This was our first session back in-person in over a year. The DM was rusty and slow, but slowly getting his groove back. The players were anxious for an exciting adventure full of killing things, though not much of that actually happened. We will get there.
We also decided that Fantasy Grounds is too cumbersome. I don't want to knock FG, as I think it is a great tool, but there are three factors at play here.
1. As with any software, there is a learning curve. The more you use it, the easier it becomes. But we seem to only get together once in a blue moon, so its like we have to all re-learn the software each time we get together.
2. I'm definitely having some performance issues. Lots of staring at hourglasses as we try to move things around. I believe this is partially because I decided to move the software onto an older Windows 2019 Server. The server, which has dual 3.0 GHz XEON processors (8 cores total) and 40GB of RAM, is very good as a media server and file server, but I don't think FG is optimized for this architecture as most people run it from their PCs. I just didn't want to drag out my PC each time, and I wanted a perpetual server running so players could manage their characters outside of game time. This just isn't how the software is designed to work.
3. Most importantly, FG, like all virtual tabletops, requires a lot of preparation from the DM before each session. While there is a lot built-in, and many pre-loaded modules you can buy, most of the older stuff (1e/2e) isn't available, and so scanning and importing maps, configuring Line of Sight, building out NPCs and monsters, creating magic items that aren't already in the database, etc., takes a very long time. I've loaded most of Dungeonland and its sequel, Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, but only because I've had a lot of downtime during the pandemic. I also have most of Q1- Queen of the Demonweb Pits ready to go, but after that, not so much. The software was purchased to save time and speed up gameplay, but its not really accomplishing that for us.
With all of that said, I decided to keep FG around and just use it for character sheet management and for looking up information. It is good at those things, even if slow.
Anyway, we left our heroes in the Tiny Garden, having just defeated a Hangman Tree using makeshift weapons and spell power. Their next act was to explore a cottage to the north. They entered and found what looked like a normal cottage, though something was a bit off. Sarril could tell there was an illusion of sort at play here. The party decided to take some time to search, and they all soon realized the illusion disguising the fact that they were inside a stone box, and the walls were closing in fast. Fen immediately used his holy sword to Dispel Magic, which failed to stop the walls from moving in, but Sarril followed up with his own Dispel Magic, which worked. The party quickly escaped the kill box and decided to take their exploration elsewhere.
They eventually happened upon a well, which Ava immediately climbed into. While there was nothing in the well, there was a trapdoor nearby that the rest of the party explored. The trapdoor led down into a small hovel with a cot, a desk, alchemical supplies, and several books (most likely spell books, labeled I - IX). Sarril grabbed the books and cast Detect Traps. Realizing they were trapped, he put them away for later.
The group reconvened and decided that whoever owns these spell books may have some insight as to where they can find the sword they were questing for. They decided to investigate two smaller cottages on the other side of the orchard. The first cottage contained two large porcupines sitting at a kitchen table having a meal. They decided to leave them alone and go to the second cottage. This scene was similar, but instead of porcupines, it was two huge lizardfolk. The party decided to barge in without knocking, much to the surprise of the two lizardfolk living peacefully inside. The party appeared to be menacing, and the only exit was the front door, so after the party started demanding information, one o the lizardfolk decided to try to barrel past the party, which had decided to block the door to prevent escape. Enraged, the lizardman attacked in order to escape and was beaten down for his efforts. The remaining lizardwoman was shocked that the party had just murdered her partner, and also scared of what was about to happen to her.
Meanwhile, the two giant porcupines from the other cottage came to investigate the commotion happening in their neighbor's house, saw the attack taking place, and fired several quills at the party. The party moved into the lizard cottage and closed the door. One of the porcupines then ran off to get help. It was at this point that the paladin in the party (whose player was absent, so the DM had to step in) refused to let the party attack or threaten the lizardwoman. Seeing what was going down, Varys the cleric decided to heal the lizardman, who was not quite dead yet. The party apologized for the intrusion and the mistake and started a dialog with the lizardwoman. They learned that this place belongs to the wizard Charldos, but lizardfolk know nothing of the sword the party seeks, nor even what is outside of this Tiny Garden. She did confirm that the exit is to the very south. The party decided they should probably leave before the wizard comes back. Sarril understood very well what spell books labeled VII, VIII, and IX mean, and what sort of wizard would own something like that).
On the way out, Ava somehow talked the party into exploring more of the Tiny Garden, to make sure they covered everything. While this is normally a good idea in any dungeon, it is probably not wise when you just stole the spell books belonging to an archmage. One of the first things Ava did was start drinking from one of the waterfalls. The water turned out to have random potion effects, so, of course, she drank several times just for fun, finally ending up enlarged for a time (but nothing else permanent or debilitating, luckily for her). She also decided to spend some time listening to the Jack in the Pulpit, who espoused the virtues of plants and growing and protecting plants. This had the effect of a permanent alignment shift to neutral, but since Ava was already of neutral alignment, the end result was primarily to give her a desire to become a botanist (maybe even a druid at some point, we shall see where it goes).
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| Jack in the Pulpit |
Given that Ava listened and cooperated with the creature, the party didn't have to fight its protectors, and so they moved on. The next thing they found was that the statue of the rabbit had gone missing. This was curious, and some surmised that the rabbit may have been the wizard Charldos in disguise, and that he was now on the move. Possibly stalking them invisibly. And, as it turns out, that is exactly what Charldos was doing. You see, Charldos is a powerful archmage, but he is also quite insane and reclusive, avoiding interacting with people as much as possible. But the party attacked his servants and stole his spell books, so as much as he had hoped the party would just go away, he had to do something about that.
It was about this time that the party made the very smart decision to rest and recover hit points. They chose the peaceful alcove where the plants let off a healing aura that also gave them the temporary ability to speak with plants. They setup watches and slept through night, getting healed and refreshed. Charldos took this opportunity to invisibly sneak into the camp and steal his spell books back. Luckily for the party, no one noticed this, so that meant avoiding a fight with an archmage, which was probably for the best. Still, had they just taken the books and ran, Sarril could be taking inventory of some cool 9th level spells. Oh well, this is how the game is played.
The party woke up refreshed, but also changed in one other significant way. Everyone had lost a point of Wisdom. It isn't clear if this is a temporary or permanent effect, but it was noticeable, especially by Sarril and Varys, whose clerical spell bonuses were affected. The party was anxious to find this sword as quickly as possible and get out of this place. They moved south and crawled through the rabbit hole and got far away from the Tiny Garden.
They found themselves in a forest of tall fungi. Of course, it wasn't that the fungi was tall, it was that they were all still tiny. Whatever it was that they ate to become small seemed to be permanent - at least until they found something to reverse it. The party noticed an interesting blue mushroom ahead in the distance and decided to check it out. Atop the mushroom was a caterpillar (actually a behir that was shrunk down relative to the party's size, and disguised to look like a caterpillar). The behir/caterpillar was smoking a hookah and blowing smoke rings. Ava thought that was cool and immediately tried to catch one of the smoke rings. It turned into a valuable gold necklace. The party decided to ask about the sword, to which the behir replied it knows about a sword, and told them to catch the rings, blowing some more smoke rings. Fen tried to catch one of the rings, which turned into a rope of ensnarement, ensnaring and trapping him. The party decided they would have none of that and attacked the behir. It wasn't much of a match for the full might of the party, even without their weapons and armor. They took the hookah for good measure.
Moving on, the party encountered a cat in a tree, which turned invisible as they tried to interact with it. They decided to leave it be and continue on their explorations, but the cat had others ideas. It invisibly stalked the party, snatching up the lagging party member, which happened to be Tyril. It looked like he was swallowed whole. The party decided to follow the cat back to its resting place in the hopes of getting Tyril back. A lightning bolt from Sarril caused the cat to spit out a severely injured, but still living Tyril. The cat decided this game was no longer fun, turned ethereal, and ran away.
It was around this time that someone remembered they can all speak with plants. Speaking with plants is not easy. Plants don't communicate like humans, so even being able to speak their language doesn't mean they can understand and communicate human concepts. It took some doing, but they were able to learn the path out of the fungi forest, and that the mushrooms were the key to growing large and small. It turns out that the blue mushroom with the behir contains the special magical properties that will both grow and shrink the party (and this must be what the food and drink they first encountered was derived from). By talking to the mushroom directly, they were able to figure out which part to eat to grow or shrink. They each took bites as needed to return to normal size, which was good because now the cat would no longer be a threat.
The party also found a wall with a series of four doors. These four doors opened up into the opposite side of the long hall where they first entered. On the other end of the hall was all of their equipment. Between them was a pool of water with some creatures in it that the party would rather not deal with, so Sarril cast Fly on Fen, who flew back and forth with the equipment. Feeling less vulnerable now, the party made their way to a path in the northeast corner of what is clearly now a small clearing of mushrooms in a much larger forest.
They traveled for a few hours through the forest and eventually emerged onto a larger road traversing through the countryside. A giant dog came running up the road toward the party. It seemed to be friendly, but also in some distress. Ava discovered three giant ticks on the dog's neck. The party killed the three ticks and seemed to make a friend in the process. It is now, maybe, the 4th Day of Sunsebb, CY 580, back on Oerth, wherever that is.
This is where we left off. Being our first time back together, I decided to smoke a brisket, and it was now time to eat. The players decided to take this time to have a DM intervention. Basically, they hate this module and want to skip it. I appreciate the feedback. The game needs to be fun for everyone, and if people aren't having fun, it is the DM's job to change things up. At the same time, I don't want to be in a position of simply having the players decide that if they don't like what is happening, they can just skip over something, as that defeats the entire purpose of the game. It wouldn't be good to simply say "okay, here is the sword you are questing for, now back to Lolth." So I have some thinking to do. How to either change things up to be more exciting, or find a way, without breaking the integrity of the story, to skip over the bulk of the module and get straight to the parts that matter most.
I hate to railroad players, and I think that is part of the problem. Freedom for players to make decisions in an open-world and do what they want has to be balanced against the fact that often times, players will spend a lot of time chasing things that don't advance the story, and then get bored. It's been a year. I just have to get my mojo back. I think the players had the most fun when they were playing the Temple of Elemental Evil, and I need to get back to the roots of what made that so engaging. We plan to reconvene on June 12th (settling for playing once per month now, instead of every other week), so I will definitely work on ways to speed things up and keep the action flowing. We will see how it goes.
