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Author
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Comment
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srmilich
Faen
(8/5/03 11:23 pm)
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Re: Session 9
Hi Infiniti,
Thanks for the comments. I am still tossing up as to what I am going to do about the pixie, and indeed my mostly chaotic party, who seem to think being Chaotic Neutral is a licence to go nuts, with no consequences.  I think I joked at one point during this session that Hedrack and the authorities in Verbobonc should team up to take out the party. 
The party is rapidly getting a reputation for causing a ruckus every time they visit Verbobonc so I am considering having a few problems for them when they return next, like some traders not willing to barter with them, or being arrested for some sort of crime. I believe that Nuke was planning to set their inn on fire at one stage because they irritated him. 
The thieves guild attacking is a good idea though, as they have actually had members see the pixie, so there might be some retaliation involved.
Its kinda funny, as Nuke has been present for two out of three of the pixie's shenanigans, so it is quite possible that he might get the blame.  City guards not being that bright and all. When Vellian has been visible he has been careful most of the time to assume a halfling form, so identification could prove difficult for all but the thieves.
Also, the one trick wonder Nuke should find his one trick mitigated by spell immunity (also negates metamagicked fireballs, too, so it would work against empowered fireball).
Yes, I am quite happy for my party to go destroying people in the mines, as Hedrack has been happily scrying away, most of the time doing so unnoticed, so he now knows their tactics and how they do things. Eeridik and Tac have fled to the fire temple, seeking shelter from Tessimon, so now the fire temple and the Outer Fane both know about the party's abilities.
Rest assured, most of the groups encountered from the fire temple onwards will have spell immunity, see invisibility, invisibility purge, true seeing, protection from elements and spell resistance cranking to combat my party's repetitive tactics. Nuke will become next to useless. Then Varachan will have to have a chat with someone about the wonder of variety. 
Thanks Infiniti, I always appreciate some helpful tips.
Cheers,
Simon.
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srmilich
Faen
(8/14/03 3:27 am)
Reply
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Re: Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))
Session 10
Bellag: NG Elf Ranger9/Wiz1
Vellian: NE Pixie Rogue4/Assassin3
Hassan: LN Human Monk1/Cleric1 of Fharlangan/Wiz8
Nuke: CN Human Wiz5/Elemental Savant5
ToadWeasel: CN Human Fighter4/Sorc5
Apologies if the character progression seems to have made several jumps or changed heaps the last few logs, I have been altering it as I believed it stood without actually consulting my player’s character sheets, it should be current as of this session, I was probably about a level behind.
On with the log:
The party retreated to the safety of Rastor, where, after holding a party meeting, it was decided that Hassan would attempt to scry for the ranger so as to ascertain whether or not it was possible to rescue him. When the vision appeared in Hassan’s mirror, they could see the ranger, looking ill-treated, currently unconscious and manacled to a wall, along with a dwarf and a rabid looking dog.
The decision was made to rest so as to have a full complement of spells, and that Nuke would then teleport into the jail with Vellian, rescue the elf, then teleport back. This was accomplished with relative ease. The gargoyles were about to investigate the sudden silence from the dog’s barking when Vellian had killed it, but Nuke managed to teleport the ranger, the pixie and Harchol the dwarf away just in time.
Bellag scrounged some equipment from his companions, bemoaning the loss of his mithril chain shirt and his bow. Toadie, however was conspicuously absent. He had wandered off into the wilderness, leaving behind all his equipment, never to be seen again. His player had decided to play a new character, he really missed the loss of his animated tower shield and magical greatsword. He had decided to play a sylph, a pixie like creature from the Monster Manual II.
Avian: CN Sylph Sorcerer6
I kinda feel like Professor Frink in the Simpsons Pulp Fiction send-up: “Oh, those pixies are going to pay!!”
So now my party has a 10th level wizard (Nuke), an 8th level wizard (Hassan), an effective 9th level sorcerer (Avian, due to sorcerer racial bonuses ), a pixie rogue/assassin, and an elven ranger/wizard. Anyone think my party is a little wizard heavy? I don’t actually have a fighter in the group, seeing as the elf is played as an archer.
I am a little worried, as I think a party of mages plus some bit players in melee are gonna get their butts kicked. I don’t really want to veto a character choice because of their chosen class, but I also don’t want to tone down the fights simply because my players don’t want to play a balanced party. I mean, realistically, I can’t see Hedrack going, “Oh, a party of wizards. Lets not send assassins to kill them, they have a crap Fort save.”
On the other hand, it does make it easy for me to work out when Hedrack will attack them. As all of the characters have spell casting capability, it means that they all have to get 8 hours rest, so setting watches is going to be a bit hazardous, unless they do it in shifts and spend 16 hours resting. Hmm, could be very interesting. 
Anyhoo, enough of my diatribe.
Now reunited, the party decided that an attack was needed to finish off the denizens of the Air temple. They travelled up towards the south gate, to find the gates were closed and locked. All attempts to force the doors proved fruitless, until Vellian disabled the door hinges and the doors were pulled down, to reveal a thick looking wall of stone set up behind the doors.
Avian summoned an earth elemental to begin the process of smashing through the wall, which Hassan finished off with his pick. By the time the party had broken the wall, and emerged into the hallway, a mass of undead had shambled into position, all the orcs, gnolls, humans and ogres had been turned into zombies. Even Descritad had met with such a fate.
Nuke, who for some reason was in the lead, immediately fireballed the mass of undead, as Avian and Vellian flew into the complex. A crossbow bolt flew out from the sniper position, narrowly missing the mage (could have been painful if Choranth had hit, +1 bolt of humanoid slaying!!), and Vellian moved up to the slot to fire arrows at the cleric, noting that he was currently visible.
Avian could hear the sound of chanting behind a hastily reconstructed barbican, and moved up to investigate, casting fireball on the lurking Fachish, and setting fire to the barbican (whose disintegrated door had been replaced by wood). Fachish responded by casting poison on the sylph, whose invisibility also was removed via spells. (I scored a critical with the touch attack, but the sylph survived the first save. 2d10 Con damage, ouch!!) 
Meanwhile, Hassan destroyed the last of the undead with a well placed fireball, and Nuke was under attack by a raised Kellial, who attacked with a vengeance on his killer. Bellag noticed the duelist was wearing his equipment, notably his mithril chain shirt, and fired arrow after arrow at Kellial. Eventually, the duelist was brought down, and quickly stripped of his stuff by the ranger. Vellian dispelled the invisibility purge of Choranth, and shot her some more, until she was forced to flee. Avian eventually finished off Fachish with a phantasmal killer, and the combat was over.
About a minute later, the sylph fell to the floor in pain, having failed his secondary save and being reduced to 4 Con! (I rolled reasonably well, just as well he passed the first save!!) He flew back to Rastor, to seek some assistance from Rerrid, who, although shocked at the sight of the pixie-like creature, readily agreed to help. Surprisingly, this is really the first time any of my players have attempted to roleplay with the Rastor residents, (with the exception of Tal), so at last I can introduce the idea of a dwarven temple lurking within the mines.
The rest of the party continued their search of the area, not proceeding to the areas beyond the barbican, but exploring all the other areas. Bellag discovered the notes in the chamber of Fachish, finding them quite illuminating. Vellian looted the quarters of Choranth, noting the glowing sphere in floating in mid-air. He attempted to activate it via trial and error, and failing to do so, deciding to set up a rudimentary booby trap for the first party member to walk in the door. The old book on top of the door trick! 
The person who tripped it was, of course, Bellag. (DM note: The player running Bellag never seems to have any luck. He is usually the one who sets off a trap or falls down a pit. See all the stuff that happened to Yevgeny and Toyfulzorn and you will see what I mean)
The other party members did not fare any better against the ball, Hassan attempting a turn check against it, concluding that it would take far greater powers than his to destroy it. (To give them a hint, I decided that he could feel his turning powers being dampened when in the ball’s presence.) Examining the altar area, Bellag attempted to pick up the trumpet and censer, but after feeling disturbed when doing so, decided to smash them lest they cause he and his companions harm.
Hassan attempted to examine the tapestries, but after feeling a magic tingling when touching one, chose to destroy them instead. Nuke directed his fire elemental familiar Toast to burn them, but ended up with one confused fire elemental, who alternately attacked his master or simply wandered away. Hassan instead used alchemist fire to destroy the tapestries, and then the party gathered together to decide what to do next.
Some were in favour of heading onwards towards the fire temple, while others wanted to backtrack to explore the areas they had bypassed by coming through this entrance. Eventually, it was agreed to return to Rastor so as to make introductions to the sylph who had aided their attack, and then to decide after a good nights sleep.
Avian was happy to meet the party and offered his services, limited as they were until he was fully restored. He made the point that the dwarven cleric would not be able to restore him for at least two more days, and the decision was made to remain in Rastor until then. Avian, in gratitude to the priest of Moradin, spread the word of the dwarf’s god around the town, (at one point chatting to a re-emerged Tal, who has infected the sylph with Tanbrosh) and also engaged in conversation about the surrounding area.
Bellag accompanied the sylph on one occasion, and after chatting with the priest about their mission, and showing him the papers he had recovered, learned that there once was a temple of Moradin in the mines. Rerrid became quite excited at the notes pertaining to Tulian’s Eye, and asked the elf if it would be possible that if his party came across the area, to clean it of the monsters that no doubt infested the area. In return, the party would be allowed to keep some of the treasure they found inside, and the dwarves would then repopulate it and provide for a safe resting place for the party inside the mine area proper.
The decision was made to explore the bypassed areas before continuing onwards, in the hope of discovering the temple for the dwarves. As they moved northwards, they were attacked by a hydra, which bit at Hassan and Bellag several times before it was slain. Continuing onwards (failing to see the secret door into the temple), they came across a wooden staircase. Bellag ascended it noisily, then found himself under siege by a group of orcs.
His companions also moved upwards to assist him, the elf having taken two deep slashes to the side. Eventually the orcs were slain, leaving only a group of terrified women and children cowering in the corner. The party chose to slaughter the lot of them, unarmed as they were, and moved onwards to an orcish living quarters, then into a large room with a pit. As Bellag investigated the pit, some orcs charged into the room.
Two orcs charged the ranger, attempting to knock him into the pit, and one succeeded, sending him crashing down. Three others attacked Nuke, and Hassan attempted to return the favour by bull rushing the orcs near the pit. He missed spectacularly, tumbling into the pit, narrowly missing the ranger. More orcs charged in, accompanied by a larger orc wielding an orcish double axe. Murant made a beeline for the mage, while frothing at the mouth.
Nuke was doing badly, he had fireballed the initial rush of orcs, but had taken several cuts from Murant’s axe. Vellian amused himself by attempting to force an orc into the pit by hamstringing it, while Hassan and Bellag had their own problems dealing with a beetle that had emerged from the pit. Nuke flew backwards to over the pit, to escape the ravening orc. Avian, after his phantasmal killer spell failed, moved up to the orc and cast entice gift, and the bemused orc handed over his axe!
Vellian assisted his flying comrade by shooting an arrow into the orc’s eye (on reflection I shouldn’t have allowed this called shot, when you think of the size of an eye, but at the time it seemed reasonable). The orc howled with rage and threw his spear at the hovering wizard, nearly killing him.
After killing the beetle, Hassan used an animated rope to attempt to get out, but succeeded only in grasping the orc barbarian, and proceeded to drag him into the pit. Bellag attempted to jump out of the pit, but even with his magical boots, was unable to make it.
Murant grabbed his axe, as Avian had dropped it, severed the rope and rose to his feet, only to take two pixie arrows and a fireball, to drop back to the ground dead. Vellian eagerly stole some doses of scorpion poison he found on the orc, while Nuke assisted his companions out of the rubbish pit. Once injuries were healed, via the wands of Hassan and Avian, the party moved on, stopping only when Nuke fireballed some female and children of the orcish persuasion cowering behind a shield wall. I may have to start imposing evil points at some stage on my party. They can’t hide behind their CN/N alignment forever. 
They came to a large door, which Vellian de-trapified (hey, I’m making up words!) and opened, looking down a hallway with symbols of hammers. Undoubtedly this was the temple of Moradin. They investigated the halls, coming across some spheres, which Vellian examined, but managed to shake off the effects of both polymorph and dominate. I may have misread the accompanying text, but I believed the trap was a once only effect, so I allowed the party to take the spheres without further saving throws.
Vellian scouted ahead slightly, coming into the room with the altar anvil. I decided that the golem would not emerge as the pixie was invisible. The text does say the golem rises “when anyone enters the chamber”, but not how it detects this. Even if it did detect him and rise from the floor, it would not be able to see the pixie. Unless it’s magic immunity also applies to what it can ‘see’. Aaargh!! This was all utterly confusing, and probably something I should bring up in the rules forum one day.
The rest of the party followed, and the golem immediately rose and attacked, slamming Bellag twice, and completely destroying an earth elemental that Avian summoned. The party retreated, once they determined they could not harm it, while Vellian scouted out the treasure room, finding the second lock in the floor, but unsure as to what it’s function was. It was at this point that we ended the session, as it was latish, I’d had 8 hours sleep in 3 days, and my eyes were refusing to let me read.
I decided that the Tanbrosh would have a day or so to take effect, so Avian will wake up the next day and feel better, until Tal clues him in to what happens. Muahahahahahaha.
I am now completely caught up with the actual session logs as they occur, our next session will be about a week and a half from now.
Cheers, Simon.
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Wychwethyl
Human
(9/6/03 5:06 am)
Reply
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Re: Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))
It sounds like you have a pretty crazy player my friend. I understand that the standard PC races can become boring after a while but seriously. I have never come across a pixie assassin in any game I've ever played , although after giving it some thought it would be quite effective. What I suggest you do is allow your player to play his pixie but make a few changes to the campaign to account for it. I doubt it was written with this "death pixie" in mind so you have to be a little creative. Remember, above all else, that a game should be fun don't take it all too seriously and you'll remember it for a long time.
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arcane12
Faen
(9/10/03 2:28 am)
Reply
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Re: Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))
heh, just wait till that pixie wanders a little close to a dragon, (ok it'll get the save for the breath weapon, but the claws and bite with huge attack bonus's and decent damage shoudl sort it) or a few of the other creatures that have blindsight, and with only DC 14 on the death attack many of the fighters and clerics in the CRM will give it probs
Edited by: arcane12 at: 9/10/03 2:28 am
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srmilich
Memunite
(9/25/03 11:15 pm)
Reply
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Re: Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))
or a few of the other creatures that have blindsight, and with only DC 14 on the death attack many of the fighters and clerics in the CRM will give it probs
Heh, yeah, I am waiting to see what happens to the pixie if it comes across Chymon. Hmm, lets see....bite, snatch, breathe fire....one crispy pixie! Assuming the character doesn't get retired beforehand of course, his player has been mentioning doing something like that as the rest of the players are complaining that the pixie is taking all the money.
Oh, and his death attack is actually 21 or 22, he has something like a 20 intelligence and an assassins dagger. He doesn't study opponents very often, not when he can shoot three arrows and do way more damage.
I am behind in my logs again....surprise surprise! I should be posting them up shortly.
Cheers,
Simon.
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srmilich
Memunite
(9/25/03 11:28 pm)
Reply
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Re: Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))
Session 11
Bellag: NG Elf Ranger9/Wiz1
Vellian: NE Pixie Rogue4/Assassin3
Hassan: LN Human Monk1/Cleric1 of Fharlangan/Wiz8
Nuke: CN Human Wiz5/Elemental Savant5
Avian: CN Sylph Sorc6
Vellian decided that he would attempt to open the lock, (which I treated as a Disable Device check for the second lock) and succeeded in opening the doors without turning himself into pixie paste. Once inside, he looted all valuables which did not look to be of religious significance, then rejoined the party. The decision was made to return to Rastor and seek the help of Rerrid.
Rerrid was ecstatic that the area surrounding the temple had been cleared, and decided that he and some acolytes would journey towards the temple the following day. He also introduced an adventurer that had recently arrived in Rastor, and he recommended him to the party.
New Player
Kenjy: LN Human Monk9
Kenjy’s player is a friend of Bellag’s player, having just moved back to Australia from overseas. He is new to 3rd edition, and will be picking it up as he goes along. Heh, what a way to learn, in a death heavy campaign such as this!!
I was at first reluctant to play with 6 players, as I felt that it would not make the play enjoyable for all, as my time would be divided too thinly. I am keeping an open mind, hopefully the problems won’t be too severe. As it turned out, this number of players means the things they fight get smote pretty quickly. Another melee character should also alleviate my concern about having too many wizards.
The party met with Rerrid early the next day, and set off towards the mines, with Avian feeling the positive effects of his Tanbrosh kicking in. He also found a note from Tal the next day, asking how he was and that he would catch up with him soon.
The party made it back to the temple without further incident, and Nuke unlocked the door again, as Vellian was choosing to remain inconspicuous. Upon entering the hammersphere room, Rerrid asked what was placed here. Bellag responded that there had been some spheres sitting on the platform, that had risen by themselves and disappeared. (Vellian pilfering them) Rerrid, recognising the description of the item, made the statement that they didn’t have the power to levitate and turn invisible, getting a resounding shrug from the elf and the rest of the party.
This kinda irritated me a bit, as even though the rest of the party didn’t actually see the pixie take them, surely they would have worked out what was going on. I am all for keeping player and character knowledge separate, but the mage has a 22 intelligence, he knows there is an invisible pixie in the party, surely he could put two and two together.
Moving into the next room, Rerrid ordered the golem back into its hole, then proceeded to the treasure room, which only had religious artifacts inside. He could tell by the empty chests that some treasure had resided here, but had been pilfered, and curiously, there were no tracks on the floor at all. Again the party confessed to no knowledge of the treasure, but Rerrid is getting seriously ticked off, not so much about the money, as he would have let the party keep most of it for clearing the area, but for the loss of the hammerspheres. He might have to have a chat with Moradin about that.
The party left the dwarves to reacquaint themselves with their new temple, moving on to explore the areas beyond the barbican of the air temple. They came across the spectre, eventually defeating the undead monster, but not before Nuke had a couple of levels drained, then moved into the rooms containing the gargoyles, who were defeated in short order. Bellag was shocked to discover how close to the entrance he had been housed when captured, and no one thought to look through the crap on the floor to search for loot, which was a shame, as Bellag’s ring of protection had been placed there when he was captured.
The party believed that they may be quite close to the Fire Temple now, so Hassan moved back into the pit room to attempt a scry check on Tessimon. Nuke, Kenjy and Bellag decided to wait for the hour long spell to complete, while Vellian and Avian decided to explore further.
Between them, they managed to take out the cloakers, the water bridge guards, Choranth (who had fled to the area when the temple was overtaken) and the chuul. By themselves!! Vellian is quite damaging when he can get rid of the kuo-toa who can see him and thus always sneak attack, and Avian, who can have a DC 28 phantasmal killer if he rolls well enough on eagle’s splendour, is almost as bad.
In the ensuing chaos, the boats were also destroyed, meaning the party has to swim out or fly to the bridge to investigate it. After having amused themselves, the two fey flew back to the group, who had finished their scrying and were now looking at Tessimon sitting at a table reading a scroll. She didn’t appear to have noticed the scrying, and a debate began as to whether or not they should teleport in and attempt to kidnap her. Eventually, it was decided to continue along the passages.
The party explored the areas cleared by the fey, including the storeroom, where Kenjy, Avian and Bellag were damaged by the yellow mold. They didn’t manage to find Tulian’s eye, and when they got to the water temple “bridge”, Avian and Vellian flew out towards the inner crater. As they got closer, they could make out the shape of the door, and then the towers struck, damaging Avian, but Vellian managed to dodge. The fey both retreated back to the group, and Hassan noticed a scry sensor appear next to the group a minute or so later. Hedrack will be sending some people to deal with the party soon. Muahahahahahahahahaha.
As they moved into the forge area, the blade spirit attacked, inflicting minimal damage before it was destroyed. The two destrachans put up quite a good fight, managing to knock Hassan and Bellag into the pit before Nuke and the sylph managed to kill them off. Hassan and Bellag found that they could have spent all day in the pit without drowning, seeing as according to the DMG, they can stay down there without breathing for about 30 odd rounds!!! Eventually, Nuke summoned an earth elemental to retrieve them.
The lone destrachan and the giant ants were dispatched quite quickly, and the party backtracked to the fungi grove. Once again, Nuke was prepared to burn the entire area (I think he is fungi-phobic), until Tarren emerged, with Kiibo and Aslaak in tow, demanding to know why they were there. Fortunately, the party chose to talk to him, learning much about how to get into the fanes, and the organisation of the temple. They then departed.
It was here that the session ended, with the party to head back to the dwarven temple to rest and relax, although they are going to meet with some resistance before they get that far. Hehehehehe!
Cheers,
Simon
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Wychwethyl
Mortal
(9/26/03 4:06 am)
Reply
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Re: Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))
Hmm. It seems that the pixie has an ally in the sylph that could make short work of even a dragon. Phantasmal killer with a DC of 28! Even a dragon would have to roll well to survive that! I thought my gaming group were a bunch of loons but your guys take the cake. But as I say, as long as everyone's having fun it doesn't really matter. However, it may be quite interesting if you decided to throw a real challenge at them, it seems as though those two little flyboys are just cruising through.
I also have to ask, why did most of the party stop to watch Hassan scry? If your players complain about not getting a share of the money maybe they should go off and try to find some instead of wasting an hour watching a mirror while two of them wander off to tackle the dangers alone.
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arcane12
Memunite
(9/26/03 4:43 pm)
Reply
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Re: Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))
you said the pixie is taking all the money- where does it keep it? I means 1000 gp would be a bit much for a pixie to carry? I cant imagine a pixie with a bag of holding - unless its a special pixie sized one... hmm. I wonder if you do what most DM's do (including me 90% of the time) and not count gp encumbrance. 50 coins (standard PHB rule btw) weigh 1 lb. so 1000 gp weigh 20 lbs! not a prob for a fighter with heavy armor (oh no meduim encubrance from loot ...) but a pixie??
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srmilich
Memunite
(9/27/03 1:04 am)
Reply
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Re: Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))
you said the pixie is taking all the money- where does it keep it?
He keeps it in a Heward's handy haversack. He could also have a bag of holding, remember magical items resize for different users, and the holding space would stay the same. Generally I don't enforce encumbrance rules, unless my party wants to pick up 10 suits of full plate. I usually assume my party keeps it all in gem or valuable form without converting it to gold....or we would clean all merchants out of their gold!!
The party stopped to do a scry check because Avian played a prank on Bellag. I didn't mention it in the log, as I didn't consider it very interesting for the hive mind of these boards. It was to do with player one-upmanship....I won't go into details as it is unimportant. Occasionally our games can turn into player in-fighting...and unfortunately this was one of those moments. Partially my fault for allowing it to happen if the first place......ah well, at least I learned something. 
Cheers,
Simon.
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srmilich
Memunite
(9/29/03 10:24 pm)
Reply
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Re: Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))
Session 12
Bellag: NG Elf Ranger9/Wiz1
Vellian: NE Pixie Rogue4/Assassin3
Hassan: LN Human Monk1/Cleric1 of Fharlangan/Wiz8
Nuke: CN Human Wiz5/Elemental Savant5
Avian: CN Sylph Sorc7
Kenjy: LN Human Monk9
Our heroes made their way back to the temple, getting as far as the forge area, before they noticed movement ahead, and some growling. Bellag moved ahead to scout, and could see the shape of some felines, and attempted to retreat. Unfortunately, he was smelt by the beasts, and two of them pounced on him, the other two charging to attack the others, and soon combat was joined. An invisible stalker, followed by a troglodyte also entered the battle.
Bellag was having a bad time of it, being grappled and continuously raked by the lions. The troglodyte attempted to finish the elf off, but was phantasmal killered by Avian, dropping to the ground stone dead. The elf was only given a small reprieve, as he was unable to escape his tormentors, and was killed by the lions. Vellian finished off the invisible stalker, while Kenjy and Hassan took care of the other two lions.
Nuke had his hands full, after having fireballed the stalker, he was suddenly stabbed in the back by an assassin lurking in the ledge over the crater (Bethe). Two lightning bolts later, and the assassin was dead, and the remaining two lions also were no more once Vellian had dealt with them. Gathering up their equipment, the group moved back to the temple of Moradin to rest and relax.
Avian woke up the next day feeling quite terrible, as his Tanbrosh-addicted body began to complain about not having its required dose. He managed to diagnose himself as drug-addicted, and vowed terrible vengeance against Tal. Vellian attempted to help his companion with a scroll of remove disease, to no avail. Nuke attempted to make an anti-toxin with his alchemy lab, but announced it would take about four weeks of experimentation before he could be sure of its effectiveness.
Rerrid was unable to cast a neutralise poison spell, due to being too low a level, so the party teleported to Verbobonc to find a cure for the sylph. After having the spell cast on him, the sylph felt much better, and was determined to find the little man who had poisoned him so. After resting in the town that night, the party decided to teleport back to Rastor to try and find Tal. They entered the Grey Lodge, and Hassan immediately began to scry for the little rogue.
Eventually, the image appeared in the scrying mirror. It showed Tal, having been impaled to the wall of his home, with a note attached to him, written in his own blood: "This is the consequence of failure.” Evidently, someone had beaten the party to the punch.
I did this for several reasons. One, the sylph had sworn vengeance against Tal, and was making threats as to wipe out most of the village, as my party still believes most of the village is in cahoots with the cult. I didn’t want to have to send out people to come after the party, so I stopped that right there. Two, the cult has inserted the doppelganger Jaroo in Tal’s place for the moment, to still hand out Tanbrosh. They hope he can deal better with the party when they visit Rastor, as they don’t realise about the dwarven temple as yet (they will soon).
Three, if Jaroo is unable to find the party, the cult is probably going to wipe out the town with Chymon, as they are extremely close to finding the Champion, and believe that they are almost unstoppable. I am using an idea from the BoB, where once all the temple followers in the CRM are killed, it will grant Big T enough power to grant Hedrack or the First a vision, so that he knows who the Champion is, and what they have to do to free Tharizdun. They won’t need the town at that point, or their Tanbrosh addicted residents (once Rerrid left, Tal has had free reign, now virtually all the townspeople are addicted), and they don’t want the party using it as a base anymore. Jaroo will return to Hommlet to muck up the plans of the party as much as possible.
So the party moved to the dwarven temple, and rested in preparations for the attack on the fire temple. While they had been in Verbobonc, they had taken some time to recruit a replacement for Bellag, and had a new member for the party.
Konrad : NG Human Fighter9 (replacement for Bellag)
Vellian had also taken the time to leave a note for Nuke, asking his assistance in killing the green dragon that they had battled earlier, and who was responsible for the death of the pixie’s family. He made the point that he would leave the party once this occurred, as he felt that he was not wanted. Nuke agreed to this idea, and will be assisting Vellian should the opportunity arise.
This was mainly due to the fact that a lot of my players are concerned that the pixie is stealing all the treasure, due to his NE nature. I personally don’t have a problem with the pixie, as although he is quite effective due to being always invisible, a lot of his future opponents will have the required buffer spells up to render him less effective, and it is possible to stop a rogue based class being useful (undead, unflankable opponents etc.) However, in order to promote party harmony I will allow the retirement of the pixie.
The next day Hassan scried upon Tessimon again, and saw that she was upon a floating platform, accompanied by the sorcerer Eeridik that had given the party so many problems before. Eeridik spotted the sensor and pointed it out to Tessimon, and while the party frantically buffed before teleporting, Tessimon and those inside the fire temple did the same.
(Tessimon and her cronies have been expecting an attack ever since Hedrack sent Ukemil after the party, and Hedrack, Eeridik and Tac has also briefed her on the party tactics in combat. This was probably the first time my players have not attacked an unprepared group of enemies, who have no idea what will happen in combat. As you will see below, the results were less than satisfactory.)
Most of the party climbed inside their portable hole, while Nuke teleported to the temple with Vellian on his shoulders (Avian’s player had to leave, and took his character sheet with him, so he didn’t take part in this battle). Upon arriving, Vellian dropped the hole, so that his companions could climb out, and prepared for battle.
Nuke immediately cast an empowered fireball on Tessimon, doing about 78 points of damage, and was extremely dismayed to see that his spell had no effect, due to spell immunity(fireball) not to mention spell resistance and the 132 points of fire immunity the protection from elements gave her. Not to be outdone, he flew upwards with his wings of flying, and lightning bolted the cleric, for a similar effect of no damage.
Eeridik attempted to dispel magic the wizard (I had forgotten Nuke was flying with an item), succeeding only in removing an endurance spell, and Nuke flew under the platform for shelter. Tessimon moved the platform down, pushing the wizard down into the flames of the fire pit. Nuke was unharmed, due to the fire resistances he had for being an elemental savant, and his fire-proof robes, but he flew out of the pit (after I ruled he couldn’t cast a spell in the fire, needing oxygen to speak) and cast haste upon himself. Eeridik, now also hasted, blasted the wizard with two cones of cold, killing him instantly, dropping his body into the flame pit. Their damage wizard now out of commission, the party was in trouble.
The burning skeletons, followed by Tac had emerged from the alcove, and engaged Hassan, Kenjy and Konrad in melee as they exited the hole. Guards began to move into the area from one of the exits, with Zert at their lead, while some salamanders emerged from the other door. Vellian noticed that Tac, Zert, Tessimon and Eeridik all seemed aware of where he was, so his influence was going to be curtailed. (I had scrolls of true seeing and potions of see invisibility being made in the fanes, under Hedrack’s instructions after having observed the party’s tactics for some time. Tessimon had obtained some of these, they were to be used in the event of an attack)
Konrad began engaging skeletons and guards, before he was forced to bring his attention onto Tac. Using his mercurial longsword and lion’s shield, he savaged the monk until Tac was forced to retreat to heal his wounds. Virith and her archers also entered the fray, spraying the combatants with missile fire. Zert moved up to engage Konrad, firing a bolt of fire at the fighter before entering melee, and Firre also charged into the room, baying for blood.
Tessimon flamestriked her enemies, injuring many of them. Hassan, having cast shield on himself, soon found himself surrounded by the salamanders, who couldn’t seem to get through his preposterous AC. (with buffer spells, can get up to 36!!) Konrad, after taking two arrows from Virith in the side, dived back into the portable hole in an effort to take refuge and heal himself with some potions. Kenjy was forced to do the same as he was also low on hitpoints.
Vellian killed Virith in 1 round with 3 arrows + sneak attack, then did the same to Firre who had picked up the portable hole so that Konrad and Kenjy could not escape. Hassan, realising that he was about to be surrounded by all the remaining warriors, desperately cast pyrotechnics on his flaming staff. To my disgust, all bar one of my peon warriors made the save, but everyone remaining who had levels (Tessimon, Zert, Eeridik, Tac) failed their save and were blinded for the next two rounds (and it was only a DC 17 save……grrr!!)
Suddenly, the tide of battle turned the way of the heroes. In the resulting two rounds, Eeridik and Tac were killed, to the cheers of Vellian’s player (he had been waiting weeks to get his revenge on the wererat and the monk). Kenjy and Konrad emerged from the hole to kill off most of the mooks apart from the salamanders and the occasional archer. Tessimon, emerging from the safe hole in the roof where she had waited out the blindness, again flamestriked the area, forcing Kenjy and Konrad to again seek shelter in the portable hole, joined this time by Hassan.
Tessimon chose to cast a blade barrier over the hole, in an effort to stop those inside from escaping the area when they emerged, killing Zert and the remaining guards, aside from two of the salamanders. Vellian flew through the central hole in the barrier, and picked up the portable hole in an effort to move his companions to a more suitable location. Tessimon reacted by casting blindness on the pixie, succeeding in removing his sight.
Getting Kenjy to act as his eyes, Vellian flew over to the platform and dropped the hole on it, and then hovered a few feet above it, straining his ears to tell what was going on. Hassan, Kenjy and Konrad all leapt out of the hole and engaged Tessimon in melee. She grappled Konrad with her tentacle rod, until Kenjy knocked her flat on her back with a devastating blow. Now heavily wounded, she cast heal upon herself, then ordered the platform into the fire pit, took some more damage, then rolled off into the pit and out of sight.
Konrad, Kenjy and Hassan leapt out of the pit, taking the hole with them, and Tessimon climbed back onto the platform, ordered it upwards and flamestriked them all again, killing Konrad in the process. Realising that with all the damage they had taken, and now out of resources, they could never hope to defeat her, everybody again piled into the hole and got Vellian to fly them out of the area, with Kenjy again acting as his eyes.
This was an epic battle, in fact it was after midnight when the combat finished, which was insane considering we started playing at 12 that day!! I worried that perhaps I had made the battle too hard, considering the two PC deaths that we had had. It could have been way worse, as I decided early in the combat that Skassik, Arlainth and some of the guards had been sent away on a spurious mission by Varachan, and would not be taking part. However, the feedback I got was encouraging.
Vellian’s player said that he thought the fight was fantastic, it was the first challenge the party had had in some time. That made me feel a little better. It was the first time that they had taken on a prepared foe, who knew exactly what the party was going to do and where their strengths and weaknesses were. The fact they rushed headalong into danger without considering consequences will hopefully hold them in good stead, as they were perhaps getting a little cocky about how easy they were finding the mines. I figure it is better they get a wake-up call now instead of in the fanes, where all hell can break loose.
I am now only one session behind again, will hopefully get that up soon.
Cheers, Simon.
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Wychwethyl
Mortal
(10/4/03 3:57 am)
Reply
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Re: Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))
Its good that at least one of your players (vellian's) enjoys challenging battles because that wont be the last one! How did the other players respond? I've just noticed also that the player who until recently was playing Konrad seems to lose characters on a regular basis he's gone through 7 already! Is he new to the game?
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srmilich
Memunite
(10/5/03 10:18 pm)
Reply
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Re: Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))
Hi Wychwethyl,
The other players kinda take it all in their stride now, they just all shake their heads and say variations on
"#@%$* Monte!!!" every time they start getting their asses kicked. I think that if they retreated more often instead of stubbornly staying and fighting, they would live a lot longer.
Konrad's player has been playing D&D for quite some time...I don't have an exact figure since I have only been playing with him for about 18 months. He has played a lot of 2nd edition though, so I would say somewhere in the vicinity of 5-10 years. He has died about 8 times in this campaign so far.
I am not sure exactly why he has died so many times. To be fair to him, he never has a great deal of luck (if I roll to randomly select a PC, he always ends up coming up), and no matter what class he plays, he ends up having to take on some sort of monstrosity that has levels, usually by himself. (Yevgeny vs Urlurg, Yan vs howler/zombies, Toyfulzorn vs Ushkakoth/Xorn, Bellag vs hill giant/D'Gran, Bellag vs 2 dire lions).
He has made the point, (and I agree with him here) that the party doesn't work together very often in fights, and it usually ends up being every PC for himself. Certainly that doesn't help for overall party survival.
Cheers,
Simon.
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Zarlord
Mortal
(10/9/03 4:29 pm)
Reply
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Re: Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))
Congratulations so far!
You have created a great summary which is a very good read.
I look forward to your next updates!
Are you sure you're a newbie DM? You seem to really know your stuff, and sound like you've had some previous experience.
Anyway, good luck with your campaign, and hopefully you can kill off a couple more of Ti..., I mean (the player who used Konrad) characters!
That sort of thing never fails to lighten the mood of the campaign!!
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srmilich
Memunite
(10/10/03 1:55 am)
Reply
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Re: Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))
Do I smell one of my players looking at this log when they shouldn't be?
Bad, bad!!
No exp for you!!
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Zarlord
Mortal
(10/14/03 7:59 pm)
Reply
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Heheheh
NO EXP!!! ARRGGHHH!
Nah, I am not a player.
Just an observer of your game, you can probably guess who I am.
I only filled in a couple of times for Hassan and Avian, and because of my newbiness, had no idea what was going on.
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srmilich
Memunite
(10/16/03 4:05 am)
Reply
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Re: Session 13
Nah, thats cool Anthony. Just remember, if your brother finds out anything you have read about, your mage in our next campaign won't live too long!! You have been warned!!!
Session 13
I thought it might be interesting to post a list of the party deaths we have had so far…just to give people an idea of how deadly this adventure can be. I am not sure if the number of deaths in my campaign are greater than others, could be fun to compare.
I have listed them by player.
Tim: 8 deaths (Ian, Yan, Toyfulzorn, Yevgeny, Bellag (twice), Konrad (twice, including this session))
Currently playing Marcus
Michelle: 3 deaths (Shiriki, Riley, Nuke) Currently playing Aven
Chris : 2 deaths, 1 retirement (Dr Zane, Azharan, Orbath (ret)) Currently playing Hassan. Longest living character in the game, about 10 sessions.
Andrew : 1 death, 1 retirement (Inuyasha, Kami (ret)) Currently playing Vellian
Ben: No deaths, 1 retirement (ToadWeasel (ret)) Currently playing Avian
Gwyllam: No deaths. Currently playing Kenjy
Simon (ME!!) : Terjon, Descritaad (both NPC’s)
Grand Total: 14 PC deaths, 2 NPC deaths, 3 retirements.
Holy crap that’s a lot, and there will probably be more to come too. Muahahahahahaha!
The cast as it stands:
Konrad: NG Human Fighter9
Vellian: NE Pixie Rogue4/Assassin4 (ECL 12)
Hassan: LN Human Monk1/Cleric1 of Fharlangan/Diviner9
Avian: CN Sylph Sorc7 (ECL 10)
Kenjy: LN Human Monk10
Having had their respective butts kicked, the party did a quick teleport to Verbobonc the next day, where Konrad was raised, swearing vengeance against Tessimon and the rest of the temple of All-Consumption. Vellian went to a separate temple from the rest of the party, and forked over a large portion of his own money to have Nuke true resurrected. He scolded Nuke for dying before he had fulfilled his part of the deal, and demanded that the wizard return with the party to find and kill the green dragon.
Nuke, however, was very reluctant to do so. All his equipment now lay in the bottom of the fire temple pit, most likely destroyed, along with his spellbook. He had no money, and no equipment, and no real chance of survival at all. He asked that he be given time to recover his resources, and intended to stay in town for the foreseeable future. Vellian was not amused, and after berating the mage for reneging on his deal, told him to watch his back, as he would return. The pixie then left.
The party were then forced to find a replacement for Nuke. They discovered that the temple of Pelor, who had not heard from the party for some time, had an investigator searching for them in the city. His name was Aven, and after discovering how the party was faring against the temple, chose to join them in their fight, along with his fighter retainer.
Aven: NG Human Cleric9 of Pelor/Divine Prelate1 (From Book of Hallowed Might, has light domain)
Nuke’s replacement. Has an 8th level fighter cohort from taking Leadership.
Hassan found to his dismay that he was now the official party wizard and teleported the group towards the temple the next day. Unfortunately, he miscast the spell, and they ended up still going in the right direction, but fell about 2 days travel short of their goal. The group rested until Hassan could memorise another teleport, fighting off some trolls during the night, and the next day teleported to the area where they had fought some giant ants days before. Instead of directly into the fire pit area, as they did before. Maybe I made them nervous.
As they moved into the area of the fire temple proper, they came across a glowing ball, apparently floating in mid-air over a metal plate. As I prepared to look up the fire elemental description, my players surprised me by doing something completely unexpected. The sylph and the pixie, working together, opened up their portable hole and grabbed the ball out of thin air, without touching it. As I couldn’t think of any real way for this not to happen, I allowed it, so they now have a lit portable hole.
They moved onwards, taking out the fire mephits in quick time, with Vellian and Avian capturing two in their hole for some purpose, which I really don’t want to know. Moving onwards into the smoke filled room, they attempted to get through by holding their breath and following the wall along. Aven discovered a pit trap, falling to the bottom with a loud crash, which alerted some nearby guards who dashed off to warn Tessimon after ringing their gong.
After emerging from the smoke, a hellhound attacked, before being phantasmal killered to death, and the party moved forward towards the main area of the fire temple. Taking time to cast some short term protective spells, they smashed the door open and charged into the room, seeing Tessimon once again standing on her floating platform. She had apparently been doing some raising of her own, with Zert and Eeridik once again being among the living (Tac and Firre were too dismembered by the blade barrier for such a process to occur).
They could also see a large salamander holding a large barbed greatsword standing near the fire pit, and a half-elf clad in wizard’s robes standing nearby. Some rasts also floated near the entrance, along with a small contingent of temple guards. Kenjy moved forward to engage the rasts, with Konrad attacking the elven and human guards, and drawing the attention of Skassik and Zert. The two fey noticed that they were once again visible to most of the denizens of the area, Avian in particular became aware of this when Eeridik flew off the platform to cone of cold him in the face. Sorely wounded, the sylph flew over towards Aven to gain some healing.
Tessimon cast a spell of holding upon Konrad, who had felled two temple guards with his sword and lion’s shield. The valiant fighter froze into position, and Skassik lined up his coup de grace. Avian attempted to distract the salamander by firing off two negative energy rays, but to no avail, the heavy sword swung its deadly arc, and the fighter lost his head. The temple forces had claimed another victim. Hassan avenged his comrade moments later, polymorphing the salamander into a cat. A shame really, he failed to survive because Skassik went just before everyone else.
Aven healed his sylph companion, and sent his retainer off to engage the guards. Kenjy was landing many blows on the rasts, before accidentally meeting the gaze of one and freezing into place. Fortunately, Hassan was able to move into position nearby, avoiding the attacks of his enemies, and turned the monk into a gas so he could not be killed as easily. I ruled the freezing was still in effect, so he could not move from the area, but at least he couldn’t be coup de graced in that state.
Vellian, after being hit by a scorching ray from Arlainth, responded in kind, firing three arrows into the sorcerer, killing him immediately. Avian, after receiving some healing, cast a phantasmal killer spell on Eeridik, killing the wererat instantly. He attempted to do the same to Tessimon, but she saw through the illusion thanks to her spells. Hassan attempted to dispel what protective magics Tessimon had on cast on herself, removing many of them, including the all important true seeing.
This was the moment Vellian had been waiting for, he moved up and fired arrow after arrow into Tessimon, inflicting large amounts of damage. Seeing her forces largely depleted, with Zert being hard pressed by Aven and his retainer, Tessimon cast heal on herself and began beating on the drum near the altar, while cackling madly. The altar gradually began changing to a heliotrope colour. Vellian fired more arrows, eventually dropping the mad priestess.
Avian killed off the rasts with a sonic fireball, as well as the rest of the guards, then began to look around the room for some other foes to fight. He was to be disappointed. Vellian began to quickly look through Tessimon’s belongings, when he noticed a golden egg float out of the altar and begin to grow. He felt some of his wisdom drain away as he looked, but he was the only party member to be affected. A large tentacle lashed out of the altar, nearly grabbing the pixie as it did so. Vellian retreated away, until Avian fireballed the egg out of existence.
The party gathered up what valuables they could find, and searched the remainder of the temple, inadvertently destroying the demonstone when Hassan tried to cleanse Firre’s room by fire. They also recovered Jurrikath, and having discovered everything of value in the fire temple, retreated towards the dwarven temple. The decision was made, seeing as they all had a fair amount of money and equipment to sell, to spend a few days in Verbobonc before attempting to gain entrance into the Outer Fane.
Hassan made the teleport with little problem, and the first order of business was to get Jurrikath healed in the temple of Pelor. After having performed this task, they were introduced to an adventurer who had also been sent by the temple to aid the party. His name was Marcus.
Marcus: NG Half-drow Fighter4/Cleric4 of Pelor/Divine Champion of Pelor2 (Konrad’s replacement)
Hassan announced that he wanted to spend a few days in town to manufacture some wings of flying, and so the party spent a few days buying and selling stuff. I decided that a little push along was needed, so that they would not think that they have forever to take out the temple, so on the 6th day of Hassan’s magic item creation, a total eclipse occurred, that lasted several hours. This was met with a few player statements of “Oh crap, did we let Tharizdun out?” and “Did we take too long?”
It was generally agreed that this eclipse was unnatural, and Hassan discovered that after conferring with his diviner colleagues, that a large group of his guild had attempted to scry out the source of the eclipse, and were found in the guild hall dead, having ripped out their own eyes! Aven attempted to commune with his god to find out what was going on. The questions were generally based along Tharizdun’s release, and for the most part did not reveal any illuminating information, until Vellian posed the question “Does this mean the Champion has been found?” He received an answer of “Yes.” from Pelor.
Clearly time was of the essence. After completing the making of his wings, Hassan teleported the party back to the air bridge, and everyone climbed into the portable hole, so Vellian could attempt to enter through that door. As he flew towards the crater, he could see men sprinting out of the towers above the door, into a cave by the side of a hill. As he got closer, he could see spider eaters with the men on their backs fly out of the cave.
Dropping the hole onto the cliff face near the tower, he began firing arrows at his foes. His companions also climbed out, retreating to the caves for shelter, and step by step the party wiped out the opposing forces, without breaking a sweat and using up only a few of their resources. They could hear the sounds of the nearby towers gathering their forces, and began to decide whether to stay and fight them all, attempt to enter the fanes, or flee.
It was here the session ended. Hedrack has had a little warning and can prepare his troops for a possible invasion, and the party can get a chance to inflict a little payback.
Still a session behind, will hopefully get that up soon.
Cheers, Simon.
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 Infiniti2000
Cherub
(10/16/03 6:12 am)
Reply
ezSupporter
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Re: Session 13
I love the eclipse. It seems like it spooked your players and that was a good thing. Sorry to hear about all the deaths, but you boosted a lot, right?
"The sylph and the pixie, working together, opened up their portable hole and grabbed the ball out of thin air, without touching it. As I couldn’t think of any real way for this not to happen, I allowed it, so they now have a lit portable hole."
This can't be done because a portable hole must be spread upon a surface. By that fact, it also should be a flat surface (though I suppose it's okay to rule otherwise).
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arcane12
Memunite
(10/19/03 5:49 pm)
Reply
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Re: Session 13
though I guess you could bull rush people inside then gather up the hole... could be a valid combat techique (the captives will suffocate eventually though, so I would definatly consider that an evil act once they are aware of it...)
I can see where the death are coming from... you are a bit of a harsh DM - I just wish I had the nastyness within me to be that harsh (I have agonised a few times where bad guys really should have taken the time to Coup De Grace, etc. but usually rationalise myself by saying 'every combat round wasted is a combat round they could have been damaging standing foes' ...even if the cleric has a habit of using his 27 AC to wander though combat healing downed PC's :/ )
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DestyNova1
Memunite
(10/19/03 7:17 pm)
Reply
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Stuff
Finishing blows should be balanced with the situation. If there is a lot of combat going on, the NPC could forgo doing that in order to engage PCs still standing. A 'eye for an eye' tactic could be used as well. If PCs strike down helpless targets a lot, the NPCs could do the same to them(Being merciful has it's advantages)
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srmilich
Memunite
(10/31/03 12:50 am)
Reply
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Re: Session 13
Hey all,
Wow, it's good to get some comments and to know that my log is getting read. Thanks!! 
This can't be done because a portable hole must be spread upon a surface. By that fact, it also should be a flat surface (though I suppose it's okay to rule otherwise).
I didn't realise that, thanks Infiniti. The next session we have (which won't be for a while due to uni exams) I will make this point and make this the rule from now on. It probably won't make much difference, as we are only about two sessions from the end now, but I will invoke it nonetheless.
Yes, I did boost. I am still undecided whether that was a good thing or a bad thing to do. When I eventually write a post-mortem on the campaign, I will express my thoughts then.
I can see where the death are coming from... you are a bit of a harsh DM - I just wish I had the nastyness within me to be that harsh
I can see how you would think that arcane12, but honestly I believe everything that happens to my players is what an evil cult would do in real life. In the Skassik example, I felt that he would want to ensure that one foe is completely out of the way before moving on to the next. Salamanders are described as "bloodthirsty and sadistic" in the MM.
It also states, "They prefer to take on those who appear strongest first..." I can't think of anyone more powerful than the party fighter, from a salamander point of view. Not to mention the fact he wouldn't have been able to reach the others in a single move. Also, Konrad's death while helpless is one of the most evil things someone could do. I mean, killing your foe while he is unable to defend himself, you can't get much lower than that. I think that would appeal to the blackguard in Skassik too.
Finishing blows should be balanced with the situation
I couldn't agree more DestyNova. That's what I try to do, and what I hope I have proved above.
For those who are interested, my party has made some small incursions into the Recovered Temple so far, but has only just (after two attempts and two more PC deaths ) defeated Dein and his stone giants. I am now 3 sessions behind (sigh) and hope to post them some time in the future.
Stupid life, intruding on my D&D.
Cheers,
Simon.
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