Riga's Log: Orcs n' Squirrels

[D&D 5 campaign featuring: Baccardi Riga III (Gnome Illusionist), Gilthanas (Paladin of Sune), Klin (Druid), Rolfo Bleedingaxe (Cleric of Clangeddin Silverbeard)]

House of the Divine Fire

Enjoying some downtime after reclaiming The Lost Mine of Phandelver, the Heroes of the Divine Fire spent some time in the town of Phandalin. Gilthanas invited his comrades for apflestrudel in the Stonehill Inn, where Baccardi displayed his new three-pointed hat with the illusion of a spider-shaped gem (combining with the Spider Staff he acquired previously).

The group decided to rent a house in the main plaza and announced the future "House of the Divine Fire", bearing a small temple to Sune, as well as serving as the group's base of operations.

We tried to convince the thrice-damned Mayor to allow us to occupy the abandoned Tresandor's Mansion, but not even with the promise of restoring the building AND cleaning the catacombs the bastard agreed. We're really starting to hate the guy... On the other hand, his butler, the friendly Jeff, is becoming one of the party's most enthusiastic retainers!

Many Arrows / Many Orcs

A poster in the Town Hall alerted for orcs attacking caravans along Triboar Trail, near the mountains at NE. Another job for the Heroes of the Divine Fire! Rolfo celebrated a mass in the central square, asking Clangeddin for guidance. And thus the heroes departed towards the sunset... with the paladin playing his noisy bagpipes!

The orcs' lair was rapidly discovered, with the druid shaping himself as a squirrel running with a gold piece in his mouth to allure the lonely sentry (which was spending his time hunting squirrels). Inside the cave, the monsters were easily overcome, but dire news awaited the adventurers: there's an orc tribe that goes by the name "Many Arrows" that is planning an invasion in this region.

Baccardi Riga: Mayor of Phandalin?

The news were immediately taken to the Mayor, who didn't seem quite worried about it. Afterwards, we headed to the mines in order to alert Gandrid, expecting some dwarven help to the pressing matter. But the greedy bastard seemed only interested in his profit coming from the mine (which, by the way, has a "certain magical forge" that belongs to a "certain magical gnome").

Faced with the Mayor's ineptitude to address such a troubling issue, certain voices started to be raised, claiming for a new election. Those same voices whisper a name: the most humble Baccardi Riga!

P.S. I’d say the charming gnome deserves a bonus 50% in XP, and an additional 100 gp, for the cool map, and exciting chronicle.

The Lost Mine of Phandelver 3: The Silenced Skull

WARNING: The following article contains material from “The Lost Mine of Phandelver”, which is an official module from D&D 5^th edition. If you’re planning on playing it, stop reading right away, unless you want your soul to be sucked by Jarvis.

“Hello. I’m Jarvis.”

Following the events occurred with the storming of Cragmaw Castle, “The Divine Flame” returned to Phandalin, where we discovered that the Mayor was taking credit for ending the Redbrand menace. Were we going to sit back and watch that happen? Like Hell, we were!

Now you just have to imagine a gnome, on top of the shoulders of a dwarf, with a BOOMING VOICE OF THUNDER AND LIGHTNING (thank you “Minor Illusion” spell), shouting sheer propaganda about “The Divine Flame” to every soul in the city. In your face, Mayor Jackass!

But, hey, we are heroes, and we’re supposed to kill bad stuff. And kill bad stuff we did. We dungeon crawled half of the Wave Echo Cave, killing gooey stuff, undead stuff, and – EPICALLY – finishing the guy from the “Terminator” movies. We’re now, officially, badasses!

Approaching the flaming skull was a good party-moment, making us plan and discuss the best way to kill it, and NOT be killed in the process. Thank you, Rolfo’s spell list for having the “Silence” spell! It was epic, and badass, and we even had a roaring tiger… although he roared in absolute silence. But hey… it’s the intention that counts!

*Silent MEOOOWWW!*

The best was saved for last, with a sweet tactic-meets-roleplay moment around the Spectator, shedding some light about the History of The Forge of Spells – whose property was lawfully claimed by the Most Epic and Badass Baccardi Riga III.

Now, speaking of SILENCE and SKULLS… this reminds me of… ACHMED, The dead terrorist!

The Lost Mine of Phandelver 2: Cragmaw’s Castle

WARNING: The following article contains material from “The Lost Mine of Phandelver”, which is an official module from D&D 5^th Edition. If you’re planning on playing it, stop reading NOW!

After the nasty encounter with the rogue Glass Staff, and the charming nothic, in Part 1, we returned to the Mayor’s House in order to claim Food, Drinks, Fame, and Loot! But the guy was a cheapskate, so our pockets didn’t get any heavier…

The paladin rejoined the group (and got to meet my amazing gnome illusionist), and we were invited to spend the night in the Mayor’s House. While Rolfo (the dwarven cleric) read the book we recovered from Tresandar Mannor, titled “The Lost Mine of Phandelver”, my gnome charlatan spent half the time hiding propaganda about his family’s great deeds amongst the mayor’s library, and the other half practicing his new acquired spell – “charm person” – in the mayor’s butler…

The next morning we headed North, into the forest where we suspected we’d find Cragmaw’s Castle. While resting along Triboar’s Trail we were attacked by a trio of hobgoblins. They didn’t pose much of a threat, but I was flabbergasted with what the paladin and the druid decided to do with the last surviving member of the gang (one more victim to Baccardi Riga’s Hideous Laughter). The beast was tied , hanging from a tree, and when the location of the castle was revealed, the druid placed an apple in its mouth… and shot an arrow through it!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIKS! Get me outta here! What is wrong with this people? What about honor? Mercy? Kindness? Isn’t there room for that in Dungeons & Dragons? I guess not…

So we arrived at the castle and… went straight to the boss! Yes, just like that. Like we did with Glass Staff. Our GPS is flawless at tracking evildoers. I’m sure that the guys who designed the adventure weren’t very worried with “hiding the boss”, but c’mon… You have three possible points of entry. Two of them are doors, the other is a collapsed wall. Hummm, which one is less likely to have guards? Well, and guess which one leads directly to the Big Bugbear?

We had a great roleplaying moment, with the paladin pretending to be an insubordinate prick, alluring the big boss to a fight by cock a doodle doing, while I tossed some chicken feathers bellow the door where he was waiting. Trust me, this is great roleplaying! Forget about everything else! This is the real stuff! Not even the rooster from Disney’s Robin Hood could top this!

After using such bold and brave tactics, my gnome got to finish the bastard with a flaming orb cast with a critical hit. BAM! Forget about the Masters of the Divine Fire. After killing a hobgoblin with an arrow-through-the-apple-in-the-mouth, and cooking a bugbear alive, we shall henceforth be known as the Savage Raving Lunatics of Merciless Doom!

P.S. If you've never seen Disney's Robin Hood, from 1973, I strongly recommend it. It is by far one of the greatest animation films ever made. Go see it. You'll thank me later.

The Lost Mine of Phandelver

WARNING: The following article contains material from “The Lost Mine of Phandelver”, which is an official module from D&D 5^th edition. If you’re planning on playing it, stop reading NOW! Otherwise, the nice fellow below will eat you.

So we played one more session of D&D 5. This time I went with a gnome Wizard, charlatan extraordinaire, named Baccardi Riga The Third, supposedly the grandnephew of an important archduke. I spent most of the session lying with every tooth in my mouth, which is basically what I regularly do as a DM…

The game was very nice, with the DM allowing us to roam freely and do everything we wanted, without restraints. We even got a round of ale paid by dwarven miners! We were lucky and followed the most direct route to the Big Bad Evil Guy, which wasn’t that bad, or big, or evil, after all. The party was branded “Masters of the Divine Fire”, because the dwarven cleric kept praying to help our rolls, and both I and the druid played with fire spells (although my gnome uses mainly non-aggressive spells, but how can you resist a cantrip that does 1d10 fire damage?). Besides, there is another party member which is a paladin of Sune, the goddess commonly known as “Lady Firehair”. Therefore, it is impossible to gather more divine fire in a single party. As to the “Masters”… Well, like I said, I lie with every tooth…

I secretly believe the druid is chaotic evil – he caught a rat and tried to roast it with a flame from his hand. I secretly also believe the cleric is chaotic evil – he wanted to allow the nothic (the nice guy pictured above) to eat the big bad evil guy alive. Sooooo, yeah… the paladin is going to have a great time, surrounded by a deceptive, lying, lunatic, flamboyant gnome, and those two nice fellows.

 (click to enlarge)