Hey, we had a good squad session last week! Now that the party is all back together, I’ll start writing a bit about each session in a campaign-diary type series. So, here’s the first one!

What’s SBotLL again?

Here’s the post where I explain, in brief, what the campaign I’m playing in is like! My character is a sun elf bard (College of Lore, Entertainer background) named Finnith Fëanor. We’re currently level 10. We’re on the Surface, the evil squad is in the Underdark, and at some point we’ll meet?

Recap

The good squad all met up in the elven capital Alame’a at the beginning of the new year, 652 Romenstace. After avoiding accidental engagements, calling upon the power of a deity of misfortune, nearly getting burned at the stake, and making promises to a giant elk, the good squad began travelling together. We pledged ourselves to Vindus, a mysterious but benevolent god. We met a lady who made guns. And then we all split up after a falling-out (some details here).

Allora, the tiefling ranger, switched her alignment to True Neutral and began journeying on her own. She met many different people, including a colony of tieflings called the Awoken Flame, some inept human hunters named Todd and Eustace, and a dashing man named Rupert Tiasthmus. She also began talking to her mother again, the goddess of misfortune known as Beshaba. Allora took on a mission from Beshaba to disrupt a certain trade deal, and after doing so in an unexpected way, returned to meet back up with the party.

Nala, the dragonborn rogue, confronted another version of herself after leaving to return home. She left to return home and save her parents: the royal family who had been kidnapped by her uncle. Thus, she began the long journey home with the dragonborn warlock named Amuultoma. After saving a human town from a group of orcs, she received the dream message from Finnith, resolved her inner conflict, and agreed to return to the elven lands.

Finnith, my elf bard, took on a quest from Vindus and almost got killed by spider monsters. He woke up in the Underdark and met a sun elf named Neroth, and after telling him all that had happened up on the Surface, agreed to Neroth’s deal: to learn rune magic from him, and give him information about what he sees when he returns to the Surface. Finnith is teleported back to the Surface, completes his mission from Vindus, and returns to Alame’a, learning that the Coven of Eternal Light has increased its power. He discovered a centuries-old conspiracy, met his other self a couple times, and learned the dream spell to contact Nala and Allora to ask them to return.

That was a lot of recap, but a lot happened!

During this session:

As Allora makes her way towards Alame’a, she met the Historian, an important figure in elven history and the reason for the festival where the party all met in the first place. Mevalla Amastacia greets Allora, and she offers to show Allora a safe place for tieflings to stay—after all, it’s not safe around here what with the Coven’s* rise in power. Thus, Mevalla Amastacia introduces Allora to the nameless leader of the Awoken Flame. This leader wants to make a place where tieflings can live without fear of persecution. Though Allora would love to stay, she needs to return to her friends, so she meets as many tieflings as she can before setting out the next morning.

She returns safely, finding herself at the Amastacia manor where the Moon’s Eye organization** has taken up residence. She reunites with Finnith, who has been researching the Sidus Council*** and the Coven and has had his head in the books for perhaps too long. Kevin, Allora’s lagac (large riding lizard) who is known for eating books, is banned from the library and study area.

We have a time skip from day 41 to day 56 because it takes that long for Nala to return!

Nala also safely returns to the party! She and Amuultoma had split ways because he felt he needed to return and deal with some family matters of his own. She and Allora drag Finnith outside to the courtyard gardens so everyone can catch up with each other.

Everyone recounts all that has happened since they split up. Finnith and Nala are concerned to hear that Allora has been speaking with Beshaba, but Allora tells them that it’s alright, she’s really not so bad? Nala is shocked to hear that Allora went on a starlit date with and kissed (!) Rupert Tiasthmus, who we all sort of refer to as “the boy” or “Allora’s boy”. Finnith asks Nala about her own experience with meeting another “her” and tells the party a little about his own confusing experience talking with “himself”. Everyone is glad that, despite everyone getting into various scrapes of their own, no one died!

Finnith realizes that he can send Nala to check on her family through dream, or Allora to meet up with Rupert through the same spell!

 

It was fun to hear what happened from everyone’s character’s perspectives. The time skip felt weird, but it was necessary to get everyone back together in that session. Besides, it seems like we’ll be handling some downtime activities for a span of time after we’ve reunited, so the time skip wasn’t as jarring as if we had been adventuring normally.

I have to admit, after about a year of solo sessions, it was a little difficult for me to get back into the swing of the good squad dynamic, especially with how everyone has changed and grown while we’ve been away. But, it was really fun, and I’m excited to see how the group interacts with each other when we start normal sessions again!

 

 

*The Coven of Eternal Light: an organization of sun elves the party has encountered in the past. They believe that tieflings are emblems of darkness and therefore dangerous. A few hundred years ago, they enacted the Purge, where they sought out, tortured, and killed as many tieflings as they could find across the continent of Castaurum.

**The Moon’s Eye: a secretive organization against the actions of the Sidus Council. It began with a few moon elves, but eventually grew to include many other races. They are looking into what they can do to fight back against the Coven’s rise to power.

***The Sidus Council: a council organized after the incident 652 years ago. They began the new era, the Romenstace, and banished the grey elves, grey gnomes, and grey dwarves of Angarod into the Underdark. The councilmembers are not known to the public, and they supposedly dissolved after instating the new elven government in the early Romenstace.