Bleak Generation

We picked up at peak, just before the long rest in Hamlet. M’narr became aware that his familiar had died, feeling an earth-shattering pain in his body. His screams attracted the attention of the locals – but Indeps aren’t known for their nosiness. Resummoning Hraparakk , the familiar told M’narr that he had been subdued by the Ironridge militia. Not a good sign. But they rested, all the same. 12-Bar traded a song (a decent one) for some more food with the local bariaur couple.   Resting up for a night-time departure would mean a higher risk of ambush , but o ur heroes had no time to waste. M’narr relied on his squat, brown owl familiar to see. Cresting a wide ridge just before antipeak , 12-Bar was stopped by an odd rumbling sound. Before the party could decide on a course of action, a stampede of bison rushed over the ridge, threatening to trample the three. M’narr looked over the ridge and saw the stampede had been caused by a huge squadron of modrons , who’d kill...

So there they were in the alleyway. The enchantment on Fergus expired, only for M’narr to immediately recast suggestion on him. Seeing his allies smitten with Fergus, Ragados took Lesley aside to scheme a solution. Lesley drank Ragados’ potion of invisibility , and the two returned with manacles and a plan. But Ragados couldn’t subdue his friends. 12-Bar, despite his weight, is notoriously difficult to pin down. Lesley was convinced to run home and send for the city watch if Fergus did not come home. And so, terrified, she fled. What Ragados didn’t know was that Circean Embers are a fickle thing. Over time, Fergus’ beauty had indeed become overpowering. He succumbed. The entire party was now dedicated to keeping Fergus nearby. Which on the one hand, was deeply troubling, but on the other, now allowed for them to continue on their journey. The party stopped off at the Stonevault Bank to convert their coin to platinum (minding the Stone Giant guardians as they went), and set off aga...

The Outlands encounters left before Ironridge were earth-bergs and a bandit attack. With earth-bergs, a section of the Outlands has broken off into an Outer Plane because its alignment had changed. I picked Pandemonium. It seemed fun, and PCs potentially going mad is always a cool RP experience. Earth-Berg Rules A crater, several miles wide, blocks the path. Above it, boulders – some as big as ships and houses – fly through the air randomly. Some fast, some slow, some occasionally going so fast as to leave the area around the crater and fall to earth. Inside and around the crater, the strong winds are loud enough to deafen all characters. It takes 1 hour to cross the crater. Every 15 minutes, a boulder will fall low enough for its gravity to potentially lift a character off the ground. Roll the following ahead of time: 1d8 – This determines the direction of the boulder in flight, going by rough compass points. Will a victim be thrown forwards or back? 1d4 – This determines spee...

Our three heroes stood on the lip of the crater, staring up at the swirling mass of stones in the sky above. From the crater's swirling, maddening winds, it looked liked this section of land had broken off into Pandemonium, but a trace of that plane’s chaotic nature remained. After some debate, the heroes decided to go through the crater rather than round it. Ragados shaved the wax off his supply of maggot cheese and used tinkers’ tools to melt it into earplugs for himself and 12-Bar. M’nar preferred to conjure his own earmuffs. The maddening winds safely suppressed (mostly), our three headed on through. They figured they were safe from Rocks Falling, Everyone Dies due to the lack of boulders in the crater. It’s always a wonderful moment in D&D when the players know something unexpected is going to happen, but none of them know what it is and decide to run headlong into it anyway. Anyway. A quarter of the way across the crater, a low-flying boulder shot overhead. Despite ...

Our heroes began not far from the corpse of the Mind Flayer Proxy, and the Rotting Oracle. They dithered with a ritual spell so I threw the psychic storm at them. The facts were mostly facts about other D&D games I play/run and in-jokes about Xanathar’s goldfish, and their randomness went down well. Examining the dead Mind Flayer and finding nothing, the party focused on their objective and left the Rotting Oracle, thankfully avoiding Blvastin (who needs renaming in this day and age, because Blvastin sounds like a pharmaceutical). Marching order established, the party headed on. It was muddy, drizzling rain, and pretty miserable. And getting darker: so dark, none of them noticed the signs of an Umber Hulk and some Rust Monsters lurking in the mud for them, exploding from the ground in a shower of earth. The Umber Hulk got some dangerous hits in against 12-Bar, and M’narr dodged a dozen Rust Monster attacks before they finally corroded his breastplate. But before long, the Rust Mo...