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HeresDaryl Here for a while (3/3/03 2:04 am) Reply	Re: God thinks I'm a lousy DM (should be: session 03/02/03) I really feel for you, It must be really rough when your sessions are so infrequent anyway...I get pissed off if our group misses one of our two sessions a week!
Siobharek Still here? Wow. (3/24/03 7:11 am) Reply	Session 03/24/03 A session. A very palpable session. With Hamlet out of the way, we move on to our heroic sextet returning to Verbobonc after laying waste to the fire bridge. We managed to get a lot of the Papers & Paychecks out of the way by e-mail, but there were a few things left. Rachum the cleric wanted to replace his periapt of wisdom with a wisdom-boosting item that would take up his necklace chakra, as he felt that his necklace of prayer beads might come in handy. So he began work on a pair of Glasses of Insight! Meanwhile, Azareth the Elven wizard tried looking into spells that could shield him (and the others) from scrying. That gave me the opportunity to use some of my Nexus material (Monte: Great book), and it worked out very well. And finally, I used Mak's Replacing the Orbs-idea with prophecy and all. It worked like a charm, and a solar eclipse showed my group that Lareth had been found and been confirmed as the Champion. The downside to this is that my group is now heading for the Fanes. So, I'll never get to use Andorax' silenced air elemental, Stoneheart the Dwarven lich, or the Bebilith at the Air bridge. When my group came back to the mines, they encountered a Fomorian (MM2) who had laired at the Main entrance, which incidentially had been walled off with some very thick walls of stone (they were to be explained later). The Fomorian dished out some impressive damage when it hit - which it did rather infrequently, as my dice must somehow have slipped into a freezer for the last week before the game!! - but it quickly succumbed to Jugla's rather well-placed arrows. Oh well, it was mostly a diversion. Following that, and realizing that there was no way they could enter the Mines through the Main Entrance, they went flying over the crater ridge and into the Water Temple. Jugla and Savonarola carried Fredorcia, and Kakloban and Rachum carried Azareth. I have ruled that as long as the altars are operative, they summon monsters to guard the temples that are no longer attended. So the group was met by a huge, demonically infused Water Elemental, who did its very best to beat the snot out of the group. But since my dice were still simulating deep space temperatures, it only succeeded in scaring them. From there, they moved towards Oomarthis' area. Athac heard them, and they tried talking to them. It went for someone who could understand what they said, and returned with Riu Lootas (sp?) in goblin form. They talked a little with Riu, who also shut the door in their face and opened it again - as a talking wolf. They talked some more, and finally it cast a charm on Jugla (who was doing the talking) and told him to go back through the Earth Temple, past the Main Entrance to the Fire Bridge (it just wanted them to leave). Oddly enough, they obeyed. In the temple of Earth, 2 Dao (also MM2) Ftr3 were surveying the area and looking for slaves. They heard the group and made a quick ambush, involving 2 walls of stone, 2 transmute rock to mud (one on the floor, one on the ceiling), and a request to surrender. The PCs were in no mood for surrender and laid the smack on the Dao, despite the latters' strategic advantage. One dao was flurried to death by a haste'd Savonarola, so the other surrendered, offering 3 limited wishes if they'd let him live. Again, the party agreed, so they got a secret door from the bugbears' area and out. They also got the following, which was the result of a legend lore about the Outer Fane: Pierced by a container of madness, the four are controlled by an old man, 5 years of age (Hedrack was cloned 5 years ago, IMC). A triad of insanity seks to re-create the Unmade. Finally, they debated for a long time whether they should make the Dao take them into the Outer Fane though the Fire Door (note that they were low on spells and were not buffed against the red dragon, which they knew was there. Sometimes they surprise me), or whether they should ask the Dao (I called him Osama) to draw them a map of the Fane, based on him prowling through the rocks for an hour. They chose the latter, so Osama promptly went in and surrendered to the Huge (Demonically Infused) Earth Elemental, whom he now serves. And there the session ended. The group is convinced that Osama got killed and they are currently resting somewhere for Ukemil, Reokallitan, and the 4 Dire Lions to find at the beginning of next session. I honestly thought the session would have begun at the Fire Bridge with them going south into Stoneheart's territory. Such was not to be, and I basically DM'ed by the seat of my pants for 6 hours. It worked OK, and I managed to introduce an element of urgency as well as some information that might become useful later on. So, once again: Pat, pat, pat, pat..... Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Edited by: Siobharek at: 6/15/03 11:21 pm
Siobharek Still here? Wow. (4/14/03 6:34 am) Reply	Re: Session 04/13/03 Hmmm... I'm not too sure about this session. I thought it went very well - concentration levels were at an all time high, but one of my players have made some very vocal reservations about the lethality of the session. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The session began with the group holing up in a cave some miles away from Mt. Stalagos. I used two small maps from a DRAGON magazine and my players reacted very favourably to it. During one of the watches, Ukemil struck. I'd boosted him to Drd7/Rog5, his lions had the Fiendish template, and Reokallitan, an Earth Temple envoy at Eeridik's place, had submitted to him and had been taken on as an apprentice. He was Clr5/Rog5. On watch were Fredorcia (Sor10) and Azareth (Ftr4/Wiz6). In the surprise round, the lions got in at a charge. Two of them tore into Azareth while the other two got close to Fredorcia without being able to attack her. Ukemil cast a Miasma at Azareth (who saved) and Reo cast silence near th eback of the cavern, blocking the sound of the combat from the sleeping PCs. Next round: Fredorcia gets the drop on the lions and runs into the back cavern, stamping on all the sleepers she can. They wake up and are ready for initiative next round. The two lions got Azareth in a rake and he dies before making an action. Fredorcia's two lions run up to Savonarola (the nearest sleeper) and mauls him pretty bad. Ukemil advances and casts flame strike on the sleepers, Reokallitan begins casting Summon Monster. The rest of the combat (sorry, pressed for time) had the group on its collective heels until the lions were taken out. Savonarola got killed, too, and all were in pretty bad shape. The only thing that saved them in the end was some displacement tattoos, they'd lifted off some psionicists. The group used two of its 3 true ressurrection scrolls and moved on. Using Wind Walk, they were able to get quite a way away so it was a very winded quasit who found them with a small chest and a note from Varachan (thanks, Andorax, I believe that was your idea). From then on, the group has begun using Verbobonc as a base (it's over 65 miles away, as the crow flies), and they then intend wind walking in. They did so, and entered the Outer Fane through teh Earth Door. There they met Osama the Dao - and killed him - and the Elder Elemental. Damn, that thing is tough! It tore through them all, and I kinda regretted having slapped the Fiendishly Infused template on it. After that, they rushed the 8 guards (who had not discovered the fight on account of a silence stone being tossed in the long hallway), who lasted exactly 2 rounds. 8 lvl5 fighters.... The group continued until they came to the assassins' quarters, where Bethe thankfully heard them and managed to hide in her room. She death attacked Savonarola (look! He had the saves and he peeked the wrong place!) who died again. That sucked. The session ended with them opening Hedrack's door and Hedrack WoR'ing to the temple. ------------------------------ One player has stated today that it feels like they're in an arms' race where they need to use superhuman resources just to barely survive. He feels that it takes much of the fun out of the campaign and reduces it to pure tactics. I suppose it's a testimonial to my DM'ing that he hasn't felt like this until now, but still it bites. So, as a consequence, I'm scaling back my boosted Outer Fane (gonna do it this Easter) so that they can go through the area in a shorter time than they would otherwise. So, no patting on the back today, I'm afraid. Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
madfox Still here? Wow. (4/14/03 11:47 pm) Reply	Re: Session 04/13/03 A yes, the problems with dire lions and earth elementals. Very nasty critters that belly their CRs, especially when they gain surprise. I saw a celestial dire lion kill an erinyes once while we were trying to outlive a pit fiend for a few rounds. My personal experience (both as a DM and a player) is that PCs need an easy victory now and then or else the players will rebel. Either they will stop caring for their characters or they will become so paranoid and fearful for the lives of their characters that the adventures become dreary. Sidetracks are a great way for that, especially when dealing with a large adventure where victories mean nothing until the very end after more then a year of gaming.
Siobharek Still here? Wow. (4/14/03 11:55 pm) Reply	Re: Session 04/13/03 Yeah, them dire lions... The easy victories can also be had in the temple/Fane areas. The grunts give the sorcerer the luxury of saying, "Nah, you boys look like you've got the situation in hand" and the rest of the players realizing that yeah, we DO have the situation in hand. That was part of the request from my group (no one has contradicted the player, so I assume they agree), so I'm scaling down th egrunts a little. Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Kylearanon Here for a while (4/15/03 12:27 am) Reply	Re: Session 04/13/03 May I ask why you did boost your creatures in the first place ? But it seems to be the same with my players. Every major encounter their mood seems to drop. I sometimes do some random encounters to cheer them up. Only that one time I sent an ankheg and it nearly destroyed them. Only I have to admit that sometime I forget that a DM is meant to be neutral, so I really find myself getting some fiendish fun seeing them running blindly into another trap or encounter. And I maybe shouldn�t ... that�s what makes their mood drop more than anythin else. I guess after a while the players just bleed with their characters. And after all it�s part of a good DM to make the players feel what the characters experience ... and to bind them together. So I would say by your log, by what your players do and say and by what I can see of you on this board that you do a great job. It�s a thin line between killing your characters and building challenging and interesting encounters ... Kyle, who likes Shakespere
Siobharek Still here? Wow. (4/15/03 1:52 am) Reply	Re: Session 04/13/03 I boosted the encounters because I boosted the entire CRM. And if I hadn't done that, my players would have become complacent over too many easy victories and would have been seriously killed. The way I see it, the Outer Fane is scaled for 4 10th-11th level PCs. I have 6 9th-11th level PCs in my group, so that ups them quite a bit, I think. I have checked and double checked, and it wasn't the boosting that offed my players: The dire lions took care of two. They were already fiendish, and I did nothing with them, based on board input. Ukemil was boosted, but that didn't make a difference (a 7d6 flame strike never hurt anyone, and the elf saved vs. the Miasma). He had Reokallitan with him, but that was a logival move based on my decision that Reokallitan had sought out Ukemil for shelter when the Earth Temple fell. The earth elemental was tough, but its major claim to fame was sundering the dwarf's axe. Again, a feat that every elder elemental has. It's SR (from the Fiendishly Infused Template) bought it exactly 2 rounds, that was it. Maybe Bethe wouldn't have killed the monk had she not been boosted. I don't know. Oh well, she died, it's all water under the bridge, and I'm scaling it down a notch (though I'm sure Hedrack will miss his 8th level spells...). Thanks for the cheering up and the vote of confidence . I think what got me down the most was the huge discrepancy between my view of the session and my players'. Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Thrommel Can't leave now (mod) (4/16/03 10:18 am) Reply	Re: Session 04/13/03 I think maybe part of the problem in attitude has to do with momentum. I certainly noticed it in my campaign. If you start with a string ofl tough encounters, the players will rise to the challenge and not complain too much. However, if you start with a series of difficult encounters, and then they subsequently get even tougher, the players just get winded. I know there's the whole design mentality that says "this is the headquarters, it should be really tough and well-defended." That's sort of video game thinking in some ways. For a big, epic story like RttToEE, I think you have to make it progressively easier on the players, so they're racking up a string of victories and feel like they're making progress. The pacing picks up and so does their confidence. Have one or two showcase fights (with Hedrack or whomever) but keep the action moving in the Outer Fane. Remember, they've been playing for like a year. They've churned through the CRM, they need a capstone victory here to keep them motivated. Otherwise each defeat or set back just builds the attitude that it's too tough and they're NEVER going to finish this thing. Besides, there are plenty of ways to put the whammy on them in the Recovered Temple. At that point, they know they're facing the final showdown and the interest level picks back up again. Anyway, you know what do to... I'm just rambling. -Thrommel, who's ramblin', ramblin' round, I'm a ramblin' guy.
Siobharek Still here? Wow. (4/16/03 10:41 pm) Reply	Re: Session 04/13/03 Thanks for the comment. I don't think I've ever played an adventure that like this made me appreciate the importance of timing when being a DM. And you're right, of course. I don't expect my gang to tear through the entire outer fane, so a few, well-orchestrated showdowns should do it (I'm thinking that Naquent and some ogres may start looking for the PCs real soon). But yeah, timing is indeed everything... Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Siobharek A guitar (5/26/03 1:28 am) Reply ezSupporter	Session 05/25/03 Finally, another session. Amazing how long 6 weeks can seem. Last session ended with my gang outside Hedrack's quarters, the pop of his word of recall sounding in their ears. They spent a little time debating what to do, and exactly 25 rounds after Hedrack's departure, Naquent, 3 minotaurs, and 4 bugbear rogues entered room 18 from the south (room 16). At the same time, Varachan entered the room from the north. The group's fears that they had been sandwiched were quickly put to rest, as Varachan purposely miscast a hold person and fell screaming to the ground, when Rachum cast his first spell (which was prayer, by the way). Naquent put up a good fight. She was buffed to the gills, and I'd given her a few nasty surprises from the BOVD. In the end, she went Ethereal and ran off. Varachan immediately got back up and started running, telling the party to follow him. They did, and he took them to the secret door between 14 and 15 (right next to the Earth entrance). There, he pretty much spilled the beans, and they arranged for him to locate the PCs the following nights and have Hedrack send off two invisible stalkers and the bone naga (I replaced the two dark naga with a bone naga. In my boosted version, it was two bone naga, and they had seen the one earliuer, so I was forced to stick with it). The party would then take Hedrack on in the Greater Temple. When the PCs emerged from the secret room, they went straight to the temple where Hedrack was conducting a service for him and Naquent. Long and short of it: Hedrack and Naquent both died. In the first round, Hedrack was hit by a Dimensional Anchor, and he was pretty much up the creek after that, as the party stayed so far apart that his blasphemy etc. couldn't hurt enough. He did manage to get off his dying curse (see the BoVD alterations in the BoB), which bothered Azareth mightily. After that, the group managed to enter Hedrack's chamber and free a poor girl from Rastor, whom he had had the invisible stalkers kidnap the day before (he needed to take his frustrations about not getting the PCs out on somebody). I borrowed a page from the ToEE novel and had him put her in a foot torture device, which impressed my players. Good That, along with mopping up some ogres that Varachan had enlisted to "guard" the Earth Bridge, and identifying all the treasure they'd found took up the whole session. At the end of the session, Varachan was the highest-ranking cleric in the Outer Fane, so he should keep the remaining defenders disorganized. The party is at present in Verbobonc, dividing treasure and figuring out what to do, but they intend to enter the Outer Fane again - I had Varachan mention some prisoners. If they went straight to the Recovered Temple, I'm afraid they'd get killed, as the forces there are quite impressive. I think that I'll keep Varachan alive for one more session. Then the drow will see through him and squeal to the Doomdreamers in the Inner Fane. That should make things interesting. The party now also knows about Thrommel, and it'll be interesting to see what they will do about him. Major regret The fact that I didn't put a glyph of warding�on the floor in the deeper darkness between the temple foyer and the greater temple proper. Come to think of it, Jugla the rogue was point with stone with silence on it, so even a sonic glyph wouldn't have accomplished much. All in all, a session that I think was enjoyed by all. Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Infiniti2000 A guitar (5/26/03 3:48 pm) Reply ezSupporter	Re: Session 05/25/03 "Major regret..." I think a greater glyph of warding with a blade barrier or harm spell in it would do wonders. I'm sure there's some really nasty 6th-level BoVD spell, too. Your group must be pretty stoked at killing Hedrack and Naquent.
Siobharek A guitar (5/26/03 11:31 pm) Reply ezSupporter	Re: Session 05/25/03 Yeah it would, but given the time frame, Hedrack would have had to sacrifice some major spell power in order to pull that off. I would have settled for a simple glyph doing sonic damage, just to warn Hedrack, but the silenced rogue would have nullified that one. But yeah, they're pretty full of themselves right now. I think they'll take one, maybe two forays into the Outer Fane, and then it's off to the Recovered Temple. Right now, Varachan's running the show in the OF, but I think that two sessions down the road, he'll be murdered horribly. One thing, my players really responded to the d�cor in Hedrack's room. The seeimingly normal tapestries freaked them out a lot. Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Siobharek Verrik (6/15/03 1:23 pm) Reply ezSupporter	Session 06/15/03 And with this post I enter my second year of infrequent, incomplete logging the adventures of my group here at the board. Hip, hip! This session felt... odd. We started off in the City of Greyhawk where they'd wind walked in order to get a wish for Azareth's dying curse that he got when he killed Hedrack last session (it was Be cautious, from BoB - thanks!). There was a bit of role-playing, but my players are very sensitive to what they perceive as a strict deadline, and they basically wanted to move on. (I do not play with a strict deadline. The Doomdreamers in the Recovered Temple are busy excavating, but do not intend to do anything until they have at least two Binders (using that variant from the BoB - thanks again!!). So the players could - within limits - easily engage in magic item development at this stage, but nooo: Once more into the trenches, my friends.) So back they went. They had arranged with Varachan that they'd communicate with him 1/day with sending. Through his brief reports tey learned that it took three days before Hedrack and Naquent's disappearance became official, that Varachan became acting Commander of the Outer Fane, and that the Bone Naga (replaced the 2 dark naga IMC) was suspicious of him. The day before they went to the Fane, Varachan voiced his fears of the bone naga. Then, silence. When they arrived at the Earth Door, buffed to the gills of course, Varachan hun on an iron rack suspended from the ceiling. I used the idea of Rerrid Hammersong as vampire, but of course Rachum had a detect undead running. Varachan didn't last a round. Fortunately (for me), he was backed up by the bone naga - also buffed. That combat was interesting, as I had equipped it with a few Book of Eldritch Might spells: Prohibit kind, electrical deluge, quintessential blast. That kind of thing. The combat ended with Kakloban dead - the first of three that session - and the rest in a more or less sorry condition. (The bone naga is the most inappropriately CR'ed monster in the book. Whoever did that one must seriously have been smoking crack. One CR 11 monster almost took out a 6-man lvl 10-11 party (2 11s, 3 10s, 1 9), and in the end it came down to one initiative order between it and Fredorcia the sorceress.) The group retreated and got a hand from Pelor in the form of a direct contact with Derider Fanshen, High Priestess of Pelor in Greyhawk and one whom my players have met in 2 editions now . She cast true ressurrection on the dwarf and gave them a rod of life with 10 charges (true ressurrection - 2 charges, heal 1 charge After that they decided to surprise what forces might be waiting, so they went for Chymon and the Fire Entrance. They knew she was there because that's what I've heard you're supposed to with dragons: Let the party know they're there. She lasted 3 rounds. The bone naga took 10 rounds to batter down and was a lot tougher. Magic rules, OK. They felt so confident that they wanted to press on, but not confident enough to take on the drow, whom they also knew were there. So rather than going up against the drow, who were cooped up in 48 buffing themselves after their Draegloth assassin had heard Chymon go down, they went for Satau. Ha. They were halted at Satau's will-power door, which gave the party of Maracla the 9th level cleric, Dirass the 10th level wizard, Zaratan the 6th level fighter/4th level Duelist and Jharegg the Draegloth Rog1/Asn5 get in position. That fight was exciting and long. They struck as Satau's door slid open - they might get his attention - and despite the fact that the assassin went down in 3 rounds, and Zaratan in 5, the fight became interesting, thanks to the two improved invisible spell casters and Satau's desire for a quick meal in the shape of a nauseated Fredorcia (stinking cloud in a narrow hallway is murder). Net result: Azareth was killed, pummelled by spells, and Fredorcia was taken by Satau, tormented a bit on the Astral Plane, and finally killed in the secret room, 1 round before the party finally forced open the door. Satau might have gotten away, too, if it hadn't been for the dimensional anchor that a very vindictive Rachum cast on him. Sigh. After that they withdrew and regrouped in Verbobonc, and that's where the session ended. I started off by saying that the session felt odd. I think it was because that I for once didn't feel the party accomplished anything. Sure, they now only need Thrommel (and Varacha) and Daagra the Annis before they have cleared out the Outer Fane, but today was mindless (except for strategical thinking) hack and slash. All my players were good about it, but now I really want things to move on. After next session, I expect 3 of them to gain levels (Fredorcia, Jugla, and Savonarola), and then it's definitely going to be off to the Recovered Temple. And once that's over and done with, it's either back to the Inner Fane (which I doubt), or we're switching to Arcana Unearthed, which I'm frankly looking very much forward to. Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Thrommel Runechild (mod) Council of Magisters (6/15/03 1:42 pm) Reply	Re: Session 06/15/03 Hang in there, super trooper. Things really pick up again (from both a player and DM point of view) once the party gets to the Recovered Temple and realizes they are in the home stretch. You're almost there! -Thrommel, who knows the feeling. ~Council of Magisters~ ~ Arcana Unearthed ~
Siobharek Verrik (6/15/03 11:23 pm) Reply ezSupporter	Re: Session 06/15/03 Thanks. I appreciate it. Only thing is, that I'd really like to take them through the Inner Fane. Maybe I'll hold on to their character sheets and after playing AU for a while, I'll run the Inner Fane as a one-off adventure. But thanks again. It's nice to know that others have felt like I do right now. Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Infiniti2000 Verrik (6/16/03 5:37 am) Reply ezSupporter	Re: Session 06/15/03 I haven't been there, but if it helps, tell your players that there are countless hordes of RttToEE DMs out here who want to see them finish it! It's okay to take a break (we do a rotating DM thing), as long as you plan to get back into it. Good luck!
Siobharek Verrik (6/16/03 5:43 am) Reply ezSupporter	Re: Session 06/15/03 I think I'll let it depend on how the Imix combat goes. If there's a true sense of accomplishment when he goes down, I'll call it off and let the Inner Fane be SEP (Somebody Else's Problem). If not, then I'll taken 'em back for a quick and dirty showdown against the First & Co. One thing, that gave this ol' DM a warm'n'fuzzy feeling inside was two of my players' "Hell no, now we're gonna finish this!" when I said that I'd understand if they wanted to stop it and start preppin' for AU. They definitely have a sense for the story and are willing to stick it out. Kudos to Monte for writing up such a strong plot, and kudos to all you guys for helping me give my players a better game. Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Siobharek Verrik (7/15/03 11:43 pm) Reply ezSupporter	Session 07/06/03 Sorry for me being so long about posting this update. Holidays make you La-Z! But here, I am, toiling at work (writing a brochure on Manure Management - don't ask), so I feel like going back. To the dark, empty Outer Fane. The party spent quite a while debating what to do about Thrommel. They finally decided to seek out Jolene and landed, one wind walk later, in Veluna City where the Order of Enlightened Sisters resides (IMC Jolene is a spiritual advisor there). They were quite surprised when they were rebuffed. "Mistress Jolene is busy. Mistress Jolene is overseeing many projects, all for the good of the people. Mistress Jolene may be able to see you in a fortnight. Or two." They were on the brink of leaving there. "If that's how she wants it, we'll just stake her friggin' boyfriend and that's that. She ain't the boss of us." Stuff like that. Fortunately Kakloban the dwarf thought that there would be more to it, and Rachum cast a sending, loaded for the purpose. Naturally Jolene agreed to meet them in the Floating Gardens. The feudal, upper-class nature of Veluna City really grated on the "lower-class" members of the party's nerves. Fun! Especially when Fredorcia, actually a Velunesian noble-woman on the run from arranged marriages and impromtu embroidery sessions, met one of her fellow debutantes. I swear the monk was fit to chew stones once they were finished ("My, that bald one's got a body, Fredorcia! Can I borrow him?"). After a short interview with Jolene, they went back to the Mines, with her in tow (they were a little leery about it, but figured they coulnd't keep her out. And she had a ring of invisibility, so she might be able to stay out of harm's way). The party went back in through the Earth Door, forgot all about the secret door (where a bugbear scout was waiting) and pressed on towards the north part of the Outer Fane, where they knew there were prisoners and the last remnants of the Fane Forces�. Varachan, now a vampire and with all his old powers restored, had cobbled together an ambush which was sprung on the party as well as the disorganized, shaken monsters could do. The hag prison warden was every bit as nasty as other members of the board have said, and for the first time in 3 or 4 levels Rachum actually went down. Other than that, the ambushing party (3 arrowhawks, 6 ogres, the hag, and Varachan) went down giving the party as good a fight as could be expected. Varachan escaped in gaseous form. The group continued and eventually they found Thrommel. And almost killed him before Jolene and he got a chance to see each other. I went with a mixture of Thrommel's (the mod, not the vamp) option #2 from BoB and ronin's game (same) and had Thrommel see Jolene and slowly sink to his knees (in utter silence, because he was standing in the doorway to his room). Jolene went forward and staked Thrommel and dragged the now-paralyzed vampire out. Then the group went out and let the sun burn Thrommel. After that, Jolene left, and the group took on... Chymon! Yes, they entered the Fire Door and after a short, but vicious battle, got the dragon. The rest of the session was basic mopping up. They had taken out every major opponent, and the onlyinstance worth recounting was the Chamber of Hate: I had replaced the succubus with a runic guardian (a greater version found in the MM2, I think). When Kakloban entered the Chamber, it began activating its defences, and as he just stood and waited, it managed to get all its protective spells up and running before attacking him. Good battle, but it, too, went down. After that, they investigated the Chamber and its many occupants (I make it 64 clones!). At the end, Kalkoban sent the others out and starting chopping off their heads. For some reason my description of those 64 beheadings and the accompanying 64 spouts of blod made an impression. Cool. Next up, finding the last bits of treasure and going to Hommlet for their Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil! I'm not quite sure how to play Hommlet. Please see my new thread for questions and I'd really appreciate any advice you might have. Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
ZansForCans Faen (7/16/03 12:02 pm) Reply	Re: Session 07/06/03 But, but... Oh, aren't you going to give us any hints about Thrommel? Is he gone for good or is Jolene going to have him resurrected? The suspense is killing me! Group Editing & Authoring Support flexible campaign management for the web info :: demo
Siobharek Verrik (7/16/03 10:43 pm) Reply ezSupporter	Re: Session 07/06/03 Ah that... Well, Jolene scooped up his ashes, put it in her bag of holding and teleported back with a refuge. Thrommel will most likely be true ress'ed and then undertake some massive quest in oprder to regain his paladinhood. I can see I didn't write up the conclusion that well. It was a happy ending, glad to say. Oh, and writing this, I've decided to use "The Corruption of Prince Thrommel" in the Recovered Temple. With a captured archon, the doomdreamers there will be very interested in seeing how to corrupt good beings. It is reasonable that they have asked for the book (sending) and received it via the Turbillion. Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.