Hello, Everyone!
Sorry it took so long for me to get out this post! It's been a very busy (but wonderful) month and I haven't been able to prepare this post properly. But now it's here! The long-awaited Q&A. Everything you wanted to know about our heroes' exploits in Ekoba. Thank you, @aaskablackwolf, @hhayweaver, @alonicus and Y. for asking all the questions! Some of them were answered by yours truly, others by our DM, and others still, by the other players on our D&D table.
Hope you enjoy the answers!
In the previous Q&A your DM said that the fighting style of Dorina Dwendel had been inspired by the style of a certain anime character. Who was that?
[From our DM] Inspired by Obito Uchiha(Naruto Shippuden). I really dig the idea of a character phasing in and out of the battle and letting attacks pass through them. I'm absolutely giving The Inevitable Blade to a player character at some point in a future campaign.
Are there any direct references to fictional or real-life countries among the populated areas of the continent of Erathos?
[From our DM] Belfast, capital of the dwarves is obviously named after the capital of Northern Ireland.
Draconia shares it's name with a similar country in Exandria, Matt Mercer’s world. I am one of the many new generation players who entered DnD via Critical Role and I like having the occasional homage.
I don't think there's any other though.
I’m wondering about Bruno’s armour. He hasn’t changed it ever since the Bulette encounter, and that was all the way back to the beginning of Arc 1. Is it THAT good? Wasn’t it kind of a cheat to have it at such a low-level point in the game? How did the DM allow it?
Also, has Bruno ever thought about changing it?
[From our DM] The armour is full plate armour +1 (+1 because Bruno is a Forge Cleric – if he was another subclass, he wouldn’t have been able to create it at all).
In-world it should have cost about 1500 gold coins and Bruno got it a few levels before he got the means to procure it. So yes, there used to be a short period of time when he was ‘ahead’ of the curve. But we need to mention that at the beginning the party consisted of a Warlock, a Bard and a Cleric, which means that they didn’t have a good front-liner. Allowing Bruno to have this leap in defence gave the group the confidence to fight and made him a wall in the way of their opponents.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
(And it's cool 😁)
[From Bruno’s player] I’ve never thought of changing it. Only if something significantly better comes along.
The atmosphere in Papa's orphanage was very bizarre. What’s up with that?
[From our DM] He is a strange fellow indeed. We'll learn more about him very soon actually.
We never found out who was drawing the moustaches on Mary’s face. I was convinced it was Aurum but after I found out about Lanurey’s existence – could it be her?
[From Mell] The first moustaches were, indeed, from Rabajorhax, but each subsequent time it was Aurum, with the snickering knowledge of our upstanding Cleric Bruno. Each time I asked for an Insight roll, it was always something like 2 or 3 or 5, and Mary had no idea what they were doing. She honestly believed every bullshit Aurum feed her and had no reason to doubt him.
It was a lot of fun on our D&D table but I just couldn't let you know (in the text) what was going on, since Mary herself never found out…
I'm wondering why Aurum was complaining about the 'Red Carpet' or more preciesly their clothes...what did he feel was wrong with them?
[From Aurum’s player] Maybe it's a daddy issue.
Aurum’s father is generally a fancy man who is very interested in fashion. He used to look for and use rare perfumes and luxurious stuff (that’s how Aurum found his love for sandal wood which is an expensive item in our world).
So, his father always said how--if they could only save some money!--they could go and buy clothes from The Red Carpet. He made the place sound like some amazing treasuretrove of fashion. Aurum was too young at that time--around his early teens--to think about what he was wearing. didn't share his father's taste in clothing but he still listened to the old man praising the place.
One day they had a really profitable performance and Aurum expected a sizeable share of the money since he was the star of that particular show. However, his father took all the profits and secretly went and bought himself clothes from The Red Carpet. Aurum was besides himself with anger but he couldn’t do anything about it. That’s why he despises this particular shop.
You can read some more on our favourite bard’s family life over here, where he tells the party why he doesn’t like his folks.
I'm wondering what kind of monster the one in ‘Under the Misty Sea’ is actually. And why the crew of the shipwreck isn't trying to save themselves. Or did they wreck it on purpose?
[From our DM] There are many large creatures in the Misty sea. Truth be told, it's not an “official” creature as I find many of them to be bland. It's a homebrew monster. Not named really.
As for the crew, they ran. They just wouldn't leave their valuable stuff on the boat to sink. Also they were sailors from afar. They didn't speak Mary’s language to understand the warning.
What kind of "Hydra" is that? I've never heard of a memory eating hydra, that thing is creepy and awesome. Did your DM make it up?
[From our DM] It's my take on the False Hydra and it is indeed creepy as heck. YouTube is your friend :)
That hydra model is awesome, and also rather nightmarish 😀
Is it one that's commercially available, or a print ?
[From our DM] My wonderful players got me a gift card for a local game store and I had it 3D printed there. The model is from Comet lord miniatures. Note to my players: Do not visit there, I use their stuff, you might spoil yourselves.
As someone who's never played D&D. :D Did Mary get any experience for taking part in the fights against the underwater monster and the Hydra? Especially the Hydra – she was basically unsconscious.
[From our DM] I don't do experience the old fashioned way. Never have. We use milestone leveling, gaining a level after big story beats and large-scale fights(which are on their way!) I'd say the characters gain a level every 4 sessions or thereabouts.
What's with all the fairies? I think they must be connected to Lanurey, when nobody knows what their deal is, even Gillean.
[From Mell] Each person who’s been affected by the False Hydra, forgets that its victims ever existed, and their brain tries to ‘fill in’ the missing memories however they find most plausible.
For the citizens of Anzen whose main livelihood was the coal mine, any villages that had been emptied by the Hydra would be thought of having had a mine accident.
For Adam and Bezar’s grandmother, who’d probably had her fair share of orc attacks in her youth, it would be orcs instead.
For Mary, it would be fairies, because she thinks every magical thing that happens in her life is a gift from Gillean.
I'm wondering about Granny Gretel’s background story and along with that her very own intentions. But will they ever be reveald? Who knows... 🙃
[From our DM] Granny is a constant in the story at this point. I sure hope our heroes keep calling her, as playing her at the table is a joy. More will be revealed about her later on.
If 100 gold pieces is a small amount, what is ‘a lot’? :D
[From Mell] 300 gold pieces are enough for an ordinary person to live comfortably for about a year. 100, especially to an adventurer, are as good as nothing. A normal Potion of Healing (4d4+4) costs 500. A Superior potion (8d4+8) costs 1500!
For something like re-growing a limb to cost a mere 100 coins, it’s laughable.
[From our DM] 10 000 gold pieces are a hefty sum.
Sometimes I wonder if your DM isn’t too cruel towards Mary :D Especially recently, it’s like a hit after a hit (emotional + physical) :D She finds out that her biological parents are dead, gets bitten by a zombie and has to hide the scar, she gets mad at the elves, the Moustache curse, first hangover, almost dies to a sea monster, finds out about a friend she had but lost, get her leg chomped off (well, at least this got better :D), GETS DIARRHEA THE NEXT DAY. :D :D :D
[From our DM] Oh man! Describing the zombie bite off a piece of her neck and start chewing on it felt so good. Mary was unconscious at the time of course, but Mell was at the table and was scared for her character.
The hits are nowhere close to ending. You get to read more soon and hopefully enjoy them, too.
[From Mell] Our DM and I talk a lot about where I want to take Mary, character-wise. He knows I like THE DRAMA and that I want Mary to experience impactful things so that I can write about them.
For example, the zombie bite could have left no scar whatsoever. All other wounds gotten in our fights usually get healed after a long rest, but I decided that having Mary mourn the loss of her wholeness would make a very good scene. Plus, I wanted this fight to have long lasting concequences for her. So, our DM provided the means for this to happen.
But the diarrhea was a low blow, I admit 😅
The murder of Balaine Endoras (what a shock! :D) - why did it make the elves suddenly get ready for a war with everybody? Isn’t it almost a well-known thing that it’s an inside job?
[From our DM] Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Either way there seems to be a cunning villain on the prowl.
[From Mell] Well, from what we know by now, Balaine was the only one of the Elders who was actively pushing for accepting Edmund Bright’s invitation and was ready to negotiate for the return of the Empire. The rest of the elves had always been against it.
To you, the readers, and to the main characters, his murder was clearly an inside job because we know about Clement and suspect that he might have something to do with it, but the elves don’t have this information. Most of them were just waiting for something to happen to Balaine to turn against the whole idea of the negotiations.
I might have missed something but didn’t Mary have the "Message" spell too? Right now, mainly Bruno is sending messages left and right. Is his version of the spell for longer distances, and Mary’s – for shorter?
That’s completely right. Mary’s spell is called Message. It’s short-distance (up to 120 feet) and it’s a cantrip – a very low-level magic, with no limit of how many times she can use it before she rests. Bruno’s spell is called Sending. It can be used for any kind of distances (including interplanar, albeit with some conditions) but it’s limited to how many words you can say in a single message, as well as how many times he can cast it before he has to rest.
Both can be answered by their recipients.
For your new PC [note by Mell – that’s Agatha’s player] – what kind of preparations and how long did it take to ‘step into’ the game? Did she have to read the stories in the blog? Did Agatha start at a higher level?
[From Agatha’s player] I haven't stepped into the game yet. (teeth) For me playing DND is like learning a new language- even if you have some experience there are always new things to discover. For this particular campaign, in the beginning Mell and our DM did most of the work for me- they explained how to build a character and we did it together (mostly them). Agatha started at level 8, which is a bit higher than usual. To prepare for the game I watched some youtube videos and drew inspiration from books . I read some of the stories in the blog but not all of them because I wanted to capture the feeling of foreignness that Agatha might have meeting Mary, Bruno and Aurum.
Are the miniatures and landscape models self-made or commercial models you bought?
[From our DM] I have all sorts of miniatures really. I've been collecting and painting for seven years at this point. My weirdest stuff is probably the terrain, which is aquarium landscaping items repurposed for dnd. I've noticed a huge overpricing for terrain, so I bought from other hobbies at reasonable prices.
How long did it take to prepare the principal outline of the adventure?
[From our DM] I have no idea. At first I happened upon the False Hydra online and was immediately inspired to torture my players with it. At that point my brain was busy at it. While driving, while doing almost anything I'll think about the game and plot my next move. Considering how many sessions we have between the first seeds of Lanurey and the actual arrival in Ekoba, I'd say the ideas were in my head for about two months.
Also important to note, that these adventures aren't set in stone at almost any point. For example: nowhere in the adventure had I written down or expected that the characters would get cold feet and consider backing away from the fight with the sea creature. The water elemental had done a number on them and they were about to back away and honestly ruin the tension of the adventure. So I had to improvise a reason for the monster to come out.
Are you considering publishing the adventure once you finished playing it with your group?
[From our DM] Not currently. Publishing is a lot of work and legal somersaults and I have too much on my hands between family, games and career. I wouldn't publish if I can't really polish the product and that takes time and funds.
When I binge-read your story, sometimes I turn on some background music but I can never choose it perfectly. Some day I want to be able to reread everything from the beginning and I imagine something like a playlist with appropriate music for each part. I wonder if the DM could make a Spotify playlist for the series.
[From our DM]
This track runs most of the time in the background, filling the silence and giving us a relaxed atmosphere.
This one is for the tense situations.
Here are some combat vibes.For Belfast I used music by Battlebards, called Blessing of the dwarves (I think), but that's behind a paywall. You can substitute with this one.
For Myth Adofhaer I used "Ascending the vale" again by Battlebards, you can substitute with this one
This track is for Nurvureem.
This one is for Kloth.
The Song of the Hydra is the only thing that ran while the group was in the capital of Ekoba. I made sure to stop it when the group first went underwater and later when Silence was used to show them the connection. I imagine those weird noises being the song itself.
Did you ever consider streaming your role playing sessions? (I love watching P&P live streams...)
[From Mell] This question has already been answered in a previous Q&A but here it is once again:
I’m pretty sure everyone (except perhaps me because I have a bit of experience) will freak out if we decide to introduce a recording device to our sessions! So, no, no such things in our game. We’re not ‘The Adventure Zone’ or any of the other D&D podcasts out there XD
Plus, our sessions are in Bulgarian so even if we streamed, most of y’all wouldn’t be able to understand anything XD
**Can you post the stat blocks for the False Hydra? I occasionally run 5th Ed games and could use them there, and it would be fun to re-write them for 3.5.
[to Mell] Did you ever consider compiling the story as an (e-)book once you finished this adventure?
[From Mell] As a matter of fact, I have. I’ve been dreaming about making Mary’s story into a book – either digital or paperback – but it’s only dreams at this point. Self-publishing may not be super difficult at this day and age, but for it to be something I’m really proud of, I’d have to find an editor and work on the whole thing. And that can only happen when the whole story is concluded – after all, in D&D there are a lot of things that don’t go anywhere – player’s decisions, plot beats, funny gags… In order to publish the story as a real book, a lot of stuff will have to go, and we won’t know what’s important and what not if we don’t let our DM finish what he’s started.
[to Mell] May you consider telling us more about the adventure you are DMing at the moment? I'd love to hear some more about that one too.
[From Mell] It’s a published adventure that I found and fell in love with. It’s called ‘The Wild Beyond the Witchlight’ and it’s all about the characters going to a carnival which leads them into the Feywild. There are all sorts of wondrous creatures as well as creepy hags and all sorts of dangers and fun interactions. But since my players are going to read this Q&A, I can’t say much more. Someday I might tell the story of their adventure, although not in so much detail as what I’m doing with Mary Windfiddle.
So, there you are! All your questions answered! I really hope this was informative, and even more, I hope to see you this Thursday, when we'll have a quick RECAP before we go on with the beginning of Arc 5!
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide, the Glossary and the Map for the series. You're welcome!)
An important disclaimer: These are my notes from a D&D game turned into a narrative. All the worldbuilding and NPC encounters belong to our DM, and all the actions of the other main characters (Aurum and Bruno) belong to my co-players. My contribution to the story is only everything Mary-related (actions, reactions, inner thoughts), as well as the writing itself.