Last time, the party was variously thrown out of or stormed out of Hriskin's house after she proved less than amendable to their demands that she move on after losing her husband hundreds of years before. She mentioned a blue-suited man who'd appeared as she became especially depressed, leading Lethanin to believe she may have been cursed. Niela helped explain how to break the dragon's seal on the spell. They met with Cori, who came clean about being Corellon Larethian, suggesting that the group also look to Obad-Hai, Wee Jas, and Gruumsh for support; Brokk was shocked to learn that Corellon Larethian and Gruumsh seemed to be in a relationship. The group, Brokk especially, was overwhelmed and tried to be relaxed but productive, so Aurora obtained ingredients to cook Hriskin's favorite meal for her and create a personalized locket for her. The locket turned out to be rather ornate, with a magical image of Hriskin and her husband together and an inscription that celebrated past joy while still looking forward. The next morning, the group headed back to Hriskin's house, made her potato pancakes, and she finally agreed to let them try to remove a curse from her. Lethanin played a song to inspire Aurora to cast a spell to remove what they suspected to be a curse from Horton, the blue dragon, and Brokk cast remove curse on Hriskin. She immediately relaxed and began to act differently, now eager to help the party. She beat Brokk in a quick wrestling match, and the group carried on.
This time, I honestly don't have a lot for you, reader. Not in the way of notes. But I have a lot of commentary on this one, and I think that you learn more from some sessions, and that definitely happened here.
I went into this session with the intention to be quiet. I felt that the narrative had captured enough bulk and momentum to have some real impact, and I hadn't allowed for a lot of room to breathe. So I wanted a low-pressure session. What the players did with it was at points decidedly not low-pressure, but I live to give them what they want. Let's talk broad strokes: the players had a long conversation about how to proceed which was not unanimous about dealing with Thomas. Specifically, they were disagreeing about what to do about him and when. This conversation took about an hour out of game. The session began with a serious tactical discussion of goals and methods almost immediately. This was a long time coming. Up to this point, the group has loosely defined goals and proposed solutions in a very informal way. There's been a kind of "we'll figure the rest out later" vibe to it all. Well, now they have six dragons behind them and Boccob to look towards, so there isn't really a later to it anymore. Suddenly, Aurora is unsure of when would be best to attack Thomas, and Brokk is growing frustrated at Aurora's uncertainty, and Lethanin is looking at them like they're both dopes for needing more of a plan, and the seams are pulling. Literally, I had given them to this point, "you're here, okay you're moving, now you're at Brokk's place," and the party was pulling itself apart. Thrilling but terrifying.
A little party tension is good. You want to ride the line. Too much and it's toxic--not outright opposition, but something of interest. It's hard and arguably bad to engineer that kind of thing; players should be in charge of what they think and feel. But if you see tension, you can highlight it or foster it, or just let it fester. In this case, I felt festering was the right way to go. Especially since the next thing they meant to do was pray to gods looking for assistance, after which I had something planned. So divided, the party prayed. Lethanin spoke to Obad-Hai, who was slow and aloof but warm and who eventually agreed that they would help the party but would not outright attack another god. Similarly, Wee Jas told Aurora she was eager to help given that her powers are tapped by the rift and means to regain her power but held too many alliances to be able to attack anyone. But Gruumsh, who had a calm and fatherly demeanor appeared to Brokk and heard Brokk's various frustrations about the state of orckind. Gruumsh agreed that things were bad but focused on Brokk's wellbeing, talking a lot about self-forgiveness and the urgency of it. He agreed to serve the group's purpose "to the blood."
The party returns from their prayers. I gave them a lot, but nothing unearned--they specifically sought out gods who would help them with someone eager to help and in the know. They should get a big benefit from that. They're all a little suspicious. Lethanin wants to know why Obad-Hai would pledge themself to help. Aurora is suspicious about trusting Wee Jas given her selfish motivations. Brokk is losing his mind over meeting Gruumsh and finding the god to be affable, wise, comfortable, and kind. I again leave them cueless. They are gathered in Brokk's house, they are fresh off a disagreement (and an urgent one at that), they're all feeling suspicious about things--let's leave them be. This atmosphere could lead to some interesting places. And they do start to argue again. It's the same fight with a new twist, just the same as it has been since the early game. It doesn't bother me--it delights me. I set out to call nuance into the picture, and here are like-minded people drawing themselves into positions against each other over details. It's success. And success in tabletop games is meant to be built upon, not simply enjoyed. So I threw something at them at a particularly sour moment in the conversation.
Yondalla appeared at the their door. She did not play games. She announced herself as Yondalla and said she wanted a civil conversation. The party allowed her in. Yondalla admitted that her plan was complex. The leaking divine magic empowers those driven by good to be more sensitive to that motivation. Likewise with bad. But in the short time since the rift opened (only twelve days ago), dozens of settlements have had revolutions arcing towards representative government and the world had become safer via vigilante and militia patrols. Yondalla proposed preserving the tear for a year so that people become acclimated to goodness and its benefits, then return free will by repairing the rift in the future. Brokk was open to discussing this idea, and did so at good length. Aurora was skeptical, arguing that what Yondalla proposed was a long-shot. Lethanin was nearly outraged, asking what the limits are in terms of controlling someone's thoughts. Yondalla could see the conversation was not going in her favor, wished the group well, and dismissed herself.
So the recipe so far has been let a good simmer develop with character arguments, confound the players with gods they can't understand, let them argue more, divide them on a more complicated issue, and then leave them. It was perfect. I knew that Brokk would never full stand by Yondalla's plan but that he would be intrigued by it, so as Aurora and Lethanin argued with Brokk about Yondalla's plan, I could see Brokk slowly turning. It was very well roleplayed and very satisfying to be a part of of. Ultimately, Brokk came around and everyone drew one final agreement: anything except repairing the veil is too big a risk to take with every life in the balance. Anything shy of repairing the veil cannot be a consideration.
And again, the order of operations came up, and for one of the last times. The group quickly agreed that it was time to move forward. They summoned the dragons on their side, and as much as Niela's presence was uncomfortable for most everyone, especially her, the group explained the plan: send them to the gods' realm, and go from there to Boccob. This struck me utterly by surprise. I guess I had known in the back of my mind that they had the potential to approach Boccob, but it hadn't seemed entirely real. Suddenly, I was looking at meeting Boccob before the end of the session. I pulled myself together and began to describe the gods realm as the dragons teleported them there. They were in a quiet watering hole and prayed to the gods they'd prayed to earlier and Corellon Larethian. Accompanied by the four gods, who helped to open a great door to Boccob's realm, the party passed into the grand temple of Boccob. After a long march, they arrived before a massive, hairy creature with a reptilian face who they knew to be Boccob.
I needed to leave my players be this session. There were conversations that couldn't keep coming up anymore and they needed space to deal with. I've controlled the pace of meeting the new dragons, and I needed to truly know that the players wanted to maintain this quick pace by leaving them to pace themselves. And speaking of pacing, as soon as they felt it was possible, they went headlong into Boccob's realm. They did not poke around in the gods' realm. I had loads of stuff conceived of for the gods' realm, and it all of it never gets used, I'll call it a victory because they got what they wanted in an interesting way. They called the shots this session, and they used all of it to move on. To move past the conversations that keep coming back, to move on from the slog of organizing supernatural beings, to move on from the last part of the adventure and their personal goals. It was really beautiful.
Of course, I can't just sit back and watch them do things every session. I do need the world and the NPCs to be more active sometimes. But when pressure is high and especially at the ends of arcs, it's good to have a cool down session. Of course, with this session in particular, they did not so much cool down as hurtle forward, but they're doing it for closure, and I think that expresses a deep emotional release they're pursuing. But I really advise if you can to give as much of a session as the party needs just kind of recovering, talking, and regaining the energy to try again.
Don't let me give the impression I'm doing some cold calculus about what story moments can best be impacted with which strategy. I'm going by feel. Stories are my thing, and I know how to shape one. But you can do a rough calculus if you don't feel it in your bones. I'd say three high-stress sessions should be followed by one cool down session, and perhaps every four or five mid-stress sessions and five low-stress sessions as a very rough estimate. If you're roleplaying, you don't just want to experience your character at their most stressed possible constantly. You want a range of emotions, and that means more than just freaking out. If the characters need to decompress, it can be a good idea to let them.
Of course, this also raises questions about endgame. I'd originally conceived as reaching Boccob and counseling a choice would be the end. But that lacked real closure, and the players have largely created storylines that demand playing after Boccob. So the endgame is actually the midgame now--whatever happens with Boccob is the middle of the game, and the sprawling adventures that the party has now are the endgame. I have big ideas, but I want to keep those under wraps until they're realized--even putting something in writing can make me feel too attached to a particular version of things.
So next time, the players will speak with Boccob. I'm still working out Boccob's side of things, but given that Aurora's first dialogue with them was about their aesthetic similarity to dragons, it's bound to have a colorful start. Next session may be the most important session of the campaign, and then again it might not. It's a thrilling situation.
That's all for now. Until next time!
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