Note from Adam: The following post was written by Connor, who’s running what I called “Acid-Trip D&D.” He asked if he could post an after-action report of the game on my blog, and I said sure, why the hell not. Everything after this note was written by him.
Session 01
Friday, June 24-2011
Session name: What the hell
Players:
Adam: Wolfgang Dopple a doppelganger wizard with a german accent
Nick Bov: Tyler the crazy child eating minotaur
Nick Dorf: Ibrahim the crazy paladin who is good but not nice
Josh: Marius the halfling dude
Nathan: Durzo Blint, The assassin
This week on Friday I ran my first session of a D&D campaign designed to screw with the players heads both in and out of character. It started in a small town they all had a reason to be in. One night they all went to sleep and woke up in dream world. Wolfgang and Durzo were in the woods and Ibrahim and Marius were on the path. They were standing in front of a large castle and had no idea how they had gotten there.
“I recognize this place”
“I came here as a child, it is the castle of our king”
“How did we get here?”
In truth none of the players know how they had gotten to this strange place in or out of character and wanted answers. Answers came in the form of ten men in black cloaks striding from the front gates of the castle. They came up and took Ibrahim’s horse, two of the men strode off with it. They were then told them that they were to go inside the keep and see the lord.
“Who is this lord?”
“You will learn soon enough”
“Who is he?”
“His name is Lucid”
Out of the woods strode Wolfgang and Durzo. It appeared as if there were two Durzo’s to the others. The black cloaked men stopped walking and half of them broke off to go and meet Durzo and Wolfgang.
“Aaah there you are”
“Why are we here?”
“That will be explained”
The men then took the four confused and somewhat concerned adventurers to the castle, after one attempted escape by a Durzo Blint that was foiled by Ibrahim and after some shape shifting shenanigans. Right as they were outside the gate Wolfgang felt a hand on his shoulder and someone saying his name. He turned to look and see who it was and woke up.
All the others had similar experiences. Ounce awake Ibrahim went to the local tavern to get breakfast. While ordering food he saw none other than Marius. They recognized one and other and worked there way into a conversation about the dream. At this time Durzo and Wolfgang walked into the tavern. Wolfgang was not recognizable at first but then the others listened to his accent and saw his movements and recognized him for who he was. the party was talking about the experiences and about the so called “Lucid” when the barkeep walked up and overheard them. He said that Lucid was real and that he was in fact a crazy man living in the woods. He knew nothing more than that people who had been to area where he was reported to dwell or had an influence over came back different, strange. The party decided they had an interest in what he was doing and that they would leave this afternoon and start their way to the castle to see what Lucid was up to.
They set off riding the horses they rented and were well on their way to a small town called Kithyanke which was on their way to the castle. They decided to set up camp on the side of the path and set out watch. With Marius on first watch everybody else went too sleep. ounce asleep they found that they quickly awoke in the same place they were in before, outside the castle doors. All of them were there except for Marius. They were ushered inside, where all of the men in hoods broke off except one. This person then showed them to their quarters. They all had their own room off of a suite. The man left them and walked away. The party went into their rooms and put down their things. Durzo decided it would be fun to have a look outside. He proceeded to open his window and step onto the ledge outside. He then heard a voice in his head.
“Bad decision”
“Why”
“Bad decision”
He continued to walk until he was on the ledge outside of Ibrahim’s window. He was then persuaded to come inside. He then heard a voice and someone grabbing his shoulder, it was Marius. Marius went to sleep and awoke in the dream world. Nothing more happened until there was a knock on the door and it was the hooded man again. He said that Lucid would see the party tomorrow and to wait patiently. Ibrahim did not like this but his arguments won him no ground. The man said it was time for the party to sleep and waved his hand to make it night. The part all suddenly awoke in the campsite. They wanted to go back but sleep spells did not work, it only induced a dreamless sleep.
So they set off towards Kithyanke. They arrived in mid afternoon and then they went to the tavern. They went in and reserved rooms. They got dinner and went to sleep for the night. They woke up in a the dream world as they called it and they were where they had been before. They wanted to go and see Lucid.
“He is busy at the moment and can not see you right now”
“Well I am tired of this waiting”
So then Ibrahim attempted to speed up the time in the dream. He managed too and then a voice in all their heads said it was time to go to sleep. They all obliged except for Durzo.He stayed awake and sneaked downstairs. He got to a set of double doors and as he started to open them he woke suddenly.
“Bad decision”
He was in his bed in the taverna and the others were downstairs. Wolfgang was mulling wine and the others were about to get breakfast.
“What can I do for you boys?”
“Eggs”
“Steak and eggs”
“Mulled cider”
“Long pig”
“Okay, no long pig”
“Sausage, turkey sausage”
“Okay will do”
He got them their food, they ate and they were about to set off. Wolfgang sold the man his recipe for mulled wine because apparently it was somewhat good and so they set off. Outside the bar was a man in a black robe leaning against a wall across the street. They confronted him and even punched him to no avail. The man then tried to run, he ran into and ally, up a wall and was then knocked down. He was tackled, escaped and then killed. After that more men in black showed up all around. Some where on roofs other in alleys. The group tried to ignor them but they fallowed the group and headed them off in a town square. There was a combat and the party prevailed. They were about to leave when a voice in all their heads said something.
“Very good”
“But a bad decision”
The party then awoke, Wolfgang was mulling wine and Durzo was still in bed. They were all very confused. The barkeep greeted them as usual the same thing happened as in the last morning. The man outside the bar against the wall was there again and the party was frustrated. They talked to the man about where they were going he said that the woods were the best place to go. The party did not trust him but went on their way. They got out of town without a conflict and were home free. They went up the road and saw a woman next to a cart with three men holding back another who was fighting like mad. She said that they were trying to bring him to a doctor and that he was going insane. The party agreed to fallow them into the woods.
“Bad decision”
The party awoke, Wolfgang was mulling wind and Durzo was still in bed. By this point the party was thoroughly angry. They were being railroaded by a man they knew nothing about and they had no answers. They made the decision to stay in the tavern for the day and take it easy. They asked the barkeep some questions and he seemed to have no memory of the day repeating itself. The party went to sleep for the night and awoke in the castle. A man was at the door and one was also watching Durzo in the entrance hall. The party was escorted to the entrance hall where they were left. They double doors opened and in came a man wearing a black cloak. The party was getting sick of these guys. This one however was different. He drew back his hood and he was a young man and he spoke in an almost childish manner.
“Hello, I am Lucid”
“Hello”
“Well, what is it you needed?”
“Answers”
“Ah”
“Well first off, have you noticed anything about the sky?”
“No”
With a wave of his hand Lucid teleported the party to a court yard in the castle where he pointed out that there was an image in the sky, a moving image. He then went on to tell them that he was going to bring the dream world and reality together for they occupied the same space. It was just like the other planes, like the fey wild and the realm of shadow. As he continued his rant, Wolfgang decided he was done listening. He cast a sleep spell on all of them and they all woke up. Wolfgang was mulling wine and Durzo woke up in his bed. With Lucid asleep the party was safe to do what they wanted in the real world. They headed out of town. They did not even bother to order breakfast this time. They ignored the man outside the tavern and rode on. They passed people, a lot of them complaining of deja vu. They saw the lady again and decided to investigate. They party went into the woods with the people looking for the doctor. The doctors name was doctor apathy. They found his hut in the woods and they then went inside. The scene that met their eyes was horrid. Sitting at the table was apathy, his eyes were gon and all that remained was blood and the tips of all his fingers were chewed off. In the corner with red eyes stood a child. The child cried that he did not do anything. They did not believe him.
“He is a demon, can I eat him?”
“No Tyler”
“Please”
“No”
“Lets burn the hut”
“Not yet’
They bound the child and went back inside looking for answers. Inside the child’s only tracks were behind apathy not in front. they also noticed that the doctor was turned to stone. They decided to cure the man themselves and did. They asked the woman who had recommended the doctor and why she had come. She had no memory of this or of how her husband had started going insane. This did not set well. They did decide to burn the hut and Tyler did eat the child. In the fire of the hut the party saw the the silhouette of apathy and then his head turned. All the while this was happening more and more people had been showing up to see the doctor and none remembered who had told them to go to him. They then left the area as quick as possible telling people that the doctor was not inn all the way out of the woods. They then turned towards the castle. They got to the fork in the road and were going to go right. They then saw a large number of people going left, towards the mining towns. They all insisted that they had left something in the statue gallery. The party decided to go investigate full off suspicion of foul play involving Lucid. On the way there the party noticed that Durzo had a second shadow. with all of the events going on this only added to the mystery. The shadow was coming from the opposite side of the prominent source of light at all times. Having more and more questions and no answers the party set off towards the town of Jagfir, hoping there they will find some.
I really enjoyed running this first game, the party kept me on my toes. I had to improvise a lot of the things that happened including major story points due to the party’s odd decisions. I enjoyed the looks of frustration, confusion, and glee on the players faces. I got a lot of laughs from Adam’s German accent and Bovee’s Russian one. I also enjoyed seeing the characters develop. I can’t wait till next session! look forward to my next after action report.
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