Campaign Break
We're not doing any more D&D until the New Year – busy time and seeing folks and all that – and hand on heart this week I'm glad because everything hurts from yesterday (especially my rib). It does however give me more time to come up with both a story and resources for the one-shot planned as light relief as well as work out the next chapter for the DDC.
Part of that preparation has been spending more time in HeroForge to come up with concepts as well as fleshing out sample characters in dndbeyond. I generally find the process suggests characters whose stories need telling. As the D&D sessions are an ongoing story-telling venue, well who am I to ignore potential new characters or plot points.
Four of these characters started in D&D Beyond, and the fifth – on the right in the picture above – has sprung entirely from playing around in the HeroForge toybox.
From left to right we have Fane: a warforged priest that the group has already encountered and defeated once; Hook: a warforged scout; Arnaud Gloomstalk: a bugbear ranger; Perrip: a tabaxi rogue; and Rekkem: a dragonborn monk. I've roles in mind for the warforged already, connected to the wider plot, while as for the rest, I haven't decided whether they'll be allies, foils, or adversaries in the stories to come. I look forward to finding out.
DM hints, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, gamescharacter concepts, DDC, DM hints, DM resource, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, geekery, heroforge
DDC – The Dust Settles
Well, we have reached the end of this chapter of the adventures of the DDC. Our session yesterday was emotional as we rounded up loose ends – I may have made a few people cry along the way. This is all the more impressive given I had no hard and fast notes and was very much playing a number of elements by ear.
We started with a brief time jump of a week or so and work beginning on clearing up the signs of battle and the dwarves of Clan Amberhammer being able to reclaim their home. Kerne devoted themself to researching in the library and reassembling the collections ransacked by the duergar and the warped cultists of the Triumphant Dead. Arwan dedicated himself to healing and supporting those injured in the battle. Valenia focused on scouting the surrounding lands as winter settled in, and hunting to help feed the refugees. Caeluma prayed for aid and guidance on how to retrieve Killiklik, and also helped support the families and communities gathering together.
As for Thorin? Well he was brought to his father who was found sick and confined in a prison cell and together they talked about his achievements, and the consequences for his father of having the curse lifted. Lord Bentane stated his aim to abdicate in his favour while he still had some time left – and to help advise in the transition if wanted – and the two dwarves argued out the fine detail into the night.
Kerne was able to refine the instructions gleaned from her sister with the notes and tomes in the library to create better curative potions. In addition she was able to identify arcane magics and divine prayers that could help magically cure lycanthropy by lifting the curse. A trial run with Valenia in front of people at the Hold proved that it worked. As a next step then, they decided to ask all those afflicted that they could find if they wanted the curse lifted – and with a unanimous response began to arrange the ceremony to be led by Arwan.
Quite by coincidence, the representative of House Sivis then made the offer to transform the portal construct into a magical transport circle that could bring better trade and contacts with the outside world – with free use for Thorin and his household, and a percentage of profits on trade to be paid to the treasury. An agreement was reached, and word sent out for craftsmen and artificers to come and begin work.
It was at this point that Inquisitor Rojas appeared at the front gates – representing the Silver Flame. His small force of men camped on an old battlefield near Flower Town, while he made his way alone to remake his acquaintance with Thorin. It was a huge difference since their last meeting in a Lightning Rail station bar. Now he was dressed in his plate armour and equipped with silvered magical weaponry, and Thorin was freshly crowned as Lord Thorin Amberhammer and on the doorstep of his own Hold.
It took the form of an outwardly genial conversation – with congratulations on clearing out the invaders and aberrations – but with the offer of assistance from his forces in rounding up and clearing out any remaining cultists and, most importantly, the werewolves roaming the mountains. Thorin firmly but kindly deflected these offers and informed the inquisitor that they had everything in hand. He did agree to let Rojas take his people to Flower Town to resupply for their journey back to Cragwar – knowing that none of the werewolves were based there. Rojas turned to go, pausing for a moment when he heard Caeluma growling, before carrying on to rejoin his troops.
A couple of days later, the werewolves were gathered at the old shrine, along with the DDC, and Arwan composed a ceremony to augment the curative effects of the potion to cancel out the curse along the bloodline from Karkanna. Each of the DDC contributed with their wishes for why they wanted it to work, and a pulse of golden light spread out from the huge bonfire illuminating the night. In its wake, the spiritual fragments of the bestial curse could be seen evaporating from the bodies of all who were affected – bringing peace at last.
A couple of months went by, bringing the story to the end of the year. Caeluma dedicated their efforts to creating a space for the Sovereign Host to be celebrated – a new shrine in the grounds of the Hold for all to use. Arwan continued to heal and help people, and used the goodwill generated by all his work to get agreement and support for beginning to build a school and shelter for the peoples of the Hold and Flower Town along with better management of the roads and paths between them. Work on the mines continued, to repair and remove the signs of occupation by the duergar and find new deposits of amber for which the area was known.
Kerne continued to research and delve into the arcane knowledge in the library on her own projects, and at the same time developed a slow-burning relationship with Karkanna that had begun before the final battle. Through persistence and acceptance, Karkanna in time began to believe that she was perhaps not so much the monster that she had thought she had become, and that there might be a future for her back at the Hold. In time, she was persuaded to move in with Kerne. During that first evening together, a new mark appeared on Kerne over their heart – but they have not as yet shared with anyone what that is.
Valenia continued to hunt and learn these new lands, and began to train a new generation of hunters and scouts from the local settlements. And Thorin took advantage of the remaining time with his father – who needed a cane to walk and gentle support as he waned, but was still a lively mind and engaging conversationalist. Together they began to heal the wounds left by war and time, and laughter returned to the Hold.
On the evening of the last day of the year, the wrights and scribes of House Sivis invited everyone to an official opening ceremony for the new circle. Thorin gave an awkward speech and cut the ribbon beneath a canopy of bunting and lamps and with tables groaning with food and drink. Then the portal opened for the first time – and the first people through were Coal and Odif. Odif ran to Thorin's arms, while Coal found himself swept up in Caeluma's arms for the first actual declaration of love ever made by Caeluma.
The second people through the portal were Valenia's parents, loaded with gifts and pulling a small cart with beer from Valenia's home town. The celebrations lasted quite some time – and that was where we ended the chapter.
Next week – a oneshot adventure – I'd better get writing it…
D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gaming, Geekery, Roll20DDC, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gaming, geekery, Roll20
DDC – Valenia's Parents
09/12/2022 10/01/2023 Tim Maidment1 Comment
Earlier this year we ran a D&D session around celebrating the birthday of one of the players – Lady B as it turned out – and it became an extremely wholesome session of parental gossip from back home and the players all scurrying around the local town to find the perfect presents for them. Lady B plays a half-orc ranger and described her parents in simple terms which allowed me to lean in on how to play them.
Anyway, this is all a roundabout and long way to say that my early evening yesterday was spent in HeroForge to create representations of these two NPCs as a nice reminder of the event and an aide-memoire for as and when they may turn up again later. Given they were last seen staying at a hostel near the DDC's house I really wouldn't be surprised if they became house sitters while the group was off saving the world. So, please welcome Misaki and Valenash.
I wanted to capture their zest for life and hint at their pasts as retired adventurers so a moderately hedonistic cleric and a gruff and generally laid back woodsman were born. Lady B said these were fairly close to her own imagining of the pair so that's as sound a mark of approval I'll get given these were done blind without referring to my notes…
Each of these digital images were created in HeroForge using a Pro subscription. Just thought I'd share.
artwork, Dungeons and Dragons, games, Geekeryartwork, DDC, Dungeons and Dragons, games, geekery, heroforge, The Parentals
Map – Winter Amberhammer Gardens
It would be rude to do the write-up of Sunday's game and not put up the battlemap we used. The map shown here is a very much cut down version of the bigger map I'd put together of the whole Hold. That original map was generated using Dungeon Alchemist and exported as a jpeg before my then painting snow in with Photoshop Elements. Then the whole thing was imported into Roll20 and some animated spell effects used to simulate the portal (specifically Black Tentacles overlaid with a gaseous cloud)
The characters were placed anywhere they wanted to be within 20 foot or so of the entrance at the North. The snowy stone was treated as rough terrain with rolls to keep footing every time they moved. The grassed areas were easy to travers as it was only light snow. The entrance hall is where the beholder, mindflayers, and a gazer familiar were staged, and the portal was in the structure on the right of the map. The layout therefore gave lots of options for cover and breaking line of sight with opponents with trees, hedges, and ornamental objects.
This version is a relatively low-resolution image that nevertheless scaled well for the purposes of the VTT – just as well as the photoshopped version was nearly 30Mb in size due to my editing options and I had to drastically resize and compress the file.
Still, here we go – feel free to grab and use. I've made up a zip file with the original non-winter cut down map, this winter version, and the associated lighting and sizing text file so that you can import either or both versions to your Roll20 vtt – you'll need to be running the Dungeon Alchemy API, import the graphic to the mmap layer and then copy and paste the contents of the text file into your Roll20 chat. That will resize the map and add lights for the torches on the map.
Amberhammerv4.zip
DM hints, Dungeons and Dragons, games, gaming, Geekery, maps, roleplay resource, Roll20DDC, DM resource, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, gaming, geekery, maps, Roll20, vtt
DDC – Eve of War
05/12/2022 05/12/2022 Tim MaidmentLeave a comment
And so here it was – the grand season finale. The group had met the enemy and retreated, barely surviving. They had tracked down the refugees who had fled the Hold. They had identified those members of the Clan infected with lycanthropy and secured their cooperation. There was a reconciliation between Thorin and Karkanna, and the revelation of a new family member – and a dragon dropped by to confirm whether the group really was an instrument of the Draconic Prophecies concerning these events.
So that was a lot to process for people as various strands woven through the game all started to come together. The Cult of the Triumphant Dead held the Hold and the portal being built that would mix the magics of Xoriat with that of the Fey Winter's Knight to bring eternal winter to the heart of Khorvaire. Thorin and Karkanna's father was still hostage within the Hold, infected with lycanthropy that held his heart condition at bay. The Hags had been working on drugs that would render all who took them vulnerable to the magics of the fey with the plan to distribute them across the lands to be conquered by Winter. The DDC had slain the Hags, while Kerne's sister fled with the secret to making the drugs to keep them from the Winter's Knight. It had been Faye who had chained the portal in the Hags' lair before fleeing – and she was now on the run.
During the week of downtime then between last session and this one, people spent time in preparation. The first snows of winter arrived, and temperatures dropped rapidly as ice crept across the rivers and made travel even more treacherous. Kerne worked with Valenia to identify some of the more obscure ingredients and processes identified in communications with Faye. They produced what they hoped would be an elixir that could cure those affected by the werewolf curse. It resulted in three bottles of…something…that looked like congealed blood in a clear liquid and no volunteers to test it.
Arwan spent the week working with the villagers of Flower Town to make repairs, and to shore people up in faith and reassurance. He listened and talked and spread good news to all – and received a measure of divine favour for his work. The people of the town came to value his presence and were prepared to go to greater lengths to aid in the fight. In a similar vein, Caeluma spent the week with the werewolves – teaching them meditation and practical lessons on managing the rage and the curse and the shifting of forms. He also rebuilt and rededicated a shrine in the abandoned village, bringing the presence of the Sovereign Host back to a shadowed place. The divine powers noted this and granted the promise of aid.
And then there was Thorin. Who spent the time reconnecting with his people, encouraging them, making plans for battle and then frequently forgetting them amid the wild carousing. He had vague recollections of doing something he shouldn't have while drunk, but as nobody seemed to know what it was either he figured it couldn't have been that bad – even if there were complaints that someone had fouled the well.
Local Map of the Amberhammer Lands
All in all, between their preparations, the presence of a dragon nearby, and word getting out among the refugees, more people gathered to their banners – giving a fighting force of some 40 dwarves and 18 werewolves and a dragon to aid the DDC. There had been sightings of something draconic flying near the Hold, but nobody could quite identify it. The additional refugees did confirm however that a small force of duergar had taken the mines and were fortifying it – and that dolgaunts and dolgrims were occupying key watch towers on the approaches to the Hold.
A plan was quickly improvised. Caeluma and Killiklik would take a handful of werewolves to tackle the mine entrance – either to clear it or collapse it, while the main body of the army moved against the Hold from the North. Caeluma and Killiklik would then flank from the West as they rejoined the army.
The assault on the mine was swift and brutal, with Killiklik's fiery breath clearing defenders and defences from the entrance, while Caeluma led the pack inside. There they found a reeling duergar force and inspired the captive miners to break chains and rebel. Between those two assaults the duergar were driven off – and a divine wave of healing spread through everyone remaining. The miners vowed to close off the duergar breakthroughs and secure the galleries so that no more reinforcements could come up from below. This left Caeluma and his companions free to rejoin the main fight.
Meanwhile, the army had overrun the northern watchtower with minimal losses and was advancing on the Hold. As they approached, a chaotic horde of dolgrims, dolgaunts and duergar spilled out to meet them, and battle was joined. The people of Flower Town and the werewolves joined forces, reunited as the people of Clan Amberhammer and were led by Karkanna on the field, while the DDC pressed forward to the gardens and main entrance.
The mindflayers and the beholder had been joined by another of the beholder's nightmares – fuelled by dreams of conflict with Killiklik it had spawned an Eyedrake – a horrid amalgamation of dragon and beholder that on its own would tax many groups. Worse, the quiescent portal in the gardens had widened and opened, held open by dark tentacles from the other side that blindly groped and writhed in the air, and shrouded by dense snow and fog as the cold of the EverIce of the Winter Knight's realm blasted through. Here then was what had brought on the sudden commencement of snows and ice across the mountains. Unchallenged, this winter would never end.
Killiklik and the eyedrake launched straight at each other and their epic fight scorched the air through the heavy snow squalls filling the air. Fiery breath, and razor claws and teeth were met with antimagic pulses and streams of magical energies in retaliation. Thorin and Arwan closed on the nearest mindflayer and nearly managed to drop it in the first moments of the fight before its hideous mental powers washed out across the battlefield.
The party nearly fell in that moment, if not for Arwan's divine favour to offer aid in making saves in those frantic seconds. The second mindflayer also tried to scourge their minds, while the mindflayer arcanist with them cast lighting through the pair as punishment for approaching.. Then the beholder emerged from the doors of the Hold and began to bombard the party with magics. Caeluma, Valenia, and Kerne fought back and tried not to get pinned down as rays from the beholder's eyes scythed across the garden.
Slowly, the beholder's allies were cut down. Killiklik managed to destroy the eyedrake with his breath weapon, but was turned to stone by the beholder – his body falling from the sky and through the open portal. Arwan's battle prowess surprised everyone as he decimated the remaining mindflayers – receiving the accolade of The Hunter from Killiklik before he died. As a last ditch effort, the arcanist mind flayer plane shifted Thorin to a hellish location to be rid of him.
With Caeluma and Arwan paralysed, Kerne caught in the beholder's antimagic gaze and Valenia slowed and almost turned to stone, things looked grim. And that's where the final divine favour was granted, and Caeluma's patron – the Solar Gerleon returned Thorin to the mortal realm and blinded the beholder's antimagic eye. The group rallied, slew the arcanist and then piled in on the aberration before them. In the height of the winter's storm, it was Valenia who landed the final blow with an arrow from concealment. The title of The Quiet was finally claimed.
And with that, the battle on the field below became a rout as the dwarves won the day. The portal curled in on itself and sealed up, and Gerleon was no longer there. With the portal closed, the sun began to break through. They had won the battle. Now they had to win the peace.
Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gaming, Geekery, Roll20DDC, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gaming, geekery, Roll20
Dude, Where's My Weekend?
Our DDC session lasted an epic six hours this afternoon and evening and has left everyone drained. Jubilant, but exhausted as they beat the bad guys. Next week will serve as an epilogue of sorts to this arc.
I'll write up the session itself tomorrow once I've had a chance to sleep. My body is still in reset mode ahead of next week's challenges so most of the weekend has been spent curled up on the sofa or in bed. I'm reminded that in part this is down to vitamin D deficiency.
To be honest, I am starting to feel a bit more comfortable. I'm still very drained, but the spinning headaches and bone aches have faded, and I don't feel like I've fallen down the stairs so much – so progress.
Also, the new car is nice. Be even better when the chassis registration goes through so I can charge it..!
D&D, Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gaming, health, Roll20, weekendsDDC, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gaming, health, weekend
DDC – Draconic Prophecies 9
It's all getting a bit epic and legendary in the Sunday game – with archetypal titles being bestowed and dragons arriving to overshadow the events. Everyone's having great fun, even if they're occasionally having to stop to pick their jaws up off the ground.
The Doom of Kelliklik approaches as the Heir decides his fate. A nod and bow and the Redeemed shall not fly alone. The Watcher's Dream of Dragons shall be met with fire and teeth and claw.
The Draconic Prophecies – Scale 200 verse 1-3
The battle of Flower Town resulted in Thorin stating his claim to the throne and willingness to fight for his people, and Caeluma persuading the dragon Kelliklik to fight and fly alongside him. The Watcher's Dream of Dragons remains to be revealed, but so far, each mention of a Watcher's dream has alluded to the Beholder's nightmares retaining form and flesh upon his awakening
In defiance of Winter's Madness the sundered clan will fight. Unity and compromise found where death and hatred bloomed. What new dawn comes after the fight? Rebirth.
The Draconic Prophecies – Scale 200 verse2 4-6
The greatest portion of the two halves of Clan Amberhammer have agreed to work together, brought in by the DDC. How will it all end up? Well it ended with a grand route of the duergar and the daelkyr-aligned forces, and a ritual to cleanse the lands of lycanthropy. There were even some trade deals done with House Sivis for their aid.
The Heir. The Redeemed. The Scribe. All these roles now revealed. Two more ascend. The Quiet, and The Hunter step up and join their gaze to witness Fate.
The Draconic Prophecies – Scale 201 verses 1-6
Everyone in the DDC is being referred to with Archetypal labels. So far we have Thorin as the Heir. Caeluma is the Redeemed. Kerne is the Scribe. During the final battle for the Hold, Arwan was hailed as the Hunter as he struck down foe after foe in swift succession. Valenia took the title of The Quiet both for her stealth, and for an interpretation of 'Quiet' meaning 'Death' as she struck the final blow on the beholder.
Draconic Prophecies, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gaming, GeekeryDDC, Draconic Prophecies, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gaming, geekery
DDC – Fluffy and Snuffles
I was exhausted yesterday so completely forgot to do the writeup after our session – but what a game it was! We picked up from last week with the group split across three locations as they negotiated and bargained with various groups of survivors to band together under Thorin's banner to retake the Hold.
At Flower Town, conversations began about the practicalities of how to gather people together at the right time and in the right place. There was a rapid realisation that the DDC hadn't considered how to keep in touch – but fortunately a representative of House Sivis was among the refugees and through the power of their Dragonmark they were able to get a Sending to Caeluma.
For their part, Caeluma and Karkanna had arranged that when given a signal, the werewolves would assemble near the Hold. Caeluma got to know the spokesman of the wolves so that they could use a Sending to likewise signal to them when it was time. Hearing from the rest of the group, Caeluma decided to make their way to Flower Town, while Karkanna returned to the shrine.
Kerne continued their research into a cure for lycanthropy following the sharing of a hag's recipe by Faye. Taken as written there was a high cost to assemble the ingredients per dose, but Kerne reasoned that if they could interpret some of the more obscure terms, they may be able to reduce the costs by sourcing things that might be known under more familiar names. When Karkanna returned alone, Kerne feared the worst and challenged her. A tense and sassy exchange left a silence between them as Karkanna turned to feeding her child, and the werewolves present enforced a distance between them.
Caeluma was able to swiftly fly to Flower Town and surprised everyone by dropping out of the sky into Thorin's lap while everyone was sat round celebrating. Under the cover of flirting, they updated Thorin on the plans, but as light was fading the group decided to accept the refugee's offer of roofs for the night. The group was put up by several families in homes around the main square.
Kerne and Karkanna resumed talking as Kerne wanted to ease the tension but also share the discovery they had made. The high cost was pitted against the saving of lives – but when Kerne asserted that if need be it could be only given to those who wanted the cure, Karkanna made an empassioned speech about the corrosive and corrupting nature of the lycanthrope curse. She did not want the curse. She definitely didn't want her child to bear it. Kerne asked if the Clan could afford it, and Karkanna said that even if she wanted to give Kerne all the money right now, she couldn't as she didn't have the key to the Vault – that was in Thorin's hands. Karkanna said that Thorin was the rightful heir now. He had the skills and aptitudes. He had the support and willingness to sacrifice himself. Karkanna was, now and always, the monster in the dark and would protect and avenge from the shadows. The evening night drew in with a rapprochment and gentle acknowledgement of the fight and struggle to come, and as the temperature fell, Kerne and Karkanna retired to Karkanna's tent.
The rest of the DDC were rudely awoken in the night by a gout of flame and the screamed challenge of the red dragon Killiklik. Accompanied by the Dragon Blessed called Sigrund, a challenge to the Heir and his companions was issued to test their worthiness against the Draconic Prophecies surrounding this event. A tense and bloody fight ensued as the group leaped to defend the village and each other before Sigrund ended the challenge and cast a mass cure upon all the combatants. An agitated group rounded on them and their decision to appear in the middle of the night, only to be met with the assertion that fate and destiny wait for no one, and despite the suddenness, they had proved equal to the challenge and therefore capable of facing what was ahead. Rings were offered to the group as signs of their place in the Prophecies and of the favour of the dragons of the Argonnessan – but Caeluma challenged Sigrund and Killiklik further – to join in the fight.
There then followed a series of cryptic questions that tested the DDC's awareness of the situation, and the stakes involved should they fail. Caeluma spoke passionately about saving lives across the continent from the Winter's Knight and the eternal ice he planned to release in the heartlands of Khorvaire. Killiklik then turned to Thorin and asked if he had made his Choice. Thorin said he had – that he would fight for his land and his people.
Killiklik then nodded to Sigrund, who bowed in return, and the Killiklik repeated a line he had said earlier – that he knew his Doom and would face his death – and then affirmed to the group that he and Sigrund would fight alongside them.
Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gaming, Roll20DDC, dragons, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gaming, geekery, Roll20, werewolves
DDC – Decision Times
We've started playing earlier on a Sunday afternoon so that we have more leeway if we get caught up in the action and so that there's a chance to wind down afterward without needing to dive straight into bed. As a result, I've got a chance this evening to write up today's session – which is just as well as a lot happened to a very split group.
We'd left the group resting overnight following the major revelations of the last session, and they woke to make breakfast and try to decide on what to do first to gather the local scattered survivors to begin the fight to reclaim Amberhammer Hold. Karkanna was willing to gather together the werewolves hiding in an abandoned village a few hours away, so Caeluma offered to accompany her and support her in that effort. Rather than backtrack around various crevasses and rivers, Caeluma used her wings to slowly carry Karkanna across. This was hugely exhausting, but took a long time off their journey.
When they arrived, they found a cluster of hovels near a dilapidated shrine, so Caeluma entered and prayed briefly, re-emerging to find that nearly a score of disheveled and beaten-looking dwarves in tattered clothing had emerged from the ruins and were gathering around. Much to Caeluma's alarm, Karkanna gestured that they should speak, which took Caeluma very much out of their comfort zone.
In a halting voice, that slowly grew in confidence, Caeluma was able to appeal to their community, their shared fates, the trust in each other and might together in the face of the invaders who had overrun their home. Faced with a beaten and resentful group, Caeluma was able to rouse them and bring hope and a new sense of purpose. And so the werewolves were recruited
Lands around the Amberhammer Hold – Made with Inkarnate.com
Meanwhile, Arwan, Thorin, and Valenia travelled by foot, crossing a ravine across the rusted sword and remains of a truly titanic warforged colossus from years gone by. Local predators in the form of aggressive dinosaurs attacked them, but despite the precarious footings of all concerned, the group was able to fight through with only minor injuries and eventually made it to a fortified village called Flower Town. In happier times this village grew staple crops for the Hold on carefully maintained terraces cut into the mountainsides, but it was now surrounded by barricades and bore signs of recent fighting. Many of the refugees from the Hold had been taken in here, and they now lived in a state of constant night-time siege.
Thorin, also unused to public speaking and unsure of how to win people round, produced the Heirloom Axe and began to speak. The process was rocky at first. Many held Thorin with fond memories, but his long absence and the actions of his sister counted against him in the face of what they had suffered. Valenia tried to demonstrate that those with lycanthropy could be trusted by transforming into her new hybrid form, and back again – but this was not well received. In the end, an impassioned speech by Thorin about reclaiming their lands together, leading them to push back the dark, and seeing a land free again for all of them – a chance to end the Last War once and for all – broke the impasse.
And back at the camp, Kerne continued to research for ways to break the werewolf curse – reaching out to her sister by way of the magic book that they could both write in – and was able to convince Faye to share a recipe stolen from the Hags that trained her that could cure someone bitten by a werewolf. If she could gather the ingredients, or finish finding the rituals required, there may be another way to end the plague without putting everyone infected to the sword.
Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gamingDDC, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gaming, Roll20, werewolves
HeroForge – Mr Friendly and Mrs Nice
These two mercenaries were an early thorn in the side of the DDC. They were on retainer to Morgrave University in opposition to the DDC who were retained by Wynarn University – and the plan was originally to have them as a recurring nemesis for the group as they investigated or delved into various mysteries or forgotten sites. That went sideways when the group wanted to go a totally different direction in terms of story and tone – and beyond a bit of a wind up, a social encounter, and an appearance in a flashback the two have gone on the back burner. I may bring them out as a call-back in the Librarian group as they are more associated with Morgrave University in that game.
Mr Friendly and Mrs Nice are neither of these, nor are they married. He is a goblin who hails from a proud line of dhaakani warriors and who tries his best to liberate or preserve the relics of his people. She is a changeling sorceress who is in it for the money. He has a reputation of striking suddenly from ambush, often as exhausted rivals emerge from the temples and tombs they've just been raiding. She is known as a consummate spy and infiltrator and mostly only by reputation as nobody is entirely sure that they've actually met her or even seen her true appearance
The names of course arose out of a joke while chatting on our Discord server during lockdown. I was teasing the group with upcoming threats – mostly to see what kind of reactions I got to sound out what might work and there was an immediate chime with these two names. The soft and gentle names were seen straight through, and a whole host of suggestions were made about who these mysterious people could be.
As it was, the story went other directions – but they made enough of an impact that while people were trying to assemble all the breadcrumbs in last week's lore dump, they did wonder just how involved these two might be in the whole mystery. I hadn't thought to bring them back in – but perhaps, just perhaps, there's a role for them yet…
DM hints, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gamingDDC, DM hints, DM resource, Dungeon Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, games, gaming, Mr Friendly, Mrs Nice, portraits, tokens