Snowdrop Livestream

The Snowdrop Livestream is the oneshot after Arc 5. It is DMed by Owen, level 3, and all players play totally different characters from the ones they played in the arc. The oneshot aired as a livestream on Twitch on Sunday, December 12th 2021, and got uploaded as a VOD on YouTube shortly afterwards. It is part of the holiday specials released in December 2021, and has a festive theme throughout it, too. In podcast canon, the oneshot takes place in the year 19 AP.

## Characters and Players

**DM** (Owen - He/Him)

**Caesar** **Hawthorne** (He/Him) (played by Chris - He/Him), a very old Tortle Druid / Bard multiclass. He is 172 years old, which is very old for a Tortle, and despite having competed six times before already, he only signed up accidentally. He thought he had signed up for en elder's cruise instead. Caesar wears a hawaiian shirt, shorts, and sandals, and carries with him a bedroll and a bag of cut fruit, which he tries to hand out to other competitors. During the contest, he is on the lookout for his grandkids, which may or may not be there, or might not even really exist. He gets through the bloodsports like he did in every year he competed, by just putting up his bedroll in a place, receding into his shell to get a 21 AC, and napping through it.

**Avi** (He/Him) (played by Pax - He/Him), a Halfling Cleric. He has pale features and long, really dark hair with an almost purple undertone that is neatly braided up. In his hair he wears leaves and a golden circlet. His armour is also decorated with golden and goldish green leaves, as are the bracelets and anklets he later wears for the talent show. It's the first time in the games for him. On multiple occasions, he casts Guidance on himself to help him be better, and for the bloodsport, he forms an alliance with Roasty Toasty.

**Roasty Toasty** (played by Gus - He/Him), a Half-Orc Berserker Barbarian. He has greyish purple skin and bright, orange red hair that is cropped short on the top of his head and comes down to form a big bushy beard. Roasty is a large, lumbering figure packed with more muscles than most people think possible, and for Snowdrop he wears nothing but a golden speedo. Behind him he drags a massive black and gold greataxe. He worked hard to get his body, and this work includes a very strict diet, decades of training, exercises, a strict sleep routine and a limited amount of external stress. It's his third time competing in Snowdrop. For the bloodsports, he makes an alliance with Avi.

**Adelaide** (She/Her) (played by Haley - She/Her), a Lightfoot Halfling Oath of Glory Paladin. She is tall for a Halfling, has long blonde hair that is braided up, and wears big beautiful garments in shades of red and gold, with some tasteful spots of blue in there. She is holding a polished longsword. While Adelaide has never competed in Snowdrop before, she did memorise all of the rules and is very anxious about following them.

**Holly Hawthorne** (played by James - She/They), a Winter Eladrin Circle of the Moon Druid / Bard multiclass from the snowy parts of the Feywild, with no relation to Caesar Hawthorne. She wears a wintery silver blue dress that moves a bit more than it should in the wind, and her silvery hair glistens a bit in the light. Most of her magic has a winter theme to it as well. Holly has competed in Snowdrop before, it is her third year and she is one of the crowd favourites.

## Modified Snowdrop Rules

For the general rules and procedures of Snowdrop, see Festival of the Dawnfather's Rest. This specific festival has different rules and procedures than the others, though:

* The usual officials or attendants are not there, including the announcer, Jefferson Jeffers, who, for some people, is the best part of Snowdrop. He takes a "much needed vacation" in the Feywild, whether this vacation has been taken deliberately or not is unclear.
* Instead of the usual officials, there is only one person, who announces everything and also acts as a referee during the bloodsport phase. He is later revealed to be Kristeff Kringor, an 11 foot tall man from the Feywild dressed in red and white who sees and hears everything.
* The people that drop unconscious during the bloodsport phase are carried away by small hands that come up from the ground.

## Plot

The Snowdrop Competition starts how it usually does, with the only exception being that the announcer is not, as usually, Jefferson Jeffers, but somebody else. During the Beauty Pageant Phase, all contestants come up, have a chance to introduce themselves and show off or pose, and then the jury, which in this year only consists of the unknown announcer, deliberates about who will go on to the next round. All the PCs make it, and get to head back to the loading area.

There, they realise that not only the announcer and jury have changed, but there is no official staff back in the loading area, no attendants and no referee. After an unsuccessful search for someone in charge, they try to talk Gorb, another contestant, into acting as a referee during bloodsports, in the hope that this will ensure that nobody will be killed. Additionally, Avi and Roasty form an alliance for the duration of the bloodsport sealed with a pinky promise.

As they get back to the arena, it has been noticeably redesigned. There is no platform for the announcer and referee, as there would usually be. Instead, the arena is divided into four sections. The one they get out into is designed like a forest, the second one, going counterclockwise, is a snowy landscape, the third a flat sheet of ice, and the fourth the standard dirt terrain usually found in the arena. The announcer tells the contestants and the audience that he will act as a referee, and that Jefferson Jeffers is on a vacation. Without revealing more, he lets the phase of bloodsports begin.

During bloodsport, after every round each contestant has to roll a d6 to find out which effect they are affected by for the next round.

* 1: If you dealt damage, make a Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, you hear a voice saying "you've been naughty", and take 1d8 psychic damage. If you did not deal damage, you get healed instead.
* 2: You smell cinnamon and nutmeg. Make an Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, you are distracted and have disadvantage on all attacks.
* 3: Around your feet, a swarm of small, fey-like creatures wearing red and green appears and tries to hold on to you. Make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you are restrained.
* 4: A reindeer appears, dashes past you, and then flies away. Make a Dexterity saving throw. (It is unclear what happens on a failed save.)
* 5: You feel a chill wind blowing through. Make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, you take cold damage.
* 6: As you feel the jollyness invade you, make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, you fall prone and start laughing uncontrollably.

During bloodsport, the PCs first take out other NPCs, until at the end, Avi knocks Adelaide unconscious, meaning that Avi, Roasty, Caesar, Holly and Gorb, who sat down in the centre of the stadium and seemed to try and act as a referee, go on to the third phase, the talent portion.

For the talent show, there is a single circular raised platform, 50 feet up, with numbered spots for the five of them. The contestants hear a sudden crack, and bells ringing, and then falling from the sky comes Kristeff Kringor, the announcer for this game, and introduces himself. He tells them how the talent show will work: he is the only judge, and they each have two chances to impress him.

For the first round, Caesar casts Earth tremor, wildshapes into an elk and dances to music (he rolls a 22). Roasty tries to lift the sleigh that was summoned by Kringor, but sadly fails to do so (he rolls a Nat 1, modified to a 7). Holly wants to play a song from the Feywild on her flute, but realises too late that it got damaged during the bloodsports (she rolls a Nat 1). Avi, giving himself guidance, plays a little tune on his panflute (he rolls a 25). Gorb dances a little jig (he rols a 23).

For the second round, everyone gets a d6 Bardic Inspiration from Kringor. Caesar uses every spell slot he has to cast Ice Knife and throws all the knives in the air, where they explode into the shapes of Kringor and the other contestants, while he plays a tune on his turtle shell (he rolls a 31). Roasty proves that he can withstand even the greatest of falls by going into a Rage and then stepping off of the platform (he takes 13 halfed to 6 points of damage and rolls a 26). Holly uses Druidcraft to weave a crown of hollies and berries for the reindeer that pulled the sleigh (she rolls a 20). Avi does a little gymnastics routine made out of dancing and flaring his bracelets, while his summoned magical duplicate mirrors him (he rolls a Nat 20 modified to a 32). Gorb steps up and sings the original Fulldark song, putting all his emotions into it, but nobody really realises it, since nobody remembers the original language of the song (he rolls a 19).

Thus, Avi wins Snowdrop. Kringor says good-bye with an "see you all next century" and then leaves, and the party can enjoy the rest of the festival.

## Trivia

* Gorb is inspired by the character Gorb from Hollowknight; Owen did not expect the players to become so interested in him by his name alone.
* Owen did have a long list of names and descriptions for the other contestants that he could pull from if necessary.
	+ Most of these characters are characters he wants to play himself one day, but hasn't gotten to it yet.