Session 4: House of the Rising Spore

After defeating the funguses guarding the door to the largest structure in the mushroom village, we took a moment to lick our wounds. We had enough problems dealing with the three funguses in the village and the two guarding the door. We could only hope that there wouldn't be many more inside. Listening at the doorway to this structure we heard nothing to indicate that there would be anything inside waiting for us. Sadly this would not be the case. Opening the door we spied more and varied kinds of mushroom creatures. Within a moment we had a plan, stay at the door and make them come to us. Throwing fire into the room to hopefully convince these creatures to attack us on out terms was our best approach. We secured ourselves at the door for the ambush and readied ourselves to attack. Our dwarf, it seems, had other plans. Rushing in by himself to attack the mushrooms ended any advantage we had.

Doing so meant it was only a matter of time before we all started getting picked off. I ran in to help Bart but was unable to do much. Bart and I were cornered by one of the mushrooms that emitted spores that we now know was the mind control that affected the gnomes from the village. Bart was unfortunately affected by the spores and became a willing ally to the creature. Though he didn't turn on us in the combat he was beaten by the mushroom while he as unable to fight back. Ash soon followed. Gnick was the next target and he didn't last much longer. I was still ineffectually peppering the thing with fire spells. Clooney won the day for us. Placing his faith in a spell guaranteed not to miss, Clooney hit the mark with perfect accuracy and the spells affect was enough to end this creature. Once destroyed the mind controlling affect was removed from our allies and the gnomes stuck under its control. Both Bart and Gnick were in dire need of medical attention. Eventually we were able to stabilize both of them. The gnomes took us back to their village and were able to tend to the wounds properly allowing the us to rest and recoup our strength.  

Session 3: Mushroom Grottos

After defeating the would-be bandits, the group prepares to collect the mushroom to bring to Copse de Letin. Nick has some trouble remembering how it goes, but manages to get a decent sampling. However, when they get to the village, it's too qiuet. Only one house has any sign of life -- a thin plume of smoke arising from the chimney. They knock on the door, and the mayor of the town, Gnormal D'viation answers. He bums some tobacco from Nick, and they start chatting. Everyone in town except for him and Kellia was mind controlled by evil mushrooms, and led away into a dark hollow east of town. The party agrees to help out the gnome villagers, since it seems like that is the only way they are going to be able to get healed from the slime rot.

The party follows Gnormal's directions to follow the trail east of town, taking a left on a side path leading into a ravine. There they find a grove of mushroom of all sizes. Some of them were even hollowed out for use as houses! In front, guarding the village, were two mushroom leshys, who atacked. Clooney quicked got spored by one of the leshys, while Nick slipped on a mushroom peel trying to vault one. But as Ash set them both on fire, Nick and his pet bear were able to tag team the distracted fungus and the team was able to enter the village. They went straight towards the largest house, which featured a deck and two violet fungal guards. They remained relatively quiet as the party began pelting them from afar, but slammed Remi when he got close. Bart got poisoned but is able to finish the first fungus off. The second shatters his shield, but Ash is able to close the deal, and the lair of the evil fungus is left open to the group.

Session 2: The Ruins of Castle Karn

While preparing to leave the Inn of Bonne Jouissance, the group met one more member: Gnormal Gnickelhammer, a druid looking for some animals who had escaped from a circus he had been working with. He had captured the rest of the creatures who had escaped when he left the latch open, but two unicorns were still wandering free. The party then headed north to the ruins of Castle Karn to see if they could get a lead on the druids who had attacked the town of Perrin. When they reached the ruins, they saw a brown clad figure who turned out to be another druid called the Rain Scribe. The Rain Scribe told them he was here to pick mushrooms from the crypt beneath the ruins, but if they party did the hard work for him, he would tell them where the druids who attacked the village laired. Not having any other leads, the party agreed, and descended into the cavern. 

Scattered in the cavern were groups of three types of mushrooms,  and the Rain Scribe wanted some of each. Gnormal was able to tell them the properties of each, but they were still surprised to find a gnome sleeping in the midst of the red soporific fungi. Bart held his breath while he dragged her out. Her name was Kellia and she lived in a nearby village called "Copse de Letin". They were in the middle of a mushroom craze, and she wanted to see if she could find anything down here. It was mostly a certain white mushroom the gnomes craved, which Gnormal recognized as growing above ground in certain birch groves. The group helped her out of the cavern and harvested the red mushrooms. The blue mushrooms were not difficult, but when they went to pick the purple mushroom a wild slime mold attacked. They were able to take it out, despite the attack of a viper hoping to take advantage of the confusion in the middle of the fight. Unfortunately, Bart and Ash both contracted a disease they later found out was slime rot. The druid couldn't help them, but Kellia pointed out that the gnome village had a healer who could treat them.

Always on the lookout for some extra profit, or perhaps hoping to earn some good will, the group learned from Gnormal where the white cap mushrooms were likely to be found, and they went to the grove to harvest them. But shortly after they arrived, a group of armed men attacked them from behind, claiming that the mushrooms belonged to them. The party made short work of them, and were able to harvest the mushrooms for Copse de Letin.

Session 1: Night of the Living Leshys

 

The Inn of Bonne Jouissance

Oh my dear mama, she warned je zat ze surface was an alien place full of odd folk and that I should just say seek moi destiny in deep caverns like a sensible young dwarf. Not more than a few months and I think she may have been right. I have been travelling and working my trade in the primitive smithies of the humans and other folk as I seek rumors of strange metals they lack the cleverness to properly exploit, such tales brought me to the small town of Perrin where they make that fruit juice they call wine up here. I was minding my own business having a weak ale and trying to ignore the obnoxious knife ear babbling at the bar when a human with a half decent beard walks in. Naturally a beard that magnificent is indicative of good character and there was something reminiscent of the forge about him so I mustered up my courage to talk and maybe make a friend for a while. I know you warned me against getting attached to humans, and that they will just die of something stupid in 50 years, but I have a good sense about this one

Naturally the knife ear decides to interrupt so he could talk about berries or what sort of bird farts he likes the smell of ze best, but what do you expect from a people with no culture, there was another one sitting in a booth staring at us, but I did not get a good read on them so far. There was another human also, but if anything he looked more like a normal human than I am used to even now and I am an expert on them I figure. We were having a chat when some villager came in and said that some bandit were attacking the berry farm, which while I cannot understand why the tallfolk like the stuff so much, I do know they work very hard on it so I started charging to defend the berries.

Now, get this. The berry farm was being attacked by plant people! They had stupid fragile weapons and even the poor armor I was wearing then was too much for them as I drove them off with my doughty dwarven might, the others helped a little so they are probably worth teaming up with until I can find some proper adventurers. The mayor asked us to help deal with the druids who had sent the plant people (I miss my cave), and after a very short break to forge a proper suit of iron we were off only a few days later. We went to what they call an inn on the surface which was about a day east from Perrin, and learned of a ruined castle to the north and a mountain in a similar direction that was unfortunate enough to be called the Elf's Tooth, I will go and see this mountain where the druids are known to be seen and hopefully it will tell me its proper name so I can set this to rights.

Meet the Party

Remy Martinix:

Fabala Martinix has worked as a vintner all her life. She was born into a family that has worked for the Assez family since her grandfather was a young man. Working on the largest estate in the area she's had the opportunity to meet all the royalty and traveling adventure's that pass through the area. This was how she came to meet Movan Jon. Movan would pass through town visiting his family that lived locally when his adventures would take him close enough to the area. This meeting would turn into a little boy months later long after Movan was off again on his travels. 

The Assez family was ecstatic when they found out that Fabala was pregnant. Another generation of vintner born on the estate would be a delight for both the family and the region. 

Remi was born and raised by a village as the expression goes. His mother, his fathers family and the Assez family. Movan would return to town once he found out about his son. Though Fabala had more then enough help with Remi, Movan would always take time with his son when he was in town. The Jon family had much to teach their newest family member. Elven culture, history, lore, fighting and magic. Remi would learn all there was to learn about his fathers heritage. The Assez family also took it upon themselves to educate Remi. With teachers hired and a library to rival any other in the area Remi soon found himself focusing on magical studies. 

Reading any book or treatise on the arcane and occult only helped to increase his thirst for knowledge. This thirst has proven to be expensive and not willing to stay and work on the estate Remi finds he must enter the adventuring world to seek knowledge and funds to further his studies.

Bart Stoneriver:

Bart is a young dwarf who has been working as a miner since he was knee-
high to a gnome. Always been fascinated by the legendary arms and armor his people crafted and their famous warriors, he set himself on a path to exceed the exemplars in both craft and deed. From fighting underground horrors who would raid the ancestral mines of his clan to apprenticing in the arts needed to craft the tools of war he put himself in a position to travel the lands and temper himself into a dwarf worthy of recording in the book of deeds.

He is in the region prospecting having heard rumors of mines containing rare ores and tombs from which he might access runes to further enhance his work. He is awkward around non dwarves and would generally find himself much more comfortable trading blows than retorts and prefers crafting to chatting. 

Gnormal Gnickelhammar

Gnormal is a Sensate gnome of the Animal order. He was hired by a wild animal show that did a few shows outside of Perrin to track down some creatures that escaped, and he's down to the final pair of animals. Gnormal has always had a way with animals.

Rashid Cindercone

Ash is a dark-skinned man, actually with some Ifrit blood, though he keeps this close to his chest. He was born far to the east, but his parents came to Nisay when he was younger, and he's led a nomadic existence since then, working as
a traveling faith healer and fortune teller who makes most of his money giving seances to grieving widows, taking their money and giving them some comfort in return. He keeps secret his faith in the Old Gods, for which he has been cursed by the Valharim.

Perrin

 

Perrin is a small Lyonian town of about 150 families located on the Paix river. There is a relatively even mix of Dwarves and Humans in the town, with a relatively low population of elves and few other ancestries. The town is relatively isolated from the rest of Lyonia. There is no road to the south due to the harshness of the terrain between Perrin and Vauban. To the north, Agron road leads past fens to Castle Amber, and then into the mountains where the eponymous town lies. To the east, the Old Rion Road leads through the Dwimmer Hills to Leene, eventually ending at Lake Leriel before the Crystal City. To the west are the lands of the Wemic tribes, though there is no known place to cross the Paix this side of the Bowl of Gentry.

The chief industry of the region is wine making. Most families have at least a small plot they take care of, and the vines of the noble Assez family, residents of the Chateau de Ville, are especially prized. Barrel-making is also a significant industry. In the Dwimmer Hills are several large copses, and in addition to being used for wine, many of the barrels are shipped north for the Dwarves to use to make Dwarven Ale and brandy (sometimes called Agronac). 

Gods of Ardenest for Pathfinder 2e

 A new Ardenest campaign under a new system demands more work on the gods of Ardenest. And Pathfinder 2 is pretty involved. Adapting them for 5e, I only had to pick domains. But for Pathfinder 2, there are a lot of additional things to think about; most prominently, anathemas and cleric spells. It's good, though, it gives me some room to think about my gods, and flesh them out a bit more. I think it's been helpful! So below, nine gods for my future Pathfinder 2 campaigns.

Fayon (LG)

Edicts: Be brave, fight for justice, defend the weak

Anathema: Scorn a challenge you can win, fail to provide for the needy

Followers: LG, NG, LN

Divine Font: Heal

Divine Skill: Intimidation

Favored Weapon: Longsword

Domains: Ambition, healing, might, sun, fate, confidence

Cleric Spells: 1st True Strike, 2nd See Invisibility, 4th Fire Shield

Adreham (LN)

Edicts: Defend rightful rulers, building civilization, dominate nature

Anathema: Fight against a legitimate ruler, give alms to the undeserving, steal

Followers: LN, LG, LE

Divine Font: Harm or heal

Divine Skill: Society

Favored Weapon: Crossbow
Domains: Cities, earth, nature, wealth, perfection, family, tyranny

Cleric Spells: 1st Illusory Object, 4th Creation, 6th Dominate

Vaasa (CG)

Edicts: Defend the weak, reject tyranny

Anathema: Enslave a person, seek to dominate others

Followers: NG, CG, CN

Divine Font: Heal

Divine Skill: Survival

Favored Weapon: Whip
Domains: Air, water, nature, travel, freedom

Cleric Spells: 1st Gust of Wind, 3rd Lightning Bolt, 5th Control Water

Covellia (N)

Edicts: Seek out magical power and use it

Anathema: Hide knowledge, destroy magical items

Followers: Any

Divine Font: Harm or heal

Divine Skill: Arcana

Favored Weapon: Staff
Domains: Destruction, knowledge, magic, protection, truth

Cleric Spells: 1st Magic Missile, 2nd Magic Mouth, 3rd Levitate, 4th Blink, 5th Prying Eye, 6th Wall of Force, 7th Warp Mind, 8th Maze, 9th Foresight

Alexander (NG)

Edicts: Explore, respect nature, be kind to animals

Anathema: Cruelty to animals, abuse natural resources

Followers: NG, CG, CN, N

Divine Font: Heal

Divine Skill: Survival

Favored Weapon: Scimitar
Domains: Nature, moon, luck, travel, dreams

Cleric Spells: 1st Pass Without Trace, 2nd Animal Messenger, 4th Speak With Plants

The Sage (N)

Edicts: Find secrets, keep knowledge hidden

Anathema: Reveal a secret, intentionally harm an insect

Followers: Any non-good

Divine Font: Harm

Divine Skill: Deception

Favored Weapon: Short sword
Domains: Knowledge, undeath, darkness, earth, secrecy

Cleric Spells: 1st Illusory Disguise, 2nd Invisibility, 6th Mislead

Ryanna (CN)

Edicts: Demonstrate your strength, bravery above all

Anathema: Yield to anyone weaker

Followers: N, CG, CN, CE

Divine Font: Harm

Divine Skill: Survival

Favored Weapon: Greatsword
Domains: Confidence, freedom, fire, nature, moon, passion, perfection

Cleric Spells: 1st Color Spray, 3rd Haste, 4th Stoneskin

Kilmar (CG)

Edicts: Slay dopplegangers, adventure together, keep the peace

Anathema: Betray your companions, show fear, tarnish your reputation

Followers: CG, NG, CN

Divine Font: Heal

Divine Skill: Athletics

Favored Weapon: Longbow
Domains: Ambition, freedom, travel, might, zeal, luck

Cleric Spells: 1st Truestrike, 3rd Wall of Thorns, 5th Tree Stride

Søren (LN)

Edicts: Create beauty, free slaves

Anathema: Destroy art, senseless destruction

Followers: LN, LE, LG, N

Divine Font: Heal

Divine Skill: Select crafting

Favored Weapon: Waraxe
Domains: Creation, earth, family, might, protection

Cleric Spells: 1st Mindlink, 3rd Earthbind, 4th Creation