I Wanna Hold Your Red Hand! [RHoD Campaign Journal, PF]

[Axinian]

SESSION 5 Part 4: The Ghostlord

Spoiler

Show

OK so I kind of indulged myself here, quite a bit actually. But as far as I could tell the party loved it, so I guess it's fine. A bit of info about where we play: We play in the dining room of my parents' house, which is an old craftsman style home. The entrance to the room has two massive sliding double doors, which the players didn't know were there since they're open all the time. I shut them now, with a satisfyingly ominous BOOM. The lights also have adjustable brightness, so I turn them down real low, just enough to barely see. Furthermore, we had been playing for like 10 hours at this point, so it was literally midnight and pitch-black outside. No light was coming in from outside. The characters and their players are tired, drained, and somewhat afraid as they enter the room.

BGM: The Betrayer and the Betrayed

Me: Your light sources cast eerie shadows into this room. The walls bear murals of a cloaked figure slaughtering tribesmen and soldiers with a spell in each hand. The rear of the room is taken up by a twisted mockery of a tree. It has gray and black bark with jagged pieces of obsidian for leaves. Nearly overtaken by the roots of this tree is a stone throne, on which sits a gaunt figure in brown robes, its leathery skin pulled taught over its bones. Green flames dance in his hollow eye sockets. He speaks in a voice that sounds like the movement of ancient silt and dust.

Ghostlord: More intruders... state your business...

The party asks the Ghostlord to stop helping the Red Hand. Raiku makes a point of kneeling and using honorifics to get on his good side. The Ghostlord isn't having any of it until they mention his phylactery, and he demands its return. They promise to return it if he stops aiding the Red Hand. Jack'O tries to enlist his aid by playing the vengeance angle. If he helps defend Brindol, he can take his revenge on the hobgoblins. The Ghostlord doesn't buy it, he hates the other residents of the Vale just as much as the hobgoblins.

Ghostlord: Return my phylactery and I will withdraw my creations. Leave it in front of my domain. Move swiftly, your lives DO depend on it...

The party gets the hell out of dodge and retrieve the phylactery from the boulder. Night has fallen when the return to the statue, and they see the ghost lions surrounding out. One of them swoops down and takes the phylactery from them, entering the statue to return it to it's master.

That's where we stopped.

The party levels up to 8!!!

THOUGHTS (players out)

Spoiler

Show

1) As I said, lots of good roleplaying this session. This makes me happy.

2) The second encounter with Ozy and Koth went basically how I planned it, which is nice.

3) The Varanthian encounter technically went how I wanted it to, but I was miffed that it was ended prematurely by my poor die rolls. Dragons aren't color coded by alignment in my setting, so I figured I should replace her with a metallic dragon of some sort. Young Bronze Dragon is just the right CR and retains the lightning breath of the original Varanthian.

4) That's the THIRD wyrmlord that's gotten away. I was hoping they'd actually capture this one. I'm uncertain if they'll see her again before the Battle of Brindol. Saarvith still needs to show up again.

5) I had a lot of fun playing the Ghostlord :P

6) The only way the Ghostlord would agree to help them was if they managed to figure out his real backstory and bring it up. There were hints in the murals throughout the statue, but they were intentionally vague. They also didn't explore every room so they didn't get the whole story. I figured they wouldn't get it, but it would have been a really good roleplaying opportunity if they did.

7) The party still has a few weeks until the horde shows up. I hinted at some political intrigue involving Lady Kaal that I'm gonna follow up on, and this will also involve Miha Serani. Saarvith and Regiarix are gonna show up again too. And I might have Jack'Os brother make a cameo before they fight him in the Sniper Attack encounter. What have other people done in this intervening time?