Last time, the group moved through the swamps to the west of Mishara toward the observatory where they believed the black dragon Vuthiejir to be hiding. On the way, they encountered a traveler with pet fox who offered to guide them along the strange roads to the observatory, which they agreed to. Brokk spotted a dead orc off the road, recognizing that they had been killed because of the feud between the orcs and elves but did not take action; the traveler, Rhodes, discussed his perspective on life, which is to gain experience and wisdom and trust that that experience will serve you; Aurora was approached by a faerie who made her remember more of her past, once again seeing a violent prison camp and the people who run it; and Lethanin was contacted by a messenger who conveyed that his mother, Dodira, suspected he was up to something. They arrived at the observatory and spoke with an elven woman who admitted she was Vuthiejir. Vuthiejir had the party lock her in an enormous cage to protect them in case she was forced by the leaking divine magic to become aggressive, and they all talked for a while. Vuthiejir explained that she wanted the rift repaired so that she could regain her choices in things, gave information on the other dragons and the gods, offered help in killing Thomas (who she said has extorted her for her help), and suggested approaching potentially helpful gods to see if they would assist the party in reaching Boccob. Finishing their conversation with Vuthiejir, who said her real name was Niela, they returned to Jarvia's estate to process things. Brokk struggled with his identity as an orcish weapon of war, Aurora wrote a letter to her adopted mother, and Lethanin told his mother that he was turning to religion.
This time, I had a major difference in moving forward. In session one, I knew going in that Thomas and Aurix would speak to the party, providing different perspectives on what to do about the rift. For session two, I knew that the party would be seeking the silver dragon and exploring Talon Gorge; I also knew this was an opportunity to introduce a god to the mix. In session three, I knew that they would have a conversation with Jarvia and that she'd introduce the third major argument about the rift. Session four also had a clear major focus: speaking with Wing and hearing her ideas, which would back up Jarvia's even if for different reasons. And as stated above, session five would clearly center on talking to Vuthiejir, the party's first chromatic dragon after the quick conversation with Thomas (and obviously, Vuthiejir and Thomas have wildly different personalities, ideas, and goals). But for this session, things were very different. Previous sessions have all ended with clear directions for what's next--either the party explicitly stated a plan or had them about to complete a plan. This session had no such situation. Session five ended with a kind of resolution--the party had completed the goal of finding and talking to Vuthiejir, and they needed to recover before planning something new. That meant that this session would be our first entirely improvised session. As you may see below, I think it went well. Last time, I wrote about the conscious decision to allow the party some time and space to rest and process things, so I did make a deliberate effort to slow down and provide them that, but what the party threw at me was a collection of things I did not and could not anticipate. Here's what happened:
The party was at Jarvia's estate. Brokk does not require sleep, so he had spent the night sitting on the back porch and reading one of his romance novels. Lethanin's player said that Lethanin would sleep in, so we waited a bit to get to him. But Aurora rose fairly early and approached Jarvia on the front porch, where she was making an effort to give Brokk some privacy. Aurora asked Jarvia for help finding some alchemical ingredients, specifically butterfly wings, mountain flowers, and mare urine. Aurora's player messaged me at this time in a private channel (the discord server where we play has a private channel for each player so I can have discreet conversations with each of them) to explain that the mare urine was a very specific item. We established in Aurora's character building phases that Aurora is a transwoman who has been alchemically treating herself with a medieval kind of hormone therapy. Aurora's player explained in the private channel that in the real world, early hormone therapy did in fact use mare urine, specifically from a pregnant or recent mother mare, because of the abundance of estrogen in the urine. As was only hinted at in previous sessions, Jarvia is also a transwoman, and Aurora's player thought it was important that I am DM knew that Jarvia would recognize the request for mare urine as a pretty big hint that Aurora was a transwoman as well. I took note of this and decided to work Jarvia's reaction into the session later, but that Jarvia recognized Aurora's discomfort and allowed her to avoid a direct discussion. (Oftentimes, an immediate big moment after a very personal character moment is less impactful than one that comes later on.) So Jarvia gave Aurora directions around town to find a good stable and alchemist's shop and left it that--for now. Aurora asked Jarvia to say she'd gone to get breakfast foods and set off for town.
In town, Aurora found the stable that Jarvia had indicated and paid the stablehand, a young gnome named Grigor, to collect the required mare urine. Grigor was confused and slightly resistant--he didn't understand the purpose of the task and argued it would be hard to do--but he agreed to do it after Aurora offered him a platinum piece. We switched back to the estate, where Brokk and Jarvia drank coffee together; they discussed their reading habits and tastes, their perspectives on what makes them who they are, and what it means to be able to make meaningful choices. Sensing that Brokk was taking the weight of the latter conversation heavily, she switched to small talk, at which point Lethanin rose and joined them before deciding to whip up some hashbrowns for breakfast. We switched back to Aurora, now at the alchemist's shop where she purchased the butterfly wings and mountain flowers as well as a few find, otla needles, which come from a special type of fir tree in the area around Talon Gorge--the shopkeep explained that these needles can help to extend the duration of an alchemical product by a substantial amount, and Aurora purchased some of these as well. She also made a quick stop at a butcher shop and purchased some sausages to rationalize her trip to the city. Back at the estate, Lethanin raided Jarvia's pantry to improve the hashbrowns, and Brokk sat and simply thought, not quite reading the book before him, and he thought hard about conversations he may need to have in the near future. We switched again to Aurora, who picked up the samples of mare urine she'd requested and bade farewell to Grigor before hurrying back to the estate. Upon arriving there, she summoned a magical servant to cook the sausages and prepare biscuits, and the servant alarmed Lethanin when it appeared in the kitchen.
As a somewhat brief but important aside, I highly recommend using as short of segments as possible when switching between members of a split party. A long segment that covers all the time apart between split party members may seem appealing, but there are a few reasons to stick with shorter segments no longer than five minutes. Firstly, sitting quietly and doing nothing for up to half an hour or more is boring for your players. Several short bursts keeps them engaged with the game. I would also argue that we don't ever really know when the party is reconvening, especially if we're trying to avoid railroading, so your long segments may not even be the end of things. And thirdly, there's a kind of energy that builds in a group when you switch quickly between characters, a kind of one-upmanship where the players try to make the most of their time and keep the pacing faster, which helps to remind them that their turns are coming again soon. In this last paragraph, I described a shopping trip with no real complications, sitting and chatting, and making hashbrowns, but the mood in the group was high and energetic when we played because the quick segments kept us moving. I would also argue that the faster pace allowed me to subtly indicate that getting the group back together was a priority, which helped us bring everyone back together.
Before Aurora went into the house, Jarvia quietly mentioned that she could help her not need the mare urine anymore if Aurora wanted. This was an indirect way of saying that Jarvia was offering to magically transform Aurora's body so that she no longer required alchemical means to become more biologically female. Aurora resisted this, making excuses about handling it herself and making the best of what she had; Jarvia continually said, "It doesn't have to hard" and "You don't have to work this much." Out of game, Aurora's player, who is a transwoman, was pretty emotionally hit hard by this. We've discussed the idea of a "magic button" that makes you just have the body you want, and it's something that really appeals to her. So I thought I would offer Aurora that same idea in-game, and it really affected Aurora's player and Aurora alike. Eventually, Aurora agreed, and Jarvia, whose magic comes through bardic performance, played a song on the fiddle to cast the transformation. The song began with a mournful sound which then became determined, then hopeful, and finally joyful. The magic transformed Aurora, and overcome with emotion, she simply sat down and cried. Jarvia sat with her and comforted her, then left her with some privacy to process things and helped with breakfast. While Brokk and Lethanin were able to hear Jarvia's song, every other detail of this scene played out with only Jarvia and Aurora.
I want to make a note here. What I did by offering this moment to Aurora and her player was a big risk, one I wouldn't recommend in almost all situations. What made it work in this instance is that (1) Aurora's player and I are remarkably close--we are, in fact, getting married today. I knew that Aurora's player would be touched by this in a very positive way because we're emotionally intimate and she's told me how she would feel about it. (2) I am also a transwoman, so my understanding on a deep and personal level of what a spell like Jarvia's would mean to someone in Aurora's situation. Had a different person with different experiences offered what Jarvia did, it's likely that they would mishandle some of the delicate parts of the scene, and it would come off as pandering or insincere. And (3) the entire session went by without an explicit mention of Aurora's gender. When the spell happened, I sent a message in the private channel to explain the effects explicitly, but Brokk, Brokk's player, Lethanin, and Lethanin's player never had any real hint as to what was happening. This was a massively personal and emotional moment, and having it take place in any public way would have been inappropriate, and had Brokk or Lethanin entered the scene, Jarvia would have immediately stopped to protect Aurora's privacy. Had I botched a single one of these factors, the scene would not have worked and would actually have done more harm than good. Be responsible with your players' emotions and their characters' emotions--D&D may be a game, but a person's feelings are not.
The group came together for breakfast. Jarvia asked about their plans, and they discussed going to contact another metallic dragon, saying that the new copper dragon seemed the best next step. Aurora discussed emergency plans like teleporting to safety should things get dicey; Lethanin said that things had gone well so far and he intended to keep "trusting the song"; Brokk argued that luck seemed to be on their side in things and hoped it would carry them further. Brokk went further to say that he was willing to accept whatever happened as a result of the prophecy when Jarvia mentioned being unsure of what came after the rift, but Lethanin voiced a distinct interest in staying alive and doing more. The party decided to travel to Kallett City, a small mountain town where Vuthiejir had told them the copper dragon was waiting, but before they could leave, Wing contacted them to say that she had spoken with Aurix about repairing the rift but that he'd seemed unconvinced. The party agreed that they would wait to talk to the copper dragon and would instead go to see Aurix and shore up his support for the plan. They also asked Wing about Hriskin, the brass dragon, and Wing explained that Hriskin had been a lively and passionate arena fighter, but after her immortality as a dragon meant that she had to watch her husband grow old and die, she'd become deeply depressed and scarcely left her bed, choosing not to speak to anyone if she could. Content that they had a direction (Aurix, then the copper dragon, then Hriskin), Aurora transported the party to Aurix's chambers under the city of Torga.
A minute after their appearance in his home, Aurix came to join the party. The group immediately set to discussing the plan and the need to have Aurix's support. Initially, Aurix uncomfortably but calmly restated and expanded on their position that the good need to be empowered to do their best, and the group solidly argued that choice was more important. The party said that Wing, Jarvia, and Vuthiejir all supported repairing the rift, as did they, and Aurix grew more animated, arguing that the world was fundamentally broken, that good people stand by while evil people do as they wish, and that this meant evil prevailed--good people needed to be held to their convictions. The party countered this with the idea that good and evil do not truly exist; instead, there is a spectrum of morality where most things fall in the middle somewhere. Aurix grew increasingly upset, explaining the largest population centers in Evanoch were watched over by evil dragons and that they personally were cut off from the other good dragons, surrounded by threats--Lethanin asked if Aurix was pitying themself. Aurix grew desperate, saying that good rules protect people, and there is not better rule than one that makes people act on good. But Lethanin argued that there is no such thing as a good rule--instead, Brokk said, change must come from within, not without. At this, Aurix grew quiet. Aurix said that growing up as a kobold, they were disgusted by the violence and mindless cruelty they were surrounded by and had tried to make the other kobolds see their perspective--it had never worked.
Seeing things the party's way, Aurix acknowledged that they had made a mistake, and choosing good is in the fact the most important part of being good. Brokk told Aurix that their example as a principled and passionate advocate of good had convinced him not to walk away from the prophecy and its responsibilities, instead choosing the right thing. Aurix apologized for not being able to close the rift; Brokk politely told Aurix to "shut the fuck up" and that Aurix had done the best they could with what they knew. The party asked Aurix about the copper dragon, and Aurix explained that they had met a man named Rupert who was tormented by a twisted incarnation of Gruumsh, and Aurix had recently discovered the means to reinstate the copper dragon title, deciding to award it to someone powerful, principled, and fundamentally good like Rupert. The party explained their plans, and Aurix offered to brainstorm ideas about how to attack Thomas, and then later Horton, the blue dragon. Brokk insisted that Aurix be clear when speaking with Jarvia that the attacks on chromatic dragons were not a first priority--closing the rift was priority number one. Aurora hugged Aurix, telling them, "it doesn't have to be hard." Aurix agreed to meet with the party again later that day so that Aurora could go to see her mother, Heather, and Aurix teleported the group to outside the gates into Torga, not far from Aurora's statue to ABC.
That's where we wrapped up for this session. As I noted above, this session was entirely improvised--I had a few small notes: have Wing update the group on talking to Aurix, and I hadn't actually decided which way that would go and made the choice in the moment to say Aurix was unconvinced; have a return letter to Aurora from Heather, but Aurora never sent her letter, so this return letter could not happen; and remember time and space to process for the party, which I encouraged by leaving most of the session (more than two hours of our three hour session) spent relaxing and accomplishing individual goals at Jarvia's. I didn't throw anything big but Jarvia's spell at the players, and that really only happened because knowing who Jarvia is, there was no way she'd say or do nothing when Aurora came back to make her hormone therapy treatment. Brokk spent essentially one half of the session sitting and thinking, Lethanin mostly made hashbrowns, and Aurora had intended to simply do a shopping trip. I mean this genuinely--I was a little sad to see the party decide to pursue more conversations with dragons towards the end. Seeking out the copper dragon and speaking with Aurix were things I gave them because they sought them out, but I would have been more than happy to just have them spend more time getting themselves centered. In fact, I have three very brief notes for next session, and one of them is a reminder to let the players know out of game that they don't have to hurry through the adventure or even listen to what the dragons say. I feel like the dragons have pushed the party to rush, which is in character for them--they see this as an emergency--but I as the DM don't need or even want that. So next session will start with an explicit statement that they can relax a bit more and make things a little less frantic. I want the players to have fun, and if that means an out of game direction, that's what I'll give them.
My other two notes are in-game notes, one of which was actually requested by Aurora's player. I find, as a DM, it's incredibly useful to check in with your players. Questions like, "are you having fun?" and "what would be rewarding for your character?" and "what's missing?" and "are you getting enough time and space in-game" and even just "how are you feeling?" are all massively important. Last night, after our session, I was chatting about the campaign with Aurora's player (in between conversations about our wedding today, of course), and I asked if she felt like things were going well, if she was having fun. And she said that yes, she is having fun, but also, Aurora is level 13 and yet feels very underpowered. Dealing with dragons who are more than twice Aurora's level and gods who are even more advanced makes Aurora feel somewhat weak. And this was not my intention as the DM. I wanted to make combat solutions to dragon problems difficult and complicated to encourage roleplaying, but I never wanted the party to feel useless. So I asked Aurora's player what might help. She said that a combat encounter with average people (who would of course be well below the party's level) would be really interesting as a way to flex the party's abilities and remind them that they're actually quite powerful. This led to my second note for next session: on the march into Torga from the countryside beyond, I'm going to throw a very normal group of bandits or highwaymen at the party. This will be a fairly unpredictable situation. Brokk is immensely strong and literally built for combat, but has strong feelings about violence and death. Aurora's array of powers are massive and varied, and she could deal with the opposition in basically infinite ways, but she too is not necessarily comfortable with violence and might have complicated feelings about combating some thugs. And Lethanin has proven himself to be capable but not very violent either; in his intro session and our first six sessions of play, Lethanin hasn't even shown a hint of aggression. Putting them in a situation like being robbed will push all three members of the party in an interesting direction that I can't predict, and I would reckon that the players couldn't predict it either. (You might be asking how gratifying a bandit attack will be for Aurora's player given that she suggested/requested it--that's why I'm going to spend the two weeks before our next session brainstorming ways to complicate it, spice it up, and make it surprising. Giving a player what they want is a good idea even when it eliminates complete surprise if you can tweak some details of it to make it more than what they asked for.)
My final bullet point for next session is more devious. Aurora is being tracked and hunted by people in her past--we know this from the appearance of Hyrum in her intro session. They knew she was a sailor onboard the ship she lived on, and of course that would mean they also know where that ship is based out of. That ship is based out of Torga, the city the party is currently in. It's been months since Aurora dispatched Hyrum, and I think it makes perfect narrative sense for them to send someone else after her to the city where the ship is stationed, so the next session will be a perfect opportunity to pull a little bit more at Aurora's backstory via the appearance of a second person coming to find her. This leads me to another important idea--Brokk and Lethanin don't necessarily have Aurora's depth of background, at least in terms of built-in conflict. I'm planning to put some spotlight on Aurora's backstory next session, so I also plan to ask Brokk and Lethanin's players to consider developing their characters a bit more so that I can give them similar spotlight moments. It's entirely up to them to do so or not do so--I'm not assigning homework or requiring them to delve into it. But I do want to invite them to engage with the game the way Aurora's player is and at least let them know I don't mean to make the campaign about Aurora and not them. Again, explicit out of game communication is very important, and I promise that it doesn't take the magic out of the game if it's meant to improve everybody's time in game.
Next time, the party will be in Torga and checking out whatever they choose to investigate--I am pretty certain that we'll pay a visit to Heather, but beyond that, it's all up in the air. I'm looking forward to finding out what's going to happen and to continuing to refine and improve the experiences I'm offering to the players.
Until next time, happy gaming!
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