Session Forty
Our next session was on July 29.
Arriving at the plateau to the south, the party immediately leapt into battle with the Ivory Behemoth. With Dagomir returned, Val having taken time to research his foe, and Ysbrylla preparing a slate of control spells to lock down the behemoth and inflict a steady stream of cold damage, they were much better equipped for a fair fight.
Val did end up petrified during this combat, which did put us in a bit of a pickle. As far as I understand, the main method of reversing petrification is Stone to Flesh, which is a 6th rank spell, so even our druid didn't have innate access to it yet. They could try to track down a scroll, but the nearest reasonable place would be Hillcross, at the far end of the hexcrawl they're in, and this adventure path does not really make a point of stocking up on gear in shops.
I did a deus ex machina workaround and tried to make a mechanic of it, which was this: Ser Jaim Mulwyn, their newest ghost companion (I'd have two nickels, etc.) was now locked inside a Mendevian crest. When they beseeched him for aid, I had him able to restore Valcarian (we could call it cleric-adjacent powers), but one of three feathers of the gryphon emblazoned on the crest shrank and fell away. Thus they knew they had a couple of outs, but they also weren't sure what would happen if they ran out of feathers, adding a bit of tension to it. Sometimes you just have to make stuff up!
Anyway, the really interesting thing here was that this encounter served as a key part of the culmination of Ysbrylla's arc. Since I'd replaced the pyramid with the final apaku (necromancy, natch) Ysbrylla became the first creature to commune with all of the apakus in the realm in countless centuries. This manifested as an innate heightening of her magical power, and geometric tattoos reflecting the apakus and the different schools of magic shifted across her throat and chest as she became a significantly stronger spellcaster.
Mechanically, I created a (likely overpowered) feat to signify Ysbrylla's hard work, called Apaku Mastery. It included a +2 bonus to RK checks to determine an effect's school, a +1 to saves against magic effects, and the tattoos granted her additional slots equivalent to a Greater Staff of a given school - the school in question would be chosen by Ysbrylla at the start of each day. Since this was the last major story beat for Ysbrylla before we wrapped the campaign, I didn't mind giving her plenty of juice to keep the party moving through the final chapter.
After this dramatic scene, the party prepared to head east and make their way out of the Tar Forest, only to learn that the Tar Forest was not finished with them yet.
I started this encounter off by pairing it with a tar pit, where || || whiffed some rolls and ended up quite stuck in some tar. Hegremon took this moment to begin sniping, and the party needing to split their attention between extricating themselves from the tar and fending off the giant made for a dynamic encounter.
Eventually, the party prevailed. Overall, I found the giant stuff to be a tough sell in this campaign. It was difficult to convey the nuances of the backstory dealings between the giants and Ivarsa, and the (very nice) backstory stuff with Hegremon himself is quite distant from the rest of the scope of the adventure. I don't know if this felt like they were stalked by a deadly hunter or if there was just an annoying rival in their midst, but I do like how the last encounter played out, and it made for a more triumphant and interesting note as the party finished this chapter and headed east to Castle Grimgorge.
Session Forty-One
On August 12 we started the last chapter of our campaign!
I definitely was motivated to keep the energy high and directed toward completing the adventure, so I trimmed a few encounters from the castle. Otherwise, I ran it mostly as written, adding a couple of things here and there to highlight certain elements specific to our party.
I also made a cardboard build of the structure - there was a lot of verticality present in the causeway and bridge, so I wanted to be able to better communicate it. I think it added a lot of excitement to our final sessions!
Moving directly into the encounter with the guardsmen, which was a little tougher than necessary, owing to the fact that the party ignored the archers in the towers who dealt frequent and steady damage. I guess they felt it was more trouble than it was worth, so they just focused their efforts on the guards at the door, a strategy that dropped Dagomir a couple of times in the encounter. Regardless, they were eventually able to push their way through into the relative safety of the castle interior.
This led to an unplanned and exciting hero moment and Valcarian took on the haunt solo. He managed to succeed on the (rather daunting) checks, one after the other, each in different skills. I rewarded him for his audacity and luck by handing him the scene and letting him detail the thaumaturgical mastery Val had gained over the adventure, his connection to his Mendevian ancestors, and his finesse as a leader and diplomat.
With the haunt disabled and injuries minimal, the emboldened party opted to continue south.
Ysbrylla cast enlarge on Dagomir so he could shoot Hegremon's bow, as || || took to the air to battle the vrocks and Val supported from the bridge. Dagomir had great luck with the Primordial Flame as well, with one vrock critically failing the save and opting to flee the fight. After some thrilling dogfights, the rest of the vrocks were driven off.
Soldiering on, the party continued across the bridge to the southern annex of the castle.
Session Forty-Two
On August 26, we resumed our campaign at the south end of the bridge at Castle Grimgorge.
I always feel like I have a hard time playing enemy spellcasters and optimizing their tactics, but I thought I managed to pull off some good plays with Jesseri--She walled off half the party behind a layered wall of ice, and I think my party will forever be scarred by how many times they've been tagged with lightning bolt - they always realize they're bunched up in a line once it's too late!
I also tried to play with Ysbrylla's ability to recognize Jesseri, giving her the chance to make checks after any of her cold-related spells - she failed a few, keeping things mysterious, so I had her hood fall down after || || turned into a giant frog (courtesy of her final cap of the frog ability) to start stomping on people.
Overall the fight felt chaotic in a fun way - big bursts of magic, a huge demon, Jesseri and Ysbrylla recognizing each other, causing Jesseri to switch sides halfway through - there was a narrative drive to the events that felt organic and interesting. Once Jesseri recognized her allies, I had her move to the back and focus on healing, so the PCs could clean up the rest of the Mammoths and the demon.
Afterward, the party spoke with Jesseri for quite a while - there was a lot of personal interaction with Ysbrylla, the Hillcross witches, Oga's death, etc. But I reminded them a couple of times that Jesseri had been traveling with the Burning Mammoths for the entire length of the campaign, and encouraged them to pump her for information. I was able to refresh the party on Ivarsa's backstory (and provide a different opinion than, say, Aklep), drop a bit more about Worm!Pakano, and foreshadow the presence of Lomok, who the party was kind of aware was a thing, but didn't really know anything about - not their fault, as he's really only mentioned in background conversation in Book One.
Hot tip: If you have strongly Mendevian/Iomedaean themed PCs, the shrine in the corner of the room is a good place to add in any boosts that are missing in this treasure-light campaign. In our case, we had Dagomir and Valcarian bathe their weapons in a basin here, granting them +2 potency.
Otherwise, after resting, the party was ready to move on. Jesseri offered to watch over the chamber they were in as a resting place for the party.
The encounter with the chattering skulls was fun, though brief. I had planned to have Ser Jaim or Caledonia guide the players toward the secret door, but Ysbrylla opted to use her Wisdom of the Winds spell, which also helped grant her guidance on the Ivory Behemoth's vulnerabilities back in the Tar Forest. Hey, she's one of the regions most powerful magicians now, who am I to stop her? With druidic prowess and primal guidance, she found the very essence of the rock surrounding the secret door and melded it away, leading the party into Metuak's prison.
Session Forty-Three
On September 9th we resumed play, but we were only able to play for around two and a half hours. Running the Metuak encounter was the bulk of the session.
I quite liked the decision to include Syarstik's spirit at the end of the fight, and the party did as well. I had him erupt out of the killing blow (one of Ysbrylla's spells) to everyone's surprise and delight. It made for a great bookend and emphasized the epic length of their quest to cleanse the flame.
Afterward, the party returned to Jesseri to recuperate. They asked her more about Ivarsa and her retinue, and I tried to push some of the big ideas of the final encounters for the party to chew on as the end neared - what future do they see for the two followings? What do they want to do with the power of the flame? What is their desire, and what responsibility do they have to the Tusks, the Mammoths, and the Realm?
With much to think about, we ended the session as the party prepared to venture toward the tower of Castle Grimgorge.
Session Forty-Four
On September 23rd we resumed play. Again we had some late players and, since we were very close to the end of the campaign, opted for a truncated session with everyone present.
My plan had been to incorporate this into Caledonia's storyline - the dread wraith was now her father, a military statesman who was visiting Castle Grimgorge when Metuak first arrived. My hope was that this would add a bit more stakes to the fight, and I think it was largely successful. When the wraith was slain, it reverted to its mortal appearance, and Caledonia spoke to it privately before returning to Valcarian's amulet.
Caledonia's spirit is representative of baggage created by past conflict, and in allowing her the chance for closure, the party has a thematic example of how they might progress forward as leaders of their following.
The party also checked in the opposite chamber - I cut the glabrezu encounter here because I wanted to keep things moving. Instead, they found some Mendevian artifacts to further colour in the lives and desires of those stationed at Castle Grimgorge.
They were unsettled by the undead Mammoths and curious as to the events that preceded this encounter. I do think the situation described in the tower is hard to keep static - our party had been there for about a full day by the time they entered the tower, so why was Ivarsa still waiting at the top of the fort? Why was this nabasu just running around? I tried to frame it like they were being stealthy and she was dealing with demons among her own troops, mostly because the logistics of running the fight anywhere else seemed unpleasant.
Regardless, the party was keen to reach their journey's end, so they headed upstairs, leaving us with only one session before the end of the campaign.
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Session Forty-Five
On October 7, we completed our game of Quest for the Frozen Flame! We played late into the night, well past our usual time, to enjoy each other's company as we closed out the campaign.
Thus, this encounter really became more about roleplaying than mechanics. Of course the Tusks have been hounded by the Mammoths, but there are deeper questions I felt were worth exploring: does this give the party the right to kill the leader of the following? What will happen to the Mammoth following after? Is the party responsible for that? If they subsume the Mammoths, are they a warband? What about those that don't wish to join the Tusks? Are they still dangerous?
Complicating things was the fact that Lomok felt (perhaps rightfully) that the Flame was the rightful property of the Mammoths. The Tusks stole it away (a conflict that Lomok was alive for!) and have chosen to wield it against their former following, a grave accusation. Through all this heavy discussion, I also contrasted the other Mammoths by depicting Lomok as kindly, paternal, and almost grandfatherly - he is an LG aasimar after all!
Valcarian took the lead in these discussions. While Lomok did not deny that Ivarsa was a dangerous leader, he was unwilling to openly betray the rule of the following he had served for over a century. And he saw that the party, despite his arguments, was of course unwilling to return the flame.
The best agreement that could be reached was for Lomok to allow the party to pass undisturbed to deal with Ivarsa, whatever may pass. Lomok would neither assist them or hinder them, but he did wish to spar with Valcarian - the party spokesman - to see if his strength could match his acumen as a leader.
Val agreed to this, which was perhaps unwise. Lomok stomped him pretty hard, as the rest of the party cringed in the background. The aasimar pronounced him unconvincing, but kept his word and let them move along, now sadly assured that Ivarsa would likely destroy them.
With everyone except Val having a companion in play, there was a lot of minion power to pull aggro, set up flanks, and burn enemy actions. I don't think as a GM I had a lot of experience preparing for or countering this, and it was a big factor in many of the key fights of the campaign. It's not a problem at the end of the day, but I could feel some enemy builds getting a little cheesed by the party comp at times - maybe if I were to reflect and run some of these encounters again, I would tweak elements to make it harder to mob big enemies so much.
Regardless, a ton of fun was had. When Pakano fell, his disintegrating remains revealed a heart-sized stone pulsing with magical energy, and there was a bit of keepaway around this important relic. When Ivarsa finally did give out, I had her teleport out off the edge of the tower, to avoid giving the Broken Tusks the satisfaction of actually landing a killing blow. What a sore loser!
Caledonia, having given her all to guide Valcarian to this place, and free from the undead anguish of Metuak, bid her goodbye to the young thaumaturge. She walked from the tower into the blazing sunrise, her spirit ascending to the Boneyard, no longer afraid to face judgment as she was certain she had made the world a better place.
Though still pensive, the party had to quickly return to Hillcross to check up on the following. I opted not to get too granular on the final battle rules, instead focusing on the narrative threads we had built for key NPCs. The following suffered some losses, and notably the hunter Panuaku had severely injured her leg in the fight, limiting her ability to run.
Broadly speaking, the party's decision about how to proceed was to offer the Burning Mammoths amnesty for their behaviour under Ivarsa's rule. They discussed merging the banners of their following - becoming the Burning Tusks - to symbol a new marriage of the might of the original following, the power of the Flame, but the peaceful ways and understanding espoused by the Broken Tusks for the last century.
The witches of Hillcross were able to use the heart they recovered to restore Pakano fully to his original body. I asked them for some roles to determine the general outcome of this, and the results were limited: Pakano ended up remaining at Hillcross for the time being, unwilling to travel with the following, and tried to flee into the wilderness at one point only to grudgingly return. He minimized his contact with the party and preferred to do menial work.
I think in this adventure with its emphasis on community building and recruitment, it's realistic and important to acknowledge that not everyone can be (or wants) redemption, some people can't or won't fit in with a community, and that it can be a painful and frustrating experience. The party took great pains to give Pakano multiple chances and return him to his following - chances that he simply wasn't interested in.
Ultimately, with Metuak defeated and no lingering threats, life was able to go on. There was much change happening at Hillcross and among the individual followings, but nothing to prevent the gentle rhythm of the annual migration through the Realm of the Mammoth Lords.
We talked for a long while about each character's past and future.
Dagomir: Dagomir was content with his life among the Tusks, remaking himself after fleeing the Crusades, and throughout the campaign I tried to provide contrast for him to play against - figures from his past who challenged his decisions, or rivals who undermined his attempts to assimilate into the Broken Tusks.
Our Dago was unflinching, steadfast in his resolve - sometimes despite my best efforts - and when I asked his player what his future looked like among the Tusks, his answer was clear: that Dagomir take on a role of spiritual advisor (especially as in my campaign, Merthig ended up shacking up with Commander Montgrim and agreed to travel to Mendev for some time). Dagomir ended up really embodying Grandfather Eiwa's values of openness and inclusivity in the following - that joining by choice was just as important, if not moreso, than being born into it - and it seemed a fitting place for the character who was undoubtedly the group's moral compass.
Valcarian: Val's story was definitely a coming of age. He began his time in the Tusks as something of a runt - certainly in the eyes of Pakano - and eager to live up to the reputation of hi father. I know Val's player to be a strong roleplayer and a natural party face, and it was a delight to give him lots of opportunities to lead conversations in a meaningful way - huge sections of the plot depended on his character's rhetoric and persuasion, and I trusted him to engage with those elements seriously and deeply. I was never disappointed.
Valcarian was also a character born of two worlds - unlike Dagomir, he still retained strong connections to Mendev, and was not interested in leaving them behind. Though he was happy to be a Mammoth Lord of the Broken Tusks, he decided that his first order of business would be to travel to Mendev, visiting his parents and sharing his story with them.
Ysbrylla: Ysbrylla's arc was rather straightforward, which made it no less satisfying. As she learned to become less rigid and stubborn as a teacher and magic user, so did teaching and magic come to her more easily. Meeting people willing to challenge her positions and broaden her horizons - Shaggy Shemven, the Sutaki, encountering the apaku - allowed her to move forward.
All of this led to her reappearance in Hillcross, owning up to the mistakes of her past and giving her the clarity necessary to make amends. It surprised no one, then, that Ysbrylla was willing to take a place among the Hillcross witches, with no less than the mastery of the apaku behind her.
For Ysbrylla, traveling with the following was a temporary phase in her life, which was a decision I rather liked. There was such an element of transition and cycles in the way this setting was described, and it made perfect sense that Ysbrylla was a character - like many in the party - who had multiple places where she "belonged". I'm also proud of her player, relatively new to longform campaigns, who was so ready to help build an arc for her, challenge her, and collaborate on telling a story together.
|| ||: If Valcarian was becoming a man and navigating his place between cultures, || || was more specifically leaving behind her childhood and understanding her role in her community. Starting as an impulsive and reckless character, we saw || || come into conflict with actual danger for the first time and learn to fend for herself. Her black-and-white view of morality was challenged by Pakano's betrayal, the various factions in Lost Mammoth Valley, and the original schism among the Burning Mammoth following. By the end of the campaign, while she was still on a path of growth, || || had undoubtedly lost much of the selfishness and shamelessness that marked her early character.
Ultimately, she agreed to travel with Valcarian to Mendev, leaving behind the emotional protection of her following for the first time. The entire table would certainly agree that || || was the heart of the campaign, and seeing her growth from the beginning to the end of the campaign was certainly heartwarming.
That was where we left our story of the Quest for the Frozen Flame. We spent a long time sharing our favourite moments, and things we appreciated about each other at the table. With this being the first AP I've ever completed, I was both proud of the work I put into the campaign, and grateful to have players that were committed, engaged, and collaborative in creating a great story together.
And for those reading this, I hope you enjoyed my account of our game. Maybe it will inspire you to explore the Realm of the Mammoth Lords for yourself!