Drink Talk Roll Extended #9: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe Malfunction

(I thought I wouldn’t be able to top the last but I think I did it with this one)

Session Recap

Picking up where we left off last session, the party talks with Baizhu (I misspelled it on air) the giant snake who does his best to convince him that he can be trusted with the Earth Topaz. The party very quickly showed that they didn’t trust him and after a few failed attempts at diplomacy, combat finally started. Baizhu chased Khorr across the map trying to get the topaz from him smashing through the rest of the party and nearly taking a few out. Thankfully, Jedah was able to score the killing blow with a little assistance.

As he took his last shot, a roar let out and a glowing lion’s claw slashed through Baizhu’s body where the bullet hit. The party looked up to see where that came from and found a giant, glowing white lion descending from the starry sky seemingly projected on the ceiling. Introducing himself as Ishim, the Guardian Beast of Earth, he blessed the gun Jedah used to kill Baizhu granting it a fraction of his power and explained a bit about the party’s mission. They are opening perpendicularities to the Elemental Planes and undoing an ancient seal.  

When asked where the other three towers are, he noted that he had not been in the Material Plane for millennia and the layout of the world had probably changed. He did however give them three clues: The Air Tower lies in a city of splendor along the coast. The Fire Tower lies in a pit as hot as the infernos of the Underworld.  The Water Tower sits in the eye of a raging storm.

He also had some unkind things to say about the god Favel but that’s probably just because Favel’s a wind god and he’s an earth beast. With all of his info disclosed and the perpendicularity opened, Ishim wished them luck and departed.

Leaving the Earth Tower, the party returned to the library to find Talliyah still guarding the door and learning two things: That she’s an earth mage and that the opening of the Earth Seal had caused her powers to go temporarily out of whack. The party helped undo the damage she’d done to the library and got out. On the way out, Amra stole a book but learned that the library’s antitheft magic had turned all its pages black.  

Regrouping at a bar, they explained their mission and what had happened to Talliyah. They asked her for advice and she put up a few ideas listing of coastal cities that could be considered a “city of splendor”, places that might be “hot as the infernos of the Underworld” and that somewhere in the center of the Sea of Storms was probably the location of the Water Temple. 

Here, the party became divided. Khorr thought the best idea would be to follow Talliyah’s pet project of looking into Khanya, the mythical city of lights said to be on the edge of the Menagi Wastes as a possible location for the Fire Temple. Amra thought the best way forward would be sailing into the Sea of Storms looking for the eye of the storm and thus, the Water Temple. He dragged them down to the docks to find a ship willing to take them there. The dockmaster laughed at his idea calling it basically a suicide mission and it seems everyone else who heard him say it agreed.  After wasting too much time, Khorr finally put his foot down and got the rest of the party to agree with him. They would set off the next day.

Before that, however, Ulrich had something to take care of. His patron had sent him a letter with the name “Lady Mei Bairen” and the name of a high-end tailor’s shop in Shunil along with a bottle of dye. When he showed the dye to the tailor, she said it was too garish and that none of her clients would be caught dead in it. After hearing those words, Ulrich understood what he had to do. While the tailor was distracted talking to Lord and Lady Bairen, he snuck into the back of the shop where Lady Bairen’s dress was still being dyed and poured the entire bottle in. Fey always have the weirdest of requests.

The next morning, the departed back the way they came across the Axida Plains towards To’anata and from there, maybe Khanya if it actually exists. After about a day of travelling, they hear the familiar rumble of feet as they meet back up with the herd of Goliaths they had met before coming to Shunil but there’s something off. It’s only been a few days but Nallah’s no longer in charge.  Tonlifter, one of the younger members the party met, is now leading the newly renamed tribe and is wearing the same headband the gnoll leader had been wearing. What in the world is going on? Find out next time on DTR.

Choo-Choo

Honestly, the biggest gripe I’m probably getting from Manuel is that I railroaded him out of sailing the Sea of Storms. You know what? I did.  

For those that don’t know, in gaming, “railroading” means “forcing the players down one path on which they have no choice”. It is the opposite of “sandboxing” where players can basically go anywhere and do whatever they want. Obviously, it’s almost never an absolute railroad or an absolute sandbox. 99.9% of campaigns are a mixture of the two. I try to keep this campaign as open as possible but this was one point where I really decided to put my foot down.

Does it make sense in the world? Yes. Shunil formed the way it did, carved out of the rockface because it is dealing with constant powerful storms and I think only a fool would want to sail that for days on end especially without a fixed destination. I tried to soften this blow by ging them an alternate route suggesting that it would be easier to go through the sea from the west starting in the Rotti Islands or Hozumi. It will take much longer but it’s a safer route and there’s the opportunity for multiple adventures along the way. Maybe, they’ll follow up on that after they finish up this mission.

Did I do it to prevent a TPK? Also, yes. I know what lives out there and it would eat them for breakfast if they could. In addition, I’ve already planted a hit of what they’ll need to do to safely cross the storm but the bad part about having a drunk audience is that they can’t also be counted on to remember everything. Hopefully, a few more hints will pop up soon enough.

My first time running this campaign was also the first time I seriously ran a campaign for a group. In a similar situation, I think it was also just after finishing up the first tower and leaving the party wondering what to do, I ended a session super early because I had planned for one option and they took another. One of my players told me that it might have been better to have only presented them the one option rather than trying to be open. Sometimes, a fun railroad ride is better than an empty sandbox. Ultimately, don’t be afraid to railroad once in a while. If your players complain, tell them I said you could have a little railroad as a treat. If that doesn’t work, blame the dice.  Dice are always responsible when something bad happens in a ttrpg.

Well, that’s my thoughts for this week. Until next time, keep on rolling.

-J.D.