Session 19: The Doom of Shira-Mar

3 APR 2020   30 AUG 3024 Ǎ12 36288 Ê1   0715     After review of my notes of this session, there was a traveling distance calculation error. To correct this both Seren and Vaela need to use 1 more 4th level spell slot, and Vaela also needs to use an additional sorcery point. I adjusted this narrative to reflect the corrections. The time has also been adjusted for accurate travel time. See the TL;DR section for more information on why this was necessary. In the recap, I have included extra detail on the distance traveled to further clarify the correction of the distance calculation error.   Báziel Encounter:   The Mor’Rahg brothers suddenly appeared in the mess hall of the Citadel. Their armor showed signs of battle, and each of them bore bloody wounds. Báziel was with them, but she was not walking on her own accord. No’Tash and Mor’Tash were carrying her. Purple blood seeped from her many wounds, and her normally white garments had splotches of dark purple. Her arms were each propped up by a Mor’Rahg brother. Seren noticed clutched in Báziel’s right hand was the bloody and broken crown of Shira-Mar.   Báziel was placed upon one of the mess tables. The players tried healing spells to aid her, but they would not work. Desperate for help, the party fetched Un Atsocoj, the Citadel's healer, but she could do no more than stabilize her wounds. Once stabilized, Báziel spoke to the party and told them this:   "King Man'duas and Queen Hulé rallied all of the dwarven and elven kingdoms. All of their armies united to make war upon the Great Fell Army. They met in a series of pitched battles, with both sides losing countless warriors, but the allies steadily were pushed back. Finally, the allied armies retreated to the great city of Shira-Mar to recover. While you here witnessed the siege of the Citadel by the Eshkatarans, the Great Fell Army took the dwarven fortress under the mountain, for Thorrson had too few warriors to defend it, and then they pressed on to the city of Shira-Mar. King Man'duas was able to meet them in battle, along with the remaining warriors of the Ah’Beh, Llandri’el, and the dwarves. The battle raged, pushing the allies back to the gates, where they made their last stand. Man'duas and the other lords fell, and the great living-tree walls were breached. Then Hulé's maidens broke forth into the fray. They mowed down ranks of the fell races, and pressed towards the fallen lords. Other gods started to appear, taking sides as they chose, and fighting with great ferocity. Even some of them perished. Hulé, who surrounded by her maidens, defended the broken body of Man'duas, until she too fell. I was gravely wounded retrieving his crown, and was rescued by the few remaining of Hulé's maidens. Finally, the Veh'lyn broke the Great Fell Army and it retreated in ruin and disarray. The Pip'tan that lived, also retreated to their domains to lick their wounds. The great living tree wall lies broken and dying. The allies were shown no quarter, and few if any escaped slaughter. The hall of Man'duas lies in a burning ruin. The doom of Shira-Mar has bought Ah’Resh time, however, nothing but your mission can divert the disaster to come."   Gor'Tash revealed that gods cannot be healed by normal means. They can only be healed by pure Ku'keon (pronounce Koo-kee-on - formerly called nektar). The gods consume Ku'keon in wafer form to replenish their powers and vitality. Very few things can kill a god, except of course the power of other gods, but if they are gravely wounded only the pure form of Ku'keon will heal them. There is a place that gods can not go. In the Ki'lia Peaks (formerly called the spine of Ah'Resh) there lies a cave. Inside it the heroes must journey to find the pure Ku'keon, if they wish to heal Baziel.   The party all agreed that they must do this for Báziel. Báziel told them that she understood if they decided not to do this, as their mission is very important. The party pledged to find the pure Ku'keon to restore her to health. Their mission accepted, Baziel succumbed to sleep.   Perilous Journey begins:   The party left the Citadel by using the Mor'Rahg Brothers' portal and arrived at the forest at 7:15AM. After realizing that you couldn't use the horses, you called back the Mor'Rahg Bros and sent the horses back. All of that took about 15 min. At 7:30AM the party decided to travel via Giant Eagle to speed up travel to the Ki'lia Peaks. Seren cast polymorph on two PCs, and then used Beast Shape on herself for the first 4 hours of travel via Great Eagle. That with the assistance of Ranmin's elk spirit put the miles traveled at 64 miles. (4 hours at 8 miles per hour = 32 miles and then doubled). Then Vaela used two 4th level spell slots and 2 sorcery points to cast polymorph with extended spell on two PCs, and Seren used her second Beast Shape for the next 2 hours of travel via Great Eagle. With the final time Ranmin's elk spirit could assist with the flight, would put the miles traveled at 32 miles. (2 hours at 8 miles per hour = 16 miles and then doubled). The total distance traveled via Giant Eagle was 96 miles.   Seren then used Speak with Animals, as a ritual, to talk with a squirrel and a robin to try and find the cave. Following the robin's instructions, the party then began to walk for an hour before taking a short rest to eat lunch at 1:30pm. About 15 minutes into your rest, you encountered strange creatures that seemed threatening. About 4 rounds took place where Ranmin and then Seren engaged the creatures, and the rest of the party fled at a fast pace together. Currently Ranmin has dispatched 2 creatures (let me know if it is more please) and is surrounded and battling 3 more, and Seren is trying to catch up to the party after dispatching a creature.   We ended the session at 1:45pm, game time, and the party has traveled 99 miles and needs to find the cave. Ranmin gained 3600XP for killing two of the creatures, and Seren gained 1800XP for killing one.   __________________________________________________________________________________ TL;DR Section   My apologies, but there were some mistakes on how the travel distance was handled this session.   This is what occurred during the session. The party decided to travel via Giant Eagle to speed up travel to the mountains. So Vaela cast polymorph with extended spell metamagic, and then Seren cast polymorph. Seren then Beast Shaped into a Giant Eagle herself. Now, for some reason we factored the time traveled to be 2 hours. I believe the 24 miles traveled in a day was inappropriately assessed to 24 miles an hour and then doubled by Ranmin's elk spirit. Or maybe real stats of an eagle were used. In any case, the incorrect calculations had the party travel via Giant Eagle for two hours and went 100 miles, which means that those Eagles were flying 25 miles per hour before Ranmin's elk spirit helped. According to the Monster Manual, Giant Eagles can only fly 8 miles per hour. :-)   The following factors were evaluated to determine the best course of action to correct the calculation error:   The normal travel pace for an 8 hour day is: (presumes travel by road, open plains, clear corridors) Fast Pace at -5 to passive perception = 30 Miles Normal Pace = 24 Miles Slow Pace = 18 Miles   Difficult terrain (dense forests, deep swamps, rubble-filled ruins, steep mountains, or ice covered ground) Travel pace is halved.   Per the Monster Manual, the Giant Eagle can fly 80 ft per round. Using the rules in the Players Handbook CH. 8: Movement, and the Dungeon Masters Guide CH. 8: Exploration, the Giant Eagle can travel 800 ft per minute, or 8 miles per hour, or 64 miles in a travel day (8 hours).   Beast shape lasts for 4 hours, and Seren can use it twice per short rest. That would require her to land after about 4 hours, and then reuse the ability. Not really a problem there.   Polymorph, however, will only last for one hour. If Vaela uses metamagic: extend spell that will double it to 2 hours. She would only have the ability to do this twice (two 4th level spell slots), so she could only cast for the last part of the journey.   Seren also has Polymorph, but does not have the metamagic ability like Vaela, and is also limited to casting this twice. However, I did say that her magic spells are more powerful, so I would be willing to extend her polymorph spells to 4 hours. She would have to be the one to cast polymorph on the first leg of the journey, using both 4th level spell slots.   Ranmin's Aspect of the Beast: Elk allows for himself and 10 companions that are within 60 ft of him to double their travel pace, if they are mounted or on foot. This implies normal travel on the ground and not flying, as the spirit of the Elk is aiding. So this would not apply to flying, but I will allow this, just this once.   The following adjustments therefore needed to happen: Seren and Vaela both need to use 1 more 4th level spell slot, and Vaela also needed to use an additional sorcery point. Finally, the game time is no longer 10:30am, but 1:45pm. If you made it this far in reading, your character earns 800 experience points. No cheating and telling the other players. ;-) Email me if you read this far.