da gloopy RPG diary

 The remaining kobolds take one of the prisoners before they're slain. After Benry turns back from an anvil, it's discovered that the remaining passage leads back to the kitchen. Every branch has been explored, and the dragons key is yet to be found. Every passage but one. The ogre lives beyond the fallen bridge. It's found grey and lifeless, clutching at its stomach, a pile of bones in the corner of its cave. It's been dead for some time. The key is fastened in a loop around its neck. The dragon, Sareesees, is in the debt of the dwarves who freed it. "If you ever need it, just call upon me. You would be surprised the worlds I can travel to." As it departs to the sky, the ragtag dwarves depart from the cave. They leave behind the corpses of innumerable fallen. Hopefully the prisoners can find peace. But before that, they have to get back to town. No warmth, no food, no idea of where they are, missing limbs and companions, the dwarves find themselves trekking a...

 The door slams open. A dwarf bursts in. Short. Ragged. He looks frightened, checks over his shoulder. "Help me!" he cries. "They're after me!" It's another prisoner, escaped from the kobolds. He speaks frantically of a kitchen, a horrid stew made of dwarven limbs. Now a conundrum: to go back and clear them out, or push forward to cut the head off the snake. Well, snakes have proven to be quite dangerous. Hopefully this one doesn't have two heads. Onwards into a room of floating isles, each with size enough for one. Each bearing a blue stone like the dragons. Keeps them aloft. Crossing them wasn't too difficult, Ranak manages it with ease. Until a kobold crosses his path on the final leap. But it wasn't expecting them. A quick stab in the gullet sends it into the abyss below. A splash betrays the presence of water at the bottom. More attacked from behind, slinging stones to knock the islands out of the air. Two fall, two flee. One of the ones tha...

The tinking tapping of their pickaxes is all the dwarves have known for a year. Ever since they were captured by Kobolds. Fed slop from the ceiling, they waste away their days gathering gold from under the hill. A presence from behind. The dwarves cower in fear. "We'll have more gold next time!" But it is not their cruel masters they see. It's a human, Theron, bearing a shield and a sword. Behind him, a dwarf, Warthog, enters holding a flaming bottle of ale. These newcomers bring liberation and fresh drink. Brothers of the mountain reunited. The old armory equips the new companions. They stay to avenge their own captures. To destroy the evil presence in the hill. Uniting with their tracker Rosie, the band of now 6 + the hound consider their next moves. Entering the final passage on this level of the cave, the band descends into a dark corridoor. Halfway down the hound stops moving. Senses something ahead. The band moves on, puzzled at the dogs fear. But the source of ...

 My father took me to Icewind Dale when I was 3 years old. He taught me everything I know. How to use a bow, how to skin a rabbit, how to follow hidden tracks in the forest. That bow is all I have left of him after the plague took him. Rest in peace, Pa. He never told me much about his days as a campaigner in the south. He mostly told me about my mother, a fellow soldier. He told me about how they met in training, joined the same company, toured the southern kingdoms. He always gets up to the job they took for some duke. He would always get quiet after that. Wouldn't tell me what happened next. Someone new came to Icewind Dale. Weathered face. Older fellow. 'Bout the same age as Pa. He spoke a bit to the speaker. I didn't have to eavesdrop to know it was about the moose. The white moose thats been terrorizing the forest. Attacking at random, either groups or lone men. Day or night, if there is such thing as day anymore. The few that make it back alive tremble ...

 Caer-Dineval has been silent ever since those guys in black armor shipped out of old castle.  No mention of the town speaker that was supposedly sick and dying inside. No mention to anyone about anything. We woke up one morning and they were gone. The sick have moved in since then. Guard it like they're under siege. But no one's trying to get in. Marco's been acting strange recently. Stays in his hut. His corn is dying. Well, more than it was. He's got a scarecrow out front, as if there are any crows to scare away. Haven't seen him in a long time. I used to sit in my fathers cottage and watch him work. Now all I do is look at the scarecrow. I swear, sometimes I wake up and it's facing an entirely different direction. There's a stranger in town today. Some sort of elf, pale skin, white like snow. Poked around Marco's cottage. Guess that means he's not inside anymore. No idea what she found in there, but she looked determined on the way o...

 I've been running rime of the Frostmaiden in 5e for friends of mine. Thought it would be cool to keep a log of what's happening. I wonder if blogger has good tools to organize these articles so they can stay out of the way. I'll check later. We ran through the first half of the book (up to the dragon), then took a break so my boi Theo could run us through descent into Avernus (that adventure fucking SUCKS!). During that time there was an in universe time skip of 8 months, during which some players had downtime adventures over discord. This first post is about those adventures leading up to part 2 of icewind dale. Part two of the adventure sucks ass, so I added a bunch of crap using principles of node based design and old school style sandboxing. I might do some posts about the enemy factions at some point I think, but for now you can read through it all in order as the players experience it.   My first few posts will be fiction that recaps the events of every...

 My boi peter started running Knave in his custom setting. I'm playing in it. It's documented here. Swag. One day in the past, the moon went out. Night was already dangerous. It's worse now. Those things that can naturally see in the dark have taken all but a small corner of the world. That's what happened to Oulwick. That's why humanity ended up in Nest. Three unlucky souls were conscripted into the militia.  They're running out of men these days, and these roads are too dangerous to travel unguarded. Captain Homer accompanies these wayward souls. His company of three. Four if you count the driver. Night falls, and it doesn't even last one watch before they came. Theron heard them in the trees first. Something small, but undoubtedly humanoid. Clumsy, they'd stumbled into branches and gave themselves away. Theron saw a lumbering doggish silhouette before the carts pulled away. The carts entered a valley, and hell broke loose. From up on the ridge, three ...