Joël's campaign (now: Har'Akir desert arc!)

[Speedwagon]

Heading to Har'Akir huh, Joel? I hope you and your players have fun there! I had went to Egypt for Christmas and New Years' with my family since we have family over there and had a great time. Got to see lots of fun ruins and what not, and it was quite inspiring for my own Ravenloft group which is also in Har'Akir now (granted, they're in 5e Har'Akir while I assume your group is gonna be in the Amber Wastes 2e/3e Har'Akir). Funnily enough, there are Falkovnians in Har'Akir too, cuz I couldn't resist the Indiana Jones idea that came to mind. I wonder what sort of things they'll get up to there. Thanks for posting the update, and I'm glad that the climax with the Gargoyle of the Cathedral went well! Poor dude just wanted to be loved, so the ending and the whole encounter was gothic in its own way. And it was nice to see that despite being a Darklord, Ivana can still be taken off-guard and scared out of her mind! I know my Monday party would've loved for something like that to happen to her, but they're the ones in Har'Akir running away from her so

[Joël of the FoS]

Heading to Har'Akir huh, Joel? I hope you and your players have fun there! I had went to Egypt for Christmas and New Years' with my family since we have family over there and had a great time. Got to see lots of fun ruins and what not, and it was quite inspiring for my own Ravenloft group which is also in Har'Akir now (granted, they're in 5e Har'Akir while I assume your group is gonna be in the Amber Wastes 2e/3e Har'Akir).

Ooh, I’d love to go there one day. When I was young, I wanted to be an archeologist, and that was before Indiana Jones came out I explored many many ruins in Yucatan, that was cool too.

It’s 2e/3e Har’Akir indeed, but I will add a few of the 5e components to it. I love the wind maelstroms.

So at first the sessions will be based on Touch of death (travel with vistani, the mummy encounters, Isu revealed, mixed with my Death Stone thing, etc.) but then I switch to something else (the end of the 2e adventure as written leaves me cold*), so there will be …

* and as I have experienced players (30 years of D&D), I don’t want a « ok, let’s eat popcorn and watch the scene because we can’t change anything »

Funnily enough, there are Falkovnians in Har'Akir too, cuz I couldn't resist the Indiana Jones idea that came to mind. I wonder what sort of things they'll get up to there.

Great minds think alike, or that was highly predictable perhaps, as there will be Falkovnians too in my game Couldn’t resist either!

Nebtha-Khufre is leading a Falkovnian group in Har’Akir to find a pyramid (PF the Pact Stone pyramid, a very cool dungeon by the way).

Because of a traitor, they will be forced to enter the pyramid and explore it for Nebtha-Khufre (it’s that or be transformed into pincushions )

But there will be the return of a NPC they hate, Helmut Koln (the Falkovnian they met at the Karina enclave a while ago), for a « here we meet again, herr Tora ! » moment.

I still have to think at what to do with Isu revealed as evil and Senmet.

Thanks for posting the update, and I'm glad that the climax with the Gargoyle of the Cathedral went well! Poor dude just wanted to be loved, so the ending and the whole encounter was gothic in its own way. And it was nice to see that despite being a Darklord, Ivana can still be taken off-guard and scared out of her mind! I know my Monday party would've loved for something like that to happen to her, but they're the ones in Har'Akir running away from her so

She was highly panicking, as none of her own powers had any effect on the Gargoyle, and it told her that her head would finish his project. She's the nervous type I guess

That was a lot of fun, especially when the druid, facing the end scene, said « and err... what if we do not rescue her? » but they thought Ivan as Darklord would be worse.

Why are they fleeing from her, she's a peach What did she do ?

[Speedwagon]

Ooh, I’d love to go there one day. When I was young, I wanted to be an archeologist, and that was before Indiana Jones came out I explored many many ruins in Yucatan, that was cool too.

It's truly worth a visit, and I'd love to go visit Yucatan sometime! My Spanish isn't too rusty but I could do with some practice. We went to the Pyramids of Giza, the medieval mosques and fortifications in Old Cairo City, the civilizational museum of Egypt (saw Ramses II and Seti I and Thutmoses I), and then a trip down the Nile from Luxor to Aswan (saw the Valley of Kings and Seti I's tomb, the Karnak temple complex, Edfu, Kom Ombo, and Aswan's Elephantine Island).

It’s 2e/3e Har’Akir indeed, but I will add a few of the 5e components to it. I love the wind maelstroms.

Nice! Of all the portions of the 5e book, the Har'Akir stuff (and I'Cath and Kalakeri) really drew my eye so it's nice to see the wind maelstroms getting used. My players managed to get to 5e Muhar from their starting point out in the desert by the skin of their teeth, so they're very wary of going into the desert without a guide (especially after being cursed to find Ankhtepot's Ka or turn into mummies upon death by Nephyr).

Great minds think alike, or that was highly predictable perhaps, as there will be Falkovnians too in my game Couldn’t resist either!

Nebtha-Khufre is leading a Falkovnian group in Har’Akir to find a pyramid (PF the Pact Stone pyramid, a very cool dungeon by the way).

Because of a traitor, they will be forced to enter the pyramid and explore it for Nebtha-Khufre (it’s that or be transformed into pincushions )

But there will be the return of a NPC they hate, Helmut Koln (the Falkovnian they met at the Karina enclave a while ago), for a « here we meet again, herr Tora ! » moment.

I still have to think at what to do with Isu revealed as evil and Senmet.

That sounds awesome, man! I've been meaning to look at 3rd party adventures to adapt into Ravenloft and I've started playing PF2e, so it's good to have a recommendation of one that I can use for my own Monday group to run through instead of having to make my own all the time. Depending on how you want to do it, maybe you can have Senmet be a pawn of another force? For me, Senmet was brought back by the Gentleman Caller to stir the pot in 5e Har'Akir, meanwhile Ankhtepot is annoyed at all the Falkovnians and Borcans and Vaasi and Dementlieuse expeditions and companies that are plundering his land (and he just wants to die in peace). Now my players are caught in between all of these factions. So maybe you can do something like that? Idk what to do for Isu, in her case I kept her dead but my players happened across her tomb when they traveled through the desert. She gave them the details of how she got betrayed and died, and tasked the players with killing Senmet out of vengeance (with her giving them magic items, on the condition that they make an oath, which the players did).

She was highly panicking, as none of her own powers had any effect on the Gargoyle, and it told her that her head would finish his project. She's the nervous type I guess

That was a lot of fun, especially when the druid, facing the end scene, said « and err... what if we do not rescue her? » but they thought Ivan as Darklord would be worse.

Why are they fleeing from her, she's a peach What did she do ?

Such is the problem with the Dark Twins, eh? Each has their own unique way of running things into the ground for Borca...

Nice to know she's the nervous type, in any case! And yeah, she's a real peach The players got the honor of coming under her service after a botched attempt at breaking into 5e Borca's Scholomance (which was remarkably similar to Mephisto's Teufelomance in QtR 29). They went into the Scholomance to find information for the Keepers of the Feather, who were tracking a mysterious incubus. Their contact, Clara Martikov, got captured by the Scholomance staff and was sent to Ivan's playroom, meeting a grim fate. Ivana had blackmailed them into service (via Nostalia as proxy) and had them do jobs for her (got a chance to run Undying Justice from Chilling Tales and that was a blast). An NPC the party had rescued from the Scholomance, an Outlander who Ivana had an interest in, became an Ermordenung. Party tried to use the most recent job she gave them to rescue the Outlander (trimming the man-eating plants of the garden of 5e Misericordia) but the Blood Hunter, right as he was on the border of Levkarest, got chased down and killed by the Jongleur. The rest of the party realizes that he died (despite the official story being a wolf attack) from the Jongleur and plan vengeance. The Carnival came to town, they realized that the Carnival was a great way out of here (and the cleric of Ezra and scholar of the party, who has been interested in the Gentleman Caller ever since said GC sent her a letter the night of their escape from the Scholomance teasing her that there are things beyond her comprehension and also threatening her, was interested in why Ivana mentioned during dinner that 'the Jongleur gets antsy when the Carnival rolls in'). So with all of that in mind, they jumped the Jongleur on the last day that the Carnival was in town, managed to kill him while he was off-guard in his room. The cleric's fire spells may have caused a mild mansion fire, so then they ran off to the Carnival with great haste. Then I got to run the Carnival 2e supplement with a fun voice mod, and the party met the Vistani seer who has the answers on Isolde (well they got multiple accounts but they valued her words more than the others). Then they got taken to Har'Akir and decided to say goodbye to the Carnival and strike out on their own. So that's been the (disjointed) description of what's been going on for said Monday group.

[Joël of the FoS]

Lots of action, nice!

What kind of stats did you give the Jongleur?

Interesting ideas for Har Akir, I'll have that in mind when planning the rest.

Joël

[Speedwagon]

Lots of action, nice!

What kind of stats did you give the Jongleur?

Interesting ideas fro Har Akir, I'll have that in mind when planning the rest.

Joël

Thanks for the praise, it's been quite fun so far! For the Jongleur I used the 5e Cambion stats along with a few demonic boons from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. I chose the demonic boon of Graz'zt as I thought it was similar enough to the GC to work, specifically I gave the Jongleur "Hold Person", along with "Joy from Pain" (whenever this creature suffers a critical hit, it can make one melee weapon attack as a reaction). He also had a magic item called the Gambler's Blade, where he can choose between a +1 to a +3 on attack and damage rolls with the rapier he wielded, in exchange for then getting an equivalent penalty for death saving throws. The players aimed for his wings when he decided to really get serious, and the bard got his magic item. And I'm happy to impart any interesting ideas I may have to the rest of the board whenever possible!

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Ivana's a peach as they are in the Wheel of Time. Generations of evolution have rendered the whole fruit toxic, where the current peach only has poison in the pit.

[Joël of the FoS]

Game next Sunday!

- the celebrations of Yakov's 50th anniversary of his death

Considering the fact that the church secretely hid the body of not-so-dead Yakov in the old church for 50 years, and that now Ivana knows it, what else could happen?

This year, the church plans to celebrate the 50 years of the death of Yakov in a grand fashion (but they will not reveal their big secret to the public).

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Maybe they'll hold a Guy Fawkes-esque celebration.
That might... solve... a little problem they're having.

[DustBunny]

Game last Sunday! Here's the session journal for game 93.

And finally G falls dead and the world is safe!
(ominous music)

Or is it.....
(faint evil laughter as a shadow shifts on the wall)

(yes I do like those cheesy 50's-60's movies)

I am curious aboout their fighting technique though. Why on earth did they start beating the inanimate statue and then start praying as the _very much alive statue_ was beating on them? Ah well, it worked out in the end.

- the celebrations of Yakov's 50th anniversary of his death (what could happen? )

Hmm, lets see... have the PC's not just made the aquaintance of someone who knows about preservation, animation and such? Maybe the conspiritors decide to get an expert opinion on their ... patient, and hope he doesn't turn off the 'snooze' button. A good price he may demand is to have his daughters fingers restored.

[DustBunny]

Apologies for a last minute idea before your adventure....

Listening through one of my playlists, I had an idea...

With Ivana on the balcony combined with your descripiion, a musical clip came to my mind... (*gasp* the horror, save us <deity of choice> )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YxaaGg ... scenceVEVO

Maybe Verandan wont escape her affections as easily, as she wants him to 'make her blood to run' and for him to 'save her from the dark'.....

[Joël of the FoS]

Great ideas everybody!

Varadan's player is toying (in a pre game private discussion with me) that Varadan could gently tell her that's its over. Telling her things like "we both knew it would not last" & all.

(I think Varadan's player think he is getting deeper and deeper in it, and he's "tired of having to think twice about everything" so he thinks of getting out of this toxic relashionship)

IMG Ivana is getting dumped for the first time in her life (if we forget the love treasons that really - or not - happened in her past), so how would she react? I'd like to play Ivana reminded that she is missing something if she doesn't change her ways.

If I was litteral with Ivana, she would kill him / them - they know too much to go back freely uncontroled like that. I think that's what canon Ivana would do.

Now, as a DM, I do what? I plan to have Ivana give them a property in Levkarest and a title in the Boritsi Trading Co. And you do not refuse Ivana's gift That way, she keeps them on a leash, even if its a longer leash than she would like ...

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Instead of killing them (because they're useful), Ivana could chain them to her by making them responsible for some people. Maybe unload an orphanage's worth of workers on them as part of the land and titles, tell them they have an opportunity to give them a better life.
If the adventurers start to get out of line, gently remind them who holds power of life and death over 'the little darlings'.
If they irk Ivana to the point she stops feeling faint twinges of gratitude, start throwing big, difficult jobs at them again and again; use them to destruction.

[Joël of the FoS]

And here's the journal for session 94.

Next game tomorrow.

[Speedwagon]

And here's the journal for session 94.

Next game tomorrow.

Poor Vivianne! You really were specific on the gruesome details of her death, I hope your players were really unsettled! Nice to see as well some information on the Deathstone (and on Antunia) and the way you've handled Ivana Boritsi (at least from the summary of the sessions you post here) is really interesting and definitely inspires my own take on Ivana. The map of the manor is a good one! And ooh, do Rodjan and Ivan get along as fellow Dilisnyas or is it a transactional relationship mostly? And that ending with Nostalia's capabilities really chills the blood!

By the way Joel, you're not the only one who has spellcasters find their spells . This was a particular policy that I had tried in a previous game that some players liked while others (the full casters in particular) didn't appreciate, so I had to make some modifications and implement it cautiously. I noticed that the players who were familiar with MMORPGs like World of Warcraft were mostly okay with that system Granted, that was also when I started out DMing so my understanding of session zero stuff and bringing up specific mechanics beforehand was poor in comparison to now, but I have implemented it in other campaigns after explaining it upfront and using a similar system as your own. So it's nice to see some similarity on that front!

Oof, Severin...

[Joël of the FoS]

Poor Vivianne! You really were specific on the gruesome details of her death, I hope your players were really unsettled!

Indeed, they were. It was a mix of 70’s Montreal crime mob settling scores, and what the violent drug cartels do today.
It was meant to show the world is a dangerous place And that they should be careful with Clothilda.

the way you've handled Ivana Boritsi (at least from the summary of the sessions you post here) is really interesting and definitely inspires my own take on Ivana.

Thanks! I think that even if they know she is evil to the core, the players love her!

And ooh, do Rodjan and Ivan get along as fellow Dilisnyas or is it a transactional relationship mostly?

A caracter from LotB. He could do jobs for Ivan, but in the end, he might try to take his place too.

And that ending with Nostalia's capabilities really chills the blood!

Impro on the spot, meant to show the heroes how powerful ermordenungs are.

By the way Joel, you're not the only one who has spellcasters find their spells . (…) So it's nice to see some similarity on that front!

Indeed! They are now in a library and Austizel might find a scroll or two.

Oof, Severin...

Between tragic and pathetic It’s not going to end well for him I guess.