure Hero's Tale or a Pink Floyd lyric about 'the tolling of the iron bell' from the end of Time.  

Had this been an in-person game, I would use props for the scrolls, but not the journals, as I am not that creative.

Ironguard Keep: Session 15

 

8/24/20 - PCs in attendance - Klayton, Yelrah, THE, Albrecht

NPCs in attendance - pseudodragon, Ori, Morgan Ironwolf, Ulster, and Kirsten

The battle continues!

Those 6s the DM rolled up last session resulted in more Zombies approaching from the South, leaving the PCs in a bind - Zombies to east and south, Skeletons to the north, and a solid wall to the west!

The newest group of Zombies were observed to have no hands, but (rusty) sword blades instead.  

Like this, but many of them.  From Ravenous Miniatures.

Being THE Group, they attacked in all directions.  Skeletons and Zombies fell in quick succession, followed by a short exploration of the chambers to the north and east.  The chamber to the east contained only murals of dark, depraved, and disturbing imagery, involving chaos and its victims.  To the north was a throbbing, pulsing throne.  

Of course, the throne was sat upon.  (Also of course, due to wine and time lapse, the DM forgets the who sat upon it and the result.  HELP!)

As THE Group left the cave, they heard an awful howling (those DM 6s, yo) as a terrible beast charged towards them.  The beast stopped at the edge of the moonlight and began to pull the cave closed (don't ask its Strength score)!  Klayton reacted quickly, firing off an Eldritch Blast that blew a finger clean off the beast.  Yowling in pain, the thing retreated back into the darkness, leaving its finger to dissolve into a noxious mess in the moonlight.  Further investigation led to the discovery that the ooze was acidic enough to dissolve the arrow thrust into it, but was also not of enough volume to be scooped up in empty containers for future use as hand grenades. (a very specific amount of material, indeed!)

This is what charged them; from Goodman Games The Monster Alphabet

THE Group sought refuge for the night in Klayton’s Cabin (boy, does the DM regret this item), and after an eventless night, awoke to an overcast morning.  After breakfast, THE Group again entered the shrine, this time heading south, where they noticed the wide passage sloping down and then sharply turning north. At the turn, they also found a pair of doors.

One door was of stone and had the following chiseled into it:

“Woe be to ye that break the seal, for the wind of day, you’ll never feel.”

Opting for uncursed doors over cursed doors (cowards, the lot of them), THE Group forced the other door and beyond a short passage, discovered a quartet of angry cultists (no doubt because they lost initiative).  

Despite the tight confines of the entry passage, Klayton maneuvered and Eldritch Blasted one cultist (for 10 and 6 so two exploding damage dice) to death, and THE Svetlo landed a potent Guiding Bolt in the face of another (for 6, 6, 6, and 5, so three exploding damage dice).  With two comrades down, the remaining two cultists made their morale check and cast Sanctuary upon themselves and began moving towards a mirror in the back of the chamber with a surface that rippled like silvery water.

Being a terrible spoilsport, yet wise tactician, Yelrah charged forth and smashed the mirror, cutting off escape for the pair of cultists.  The other PCs quickly dispatched them, and we left the party swathed in blood and mirror shards. (Frankly, I am surprised the PCs didn't try to harvest anything from the cultists).

THE Group began searching the bodies, specifically for amulets similar to the shit-covered one that Klayton had found last session. In addition to those amulets, the PCs also discovered the cultists were wearing chainmail under their robes.

The DM read some flavor text about room furnishings, then added a giant frickin’ chest, which the PCs might open next time we meet.  

That said, we aren't meeting until November due to life things.

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Reading over these notes finds me editing out passive voice and changing it over to active.  I am apparently a huge fan of infinitives, as well.  

Also, I am certain the blade-arm zombies (and their follow-up next session) came from a Goblin Punch post, I just don't recall which one.