A Shadowfell Symphony

**A Shadowfell Symphony** is a 6-part campaign that ran in the first quarter of 2022. It was DMed by Liz Drake.

## Player characters

* Heimlich Stratovarious, played by Jon Scholey
* Hunkurat Honourhoof, known as Hunk, played by Chris Hislop
* Reggie R. Peggio, played by Sam McKay
* Tessele, played by Ali Alderete
* Harmony, played by Rebecca Hare

## Plot

The bards all convene in Waterdeep, which is suffering from an incursion by the Shadowfell - purple lightning crackles in the sky, it's eternally overcast, and everyone hears strange, dirge-like music. Hunk and Harmony are trying to offer people sanctuary at the church of Mystra, which Harmony offers after the ruling clerics depart, but are drawn to the Zulpair Concert Hall, as are Tessele, recently returned from the Feywild, and Reggie and Heimlich, who have met up to compose together.

Encountering each other on the way (and all having gone to school together and being old... "friends"), they travel together to the Concert Hall, which has been abandoned since one of Heimlich's concerts, which tend to have unforeseen consequences (reanimating corpses during a funeral, etc.). Inside, they find ghosts and undead preparing for a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, some strange creatures, and a portal to the Shadowfell.

Stepping through, they arrive in a greenhouse - which turns out to contain a giant dragon toad, which Heimlich dispatches by turning into a giant ape and hurling it out of a window. They find themselves on a series of islands, which seem to connect to a larger city, which they reach avoid ghosts and bodaks.

The city turns out to be Midnight Gloomwrought, and the party find the city in conflict between the guard of the Raven Queen, who maintain a large temple here, and the gargoyles of Lady Babbington, who appears to have taken over the city recently. A hag, Granny, escorts the party to her bed and breakfast, and explains the situation, but is removed by the strange purple lightning again. She also gives them her mixtapes (see below), as it is impossible to gain the benefits of a long rest in the Shadowfell!

In the meantime, Reggie has gained the favour of the Raven Queen, and has revealed that he was undead the entire time, and had made a pact with his keytar, which he wields as a weapon. The party also discover that Heimlich's soul is trapped here, which his parents traded for free beers on a big night out many years ago, but manage to retrieve it from local vampire bar owner Vonny Fanggberg. Hunk reveals that they once travelled the planes with a Gatecrasher, Harmony appears to have a secret dark past, and Tessele's time in the Faewild appears to have altered his memory.

Following Granny's advice, the bards prepare for Lady Babbington's party by purchasing fabulous outfits from Jolene, fight off her gargoyles, and make friends with two nobles, the Flaké's, who bring them into the ball. During the fight with the gargoyles, Tessele's steel defender Swifty is damaged, and has a gem removed that appears to power it. Arriving at the party, the bards see the gem in the hands of Alkis - a fellow classmate of everyone, and Tessele's ex-boyfriend!

#teamdiva had a collection of awkward conversations with Alkis, but it was Harmony who got through to him with a grab of a strange necklace around his neck, releasing him from Lady Babbington's control. Meanwhile the rest of the party joined Lady Babbington's ball, and with one of the Flickés being turned into silverware, Reggie being turned invisible and Tessele attempting an Enthralling Performance, the party entered combat. Harmony focused on evacuating the other party guests, while Reggie and Tessele headed to the Cadence, suspended far off the ground in the centre of the room. Alkis also joined the fight, and Hunk tore off Lady Babbington's necklace, which contained a number of Gatecrasher Silver Keys!

Eventually, Lady Babbington was felled, and the Cadence stopped. Heimlich conducted #teamdiva in a rousing performance to undo the magic of the Cadence, with Reggie switching from the keytar back to the violin, and the remnants of Waterdeep in Gloomwright returned home. Hunk took possession of the Silver Keys, with the intent to return them to the lost Gatecrashers, while Harmony and Heimlich planned to visit Hemilich's parents to talk about selling their son's soul for drinks... In the meantime, Tessele and Alkis returned to the Faewild, to start afresh.

## Twitch Clip Archive

* Back to Tessele's Massive pole
* Introducing #teamdiva
* Spank check
* Drink cautiously
* Well endowed
* This Be The Verse
* Egg touching
* Sam did what?
* Reggie's Transformation
* Tessele's Massive Pole
* Tessele's Ring...
* Building description...
* Thank you Hunk...
* Entering the Shadowfell
* When Bardadins Crit
* you suffer...

## Trivia

* Every member of the party has at least one level of bard.
* The show follows on immediately from the end of Halls of the Undermountain King, where DM Liz Drake described the column of shadow descending on the Zulpair Concert Hall, and Heimlich says goodbye to his old party before adventuring with this one.
* The show is implied to precede Have Yourself a Merry Little Krampus, since Granny is one of the founders of the town of Oom along with Mr Nutmas. However, Oom is in a pocket dimension, so some degree of timey-wimeyness may be at play.
* Thanks to Rebecca mishearing Liz, the Walking Statues of Waterdeep are canonically nude in the Roll Together universe.

## Granny's Mixtapes

In Episode 2 the party befriend Granny, a hag who left the Faewild (strongly implied to have been one of the Flustered in the Faewild hags, and also Granny from Have Yourself a Merry Little Krampus).

She produces 9 Long Rest potions (or mixtapes). Some are good songs, some are not. They all have side-effects which don't stack.

'Curse Me Baby One More Time' by the Famous Bard Brotney Spores - small, black, round bottom, thin neck (in combat an enemy can attack you one more time per round).'If I Were a Gnoll' by Diva Extraordinaire Bouncy Gnolls - furry, hyena spots, tufty ears (you get cute hyena ears but disadvantage on Charisma checks and saving rolls due to the cackling).'You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Werewolf' by AROOOO Franklin - wolf's head stopper (You look and feel like a lycanthrope for 24 hours. Spell attacks at disadvantage due to being unused to your limbs. You gain claw attack.)'I'm So Vain (I Bet You Think This Label Is About You' by Snarly Simon - upside down, works as a mirror (You have to look at yourself in reflective surfaces. Disadvantage using shiny weapons or against someone using a shiny weapon or armour.)'Simply The Worst' by Meana Turnter - jagged edges to the rim (You get a raging fever. Disadvantage on Strength checks, rolls and Strength attacks).'Paladin, Don't Preach' by Mad Donna One Earring - shaped like kite shield, angelic but with dark energy (Your God is cut off. No spells or divine feats work. You can not benefit from spells, traits or feats of a paladin).'My Heart Will Go On, I Hope' by Divine Psion - anatomical beating heart (disadvantage of death saving throws).'Cursed Bitch' by Brotney Spores- (while cursed, disadvantage on Charisma checks and saving rolls. Disadvantage on attacks).'Shut Up and Die' - a skull bottle, excludes dark energy (negative energy courses through you, 7d10 plus 30 necrotic damage on a fail- average to 75 damage. Half on success. Anyone killed by this rises as a zombie next turn.)During the course of A Shadowfell Symphony, Harmony took "Curse Me Baby One More Time", Hunk took "I'm So Vain", Heimlich took "Simply The Worst", and Tessele took "Cursed Bitch".

## Media

Title card for A Shadowfell Symphony.A typical scene from A Shadowfell Symphony.A Shadowfell Symphony - IntroThe title sequence for A Shadowfell Symphony.