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I know I said I was going to ask for everyone's feedback for this information, but it kind of got away from me. Since I didn't want to leave you hanging for even longer, I decided to simply take care of it for now. Planning the D&D sessions will be much more collaborative in the future, I promise.
These things were supposed to be very general, but . . . I clearly failed to do that super well. You can still add flair to smaller side things your character did, especially because it is not constricted to traditional game parameters. { i.e., it's okay if your character spent two hours shopping because no one else had to sit through it waiting to get on with the adventure. They could just go! } If you disagree with anything I wrote, please just send me a message about it ASAP. I'm happy to update it with a compromise we can both agree on. And, as I said, just remember you'll have more direct opportunities for involvement and feedback in the future.
Please incorporate this information is much or as little in your stories about their real life. It's totally up to you. However, I recommend still reading over all of it so we are on the same page. If something does not make sense, do not hesitate to message me, use the group chat, or post in the chat forum. Anything you need is available! This should be enough for everyone to get started on writing. Full summaries of your characters and their stats are now available on the character forum. Please reference them as needed.
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━━━━━━ 𝒮𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒪𝓃𝑒 ━━━━━━
𝔼ℕ𝔻 𝕆𝔽 𝔸𝕌𝔾𝕌𝕊𝕋 𝟚𝟘𝟙𝟡
As level one characters, the players have low health points and are thus easily susceptible to being killed. The main goal of a first session is to bring the party together, give them a common goal, and see how they interact. Of course, with the revelation of the game coming to life, things get wildly off track. The players spend hours running around trying to figure out what is going on. The common theme seems to be a flyer in whatever town, village, or city they find themselves in. It keeps popping up. "WANTED: Fearless Adventurers. Substantial Reward." So, after the initial panic and shock, most of them realize that it is the key to starting the game. Lucien / Jordan needs a bit more convincing; he is off doing his own thing and hasn't even noticed the flyers. But the group eventually finds him. And they are off with the mysterious and eccentric Kedo as their guide. A rich merchant gives them a large box of wares to bring to a neighboring kingdom as a peace offering. Everything should be fine, he promises, but they must not open the box under any circumstances. Given the gold given at the beginning with even more promised upon completion, it is hard to say no.
Along their travels, the party goes through a desecrated village. Their food sources are being destroyed by a strange, magical plague. Without intervention, they will all starve very soon. Despite Kedo's insistence they stay on track, Kemper convinces the group to solve this terrible problem. After traveling into the caves near the farmlands, the group discovers rare sentient mushrooms poisoning the soil and plants. The largest one has a hive-mind effect on many small minion mushrooms. And, even worse, if any spores from a mushroom get into the mouth or nose of a party member, they are suddenly connected to the hive mind. The mushrooms have no thoughts that they can understand, but they can understand each other over the strange hum of the fungi. That means by the end of the fight, all of the players can hear each others' thoughts { even if some of them are deliberately thinking in languages they hope the others don't know }. Well, isn't that one way to bring everyone together very quickly? Everyone except Kedo, that is, who claims to be a guide and not a fighter. This is not what he was being paid for. Luckily, the party defeats the mushroom boss without any death on their side, and the connected minds ware off after a few hours. But no one notices "Lyra" sneak a small portion of the mushrooms into her bag . . . for future use, perhaps?
━━━━━━ 𝒮𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒯𝓌𝑜 ━━━━━━
𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ𝕋 𝕆𝔽 𝕆ℂ𝕋𝕆𝔹𝔼ℝ 𝟚𝟘𝟙𝟡
Kedo is initially very thrilled to be back on task for the delivery, which he chalks up to the fact that he only gets paid the second half of his fee when it arrives safely. But he becomes incredibly upset the moment a strange, almost-hypnotized group of half-orcs cross their path. Half-orcs have a terrible reputation and are stereotyped to be quite violent. The party prepares itself for an attack, but the group does not seem quite right. In fact, most of them are crying and saying they don't belong here . . . they are not half-orcs at all. Though the group brushes it off as trauma of the war, it is an unsettling sight to behold. But Kedo is incredibly insistent and distraught this time. They take his advice and continue on. They reach one mostly-intact town before the entrance of a hazardous mountain pass. A perfect place to rest before a harrowing part of the journey. Rumios refuses to sleep inside the inn, and her manners at dinner cause a lot of tension that the others had to defuse with coin and other charismatic or shady deals. At least a magical merchant in the town has a few objects that will be of service to them on the next dangerous leg. They also make a point of buying winter gear and supplies, for it is unclear how long they might be stuck among the snowy peaks.
Kedo wants to spend two days in the city, but the others are antsy to go. Rumios gets especially troublesome when the town's rumors of a dragon in the mountains reach her. She keeps it a secret from the other members; she doesn't think she can trust them yet. So she sneaks out in the middle of the night to find the dragon herself. The rest of the party panics when they cannot find her in the morning and storms into the mountains after her, Kedo's preference be damned. Kemper, coming from the mountains, does not want to appear to be too knowledgeable and give herself away. However, she chooses honor over self-preservation when enough hints point to a terrible truth: there are no dragons in these mountains, but harpies. And Rumios has probably been taken in by their deadly, charming song. Thuszis tries to save the day by luring them out with his own haunting melody. But it is a lot more than the group bargained for when a large hoard comes out to attack them. Even Kedo is forced to join the fight as it proves to almost be too much for the group.
They do not defeat the entire group of harpies, but they do manage to save Rumios. Just barely. The group is worse for wear and considers going back down to the village. However, an Aarakocra pack is on patrol. They take pity on the solemn party and lead them to their secret mountain temple. Well, almost. They refuse to allow Lucien inside. The party is too weak to negotiate or protest. Plus, they at least still offer to heal Lucien. It is just that he may not "taint" their holy ground with his presence. However, the biting cold { or is it the loneliness? The prejudice? } proves too much for him. He sneaks in to be with his party, which results in all of them being kicked out. They are back to their own devices, transporting some stupid box across terribly dangerous terrain. But, at least for now, they have been healed. It does not seem like they will get this lucky again if they have another dangerous encounter in the mountains. Yikes . . .
━━━━━━ 𝒮𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒯𝒽𝓇𝑒𝑒 ━━━━━━
𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ𝕋 𝕆𝔽 ℕ𝕆𝕍𝔼𝕄𝔹𝔼ℝ 𝟚𝟘𝟙𝟡
Kedo ensures the group it is only a two days' journey to a point of safety in the mountains, after which they will have reached the peak and should have an easier descent. Thankfully, the next few days reaching this spot are largely uneventful. There is a minor encounter with wolves and another with knowing their way. However, it is mostly fine. Some in the party may have noticed that when it is Kedo's turn to take watch at night, he has a habit of arguing with himself. { This is actually him talking to Petra's astral projection, but she ensures that the party does not notice her. } But perhaps no one woke up or noticed his strange conversations.
As they reach the last summit, the group is greeted by a strange sight. The snow has melted, and it is almost like summer has continuously fought for power over a small area with a crystal pool in the center. "Nymphs guard these waters," Kedo warns. Thuszis seems to be the one in the group oddly familiar with the stunning beauty of such creatures. Although a nymph can choose to suppress her powers, it is said that their beauty can lead anyone who gazed upon them either blindness, madness, or even death. Thuszis is furious that Kedo considers this to be a "safe" place to make camp; however, he insists that the break from the cold is an invaluable reprieve, so long as they do not bother the water creature.
Thuszis broods with Lyra as close to the edge as possible, insisting that they cannot let down their guard for a moment. She entertains his paranoia, as she finds his loyalty and desire to protect others an amusing trait. They all keep a careful eye on Lucien, the most likely fool to be tempted. But it is Kemper who accidentally makes eye-contact with the powerful beauty. She lifts her gorgeous head above the water and becomes the dwarf closer. "My love," she whispers. "It is not your fault. Do not torture your heart with such darkness."
Ogres, hungry for flesh, often use the spring to lure in prey. They were waiting for their snack to fall asleep, but it will do no good if the nymph steals them first! They rage up the mountain, blowing their cover, and take up arms against Lyra and Thuszis first. Lyra ends up seriously injured, and amidst the turbulent fighting, Kedo has to give her a secret healing potion he had been guarding for himself. Only Kemper notices Lucien falling prey to the nymph's call and being dragged below. However, the ogres are too much for the group to handle as well. "DIVE IN!" Kemper screams. She is, after all, familiar with mountains, and she has a sinking suspicion . . .
The crew grabs what belongings they can manage and hastily retreat into the warm water. The ogres are too afraid of the nymph's hatred towards ugly and evil, the very things they embody, to follow. And sure enough, Kemper's hunch leads them through a curved tunnel into a secret cave. There is a labyrinth inside the mountain, warm with a strange system of hot springs and warm gusts. The nymph leaves Lucien behind, though not without a few scratches and bruises dotting his body. It seems the mix of beautiful but evil was a confusing nature for her to comprehend. The crew is safe for now, but these new tunnels only make their journey more complicated. Kedo cannot guide them through a place he has never heard of. And uh oh!!! They left their delivery box behind!!
━━━━━━ 𝒮𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝐹𝑜𝓊𝓇 ━━━━━━
𝕄𝕀𝔻𝔻𝕃𝔼 𝕆𝔽 𝔻𝔼ℂ𝔼𝕄𝔹𝔼ℝ 𝟚𝟘𝟙𝟡
OPERATION BREAK OUT OF THESE MYSTERIOUS CAVES AND ALSO RETRIEVE THE MYSTERIOUS BOX FROM THE OGRES WHO PROBABLY TOOK IT.
aka
OPERATION WE'RE FUCKED.
Let's just say, there is nearly a TPK { total party kill } on this adventure. While the crew tries to minimize the worst of their injuries in the cave, getting out of there is no easy feat. Strange bats { unknowingly with the souls of Petra's human enemies switched inside of them } keep sporadically attacking. The tunnels are clearly made by . . . something unnatural, for puzzles and secret passageways and deadly traps lie in wait around every corner. It takes intelligence, brute strength, and working together for hours in order to finally find an exit. And the matter of the ogres is still at hand. If they have opened the box, the party's mission will have failed. None of them will get paid the rest of the promised gold. While this is still the primary reason they've come together, some of them are beginning to . . . like the other members. Or at least trust them in battle. It would be a bit of a shame to disband now.
Kedo has heard rumors of a pack of fearless wolves in the area, led by a few arcane-enhanced wolves. It is a big risk to approach them, but does the group have another choice? Rumios keeps insisting they keep looking until they find a dragon to back them up. However, it is obvious that everyone feels much more comfortable approaching a wolf for help over an unpredictable and very powerful beast such as that.
The group determines what their offering to the wolves shall be, in addition to promising they will be able to feast on the ogres after the battle. Although they are nearly attacked when trying to approach, the most charismatic members ━ Kedo, Lyra and Thuszis ━ manage to sweet-talk their way in. The wolves quite reluctantly agree but only because the ogres have been stealing their food source too. It's about time they try to do something about it.
The party and new temporary members hatch a surprise attack on the ogre camp. It is a brutal fight. Kemper, Rumios, and the Alpha lead the way, the strongest and most resilient of the fighters. Kedo uses his skills as a rogue to sneak up and grab the box while the others are in combat. Once again, the ogres nearly destroy everyone. However, the wolves turn the tide in their favor. One beast is lost to the fight, but everyone else, however weakened they may be, survives the ambush. It should be a moment of celebration. Victory. The party has survived with only injuries. They have recovered their box, which remains closed despite the many claw, bite, and scratch marks on the outside that attest to how much they tried to open it. But a small, now-orphaned infant ogre is found inside the tent. Um . . . shit . . .
━━━━━━ 𝒯𝓇𝒶𝓃𝓈𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓂𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒮𝑜 𝐹𝒶𝓇 ━━━━━━
The DMs have not told the party the plot of the group. The Soul Stone is supposed to be a surprise. Though there was a hint of it in Session Two with the half-orcs, no one is aware of what is going on behind the scenes. Everyone still thinks that the most important part of their plot is delivering the box to the other kingdom.
While inside the game, all of the characters are able to retain full consciousness of who they are in the real world. Although Oliver is trying to act boorish and ill-mannered like Rumios should be, it is still him controlling her, like a traditional D&D game. But by session three, some of the members might notice this being . . . less true. Their D&D character's thoughts and feelings are feeling more real while playing. The outside reality feels further and further away.
Conversely, it is not until after session three that they notice effects outside the game for the very first time. However, these are so minor and not happening for everyone. It is very, very easy to dismiss them as merely coincidental. The group may begin talking about the transformations following them into the real world as sort of a hypothetical, but members like the DMs and Oliver are probably quick to dismiss it. The cost of stopping playing, to them, is much too high. More real consequences following them into the world will begin with the next sessions so we can actively roleplay and write them. And, again, they will affect each person differently based on their commitment, dedication, etc. to the game.
Over sessions three and four, each character was probably seriously injured in some way or another. D&D does not treat always treat injuries like we do in real life. Someone may break their leg, have a giant slash from a sword on their shoulder, etc. but then recover in just a day { and sometimes just a few minutes } with magic or sometimes rest alone due to how the system with rolling dice works. So while I think some remnants of these injuries may show up in real life, don't worry about your D&D character being truly incapacitated inside the game. I'm clarifying this due to the quote at the top of the group's main page. That's more about them being in real life than playing, just so you know haha.
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