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SSShadowcat7
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(9/22/02 9:29 pm)
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Re: Alternate FR campaign log
So the group camps in the now abandoned South Entrance just outside the ruined Air Temple. They post guards as normal and settle in. Everyone is paranoid because they know a vampire is about. I like them paranoid. 
The evening passes slowly. Torque and Revel's watch arrives. The entrance hall is dimly lit by a lantern, and both watchers fail to note the misty vapor collecting and coalescing into a humanoid shape on the sniper platform above them.
Finally Revel glances up and notices a figure with dull red flickering eyes wearing what appears to be old, black armor standing above him. Initiative is rolled between the two and Thrommel wins.
He dominates Revel and orders him to stand down. Revel complies. Torque, on the other hand, is extremely opposed to that idea and wakes the party.
A quick shuffling about ensues, and at the end Dorak and Cavan are also dominated. Torque recognizes that the vampire holds all the cards and retreats out of the CRM with the rest of the party. Torque's player was also a bit frustrated at this point with their inability to be effective.
Thrommel ignores the retreating paladin and others and takes his three thralls on a short stroll through the deserted Air Temple. He primarily speaks with Revel. I've played Thrommel as utterly evil, but Lawful Evil, not CE as listed. He recognizes the party's power (not enough to harm him, of course, but useful none-the-less) He instructs Revel that there is something of his in Hedrack's possession and he would like it back. The bargain is that Thrommel will not interfere with the group's progress through the mines or the Fanes, and in return they will get him what is rightfully his.
Revel, recognizing his hopeless position, agrees. Even though he has been coerced into the deal, Revel is LN to the core, and is now bound to honor that deal.
Thrommel describes in a bit more detail what he wants and how to get there, and then lets the three go. He sends his greetings to the cowardly paladin along with them.
Basically Hedrack controls a portion of Thrommel's grave soil. He keeps it in a heavily warded small box in his quarters in the Outer Fane. Thrommel still retains enough of his soil in his coffin to survive, but is still bound by the one who holds the rest. Whether he gets the soil back or it is destroyed is inconsequential to him. He can survive just fine with what is in his coffin already. And he does not fear the party gaining control of the soil. He feels that he can wrest control of it from them easily.
Once he has control of all that is his he plans on leaving the area entirely...another part of his bargain. No need to stick around when there is a whole world out there ripe for the plucking.
So with that encounter the party gained a bit of knowledge about the Outer Fane. Thrommel gave them names and a rough idea of the easiest way to get to Hedrack's quarters. Through the Earth Door.
Not once did he give them his name, nor did he mention any details about himself. His armor, however, has old symbols engraved upon it that hint to his true past, and some research by the PCs may come up with something.
In this alternate FR setting I have made him a one-time noble of what used to be Cormyr (see first post for the basic setting premise).
The party regrouped, and dejectedly returned to Rastor. The paladin was unconvinced that Dorak, Cavan & Revel were not under the vampire's control, and remains unconvinced to this day.
They spent almost a ten-day back in Rastor researching vampires & undead in general, crafting and scribing, and generally regaining their spirits. They were quite discouraged that this one foe could have defeated them so handily...and nearly did.
The once small village had grown in size tremendously. The dwarves looked to be there to stay. They had turned this backwater, mostly lawless town into a well run community. Patrols of dwarves, along with a few humans, stumped about upholding the new laws.
The group, before they headed back to the mines, was called in for a meeting with the dwarven high priest of Moradin. He told them that he had received information (he didn't say how) of an abandoned, yet recoverable, temple to Moradin inside the CRM. He reminded them of his earlier words. Find & investigate it, and if it was deemed safe he would send a contingent of dwarves to hold it. The PCs would then be welcome to use it as a safe house should they need one.
They agreed, and began the trek back to the mines with the plan of searching out the lost dwarven temple and reclaiming it for their allies.
Edited by: SSShadowcat7 at: 9/22/02 9:33:43 pm
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SSShadowcat7
Pie
(9/29/02 5:58 pm)
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Re: Alternate FR campaign log
So the party heads back to the mines. A small contingent of dwarves travels with them and camps a few miles away from Mt. Stalagos. They await word of their temple.
Three months of game time have elapsed since the party first arrived in Hommlet. October has begun. The days are much cooler, and the nights are downright cold up here in the mountains. Winter is coming soon.
The group enters the CRM and follows the orcish warnings scrawled on the walls and floors to the double doors that are the entrance to this lost temple.
Revel casts clairvoyance on the other side of the door to get an idea of what lies beyond. To his surprise he gets nothing but static.
*** Side note
I used a suggestion I read here some time ago and made the old temple scry proof. Seemed like a good reason why the Fanes and temple staff have not yet found and looted this complex.
*** end side note
Lycos checks the doors and doesn't find anything amiss, so Revel casts knock and one of them cracks open. Not realizing why his other spell didn't function properly Revel then casts arcane eye and sends it through the partially open door.
Again he gets nothing but static. Odd. He begins to realize the scry proof nature of this area and begins to think this could be a great place to hole up if necessary.
The group advances through the door and Dorak finds the pit trap. A minor inconvenience, nothing more, and they move on.
Revel states that under no circumstances is anything in here to be taken or touched. They are on a scouting mission, nothing more. There may be relics or items here valuable to our dwarven allies, and we must not betray their trust, he says.
A small argument breaks out, led mostly by the rogue and the chaotic sorcerer, but they soon relent.
And thus the dwarven temple is explored fully. They have another minor inconvenience upon meeting the stone golem, but bypass it relatively easily.
Lycos is nearly squashed by the falling ceiling trap outside the treasury, but survives, though hardly unscathed. He is not very happy with the experience.
They came, they saw, and they touched nothing! How frustrating.
They returned to the dwarves outside the mines and reported their findings. The dwarves, excited to hear that the temple was not only empty but still held sacred artifacts, immediately headed back to Rastor to rustle up a larger group to inhabit the temple.
The party, having spent the good part of the day in the dwarf temple, rested outside under the stars in the cold mountains. The next day they re-entered the mines and headed for the Water Bridge.
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00Ash
Pie
(10/1/02 8:58 pm)
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hehe
I really enjoyed reading your logs! keep up the good work (and dming!)
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SSShadowcat7
Pie
(10/6/02 9:38 pm)
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Re: Alternate FR campaign
Thanks for the encouragement. It's much appreciated.
The party moved into the CRM, yet again, through the South entrance, yet again, and surveyed the area... yet again. They are intimitely familiar with this area now.
They moved down the corridors towards the Water Bridge, stopping for a moment to defeat the spectre and then check out the now empty arena. The gargoyles had long since bugged out.
They moved through the passages right by the secret room holding Tulian's Eye, noticing nothing. They spent way too much time examining the 3 statues that had pretty much no meaning or purpose...except to waste time.
And then they blundered straight into the small Water Bridge complex. Both sides were surprised, but Poolidib reacted first. He called out for a parley, and the party held back their attack, listening.
Poolidib recognized them as the same group that had been approached what seems like so long ago. The Water Temple had not acted on their plans against the Fire Temple for a variety of reasons, mainly lack of patsies...err...lack of a dedicated fighting force.
He offered them safe travel to the Water Temple, as well as his word that they would not be harmed upon their arrival. He knew he couldn't guarantee that, of course, but no need to let them know that.
After a short inter-party discussion, they agreed to hear what the high priest of the Water Temple had to say. After all, their goal now was the Earth Door, and the Fire Temple was in their way. Couldn't hurt to get a few allies before taking it out, could it? And Torque seemed to be getting used to the idea of making short term deals with evilly aligned entities...and he has the Sunder feat...hmmm...
So, in a nutshell, they travel by boat to the Water Temple, meet Kelashein, and agree to be a strike force against the Fire Temple from one side while she sends another of her own groups against the opposite side.
They stay the night in a "safe" cave offered by Kelashein and prep for a battle heavy day against the forces of Fire. None of them expect this truce with the Water Temple to last beyond the battle in the Fire Temple...and neither does Kelashein.
The next day they again travel by boat to area 107A, climb back into the mines, and prepare for action.
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Tallknight
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(10/6/02 10:39 pm)
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Re: Alternate FR campaing log
ssshadowcat7...very cool...i like the way you've set things up....i too was thinking of running the RttToEE in FR.
Your FR sounds pretty cool....and using Stephen King's the stand as a basis of a campaign event is a way cool idea....have read that book a few times and seen the movie bout half a dozen times...lol.
Keep up the good work and Dm'ing.
 I am a Defender-ship.
I am fiercely protective of my friends and loved ones, and unforgiving of any who would hurt them. Speed and foresight are my strengths, at the cost of a little clumsiness. I'm most comfortable with a few friends, but sometimes particularly enjoy spending time in larger groups. What Video Game Character Are You?
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SSShadowcat7
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(10/8/02 9:00 pm)
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Re: Alternate FR campaing log
OK. The attack on the Fire Temple. First a recap of who's involved.
Torque Human Paladin/Cleric of Torm
Remus Human Fighter/Cleric of Torm
Revel Human Wizard
Lycos Human Rogue/Guild Thief
Cavan Human Sorcerer/Incantatrix
Dorak Human Fighter
All PCs are around 8-9th character level.
And so the battle began.
Moving north-east into the temple starting at area 107A the group mowed through the opposition. The guards in 107 hardly had a chance to bleed.
The mephits summoned all 4 fire elementals in room 106, and then they all assaulted the party, but again, they were repulsed. One mephit managed to get away, and thus the rest of the temple was forewarned.
The group spent some time looking around the caves before the smoke-filled one, but found nothing. So into the smoke they went.
Slowly.
They followed the left hand wall, step by step. The smoke was thick, but everyone was OK for the first few rounds.
Then Revel started coughing and choking. And then the 4 rasts attacked.
But again, hardly a problem. The rasts were dispatched. Everyone kept making the saves from the smoke, except Revel, who was shoved out the other side by Dorak.
And every single party member stepped to the left of the pit trap!
I had them move their figures on the battle mat, and each person followed the wall. AAArrgh!
But surely Skassik up ahead will put them in their place.
The guards in 111 are ready, crouched behind their overturned tables with bows ready. But one fireball from Cavan cleared the room.
Lycos did a quick scouting stint down the three corridors in room 111 and announced that the one to the left (leading to room 115) seemed the most direct route to the temple proper. So off they went.
They cautiously move through 115 and begin to enter 117 and notice the large double doors ahead. Closed, of course. They wonder how the Water Temple team is doing as they haven't seen any signs of them yet. They wonder, also, if the Water Temple actually sent anyone.
I have everyone roll a D20 (Spot check, but I don't tell them that), and Cavan, lagging near the rear, rolls a 20.
Side DM note. I use the optional rule that a natural '20' on a skill check is treated as a 30, and a natural '1' is treated as a -10.
So Cavan rolls a 20 for his Spot check. Which comes out to be in the high 30's, low 40's...who's really keeping track anyway?
He notes a small, hidden niche high up near the ceiling in room 115. Skassik's lair. I curse silently to myself in frustration.
He calls the others back and Revel flies up to have a look...and comes nearly face to face with a very angry looking Salamander! He stumbles back (can you stumble if you're flying?) and flings a lightning bolt at the thing. Then Skassik floats down out of his hidey-hole and grins evilly at the advancing paladin. He hisses and swings.
2 hits! That's all I got in! 2 stinking hits! Curse my dice!!
And so Skassik, fearsome salamander blackguard, fell with a whimper, not a roar.
Then they moved on to the entrance of the Fire Temple.
Behind the scenes I had already figured out what the forces of Water had done. They successfully entered the Fire Temple, taking out the guards between it and the Earth Bridge. They also got off the scroll of disintegrate, but I rolled a 20 for the alter's save, so there went that idea. A short skirmish later and the flaming skeletons were destroyed along with the remaining human guards, as well as most of the kuo-toa. Nilbool escaped with the word of recall scroll.
Back to the party.
But I'll make this a two part post as I seem to keep on getting kicked off and becoming very frustrated at losing all my typing.
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SSShadowcat7
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(10/9/02 8:35 pm)
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Re: Alternate FR campaing log
Standing in front of the closed red bronzed double doors of the Fire Temple, the party stopped to organize their thoughts and form a plan of action.
Revel cast clairvoyance on the other side of the door and observed the temple for a moment.
He saw the huge fire pit in the center of the room. A gnome stood in the shadows a short ways to the left of the doors, and to the right about 30-40 feet away stood a man in half-plate (Zert) talking to the air next to him (he was speaking with an invisible Arlainth). A few piles of bones were scattered here and there on the far side of the room, near another set of closed double doors (the remains of the burning skeletons which were destroyed when the Water Temple forces attacked). Other than that the room appeared empty.
He had missed his Spot check to notice the hell hound lurking in the shadows to the right of the doors. And I had Tessimon already on the alter platform. She was hidden, along with the platform, in the illusionary ceiling above the fire pit. I figured that she could see over the edge of the platform down into the room...but only a limited amount. The ceiling overhang obstructed some of her vision into the temple.
The party quickly got themselves together and formed a plan. Revel cast knock and Torque and Dorak charged into the room, followed a bit more slowly by the rest. Initiative was rolled and here's basically how it broke down. I forget the actual rotation, but I should be pretty close.
Arlainth, now standing on the far side of the fire pit becomes visible by casting a fireball near the door, engulfing half the party. Cavan returns fire from the doorway with a lightning bolt and Arlainth drops like a stone.
Torque actually avoided the fireball by being the first in the room and rushes at the gnome. I had outfitted Firre in demon armor, and Torque almost immediately recognized its evil nature. The two square off and spend most of the rest of the combat battling hand-to-hand. They were pretty evenly matched, actually.
Dorak moves in to the right and advances on Zert. But before he gets too far he and Cavan are engulfed in a pillar of fire that seemingly comes from nowhere (thanks for the flame strike Tessimon!). Then he notices the hell hound next to him and eats a bit more fire from its breath weapon. And to top it all off he takes the brunt of the flame thrower ability of the sword of fire from Zert. He's thanking Cavan for that prot. fire!
Revel notices the chamber on the left side of the room (the one the burning skeletons were housed in) and figures there must be a hidden or invisible caster in there since there is no one around he can see (and he also has see invisibility going) who could have cast that flame strike. He flies that way to investigate.
Remus, another victim of the flame strike moves to back up Dorak and takes out the hell hound.
An unholy blight hits the group fighting Zert, again seemingly from nowhere. Torque and Firre are still hard at work on the other side of the temple. Revel slowly peers into the small chamber, but sees nothing. He takes an extra round in there just to be sure.
An ominously quiet round goes by where no spells are thrown from unknown sources. Zert, for some reason, backs away from his opponents.
And then another flame strike thunders down on Remus & Dorak. Cavan had wisely retreated to behind the entrance doors, clutching his last few hit points to his chest.
Zert moves back in and continues the fight. Things seem to be going well.
Then Firre falls to the paladin and the flying mage reappears to aid the others. Zert gets a last hit in and tries to retreat, but Dorak decides this is a good round to get a crit and drops him.
The group appears to be alone...but they know they are not. a few rounds of searching (during which time Tessimon was getting the last of her buffs going) go by and then the ceiling begins to descend. Tessimon, cackling madly, throws spells at them as she slowly heads towards the fire pit...and then into it. She's protected from fire due to the temple's unhallow effect. Why not descend right down into the flames?
She flings a few more spells before Torque and Dorak can get to her, bet even then she isn't worried. Not until Cavan fires off the most effective dispel magic I've ever seen, that is. He takes away nearly everything she has going on her...and she had a lot.
After that it was all over. She falls quickly without all her buffers, and Torque makes sure she is dead.
They clean up, heal a bit, and do a quick tour of the living quarters of the Fire Temple. They note the burned bodies of some kuo-toa at the bottom of the fire pit in the temple, proof that the Water Temple did indeed send some of their forces.
They discover pretty much everything in all the side rooms, including the catatonic bard and the demonstone.
Then they destroy the alter.
Again, the cave half-way collapses in on itself and they realize that the flame flinging sword has lost its magical properties.
They investigate a short ways beyond the temple and discover the entrance to the crypts as well as the passage leading to the Earth Bridge. But they do not continue. Instead they decide to make sure they know the way out before they take on the bridge forces, and so they retrace their steps and head west back towards the Air Temple...or what's left of it.
They stop in a side cave to rest up and take a look at the things they have found. Dorak takes possession of the demonstone. I giggle inside to myself knowing that he has the lowest Will save in the party.
Later they meet up with Tarren, the reclusive druid, and buy a few things from him. They continue west and meet the destrachans and the blade spirit, but neither hinder them too much.
And then they are outside again, back out of the South Entrance. They pack up and decide to return to Rastor for a bit.
Notes.
Lycos was not present for the second half of the Fire Temple battle for those of you who might have been wondering.
The day after the Fire Temple fell Hedrack learned of it. That makes two temples gone...Fire and Air. He decides that something more must be done. So an ambush is planned. Ukemil, who I've made a Druid 5/ Rogue 4 along with his dire lions which I have given the psuedonatural template to will track the party and ambush them before they reach Rastor. Victor will join them, but he will be carrying a gem encrusted glass rod which houses a refuge spell given him by Hedrack. The party's location will be scried out and then the hunt will be on.
I had given Tessimon a pearl of power good for a 5th level spell. I had been keeping careful track of time, noting just when the alter could be used to get a reward for her sacrifices. The first thing she got was the demon armor that Firre was wearing, and the next was the pearl. She used it during the battle to get her flame strike back.
Dorak has begun to hear soft whisperings in his head. They are slowly sliding around in his mind, giving him uncharacteristic thoughts and urges. He's not sure what to make of it, but figures when they get back to town he can mention it to the dwarven high priest there. His first Will save will come shortly.
Edited by: SSShadowcat7 at: 10/9/02 8:44:08 pm
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SSShadowcat7
Pie
(10/18/02 9:06 pm)
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Re: Alternate FR campaign log
A note I forgot to mention last time. The demon armor and the tentacle rod were also both destroyed at the same time the party destroyed the alter. The paladin would have nothing to do with having them around.
The first night out from the CRM the party stopped to camp in the mountains. The cool October air signaled the onset of winter. The group was setting up camp and quietly discussing their plans when Dorak asked Revel if he could hear the whispers too. Revel perked right up.
The party is paranoid. Have I mentioned that before? Paranoid, with a capitol 'P'.
Revel "warns" the rest of the party that Dorak may be having side effects of the vampire's domination, and Torque detects evil on his companion. To his surprise he notes a faint radiation of evil. Alarmed,the group begins to go over the past few days step by step. What has changed? What have they done differently? Has anyone touched anything or seen anything strange?
Then they begin to go over the things they have taken possession of. None of it has radiated evil in the past. Dorak's player, at this point, looks up at me wide-eyed and says, "Oh, no. Not the luckstone... please not my luckstone!"
I admit it. I blew it. My grin must have been ear to ear.
They finally narrowed it down to the demonstone. Torque asked Dorak if he would set the stone aside for a bit, and Dorak uneasily said OK. Torque then examined him with detect evil again and noted that the evil aura was still there, but slightly reduced. He decided it was the luckstone after all, but Dorak still remained in possession of it...or maybe it was the other way around.
They set up camp as normal and set their watches. Torque took Lycos aside and asked him if he would remove the stone from Dorak's possession while the fighter slept. Lycos was more than happy to do so.
So the whole demonstone incident boiled down to Dorak failing his save in his sleep, but Lycos stealing the stone with some incredibly high Pick Pockets checks and giving it to the paladin. Torque called upon the strength of Torm and smashed the stone (Power Attack along with smite evil).
That, of course, woke Dorak up, but he was confused and disoriented. The after effects of the stone muddled his head, and he regained sleep easily.
They awoke the next morning to a cold drizzle, had a quick, stale breakfast, and hit the trail again.
Behind them, at the mines, Ukemil emerged from the mountainside with his pets and began to track the infidels.
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Blackthorne
Pie
(10/19/02 2:34 am)
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*
Aw, c´mon! This is torture! When will it continue?
I especially liked your assassination attempts in Rastor. So simple, yet so effective in keeping the players on their toes.
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Killiak
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(10/19/02 3:37 am)
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hehe
Paranoia rules!
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SSShadowcat7
Pie
(10/20/02 7:39 pm)
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Alternate FR campaign
After the demonstone incident the PCs continued on their way to Rastor.
The day was chilly, overcast & damp. Short spits of cold rain fell from the low clouds. Their spirits were low and their food cold. I, on the other hand, was having a grand time.
The day passed uneventfully. I had everyone make Int/Scry checks twice during the day, but no one noticed anything. The first time, in the morning, was Dirass watching them. He was reporting directly to Hedrack, The second time was Varachan taking a peek at them to note their progress. His time in the Outer Fane is running out, and he can feel it. He sees the PCs as his last chance and doesn't mean to lose them now.
The drizzle let up in the late afternoon, and the party found a decent place to camp soon after. One last time, during the evening meal, I had them make an Int/Scry check.
Revel noticed the distinct feeling of being watched. He surreptitiously glanced around and noticed a raven perched in a tree on the edge of camp watching them intently. Quietly he warned the group not to say or do anything revealing and waited.
I was using the raven more as flavor than anything else. It seemed cooler to have something sitting there watching than just an invisible magical sensor floating in the air.
Anyway, after a while the scrying ended (Dirass had noted their general location and situation) and the raven flew away. It just happened to be heading in the direction the party had just come from.
Revel quickly cast invisibility on his familiar (a Tressym) and sent her in pursuit. He instructed her to follow it only, not attack it.
She flew away and he remained empathically in contact with her for a bit, and then the link went away (she had gone beyond the mile radius). The party finished their meal and began to prepare the camp. All were alert, though, with the knowledge that they were still in very real danger.
After a short while Revel felt his bond again as his cat flew back. She seemed agitated.
When she arrived he spoke with her privately. She informed him that barely a mile away there was a "lizard person" and four strange cats hunting them. The cats creeped her out.
Revel broke the news that an attack was imminent and the party quickly readied themselves. They spread out, cast spells, and dug in to see what was coming.
Within 20 minutes Dorak, Cavan and a hidden Lycos spotted a couple of large, cat-like creatures creeping through the rocks and brush towards them. Lycos also noticed a humanoid form well-hidden slowly moving along the tree line (Victor).
A round or two later and the fight was joined. A couple of the dire lions (which I made pseudonatural) ate a fireball from the flying, improved invisible sorcerer. And then they charged into the camp, pouncing for all they were worth. Each one of them used its true strike ability on its bite attack to make the most of its rake ability, but in actuality only 2 succeeded.
Dorak had his hands full up front with 2 of them, and another charged towards the rear and engaged Revel. Torque met up with the last one. Remus, standing to the side, got a shot in at one as it jumped past him to get to the mage.
Then Ukemil snuck up from behind and snuck attack Remus with his claw attack to occupy him. Victor continued to skulk about the outside of the fight and began to watch Revel. Lycos, in turn, was watching him.
A few rounds went by of heavy fighting, neither side giving any quarter. Ukemil had Remus hurting, and it showed when Remus retreated back to heal himself. Even with 2 dire lions on him I had a tough time hurting Dorak. He puts Expertise to great use. And soon he was free of both lions.
Torque also managed to best his. Revel, meanwhile, was in the grips of the last one, and taking much more damage than he was accustomed to. On his turn he made a wonderful Concentration check and cast dimension door and vanished out of the lion's grasp. In the shadows Victor cursed as his target disappeared.
Cavan, flying above the battle, finally spotted the hiding assassin and began to assault him with spells. A fireball proved ineffective (thanks Evasion!), but the magic missiles hurt, especially once they were Empowered.
Then Ukemil attempted to flee as his last dire lion fell, but Torque cut him down before he could get far.
Victor also decided this would be a good time to get out, but before he could get his refuge stick out he was felled by another barrage of magic missiles. I was watching the roll. Cavan's player stated, "casting another Empowered magic missile." And he threw the dice. All five of them came up as a 4. Every single one! And Empowered on top of that.
Victor dropped like a stone, the refuge stick half-way out of his pouch.
The threat over, at least for now, the group cleaned up and moved a short distance away to camp.
The next day they met up with a pretty large group of dwarves (about 25) on their way to the CRM, intent on getting their hidden temple up and running. They will stay there only and not venture out any further into the mines, but they offered the place as a hidey-hole for the party should they need it.
The group moved on and returned to Rastor without further incident.
I continually am reminded of the fact that this group can handle threats greater than I would otherwise think. There are generally 6-8 characters in the game, all around 9th level. I haven't upped the challenge too much, but it seems like they are not having such a rough time of it. I hope that the Outer & Inner Fanes will prove much more challenging.
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SSShadowcat7
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(10/25/02 9:01 pm)
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Re: Alternate FR campaign
Quick recap and we should be up to speed on where the party is now.
Last session was pretty much paper work and role-playing town stuff. They returned to Rastor and holed up in their dwarf-temple-guarded home to regroup and think on their next step.
Then Revel's player caught me off guard and said that he was teleporting to Saerb, a small city on the edge of the walled nation of Sembia.
For those of you who know the Forgotten Realms and just said huh?, see my very first post for a breakdown of this alternative FR setting.
So Revel and Lycos teleport (safely, yes, I rolled) to Saerb and meet with the old paladin, Sir Melbourne, who had set them on this path months ago. He gave them the names of a few people in Saerb as contacts for crafting items and information and such, and asked after the group. He was pleased to hear that Torque was still alive, and still dedicated to Torm's cause.
Lycos spent much of the day re-establishing his contacts with the local underground, and spending a bit of coin for some items and information. I believe the major item he purchased was a Glove of Storing.
So now it falls on me to write Saerb up as well as the basics of the local thieve's guild, seeing as how Lycos has taken levels in the Guild Thief PrC and all. Any ideas on a decent guild that does not practice the assassin trade?
Lycos also looked for info. regarding the masks that both Bethe and Victor wear...he has the one taken from Victor as well as the one taken at the entrance to the moathouse so long ago. Are these cult items? Or maybe the token of an assassin's guild? Any good ideas out there? Maybe I should start another thread so this one doesn't get bogged down, now that I think of it.
Their main goal was to sell off most of the loot they had carried back from the mines since they were not getting great rates in Rastor. But a side goal was to let me know that they had this capability now and would be using it. Bad me for not foreseeing it.
They teleported back to Rastor with a fair split of money for everyone. Revel then took a couple days to do some more traveling. He teleported to Hommlet and met with Spugnoir. The two had become friendly in the group's short stay in Hommlet, and Spugnoir was more than happy to do some spell trading.
Revel also attempted to see Lord Burne to pass on information of the cult. He met with him briefly, and was basically told to keep him informed, but see to matters as necessary. Burne was busy with running his town and couldn't be bothered overmuch with troubles outside his borders. This mindset may change somewhat as the party learns of the repopulation of the old temple.
Revel 'jumped' back to Rastor and within a couple days they were ready to head back to the mines.
I made the trek back easy. No troubles. Just the reminder that winter was getting ever closer.
They entered by the South Entrance again and headed to the Earth Bridge. No troubles along the way. Things in the mines were quiet.
Lycos scouted ahead as they drew closer to the bridge complex and noted the gnolls and ogres guarding the entrance. He reported back to the party and Revel, as always, sent an arcane eye ahead to see what else he could see. He learned about the trolls behind the next door, and the main hall with the double doors leading to the bridge that had a few human guards in it. He also saw the large room with the circle inscribed in it with softly glowing runes. He wisely decided not to send the eye across the circle.
I had decided that Tac & Eeridik were in talks with the visiting trog so he did not see any bosses. He quit concentrating in his spell (it's not dismissable), and they made a quick plan to hit the gnolls and ogres, hopefully without alerting the trolls.
They moved ahead quickly and overpowered the weaker creatures handily, then burst through the door (never even tried the arcane locked one) and took out the trolls. The trolls put up a bit more of a fight, but when all three were slowed the fight was pretty much over.
Revel, flying now, turned the corner just in time to see the guards finish drinking a potion and rush towards the battle. One fireball later and the results were a mass of dead guards.
And that's where the session ended.
They are about six rounds into the fight. Tac, Eeridik and the trog (can't remember his name) have heard the fireball go off and will move to investigate. Eeridik will take no chances and buff all three as much as possible.
I foresee a good fight this Sunday. Eeridik will hang back, and if things look bad will dash through the summoning circle to call his "friend".
I really liked what I read here a while ago. I'm going to run it that Eeridik thinks he will have full control of the demon he calls, and will be shocked to find out that he has none at all. It will kill indiscriminately. I so enjoyed the visual of him running away as it rips through one of his people screaming "I can't control it!" I'd love to see my players' faces.
So we shall see what happens. See ya next time.
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SSShadowcat7
Pie
(10/27/02 8:07 pm)
Reply
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Re: Alternate FR campaign
Hoo! What a fight!
Here's how it went.
Cast of Characters
Torque Paladin 5/ Cleric 3 (Torm)
Remus Fighter 4/ Cleric 5 (Torm)
Lycos Rogue 5/ Guild Thief 3
Revel Wizard 9
Cavan Sorcerer 7/ Incantatrix 2
Frodo Barbarian 8 (I know, I know...he's played by the 12 year old nephew of one of my players...he's new and loves barbarians...and LotR apparently)
Moloch Cleric 8 (not sure his diety. This is the player that is here off and on. So far he has lost 2 PCs to this adventure, and his last PC decided to live another day and leave.)
The Scene
Having just defeated the first wave of guards the party was feeling good and confident. They were clustered in and about areas 134 & 135 in the Earth Bridge complex.
The first part of the round was taken up by some reshuffling and moving. Then Eeridik (improvd invisible & hasted), standing just outside the summoning circle in 141, opened up with 2 lightning bolts. He got Lycos & Torque in the blasts...but Lycos evaded them both. Torque, however, failed both saves and ate a bunch of electricity.
Then the two trolls from further in the complex came around the corner. One spotted the hiding Lycos and stopped to miss him with a claw. The other lumbered on past.
Then Cavan guestimated where the lightning bolts came from and threw a fireball in the general area. He also made sure to get the trolls in the area. Luckily he also got Eeridik, though he didn't know it. Lycos was carrying a silenced stone, so no sound traveled down the corridor.
At this point I made a ruling that since the fireball's area had gone past the magic circle the bebilith was called forth. The text states any living or nonliving matter. Fire seemed to fit into the nonliving matter category, as well as the debris it had kicked up, so enter the bebilith.
The last guards from further in the complex come around the corner and really clutter up the space. Frodo charges a troll, gets a claw AoO for his troubles, and hits it with his +1 Greatsword. Did I forget to mention that he wears Rhino Hide? So that's double damage to this poor troll, but it's still standing.
Tac, hasted and hiding weaves through the fighting, searching for a mage. He spots Cavan and heads his way. No one makes the Spot check to see him creeping down the hall.
Then the bebelith skitters forward and skewers one of the guards, ripping his armor to shreds.
The party, as one, uttered a mass "oh, sh*t."
If they could hear past the silenced corridor they would have heard Eeridik screaming at it to get the intruders, not his people.
Cavan throws another fireball into the mess and clears out all but one guard, as well as hurting the demon.
A troll gets a good round in and rends the crap out of Frodo, putting him in the teens. Frodo turns and runs, and both trolls take their AoO's, both hitting, and knock him into negs. He falls at their feet.
Torque, getting a bit of healing from Moloch after those 2 lightning bolts, sighs and steps in between the trolls and the down barbarian. For his troubles he gets not one, but two magic missile spells from Eeridik. I did mention he was hasted, right?
Lycos, meanwhile, has taken the Spring Attack option to negate an AoO from the troll next to him and dashed down the side corridor leading to 139 &140. The bebelith notes this and sprays some webbing in after him. Lycos makes the save, but remains in the hall, his movement finished.
Tac surprises Cavan in the back ranks and manages to stun him on his first attack. The second attack hits, too. Did I mention he was hasted, too?
Remus, in the back with Cavan, wails on Tac, but not for much effect. Oh, Tac also had a stoneskin going. Ain't I a stinker?
Torque falls victim to a troll's rend ability, but remains standing, mainly due to Moloch behind him with the healing spells. Frodo stabilizes at -4.
Reokallitan, the trog cleric emissary, finally makes his appearance in the hall leading to arae 142 and casts hold person on Lycos.
This turns out not to be Lycos's round. He fails the save against the hold person. Then the bebelith decides he looks like a tasty snack and takes a full attack on him. That's most of your hit points gone, Lycos...oh, and you need a Fort save. Nope, not good enough, you also take 6 points of Con damage. Oh, and make a grapple check...what's that? You're held? Well, roll a D20 and see what you get. A 3? Yeah, that +2 Leather of Silent Moves is also ripped off you and mangled beyond repair. Sorry. (he-he)
Tac, meanwhile, is pounding on Cavan in the back of the group. Remus is consistently hitting Tac, but doesn't seem to realize that he isn't doing much damage.
I rule a DC 15 Spot check reveals damage reduction of some kind when you damage an opponent, but Remus couldn't get higher than a 12 on his checks.
Torque and the trolls square off. One troll is dropped, then the other drops Torque down to -3. Cavan finally gets away from Tac and sends a magic missile into the second troll, dropping it. Tac finds that Remus us much harder to hit than Cavan and moves away in search of a better target.
Reokallitan moves into the fight, hiding, searching for a good chance to sneak attack. Eeridik keeps up the steady stream of magic missiles. He's out of lightning bolt slots and has had to haste himself again somewhere in here.
Moloch and Remus manage to get Torque up and running again just before Reokallitan appears and sneak attacks him. But a couple of hits from Torque, one of which was a smite evil that was a crit, sends the trog on to the nether world.
Tac has moved up to the front of the fight and puts his back to the bebelith, confident that Eeridik has control of it. Imagine his surprise when it tries to bite him and stabs him with a claw! He decides to have none of that and makes an impressive tumble check and runs away from the fight.
A couple more fireballs in Eeridik's general area, one of which actually has him in it, and the fact that he's screaming at his demon and it won't respond convinces him to high-tail it out of there also. He goes through the double doors in room 141 and arcane locks them behind him.
A couple of cones of cold from revel drive the bebelith off, and it wanders down the corridors, meeting the chained up bear, killing it, and meandering away.
So now there is a demon loose in the mines. What fun!
The party quickly heals as much as they can, search the immediate area, including the sleeping areas, and decide to leave. This is the worst fight they've had in a long time, and they're hurting. Lycos decides to try to open the lock on the box they found in Eeridik's chamber and falls victim to the petrification trap.
And that's where we left off. A wounded party, low on resources, tapped for spells, in a very hostile place, and a stone statue for a Rogue.
I love this game!
Edited by: SSShadowcat7 at: 10/27/02 8:14:41 pm
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Killiak
Pie
(10/28/02 2:59 am)
Reply
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dang
I'd hate to be one of your players! You are one evil DM
But from a DM's standpoint; WOOOHOOOO!
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SSShadowcat7
Pie
(11/11/02 10:36 pm)
Reply
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Re: Alternate FR Campaign
Heck, I'd hate to be one of my players sometimes! But it's fun so no complaints. I give a speech about once every 3-4 months about how this is a deadly module and I'm not pulling punches or anything. Just serves as a reminder to the players to be careful and not attached to their characters too much. They're all good players, though, so we're all having a good time.
So let's see, back to business. Where was I?
Ah, yes. Lycos has been turned to stone by a trap, the party is low on spells (but not as low as I had thought), and they are mildly wounded after a semi-successful assault on the Earth Bridge.
The group quickly gathers up what they can find that seems valuable, including the MW Bastard swords the human guards were wielding, and prepare to retreat. Their goal is the Southern Gate, and from there either the dwarven temple for a rest or straight back to Rastor.
Cavan conjures up a Tenser's floating disc and they load Lycos onto it along with their mass of swords. Making sure they are leaving nothing behind they head out. About 1/2 an hour has passed since they first entered the bridge complex.
Meanwhile, Eeridik has managed to run to the Outer Fane to report the intrusion. IMC Hedrack has just discovered that Lareth is the Champion. He, Lareth and Bethe (Hedrack's bodyguard and sometime lover) all board Chymon and head to the Recovered Temple to deliver the prophesied Champion and call forth Imix.
Naquent is left in charge of the runnings of the Outer Fane, under Varachan. Hedrack has tasked her with finishing off the meddling fools in the CRM. So when Eeridik comes panting and whining about a disaster in his post she immediately begins to formulate a response.
She contacts Dirass, the drow mage, and has him scry the party and find their location. Then she enlists the 2 Dark Nagas and the 2 Invisible Stalkers and sends them to the CRM to set up an ambush and finish off the PCs.
The Nagas buff up with spells and fly with the Stalkers to the balcony (area 76) off the ruined Air Temple, and from there to the abandoned guard room (area 78) to await the PCs arrival.
Back in the CRM the party is slowly and cautiously making their way through the tunnels. Lycos floats silently behind Cavan on the disk. No one makes the check to notice Dirass scrying them.
As they near the South Entrance many of them note that the double doors leading into the guard room are open (successful Int checks). They remember that they closed the doors behind them when they came through this area earlier in the day.
They stop, wary. Torque moves forward, searching for an evil aura, but senses nothing. Cavan, Revel and Moloch cast a few spells on themselves. Many of the spells from the Earth Bridge fight are still functioning. Cavan still has see invisibility going, but sees nothing.
To his left, up the stairs leading to the sniper's platform, Torque senses a flash of hostility, but it disappears. (a Stalker that moved around the corner, out of view) He moves slowly up the stairs. The rest of the group stays in the hall, advancing slowly towards the guard room.
The Nagas, impatient, decide that their trap isn't going the way they want and say screw it, and move in to just blast the party with fireballs. At about the same time Torque rounds the corner and his paladin-sense starts going off in his head. I call for an initiative check as he calls out a warning and the fight is on.
The first round is partial actions only, which actually hurts the nagas. One of them flies into the guardroom, but doesn't have another action to cast a spell. Cavan, having already gone, sees her with his see invisibility and calls out to Revel her general location. That's enough for Revel, who can't see her, but targets the area with a fireball from a wand. The naga saves, and Revel rolls poorly. Half damage is 5 points, and the endure fire she has going sucks that up. Cavan states that she appears unfazed...maybe fire doesn't work.
Meanwhile one of the Stalkers charges Torque in the hallway and attempts to pummel him. Its slam attacks bounce off his armor.
Torque's player asks if it's a summoned creature, as he has a protection from evil spell going, and I say no. We get into another argument about summoned vs. called beings and the fact that nothing here seems to be fazed or hedged out by prot. evil spells. I've already stated my rulings on this in the past, but I reiterate them again. He still is upset about it, although to his credit he sees my points. The game moves on.
The Nagas send fireballs into the group one after the other. Revel and Cavan target them with magic missiles, although Revel is using a wand. Torque gets beat up by the Stalker and can't seem to hit it in return. Being invisible with a 10' reach is nasty.
Cavan finally glances down the hallway to Torque and advises him on his mistakes. Torque learns quickly, takes a 5' step, and pounds the Stalker twice for good damage. The Stalker gets a crit on Torque in return, and the paladin is in single digit hit points. Cavan comes to the rescue, though, and throws an empowered magic missile at the thing, killing it. Torque takes a moment or two to drink a couple of healing potions.
Back in the other fight one of the Nagas has had nearly all her spells dispelled, and floats down to the floor. Frodo, our resident barbarian with Rhino Hide charges her and hurts her badly. She attempts to cast fly again to escape, but is killed by the AoO she doesn't avoid.
Revel also is flying, and has flown through the fight into the main hallway, seeking the exit and a better vantage. The other Stalker targets him, and the mage is taking a beating. Eventually Cavan, using 4th level slots for his magic missiles, and Revel manage to drive it off with spells and wand charges. The remaining Naga is killed trying to escape.
So one Invisible Stalker survives to return to the Outer Fane and report failure. I'm not sure it will survive long after its report.
The group heals itself somewhat. They are dipping deep into resources now, using wands and potions and scrolls. They decide to go the the dwarven temple seeking aid and shelter. The dwarves have been there for a short time now and have fortified it somewhat.
Then Cavan notices that they are being scried upon again. This time it is Varachan looking in on them, having just got word about the attack mounted against them. He is relieved to see them still whole, if somewhat battered, and sends a messenger with another note to find them.
The party waits out the scrying, thinking it from an enemy, before heading to the temple. On the way they are stopped by Insentorix, the advanced quasit from area 12 in the Outer Fane. He hails the party from the darkness and states that he is a messenger sent with a note.
The group stands down and he approaches warily. He states that he is supposed to give the message to someone in particular, and points at Revel.
Revel reads the note from Varachan. It basically says that there is no time to waste. Get into the Outer Fane ASAP. The Champion has been found. He has aid for the party, but they must come to him. And at the end he says to kill the messenger.
So Revel whispers to Cavan and they both unleash magic missiles against the poor quasit. Even then it's still alive thanks to it being advanced slightly, but Frodo gains the initiative on it and chops it in half with his greatsword. Torque notes it's regeneration and suffocates it.
So finally they reach the dwarven temple. They are welcomed in and collapse, exhausted.
Luckily for them the high priest is present. He traveled from Rastor to consecrate the temple in Moradin's name. He agrees to reverse the effects upon Lycos. The next morning Lycos is returned to normal.
The dwarves, ecstatic about finding their temple again, and with all the goods intact, want to reward the PCs for their deeds. I added up what the treasure of the temple area was worth and came up with close to 40,000 gp in treasure. So what I did was basically give them that amount to do with almost what they pleased. The dwarves offered to upgrade their weapons and armor, or reward them with other minor magical items or something else if they wanted.
I metagamed a bit here since I didn't want a whole lot of down time. The money was well spent, and nothing overpowering was asked for. Weapons and armor were upgraded, and a couple of healing wands were obtained. The party is happy with what they have, and I feel that they are ready to enter the Outer Fane now.
A few of them leveled up. They are primarily 9th and 10th level now.
Their plans are to head back to the Earth Bridge, and from there enter the Outer Fane. I can't wait.
Edited by: SSShadowcat7 at: 11/11/02 10:41:48 pm
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SSShadowcat7
Pie
(11/24/02 9:48 pm)
Reply
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Re: Alternate FR Campaign
Ouch. Tough session for the players.
The party spends some nice down time in the dwarven temple. They are impervious to scrying there and feel safe and welcome. A nice change from the rest of the time they spend in the mines.
Revel & Lycos do a bit of information gathering. Revel goes outside every so often with detect scrying going to see if he is being scried upon when he is outside the temple. He notices attempts 4 times. Only one of those times is he able to make the opposed roll to see who is scrying him. He notes that it is a drow male (Dirass) and he is located somewhere in the western portion of the Outer Fane. He succeeds at a Bluff check and Dirass is unaware that Revel knows he is watching.
Revel does nothing except note this and tuck the information away for later use.
Contingents of Spider Eaters & their riders patrol the skies. At night the party can see a dull purple glow emanating from the center of the island...the Inner Fane. A few times they see birds blasted out of the sky by the lightning towers.
Revel casts a bunch of clairvoyance spells over the course of the days. The mines appear empty. The Earth Bridge Complex remains deserted. Everything in the CRM is eerily quiet.
Naquent has pulled the forces back into the Outer Fane. While Hedrack is away she is in charge and wants as much of a defense for the sanctum as possible. The Earth Temple has bugged out, digging deep. The Water Temple has moved deeper into the Stalagos, and the party is unwilling to travel into the briny depths to chase them.
Finally the party is ready to head out and begin their assault on the Outer Fane. The plan is to go over the Earth Bridge and enter through that door.
Revel begs & pleads with the dwarven priests in the temple for long term spells to aid them. The dwarves agree and buff the group up with endures and stat enhancers. Unfortunately for the party they are only six strong today. Torque, their paladin semi-leader is staying with the dwarves during a time of heavy meditation. Dorak has been in Rastor recently and has not returned. (The players were not there for this session. Dorak's player will most likely not be able to return until after the new year. Torque's player was an unexpected absentee.)
Moloch exits the dwarven temple and states his intention to cast lesser planar ally to call forth an earth elemental to help in the coming battle.
Inside I smile.
The casting is successful and I roll the percentage chance that an evil elemental is called forth. The dice come up with an 11. Evil it is. But not completely stupid.
The elemental asks what service is required of it and Moloch gives an vague request of help in his next battle. The elemental considers, states that its payment will be all the gems in Moloch's possession (some 1,500 gp worth), and agrees once the priest hands them over. It decides to wait for an opportune moment before betraying the priest.
So here is the party make up for this session:
Remus--Human Fighter 4/Cleric 6 (Torm)
Cavan--Human Sorcerer 7/ Incantatrix 3
Lycos--Human Rogue 5/ Guild Thief 4
Revel--Human Wizard 10
Moloch--Human Cleric 7/Divine Discipe 2(Grumbar)
Frodo--Half-Orc Barbarian 9
They travel through the CRM to just before the remains of the Fire Temple. There they again meet Tarren, the druid who has been watching the Fanes. IMC I have kept him evil, but he is against the Doomdreamers and their plans. He tells the party that about a week ago he saw the red dragon who lives in the Fanes leave with three riders (that was Hedrack, Lareth & Bethe heading to the Recovered temple now that Lareth has been confirmed as the Champion). He also tells them to beware the lightning towers. The bolts of lightning are only half electrical damage. The other half is unholy damage.
The party thanks him. They warily treat him as an ally. The enemy of my enemy is my friend type of thing. He says that he is aware of their differing viewpoints, but if the Doomdreamers succeed it won't matter. No one else believes him so he has been here watching, waiting for something to happen. He will not join them in their assault, but he will aid them where possible. He does not do this out of some foolish sense of nobility, but self-preservation, and the preservation of all he holds dear.
The party continues to the empty Earth Bridge Complex, buffs themselves up with spells and deal with the minor inconvenience of a glyph of warding on the double doors leading to the bridge. They then disguise themselves as well as possible with confiscated enemy robes and holy symbols and head across the bridge.
Just before they reach the Earth Door a lone Spider Eater & Rider soars down to mark their passage. Cavan, dressed & disguised as a priest, makes a great Bluff check and waves the rider away with a few strong words. The rider apologizes to the "masters" for bothering them and flies away.
Revel touches the door with the Master Key he has made and it slowly descends into the ground. The smell of earth and loam wafts out to them. Moloch, priest of Grumbar the Earth God, wrinkles his nose in distaste. The earthy smell is sour and tainted to him.
The group moves quickly into the room. The door slowly rises up behind them a few moments later. They note a huge pile of dirt and rocks in the room, as well as a passage heading deeper into the Fane. The walls are of a black stone with purple veins streaking through it. It is very disorienting and disturbing.
The hurry down the corridor. Ahead of them they see what appears to be a guardroom with some human guards sparring and practicing. The guards stop and come to attention as the group approaches. Here's the short conversation that followed.
Cavan (attempting another Bluff): "Lazy scum! We could have killed the lot of you before you knew what hit you! Who's in charge here?"
Guard Captain (stepping slowly forward): "Sorry sir, we was just practicing. No harm intended."
Cavan: "Bah! I'm reporting you to Naquent! Let us pass!"
Guard Captain (not recognizing Cavan and a bit perturbed at this priest's attitude): "Yes, sir. Begging your pardon, sir, but I have to ask the password, sir."
Cavan begins casting fireball and initiative is rolled.
Thus began the fight that forced the party to run screaming from the Outer Fane.
Cavan fries a few of the guards with his fireball and the party springs into action. One guard runs towards the door on the other side of the room, saves versus the web spell Revel casts, but fails against the hold person from Remus.
Frodo charges in his Rhino Hide, crits a guard, and slices him nearly in half with a 60-some odd point crit with his greatsword.
Moloch charges forward is hits a guard but the guard remains standing.
Then Lycos moves forward, past Moloch's earth elemental. As he passes it decides to take an AoO and attempts to grapple the rogue. Lycos, surprised, nonetheless takes his AoO for the attempted grapple, succeeds in hitting the creature and evades the grapple. Moloch frowns. It wasn't supposed to do that.
The next round most of the guards are killed. Remus, in the back of the group, hears behind him the large rock pile shift. He glances back and sees a huge form made of earth & rock rise up and lumber towards him. It's eyes glow with a red light and what looks like brimstone glows from cracks in it's body.
I dropped the Earth Door guardian down to a Greater Earth Elemental and added the Demonically Infused Template to it out of Dragon Mag #285. Let me tell you, it's still a killer!
Remus cries out a warning. Cavan hears him, turns, and blocks the passage in front of the elemental with a wall of force. The rest of the group is busy finishing up the guards.
The door on the other side of the room opens up and a lightning bolt thunders out. Only Lycos is in the area and he Evades the blast.
I had Eeridik and Tac here as extra guards for the Earth Door. They spent a round or two buffing themselves up before heading out into the battle. Eeridik had obtained another scroll of improved invisibility from Dirass so had that running.
Moloch's elemental charges his caller and succeeds in grappling the priest. Moloch makes a huge Concentration check and uses his Earth Domain power to rebuke it. It slinks away, cowed, and pretty much out of the battle. Moloch considers the implications of his "ally" turning on him.
The huge elemental guardian runs up against the wall of force, finds its way blocked, and immediately moves through the ground underneath it.
Cavan, meanwhile, is the only one who can see the invisible Eeridik and Tac (Tac has moved out of the room and is slowly making his way through the webbing in the way out to the battle). Cavan decides to end the threat of the sorcerer and traps him in another wall of force.
This seems to be a good spell for a sorcerer to choose.
Eeridik scratches madly against the wall, but finds that he is trapped with no way out. He is out of the fight.
The huge elemental flows out of the floor near Remus and pounds on him for a huge amount of damage. Frodo charges the thing, gets missed by the AoO for moving through it's 15' reach and attacks. He rolls a 1 but makes his Dex check to not drop his sword.
Cavan & Revel (who can now also see the invisible monk) target Tac with magic missiles, hurting him badly. Lycos appears out of nowhere and finishes him off with a deadly sneak attack.
So now only the elemental is left.
The party focuses their firepower on it, but it seems unstoppable. It's swinging 4 times a round with a full attack action (that includes it's extra partial action for being hasted . I'm telling you, that template is NASTY!) and with Power Attack it's doing an average of 35-40 points of damage per hit. Lucky for the party I'm rolling poorly and only hitting about 40% of the time. Of course, they're not doing much better.
The mages can't get past its SR and the fighters can't seem to hurt it much. It pounds on Frodo twice for 60-something points of damage and he retreats to drink a couple potions.
Moloch has a good idea and casts dispel evil. He moves up, but is dropped before he can touch it, though he's not dead.
Remus heals Moloch up. Moloch gets up, manages to touch the thing, but rolls a 2 on his Spell Penetration check. The spell discharges without a result.
Next attack from the elemental is on Moloch. Power Attack 5. I roll a 20. Confirmation roll is a 19. Moloch takes 71 points of damage and dies instantly. Cleave attack on Remus standing in front of me. I roll another 20. Confirmation roll is an 18. 72 points to Remus and he, too, is history.
Revel calls for a retreat.
A few tense rounds follow where the PCs run past the creature. Lycos takes a nasty AoO as he tumbles past. Before Cavan calls down his wall of force blocking the passage the elemental moves up, slams Frodo and knocks him down. Cavan and Lycos run back to the closed Earth Door. One problem, though. Revel has the Master Key and he's still back in the guardroom!
Revel, master wizard that he is, remains calm. He holds the key in his outstretched hands as if handing it to someone. Then he casts dimension door to appear directly in front of the Earth Door, next to his two remaining companions.
The elemental lumbers closer.
Cavan, desperate now, casts another wall of force and encloses the three of them inside it so that they only have access to the door. Lycos grabs the key out of Revel's outstretched hands and slams it against the door.
Slowly the door begins to descend.
The elemental moves up to them, attacks, but is blocked by the wall of force. It sinks into the ground, intending to come up underneath them.
In the nick of time the door finishes dropping. Cavan & Lycos run out onto the bridge. Revel calls out for Cavan to drop the wall of force, and he does so.
Revel runs back into the guardroom to check his fallen comrades. Behind him the elemental rises out of the floor.
He checks to make sure they are dead, gathers up a few of their items, grabs Frodo and teleports to the Earth Bridge Complex in the CRM. He meets the other two there and they retreat back to the dwarven temple.
That's where we left off.
I discovered that the Demonically Infused Elemental Template is NASTY! Three PCs dead, and a TPK I'm sure if they didn't run when they did. Not having their two front line fighters hurt them greatly. I think they would have defeated it if they were there. I didn't alter the difficulty of the encounter, though, and maybe I should have. But I wanted to make sure the Outer Fane was a challenge. Boy, was it!
Remus & Moloch will most likely remain dead. Their bodies were left behind. Their players had already stated that they did not want to be raised should they die. Frodo had asked to be raised in that eventuality, so Revel took his body and left the others.
Next time will be the raising of Frodo and the introduction of two new PCs it looks like.
Edited by: SSShadowcat7 at: 11/24/02 9:58:12 pm
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Killiak
Pie
(11/25/02 3:55 am)
Reply
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Re: Alternate FR Campaign
Ask the players for their sheets and make Ghasts or Ghouls out of them
otherwise; great battle!
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SSShadowcat7
Orc
(12/11/02 9:13 am)
Reply
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Re: Alternate FR Campaign
Another attempt to enter the Outer Fane. This time with a bit of success.
The group started off back in the dwarven temple, hurt, scared, and carrying the body of their barbarian. The bodies of their two other companions they left where they fell.
I fast forwarded through some of this. Frodo was raised. Dorak and Torque rejoined the group, dismayed to find that three of it's members had been killed. And two new PCs joined. Phalaax and Zephyr.
Phalaax is a full cleric of Torm, sent from Sembia to join and help Torque in his trials. Zephyr is a wandering cleric/ranger of Shandaukal, the traveling god. It has been some time since he has been with an adventuring company, and he feels at home here.
So the party make-up for this session was thus:
Torque--Human Paladin/Cleric/Divine Hammer (PrC out of The Quintessential Cleric I think. Level 9 or 10. Worships Torm
Phallax--Human Cleric 9 of Torm
Lycos--Human Rogue 5/Guild Thief 4/Shadowdancer 1
Cavan--Human Sorcerer/Incantatrix. Level 10
Revel--Human Wizard 10
Frodo--Half-Orc Barbarian 8
Dorak--Human Fighter. Level 9. I think he may also be a Weapon Master, though not too sure. Memory is bad.
Zephyr--Human Ranger 1/Cleric 6/WindWalker 2 (PrC from Faiths and Pantheons for priests of Shaundakal.
So 8 PCs. Kind of a lot. They get themselves together and head back to the Earth Bridge.
After some stalling and checking about they manage to cross the bridge and get back into the Outer Fane via the Earth Door. They notice a couple of flights of spider eaters & their riders launch from the cliff face and head their way as the get to the door and open it. They figure that the exit will be blocked behind them shortly.
They are right, of course.
Let me backtrack a minute. During their night of rest Revel, of course, had to do find out what was going on back in the Fane they had just left. He cast clairvoyance and placed it in the hall between the room holding the earth elemental guardian and the guardroom. He noted that the human guards had been replaced with bugbears (from the area by the nagas) and that there was a human woman healing the earth elemental. He theorized (correctly) that this was Naquent. Naquent noticed the scrying sensor, much to Revel's surprise, and moved slowly towards it. She could not, however, discern who was watching her, so she dispelled it with her wand.
OK, back to where they are now. They enter the Earth Door and let it close behind them. They move in, note the bugbear guards, note that the rock pile that housed the elemental is substantially smaller, note that the bugbears have also seen them, and roll for initiative.
Eeridik was also placed with the bugbears in the guard chamber to keep them in line, and to keep watch on the entrance. He began casting spells upon himself.
The party moved forward to engage the bugbears, keeping a wary eye on the rock pile. Then the Demonically Infused Earth Elemental rose up out of the floor right in the middle of the party. It swung once, hit Phalaax with a critical hit and did 67 points of damage. Phalaax made the save vs massive damage and was reduced to 2 HP. He thanked the endurance spell he had running.
"Welcome to the group," said the paladin with a smile.
Cavan blocked the escape door leading deeper into the Fane with a wall of force, and the bugbears and Eeridik didn't last very long. One bugbear was taken prisoner.
The elemental, however, hung around for a while and pounded Dorak and Zephyr for a huge amount of damage before being destroyed.
They took a few rounds to heal up a bit. They also found the secret door in the hall but did not explore it yet. Revel put up a wall of stone in front of it to keep enemies from coming in behind them. Revel is following directions given to him by Thrommel a while ago to get to Hedrack's chambers and obtain whatever it is that Thrommel wants.
Cavan drops his wall of force and they continue on putting the captured bugbear in the front. They move past the weeping statue, ignore the assassin's quarters for the time being, and head up the hall to the door to Hedrack's room.
Cavan puts up another wall of force to block the corridor leading into the Fane so that enemies cannot get to them and they check out the door, finally opening it.
The paladin is the first to try to go in, but no good since the forbiddance is there. He fails the save and takes 21 points of damage. Two more try to get through but are unsuccessful, also taking minor damage.
Then they decide to send the bugbear in. It passes through the doorway with no troubles. Lycos then tries to emulate a CE alignment with his Use Magic Device skill and succeeds. He also enters the room.
The rest of the party stays outside. Lycos scans the room, then directs the bugbear to take the chest and move it out of the room. It does so, but accidentally sets off the glyph of slay living and dies.
Cavan prepares to cast a dispel magic into the room, and that is where we left off.
Behind the scenes Naquent has been alerted to intruders by one of the sorcerers in the spider eater towers. She is busy gathering what forces she can and will attempt to hit the PCs outside Hedrack's room. She is unaware of the wall of force and the wall of stone, both blocking ways she might come in. Those walls may save the party.
Next time I'll see how the forces of the Outer Fane fare. And Hedrack should be back any day now, along with Bethe and Chymon.
Edited by: SSShadowcat7 at: 12/11/02 9:15:45 am
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SSShadowcat7
Here for a while
(12/23/02 8:54 pm)
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Re: Alternate FR Campaign
Short update.
The party ransacked Hedrack's room quickly. They either dispelled the traps or bypassed them in some manner, then piled everything up on a Tenser's Floating Disc that Cavan called up.
In the hall outside Hedrack's chamber both Cavan and Revel spotted an Invisible Stalker come down the hall on the other side of the wall of force, stop when it came to the wall and saw the party, then turn and rush back out of sight. Both spellcasters had see invisible going, so I gave them Spot checks to see the Stalker and they were both good enough to succeed.
So Revel calls for a strategic retreat while they are still relatively strong and have a way back.
They get back to the now closed Earth Door. Revel contacts his Tressym familiar that he left back at the beginning of the Earth Bridge and questions it about what is outside. It tells him many flying things are about and a number of people are on the bridge as well. He warns the party that the way back is guarded and they prep for battle.
I had a large number of Spider Eaters and their riders as well as three of the sorcerers from the towers outside the door waiting for them. It was a good fight, but the party prevailed without any casualties. Two of the sorcerers got away, though.
The group rushed back to the dwarven temple to regroup and check out what they had found. They spent the night there and got the stuff they brought back ID'd. No one fell to the vacuous grimoire.
They have in their possession the box that Thrommel is after. It is a small metal box that holds a bit of his grave dirt. This is what Hedrack used to keep some control of him. Thrommel does not care if the party destroys it as he still has plenty in his coffin to survive. But he will not allow the group to retain control of it.
Next session they will decide what to do with the box...whether or not they return it to the vampire. Revel made a deal to give it back, but he feels like he was coerced into the bargain (and, really, he was), so I'm not sure what they will decide.
Next session will pick up the evening after they tore apart Hedrack's chamber.
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Killiak
Here for a while
(12/27/02 2:46 pm)
Reply
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lol
Hedrack is gonna be pissed like Hell! He is gonna pull out all the stops on them now. Nobody ransacks a mad celric's quarters and gets away with it, especially if that cleric commands great forces
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