Hello, please come in, I saved you a spot by the fire.
This account chronicles a Reign of Winter campaign I am currently running for two players, we've been playing between 80-100 hours and have almost completed the second book. (We've had so much role-play baggage as we go that we've had to donate at least a full extra session per book to fallout and tying up loose ends) I also recently ran one player through the adventure and he completed the first book.
As there's only two of them I've been giving them max HP at each level, double their con bonus as additional HP at level 1 (Instead of just their straight Con Bonus - so +3 becomes +6, etc.) and two bonus free feats in addition to their usual allowances of feats and traits.
We have a Ulfen Human Barbarian named Varghul the Cold-Blooded and a Vudrani Human Monk called Sajan, the Ulfen originally hails from the Lands of the Linnorn Kings and not Irrisen. (Essentially Sajan as in the 'iconic' monk class in Pathfinder but we rebuilt him - he's still looking for his lost sister though)
I really hope you enjoy the story, we've never had more fun.
The heroes had some time while Yuln rested to explore town and meet the various faces that dwelt within it. Sajan the monk was instantly drawn to Tessaraea, and her to him, while Varghul spoke at length to Old Mother Thedora. When Yuln awoke he explained that bandits and worse, Winter-Touched Fey, had attacked the caravan bringing the influental noble Lady Argentea home and kidnapped her. He was the last surviving body-guard and though he gave chase he lost track of his quarry in the Border Woods and was nearly slain by a vicious Tatzlworm.
Seeing an opportunity to curry favor with the upper echelons of Taldan society, Ionnia asked Sajan and Varghul to set out and investigate. With a view to returning Lady Argentea unscathed if possible. Yuln for his part bonds immediately with Varghul due to their shared racial heritage and loans him his Cold-Iron Greatsword (We adapted it to fit the class/build)
After saying goodbye to the good people of Heldren our heroes forged out to find the truth, rescue the lady and earn their keep - But what was all this speak of snow in the woods? Wasn't it the height of summer after all?
When the group arrived at the lodge, instead of approaching the main building they skirted around and entered the stables instead - hoping for confirmation that Lady Argentea's horses had been brought here - which would also suggest that she may be here also. Unfortunately one of the bandits spotted the heroes entering the stables.
Within minutes Rohkar's bandits and also Fawfein, who had fled here looking for his superior Izoze who he knew often lurked nearby, had surrounded the stables. Rather than rushing out to meet the enemy our heroes chose to hide within the stables and readied an ambush for when they entered.
It got chaotic from here as instead of entering the paranoid, and sickly bandits simply threw several alchemist's fires at the wooden structure and braced the doors from outside, and suddenly the PCs found the tables turned on themselves and Lady Argentea's horses - who were all now trapped inside a blazing inferno.
As the flames spread round by round the PCs were able to break out and slay the amassed bandits in the snow, not an easy fight but they were more than up to the task. However once again Fawfein fled, flying straight into one of the upstairs windows and letting Rohkar know what was afoot.
A young thief within the property, new to the organization, had also heard the commotion outside and Ten-Penny Tacey had decided to bolt into the night. She barricaded herself into the kitchen and then drank potions to make her invisible and untraceable. However a ridiculously fluky chain of events unfolded instead.
Sajan had decided to creep down the rear of the property and peer in the windows, he witnessed Ten-Penny barricade the door and then drink her potions. He aced his stealth though and she hadn't seen him. She slid the window open and he suddenly realized her plans was to creep out and vanish forever. Instinctively he struck out and was managed to hit the invisible woman squarely in the face with one of his monkish Stunning Blows, he quickly bound her and brought her inside. The fact that he'd been able to capture an invisible and untraceable girl was pretty miraculous we thought, although while he'd been busy Varghul had taken prisoners of his own. Two of the sickly bandits had surrendered to him.
Within minutes they had gathered their prisoners by the large fire in the main room, located and freed Lady Argentea and pillaged the remaining rooms. It was silent upstairs but after interrogating their prisoners, it was pretty clear that Rohkar was lurking up their somewhere.
Only he wasn't.
Rohkar had two skeletons upstairs, but he had slipped out into the snow and raised himself a small force of zombies from his dead men using scrolls of animate dead. Then things went from bad to worse...
Ten-Penny revealed that she had been taking food to Lady Argentea and taking care of the sickly bandits, she seemed to be a genuinely good person mixed up in a bad situation so the heroes untied her and allowed her to look after the two remaining bandits while they had a look upstairs.
When the heroes got up there the two skeletons jumped out and attacked them while Rohkar rushed the house with his zombies - in an attempt to kill everyone downstairs while Sajan and Varghul were busy elsewhere.
Lady Argentea and the two bandits fled into one of the backrooms and hid, but not before one of the zombies dealt her an almost lethal blow - she was lucky to dodge him a moment later and make it to the bedroom at all.
Ten-Penny proved herself a hero and fought Rohkar bravely, but he used his Hold Person spells and channeled some of his negative energy to harm her. She passed out before Varghul and Sajan made it back downstairs but, make it they did and she stabilized quickly. The duo were able to defeat Rohkar but not before he used one of his most potent spells to trick Varghul into thinking that Ten-Penny was in fact him.
After a dark and confusion vision Varghul struck out at the still unconscious Ten-Penny at his feet and killed her with his blow. The bottle was won, but wasn't without loss. Rohkar was not killed either but the group chose to stabilize him so that he could face justice for his crimes.
In the haste of battle Sahan did not witness what Varghul had been tricked into doing and thought that it was in fact Rohkar who had murdered Ten-Penny.
The group decided to bring Rohkar and his bandits back to Heldren to face justice there, and also to bring Lady Argentea home safely at the same time.
More soon...
Ouch. That was a truly intriguing write-up! I look forward to more! :)
Ah, you're awake? Think you drifted off for a bit there. Stoke the fire for me will ya? Okay, good - well, where was I? Oh yeah that's it! The lads were taking Rohkar back to Heldren...
(by the way saw that my post got moved to Campaign Journals, apologies to the long-suffering moderators, was not aware I had put it in the wrong category.)
Before returning to Heldren our mighty heroes Varghul and Sajan also picked up one more curious companion - a small Fey creature that Rohkar had imprisoned and been torturing cruelly in order to learn the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the Fey in case they betrayed him, or more likely he betrayed them. Oh, didn't I mention that rohkar was collaborating with the Winter-touched Fey and their curious master, the moss troll Teb Knotten? Well, let me assure you it was a marriage of convenience. Truly neither force trusted each other but an inch.
Well, at any rate Sajan and Varghul didn't want to execute the little Fey summarily and instead decided to take it back to Heldren also, and decide it's fate there.
Arriving back at Heldren Lady Argentea paid the adventurers a small stipend for her rescue and left town almost immediately - not even bothering to check in and visit poor old Yuln Oerstag or leaving him any kind of compensation or a severance package! A very rude lady indeed.
However Varghul did pay yuln another visit to return his sword, let him know that they rescued his charge, and also give him the handful of loose Tatzlworm teeth that he'd saved to show Yuln that the wretched beast had met it's end. Yuln was extremely thankful and Varghul made a friend for life - though Yuln would not accept his sword back and insisted that Varghul keep it lest he needed it again.
Ionnia decided to intern Rohkar within the town hall for the moment as she had nowhere else to stash him, but she had no idea what to do with Vrixx - she could hardly trust him not to run back to his former masters but had nowhere decent to imprison him.
Varghul had an idea though - he was sure that Old Mother Thedora might have an idea, she certainly seemed to have great power and wisdom. He then went to visit her.
Old Mother Thedora explained to him what it means to be 'Winter-touched' and to have taken a sliver of magical ice into ones heart in service to the White-Witches. while she was doing this she prepared a small plate of food for Vrixx, popped the window open and bade Varghul follow her. She went out into the street and squatted behind her hedge for a moment while she continued his education.
When the returned to the house a few minutes later Vrixx had finished his meal and was languishing on his back, burping loudly and completely satisfied. She closed the window and explained to Varghul that trying to keep a Fey against it's will is more effort than it's worth - you're best off establishing early if it really wants to be somewhere or not.
At any rate know she knew that so long as Vrixx was well fed and kept, he wouldn't be any bother. Turns out Old Ma Thedora is quite wise indeed. Varghul then questioned Vrixx to see what he knew of the Border Woods and what dangers lurked there. Periodically he answered in half-truths or tried to downplay details but in each instance Thedora knew and rapped him on the nose, in fact even when he forgot details and didn't know he was lying himself she would interject and draw more information from the little Fey.
The most interesting secret that Vrixx had was that Teb and told him and the other Fey not to approach a particular location within the Border Woods - though Vrixx really didn't know why. It's also worth mentioning that wicked Rohkar had plucked one of Vrixx's wings off, which upset Old Ma Thedora immensely.
Varghul also asked her what to do about the Rohkar situation? Should they keep him prisoner forever? Or let him go? Or what exactly? She went to see Rohkar with Varghul and was able to trick Varghul into looking away for a second while she cut off Rohkar's arm in exchange for Vrixx's wing. She explained that he ought to learn a lesson from it. Cruelty begets cruelty, an arm for an arm. Varghul was stunned by how easily she tricked him and how efficiently, quickly and noiselessly she carried out her punishment. Who the hell was Old Mother Thedora to have such power? And also to feel entitled to reign down such decisive judgement?
While this was all taking place Sajan had gone to visit Tessaraea Willowbark. She was immensely pleased to see that he was alright, and hearing of his heroic exploits - and being an ex-adventurer herself he was able to convince her to join them in the Borderwoods for the next leg of their adventure. (The heroes knew by now that they had to venture further into the Woods to prevent whatever was causing the curious wintry-weather, in fact once Vrixx spilled his guts they had a pretty precise idea what was going on but Sajan didn't possess this information just yet.) Especially as they had randomly been ambushed by a troll on their way back to town while resting, and Tessaraea had a deep hatred of Trolls - more about this later.
With a new companion in tow, the beautiful Elf maiden Tessaraea Willowbark the group was growing. That night the heroes stayed at the Silver Stoat again and hung out with Yuln, Tessaraea, Ionnia and other notable characters within the town. As the hour grew late Ionnia approached Sajan and Varghul when she could get them alone and explained that the town wasn't really equipped to intern a prisoner, let alone an evil necromancer at that. She just didn't have enough men or resources to keep Rohkar locked-up. She hinted that it wouldn't be a bad thing if Rohkar simply had an 'accident' in the night and was found dead in the morning.
Sajan wanted no part in this and excused himself to bed. While Varghul, although conflicted, saw the big picture and realized how much of an ongoing danger Rohkar could be to everyone. He agreed and Ionnia left him with a key to get into the town hall by the back way.
Varghul crept over to the townhall but before he could even enter Old Mother Theodora surprised him and asked him knowingly what he was up to? As it transpired she imparted another lesson to the young Barbarian. She said a life ought never be taken while alternatives yet exist. And moreover that she sensed that Rohkar had greatness within him, or at least the capacity for it - she really couldn't get a more specific read than that.
At any rate when Varghul went inside Rohkar was gone and just his severed arm remained. Old Mother Thedora wouldn't say where although she did explain that she'd given him a 'chance' at a new life but in a world as cold as his heart - it was up to him to make the most of it.
The following day relations between Varghul and Sajan were a little frost, as Sajan believed Varghul to have murdered Rohkar in cold blood. Varghul, being the strong silent type, didn't bother to dispel these thoughts at this time.
Shortly thereafter the group, now comprised of Varghul, Sajan and Tessaraea headed back to the Border Woods. Their hearts a little heavier for the events that had transpired thus far.
Though before they got far a worried father chased them down and explained that his son was hunting a Giant Weasel in the Border Woods recently and hadn't been seen in days, could they keep an eye out for him and get him home safely, or at least see that his remains are memorialized with respect?
Our heroes, being heroes, heroically agreed. And then left the town of Heldren behind for the second time.
Thought I'd clear up some of the mechanical aspects of this curious narrative as we go. As well as why we did things certain ways, etc. Mostly for those who are more interested in the roles than the story.
You'll notice that Lady Argentea was not very lady-like, the group didn't roll well when dealing with her, didn't make a huge RP effort either and she was nearly killed during the rescue, so she disliked the PCs badly. I felt if this was how she treated the heroes, it was probably not a bad indication of her general demeanor. So I made her brash, rude and generally indifferent.
I also had Ionnia in my head as being a little bit manipulative and self-serving. Less for herself and more wanting to act in such a way to always benefit the town of Heldren first and foremost. So having her act in a morally grey manor (killing the scary and evil necromancer) was a fitting choice for her to make. It also introduced a recurring theme within the campaign - difficult moral choices for the players - this gets more and more significant as the campaign goes on. And yes I've had both players well up and choke back tears with some of the harshest stuff I can conjure, only when appropriate of course...
Regarding Tessaraea, I hadn't intended on introducing her as a recurring character but to me there are three criteria to winning over any NPC - how good you role-play, how good your dice rolls back this up, and also the circumstances surrounding your 'recruitment' - and obviously stuff like their motivations, fears, etc all play a part.
Ultimately the fact that the PC's were randomly ambushed and then the chart decided that it was randomly a troll - really counted in their favor. And then all the roles and role-play checked out as well, and the rest is history.
Old Mother Thedora? You see her do some weird stuff which seems game breaking, it's not. She's been built and I generally have her just 'take-ten' on her roles so she pulls off a lot of crazy stuff all the time, but she essentially conforms to all rules. She's just a few levels higher than the group.
She also recurs throughout the first two books, and will continue to do so in the third. At this exact moment how and why she might be in the story probably isn't clear as she doesn't seem to be tied to the unfolding events or the major narrative... Trust me, she's tied to everything. I worked really hard at this and the pay-off is/was sweet as a GM.
Any other questions just ask. Otherwise that's it for now!
Thanks for reading... it starts to get more epic soon.
Thanks Tangent101 really glad you liked it so far. It gets weirder, darker and more epic as it goes on. We stayed pretty true to the main narrative of all AP, but we embellished the heck out of it as we went. I think I went a bit nuts though, it gets really, really dark at times. Far more than it probably should. We actually had to take a break for a couple of days as it was just too much. Then came back and it got worse...
Best campaign I've run. In fact the opening sessions of book II were probably more epic than most of the finales for published adventures I've read. Although this should be credited to my players more than I, and also simply the nature of running a two player game - you really can indulge the RP so much more with a smaller table. Summarizing it like this gives an idea but probably not the full force of playing through it lol.