Session Report 1: Chill Mist Valley

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8/27/2021, Session 6 of my Chill Mist Valley playtest campaign. Five of our current six players were present.

The session took place from 2/15/1261-2/20/1261 by the in-game calendar.

I’m not really sure how much information to post on the prior 6 sessions we’ve had, to be honest. I’ll probably do the equivalent of a clip show, but if you have a specific question just drop it in the comments. I’ll get the hang of this in another essay or two ;)

Report

We’re playing through the Chill Mist Valley module I’ve been designing with my cowriter Knight and a host of freelancers since last December, and tl;dr? It went really well!

To understand the events of this session and those prior, there are a couple things you need to know.

  1. We’re using 1-1 time rules. That means the world progresses 1 day in-game for every day that passes in real life. Given we meet on a weekly basis, players usually have 7 in-game days between the events of each session.

  2. Players have a list of downtime activities, along with a few they tend to improvise. Given the average 7 days of free time the characters have, this list is put to use on a weekly basis.

Our party’s wildling Karenna went searching the local area around their in-progress settlement Liscor (the second person to do so). She was in search of dungeons specifically, and managed to do so; she also found two dangerous monsters on her way! One was a mercury dragon, the other a strange looking metal spider. We can’t well have monsters threaten a settlement just as it’s being built, say the players, so they go off to hunt it down. They travel a few days, do a bit of fishing, and find a wrecked wagon along the way. It looked like claws or forelegs were raked across it, the axel was broke, and something had broken the carriage inwards. There was quite a bit of blood, but no bodies. The players investigate for a hot minute, and find a note addressing House Naius; it says the summer fey are leaving, High King Zephain intends to take the valley by freezing it over, and the elf cairns should make ready for war or subjugation. They move on, after one of the characters (I think Moss) explains elf cairns are not burial grounds nor markers, though the name was chosen for symbolic purposes. They’re castles or cities hidden in small realms of their own. Samheide is dotted with them.

So the players move on! After a little while, they come upon another wagon, this time with several elves wounded and scattered about, along with a giant metal spider currently 1 (one) away from tearing an elf a new one. The players leap into combat, giving the elves time to scatter!

Truth be told, the retriever performed poorly for its CR. The paralysis beam failed, which would’ve been fine had the damage been more impressive. A legendary action or special reaction of some kind would’ve really brought it together, but alas, that’s the trouble with 5E monsters. I can’t be too unfair to it though; by the time the manticora joined the fight, it was on single digit hitpoints. Oh well! It did manage to plane shift out though, to my delight. I’m a sucker for recurring bad guys.

The manticora on the other hand performed more than adequately. The variant I used (native to Samheide) has a gecko’s body, butterfly or pixie wings, and an elf’s face (rather than a man’s). They had a regular claw-claw-bite, which they largely didn’t use in favor of their tail spikes. The tail spikes were made of the jade-like glass, which drained Dexterity on a hit. Ability drain (or damage, depending on your play history) isn’t super common in 5e. I can’t remember it outside of the Shadow, truthfully. But I remember reading the shadow entry and thinking “it kills you if you reach 0 STR? Too cool.” 5e could desperately use some death spirals, given the present alternative is yo-yoing players up and down because they never fail enough death saves to actually die.

For dexterity drain, I decided reaching 0 would instead permanently paralyze the character. They would then need to regain their dexterity by way of potions, restorative magic, etc. Beyond that, if a creature was reduced to 0 hp by the jade, they detonated with the stuff in a 5 ft radius.

And this could chain. In fact it did chain; Moss, the party artificer, has a cadre of awakened shrubs at his command. He’ll use them to toss magic stones at enemies, doing impressive damage! Alas, they have only 10 HP, and a single shrub going down caused a chain reaction which killed the rest of Moss’s retinue and damaged Moss heavily. This also happened to Deltannu and his retinue of lizardfolk bodyguards; all but one guard was knocked, as were several elves hiding behind a berm.

Three of the 5 manticora facing them had additional abilities; two were glass-makers, who could fire back when attacked as a reaction. They proved exceedingly effective! The other manticora was a glass heart, which could raise a 10 ft radius, 20 ft high spike of glass from a surface (provided it was on the same aforementioned surface). Also quite effective! The players all grouped up so Deltannu could could place a wall of fire around them, forcing the manticora closer. Walls of fire are opaque, thus inflicting disadvantage on any ranged attacks. We saw a lot of great tactical decisions from the players this session, actually. It only came to bite them when the glass heart manticora repeatedly spiked the wall’s (formerly safe) center.

The players managed to give as good as they got, and the encounter wrapped up. It took sliiiiiiiightly longer than I wanted, but this was our first major combat in the game (along with 5 players, 4 hirelings, and some NPCs to work through). I have total confidence our next few are going to resolve faster, and the player will pick up the pace insofar as their other activities are concerned. It’s a reasonable assumption as far as I’m concerned; we’re headed to a fey hollow next session as players look for riches with which to fund their armies.

The elves the players rescued were actually from the nearby elf cairn, and were able to provide more information, along with an introduction to the cairn itself. It’s where the players have spent their downtime for our upcoming session, with quite a few interesting results.

Players

Deltannu
Notes: Deltannu’s been a blast to DM for. I retained him from my Lancer campaign, which was largely a disaster, but he was my favorite part of it. As a 3.5/Pathfinder player, he’s the most interested in managing the more minute mechanics, extra modes of play, and providing direction to the two other original players. Liscor was largely his invention, as was the plan to gain an army. I’m looking forward to sending him the new spells available.

  • Ancestry: Dhampir (Halfling)

  • Class: Druid (Spore)

  • Secondary Class: Scholar

  • XP: 39,620 (+3,090 XP this session)

Desmond

  • Ancestry: Halfling (Stout, I think)

  • Class: Rogue (Soulknife)

  • Secondary Class: Ley Keeper

  • 43740 (+4120 this session)

Karenna Frosteye

  • Ancestry: Aasimar (I’m not aware of the subrace, though I think it’s scourge)

  • Class: Fighter/Barbarian (Eldritch Knight/Tiger Totem)

  • Secondary Class: Trailblazer

  • XP: 43740 (+4120 this session)

Moss

  • Warforged (Do these have subraces? I’ll ask)

  • Artificer (Artillerist)

  • Secondary Class: Craftsman

  • (+4120 XP, total XP)

Robin Goodfellow (Not Present)

  • Ancestry: Eladrin

  • Bard (Glamour)

  • Secondary Class: Minstrel

  • XP: 35,020

Henchmen

  • Olesm
    Level 1 Lizardman Bodyguard

  • Relc
    Level 2 Lizardman Bodyguard
    515 XP (+515 XP)

  • Seyls
    Level 1 Lizardman Bodyguard
    0 XP

  • Zevara
    Level 2 Lizardman Bodyguard
    515 XP (+515 XP)

  • Delramien (Not Present)
    Level 8 Drow Mage
    Delramien is a mage the players captured in the World Below and convinced to come to their side. He is currently back at Liscor preparing the construction of a mage tower. I told Karenna he didn’t actually need to be there for the majority of the construction, but I think she forgot he’s even present. Oh well!

  • Omari (Not Present)
    Level 1 Anupine Tracker
    Anupines are a folk with fine black fur and the heads of a very recognizeable canid from egyptian mythology. They occasionally filter into Samheide for work and trade from across the sea, where they’ve made their homes in the desert. Similar to Karenna, I believe Desmond has completely forgotten about this NPC, so they’re chilling in Liscor.

Settlements

  • Liscor
    Level 2 Settlement (Under Construction, will be complete 2/27/1261 in-game)

  • Unnamed Lizardfolk Tribal Camp
    Level 1 Settlement
    Seasonal Income: 50 gp
    Seasonal Trade Value: 50 gp