Kicked off a new game of D&D 5e this weekend, we’re playing through “The Light of Xaryx” with Spelljammer 5e.

A good part of the first session was just getting everyone’s characters finished. We’re using the 2024 5e Rules (mostly), and this was most of the players’ first time using the rules. We ended up with a party of 4:

  • Philomena - A Half-Orc Bard. We Rolled randomly for magic items, and she ended up with a Candle of the Deep and a Wraps of Unarmed Prowess. She’s a dance bard, so I think she’s aiming for a kind of “Capoeria” dancer, thoguh she’s said her main goal in adventuring is just to earn enough to retire to a comfortable mountain villa where she can live comfortably.
  • Gil’zkill “Gil” - A Plasmoid Cleric. He ended up with a Helm of Comprehend Languages and a Staff of Adornment. He was a foundling in the realms, and discovered by a clerical order. His dream, and driving goal is to become human.
  • Zygellus - A Tiefling Hexblade Warlock. He is a red, fiendish tiefling, but his horns were shorn off as part of his pact with the blade. He’s searching for a way to get his horns back. He ended up with a Sylvan Talon and a vial full of Oil of Slipperiness
  • Astrid - A Silver-Haired Ghostwise Halfling Rogue. She’s a Soulknife Rogue, with mysterious motives, and she’s the proud owner of a Rival Coin and a pair of Bracers of Archery.

The four of them were enjoying a noontime meal at the Sunken Tower tavern in the port region of Neverwinter. The talk of the day was the meteor showers that had been ocurring the last few nights, and they overheard Owen, the farrier talking about his neighbor’s bakery that was smashed in by a shooting star, just a block away. He made a few nervous jokes, but was interrupted by the noise of shattering wood outside. Everyone rushed out to see a huge crystaline vine snaking up out of the ground.

Another tavern client, obviously a sailor shouted out that she was getting away from whatever that was, and suggested everyone follow her to the docks. Without much question, the crew pursued, through streets of chaos as more of these vines erupted, destroying buildings all throughout the area.

Upon arrival at the docks, the players discovered a group of thugs guarding a pair of longboats, and a galleon. The sailor, a woman by the name of Eliana Sartell revealed that she was the Captain of the Moondancer, the Galleon at the docks, and told the party that if they could get her to the ship, she’d gladly ferry them away from whatever was destroying the city.

After a bit of discussion Astrid suggested that she could probably slip aboard the ship unnoticed, drop the dinghy and meet everyone at the shore a slip or two down. With the blessings of Gil’s god, Astrid was easily able to evade the notice of the thugs. When the dinghy arrived ashore, the pary, Eliana, and a family of refugees from among the crowd were happy to make their way back to the ship.

Eliana set Gil and Zygellus to work making the ship ready to get underway while she led the refugees below deck to get them settled, and Astrid and Philomena went back for another load of refugees. Unfortunately, Gil and Zygellus’s activity on deck was noticed by Traevus, the leader of the thugs, and he dispatched two of his men to investigate.

As Traevus’ men reached the top of the ship ramp, Zygellus stood up and blasted one of them off the ramp into the water with his invocation. Gil blocked the other from getting aboard, and summoned a zone of bizarre angles and flashing lights that seared the flesh of the thug. Meanwhile Astrid and Philomena had arrived back at the ship with 8 more refugees, and quickly joined the party on deck, and between the four, they quickly knocked the other thug into the water, before pushing the ramp into the drink after them.

Traevus and his thugs, seeing their valuable opportunity vanishing ran towards the boat, attempting to board with grappling hooks. Elianna slid down the mooring rope to free the Moondancer, while the party fended off the rest of boarders. Finally the last mooring was released, and Captain Sartell climbed the mooring rope as the ship sailed out to sea. As she reached the deck, she shouted for Flapjack to “Take her up!” and the ship listed hard to starboard, rising from the water, into the sky.

The party was all a bit flabergasted at first, but adapted quickly as they watched the clouds fall away beneath them, and the crystal vines they had seen in Neverwinter rising into the sky from several places both on land and out to sea. Securing the dinghy and guiding the refugees down to the cargo hold, Captain Sartell suggested to the party that they could look around and familiarize themselves with the ship. They explored the main deck, finding a locked door in the fore, and a strange throne room, a living quarter of some sort, and the galley to the aft. After this exploration, they questioned Captain Sartell about where the mysterious Flapjack was, and she led them back to the throne room,

“Flapjack, meet our temporary crew!” she laughed, as the cusion of the throne unfurled a set of tentacles and rose into the air, greeting them in a burbling, happy tone. They only had time for brief introductions however, as Flapjack reported a ship closing fast off the starboard bow. A quick glance out the observation windows showed a Starmoth.

“Elves! What do they want? Flapjack, take us about and keep us out of range of their weapons as long as you can. If they’re hostile, once they get in range, take us down their throat.”

The question of the Elves’ hostility was answered by a shot from the Elvish mangonel that smashed into the sterncastle. Astrid, Gil and Zygellus rushed to man a ballista while Eliana gave a crash course in artillery operation to the three most capable of the refugees. The party barely had time to see the artillery crew of the Starmoth: a group of monkey-men and mysterious figures in red armor and visors before the battle was entered directly.