Session 26 Prep

Set Expectations

Set the expectations for the session and communicate any above table information FIRST before starting the session…

• Lab Ratz In Feb? Need Character ideas by next Sunday; considering a smaller table (5-6 max)
• Bit of combat, bit of puzzle, bit of roleplay
  • Got some things I wanna cover but it’s up to y’all how that happens
• Reminder: Be the audience that you would want
• Big table, bare with me; to avoid crosstalk it’d be nice if y’all can raise your hand if you’re tryna ask me or the table a question.
• welcome back Damon & Simon

Recap & Re-Familiarize

Recap the previous session events with brevity, then reintroduce them to the world.

Last we left off… you all made your way through the Fey Runegate and into an extravagant room floating in a starry void around you. It was here that you met The Gatekeeper - an Archfey with extremely long ears that seemed surprised at your arrival. The creature bantered for a bit before very strongly offering your troupe a tour of the Feywild - casting you into two magical bubbles that seemed to float gracefully. Axton and Jin volunteered to ride in a sidecar due to size constraints.

The tour flew you over each of the main regions between The Moonfields and The Bloodlands - territories of the Seelie Court and Unseelie Court respectively. Here you were shown the Sands Of Sensuality, the Bountiful Blooms, the boundary between the Lycanic Planes & Rynetear Wastes, and into the peaks of Mystveil Mountains before resting a moment to absorb the view. You learned here that The Gatekeeper has not been informed of events in the Material Plane in quite some time - based on his surprise at mention of the Gods leaving.

The tour continued as you were flown over the Veradean Forest, and towards a clearing that bordered with The Shifting Shades nearby. Either due to rust, carelessness, or both - the bubbles began to fly out of control with your troupe within them. Axton and Jin’s sidecar was ejected amidst The Gatekeeper’s attempts to stabilize the craft as you witnessed your companions shoot off into the cloudscape of the Feywild. The Gatekeeper landed the craft before evicting you all from the craft - unimpressed & unthreatened by the demands of Aurevald. He supposedly left to find your friends whilst your attention was taken by a man with blonde hair fleeing a pack of Displacer Beasts.

Five displacers beasts appeared as your shorthanded party teamed up with this mysterious blonde Human to slay them. As the skirmish ended - Azriel as he would introduce himself - seemed to recognize Morgyn and threated to slit her throat if anyone else got closer. Through some conversation - and a bit of Arcane assistance from SHAI - you all managed to quell the tension and come to an understanding. You learned that Azriel had been unwillingly associated with the Vaena Kingdom’s military until 5 years ago - and during that time had a handful of encounters with Morgyn.

As the sun began to dim - you made the decision to head into The Shifting Shades in order to get closer to SHAI’s society. The thick and twisting jungle proved challenging to navigate - even for a native - as you arrived at a narrow pass over a foggy hole in the ground. After some short investigations below the fog - your troupe were invited into a shelter by a Terralpi man named Dridge. He revealed that he and his species were native to the Mystveil Mountains before being pushed out by a mysterious masked man. He also revealed that he was about to resume searching for his son who’d been missing about a day or so. A short conversation was had between Aurevald and Dridge about his axe before he bid farewell.

You took watches in pairs for the night - and aside from one they were mostly uneventful. However during Aurevald and SHAI’s watch - the Goliath male heard the familiar, shrill voice of Scabb come from all directions. It was unclear what the source was - however some of your troupe noticed a snake-like creature far off in the distance before losing sight of it many feet away.

And that’s where we’ll pick up from… You have all completed a long rest and it is a new day - the date & time are still unknown to you which is becoming more and more normal at this point. It is a cool and still within this part of the shifting shades.

Immediate Event

The immediate action for the Party to deal with.

Free roam

• let them yap and get comfortable
• eventually have them walk for a bit and end up at the bridge

The Bridge:

• Roll initiative or give me marching order.
• In order have them roll a d12 - if it hits a 10 or higher they feel the bridge begin to collapse under them. Have the next person roll the next dice in the chain.
  • d10, 8+
  • d8, 6+
  • d6, 6
  • 2d4, same number
• If they run out of dice - the bridge collapses and I need DEX saves or fall 60 feet onto hard ground. 6d6 bludgeoning damage unless negated.

Regrouped

• Increasing number of mushrooms spotted as the jungle gets a bit thinner
• A sharp rocky cliff in front of them - with a very large red mushroom in a small clearing in front of it.
  • get the hint to jump on the mushroom and be bounced up 300 feet.
• Take them to Sporelands

Plots Points/Paths Forward

Details about various plot threads that can be explored this session - with a subheading for each one.

The Sporelands

• A rocky plateau within The Shifting Shades that appeared without warning many hundreds of years ago. It didn’t harm anything SHAI’s people care about so they left it alone.

• They’re crawling through rocky pass before they eventually get to a wide open area with huge plant like structure growing in the middle.

  • DC 16 Perception checks to hear faint voices from the inside.

• A 200 Foot drop

• Axton and Jin are shouting for help

• Wing this part - eventually they’ll find their way out of the hole and

  • If they get really stuck - have The Gatekeeper return and try to make a bargain; let it get tense before breaking it with him floating them out.

• Leaving The Sporelands requires jumping over a cliff onto a green mushroom that absorbs the fall (SHAI and Morgyn can infer)

Axton’s Epiphany

• Whilst waiting for help; you pondered your study and craft whilst observing the Orb Of Arcane Potential that you found a few days ago. Suddenly an idea came to you and unlocked some deeper secret about Arcane Magic itself to you.
  • You realise that Morgyn might also benefit from such teachings.

Onwards!!

• A small trail through the trees that reveals a set of two small footprints.
  • Survival, Investigation: likely from a pair of children, could be a native species to the Feywild.

The PumQueen

A wide open clearing as the jungle trees shrivel and turn to an autumn brown colour, the muddy ground below clearing showing the footprints walk around

A number of sections later - have them arrive at The PumQueen’s clearing where she’s resting on the pumpkin(turn off the pumpkin till they make a perception check or get close)

She won’t notice them at first - if they proceed steathily; turn on the the grid and ask for initiative.

If they sneak up on her she’ll releasing a cloud of pink mist in their direction (DC18 Wisdom saves) or be charmed until they make the save:

• She will not face them - with her head buried into her chest, and she will speak to them telepathically.
  • Only see her grey hair
  • She’ll refer to people as cute little pumpkins
• She will very quickly diffuse the tension and ask if they can help her
• She can’t move from that spot but her daughter went missing.
  • Her ex-husband always wanted a powerful child; so he forced her to give their daughter powers as soon as she was born. Because of this she is very powerful - like herself - but isn’t mature enough to control them a lot of the time.
  • Magic spell that locks her atop the pumpkin until it runs out or is dispelled - and it’s lasted multiple days at this point. If they can find her daughter and calm her down it should release the spell.
• Warns that her daughter will not be easy to quell but she will reward as best she can should they be able to do so.

Gap rooms

• Play time if too early
  • A room with a put out campfire and two sets of small footprints that approach it - before one set leaves alone.
  • Another room with a little Terralpi boy named Barlok - he’s looking for his friend who wasn’t there in the morning. He’ll vaguely mention that he hopes he didn’t go to find “her” if pushed/listened to.
  • A room with a lots of cobwebs and swampy waters.

The PumPrincess

“You arrive at a clearing in the trees as you see a large, open space with muck and grass covering the ground beneath you - as rows of thick vines line in front of you. A closer inspection uncovers the unripe buddings at random intervals across the vines - and you gather these to be crops of some sort. Your attention is caught by the sudden wailing of a feminine figure perched atop a giant pumpkin - even bigger than the one you saw before. She is facing away from you - so all you can see is the lower half of a navy ball gown.

DC 16 Perception: You see something made of metal - rested off to the side of the log she’s on - catch the light for a second before something pulls it out of sight… DC 21 Perception: You notice the metal object was the blade of a sword and there was deep red blood on it…

She notices you all as a shrill voice echoes through the clearing

“I warned them… they didn’t listen! I told them to stay away!!!! Now let’s see how they like being turned into MY Pumpk’Nights!”

You see her turn to face you as you see a young Humanoid girl with blonde hair in pigtails - she looks maybe 14 at the oldest. Before long you notice the skin on her face is a bright orange; and where her eyes should be are black voids. Her entire head is just a carved pumpkin.

She raises two hands as vines extend from the pumpkin beneath her - carrying the corpses of 5 dead soldiers towards the unripe buddings in the crops near you. Magically - the buddings grow into large and unnatural pumpkins that attach to each of the corpses.

5 reanimated Pum’Knights - commanded by The PumPrincess - turn to face you; each with a shield and a rapier.

I need you all to roll initiative

Block	Notes
	Remember the weakness to fire, remember to play up the drama
	They are unreactive - they

Combat

• 5 Pumpkin Knights (15 AC, 84 HP)
  • 2 attacks, 1 bash, 1 pierce
  • Bash: +7 to hit, 2d4 + 5 bludgeoning damage; on hit you are blinded
  • Pierce: +7 to hit, 2d6 + 8 piercing damage
  • TRAIT: Below 25% HP - the creature’s head grows in size and goes from orange to red.
  • TRAIT: At 0 HP - the creature explodes in a 10ft radius. Make DEX 18 saving throw or take 4d6 poison damage. Those within melee range make save at disadvantage
• 1 PumPrincess (18 AC, 136 HP, Large)
  • 2 attacks, 1 vine whip, 1 thrust
  • Vine Whip: +8 to hit, 2d6 +4 poison damage; on a hit make DEX 16 save or be restrained until the start of her next turn or end of your turn IF you make a save at disadvantage.
  • Thrust: +9 to hit, 2d8 + 5 piercing damage
  • TRAIT: Whilst any Pumpkin knights are within 300ft; this creature is resistant to Fire damage, and is immune to all other types of damage. When 0 pumpkin knights are eliminated, she is weak to fire damage and all other damage is normal.

After

• Wing it
• End of a high energy note so long as it’s not TOO early.