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Grumgarr
Here for a while
(4/28/03 6:50 am)
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The Final Battle! - Imix No More!
or...Imix Ascendant
So, all the way to the Recovered Temple or Elemental Evil had the heroes pursued the Cult.
The brave heroes fought their way through the ogres, the giants, the beholder, the wizard and his pet assassin, the ropers, the golems, the ogre eilte guard...all the way to the unhallowed Greater Temple, where they fought four Doomdreamers, plus the Second...and, miraculously, triumphed!
Lareth had been sent to the Fire Node by the Second, and Imix was growing restless...they gathered some lackeys and readied themselves to attempt to free their dark master.
The brave few asked the Bright Gods for a sign - what were the evil ones' plans? How could they best protect Creation from Oblivion? And the Bright Gods smiled and gave their sign, but mortal minds cannot know the Gods' true purpose...
...they stayed underground, hoping to prevent Lareth the Champion of Elemental Evil from returning to the Temple to complete his mission to free his Dark Lord, the Unmaker.
They used a Gateseal to secure the Fire Gate, hoping to buy enough time to recuperate, heal, face the foe hale.
They waited...and waited...and...the first they knew was when the Wizard's silent alarm was tripped - furious spellcasting began (no buffs were pre-cast, as they had no idea when their foes would show themselves) in preparation for a final showdown...
...and the first of the foes appeared, triggering the Cleric's Sonic Greater Glyph in the corridor to the gate...two Fire Giants, enraged now and keen to match strength and steel with their masters' foes. At the end of the corridor, the warriors met the giants, taking what cover they could from the walls.
Behind the giants, a great salamander noble raised his flaming hands and called out in the tongue of Fire -ShazzzhKrakkiiissshhhhh, and a huge fire elemental, summoned from the depths of the Fire Plane, answered his call, and sought mortal flesh to sear and scorch!
Even as the warriors struck out at the gaints, a huge (enlarged) glabrezu demon strode into view, then in a wink of black radiance, was gone...
Further flames burned around the corner toward the Fire Gate, and soon showed themselves to be immolated skeletons, which ran forward eagerly to throw themselves upon the heroes' blades...
...and of course, this was just the beginning, for Maliskra, Lareth the Champion and the Dread Lord Imix had yet to show themselves.
Furious fighting dropped both the giants, as the Fire Elemental was banished back to its plane by the Cleric and the Glabrezu (or eight Glabrezu - Mirror Image) showed itself.
It spoke silently to the Grey Hero, the most likely to give in to temptation, and offered him power if he would disable the Cleric - he feigned acceptance, became invisible (Impoved) and charged the Cleric, bluffing an attack.
The Dwarven Defender, spotting the beast deep in the heart of the Temple, charged to the assault, breaking image after image, then struck demonic flesh, but felt his blade turned by its hide! Determinedly he continued the assault.
The demon unleashed its most potent magic on the dwarf - Power Word Stun - and it had...NO EFFECT (at full health with his 24 Con, he has over 150 hp).
The burning skeletons charged to the assault as Maliskra showed herself (too far for Gaze attacks) and cast foul magics at the warriors who'd felled the giants and now were locked in furious battle with the salamander noble.
As the skeletons neared the warriors, their cleric ally destroyed the...first two (empowered turning - lousy rolls).
In the corridor, the salamander detonated a fireball around itself and its attackers, but was struck down. Maliskra's magics weakened the PsyWar (Wave of Sorrow, BoVD) but were otherwise ineffectual, as the skels reached them and a holy blue light shone from the helmet of one of the heroes (yep - he's got a Helm of Brilliance, much depleted, and quite scary in its own right if it overloads and detonates with 7 fireballs and several walls of fire left).
Maliskra spent most of the next couple of rounds on her back as the Ftr/Brb used Knockdown to great effect. Finally she withdrew around the corner (where unbeknownst to the goodguys Imix had emerged from the Fire Gate with Lareth).
Lareth walked though the floor and made his way toward the altar safe in the rock (my Champion has movement like all elementals) while Imix forced his way into the corridor, becoming an inferno - a wall of fire that filled the corridor from top to bottom and 30' in length.
Seeing this wall of flame rushing towards them, the PsyWar flees for dear life (no fire protection yet) while the warrior stands his ground (and trusts to Fire Res 30).
Imix engulfs everything in the corridor plus the cleric (she's got Prot. from Fire) as he rushes out into the temple and reforms (and I get to pop the 'mini' on the table,  ) - at this point, despite the OMiGod efffect, the heroes kept their chins up.
Imix 'reformed' and roared a challenge to any who would dare face him "FATHER, I AM COME AT YOUR CALL - LET ANY WHO WOULD DARE OPPOSE YOUR WILL FACE ME AND DESPAIR" (in about six or sever rounds of combat since then, no-one has yet attacked him - except for a long-shot Hold Monster spell which didn't get through his SR). When he appears, he's standing almost right on top of the cleric, who he swats for a mere 40 damage or so, like a mosquito. She shrieks and runs off, earning an AoO for her trouble which drops her to 4 hp (from unwounded beforehand). She takes a quick Ethereal Jaunt.
...meanwhile, the Dwarven Defender faces off against the demon, landing a couple of solid blows, the demon counters with Deeper Darkness on some rubble and stealthily moves away (with constant True Seeing the Darkness don't bother him none). The DD makes an excellent Listen check, moves in the right direction, picks a square, makes a miss chance roll and lands a CRITICAL BLOW - the demon is mentally taunting him about his blindness and the futility of his feeble attempts to slay him...the Cleric, also blind in the 60' radius darkness, pops out a Dispel Evil, and the Dwarf roars "NOW I see you Demon!" The demon teleports away (up the corridor to the stairs).
When Imix appears and struts around laughing at the mortal cowards who don't dare face him (yes, I blew a round just posturing), Lareth has burrowed into the center of the Temple and pops up, by the altar, calling out "I, Lareth the Beautiful am the Champion of Elemental Evil and, as was foretold, I stand ready to fulfil my Destiny. Come, Great Lord!"
Naturally, this gets folks' attention. He rapidly becomes the target of the WizRog, the PsyWar and the DD...and blasts the DD with the Rod of Force (IMC Blast of Force does 10d6 + a Bullrush at Str=damage done...ouch!) - the DD takes 47!damage...and resists the Bullrush!! so Lareth moves back down into the womb of the earth.
In the long corridor the Ftr/Brb has forced Maliskra to flee (and resisted her deadly gaze a couple of times) - he's also slowly destroying the skeletons (HoB) which continue to rip at him ineffectually. Maliskra spends a couple of rounds out of sight just healing.
The demon creeps back toward the group and spots the Wiz's owl familiar, sneaks up on it and grabs it in a pincer - the WizRog hears her shriek of pain and terror and the demon's voice demanding he slay the cleric NOW or his familiar dies.
He runs over to her, makes the cast-on-the-defensive roll and Teleports outside, to the well, along with his familiar (share spells within 5').
The demon flies up into the darkness of the temple's heights and PWStuns the PsyWar (who due to displacement and a roll of a 1 had been missed by Imix (AoOs) 3 times in a row), then teleports back to the Fire Gate room, where he whips out more Mirror Images.
Lareth resurfaces at the far end of the altar steps (next to Imix) and erects a Wall of Force blocking the fire gate side of the room off (to a height of 30'). The Ftr/Brb has done some healing (he got critted by the Fire Giants' first blow and spiked by the Salamander) and emerges into the temple just in time for Imix to swing at him - and hit the Wall of Force - the Ftr flies forward and strikes the Wall - he finishes his turn by scraping his shield up the wall and finding that it stops about 30' up (clue was still being able to hear Imix's rant).
The DD closes with Lareth and inflicts some good damage, but it's now Imix's turn - he tries for the Ftr again (and again luckily strikes the Wall of Force) then turns his frustration on the DD who's beating on the Champion.
I'm only giving Imix four attacks, and the DD has an AC of 41 against Imix who he's Dodging - he's had his first already and he's Power Attacking (+10) so that's three attacks, at +18, +13, +8 - and the +18 and +8 both come out Natural 20.
The DD's immense hps get blasted by Imix's Power Attacks, and then Lareth gets to reply - he blasts the DD with the Rod a second time and kills him outright.
The PsyWar's stun wears off - he scoffs some healing potion
The WizRog teleports back and notes that Imix doesn't seem to see him (Improved Invisibility seems to work against him - bonus!).
The Cleric has been buffing on the ethereal plane all the while and will be back on her next turn (probably to Revenance the DD)...and that's as much as we got through...phew!!
Hellish damage dished out (on both sides! 2 fire giants felled in 3 rounds by 3 ftrs) and much tension, but all great fun.
Final instalment next Sunday!
Grumgarr
Edited by: Grumgarr at: 5/12/03 11:01:13 am
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Cordo Crowfoot
Here to stay
(4/28/03 7:44 am)
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Re: The Final Battle! - Loooong
Great read! Sounds like an intense session worthy of the finale.
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sok
Here for a while
(5/4/03 5:30 am)
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Great stuff :), some questions though.
Very nice, indeed
My only issue with having the Imix in the area is his size especially when in the corridor leading from the Fire Temple Node to the Greater Temple. Id say the corridor is
probably only 17ft high and 10ft wide, did you have Imix waddle/crawl his way through the corridor or did you change the corridors size to accommidate him or is Imix
shorter than 50ft?
What would have happened if the they took on Imix in the corridor, can a creature with 20x20 face attack when in restricted area? There's not much room to even use his sword.
Once in Greater Temple, there is at least some room for
Imix to fight. The fact that it would be difficult for one Prince of Elemental Evil to fit into the Inner Chamber, never mind trying to squeeze four makes me think it should have been designed a bit better.
Regards
Sok
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Grumgarr
Here for a while
(5/12/03 7:57 am)
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...the second - and final - episode
and so ends the tale of the Stoneblood Defenders.
...the Dwarven Defender, Vesuvius, lay bloodied, his breastplate crumpled by a Blast of Force which robbed him of breath and life. (Ftr7/DD3/Silverbeard - from Andorax's website -3)
The Cleric of Helm, Myrwen, still lurking on the Ethereal plane, buffing and Healing to the gills. (Clr10/DivineInquisitor3)
The Ftr/Brb, Corben, flying over the top of the Wall of Force which Lareth erected to keep him and the PsyWar back. (Ftr13/Brb1).
The PsyWar, Blake, stands ready to rend Lareth limb from limb with his claws. (Psw12/Brb1)
The Arcane Trickster, Vito, returned, still Invisible, from teleporting his familiar to relative safety, weighs his options and watches for the Glabrezu. (Rog4/Transmuter5/ArcaneTrickster4)
and their foes...Dread Imix, Prince of Evil Fire Elementals, revelling in the chance of melee, eager to sear and swat these puny mortal upstarts who dare to stand against him.
Lareth, the Champion of Elemental Evil, makes ready to blow the Horn of Darkness, heralding the ending of all things.
The Glabrezu lurks in the corridor to the Fire Gate, awaiting one more chance to tempt a mortal to damnation.
The burning skeletons, deprived of burnable foes within their reach, run around under flying PCs.
And Maliskra, only partly healed, returning to the Greater Temple to stand with the Dread Lord Imix.
Lareth's summoned Elder Xorn stands paralysed by Vito's Hold Monster spell...for now.
Imix angrily reaches for Blake, who is attacking the Champion, suffering an AoO for grabbing at him and losing his best attack - he follows up with three more, none of which connect (a 1 and two Displacement checks later). Lareth calls 'Great Prince, join me, let our destinies be fulfilled' and moves carefully away from Blake, past the curtain - which parts at his approach, into the reeking evil chamber beyond.
Maliskra makes her way cautiously down the corridor, making it about halfway to the Greater Temple.
Myrwen of Helm moves nearer the fallen Vesuvius and materialises. Vito hastes himself and seeing a dark swirl begin in the Bad Place between the three altars shouts out "Something is happening in there - stop him!"
Corben, still hasted, flies over the Wall of Force on full defensive (Expertise) through the curtain towards Lareth - the curtain misses with all its AoOs and he flies over Lareth to swap magical rings before engaging him...in this room (btw I forget about the unholy cold,which only manifested last time when the PCs struck the altars)...a dark blot begins to grow between the altars in Lareth's presence and he looks up at Corben with a smile of stark madness. Meanwhile the Glabrezu has spotted its prey once more and telepathically tells Vito "I know where your familiar is, mortal - slay her Now or it Dies!" as it drops a Reverse Gravity effect on Myrwen. She hurtles 60' to the ceiling, along with a load of rubble.
Blake, with his quarry Lareth gone behind the curtain, decides it's time the Glabrezu got his, so dodges yet another AoO from Imix (Displacement) and swoops over the wall of force - the Glabrezu reaches out with a pincer and grabs him as he closes, forcing him to drop his greatsword and claw at it. Behind the Glabrezu, he spots Maliskra's ominous approach.
Deep in the bowels of the dungeons, Vister races towards the heroes, intent on aiding in this final battle, even if it should cost her life...
Imix, incandescent with rage, slashes with his huge sword and a rift to the plane of fire appears in the wake of his colossal flaming sword - only one huge elemental passes through the rift however. He orders it to protect the Champion and it pushes past the curtain, taking some damage but otherwise unimpeded and overruns Corben - whose fire protection (remember that potential exposion if the helm of brilliance overloads!) holds out - just.
Lareth steps away from Corben and calls upon the power of the Orb of Oblivion - 'Dark Lord, I implore you - send forth your most foul horror to feast upon these fools who oppose your Plan' and a Bebilith appears in the Greater Temple - it turns its great bulk and finding no-one close enough to rend to pieces, sprays webbing across a great swath of the temple, hitting the invisible Vito and half-closing the entry hallway, where Vister races towards the fray. Vito, even in trollish form, is not entangled.
Maliskra approaches and calls The Black of the Dark Lord down upon Blake (Blindness) - he resists.
Merwyn, on the ceiling, activates her boots of levitation and moves - the world turns upside down and she ends up slightly disoriented about midway between floor and ceiling (30' up) fairly near both Imix and the Bebilith.
Vito, hoping to appease or stall the threatening voice, drops a Lightning Cascade (Explosive Cascade - Energy Sub - electric)
on both Myrwen and the Bebilith and moves out of the webs, inadvertently entering the reverse gravity zone and falling onto the ceiling. Corben, still sharing a square with the fire elemental (hot as a furnace, but not vastly solid) steps away from it, handily avoiding its AoO towards Lareth and disarms (Ring of Disarming - grants the Improved Disarm feat) him of both the Rod of Force AND the Orb of Oblivion, which falls like the One Ring with a solid thud and not a hint of a bounce - with his final attack (half expecting to break his foot in two if it's immovable) he provokes an AoO from Lareth by kicking the Orb of Oblivion as far as he can - it hits the curtain, which absorbs some of the force of the kick, but the Orb ends up next to the black altar out in the Greater Temple.
On the other side of the wall of force, the Glabrezu drops the grappled Blake long enough to Power Word Stun him for the second time (3rd of the day), and stalks away to do Vito more mischief (wary of the summoned Bebilith, however). The stunned Blake slowly drifts to floor level and is mobbed by the burning skeletons.
Vister skids to a halt, seeing the immense hairy corruption of the Bebilith and launches magical arrows at it, which bounce off its chitinous hide (and immense DR).
Imix hears Lareth's cry 'Great Prince, take up the Orb and fulfil your destiny' - he spots the Orb lying nearby and stoops to pick it up. The Fire Elemental in the inner chamber unleashes firey blow after blow to no avail.
Lareth, bereft of the Rod and Orb stoops to pick up the Rod, provoking an AoO from Corben - which knocks him down (Knockdown feat) - he completes his action nonetheless and grabs the rod...and a purple lightsaber beam springs from it...Corben looks suddenly sheepish. Near Lareth, the dark swirl becomes more solid as next to it a great black Horn fades into sight. 'Now you will feel the sweet agony of dissolution. Great Lord, your Time is At HAND!!' smiles Lareth.
The Bebilith rears up and rakes at Merwyn, teraing her armour from her, though she is mercifully out of reach of its venomous fangs.
Merwyn, 30' up and threatened by the Bebilith (and possibly Imix) pulls out the big guns - she goes for the Holy Word - on the defensive - and...fails the Concentration check...losing the spell.
Vito, still unseen by Imix, but agonising over the potential insanity of it, attempts a running leap from the ceiling towards Imix, makes a miraculous series of Jump, Tumble, and grab rolls and clamps his hands around the Orb of Oblivion, before hurtling bodily through Imix to...drift safely to the ground, strangely unburnt, as the Orb instantly relates to him its long list of powers (Immunity to Fire and Feather Fall being the most immediately relevant).
Corben retreats from the lightsaber-wielding Lareth to drink a potion and activate a Khelben's Suspended Silence, as Lareth calmly places his lips to the Horn and begins to blow...the hollow, consuming sound of the Horn is the herald of the world's end itself.
The Glabrezu, who sees exactly what Vito just did, croons telepathically to him 'Ahhh, gooooood' and teleports right behind him.
Blake is still stunned and still under (mostly ineffective) attack by the skeletons.
Vister decides on a mad dash past the Bebilith as she's having no effect on it and it blocks her way in - its attack of opportunity rips Vister's armour to shreds, but she makes it to the body of Vesuvius, seeing that he's stone dead as soon as she gets there.
Imix is furious and bellows 'You DARE!!!!' and unleashes an Area Attack, striking everything in a half circle within his reach (Savage Species) intending to slay the invisible Vito - it comes up as a critical threat...Vito sucks up the damage, the Glabrezu is ripped in two - the Bebilith gets hurt badly and the Xorn gets ripped up a little too...but Vito yet lives and Imix still doesn't know exactly where he is.
Lareth continues to blow the Horn of Darkness, and the swirl of blackness swells, spinning like a flat spiral galaxy of pure darkness, from whichever direction it's viewed...deep in its heart Corben sees a shining ring of silver and gold, impossibly far off. The Bebilith, seeing prey run past it, leaps after Vister and sinks its fangs deep into her, injecting its dire venom. (She saves.) Maliskra prepares a Contagion spell and moves forward almost to the wall of force (which she knows nothing about) seeking a foe she can strike down.
Myrwen, moves toward Imix, the Bebilith and all and unleashes her highest-level domain spell - Dictum! - she makes a defensive concentration check this time, but her roll to overcome Imix's SR is...6...and she's...a 13th level caster.
Imix is unperturbed, but the oh-so-deadly Bebilith, and the Elder Xorn which had exactly one more round of being held, both vanish back to their native planes. Hurrah!
Vito gets the hell out of the way after Imix's show of power and hastes himself with the very last of the scrolls...and in a deep trollish growl calls out 'Demons of the Abyss, I call upon you - hear me! Come, and slay the one who sounds the Horn!'...a putrid black rip in reality births a dripping, insectoid , sting-tailed, clawed horror, which passes the curtain...and waits...watching the slow swirl of The Doom of All grow swollen and ever larger. Corben charges in at Lareth, with the Silence active - the only sound ringing in his ears is that of the Horn, which cuts through the silence though all other sound is stilled...Corben has placed himself just above the dark nexus however, and it is growing larger, reaching towards him second by second. He disarms the Rod of Force a second time, and risks an AoO from Lareth to scoop it up with his hasted partial action.
Blake shrugs off the effects of the PW-Stun and, ignoring the burning skeletons, executes a flying, raging charge to rip Maliskra to pieces, activating Reach as he goes, and landing a solid blow, shrugging off the deadly peril of her compelling gaze. For good measure he closes his eyes.
Vister, free of the threat of the Bebilith has a new foe - the huge Fire Elemental summoned by Imix has emerged and rushes towards her setting her aflame.
Imix, enraged at Myrwen's temerity, steps toward her and slashes one almighty blow (+15 Power Attack!), wounding her severely. 'Your puny magics Fuel my RAGE - I will sear your souls for Eternity!'
Lareth continues to sound the Horn, a look of ecstatic communion in his eyes, as flames, rock, steam play across his skin. Maliskra shrieks in pain and leaps into the air, just catching hold of Blake's boot - enraged, he shakes off her vile, blackening, diseased touch unscathed.
Myrwen, in peril of her life, backs carefully away from Imix, and makes it to Vesuvius's body safely, though Vister is battling a great elemental very close by.
Vito, hasted, calls upon the Orb of Oblivion 'Creature of Water, I conjure you - appear before me - slay Imix!' and a huge water elemental bursts in a foam-spray into being before Imix, and crashes into him.
Corben, now armed with the Rod of Force, moves sharply away from the yawning vortex and swings not at Lareth, but at the Horn, hoping to still its sound forever - the purple blade, of course, passes through the Horn as if it did not exist, leaving it untouched - Corben's other blows are directed at Lareth and even manage to briefly knock him from his feet...his protective sheath largely ineffectual against his own weapon.
Blake opens his eyes, averting his gaze from the medusa's deadly stare and unleashes a deadly strike, ripping Maliskra's throat open with his talons and causing the fire in her eyes to die at last...he flies to where he dropped his greatsword, not wanting to hazard Imix with his (un)natural weapons!
Vister, unarmoured, stabs at the fire elemental, and heroically awaits death...
Imix full attacks the Water Elemental and kills it outright in one round with four solid hits (+10 Power Attacks). The Fire Elemental hungrily slams Vister repeatedly - she falls with a strangled cry and hits the ground charred and withered.
Lareth smiles as the vortex before him swells to around 8' across - 'Dark Father - hear me - I your Champion await your COMING!!!!' and lays a finger on Corben's forehead (Touch of Tharizdun). Visions of his past swim up before his eyes, but he will not give in to them - not now!!!
Myrwen stoops over Vesuvius's form and quickly chants a prayer to Helm - Vesuvius's cracked and broken body is mended as breath and life rush back to fill him.
Vito, fleeing yet further from the wrath of Imix, lurks in a far corner and calls upon the Orb again and again, calling forth yet more foul creatures from the abyss, and a great air elemental, which swarm around Imix's towering form, tearing at him, ravenously - the Orb hums contentedly, revelling in the warring elemental destruction it has wrought...
Corben faces off against the Champion with the Rod of Force in hand - and Lareth, his task done - smiles warmly and awaits dissolution with the confident calm of the truly damned.
Corben deals blow after blow, and Lareth faces each stoically, before crumpling to his knees 'it is done' and falling. Blake, Displaced once again, charges Imix, surviving his AoO and lands a heavy blow with his greatsword.
Vesuvius gets to his feet and seeing Vister's sad remains, turns furiously to slay the elemental.
Imix, surrounded and a >little< battered by this point, turns on the Expertise for the first time and kicks some, killing demons and wounding Blake and the air elemental.
Myrwen's Dispel Evil dispatches the Fire Elemental and Imix is mobbed by all the remaining heroes - Corben even has the temerity to >taunt< him. Imix bellows 'YOU ARE AS INSECTS BEFORE MEEEE!!! NOW FEEL MY WRATH!!!!!' and hits Blake hard enough to knock him sprawling (unconscious due to subdual damage - Biofeedback), while killing a black wing-ed demon. Vito orders his Chasme-demon minion-of-the-Orb to pick Blake up and earns the Chasme an AoO from Imix which cleaves through it and sends its spirit back to the Abyss. Some furious fighting ensues, with most of the heroes' blows defeated by Imix's skill and speed - the Rod of Force bites more easily, but lasts only a round more before winking out with a sigh. Vito moves forward to heal Blake and Imix, finally beginning to fear that the bugs are a threat to him, unleashes another Area Attack - he's on Expertise 5 but no power attack - seeing his foes weakened he wants to take them all out in one beautiful slash of his immense blade - I roll...a 2 - which manages to miss every single PC!! (and just as well). Vito brings Blake round just in time for him to get a single blow in after a full round of mostly missed attacks from the warriors, and Imix, his form flickering and thin, stops, drops his great sword, throws back his head howling 'FATHER!!!!!'...and detonates like a supernova (Final Strike from Savage Species).
The resulting 60' radius fireball (Reflex DC 33 - 71 points of Fire damage, 40 points of Light damage) incinerates Vesuvius, Corben and Blake, Merwyn's Fire Protection absorbs all of the fire damage and she slumps, barely conscious after the Light damage.
Vito pulls off a remarkable 35 Reflex save and takes No Damage(tm)...and as colour bleeds back in, the Temple is all quiet, but for the crackle of smoldering remains and the crack-pop of cooling stone - where Imix stood a 20' crater, 10' deep, of molten stone and slag, the pillars supporting the Greater Temple sag as layers of blasted stone slough off...
...so they got the hell out, picking up their fallen, and retreated to daylight by the well...the Orb silently urging oblivion - fulfil my prupose, fulfil my purpose.
Leaving their honoured dead in the shack, Myrwen and Vito use Varachan's refuge sticks to return to the Outer Fane, which is filled with the eerie quiet of the slasher movie - empty halls, soundless. They approach the Chapel of the Black Sun and Vito, rent by warring desires, hurls the Orb of Oblivion into the Black Sun – as it vanishes into the dark void, four rays of light shoot off in opposite directions – the elemental power gems speeding off into infinity.
Vito teleports them back to the abandoned farm - using his long stashed 'escape' scroll, and as the winter’s uncanny warmth melts away and rain-clouds begin to form overhead, an Angel appears before them. It’s voice is a choir and to look upon it is to be blinded by tears of awe and joy.
‘Warriors of the Light – you have won a great victory this day. Your selfless deeds have spared woe to countless innocents, unaware of their great peril. And you have paid a great price’
Moving among them, the angel approaches the fallen.
‘It is not the will of the gods of light that these brave warriors die this day’
And the angel stretches forth arms and wings and begins a song of heartbreaking beauty, with all the voices of heaven intertwined – sunlight plays upon the heroic fallen, and where it touches them they are made anew, without ill or mark upon them and open eyes to gaze into the shining sky blue gaze of the angel.
‘Know, brave warriors of good, that the Orb of Oblivion yet endures – for it cannot be unmade while the Orb of Silvery Death yet exists…and though you have thwarted the cult of this Darkest god, their plans continue and the Doomdreamers commune still with their Dark Lord and do his will from within the Black Spike. It falls to mortal men to thwart mortal threats. Mortal men such as you, who have faced despair, grief, sorrow and loss - and yet held faith.
You shall not be forgotten’ And the angel bends one knee in tribute and, like a shaft of pure sunlight, flies into the burgeoning clouds, as, finally, a reassuring, cold winter rain begins to fall...
...and the rest is a tale for another day
(Ever since I decided to go with the Final Strike, I knew it had the potential to kill every PC. I decided then that thwarting Imix would not end in ash - their reward - a True Ressurection for each of the fallen was earned...if they defeated Imix - which was by no means a fair, or even a winnable fight. They made me proud!)
Grumgarr - who's taking a wee rest now
Edited by: Grumgarr at: 5/13/03 1:29:05 am
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The guy from Belgium
Here for a while
(5/12/03 1:12 pm)
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Re: ...the second - and final - episode
woah
that's all i can utter at this moment
congrats to your players on a job well done... it was close however... everything depended upon some lucky (for them) dice rolls...
great reading, nice step by step report... did you write everything down during the final combat?
once again, congrats!
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Grumgarr
Calandar
(5/13/03 1:05 am)
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Re: ...the second - and final - episode
Phew...
When I was setting up the final encounter I wondered exactly how much they could handle in addition to Imix himself.
Lareth and Maliskra were always going to be included, but to get the Champion and the Prince to the right place for the ritual I knew I'd need some 'fodder' against a group this tough.
Of course, fodder in this case meant gathering up whatever forces in the Fire Node Imix could reasonably command - two fire giants, the salamander noble, 12 burning skeletons and the EEE worshipping Glabrezu. Hardly 'fodder' in the mook sense (well, okay the skeletons were useless).
To be honest, having statted these foes out, it looked like a TPK in the making, particularly when I added the creatures the Orb could summon. Of course, it never occurred to me at the time that someone would actually snatch the Orb from Imix's grasp. As far as lucky dice go, Imix is very tough, but I had a 13th-level cleric in my group who had two spells - Holy Word and Dictum - which would have sent him back to the Elemental Plane of Fire with no save...which wouldn't have made for a very climactic finish but they're the big guns - that's what they do. In fact the dice conspired against her and neither spell affected Imix, but the odds were in her favour. (a failed concentration check (rolled 4 - conc 15) lost the Holy Word then 7 or better on d20 would have beat his SR for the Dictum - she rolled a 6).
Disarming and kicking the Orb away from Lareth was great - Grabbing the Orb from Imix was impossibly daring (and cost Vito about 50 hp before I realised he took no fire or falling damage). And summoning the Orb's demons and elementals to battle Imix - I never saw that coming.
I wrote up each half of the account the day after the fighting so it's still pretty fresh in my mind - vivid even - but I do keep a brief round by round account on my initiative sheets. I know I missed some details in the account and got some things a little mixed up, but the meat of it is correct. It was hard fought - and a well deserved victory.
The good guys won! Andorax would be proud. 
Grumgarr
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 Infiniti2000
Racecar
(5/13/03 5:36 am)
Reply
ezSupporter
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Re: ...the second - and final - episode
Simply awesome! Both you and your players deserve a hearty congratulations and a round at the pub! Pray tell, will they continue the quest and take the fight to the Inner Fane? Or is this, as they say, it?
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Andorax
Racecar
(5/13/03 7:10 am)
Reply
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Re: ...the second - and final - episode
Way to go! Congrads around, and I genuinely look forward to your own wrapup thread (hopefully with your players coming and joining us as well).
Some great description there...I wish I had done half as well in my own final session. A truely monumental battle, well worthy of song and legend.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
Grumgarr
Calandar
(5/13/03 7:32 am)
Reply
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Re: ...the second - and final - episode
Thanks guys! Also for making this adventure so rich - my hat is off to the many, many DMs who've contributed here and made this a campaign to remember.
My players love and hate you!
For now, we're taking a break from world-saving stuff.
They may or may not go on the Inner Fane afterwards, so I'm still torn between wanting to introduce them to these boards and not wanting to give the game away about what's in store in the Fane. I've got another adventure idea which follows on from there in store and there's been plenty of foreshadowing...
I'll be running the Shackled City adventure path from Dungeon mag with new 1st-level characters...and I get to play my Elven Spellsword in Myth Drannor - Pools of Radiance.
The return to the Fane may be some months off, but I strongly feel they'll want to 'finish' the job - they're pretty full of themselves right now. I do plan on a wrap-up thread once the dust and elation has settled a little.
Grumgarr
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