Highfell Journals Session #11 (9 DECEMBER 2024)

    Woodvale, sitting at the Flaming Faggot Inn the party debates on their next course of action. We have a late member nut nothing so late that it delays our tight window of play. A wee bit of Meta to start things off but nothing to get irritated at so they begin their trek to Thatchum in order to acquire a means to travel to HighFell. A minor magical item is burned unintentionally with the fallen Elf and honestly I think maybe a  Long Bow as well. I'll have to double check shortly.

    There is an abundance of chatter this evening and joke cracking. The tone is set but I do not foresee it being a problem. At times I am naïve.

    The party begins their trek to Thatchum and it is an 8 Hour Travel Time so I roll the regular Hex Exploration Checks and get  an encounter, I have misplaced the ones I made for the general region of the Northern Reaches so go with the generic one in the Dragonslayer RPG Tome; Yeah we are totally calling it a Tome at this point, and then check number appearing, rolling for Morale & quietly deciding the disguised Brigands travelling as lumberjacks returning to Woodvale do not like the 2 to 1 odds o this encounter so simply wave and grimly go on down the road. Arriving in Thatchum the party seeks audience with the Mystics of Matoowb but have arrived at dusk as Adderon is leaving the Tower. I inadvertently refer to him as Adderall and it kind of sticks. The party engages him in dialogue and invite him to dine with them at the Inn of the Wanton Wench. I had made one of the players roll reaction to see if the Mystics were still accepting applicants and they rolled very low, so the alchemist was leaving and bluntly says "Not today" as he waves them out of his way while stifling a yawn. They engage in dialogue again making the invite and we get a natural 12 by the Halfling Gereon Flourhill, a Swordsman-Thug, recently recruited in Woodvale. The Elfin alchemist Adderon takes the invitation and is polite with the Halfling but engages in dialogue with the Elfin Magic-User in the group. A quirk of racial preference.

    The party splurges a lavish dinner and buy the best wines they can from the funds they have managed so far from their adventures. They learn a general history of HighFell, the small circle of the Mystics of Matoowb and how they rarely invite new members but have been known todo so in the past. Adderon is not a full member but refers the PCs to Allinbroch who is the "face" of the Mystics and their Quartermaster with whom Adderon has most of his dealings. The PCs try to negotiate a deal for Potions of Flying & Potions of Feather Falling from Adderon but he curtly declines as it would endanger his century long relationship with the Mystics of Matoowb. HE also informs the party the only alchemist who rivaled him in the region declined being a member of the Mystics and disappeared about two years ago along with this grand daughter and man-servant. A Magic-User of some note and power and great alchemist named Bartholmew. This is awkward since the PCs are the ones who attempted to loot his Magical & Magnificent Cottage outside of Thatchum. Rumor has it that Brother Ambrose now resides there to protect it from future looting and await the return of the granddaughter whose name escapes me at the moment. Adderon enjoys his fine meal and fine wine and is a bit tipsy as the evening concludes but informs the party he will put in a 'word' with Allinbroch.

    I cannot stress how many times I was interrupted  as I was about to make a statement about surroundings to the players, or a ruling or response by NPCs. I mean it totally disrupted my train of thought each time. I know the lack of facial ques for non verbal communication is a big thing with VTTs but sweet baby Jesus a pogo stick it was bad this evening. We are past the one and a half hour mark for our two and a half hour session this week.

    SO the Party begins making plans on logistics before even meeting with or finalizing a deal with the Mystics. The clock is ticking by pretty quick this evening and not much is getting done. I interject and inform the party while they are debating on how much rations to purchase that they indeed have a ton of provisions on the donkey. I hope this speeds things up, it kind of does but not really. We move forward to the negotiations with the Mystics and they enter the Tower of the Mystics of Matoowb the next day. The entry hall of the Tower is a mix of small tables and stairs where non member are prohibited from entering. The Barbarian Rork and Dwarf Priest Hjort decline going not he Tower as they distrust Wizards and Hjort is a hard core CHA 7 so doesn't want to be involved in negotiations. The party choose Ravithor as the spokesperson and they seek out. Allinbroch is easy to spot as he is as Adderon described short and round for a human in a multi-colored set of robes, oddly patched.

    They ask what are the terms and Allinbroch shrewdly asks what they seek for their assistance. It begins a loop of what you want and what are you seeking versus what are you offering. The spokesperson thing, yeah that lasted about 15 seconds as the other players interject ideas, suggestions and opinions so I have Allinbroch state they are used to dealing Chaotic individuals but any deviation from the agreed to terms will be viewed upon dimly by the Baronet, The Temple of the Blue Star and other influential groups in the Principality of the Brine. I think this falls on deaf ears but they manage to steer back to getting aid so they offer up the Elfin Blade Aquinas. They warn the Magic-User to be careful as it is dangerous and give testimonial, then the Swords starts talking and then informing the Quartermaster of the Mystics that these adventurers are untrustworthy ! There is a bit of laughter as Bristerhahn is arguing with a sword. There is a bit more Meta floating around the table too. Allinbroch speaks to the sword in hushed tones and informs the party as he hands back the blade that on the following day the Council of the Mystics of Matoowb will meet them to discuss terms for the endeavor. 

    Previously the party had a notion of what all the terms would be based upon a previous attempt to run HighFell. I call this bleed-over. We play in various games and replay some scenarios which are updated or as I call my tinkering bubbafied and these leave lasting impressions which may distort ones perception of what is actually going to happen in game. I don't mean to call out behavior and offer no judgements it is just something that happens in gaming when we play allot of the same adventures. AS well as the way one DM runs a game versus another is going to be a different experience.

    And a Warning: Comparison is the killer of joy

    We have some more preplanning before the actual terms of the meeting.

    The party makes it to the meeting with the Mystics of Matoowb. The terms are simple they exchange the Intelligent Elfin Blade Aquinas for 7 Potions of Flying & 7 potions of Feather Falling and first purchase for any artifacts such as Books and Rare and Wondrous Spell Components at 35% of Full Value. Future endeavors will be negotiated based upon the level of aid given and the potential risk of loss to the mystics weighted. If they loan permanent magical items  they expect greater shares of loot since there is a chance of loss of such rare and wondrous items. They agree and leave with a satchel of Potions and promise to buy returned artifacts and treasure for 35%

    That afternoon they make their way to Endtown. There is no Inn and they camp on the outskirts of a shanty town at the edge of the Great Salt Reach. No encounters, full nights rest.

    The next day due to the luck of the roll for starting position of the Drifting Dungeon they can see Highfell after but a day of journey. Curiously it also means that they have one day and then we reroll the position of the Drifting Dungeon with a 1 in 6 chance of something "Special" when the whole place phases. We also have another obstacle as the Barbarian trusts no magical stuff and refuses to drink a Potion of Flying. There is talk of subduing him, carrying him while others fly and this takes a bit of discussion which results in him being given Orcish Hooch from a precious session gained from the Hidden Dagger Orc Tribe. It is about 2 pint of shine and after getting the Barbarian drunk they slip him a Potion of Flying and they all fly up to HighFell, I also have a player drop out as we are doing all of this. We are at our last 20 minutes of game time for the evening and they have just now made it to HighFell on the 11th session....

    They scout along the southern approach and I rule it takes them about a turn to get up there dealing with the wind and being the first time any of them has flown. A two part tower, a central octagon and a secondary rectangular wing. A purplish stone that is almost black and that shimmers. They decide to fly on above and past this to observe another tower roughly 600 feet beyond amongst rubble which is a square structure which is flagstone that shimmers inside of magical energy field of some sort. They avoid these and fly back out in front of the drifting plateau circling the south of Highfell's Southern Pine Forest towards another waterfall that falls off of the side of the drifting island. 

    This other tower near a waterfall is a decagonal tower. Lead plates over grey flagstone dented from ages of abuse with some of these large lead plates laying upon the ground. It stands 90 feet tall, the top level is open to the sky and has four large 50 foot tall columns. They decide to land upon the exposed roof and descend into the tower if possible. Landing upon the roof they find it is covered in feces, a mass of squishy moldering crap. They head directly for the stairs going down into the tower ignoring the open arch ways to a covered section of roof. Lighting torches upon the stairs room below is empty but for the stairs they are on which descend further downward but hey opt to explore this level. Entering cautiously they exit and after a round of discussion see eyes reflecting their torchlight approaching from the North, asking what is going on in goblin. Hjort answers in Goblin telling them to go back to doing what they are supposed todo so I roll a NPC Reaction Roll It is very low and it appears Hjort's Thick Dwarf accent gives him away ! Plus he is standing in torchlight plainly viewable by the two drunken goblins. The PCs have combat, but lose Initiative. I am not sure but I think Buzz the Gnome Illusionist said something to the goblins as well but it was lost in chatter.

    As the goblins engage I notice that they are drunk and it says in description suffer a -2 to attack because they are drunk. I apply this penalty to the Rork who seems really happy with it. I think we will have an alcoholic Northern Barbarian of the Ice Claw Bear Tribe who may become pattern on BA Barracus ! I PITY THE GOBO ! But anyway they goblins are destroyed rather quickly by a cleaving Bristerhahn.

    Drunk : -2 to hit and decreased perception such as Searching for Traps, Secret Doors & Loot

    Noise is heard from the west and we have a bit of disagreement on actions so I simply have Initiative rolled and go strictly by Marching Order/Order of Action ignoring out of turn chatter. Buzz covers the rear of the party making sure they are not attacked from the rear by surprise. Everything falls in place and the battle engaged with more goblins coming from side chambers the next room over. Things begin flowing smoothly in the last 10 minutes of session.... I mean

    Anyway...

    The goblins are Blue Skinned and Hairy almost not recognizable for being goblins at first glance. There are a total of 4 plus a better armored one from the norths in Ringmail and wearing an Adamantine Coif. The battle is quick, and the party takes some minor hits but it takes two rounds and the room is silent and we call it a night. The goblins being quickly looted are the richest goblins they have ever encountered and the Party is ready to delve quickly through the tower

    Even aggravating sessions are enjoyable.

    I am going to work on those hand outs I made for myself , again and place them prominently on my desk to avoid losing them again.

Game Well, Game Often Y'all