Category: Star

[Part 1: Tricks and Traps]

Aug. 23, 2026 session

This session follows the Wysis bridge operation and the dissolution of Karina’s bandit threat. It begins with a long training, spell, gear, and downtime phase, then advances the campaign by about five months to January 20, 2198, when Superstar! turns back toward Cromwell’s northwestern frontier problem: hill giants, trolls, ogres, gnolls/noblink-like lesser humanoids, and whatever intelligence is coordinating them.

Psionics, training, and Star’s ninth-level questions

The session opens with rules and advancement discussion, especially around Star’s psionics.

Star is now approaching or entering 9th level, and the group discusses whether he can take another psionic discipline. Star already has several minor disciplines — Empathy, Dream Sight, Levitation, and Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions among them — and there is a hard cap of five minor and two greater disciplines.

One option considered is Sense Talent, a minor psionic discipline that can detect whether someone is actively psionic or latent. It is slow, but useful: active psionic individuals may notice the scan, while latent individuals may only feel a generic mind-probing sensation. The discussion frames this as potentially useful for Star’s long-term interest in finding people with psionic potential, rather than as an immediate combat power.

Lewis retires into ranger training

The party resolves Lewis’s departure from active adventuring.

Lewis is leaving to found or join a ranger training school near the southern edge of Barleyton, toward the Adri Forest and the mountains — a wilderness-heavy location suited to training scouts and rangers. Because that work is not compatible with metallic armor, he gives back his plate mail +1 of mobility and shifts into non-metallic ranger-suitable gear, such as the sharp-skin suit.

Lewis keeps some personal gear:

• His excellent sword.
• A Ring of Protection +1.
• A magical bandage.
• A sip of invisibility potion.

The rest of his permanent party gear, including the Bag of Holding and special helmets, goes back into party distribution. Later, Lewis rolls hit points and ends up leaving with a very respectable total, tied with Molly at 49 hit points.

Lewis, Zippo, and possibly Neil the dumb cloud giant are also expected to visit the Fane before settling fully into their new Barleyton-area roles.

Training timetable and downtime roles

The party determines that Star’s training is the limiting clock. Training, travel to the Fane, and return travel take roughly four months. That gives the rest of the party a significant downtime block.

Several major downtime paths are set:

• Star trains to 9th level; the cost is recorded as about 12,000 gp.
• Rosby double-levels in both classes, becoming a much stronger cleric/mage type; his training costs about 2,780 gp.
• Ethan double-levels to 4th-level fighter, training mostly with Rangorn and others; because standard military training facilities are available, his training is relatively cheap, about 1,530 gp.
• Rangorn spends much of the downtime helping train Ethan.
• Maple goes to Barleyton to check on the harvest, advise on next year’s crops, look in on the transplanted former bandits, and confirm the anti-drug-crop fungus is still doing its job.
• Portia continues steward training.
• Chiaro spends time in Melbonia, both for magical research and city opportunities.
• Herman escorts Chiaro by hippogriff and uses the Melbonia trip to learn specialized aerial/trapeze-style archery techniques.

The party is also conscious of Phaulkonian High Holy Days. Travel and downtime are planned so Star and relevant followers are not stranded in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Rosby becomes much more capable

Rosby gets a large spell upgrade during training.

He gains Shatter as his free second-level spell. Then, using party spellbooks, captured books, government requisition, and purchased spell access, he successfully picks up a remarkably useful suite of low-level mage spells:

• Armor
• Invisibility
• Levitate
• Web
• Stinking Cloud
• Zane’s Deodorant
• Maximize, as a magic theory / spell-modifier option

The group discusses other possible spells such as Mirror Image, Detect Invisibility, Vocalize, Feather Fall, Knock, and Strength. Feather Fall is especially tempting because Rosby is a hippogriff rider, but the roll fails by a narrow margin. The party notes that it may still be worth acquiring later.

Rosby also receives a Protection from Lightning scroll read on himself, giving him an 84-point lightning absorption capacity. This is a major safety upgrade for a low-level but heavily equipped rider.

Ethan grows into a real front-liner

Ethan’s double-leveling is very successful.

He rolls extremely well for hit points, helped by his 18/68 Constitution, and jumps to 44 hit points, making him one of the sturdier people in the party — behind only Rangorn, Star, and Molly at that point.

Ethan takes Longsword and Shield as a weapon proficiency, strengthening his role as a durable front-line fighter. He banks his non-weapon proficiency for later rather than rushing into a choice. Cooking is jokingly discussed, but the consensus is that he can wait and pick something meaningful later.

This matters because Superstar! has often been missile-heavy and not especially built for sustained front-line slugging. Ethan is becoming one of the people who can help change that.

Chiaro joins the Academy of Special Effects

Chiaro explores spell research in Melbonia, whose illusionist culture is centered on high-end theatrical special effects. Melbonia’s Academy of Special Effects is a major illusionist institution with an excellent library and a working community of stage illusionists who develop very specialized spells for performance.

Chiaro considers three custom spells:

1. A Shadow Clone spell.
2. An illusionist “body replacement” / stone-skin-like defensive spell.
3. A Change Creature style spell, like Change Self but cast on another creature.

The body-replacement spell is judged too far from normal illusionist spell logic at Chiaro’s current level; it is closer to an attempt to clone Stoneskin as an illusionist spell. The Shadow Clone idea is difficult but plausible, especially if it functions more like a shadowy duplicate tied to Chiaro’s own hit points rather than a full independent remote-sensing body.

Chiaro buys membership in the Academy of Special Effects for 35,000 gp, partly because repeated spell research would make the membership worthwhile. He then researches the Shadow Clone spell. The research goes exceptionally well: he succeeds around week eight and spends only about 2,100 gp in weekly research costs because the membership greatly reduces access fees.

After that, Chiaro tries to find Phantom Steed in Melbonia, using Wraithform as trade leverage. The search is comically unlucky: repeated social/search rolls go badly, and when he finally gets a chance to copy it, the learning roll fails. The party notes that he may be better off later buying a scroll outright or researching a version himself.

Chiaro leaves Melbonia with the custom Shadow Clone spell, but not Phantom Steed.

Herman learns aerial circus tricks

While in Melbonia, Herman looks into the best proficiency for firing bows while hanging from ropes or doing acrobatic hippogriff-adjacent tricks.

The answer is a specialized form of trapeze / gymnastics training, paired with archery skill. Melbonia has exactly the kind of theatrical/circus infrastructure needed for this. Herman pays about 600 gp for training with a school associated with the Jingling Mordo Circus, though the circus itself is traveling elsewhere.

There is joking about Herman running away to join the circus with his hippogriff, but for now the practical result is that he gets training useful for aerial trick-shot situations.

Magic Lad receives a mysterious letter

After the downtime and return, Magic Lad shows Chiaro a strange letter he received.

The letter says, essentially, “We are watching with interest.” It bears a huge symbol of an eyeball and a beautiful seal of Mandred — the eight-pointed star representing all schools of magic. The eyeball symbol is not recognized as the Elder Elemental Eye and feels more like a mage-secret-society mark than a religion.

There is a return address, absurdly enough: a local mage drinking club down the street. The thread is not pursued deeply this session, but it is clearly a hook.

Cromwell’s compensation for the dwarven items

Cromwell explains that the dwarven items recovered from Wysis and the bridge operation are politically sensitive. The leadership may need to hold them, or eventually return some of them to Shabrundian dwarven authority, rather than simply let Superstar! keep them.

The party is not especially eager to return valuable magic to the evil dwarves they actually dealt with. Cromwell’s view is more institutional: the items are traditional dwarven cultural property, and higher leadership will decide whether they go to these dwarves, other Shurundian dwarves, or remain locked up.

In compensation, Cromwell offers to bank the value of the recovered items against useful gear for the party.

The dwarf goods are valued at about 48,500 gp. The party spends part of that credit on:

• A Belt of Flotation for about 3,500 gp.
• Two Potions of Growth, partly because of how effective giant-sized Rangorn was on the bridge.
• Two Feathers of Feather Fall suitable for hippogriffs, so wounded mounts can drift down rather than crash.
• A Helm of Contemplation, a chaotic-aligned helm that reduces spell disruption chance when the wearer is hit.

After these purchases, roughly 29,000 gp of Cromwellian credit remains.

The party asks about Dust of Non-Detection, but Cromwell does not have any available.

Redistribution of special items

The party reshuffles several items after Lewis’s retirement and the Cromwell exchange.

Important outcomes:

• Star takes the chaotic Helm of Contemplation, valuing its 20% spell-disruption protection.
• Star’s former Circlet / Headband of Radiance is passed along to Maple.
• The Chameleon Helmet goes to Ethan by default, though it can be swapped to Rangorn for scouting. It provides active ultravision, wide-angle vision, surprise reduction, and limited camouflage.
• Rangorn keeps his Helm of Anticipation, since it helps with his front-line/sensory role.
• Extra Healing is placed into the party’s more accessible potion storage (Maple’s pouch).
• Rangorn’s old tracking dogs are effectively retired to safe duty around the church or Barleyton rather than remaining active adventuring assets.

The party also discusses possible future items for Maple, including expensive druidic vestments, but does not immediately spend the remaining credit on them.

The clock advances to January 20, 2198

After all the training, travel, research, item allocation, and Barleyton follow-up, the campaign clock advances to January 20, 2198.

At this point the adventuring party is notably high-level. Rangorn, Star, Molly, and Chiaro are all 9th level. Ethan and Rosby are rising rapidly. Allison is close to “graduating” or moving on. Portia continues steward work.

Superstar! is now big, rich, complicated, and politically entangled.

Cromwell proposes the next frontier problem

The party checks in with Cromwell about the situation near Ashop, Nonna, and the frontier line.

Cromwell says that with Karina’s bandits gone, one possible strategic move is to push toward Nonna from the north. However, over the winter there has been movement of hill giants, trolls, and ogres from the north. Cromwell is worried that this movement is coordinated and may be meant to block any advance.

The creatures do not appear to be the well-armed hill giants previously equipped by the Slave Lords; they are poorly armed and armored, suggesting they came down from the mountains rather than being outfitted directly by the dwarves or slavers. Still, the coordination is suspicious.

The party decides to investigate and, if possible, eliminate the threat.

Moving to Ashop and scouting

The party stages at Ashop, a marginal but inhabited frontier settlement. Ashop is not a popular place to live, because it has been hard to secure, but it makes a useful staging point.

The plan is to scout forward using:

• Bird friends.
• Hippogriff riders.
• Rangorn’s stealth and wilderness skills.
• The Chameleon Helmet as needed.
• Active and passive ultravision.
• Dispel Exhaustion bursts for rapid rider movement.
• Remove Fear as one of Star’s standard prepared tools.

The idea is to leapfrog from farm to farm or use abandoned farms as staging points while scouting outward.

During scouting, the party finds a site that appears to be a monster/bandit base. After some watching, they see about twelve lesser humanoids, transcribed unclearly but apparently gnolls / “no-blink” types, come out with hatchets and gather firewood. No animals or trolls are seen outside during the observation window. That suggests the place may not have heavy exterior patrols, though the real occupants could still be inside.

Preparing the assault

The party decides to attack the base.

They prepare with:

• Invisibility on non-spellcasters.
• Strength effects.
• Five Deep Strikes from Wanda.
• Bless and Prayer.
• Fine Traps / Find Traps support.
• Cricket Song / sound control.
• Slow Poison on Molly.
• Protection from Evil 10-foot radius available.
• The usual missile and melee layering.

The horses are left at a farm rather than brought close, since taking them all the way in would slow the operation and increase detection risk.

The plan is to hit fast and exploit short-duration buffs. Rangorn leads, using strength to force the entry rather than spend time on subtle methods.

Entry into the complex

The party reaches the door under silence and Cricket Song. Rangorn forces it open.

Herman’s trap detection immediately matters: there is a trip wire just inside the entrance. The group spots it in time and steps over it rather than blundering into the first trap.

Inside is a hall with several doors. More traps appear quickly: wash tubs or objects balanced in rafters, pits or snares, trip wires, and other improvised “Home Alone” style defenses. This base is not elegant, but it is heavily trapped.

The party presses forward rather than spending too much time clearing every hallway.

First ogre fight

The first real room contains four ogres on guard.

Both sides are surprised, but the party reacts with extreme violence. Rangorn, Ethan, Herman, Wanda, and others pour damage into the ogres before they can escape and raise an effective alarm.

Key moments:

• Rangorn and Ethan engage at the front.
• Ethan’s new front-line role immediately matters.
• Deep Strike and strong weapon bonuses turn hits into brutal damage.
• One ogre is blasted so badly it effectively turns to ash.
• Wanda’s Magic Missile finishes another before it can get a door open.
• The last ogre tries to flee but is cut down before it can escape.

The ogres had been shouting, so the alarm may still be partly raised, but the immediate guard room is cleared very quickly.

Trapped doors and false routes

After the ogres die, the party discovers that many exits are trapped.

One door has both a magical glyph and a mechanical trap involving a bucket full of knives. Molly, supported by Slow Poison and magical help, successfully removes the magical trap and neutralizes the danger.

Another door opens into a room with a dozen of the lesser humanoids running around in panic. The party decides not to spend time on them and closes the door. Something loud happens on the other side afterward, but the group leaves that mess for later.

A staircase downward turns out to be unsuitable for giants: the steps are unstable and clatter underfoot, suggesting it is not the giants’ real path. The party turns back rather than wasting time in a cellar route that cannot be the main movement path for large creatures.

The burning sheet trap and the hidden “young giant”

In another room, the party triggers a more elaborate trap.

A huge cloth drops from the rafters, tangling some of the front ranks. Then a large quantity of flaming oil pours down onto it. Thanks to good saves, Star’s Ring of Free Action, elemental resistance from Star’s shield, and general party durability, the trap does much less damage than it might have.

Only minor damage is taken, around three points to Rangorn.

The party spots the trap-setter: a slightly young-looking giant vanishes through gaps or rafters high above. The ceilings are about 22 feet high, with complicated rafters and gaps that would be hard for most characters to navigate, though Molly or Audrienne might manage.

The party begins to suspect the “young giant” may not really be a young giant. A Sleep spell does nothing to him, which seems odd if he is merely a young giant or low-HD creature. By the end of the session, players speculate he may be something stranger, possibly a large kobold, an ogre-mage variant, or some thiefy polymorphed creature.

The empty room and more door traps

The party follows onward into a room that is almost suspiciously empty. As they approach doors, lanterns drop and explode into fire. The party realizes that each door seems rigged with a flaming-oil lantern trap.

Rather than walk into each one, they shoot or deliberately trigger the lanterns from a distance, clearing them one by one. Fires burn briefly but do not create a long-term obstacle.

Molly then begins disarming doors. One door is a spring-loaded fake door that smacks her and launches her partway across the room, though she takes only minor damage. Behind it is just wall.

Another apparent pit trap is actually a set of four large bear traps buried under sand. Molly finds and triggers them safely.

A further room appears to be a barracks for about twenty gnolls or similar creatures, though it is empty when the party enters.

Searching for the real route

The party realizes that the obvious doors and traps may not be the real route through the complex. The “young giant” seems to move through rafters or hidden passages rather than through the trapped doors.

The group debates whether someone should climb into the rafters and chase him, but instead continues opening and testing doors, trying to find the actual path into the deeper complex.

Rangorn receives a Strength spell, giving him very high strength, and he helps force doors when locks or stuck mechanisms slow the party down.

Eventually, after false doors and traps, Molly finds a real door with a floor trap in front of it. The trap is a spring-loaded floor section, which the party triggers safely from a distance. The door is stubborn, but repeated effort gets it open.

This finally reveals a long corridor with a turn — the first sign of a real path deeper into the complex.

The metal plates and magic “air-eating” bricks

As the party advances into the long corridor, a trap springs.

A metal plate drops behind them, covering the way back. Another metal plate drops ahead, blocking the right-hand turn. Looking up, they see a small metal hatch close in the rafters.

Then they hear hissing and see two magic bricks / cinder-block-sized devices begin absorbing or destroying the air. Star recognizes from past experience that these are dangerous magical air-suppression devices.

Attempts to physically damage one of them only speed the effect by exposing more surface area. The party shifts to Dispel Magic.

Dispel Magic attempts partly fail because the devices are high-level effects, but Allison succeeds. The two bricks stop operating before the party is trapped or suffocated.

Rangorn and others immediately look for ways to force open or lift the metal plates, using strength, crowbars, and brute force. Maple uses Warp Wood to warp the frame holding the metal plate that slid down to our rear. But as the party tries to back out, the hidden “young giant” strikes again!

The hidden attacker’s fireball sling

From above, the “young giant” fires a slingshot or similar weapon and launches a small fireball into the party.

Ethan takes about 19 damage. The rest of the party largely manages to scamper away or avoid serious harm. The attacker laughs and vanishes backward into the rafters or hidden passage again.

At this point the party is still inside the complex, with traps partly cleared, spells still running, Molly under Slow Poison, some Aid and Find Traps duration remaining, and Ethan being healed.

The proposed next move is dramatic: put Fly on Rangorn and send him after the elusive rafters attacker with giant-slaying fury.

End state

By the end of the session:

• Star reaches 9th level and trains.
• Rosby double-levels and gains major new spell capacity.
• Ethan double-levels into a much sturdier front-line fighter.
• Lewis retires from active adventuring and prepares to found a ranger training school.
• Maple spends downtime supporting Barleyton’s recovery and agricultural transition.
• Chiaro joins Melbonia’s Academy of Special Effects and successfully researches Shadow Clone.
• Chiaro fails to acquire Phantom Steed despite a long and expensive search.
• Herman learns trapeze / aerial trick-shot training in Melbonia.
• Magic Lad receives a mysterious “We are watching with interest” letter marked with an eyeball and Mandred’s symbol.
• Cromwell values the dwarven goods at 48,500 gp and compensates the party through credit and useful items rather than simply handing over the politically sensitive dwarf gear.
• The party acquires a Belt of Flotation, Potions of Growth, hippogriff Feather Fall feathers, and a chaotic Helm of Contemplation.
• The campaign clock advances to January 20, 2198.
• Cromwell points the party toward suspiciously coordinated hill giant / troll / ogre movements near Ashop and Nona.
• The party scouts a monster base, stages an assault, kills four ogres, avoids or neutralizes many traps, and begins penetrating the complex.
• A strange “young giant” or giant-like trickster repeatedly attacks from rafters/hidden spaces, using traps and a small fireball attack.
• The session ends mid-operation, with the party considering a flying Rangorn pursuit through the rafters.

Strategically, this session shifts Superstar! out of the aftermath of the Wysis/Karina victory and into the next phase of the northwestern Cromwell campaign. The party has become higher-level, and better equipped, but the new enemy is not just a group of simple hill giants. The base is trap-heavy, layered, and strange, and the hidden fireball-slinging “young giant” suggests there is a smarter organizer or infiltrator behind the ogres, gnolls, giants, and trolls.

## Chronological in-universe summary — Jul. 26, 2026 session

This session resolves the **Wysis / dwarf enthrallment / Karina’s bandits** problem. It is mostly a long planning session followed by a successful bridge ambush, the freeing of Karina’s people, and the removal of the intelligent evil item that had been dominating Wysis and enthralling the bandits.

## Opening continuity

Superstar! begins at the **Hudsecker Farm / bandit safehouse area**, after the previous session’s discoveries:

* A captured bandit patrol showed that most of Karina’s people were enthralled by **Wysis**, the dwarven leader or apparent dwarven leader.
* Commune established that the enthrallment was caused by a **magic item on Wysis**, not by psionics, ordinary charm magic, disease, curse, or poison.
* The item is intelligent and sometimes possesses Wysis.
* The item is **not** his Belt of Persuasion.
* Seeing Wysis without the charisma-enhancing effect should break the enthrallment.

The group quickly concludes that the lead-lined room experiment is probably irrelevant. The problem is not a long-range link to the victims; the victims need to **see Wysis without the item’s charisma effect**.

## Rebuilding the plan

The party’s core objective becomes:

* Get Wysis out onto the bridge.
* Prevent the party from being enthralled by seeing him.
* Prevent the dwarves in the fortress from shooting, dispelling, or retrieving him.
* Disable Wysis without killing him.
* Remove the intelligent item.
* Expose Wysis’s true state to Karina’s people.
* Avoid starting a full war with the dwarves if possible.

The party discusses many possible techniques:

* Darkness to prevent seeing Wysis directly.
* Faerie Fire to target his outline without looking at his face.
* Solid Fog to block his retreat.
* Wall of Fog to block arrow slits, ballista lines, and possible spotlights.
* Sleep spells against lesser dwarves and Karina’s carriers.
* Hold Person against Wysis as a possible but unreliable option.
* Multiple Dispel Magics to suppress visible magical protections.
* Spiritual weapons and subdual damage if Hold Person fails.
* Rangorn enlarged by a Potion of Growth to physically dominate the bridge.
* Molly and Ethan using darkness items and close-in positioning.
* Chiaro and Magic Lad using shaped Cricket Song / sound control so spellcasting is not heard.
* Star, Herman, Allison, Rosby, Maple, and others using Hold Person, Dispel Magic, Curse, Faerie Fire, and other support.

The party does not know which item is responsible. The possibilities include the dagger, axe, crossbow, armor, jewelry, or something else. Since identifying the item beforehand would require more risk and delay, the plan becomes: **take Wysis alive, strip the dangerous items, and then determine what changed.**

## Final ambush setup

Karina arranges for a delivery where new people will be present, increasing the chance that Wysis comes out onto the bridge to greet them.

The geography matters:

* The bridge is about 100–110 feet long and roughly 10 feet wide.
* Wysis usually comes out partway or most of the way across it.
* The dwarven fortress has arrow slits and likely ballista positions.
* The bandit side has a portcullis and access to side cracks / chasm routes.
* The party positions many members under or near the bridge, using invisibility, climbing, levitation, fly effects, potions, and darkness screens.

Karina, invisible, provides the timing signal. Molly and Ethan are positioned near the bridge with darkness items. Chiaro’s group is screened from seeing Wysis using Darkness items. Wanda handles key flight/levitation logistics. Rosby prepares Curse and sleep/hold support.

The main plan is for Rangorn, magically enlarged to giant size, to drop onto the bridge and physically pin Wysis so the party can strip the item away. The hold spells are important backup and opportunistic tools, but the dramatic core of the plan is: **giant-sized Rangorn falls onto the bridge, blocks the escape route, and wrestles Wysis down.**

## The ambush begins

Superstar! successfully moves into position without mishap. No one falls into the chasm.

When Wysis and the dwarf-side party come out, the opening volley lands:

* Multiple **Dispel Magics** fire at Wysis and his active effects.
* Most visible magic around him is suppressed; a continual light in the area is also taken out.
* Molly successfully throws the darkness items onto the bridge.
* Rosby drops a **Curse** over the target area.
* Wanda’s **Sleep** catches much of the dwarf-side group.
* Allison’s **Wall of Fog** blocks one side’s line of fire.
* Chiaro’s **Solid Fog** blocks retreat and slows movement.
* Maple prepares the crucial **Faerie Fire**.
* Rangorn drinks the Potion of Growth and becomes enormous.
* Molly, Ethan, and others move onto the bridge.
* Star and Herman have spiritual weapons and Hold Person options ready.

The dwarves get only a sliver of reaction time before the party’s layered plan collapses the situation around them.

## Rangorn drops onto the bridge

The fight’s defining moment is Rangorn’s arrival.

Enlarged to giant scale, Rangorn drops down onto the bridge like a titan crashing into the battlefield. The visual is enormous: the party’s woodsman, suddenly giant-sized, descending into the narrow bridge space to physically dominate the fight and keep Wysis from escaping back into the dwarven fortress.

This is exactly what the plan was built around. Wysis is not supposed to be killed; he is supposed to be **caught**, **pinned**, and **stripped**. Rangorn’s size and strength make that possible in a way that ordinary missile fire or spell damage would not. Star stays with Rangorn, protecting him with his Tower of Iron Will, should Rangorn grab the dangerous possessing item.

Wysis tries to retreat toward the dwarven side, but Chiaro’s Solid Fog and the bridge geometry make escape extremely difficult. Maple’s **Faerie Fire** catches him, outlining him through the darkness/fog problem without forcing the party to look directly at his face.

The first Hold Person attempt fails — Wysis apparently makes the save on a natural 20. The plan therefore continues as a physical takedown: Rangorn, Molly, Ethan, and the spiritual weapons close in while Wysis is slowed and boxed in.

Then Rosby’s **Hold Person** works. (Wysis makes a horrible save roll that *still* would have been successful if not for the Curse Rossby had thrown earlier.) This drastically simplifies the remainder of the combat.

## The dagger is removed

With Wysis held and Rangorn in position, the party moves quickly to strip him.

Magic Lad / Detect Magic analysis shows that only two things on him are still detecting as magical: his **dagger** and his **belt**.

The party immediately focuses on the dagger. Rangorn removes it from Wysis. The dagger skitters away and ends up near the Solid Fog. The group is careful not to touch it directly. Maple uses the Staff of Treant like a long pole or hockey stick to push the dagger back toward the bandit side.

Once separated from the dagger, Wysis’s false majesty collapses.

He looks awful: gaunt, dirty-bearded, sunken-eyed, and not remotely charismatic. Nobody is impressed. Nobody is tempted to worship him. The party has found the right item.

Magic Lad’s Detect Evil later confirms that the dagger is the evil item. Wysis himself does not present as the same evil source, suggesting that he may have been a victim, puppet, or long-term host rather than the true villain.

## Wysis collapses into a ruined state

Once the dagger’s influence is gone, Wysis is no longer a glorious or godlike figure.

He is physically and mentally wrecked:

* Gaunt and malnourished.
* Hair falling out.
* Extremely weak.
* Unable to speak coherently.
* Making guttural sounds.
* Terrified.
* Barely able to walk or function.
* Obsessively eating when food is put before him.
* Showing signs of very low strength and constitution, perhaps near death.
* Possibly damaged in intelligence or wisdom as well.

Star uses empathy and senses overwhelming terror. Remove Fear helps somewhat, but Wysis still does not become mentally coherent. Cure Serious Wounds has only minor effect. Cure Disease and Slow Poison do not fix him.

The party realizes that the intelligent dagger may have been sustaining his public presentation, or hiding the consequences of long possession, rather than simply making him more persuasive.

## Karina’s people are freed

Karina immediately has Wysis brought into the dining hall, the biggest communal space, so her people can see him as he really is.

The plan works.

As people see the true, broken Wysis without the item’s charisma effect, the enthrallment begins to collapse. Karina starts moving people through the dining hall. The nearby bandits, including those who had been asleep on the bridge, are brought in. Others are summoned as they return.

The emotional and political consequences are immediate. Karina begins reasserting control and organizing evacuation. Her lieutenants and people now understand that they were manipulated.

Some of the outlying patrols will take longer to return, but the core problem — Wysis’s direct hold over her people — is broken.

## Contact with the dwarves

The party initially worries that the dwarves will retaliate with ballistae or a full counterattack.

Instead, after some shouting across the chasm, the dwarves send a representative. The dwarf observer sees Wysis’s condition and confirms that something is wrong. The party explains that Wysis was under the influence of an evil intelligent item and that the dagger has been removed.

The dwarf representative is alarmed and insists that the clan leaders will want Wysis and his gear returned. The party does **not** accept that as an automatic obligation. The dagger is clearly too dangerous to return, and the party is generally disinclined to hand powerful magical equipment back to evil dwarves merely because the dwarves ask for it.

The immediate compromise is practical rather than trusting: Wysis himself can be returned once Karina’s people have seen him and the enthrallment is broken, but the dagger is retained for destruction, and the rest of the gear is held pending identification and higher-level Cromwellian decision-making.

## Karina evacuates

Karina decides she and her people cannot safely remain next door to the dwarven fortress once the party leaves.

Her people divide into broad groups:

* About 50 want to go with Karina back toward the Northerner / mountain life.
* About 50 want to quit banditry and live straight.
* About 60 still prefer the outlaw/bandit life and may head west toward Slave Lord territory or similar frontiers.

The party discusses what to do with the “go straight” group. Barleyton is suggested as a plausible destination: the city needs settlers after the catastrophe, and the group can truthfully be described as refugees rescued from a mind-altering evil item and dangerous border conditions.

Karina says she can get them to Barleyton if the party can guarantee or advocate for their safety. The party agrees to advocate for them and to stay in touch.

Karina also asks that, if the party profits from recovered dwarven items, some share be considered for the Northerners and for the people trying to start over, though she acknowledges the party spent heavily preparing the operation.

## Wysis is returned, but the dagger is not

After Karina’s people have seen Wysis and the enthrallment has been broken, the dwarves send about a dozen people to retrieve him.

The party returns Wysis himself, but not the evil dagger. As a limited gesture, they return his nonmagical special dwarven crossbow. The dwarves demand that the rest of the items eventually be returned as well, but the party does not commit to this.

The dagger remains secured in a lead box and is later turned over for proper destruction. The other magical gear is treated as a political and security problem, not as property that should simply be restored to the dwarves.

## Karina’s farewell

Karina thanks Star and Chiaro in particular. She makes clear that she understands this may not have been the easiest solution, but the effort to avoid killing her people did not go unnoticed.

She gives Star the old Phaulkonian holy symbol of **Lester**, the Phaulkonian cleric who had died long ago among her people. The holy symbol has wings, roughly in the caduceus-like Phaulkonian style.

Karina reiterates that she is willing to vanish into the mountains, but that if the party wants future cooperation, she may be a useful contact.

## Salvage from the bandit complex

Karina leaves behind a great deal of low-value but useful material: furniture, metalworking gear, leatherworking gear, supplies, and other bulky goods. It is estimated at perhaps **15,000 gp** of value, but very low value per weight.

The party considers whether to bring a wagon train. Because the area is dangerous and the dwarves could potentially take the goods first, Karina tells the dwarves the abandoned goods have been given to the party and that taking them would damage relations. The dwarves are not especially interested in them.

A wagon operation succeeds without interesting encounters. Cromwellian forces take a third for the effort of sending people into the field, leaving the party with **9,600 gp in Cromwellian credit**.

## The evil dagger is destroyed

The party decides not to identify the dagger. It is too dangerous. Detect Magic showed the dagger as **Alteration / Evocation 5**.

Detect Evil and the events around Wysis are enough to conclude that it is a **neutral evil intelligent magic item** responsible for the possession and enthrallment. The party turns it over for safe destruction in a major Nevranian church facility under Cromwellian/state religious authority.

## Identified loot

Other items from Wysis and the bridge incident are identified:

* Belt of Persuasion — standard charisma-check booster, not the possessing item.
* Battle Axe +1 of Giant Slaying — +3 / triple damage dice against giants.
* Dwarven full plate +2 — dwarven-sized, damaged but still very valuable.
* Potion of Extra Healing.
* Potion of Superheroism.
* Potion of Healing.
* Twelve +1 permanent bolts, usable only with the special dwarven crossbows.

The recovered magical gear is estimated at roughly **53,000–55,000 gp** excluding the potions. Local Cromwellian military authorities cannot simply pay for it and do not have authority to decide the diplomatic/security question. The plan is to lock the items up, send letters up the chain, and wait for Cromwellian policy guidance.

The party is mildly interested in the Belt of Persuasion and possibly temporarily borrowing the giant-slaying battle axe for upcoming giant work. But the broader posture is cautious: these are powerful items associated with an evil dwarven operation, and the party is not eager to return them casually.

## End state

By the end of the session:

* Superstar! successfully ambushes Wysis on the bridge.
* Rangorn, enlarged to giant size, drops onto the bridge as the centerpiece of the physical takedown plan.
* The dwarf-side guards are disabled without deaths.
* Wysis is blocked, held, and stripped.
* Rosby’s Hold Person succeeds at a key moment, turning a risky grapple-and-strip operation into a much cleaner capture.
* The evil intelligent dagger is removed.
* Wysis’s charisma effect collapses.
* Karina’s people see him in his ruined true state and are freed.
* No dwarves are killed.
* No party member is killed.
* The dwarves do not counterattack.
* Wysis is returned, but the evil dagger is not.
* The dagger is destroyed by Nevranian religious authorities.
* Karina’s bandit group dissolves as a threat.
* Some followers go with her into the mountains, some seek a straight life, and some remain outlaws elsewhere.
* The party gains a valuable future contact in Karina.
* The party recovers useful gear and 9,600 gp in Cromwellian credit from abandoned supplies.
* The broader Flathead bandit problem is essentially resolved without a massacre.

Strategically, this is an enormous success. The party neutralized the main bandit force, broke the dwarven enthrallment network, avoided a dungeon assault, avoided a dwarf war, preserved Karina as a possible ally, and did it all with no deaths. The next likely step is returning to the wider northwestern Cromwell campaign: hill giants, ogres, Slave Lord pressure, and whatever Cromwell decides to do about the secretive dwarves.

The action below took place between April 9th and June 1st, 2193.
Theft-focused raids have been a longstanding problem in the Medegia region of Western Cromwell, but recently a group has abruptly started killing people, which has led Cromwell to feel it was worth of bringing them to the attention of outside bounty-hunters. “Sneak in and steal food” has turned into “sneak in and murder a whole farming family and their workers in their sleep, vanish with all their stuff”. They have been deftly avoiding engagement with actual security forces, and have been harder to spot and track. They are thought to flee into to the mountains to the southwest. Superstar! was hired by the government of Cromwell to look into these attacks and deal with the threat. With decent horses and carts, we expected the journey out to take just over a month.
Pheraguat decided to fly out to Medegia on his hippogriff for some advance scouting, actually doing this while Magic Lad was identifying items from the party’s prior encounter. He ran into someone he knew at the nearby Cromwellian military outpost (Saer Hills Depot), a “special forces” woman named “Spider”. It was noted that Jennifer Hookhill, a human fighter and Regent’s courtier, and Site Bowlength, an elven fighter/magic-user and Regent’s courtier, were about a week north of here fighting drug dealers**, and could be available for aid if needed.
[** = see also, the Ninth Telvar Open, taking place in Towlemere in the Salt Sea region of Western Cromwell, in which both of these figures appeared.]
Unfortunately, the aid was needed a little closer to home. While Pheraguat was waiting for the party to meet him in Medegia, the party got ambushed on the road halfway there, rendering his actions and most of this engaging backstory largely moot.

Continue reading “Superstar! and the Kingpin’s Payout”

After the Circle of Ayrless adventure, wherein Superstar defeated the Final Cut (rather brutally at that), the party returned to Depwood in June 2192 and met with its Druidic and Ranger colleagues. Treasure was divided, cash and some minor magic items were handed over to the Druids as payment for the use of some of their items in the fight against the bad guys, arrangements were made for henchmen training, and finally the topic turned to a reward for our help with the small matter of the Circle.
The Druids offered some choices:
1. The Amulet of Spiritual Strength, which gives +1 to Turning and provides 1 hp/level of the cleric. (Cleric only)
2. A folding boat (a small handheld boat which can fold out into a small row boat or a ~dozen capacity small sailing boat)
3. A Robe of Stars, which has some save effects and protection on the astral plane, as well as giving a unique weapon when the stars sewn onto the fabric can be grabbed and thrown as moderately powerful and fast missile weapons.
4. They also had a number of woodland cloaks and boots, which give ~50% bonuses to hide in shadows/move silently abilities when in woodlands or similar environs.
We also discussed the previously offered “weird familiar-like” choices (sprites, etc.) but there were essentially two options: a Wise Old Bird friend for Star (which he could not actually receive until he was 9th level) or they could offer us a chance to be introduced to a Pseudodragon. The chance of success was decent, but by no means guaranteed. If we chose the Pseudodragon the druids would consider throwing in a pair of boots and a cloak or similar.

Continue reading “Superstar! and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Horse”

A treasure update for Superstar! [done in late November 2007]

Continue reading “Superstar! Treasure Update [Following Summary #3]”

Party Roster:
Rangorn, 7th level half-elf woodsman, 65 hp, played by Joel
Star, 6th level human Phaulkonian cleric, 37 hp, played by Kyle
Chiaro, 7th level human illusionist, 22 hp, played by Aaron
Zippo, 2nd level dwarf fighter, 21 hp, henchman of Star, played by Sir Jack
Lewis, 1st level human ranger, 15 hp, henchman of Star, played by Sir Jack
Minerva, 3rd level half-elf mage, 14 hp, played by Katherine
Madupe, 1st/2nd gnome fighter/thief, 11 hp, played by Katherine
Alisan, 1st level half-elf Phaulkonian cleric, 8 hp, henchman of Rangorn, played by Jay
Magic Lad, 1st/1st level gnome Mandred cleric/illusionist, 6 hp, henchman of Chiaro
[Events in Charlotte, 4 Feb 2006; Telvar Sep 2191-Feb 2192]
The World of the Stone Soules and the Restenford Defenders collide (slightly):
When we had last left our newly formed “Strangorn” party (name forthcoming, ideas have been proposed!), we had just begun a successful series of missions working for the Rangers out of Depwood in Petethal. Rangorn and Star are ex-Stone Soules party members who decided to found a new adventuring group that played to their strengths. Each acquired supporting henchmen, and additionally two new members joined them.
Meanwhile, back in 2185, the Restenford Defenders had just broken up. Most of the members had moved on to other parties and continued their adventures (Balinor joined the Wreckers, and later the Killer Bees and eventually the Band; Felix, Donald, and Nakumanu formed a dwarven party out of Shabrund; Cassian initially joined the Wreckers and formed her own party with Warwick after the Fane of the Winds quest). Chiaroscuro (his full false name; his real name is somewhat less grand) had been unaccountably left behind, supposedly off to some obscure training known only to Quentin and Peacemaker (Felix’s sword; Felix himself remains ignorant).
Chiaro is a truly bizarre-looking old Sarkian human: he wears a fiery red hellhound skin cloak, has a mask that is half white/half black, has glowing yellow pants (via continual light spell from Cassian recalling his original party nickname, “Sunshine Happy Pants”), and a green “lilly-pad” beret.
In mid-2186, Chiaro emerged from his training with new powers and decided to join an adventuring party. He signed up with SMART (Syndicate of Master Adventurers for the Recovery of Treasure) and although he was only 6th level and maintained only associate membership in the group, he was disproportionately useful to them as a rare illusionist. Chiaro’s other strange abilities were masked by his use of a “feather of levitation” and “mask of domination”. As Chiaro kept “using” his “magic items” he was given replacements because “surely he had used them up by now.” The SMART party trekked out to a desolate desert where nomadic tribes of barbarians roamed that could detect the presence of any water or the creation of water (magically or otherwise). The nomads would descend on those who brought water into their domain and try to kill them and claim their precious water. Here Chiaro’s many illusionary abilities were of great use, and they prevented many party deaths. Chiaro was rewarded amply for his efforts and came out with several items of interest:

Continue reading “Star/Rangorn Summary #2: More Ogre, Less Filling”