Shattered Star: The Unshattering

Game Date: 2/27/2016
Location: The Game Keep
Campaign: Shattered Star, Session 48
System: D&D 5e
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Bjertha Brawlbaker (Matt) - Dwarf Fighter
Fellany Mertien (James, subbing for Cliff) - Human Fighter
Gustav Greycastle (Graham) - Human Necromancer
Maruca (Daniel) - Elf Ranger/Cleric/Rogue
Slancio Brioso (Thomas) - Human Bard

The Session:
Last week we found the final shard and returned to the Pathfinder Society.  We got a couple of weeks of downtime, during which we did a lot of carousing.  Then we attended a council meeting, where they decided they would reassemble the shards at a festival on the Irespan (Magnimaar's giant bridge).  After another week of downtime, we attended the festival.

Part of the reforging process involved our magic users expending all their spell slots, an action we would come to regret later.  The pieces came together, forming a Sihedron which rose into the air.  Sheila nudged Bjertha to touch the Sihedron.  As Bjertha touched it, it gave off a bright light, and began floating behind Bjertha's head.

The assembled Sihedron has the following properties:

Sihedron
+2 to all six stats.  +1 AC. Glows (as a Daylight Spell). Regeneration 5
Foresight: Can't be surprised, Advantage on attack rolls, ability checks, saving throws.  Other creatures have disadvantage against you on attacks.
True Resurrection on self 1/day (Activates automatically if user dies)

User picks one point to be "ascendant" and gains the bonus and at-will spell listed. User may change the point as an action, but can not use the oppositional points.
As a bonus action (once per round), the user may teleport it to a wiling creature within 120'. As it does so, both gain +2 on saving throws and heals both creatures of 3d8+10 damage. This can be done when a creature fails a saving throw, but before the DM says if it is successful or not, or after a creature takes damage. When the Sihedron is teleported, the new user can choose which point is ascendant, even a point which would be oppositional.

Charity: +4 bonus to AC, and the user can not be moved against his will, plane shifted, etc. Opposed by kindness and temperance.
Generosity: +4 bonus on attack rolls, and gain Wild Shape as a druid of your level. Opposed by humility and love.
Humility: +5 on all skill checks, and Greater Invisibility as a spell-like ability. Opposed by generosity and zeal.
Kindness: +4 to weapon damage rolls, and casts Ice Storm as a spell-like ability. Opposed by charity and zeal.
Love: Grants +5 on initiative checks and Charm Person as a spell-like ability. Opposed by generosity and temperance.
Temperance: Regeneration 10 (overwrites the Regeneration 5 the Sihedron normally grants), and Fear as a spell-like abililty. Opposed by charity and love.
Zeal:+5 bonus on concentration checks and spell attack rolls, and Dimension Door as a spell-like ability. Opposed by humility and kindness.

However, it does require attunement, which we didn't get a chance to do right away.  Clouds started gathering in the distance, and the ground began to shake.  A giant spider - a "Shriezyx" - climbed up onto the Irespan.  It was tough, and our lack of magic made it look it would be a difficult battle.  But Bjertha used her "Devour Intellect" power, ending the fight.

We noticed the water was receding.  We realized that a huge tidal wave was coming, and warned everyone to get to safety.  The water hit Magnimaar hard, flooding half the city.  Afterwards we assisted in rescue operations.  While searching one flooded area, three large mechanical monsters headed for us.  Slancio used his magic ring to divide the water so we could fight on dry land.

The monsters were Clockwork Leviathans.  They had a high AC, but were weak to lightning.  Unfortunately we started dividing our attacks early on, each of us facing a different opponent.  Over the course of the battle, Gustav, Slancio, and Fellany each got swallowed by a different leviathan.  After a lot of fighting, Bjertha finally brought one down.  Then Gustav killed his from the inside, using his rod of lightning.  Bjertha finished off the third one, and we rested a bit. 

We heard reports that a giant monster was attacking people on a nearby island.  Of course we headed in that direction.  It turned out to be a scylla named Aureusa.  This creature was a woman from the waist up, with tentacles from the waist down.  Around her waist was a ring of living wolf heads.  It kept grabbing citizens and killing them.

Slancio realized it was an illusion, and we detected that the source of the illusion was behind a nearby building.  As each of us overcame the illusion one by one, the real Aureusa emerged and attacked us.  She was a tough one.  She had lots of attacks, the ability to grapple and restrain her victims, and a fear aura.  However, by now we'd attuned to the Sihedron, which put its wearer into Godmode. 

Bjertha was wearing the Sihedron at the start of the battle, using the Kindness mode for the extra damage and Ice Storm spells.  When Slancio went down later, Bjertha transferred the Sihedron to him, recovering some of his health.  He switched it to Generosity mode, using the Wildshape ability to deal with Aureusa's grapples.  At one point he changed into a giant octopus so he could grapple back, then he changed to a flying snake to escape. 

Once Bjertha got the Sihedron back, she used the Charity mode to avoid damage while keeping Aureusa busy.  While the scylla concentrated its attacks on Bjertha,  Meruca finished the monster off with some of her most damaging moves.  As the session was running a bit long, we stopped there for the week.

Shattered Star: Mission Accomplished

Game Date: 2/20/2016
Location: The Game Keep
Campaign: Shattered Star, Session 47
System: D&D 5e
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Bjertha Brawlbaker (Matt) - Dwarf Fighter
Fellany Mertien (Thomas, subbing for Cliff) - Human Fighter
Gustav Greycastle (Graham) - Human Necromancer
Maruca (Daniel) - Elf Ranger/Cleric/Rogue
Slancio Brioso (Thomas) - Human Bard

The Session:
Being somewhat less than well-rested from last session's nightmare, today we prepared to go through the portal to plane of Leng.  But first, we decided to check out the three minor portals we saw in the Lich room.  We tried sending Gustav's familiar through them, but it kept dying.  Okay, fine, it wasn't that important.  We went back to the main room and performed the ritual - pour powder into the fountain, immerse ourselves in water, leap into the mist.

In Leng, we appeared on a covered pagoda-like platform, connected by a short bridge to an ice shelf.  It was cold and the weather was miserable.  We crossed the bridge and began to pass six sphinx statues to enter a building.  But before we could get that far, a gaggle of faceless winged beasts swarmed around us.  They were "Nightgaunts", and there were nearly twenty of them.  We managed to kill a couple of them early in the first round, but it took multiple hits per kill, so it still looked like it might be a lengthy battle.  But Slancio cast Firestorm, killing thirteen of them and leaving the final three severely hurt.  Then Gustav killed one and Meruca finished off the final two.

We entered the building.  The architecture was strange, with walls at odd angles and built from otherworldly materials.  Our friend Morcruft the Leng Ghoul (who we met last session) told us this place was called the "Temple of the Crawling Chaos".  Lovely!  We met some other ghouls, Morcruft told them we were cool, and we asked them for advice about finding the dragon Cadrilkasta.  The ghouls told us that they had been subcontracted by the Moonbeasts, and that we should consult with them.  They led us to see the Moonbeasts.

We were led through several halls, ending up in a room with a giant hole in the wall.  Odd corpses lay strewn about this tunnel entrance.  The Moonbeast temple guardians acknowledged our presence, and asked us to assist them.  They were trying to build a weapon to kill the dragon, and needed our lives to power it.  We didn't like that idea, but Slancio was able to persuade them that we'd be better dragon slayers while still alive.  They allowed us to pass into the tunnel towards the dragon's lair.

The tunnel ended in a large cavern.  One entire wall was open, and we could see mountains and other landmarks in the distance.  On the opposite side of the cave we saw Cadrilkasta, perched on top of her treasure horde, clutching the final shard.  She told us that she'd dreamed of us, and she knew that we carried the other shards.  She asked us to give up our shards so that her collection would be complete.  We refused, and the fight began.

On the dragon's first turn, she blasted Bjertha and Meruca with lightning breath.  Meruca saved without a scratch, while Bjertha took a whopping  101 points of damage.  She was a tough opponent, but we'd beaten tougher.  She used lots of wing attacks that knocked down multiple opponents.  Slancio dispelled her mage armor, making her a bit easier to hit.  When the dragon started to get low on hit points, she tried going invisible, but we kept attacking her space until she reappeared.  It was actually one of Gustav's zombies who dealt the killing blow.

We looted her treasure horde, filling up every bag of holding the party owned.  Part of her loot included a portable hole, which Gustav used to keep the dragon herself.  He's been talking about wanting a dracolich mount someday.  Finally we walked back out through the Temple of Chaos.  The only way back to our plane was to jump off the cliff into the mist.  We took a ton of falling damage getting back, but we survived.

We kept on going back through the dungeon.  Once we were finally back to the surface, we used a teleport spell to return to Magnimaar.  We dealt with some business in town, and finally headed to Heidmarch Manor.  Our questgiver Sheila Heidmarch was very glad to see us return with the shards.  She has decided she wants to reassemble the shards.  Once assembled, the Shattered Star will once again be a major artifact of unknown power.

Our party is wary of the idea.  Granted, it was our mission to recover these shards for the Pathfinder Society, but we've grown accustomed to the powers these shards have given us.  We're also worried that once created, this powerful artifact could fall into the wrong hands.  And how well do we know Sheila, really?  We ended the session there.

Shattered Star: Now You're Thinking With Portals

Game Date: 2/13/2016
Location: The Game Keep
Campaign: Shattered Star, Session 46
System: D&D 5e
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Bjertha Brawlbaker (Matt) - Dwarf Fighter
Fellany Mertien (Cliff) - Human Fighter
Gustav Greycastle (Graham) - Human Necromancer
Maruca (Daniel) - Elf Ranger/Cleric/Rogue
Slancio Brioso (Daniel, subbing for Thomas) - Human Bard

The Session:
We entered a large octagonal room with seven exits.  There was a pit in the center, filled with silver smoke.  On the far side was a fountain.  Fellany recognized this location from a dream, in which she had learned there was a secret eighth exit.  We saw six sets of doors, labeled for our convenience:

1. The Dreaming Crypt
2. The Grand Hall
3. The Giltspur Treasury
4. The Binding Chamber
5. Whisperstone Sanctum
6. Abysium Core

The Giltspur Treasury's door was ruined, and the entire room had been cleaned out and smashed.  We opened the door to the Dreaming Crypt.  There were several sarcophagi, but they had already been opened and looted.  There was a Ghoul in there, but he seemed peaceful.  We had our resident necromancer, Gustav, do all the talking.  The Ghoul was from the plane of Leng, and only wished to go back there.  He was able to tell us a little about the dragon's recent activities.  He knew that we'd need dust from the Abysium Core to replicate the dragon's ritual.

We went to the Abysium Core next.  It was full of magical crystals and lightning, and the party kept taking CON damage as long as the doors were open.  Gustav sent in some zombies to gather dust, but they weren't able to grab much.  Later Bjertha went in with a bag of holding to collect more.  Bjertha proved highly resistant to the CON attacks.

In the Whisperstone Sanctum we found a large tan stone, with a faceted indentation in the center.  It looked like a place where a gem should be inserted.  A successful knowledge check told us that a Whisperstone Crystal is used to record information and memories.  We decided to look for this missing gem.

In the Binding Chamber, there were three faceless statues and a metal grill on the floor.  Two of the statues were holding vessels, from which smoke rose.  As Fellany entered, faces coalesced in the smoke.  One was a beautiful deva, the other was an ugly pig-faced demon.  The told Fellany that dumping one of the vessels would destroy that spirit but release the other.  Each face told her that the other face was lying.  Being genre savvy (or just chaotically bored), Fellany dumped the deva, releasing the demon.  The demon revealed to us that she was really the deva, and that their minds had been switched by evil magic.

We went for the last unopened door, the Grand Hall.  We saw stone faces on the walls, one smiling and the other scowling.  Behind the faces were magical portals.  On the far side of the room there was a giant damp curtain.  Behind the curtain was a third face (fear), and another portal.  There was also a throne, upon which sat a jewel-encrusted skull and a horned mask.

The curtain suddenly fell.  It turned out to be a green slime, creating a deadly moat between the party and the throne.  Then the skull began to hover, and attacked.  It was a Demilich, and a tough one.  He had legendary actions, regeneration abilities, fear powers, and lair actions.  He kept hitting Gustav with anti-magic spells, unsummoning his undead followers and preventing us from using healing him.  It was a hard fight, but we finally won.

We took a gem from the throne, and carried it to the Whispering Sanctum.  Using the crystal to get information, we learned that the various portals led to different areas of the dungeon.  We learned how to recreate the dragon's ritual, and that the giant central portal was a portal to Leng.  In order to use it, we have to pour powder into the fountain and cast either Nightmare or Plane Shift.

We decided to take a long rest before doing any plane shifting.  Once again we had nightmares.  Slancio, Bjertha, and Meruca shared a dream in which we fought a giant white worm.  This thing was way beyond us, and we didn't stand a chance.  Bjertha was swallowed, and the other two took massive damage without much chance to fight back.  Slancio survived the longest, but the worm still made short work of the party.

It was just a dream, and the only negative outcome was a level of exhaustion.  But if this is representative of an actual encounter we're going to have later, then we're going to need a plan.  We ended the session there.

Note: We each received 8,000 XP, bringing us up to 140,998 (level 14).

Shattered Star: We Get The Shaft

Game Date: 2/6/2016
Location: The Game Keep
Campaign: Shattered Star, Session 45
System: D&D 5e
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Bjertha Brawlbaker (Matt) - Dwarf Fighter
Fellany Mertien (Thomas, subbing for Cliff) - Human Fighter
Gustav Greycastle (Graham) - Human Necromancer
Maruca (Daniel) - Elf Ranger/Cleric/Rogue
Slancio Brioso (Thomas) - Human Bard

The Session:

Last session we fought a huge sea monster.  Today we started out by looting the monster's hoard, and looked for a place to rest.  We started to explore a small island, only to stumble across an invisible shaft.  We sent Gustav's raven down the shaft, and found that there was a room at the bottom.  We took a long rest in Gustav's magic mansion, then debated on where to go next.

We decided to check out the rest of the islands first.  We flew around a bit, looking at various small beaches and islands.  One landing had a trail of broken stalactites, and we found evidence of a giant purple worm.  We saw the worm's tunnel in one wall, but didn't investigate it yet. 

Another island hosted six Nagas performing some sort of ritual.  Slancio hit them with a Firestorm spell (from a magic harp he'd obtained from the sea monster's hoard), and the battle was on.  We hit them with a lot of good attacks before they got a turn, so by the time they got their footing (so to speak) we'd already killed half of them.  It turned out they had some decent mind attacks, taking Bjertha out of the battle with a hypnotic stare.  But by then it was too late for them to take control of the fight.  Fellany delivered the final blow,  and we looked around the island.

It looked like the Nagas had been trying to create a portal to the Abyss.   We trashed the place, so when they reincarnate later (as Nagas do), they'll have to start from scratch.  At this point we'd seen all the islands.  We had to decide whether to go down the shaft, or into the purple worm's tunnel.  The party voted, and picked shaft.  We made our way down the long shaft, with help from Meruca's mechanical wings.  At the bottom of the shaft was a small room, with a short tunnel leading to a door.

Bjertha (who is currently really an Intellect Devourer) detected an alien sentience beyond the door, but didn't tell the rest of the party.  The door was locked and trapped.  Meruca failed to unlock it, so Slancio tried the Knock spell.  We were blasted by a powerful gust of wind, leaving some of us confused.  Gustav was controlling two ghouls at the time, and both got confused and attacked their master.  The first hit paralyzed Gustav, so he was unable to tell the party his minions were just confused.  Thinking the ghouls had turned bad, we killed them.

Through the door was a long grand hallway, with a faceless sphinx at the far end.  As we walked through the hall, some of us were suddenly slowed.  A "Flying Polyp" appeared and attacked.  This thing was tough.  It used powerful wind attacks and had a Frightful Presence.  Gustav used a lightning wand, and found it the monster was vulnerable to lightning damage.  It countered by hitting Gustav with Windwall.  Gustav went down three times during this fight.  It was a long battle, but Meruca finally finished it off.

We examined the sphinx statue at the top of the stairs, but (oddly for this game) it didn't come to life or try to eat us.  We saw one side door that we will investigate next, but for now we ended the session.