I was given Soul Calibur 6 for Christmas. I've already spent way too many hours making custom characters. (I hear it includes a pretty decent fighting game, too.)

Ryan just today finished off the Sunless Citadel! I used your suggestion and allowed the Life fruit to be able to restore the Hucreles. (I also decided that Sir Brayford would be the Hucrele brother instead, so he could restore both of them.)

The final battle looked like it was going to be a tough one for him, as he got some very poor initiative results and all; but then his sorcerer - at the time restrained by an entangle spell - decided to attack the tree with a chromatic orb (fire). He rolled a mighty 20 on the damage, and with its fire vulnerability, he took it down in a single shot. So he's feeling quite chuffed with himself.

Yay for Ryan!

Nice, BT!

I'm actually putting together an in-person D&D game for the first time in 15 years. We rolled characters on Saturday night (ended up having to do that part online because my wife is sick.) I may have to eventually buy myself a cheap laptop to use at the table because after running games online for the past several years I'm finding using paper kind of awkward.

I'm converting The Crucible of Freya as my starting adventure (with some Keep on the Shadowfell mixed in) but the overall plot is going to be Homebrew. I realized I've never thrown a party against a Demon Lord in all my years of DMing, so I decided the big bad is going to be Orcus. We've got a Vengeance Paladin of the god of death and judgement whose followers have a giant hate-on for the undead, so I'll have at least one PC I won't have to work hard to motivate.

Looking for some suggestions here.

In my new D&D campaign I have a Fey Warlock with the Pact of the Tome. After going back and forth with the player, this is what I came up with for her Patron.

Mavalene, the Lady of Whispers. Mavelene is deeply interested in secrets, seeking out hidden knowledge wherever it can be found, whether in a the dark depths of an abandoned library or within the most guarded places of a mortal's heart. Sometimes she hoards her secrets, other times she doles them out carefully in exchange for new ones and sometimes she shouts them for all to hear. It's unclear whether she divulges or keeps these secrets on a whim or in the pursuit of a larger goal. There are no secrets she keeps closer than her own.

When Mavalene appears for you, her form is that of a very tall, graceful woman dressed head to toe in robes of inky blue, almost black, velvet. Her hair is hidden by a hood and her face obscured by a silver mask covered in intricate designs. As she moves, you think you see words inside the patterns, but they're gone before you can read them. Her only visible features are her brilliant purple eyes looking out from behind the mask. Often when she appears a large gray owl, its eyes the same brilliant purple, is either on her shoulder or perched somewhere nearby.

The Book of Shadows she presented to you is bound in dark blue leather, the same color of her robes, and bossed in silver. The cover bears a replica of her mask and the silver clasp which holds the book closed only opens when you whisper a secret to it.

So, sufficiently mysterious and Fey-like, but I'm not quite sure what this Patron's motivation is beyond a generic "Knowledge is Power" schtick. I know I don't want her to be actively malicious, but even Summer/Seelie Fey in the stories aren't all unicorns and rainbows.

Secrets are currency, depending on how much value is placed on keeping it a secret. Perhaps she asks for favors.

Hmm. That could work. Not in a direct sense (ie "Do this thing for me or I tell") as that seems a little too "human" but maybe knowing a secret about a being gives her a measure of power over them in a literal sense. Most beings don't like that, so they are often willing to trade with her, (possibly favors, possibly other secrets) at which point she gives the secret back to them by plucking it out of her head (it's fairy magic, it should be a little weird) and handing it to them.

Going further (and I'll have to talk to the Warlock's player about incorporating this into her Pact) maybe she does the reverse as well: having mortals tell her their own secrets in exchange for favors/boons from her. I could very easily see part of the Warlock sealing her Pact with Mavalene involving her telling the fairy her own deepest secret.

That definitely got the gears turning. Thanks!

Or she could be a secret vault, where you have an important secret that is too dangerous to keep. I doubt a Fae would allow herself to be used for human schemes without a good return, but imagine a spy having to transport a secret and being able to leave it with her and then getting it back when they've reached safety.