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TylertheCreator
2019-01-30, 01:45 PM
Recently I started a group for the Red Hand of Doom adventure using 5e D&D rules. I've been running games for about 10 years now, and I started with 3.5 D&D, but either I had forgotten about this adventure or had never heard about it. After Matt Colville recommended it as one of his favorite adventures, I decided to look into it, and boy am I ever excited to get into this one! It just seems like a hell of a good time. I've decided to post weekly campaign journals here on GitP, both as notes and hopefully as a way to entertain some folks!

The following setting info may or may not be relevant to your interests.

The game takes place in a homebrew setting that has a lot of the stuff I like from other games ripped out wholesale and shoved in, where appropriate. I use the pantheon of Greyhawk, with a few additions when dramatically appropriate (such as the Raven Queen killing Nerull to become goddess of death).

The Shining Tower is an organization of mages who have wormed their way into many of the kingdoms throughout the world. They make laws regarding magic and its use, and all magic users must be licensed by the Tower to practice their magic. The Shining Tower is in the practice of giving out licenses with minimal fuss to clerics and paladins of the recognized churches (aka the good or lawful gods). Technically, all of the elven tribal druids who stay in their elfwodes are illegal mages, but in order to prevent war, the two parties have a live-and-let-live policy. Elven mages who travel outside their wodes, however, must be licensed. The Shining Tower has special auditors who seek out sorcerer children and recruit them for Tower magic academies, sort of like the Jedi with Force-sensitive kids. Any unlicensed mage is subject to a bounty, and the Tower Guard knights will hunt them down and either kill them or bring them to a Tower academy. Warlocks are straight-up kill on sight.

Orcs in this setting are known as "the horse lords," and are based on real-life Mongol cavalries. To an orc, the bond with a horse is like the bond between siblings, and each orc child chooses a foal to raise when they come of age. This bond is so important that being "unhorsed" is considered a punishment worse than death. When an orc is convicted by her tribe of a terrible enough crime, her horse is slaughtered for meat and she is exiled from the tribe. According to tradition, orcs are not allowed to have another horse after being unhorsed, but different tribes don't always uphold other tribes' laws. Historically, orcs have worshipped Gruumsh, and believe in strength and domination, but in the past few generations a new wave of shamanism has begun to take hold among the tribes, pushing out the more bloodthirsty Gruumsh loyalists.

3000 years ago, the Everlasting Empire of Rannica repatriated a whole generation of children from the cultures that lay within its domain, in an attempt to destroy ethnic identity and make everyone identify as Rannicans first. Nowadays, the cultures have risen again, but ethnicity (based on skin color, etc.) isn't really a thing. You can look like anyone and be from anywhere.

Roughly 2500 years ago, the high elven empire came from across the sea with their orcish slave-warriors to try and conquer the Mainland. The battles lasted for nearly 40 years, and neither side gained much ground. Eventually, the elven colonies on the Mainland were abandoned by their empire, Rannica was quick to scoop up their territory, and high elves became the subjects of the Everlasting Empire. Due to the economic strain of war and growing unrest in Rannican territory, the Empire crumbled and split into several smaller kingdoms. Roughly half of the remaining elves retreated to various large forests (now called elfwodes) throughout the Mainland. Others founded their own kingdoms or integrated with the kingdoms of the humans.

The other ancestries (dwarves, gnomes, halflings, etc.) exist and have their own history, but as far as I can tell, none of it's immediately relevant.

Dragonborn don't exist... yet.

A quick note before we get into it. I'm a founder/admin of an online gaming community called the Red Hand Club. All of our games are text-only, so our sessions are necessarily slower and a bit lighter on content than a voice or a face-to-face game. I do, however, think that it really allows for deep character interaction and roleplaying. So without further ado, let's introduce the cast!

DRAMATIS PERSONAE
All characters are 5th level.

Aeilana Bloodbourne: Tiefling warlock of the Hexblade pact. Made a pact with the Hexblade in exchange for power and to save her brother's life. Part of the pact includes hunting and killing the undead.

Grenla: Orc barbarian, path of the Totem Warrior. Comes from a tribe of Gruumsh loyalists, and was unhorsed for her moderate and shamanistic views. Really wants to find Mr. Righthorse.

Embers Beneath the Wood: Tabaxi sorcerer of a gold dragon bloodline. Desperately wants to find out more about the gold dragon that boinked his ancestor.

Tristan d'Champlain: Half-elf college of whispers bard. Born to two half-elven mages in the Elsir Vale who never really practiced much. Sister was audited as a sorcerer and taken to the mage academy in Brindol, and Tristan hasn't heard from her since. He wants to find her. Also, he killed an auditor, took his identity, and now makes fake licenses.

Father Vaeril Birron: Half-elf cleric of Pelor. Raised in an elven tribe, but was ostracized for his human blood. Very different upbringing than Tristan. He left, and was guided by a vision into Pelor's service. Now has been sent out into the world to fight evil and stuff. Yay, religion!

SESSION THE FIRST

There was some pre-game RP in the week leading up to he first session that established the group's history. Essentially, they've spent the last year working for Baron Kieran Althon of the kingdom of Alnia, and doing cool adventures with him. The first session began with the heroes at the very end of the Forge of Fury fighting the green dragon, Danotharnax. He'd been sent to buy Durgeddin's Blades for a mysterious patron called Azarr Kul, but he pretty much decided that he was going to betray Azarr and stay here, enslaving the duergar and ruling the treasure hoard in the Black Lake. When the PCs arrived, he got pissed, so he attacked Ember and nearly killed the poor kitty in one bite.

Ember really didn't want to kill Danny the Dragon, who was the first real dragon he had ever seen. He asked Danotharnax to spare them and parley, and Dano agreed... in exchange for all the gold the party currently carried. As you might expect, Ember was more than happy to fork over his cash, but the others in the party (especially Grenla) were not nearly as pleased. Still, they gave up the cash, because Ember was their friend and would probably get et if they didn't.

Metallic dragons and chromatic dragons are not friends. Everyone knows that, right? Well... Ember, in his excitement, apparently forgot about that little tidbit and mentioned to Danotharnax that his dragon blood came from a gold. That nearly got him turned into a dragonsnack, but the party was able to convince him to chill. He told them that while he didn't know any gold dragons himself, there was a dragonologist named Amery Vraath in the Elsir Vale that might be able to help.

The party headed out of the dungeon and loaded up their swords, but Grenla had a bone to pick with Ember.

The following is a transcript from the game.

Grenla angrily slams swords into the cart.

Ember scoffs. "I was not about to pass up this opportunity! I wish to find my family. That is a cause I will spend any amount of gold for."

Dropping the last load of her swords, Grenla turns on Ember. "Shut your f***ing fool mouth. I do not wish to hear your voice any longer. I want peace from dealing with you and your idiocy. You owe me six hundred and fifty gold, and if you cannot be silent, it comes with interest. You are an ungrateful, spoiled, foolish little thing that we should've left back there. You want to find your family so badly, but you could not even prepare yourself? You didn't even know that the one dragons were enemies of another! The ONLY reason we were in that situation was for your own selfish wants. We all paid, and you were not worth the price." She stalks to another stack, hefting it to return to the cart.

Aeilana, wide eyed, is stunned to hear a whirlpool of anger froth from Grenla's mouth. "Gods," she uttered in Infernal. "Look, what he did was reckless, but there's no need for that, Grenla."

Her response is to regard Aeilana with a cutting expression, pale eyes narrowed. "No need for what? I will not piss in a flask and call it lemonade, Aeilana. I am honest. Honesty is not always pretty, and neither am I."

Father Vaeril shakes his head. "Grenla, perhaps you and I should take a walk to calm down," he says in his patronly voice. "I lost 600 gold as well, but we will get that gold back in other ways."

The orc grumbles at the priest, but it's not all that hostile. "I will pray to this God of yours if he brings my gold back." She pauses a moment, and then corrects herself: "-Our- gold."

"I did not take you and yours into my considerations, and I am sorry," Ember says with a frown. "It was the only chance I have had in years to do what I came to this country. You did not need to give up your riches for my gain, and it is only fair that I repay you." The tabaxi's brows knit over the bridge of his feline nose.

"There we go then, we're all being repaid and that's that," chimes Tristan. He smiles and pulls out his lute, playing a little tune. He hums a bit as he plays, but doesn't actually sing as not to interrupt the conversation.

Aeilana speaks up again. "Grenla. Sometimes, honesty can be cruel. But it doesn't mean we need to be. Not if we're working together. All people deserve respect..." Her gaze flicks briefly to Ember before returning to Grenla. "...most days."

Grenla scowls, but it's clear that her little burst of hostility is already dissipating. She grunts at Aeilana. "You...are right," she admits, sighing. "I believe that, too. Respect for all kinds." She moves to Ember and nudges him, then smooths a big hand over the crown of his head. "You are a pain in my ass. But you are -my- pain in the ass, and no dragon gets to eat you. We will find other dragons to help you."

I loved that scene.

The heroes traveled back to Althon Keep and sold the Baron the swords for a hefty price. Althon threw a feast and told the adventurers that Lord Vraath of Elsir Vale had died and his keep had been mostly destroyed in a battle with forest giants (a battle that Althon had been part of as a mercenary). He mused that the vault might hold Vraath's research (and also treasure). With that, the party set off for Elsir Vale to get that research (and also treasure).

Along the way, the party was harried by a random encounter! I rolled 9 thugs and 5 mastiffs, so I decided to have them ambush the party along the Wetroad. The battle was very quick - Tristan Cloud of Daggers'd a thug, Grenla cleft one in half with her greataxe Elder Sister, Father Vaeril blasted one with holy light, and Aeilana killed one with her Hexblade khopesh. Then came Ember the MVP, who lightning-bolted like 4 thugs and 2 dogs. The rest of them hauled ass out of there, and the PCs felt pretty good about themselves.

If only they knew what lay ahead.

Anyway, there was a widdle puppy left behind at the battle, hiding in an overturned cart on the side of the road. The PCs fed him and befriended him, naming him Wet Willie, and the session ended with them trying to decide whether to keep the cute little guy or leave him with someone at the next village.

THOUGHTS

So yeah, we didn't actually get into the meat of the adventure with this first session, but I loved it. It was great character interaction, and now the party has a puppy!

Be a shame if anything... happened to it.

I'm really looking forward to next week to see what the party gets up to next as they enter the Witchwood!

PrismCat21
2019-01-31, 12:42 PM
Looking forward to your entries. Keep at it and don't despair when there's no replies. People will be reading.

TylertheCreator
2019-02-01, 03:52 PM
Thanks a lot! Can't wait to post the next session's write-up.