We’re two weeks into D&D and it’s been an education. This is the part where I must confess I’ve never actually played a full game of D&D before saying yes to DMing this one - I’ve played Pathfinders, which is extremely scaled down, but that’s it. Also also, though I am extremely excited about worldbuilding (which you might have guessed from my long introduction…), I have become aware that it takes a massive amount of work, on top of tracking what 7 players are doing as well as knowing the rules well enough to talk new players through gameplay, and creating and operating non-player characters, and figuring out where we are in the arc of the story now that everyone has made decisions I could not have anticipated…which is to say that I’m having a lot of fun and I’m also feeling a bit overwhelmed at the volume of work I’ve committed myself to. Committing to playing 4 hours of D&D with 7 players is not exactly what I would recommend to a novice DM...

In trying to manage this workload, I’ve self-assigned these bits of writings - summaries of the last game to keep us on track, knit the story together, and smooth over the rough patches where improv-plot-holes bug me. It’s separate from the prep work I’ve been doing but feels fun and interesting, so I don’t want to stop doing it. Instead, I’m thinking about how many hours a week we’re playing and if it feels sustainable to keep going at this rate without sacrificing quality (it doesn’t). I’m also thinking about novel ways to learn the rules (Chuck is listening to a podcast where a bunch of voice actors play D&D together), harnessing the power of the internet to create dungeons and NPCs, and the practice of letting things be imperfect for the sake of everyone’s fun. I’m sure adjustments are to come, but for now, here’s where the party is at:

————9/10

An unlikely party assembles at Miller’s Tavern and is recruited for a simple job: break into a mansion on the mysterious Nolan Island, get the Key, and get out and get paid.

The party heads to the market to try and find a map of Nolan island. They acquire an odd map from an odd mapmaker, which features not just Nolan island but also another, unnamed and previously unknown island at the heart of the city. Lock kills the mapmaker, and in the ensuing tangle with the market guards, both he and Krys are banned from the marketplace of Siilvan.

Lock, Stor, and Landoff approach the Thieves Guild (discovered by Krys) with an offer - part of the cut of the job, if the thieves help them case Nolan island. The Thieves agree to help the party, in exchange for the strange map they purchased and 40% of the profits. Stor agrees, and the head thief (who never did divulge her name…) offers the help of their resident mapmaker (son of a mapmaker), who divulges the existence of Steward’s island - the key to accessing any of the Governers’ Islands, including Nolans. The trio also learn that Nolan’s Island is notoriously hard to get to and its fortress legendarily secure.

Stor hands over the copy of the map he’s made, but the Thieves see through it right away. Furious at being double-crossed, the head thief demands hand-to-hand combat. Stor fights her and wins (barely…), escaping with Lock, Landoff, and his life. The three head back to the tavern, where they meet up with the rest of the party…

--------- 9/16

The party made plans and purchased supplies…

———— 9/27

Our party finds themselves back at Miller’s Tavern, again (not only are there murderers here, but everyone is starting to suspect that there are fleas, too). Landrof, Stor, Lock and Amber decide to let Xara Krys and Buddy in on the details of their plan: sneak into the private dock past Henry, of New Staten Island, steal a boat, and sail for Nolan’s Island.

Everyone rests and eats and waits until the time arrives, and all seven of them head down to the docks (minus Charles the Rabbit, who is a rather conspicuous 7-foot-tall bunny. Krys leaves him parked a few bocks away).

Just as planned, Henry of New Staten Island is on guard, and with a brief “you look just like my little sista” heads off for his evening appointment with the privy. The 7 of them run into the shipyard and are discovered by another guard, who tries to blackmail them. Instead, they stuff some sleeping-potion down his throat, split up into 2 boats, and cast off.

The waters of the Castoff River are much, much choppier than expected and the night is dark, even with the light reflected from the city. After a few minutes of rowing, both boats spot the same thing: a giant cliff rising up out of the river much too close to them. A beach is spotted, and both halves of the party manage to shipwreck themselves on said beach mostly unharmed.

There’s only one path up the cliff and the party decides to take it. At the top, they find a sprawling, arcadian garden, deep with night shadows, and beyond an imposing fortress, all dark walls and threats. Suddenly, a guard goes by. Everyone hides, but Krys doesn’t get out of sight in time. Spotting them, the guard assumes they’re the druid that the Governer is expecting to come mend the garden and marches them off to a cell where he can keep an eye on them until it’s time for them to work in the morning.

Thus split, Stor and Landrof get into a heated argument: should we rescue Krys or not? Stor is adamant: he’s not leaving them behind. Landrof is indifferent: if they got caught, that’s their problem.

Meanwhile, Lock has disappeared into the garden, off to investigate a well. There appears to be no water in the bottom. He drops a rock down and hears no splash. Silently, he climbs over the edge and jumps down the well. He drops and drops, thirty feet, bouncing off the wall of the well, and lands, somehow, without shattering his legs. He gets up, injured but not incapacitated, lights a torch, and starts wandering off into the darkness.

The party back aboveground has split. Stor and Amber cook up a quick plan to rescue Krys, who was unsuccessful in talking the guard into letting them go, or getting a bird to steal his ring of keys. Just as they’re about to try

The other half of our party - Landrof, Xara, and Buddy - have gone into the darkness between the sleeping rhododendrons to see where Lock’s gone. When they discover the well, they all come to the same conclusion as he does, though they use a rope to lower themselves, instead of jumping with moderately more success. (Xara has a rough time, being Dragonborn and much more suited to being giant and menacing rather than light and easy to lower via rope, but he makes it down in the end.)

Stor and Amber hide in the woods near Krys’ earthen cell and distract the guards by shooting an arrow off into the woods (not very bright, human guards…) who both wander off to investigate. Stor levers the door off Krys’ cell and the three disappear back into the darkness of the garden, heading for the well themselves.

Soon, the whole party finds themselves in the dark tunnel, illuminated by their various candles and torches. Lock, with a headstart, discovers the room first: a circular stone chamber with twelve branching passageways off it, and a circular hole in the ceiling full of darkness, from which dangles a rope-and-wood ladder. Lock, with his headstart, also discovers that there are two giant rats lurking in one of the tunnels, and that they attack without provocation.

Amber pulls a bunch of loaves of bread out of her pack and throws them at the rats, momentarily distracting the creatures. The others all draw their weapons, except for Buddy, who draws back to the mouth of the tunnel they just emerged from.

The rats are fast and their bites are ferocious. Lock, already injured from his fall, stabs one but then gets bitten square on the shoulder. Bloody and badly hurt, he manages to get it off just before Stor rushes in to kill it. Amber, Krys, Landrof and Xara engage the other rat. The fight is short: Xara melts the creature into a puddle of goo with his acid spit.

After the fight, Stor rounds on Buddy and begins yelling - what the heck man? Is that what you do in danger - you just stand back and do nothing? I know you’re a bard, but you could at least sing us some courage or something.

After the echoes die down, they hear a drip from the ceiling…

————9/23

The drip from the ceiling turns out to be an extremely acidic grey ooze! The fight is quick though - Amber, Landrof, Stor, and Lock make short work of the monster (though their weapons do not escape undamaged - both Stor and Amber’s are permanently weakened by the monster’s acid.

Just as soon as the monster is defeated, a halfling appears out of one of the tunnels. Just shy of three feet tall and carrying an incongruously large pack, they inform the party that their name is Pumpkin (just Pumpkin, no first name, and any relation to any members of the Pumpkin family back home in the Shire is none of anyone’s business). After a bit of bluffing, Amber figures out that they’re scared of the Governers, and the party offers gold and an opportunity to undermine them in exchange for Pumpkin’s help on their quest. He agrees, and informs them that Nolan’s island isn’t safe to access through these tunnels due to the presence of a Gibbering Mouther - their weapons aren’t nearly up to par. He suggests they go instead to Cristof’s island, where there is a magical cache of weapons that will help them get into the legendarily impenetrable fortress at Nolan’s.

The way to Cristoff’s island isn’t a walk in the park - the tunnel Pumpkin leads them down is infested with Giant Rats and also an Ocher Jelly, which splits into two jellies when sliced (oops!). Amber sends out a thunder wave that hits the unsuspecting party - both Buddy and Xara are badly injured and pass out. Once the jelly is defeated, the party decides to take a long rest at the end of the tunnel, to eat and rest and prep spells to revive themselves as Pumpkin and Landrof stand watch...

————9/24

(I’m one session recap behind, so check back for this one!)