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DestyNova1
Memunite
(10/7/03 11:18 am)
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Getting tired?
I have to wonder, perhaps the earlier bickering is a sign of exhustion setting in? I believe i've heard that by the time people get to the Inner Fane, they are getting rather burned out. Mistakes get made, and characters start dying more often.
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HeresDaryl
Memunite
(10/9/03 12:19 am)
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Re: Getting tired?
Yeah, they could be getting tired alright, though they are a dogged bunch and have expressed a wish to see it through to the end, even though we have quite a few options to do other campaigns with other GMs... guess they don't like loose ends!
Well we took a breather last night, as one of the guys was working, one was jamming/recording with his band and one was taking his good lady out for their anniversary, so there were only three players plus me. Obviously they were not going to take on Hedrack, so we did something else... I got them to make up Arcana Unearthed characters. Based on a recent (and most excellent) fiction piece on the Diamond Throne website I ran them through a couple of gladiatorial battles. Was good fun and they seemed to be impressed with the system!
They made up a Littorian 3, a Verrik Mind Witch 3 and a Giant Warmain 3...
Thats right, the Lion, the Witch & the Warmain. =0)
Edited by: HeresDaryl at: 10/10/03 7:25 am
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HeresDaryl
Memunite
(10/13/03 8:27 am)
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Tired, but Victorious!
After the narrow escape from Hedrack at the end of the last session, the party fell back to regroup and reinforce. Tibidoc the cleric of Savras opted to leave the group, feeling the need to return to his home temple in Waterdeep and inform them of the goings on within the mountain. He bid his companions good fortune and left the Dwarven mines.
On the evening of the same day two travellers arrived from the west, hailing from the High Forest. These were Omar, a human druid with Rend, his dire wolverine companion (he is a friend and ally of Kella, investigating the goings on in the mines at her urging) and Orrusk a massive Orog fighter, ambushed and captured as an adolescent by the High Forest druids and their elven allies many years ago. Several of the druids argued over the best way to dispose of the prisoners until Kella, even then an authority among them, decided to conduct an experiment of sorts, to see if the young monster could be turned to their service. After many years of near slavery and slow but steady indoctrination the enclave started to include Orrusk in some of their expiditions, including ambushing other orc-folk. In all instances he fought bravely and impressively on behalf of the druidic forces. Eventually he was accepted as a capable and loyal guardian, even if he displayed little interest in natural lore itself.
It took much assuring from Omar and vouchsafes of good behaviour before the Dwarfs would let them into the complex and lead them to the other adventurers within. They were introduced to the party, also rejoined by Robek the halfling, and offered their services. They spent the night discussing plans and prepared to set off immediately the following morning. The full group was:
Merinid - Drow Wizard 9
Tel - Human Psychic Warrior 10
Grinder - Shield Dwarf Fighter 9
Robek - Halfling Rogue 9
Omar - Human Druid 9 (Rend, 7HD Dire Wolverine)
Orrusk - Orog Fighter 8
They made their way easily to the doors of the temple where they proceded to boost themselves while Robek searched the door for traps. Once they felt ready they entered, fanning out but staying within the light of the torch of revealing. Tel, Orrusk & Grinder advanced cautiously towards the south end of the room, while Merinid moved towards the table. From somewhere beyond the darkness to the south they heard a voice call out to them... 'why do you persist with this pointless quest? You have proven yourselves capable and dangerous, I can offer you the positions of those you have already slain within the temple!'
Grinder responded, 'sounds like a tremble of fear in your voice, soon there won't be a temple to hold position in!'. The three front line combatants inched forward, to the edge of the darkness and Merinid managed to dispel it... revealing a Blade Barrier set a half foot from the three warriors!. Beyond it they saw Hedrack, flanked by an enormous beast... a Glabrezu!
Immediately Hedrack unleashed an empowered flame strike, dealing over 30 damage to each of Tel, Orrusk & Merinid and over 70 damage to Grinder. The Glabrezu started summoning a Vrock, on the PCs side of the barrier. Merinid then cast Improved invisibility on himself, while Robek tried to tumble through the barrier, failing miserably and almost getting himself killed. Omar cast Bear's Heart which brought Robek around enough that he could start guzzling potions. Hedrack cast another defensive spell, to bolster his already impressive defences, while the Glabrezu followed up summoning the Vrock with an unholy blight, which had minimal effect.
Merinid's next action was to cast Magic Jar, and he successfully possessed the Glabrezu! and that was basically it for the battle... The Glabrezu attacked and grappled Hedrack, so he tried a greater command to tell everyone to flee, but it was countered from a ring of counterspells, then the demon pinned him, so he couldn't even cast verbal-only spells. In the meantime the rest of the group were gang-beating the Vrock, whcih didn't stand a chance, even before Grinder critted it on a 9 point power attack, with a Holy Dwarven waraxe, for 88 damage! By that time the Glabrezu had marched itself and Hedrack into the blade barrier and stood there til they were both puree! Game Over.
They proceeded to find the rest of the greater keys among his scattered belongings and formed the master key. Then, following Varachan's instructions, Merinid retreived the orb of Silvery Death. As they were leaving the temple, a very humble Varachan intercepted them and asked if they could speak to the Dwarves on his behalf... he wished to redeem himself, atone for his crimes and take service with another temple to right the wrongs of his former existence. Several in the party suggested that he should offer his services to the Temple of Moradin in this very complex, and they would speak to Sharaela to recommend him. They also got as much intelligence as he could give about the force in the recovered temple, in preparation for the next stage...
So we'll be moving on, either Wednesday or Sunday.
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 Siobharek 
Cherub
(10/14/03 1:11 am)
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ezSupporter
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Re: Tired, but Victorious!
Congratulations on finishing the Mines and the Fanes. Plenty of loose ends in case you want to continue the campaign, but as Thrommel has said a few times, I can guarantee that the Recovered Temple will energize your game.
They're what? 10th level? It's a little low for the RT. I recommend that the forces be as disorganized as possible there - at least until the group reaches 11th level.
Otherwise it reads like some good sessions, and I look forward to reading more.
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
HeresDaryl
Memunite
(10/14/03 8:31 am)
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Re: Tired, but Victorious!
Thanks for the comments, as always. Its good to know other brave souls like yourself and I2K (and others, I know) have stuck it out this far!
I'll probably make their journey from Stalagos to the temple pretty eventful. There are a few unsavoury sorts among the dwarves who would gladly sell information regarding the whereabouts of the Orb of Silvery Death to any buyer, so the party will be waylaid on the road, and Jaroo (suitably powered-up) will be waiting should they stop off in Yartar!, I'd say I should have the remaining 9s up to 10 and the 10s up to 11 by the time they actually enter the temple itself...
Again, thanks to all the regulars for reading.
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Siobharek
Cherub
(10/14/03 9:09 am)
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ezSupporter
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Re: Tired, but Victorious!
Good idea! Maybe some of the Spider Eater Riders might have teamed up with either surviving CRM baddies or with Jaroo et al. Either way, leveling them seems almost essential.
For what it's worth, your gang would have to be almost incredibly unlucky not to succeed at the first encounter in the RT. The ogres are pushovers, really. Made for a nice morale booster for my crew who really, really died a lot in the Fanes (3 dead in Hedrack's room alone from the traps!  )
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
HeresDaryl
Memunite
(10/16/03 6:42 am)
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Unexpected outcome
Right at the beginning of this session, the player who had retired Tibidoc to play Orrusk instead changed his mind, so Tibidoc wandered back into the mine complex and rejoined his comrades, having decided that it wasn't safe for him to travel to Waterdeep alone. The player of Omar the Druid wasn't around last night, so I had him wander off into the hills to cast awaken on his trusty companion, Rend, and take time to teach him something of the world. Orrusk accompanied his friend, to protect him while he was working his magics.
So a group composed of...
Tibidoc - Aasimar Cleric 7/Divine Disciple 3 of Savras
Robek - Lightfoot Halfling Rogue 10
Tel - Human Psychic Warrior 11
Grinder - Shield Dwarf Fighter 9
Merinid - Drow Wizard 9
...set out from Mt Stalagos on a two-day overland journey to the site of the ruined temple, with assurances that Omar (and some or all of his allies) would follow them shortly. They had been warned by Dwarven patrols that there had been strange creatures spotted in the hills, so they were keeping alert. Early in the afternoon of the first day and Robek was the first to spot the pair of Vrocks diving towards them! Luckily, he spotted them while they were still a few hundred feet away, so everyone had a little time to prepare themselves. The creatures circled above the party, taking turns to screech while the other activated heroism, for the first two rounds of the battle. The screeching succeeded in disrupting the party's initial response, but Tel eventually drank a potion of fly and moved to engage one of the demons, Robek levitating up to flank it. The other creature dropped to the ground to engage Tibidoc, who was temporarily stunned.
Robek realized he had no manouverability while levitating, so he descended to the ground and joined in with Grinder in tackling the grounded Vrock. Tel continued to battle the other Vrock in the air. Tibidoc slipped away from the fight on the floor and cast invisibility... he also thought he heard the sound of something large approaching on foot, on the far slope of the rigde they were traversing. Merinid cast magic jar, his body slumping to the ground. He proceeded to spend over half a minute attempting to possess the flying Vrock, as Grinder & Robek were making short work of the grounded one. Just as it fell, a new opponent appeared... a Hezrou (which Tibidoc had heard approaching). Both Grinder & Robek succumbed to the foul stench of the beast, causing their stomachs to heave and their eyes to water. The same odor afflicted Tibidoc as he tried to fly in invisibly and cast Slay Living on the fiend. The Hezrou resisted and was only slightly damaged.
Above them Tel's fight with the other Vrock was getting desperate. Without a holy weapon he was only nicking it with each attack, though he was staying in the fight courtesy of his Inertial Barrier (manifested twice) and Bio-feedback powers. Merinid had repeatedly failed to penetrate the beasts spell resistance, so he turned his attention to the Hezrou. Through their nausea Grinder & Robek continued to harass the Toad-Demon, and once they worked their way into flanking positions, they really started doing some good damage. It flailed away and snapped at both of them, having already used blasphemy to sap their strength for a while. Merinid had no success in trying to possess it either, and so returned his soul to his body. Tibidoc had become visible after his attempt to Slay the Hezrou, and so had flown above the battle to use his ranged magics.
By now Robek, Tibidoc and Tel all noticed a covering of vine like growths sprouting from their skin in a most painful manner. However, they were all too busy to do anything about it right then. When Tel flew down to recover the sword and shield he had dropped earlier due to the screeches, the Vrock he had been fighting moved on Tibidoc. Tibidoc attempted another Slay Living, from a scroll this time, but the creature disturbed his casting and injured him badly. Tel rose up after it and struck a blow to its flank, but before he could do any more damage it launched a frenzied assault on the Cleric, tearing him limb from limb!
Within seconds of that death, the Hezrou finally managed to catch Robek in its gaping maw, shearing him messily in half across the ribcage! The remaining party members stood in shock for a split second before Grinder drove his axe through the Hezrou's leg, severing it and causing the beast to collapse, unconscious and bleeding. The remaining Vrock sped away, resisting the barrage of spells that Merinid sent in its wake...
Crap! thats where we left it last night, on a major downer. I really expected the guys to be able to handle that easily enough, especially since the bad guys were staggered (the Hezrou arrived 4 or 5 rounds after the Vrocks). I must confess I have never seen a worse array of dice rolls for a PC party in all my time GMing, and my dice were smoking! But there were a few small tactical errors aswell... mostly though I think it came down to stinking luck. The remaining characters will push on, and hope Omar (and maybe a few friends) catches them up quickly...
Edited by: HeresDaryl at: 10/16/03 7:42 am
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DestyNova1
Memunite
(10/16/03 11:18 pm)
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Hmm
Bad night. Considering the losses that have been taken, i think you should seriously think about adjusting the power levels of the later encounters. The PCs are seriously lacking the levels needed for the deep parts of the recovered temple. And side-adventures to pad EXP just don't seem feasible at this point.
Late game entries have the unfortunate side-effect of ending the role-playing aspect as well. Why write up a backstory when you are a few battles from the end?
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HeresDaryl
Memunite
(10/20/03 9:44 am)
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Morale boost!
Well, as you may have guessed by now, my players are nothing if not game for making up new characters. The players of Tibidoc & Robek made up their new characters (and hopefully their last for a while)... Tibidoc was replaced by another Cleric, this time a Gold Dwarf priest of Tempus. Robek was replaced by another rogue, but this one was a Half-Elf Rogue 5/Harper Scout 5 - more scout than thief - who used his hat of disguise to appear as a surprisingly agile elderly human male. Storn, the Gold Dwarf had been urged to join the party by Sharaela, in the temple of Moradin in Mt Stalagos. A priest of the father of battle would be better suited to an adventuring company than to ministering to the mining populace of a relatively settled complex. Zak, the Harper, was urged by the elder druids of the High Forest to travel west and find their fellow druids, Kella & Omar, and offer them whatever aid he could.
Storn & Omar (accompanied by Rend) met along the road, in pursuit of the PCs party. After a forced march for most of the day they passed the site of the battle with the demons and within another mile or so they found the camp site of the remainder of the group, who were resting after their ordeal. Introductions were made, tactics were discussed and ales were drunk. So we had a band of 5 who woke the next day, hoping to reach the ruined temple by sundown. It was dry and bright, but bitterly cold when they set out, and became more overcast as the day went by. They knew the weather would turn within the next day or so. They pushed hard, with Omar often scouting ahead in the form of an eagle. Towards dusk of this second day, Omar's keen eyes spotted the ruins of the temple... and some large, unfamiliar shapes moving about in the shadows. They seemed to be sniffing the air, before one suddenly made a high trilling sound and all four of them loped out of the courtyard, heading in the direction of the party on foot.
Omar made it back to his comrades with half a minute to spare, and warned them of the approaching beasts. They had time to cast their defensive magics before the monsters appeared. They were enormous, 20ft long, 10ft tall, bird-like lizards (megaraptors). Merinid, with his vast store of knowledge immediately recognized them as predators native to the lands of Chult! They had little time to ponder on how they came to be here however, as the creatures pounced. Despite their great size and vicious claws, they could not easily penetrate the armor and spells of the heroes, and within less than another half minute they had all been slain. Rend, the dire wolverine was foremost in the battle, almost killing one with his first flurry of attacks. As the last beast collapsed, its blood pouring onto the dirt, darkness fell and the party moved off a ways, opting to rest the night before exploring the temple. During this night Zak the Harper finally found them, and was welcomed by Omar, who assured the others of his skill and loyalty.
So the party now was...
Omar - Human Druid 9
Merinid - Drow Wizard 10
Tel - Human Psychic Warrior 11
Grinder - Shield Dwarf Fighter 9
Storn - Gold Dwarf Cleric 10
Zak - Half Drow Rogue 5/Harper Scout 5
In the small hours of the morning they heard several mighty bellowing roars, though always in the distance, towards the temple. It made them wonder what they would face.
Note: I decided to populate the temple with a band of Yuan-ti, paid by the cult to sit in the temple with their pets, supposedly to guard it. In fact the cult simply want the presence of the snakemen to distract any adventurers from investigating further afield... like around the ruined cottage, for instance. Also gives the party potential experience without a huge likelihood of a TPK.
The Dawn broke, cold and grey and the party set about their prayers, study, meditation, or stretching. When they were ready Omar again assumed the form of an eagle and flew towards the temple. the others followed on foot... 'Old Zak' in the lead, with Rend, Tel, Storn & Grinder behind and Merinid behind them. Omar circled the ruins as the others approached and finally spotted movement in the doorway. Yet another reptilian head poking out and sniffing the air... except this time much, much bigger! He hurried back to warn the others, just in time. Zak volunteered to lure the monster out into the open, while Tel, Grinder & Storn waited in the wings, ready to blindside it. So Zak wandered into the open, whereupon the massive beast charged towards him. They all gaped as it emerged... it was at least 30ft long, with a head the size of a black bear and teeth like jambiyahs!
Merinid decided that letting it snap at one of his comrades could be dangerous and instantly cast hold monster, paralyzing the Tyrranosaurus and ending its participation in the battle. As the heavies moved in to hack it, the troupe of Yuan-ti abominations emerged from the doorway, firing spells and arrows as they came. Zak was the first to react, charging at one and swinging with his quarterstaff. Before Storn, Tel or Grinder could move to engage they were caught in an entangle, but Omar managed to blast them with a Lightning Storm and a flame strike, Storn also contributed a flame strike and a searing light, and by the time the T-Rex was dead and the grunts had pulled clear of the entangle the last snakeman was possessed by the magic-jar casting Merinid. He indicated as much to the others and then cast remove curse on the one casualty of the fight, Zak, who had been turned into a snake, restoring him.
Thats where we stopped last night, so I'm expecting a probing foray against the excavated area on Wednesday.
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Siobharek
Cherub
(10/20/03 11:15 am)
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ezSupporter
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Re: Morale boost!
Good one! As the title says, a morale boost. Did they gain any levels?
You might consider having the succubus near the well have some charmed PC types posing as settlers in the area. They would provide additional xp as well as some treasure.
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
HeresDaryl
Memunite
(10/23/03 4:04 am)
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Small steps...
Last night was sort of a filler session. We were missing three regular players, though we had a guest appearance from the former stalwart, Templar Darkblade. He was in the vicinity, having led his group of followers to the region a tenday earlier to investigate what Varachan had told the party. His band had been attacked by a couple of Vrocks and their Dretch lackeys and driven away, as far as Yartar. Darkblade left the surviving troops in the town, under the command of Ismene, his cohort. He then ventured back out to the temple environs, to wait for his erstwhile comrades. So it was that he arrived at the temple an hour after dawn to find the party standing over the cooling bodies of the Yuan-ti and the Tyrranosaurus. Tel was the only party member that darkblade had previously met, so he made the introductions, and they all caught up with one anothers tales.
We were missing Omar's, Grinder's & Merinid's players last night, so I had them snoop around the temple compound and the temple proper, while Tel, Zak, Storn & Darkblade would scout the surrounding woodlands for any sign of trouble. Of course, they found trouble! They picked a random direction to start out so I just decided they would be heading for the well. They had been pushing for a short while when they started noticing odd shapes dropping into tree cover in the distance, and hearing murmuring and rustling noises all around them. They stopped moving and started readying themselves, just as a horde of Dretches broke from cover and charged them. A short and one sided battle ensued, with the Demons barely able to scratch any of the heroes, except for Zak, who took a bit of a beating. The most spectacular effort of the fight was when Storn was surrounded by 4 or 5 of the little fiends adn simply cast a flamestrike, centred on himself, obliterating all of them and leaving him scorched but happy!
The Dretches were joined by two other demons, a Babau (made one sneak attack on Storn, failed to damage him, and was dismissed next round) and finally, a Vrock. It opened it's attack with a screech, which only effected Zak, then it landed to engage in melee... big mistake. Even with its damage reduction they savaged it before it realised how much danger it was in, and finished it off when it tried to fly to safety. Darkblade was able to use his Paladin abilities to remove all trace of the spores from the party after the fight. Then he decided to return to the rest of the PCs at the temple to inform them of the presence of demons in the woods.
The other 3 characters followed the trail of the dretches for another short while until they came within sight of a ramshackle cottage, with some out buildings and a well. Zak cast invisibility on himself and scouted around the structure. He spotted a halfling woman sitting near the well reading, but was instantly suspicious. He returned to Tel & Storn and filled them in on what he had seen. They decided to approach in a friendly manner and try to talk to the halfling, but Zak opted to remain invisible and search for other signs of trouble. So Storn & Tel walked toward the halfling at the well, weapons sheathed, and called out a greeting. The Halfling responded happily enough and they got to talking. The PCs obviously wondered why she was living out here, apparently on her own, and she told them a tale of her family being driven off from here, their home, by ogres. Most that survived fled to Waterdeep, but she could not stand the city and so returned to live a rustic life in the woods.
The players were very suspicious, but got no sense of fabrication when they tried to sense motive. Both Tel and the invisible Zak noticed a variety of tracks around the well, some very large. Finally, Storn got a sense of a subtle magic at work (the Succubus trying to charm him) and stepped back a little. At this Zak cast sleep on the halfling. Of course, it failed and he became visible. She backed up, alarmed and Zak decided to grab her and throw her down the well! This came as a bit of a surprise, but I went with it. When they rushed over to see what bacame of her they just saw an empty well shaft!
They decided to explore it, needless to say, and after getting down to the bottom, found the door and the tunnel beyond. They were expecting trouble, assuming that the 'halfling' would raise the alarm, so they went carefully, Zak in the lead. He stopped short just before the tunnel widened into the first oval cave and so only one of the four Ogres lying in ambush got a hampered swing at him. A brief, but nasty fight followed, and though Zak took a beating again, they all survived, and even managed to knock out one of the Ogres for questioning.
But that'll be next time! Hopefully Sunday night.
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HeresDaryl
Memunite
(10/28/03 9:43 am)
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Re: Daryl's Campaign - Recovered Temple
After their brief battle with the Ogres, Tel made his way back to the well and went to find Merinid and Grinder while Storn and Zak sat tight in the cavern where they had fought. Tel returned with the other two within a half hour. In the intervening time however, Storn & Zak had heard alot of noise coming from farther down the tunnel. Fearing an imminent counter attack, they slew the unconscious ogre and fell back towards the exit. They eventually all met up and once more advanced towards what they hoped would be the lower levels of the temple. As they were nearing the end of the winding tunnel, Zak noticed noises a short way ahead, just beyond darkvision range. Rounding the next bend he could see torchlight, and framed withing the torchlight an Ogre sentry, with spear at the ready!
The remaining four Ogre warriors were here, along with Trond, and they had prepared an ambush for the party. The Ogre in the open was bait, to draw in the attackers... and it did manage to goad the two dwarves into charging into melee. Another Ogre was positioned around the corner in the tunnel and attacked the dwarves with its reach. Despite a sound tactic, the bait Ogre died quickly, from a barrage of axe blows and magic missiles and the other had to retreat to area 1. The party advanced in here and engaged. Their massive ACs let them stand and go toe to toe with the Ogres and in the end they were just too good and too well equipped. When all of the Ogres were downed they took a few moments to heal up and then checked the bodies and the adjoining rooms. They missed the secret room and moved on, towards the stairs and trapdoor.
Storn was the first to raise the trapdoor, and he had a quick look around. The Giant had heard their approach, so he had positioned himself behind the trapdoor, and so could not be seen from the staircase. Storn flipped the trapdoor up and back, to open it fully, and got pounded by the stone giant straight away. The Dwarves and Tel rushed up the stairs into the room, intending to hack the Giant to bits in short order. They were somewhat dismayed to discover the Earth Elemental aswell. Storn somehow managed to get past the elemental and chase the giant up the corridor, while Tel & Grinder took on the summoned guardian. It doled out a bad beating, especially on Grinder, but with a little help from Merinid in the form of a maximized lightning bolt, it finally collapsed, in time for Tel to pour a potion into Grinder. While they had been battling it, Zak had executed a stunning series of tumbles to get past the elemental and behind the giant, which succumbed to his and Storn's joint assault in short order.
By now, though they had only been active for 5 or 6 hours, most of their resources had been drained for the day. Merinid, Storn & Tel all needed to rest to regain their spells or power points. They opted to do so within the entry area of the excavations. They retreated back to the Ogres guard area, using the Ogres clubs propped against the trapdoor as a crude alarm. After a couple of hours here, Tel heard the sound of the clubs falling over. Every one rushed to ready themselves as four Stone Giants made their way down the stairs. A few exchanges of ranged weapons (boulders and flasks of alchemists fire, mostly) came next, but after a few rounds Storn cast darkness on a pebble and threw it between the two groups. Due to the size of the corridor only one Giant at a time could advance, so Tel, Grinder & Storn postioned themselves 6ft or so from the edge of the darkened area. They gradually butchered each Giant as it emerged, with Merinid chipping in with his wand of magic missiles.
The Giants gave plenty aswell, but the PCs defences were so good thay they were able to take it in their stride and keep slugging. At some point, Zak - still in the guise of an elderly man - decided to tumble into the darkness and start flailing about with his borrowed sword of brilliant energy. Merinid decided to help him out, so he sent his pseudo-dragon familiar to find him (with its blindsight) and through it he cast True-Seeing on the Harper. This allowed Zak to sneak attack the still blinded giants and not long after that point the last of the giants fell. The party looted them and fell back again, to finish their rest. They hope that the pile of giant corpses will keep any other attackers away for a few hours at least.
I've decided that Dein would have been ordered to take his remaining 4 giants and stop the PCs advancing beyond the trapdoor chamber, or die in the effort. They will wait in ambush and try to gang-smash the PCs as they emerge. It's a potential killer, but if the PCs scout it well and make good use of spells, they could have the battle almost won before they even enter the room.
I guess we'll see on Wednesday...
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HeresDaryl
Memunite
(10/31/03 4:56 am)
Reply
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Re: Daryl's Campaign - Recovered Temple
They finished resting up without any more disturbances. Those who had to prepare spells or powers did so and they geared up and moved out. After clambering over the 7ft mound of giant corpse in the corridor, they ascended the stairs and spent some time listening at the trapdoor. They could hear nothing, and Zak was all for busting it open and racing into the room. Merinid was still suspicious though, and suggested that he could Dimension Door himself and 3 others into the corridor beyond the room above. They eventually agreed, so Grinder (whose player wasn't there) stayed on the stairs, waiting to hear the all clear from above, while Merinid transported himself, Storn, Zak & Tel into the corridor beyond the trapdoor room. They had all buffed themselves as much as possible, with Merinid and Zak making themselves invisible aswell.
He cast the spell and they suddenly appeared, standing in a large corridor... directly behind a Stone Giant, with another one 20ft further up the hall, and some sort of giant sized bat-winged monstrosity 25ft beynd that. They could also see two more Giants standing over the trapdoor, with clubs poised. Everybody was surprised in this instance, so we just had a straight initiative roll. All of the party except Storn went before all of the giants. Merinid opened up with a Hold Monster on the closest giant, and it worked. Zak went next and performed a sneak-attack bolstered Coup de Grace! One giant down in the first second or so! Good Start for the good guys. The rest of the giants lasted quite a bit longer than that first one though, but to be honest they never looked like winning this fight. Tel had his usual combination of Biofeedback and Inertial Barrier running, so he was never in real danger of dying, and took a very long time to be beaten unconscious. All the while he was hacking away, doling out more damage than he was taking.
Storn had almost all of his buffing spells active, and capped them off with Righteous Might. Including his racial AC bonus Vs giants, his AC went to 40! Even Dein needed a miracle to hit him. He was also laying waste all about him, though he found Dein's SR tough to penetrate, with his inflict spells or Slay Living. When Merinid finally managed to possess one of the giants the fight was nearly over, though Dein managed to get away... on 1 hit point. He'll have to heal up and ambush the party again before they get much further if he doesn't want to explain how he failed to The Second (or Imix). While the guys were looting the booty of the fallen giants they remembered Grinder. Zak opened the trapdoor to call him up into the room... but there was no sign of him?? They were surprisingly unconcerned at his disappearance and decided to press on, assuming that he would catch up.
Just as they were finishing healing up Zak heard movement from the stairway. He assumed it was Grinder and they all stopped, waiting for the Dwarf to catch up. Then they saw a figure step into the corridor, definitely not a Dwarf, though only Zak could make it the most important detail under its hood... then 4 writhing tentacles!
This was one of the teams that had been sent to retrieve the missing elemental power gems, from a crimelord in Skullport in this case. The team comprised a Mind-Flayer, two Grimlock rangers and a Shade warrior mage (I used Leevoth from the FRCS). The Illithid tried a mind-blast, but everyone made their save. Merinid responded with a maximized fireball which caught all four of the bad guys, even though the party could only see one. Zak & Tel advanced on the Mind-Flayer, but were blocked by the scorched Grimlocks. Storn dropped a Flamestrike on the Grimlocks & Illithid, and though the Mind-Flayer resisted it, the Grimlocks were badly burned, one dropping, the other on the verge of death. Tel finished him handily, while Zak tumbled to get behind the Illithid. He managed to disrupt its attempt to plane shift allowing Tel to step in and behead it.
While this was going on, Leevoth used his shadow stride to move up the corridor behind Merinid (in the body of a Stone Giant) and deal him a savage blow. Storn managed to hit the Shade once before he disappeared (shadow stride to the end of the hall, and on into the complex). After some looting they went and found Grinder, unconscious, in the Ogres privy. Unknown to them, the cult now has the Earth power gem aswell, so will start excavating for the Earth Node Gate as soon as possible. The Ogre labourers will be conscripted by Dein to attack the party next, so they have a chance to meet Kella and get some information. After the Ogres, the Doom Dreamers will fall back to the great temple area, along with Kex and instruct Falrinth & Smigmal to take out the intruders... which they'll attempt to do so long as they are not at too great a risk themselves.
We'll see what happens on Sunday.
Edited by: HeresDaryl at: 10/31/03 5:00 am
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HeresDaryl
Memunite
(10/31/03 5:30 am)
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Status report on the party
I suppose this is in order by now, since a few characters have gained in experience over the last few sessions...
Tel - Human Psychic Warrior 12 (aiming for Slayer PrC)
Grinder - Shield Dwarf Fighter 10
Merinid - Drow Wizard 10
Storn - Gold Dwarf Cleric 7/Divine Disciple 4 (Tempus)
Zak - Half-Drow Rogue 5/Ranger 1/Harper Scout 5
Omar - Human Druid 9 (sorta part timer)
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Infiniti2000
Cherub
(10/31/03 5:41 am)
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ezSupporter
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Re: Status report on the party
Great tactics with the darkness and the true seeing on the rogue. That hold monster was a great idea, too. You guys are on the home stretch, best of luck!
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HeresDaryl
Memunite
(11/3/03 9:46 am)
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Brief but Bloody!
After looting the Grimlocks and the Illithid the party backtracked to locate Grinder. They found him in the company of Omar & Rend, who had slipped into the tunnels behind the retrieval team and followed them at a distance. So the group was regathered at last and it was with some confidence that they headed farther into the complex. At the end of the corridor where they fought the giants they chose to check the door on the left before following the route they had seen both Dein & Leevoth take (unknown to them, while they had returned to the Ogre guard area looking for Grinder, Dein had sneaked back through this very door, into the ogre workers quarters).
Zak went in first, moving silently and casting invisibility when he was two thirds along the entry tunnel. He heard shuffling sounds from the two locked doors and he also heard rumblings from one of the chambers in the corners of the room... Dein girding the remaining Ogres for battle! The other PCs moved up when they heard the shouting, while Zak moved to one of the cell doors. The party's approach alerted the Ogres but the PCs acted quicker. As Grinder, Tel & Merinid's possessed Stone Giant advanced, Omar called down a column of holy flame, incinerating the first 4 monsters. Another rank of the beasts rushed forward to engage in melee, but were no match for the PCs front-liners. Omar followed up with a wall of flame across the packed room, roasting several Ogres directly and scorching those beyond. Dein was in the far corner of the room, casting Unholy Aura on himself and goading the Ogres on.
After a few rounds the only thing holding the PCs back was the ever growing pile of dead ogres, In fact, after a while the dead were not even falling over, just leaning against the pile. Tel decided to dimension door into the room rather than try to make the climb check in his full plate armor! Eventually there were only two Ogres left along with Dein. The Stone Giant that Merinid had possessed was finally slain, so Merinid promptly possessed one of the Ogres and turned on Dein. At the same time, the last Ogre also attacked the half fiend... The party were somewhat puzzled by this but just held back on their side of the wall of fire. Dein wounded the apparently confused Ogre terribly and it backed out, through the fire and slumped against the wall. Grinder rushed at it and promptly hacked it in the ribs. Before his eyes it slumped unconscious and gradually transformed back into a woman in foresters clothing... Kella.
Meanwhile, Dein made short work of the possessed Ogre, leaving him alone against the party, with Merinid finally returned to his own body. Storn was the first to attack, having cast Righteous Might on himself. He took alot of damage passing through the wall of fire and then quite a bit more from Dein, who also softened everybody up with his Blasphemy. Grinder and Omar were scrambling to get a healing potion into Kella, and after a cure spell from Omar, she finally came round. Dein had bullrushed Storn back into the flames, almost killing him, so the Dwarven Cleric backed off to heal. Dein then strode into the midst of the party and caught Tel several savage blows. Storn & Merinid tried several spells against the beast, but only Storn's Blade Barrier penetrated his spell resisteance. This forced him out into the main chamber where the party surrounded him. He still doled out alot of damage, before Merinid finally got through with a magic missile, killing him outright!
After healing up, they got all the information they could from Kella and intend to go down to the lower level immediately.
That'll be Sunday I suppose...
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HeresDaryl
Memunite
(11/4/03 7:45 am)
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Here it is, the body count!
One of my players went back through the campaign log in its entirety and did a check of all the casualties so far... I've included it below, and will edit to update as required in the final few sessions.
Alive but not in current group ...
Galaeron - Human (Shade) Rog2/Wiz1
Lucan - Aasimar Paladin 5 (horse-minder)
Jenser - Human Ranger 2/Fighter 2/Rogue 3/Bloodhound 3
Templar Darkblade of Kelemvor
Orrusk - Orog Fighter 8
Alive and in current group ...
Tel - Human Psychic Warrior 12 (aiming for Slayer PrC)
Grinder - Shield Dwarf Fighter 10
Merinid - Drow Wizard 10
Storn - Gold Dwarf Cleric 7/Divine Disciple 4 (Tempus)
Zak - Half-Drow Rogue 5/Ranger 1/Harper Scout 5
Omar - Human Druid 9 (sorta part timer)
And here is the list of dead characters...
( James Reyburn)
( Druss)
( Rock)
( Daniel)
( Severen)
( Cairn)
( Isildur)
( Valdar)
( Ellandir)
( Fendar) - Is Raised
( Fendar)
( Rend)
( Vesteel)
( Fenster)
( Somar)
( Kethoth)
( Bayle)
( Nicos)
( Imzel)
( Mort)
( Finn)
( Beornegar)
( Mylan)
( Thorik)
( Van) - Is Raised
( Malark)
( Raziel) - Is Raised
( Van)
( Raziel)
( Tibidoc)
( Robek)
( Tel) - Is Raised
( Zak) - Is Raised
Edited by: HeresDaryl at: 11/13/03 7:00 am
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HeresDaryl
Memunite
(11/13/03 10:13 am)
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Ambushed
The last session ended with a stirring victory for the PCs over Dein and the last of the Ogre workers. Having also freed the Hobgoblin slaves, the party discovered the tunnel leading into the Stone Giants quarters. A short time after the battle they heard sounds of movement coming from behind them, from the tunnel leading back to the well. They were relieved to see Omar, Rend & Templar Darkblade appear to bolster their numbers. So they trooped into the Giants den and proceeded to start searching for loot and/or Giants to kill. They were all in the central room, waiting for Zak to open the strongbox when the Cultist counter-offensive struck!
Smigmal had used her scroll of Greater Invisibility and stealthily made her way into the midst of the group. She struck at Tel with her death attack, and though he did not succumb to the instant kill, he was grievously wounded. Before anyone could react Smigmal had drawn her Greatsword and struck Tel down, with her poisoned blade knocking him to near death. Everyone started swinging blindly, hoping to injure the assassin, except Merinid who cast trueseeing from a scroll. While the party was trying to get their bearings they were caught by a cone of cold from the doorway (courtesy of Falrinth)... once more with no enemy visible. Unfortunately Tel was caught in the spells area and killed instantly. Zak also took the full brunt of the spell and the massive shock caused his heart to fail. Two PCs down after 2 rounds... not good!
As some of the fighters moved towards the door they were met by Leevoth, the Shade. A prolonged melee ensued, further complicated by Storn casting Anti-Magi field on himself and moving onto the doorway (this almost certainly saved at least some of the PCs, though it negated some of the party's tricks aswell). Smigmal had turned her attentions to Darkblade, and hurt him badly before Merinid used his faerie fire ability to highlight her. She didn't last too long after that. Leevoth fared little better, with Rend savaging him and Grinder also weighing in with a few nasty blows, though he bought time for Falrinth to boost himself further. A long time was spent with most of the party flailing blindly for the levitating wizard while he conducted a spell-duel with Merinid... which went mostly in Falrinth's favour, but was not decisive either way. Finally, running out of relevant spells, Falrinth simply teleported away (possibly to come back and haunt the PCs in a later campaign???).
Fortunately they have reached a level where death is a temporary thing. Storn was able to raise Zak straight after the battle and he got enough experience from the fight to return to level 11 (yep, that much!), and Merinind decided to Teleport to Waterdeep, in the company of Darkblade and Tel's body, to get him raised aswell. He was also going to take the party loot to trade in for as many useful items as he could in 12 hours or so. By the time he had sold their booty and divided it up, he realised that if he put most of Tel's own wealth with it, they could afford true resurrection, so he too stayed at the same level. We finished there on Sunday, with Merinid, Tel & Darkblade just about to return. So it will be down to the lower levels next Sunday... getting very close now, almost to the grand finale.
Watch this space.
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HeresDaryl
Memunite
(11/18/03 1:42 pm)
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lower levels
Merinid teleported himself, Darkblade & Tel back to the recovered temple to rejoin their comrades. They were also pleased to see that their group had been further bolstered by the arrival of Ismene & Sandoval, Darkblade's & Omar's cohorts, respectively. They now had a company 9 strong (10 including Rend) and were confident of handling whatever came against them. The group decided to methodically clear out the remainder of the upper level, leaving no threat behind them when they descended. I had already determined that Kex would be in the lower levels, excavating the earth node, but I placed a pair of gauths in his lair. Though these gave the party a real fright at first, it was quickly evident that they weren't a major threat. A few PCs took dome damage from the scorching rays, or were exhausted, but the gauths didn't last long.
The party spent a few minutes gathering their breath after despatching the beholderkin, before checking the very end of the main tunnel (they failed to spot the secret doors to Smigmal & Falrinth's chambers). At last it was time to descend the long, winding stairway to the lower temple level. They went cuatiously, Zak always checking ahead of the main group. Finally they arrived at the entry chamber and warily filed in, watching the huge passageway to the north. So it was that Merinid & Darkblade were the first to be grabbed by the pair of ropers. Merinid was instantly reduced to 0 str and was helpless until Omar cast Bear's heart. It took a long time for the party to destroy both ropers, and several party members had taken strength damage by the end. Luckily, Omar still had quite a few charges remaining on the staff of healing, so he set to restoring the party members to full vigor.
While he was doing this Grinder and Ismene, whose strength had not suffered, had moved halfway up the large corridor, watching for further attacks. Instead, the whole party heard a voice call out to them from the top of the stairs ahead. The speaker introduced himself as Dugart, and yet again offered the party a place of power in the new regime when Tharizdun was freed, if they would only give up their fools errand of trying to forestall the dark gods release. As expected the PCs responded with threats and trash-talk, so Dugart simply laughed and walked away... depending on how their next battle goes, he might make the offer again, to the survivors.
Once they were all fully recovered, Merinind had glimmer, his familiar, fly up the stairs and scout what was awaiting them. He returned swiftly and spoke of armor-clad ogres and two 'metal giants'. The party slowly made their way up the stairs... until they could finally see the two golems... who slowly went into motion and moved to attack!
I'll write up how the battle went after we finish it, next session.
Edited by: HeresDaryl at: 11/18/03 1:48 pm
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HeresDaryl
Memunite
(11/26/03 9:25 am)
Reply
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Golems & Ogres &... Rhinos?? Oh My!
The party responded quickly once the Golems went into motion, and managed to position themselves on the landing between the two automatons. Omar cast call lightning storm and then shape-changed into a snake. Storn cast Righteous might on himself and took up a position in the middle of the landing, where he could strike at either Golem over the heads of his comrades. Grinder and Tel moved to engage the Golem on the right while Darkblade and Ismene went left. Zak managed to tumble through the melee to get behind the construct on the right, though it made little difference. Meanwhile, Merinid had cast invisibility and Magic Jar and managed to possess one of the elite ogres.
The battle dragged on, with Grinder & Tel power attacking to bypass the Golem's DR (Tel used his deep impact feat to good effect here) and Ismene & Darkblade combating the other one. Ismene eventually passed her Adamantine Bastard Sword to Darkblade, and concentrated on healing him from their wands, keeping him in the fight. Zak realised after a few futile attempts that he couldn't hurt these creatures at all, particularly not with a brilliant energy weapon. So he decided to explore the surrounding rooms and soon came across the captive Hound Archon. Merinid was causing havoc among the Ogres, using the possessed monster to attack the others and once that one was killed, possessing another and repeating the process.
Fortunately no one succumbed to the Golem's breath weapon, though Tel & Darkblade both took alot of damage. Omar had managed to sneak into the left hand room in snake form, where he then changed into a Rhino! He proceeded to make several charge attempts against the golem, finally connecting and dealing enough damage that Darkblade could finish it off with his next swing. By now, three of the Ogres were dead and the other 4 had fled back to their chamber, out of range of Merinid's Magic Jar. With all their force concentrated, the other Golem didn't last long, and they moved into the right hand chamber to heal up. They also found Zak, returning with the freed Archon, who explained his circumstances. While they were thus distracted, the remaining Ogres ran up the stairs to the main temple to reinforce the waiting priests.
I'll pick up the battle in the temple later...
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