Forgotten Realms Campaign Log

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Cordo Crowfoot Faen (7/1/03 7:40 am) Reply	Re: Nulb Hit the "quoted" button to the left of the text box and then paste the text you want to quote in. As far as Lareth, oh well, I guess you can always say you were playing his insanity up to not cast on the defensive with such a low AC. Or maybe he knew what was going to happen and that was all part of his greater plan... Mu hwa ha ha
Offgall Fizziwigg Faen (7/1/03 9:08 am) Reply	The way to Rastor. Alas, I don't have a "quoted" button. This post will take me up to the beginning of last night's session. I am almost caught up. The players of Leo and Jezz did not attend. The group goes back to Hommlet. On the way, they spot tracks of horses chasing giant and ogre footprints. They are a day or so old. They got to Hommlet and saw the smoke still billowing out of the western part of town. Broderick has sold the weaponry except the magical stuff. They decide to go to Highmoon to sell their other spoils. Leo stays behind to help with moving heavy stuff from the ruined buildings. He put an order in with Jezz for a belt of strength. The group went to Highmoon. Lyssa sent Jezz to find a Necromancer, who could place a ward or something on the bones to alert her if Lareth were raised or resurrected. Lyssa hates Lareth and wants to make sure he stays dead. So I will let Jezz find someone with a spell like that, but the person has already left for Mistledale for this year's Shieldmeet. It will be weeks before he comes back to Highmoon. So the group buys some stuff. Lyssa gets boots of speed. Kierna and Barrowym both get rings of sustenance. I think Broderick saved his money for something nice. He did buy a horse. They all bought food. Kyo bought magical wraps for his unarmed damage. The group hits the road for Rastor. On the way, the group is attacked three times. Broderick rode his horse in front of the party. So the ankheg attacked him first. Ankhegs like to go for him I guess; the first one attacked him at the moathouse. Well, the ankheg critted his horse, rending its leg from it's body. It killd it outright. The group was able to kill the beast though, in the first round. 1 horse down. Then they camp and are attacked by a group of 8 warriors from the temple. The mowed through these guys, but found their symbols with the white disk attached to the bottom. They found that interesting. A day or two later, the group is attacked by a trio of hunting lions. The group has a tough time with this battle, but manage to come away with some pretty pelts. Not before their pack mule was killed. One lion jumped on it landing all of its attacks and raking with its hind legs. So they make camp. Broderick and Kierna are on the first watch. Too bad they didn't hear or see the stone giant that krept up on hte camp. From 150' away, a boulder crashes through the trees into camp and catches Broderick in the back. When this battle ensued, I thought it would be my first TPK. Everyone wakes up. Barry climbs a tree and readies his bow. Lyssa charges! She tumbles through his threatened area and hits with her attack. The giant goes next. He draws his club and whacks her for 24 damage. Ouch! I think this frightened the group. Kyo moves in and hits the giant. Barry lets loose an arrow and misses. Kierna delays for the whole fight! She didn't want any part of it. Broderick cam in too, and hit the giant for some good damage. Lyssa and her boots of speed make three attacks, and hits with one. Then the giant takes its swings. He whomps Lyssa for 19 more damage. The other attack catches Kyo for 22. This fight gets really ugly. It's straight forward. Barry comes down and heals Lyssa. They have the giant flanked, but it comes down to final blows. One hit could have killed either Lyssa or Broderick. The giant had about 35 hp left. They went full attack. I rolled randomly for who I would attack. Lyssa hit with two attacks. The giant retaliated with two attacks against her. He missed with both! Kyo and Broderick finished him off. In his sack, they found some trinkets. 4 items were magical, but they have yet to identify them. I am using 3.5 identify now BTW. I hate 3e identify. There is a +1 heavy mace, a necklace of fireballs IV, sovereign glue, and a potion of hiding. The next day, group of dwarves come riding in on wagons. Leo jumps off and joins his party. During hte journey, they see a giant eagle in the sky. Soon after they see the smoke rising from the sooty, grimy Rastor.
Offgall Fizziwigg Faen (7/1/03 4:47 pm) Reply	Rastor I am finally caught up. This happened Monday. So I will now be posting weekly. Thanks to everyone for their influence on my version of Rastor. Zans, your site is awesome. I grabbed some printouts to help me. New cast: Amalys: Rog2, Ftr2, Rgr1 air genasi Broderick: Ftr6 human Kyo: Mnk6 human Leopold: Pal5 aasimar Jezz: Nec6 elf Barrowym: Brd5, Ftr1 Kierna: Psi5 drow The group arrives outside of rastor. Most of the group goes to the inn. Barry, however, carried out the plan. Kierna followed invisibly behind him. Barry gathers info around town to find out about Tal. He locates the house as well as learning that he performs an important function in town. So he puts on an ochre robe and a EEE symbol. When he arrives at the door, a dwarf is leaving the house. Barry and Taug share words. Taug affirms that this is Tal's place. After quaffing a potion of glibness, Barry knocks on the door. "Come in." Barry goes in. Despite the grimy exterior (like the other buildings in Rastor), Tal's place is posh. There are comfortable couches, a table. The other room is the kitchen. Tal looks over his shoulder (looks paranoid) a few times and the two talk. Barry ends up telling him that his mission in the moathouse failed. Tal tells him where the CRM is and that Mereclar would be unhappy. Barry's ignorance made Tal consider him a newby, so he told him which gate to go to and that the other led to the Air Temple. Barry leaves without a wagon but with some good info. Kierna stays and watches Tal through the window. Later a human comes over. He and Tal talk. Then the human gives him some money, and Tal gives him a bag of some substance. Kierna follows the human back to his house and watches as the guy packs a leafy substace in a pipe and smokes it. They all meet back at the bar. Kyo is armwrestling for beer. He won twice and lost twice. Brod and Lyssa are at the bar talking to Rerrid. They get all the basic info, except for Tymerian. Rerrid told them that she had been to the crater, and they blew their chance to ask her questions. Barry tried, but it didn't go well. He tried to small talk too much. Tal came into the bar. When he did, Lyssa and Kierna broke into his house. They stole his copper pieces AND his stash of Tanbrosh! This will cause a minor scare tomorrow when they leave town. The next day, the group leaves for the CRM. They travel all day before they get to the crater. They cast invisibility on Lyssa, and she flies over the crater. She sees the tower, and a lightning bolt screams her way, but she evades it. "But I'm invisible!" "I know it." Then riders on waspy creatures come out of the towers. Zaaaap! This lighting bolt hit for 36 damage. That put the fear in her. She went into a dive back to the group. While she licked her wounds, 3 displacer beasts attacked. This was a tough fight for a while because no one could hit. The displacers were hitting. Kierna pulled out her wand and acted like her Faerie Fire came from the wand. It was really her innate ability. Remember she has to keep up the disguise. This allowed them to target two of the beasts without error. They finished the fight quickly after that. Despite me all but putting a neon sign up telling them to go to the less used entrance, they decided to head for the air temple. Suggestions are welcome! They will be unsuspecting, but I want a battle to challenge them, if not drive them away. I'm sure it will, but I want some good suggestions. BTW, they regretted not talking to Tymerian!
ZansForCans Faen (7/1/03 8:23 pm) Reply	Re: Rastor Re: quoting... make sure you have the 'ezCodes' radio button selected on the posting page. The buttons are hidden otherwise. You can also do it by hand by using [quote]neat thing they said[/quote]. Re: site... thanks! Group Editing & Authoring Support flexible campaign management for the web info :: demo
Offgall Fizziwigg Faen (7/8/03 5:12 am) Reply	Back to Rastor Jeez. Is it even worth a post?! Last night had to have been the worst night of gaming in my life. I had prepared for both the Air Temple and the other entrance all week. Two of my players were going home to Columbia for a month or so. The older brother - the paladin - borrowed our creature figs for his other group's game. He wasn't sure if he could make it to the game, but he said he would bring the figs back. Well neither he nor his brother made the game and Kyo's player couldn't make it. So I have no figs and half a group. I prepared for the lack of players. I had a cleric NPC ready, because the group would not have a healer once the paladin and his brother left the group. I had not prepared for a game without figs! Turns out I did not need them. There has been a rift forming in the group for a while. The player of Barry and the others are not getting along well. Aside from gathering info in Rastor and fighting some spiders, nothing happend and we went home early. Something has to be solved, or the game will deteriorate. There were a few interesting things to report. Kierna, the psion, did some scrying on Mereclar. She saw him sitting in his room, drinking from a goblet and smoking a thin cigar. A few minutes later, a someone knocks on the door. It is Wormspike, who tells Mereclar that Hedrack sent for him. Kierna also sees paperwork on his desk saying that Hedrack is pleased with the job Mereclar is doing and orders for him to stay vigilant and question everyone. This raises a question that I will ask at the end of my post. Then they spend the rest of the night deciding whether to kill Tal. By stealing his stash, the PCs caused 30 people in Rastor to go comatose while Tal searched for more Tanbrosh! They spy on him and expose his drug dealing to Rerrid, who evades the PCs until he is pushed into a corner. They ask what kind of mayor he is, who doesn't care about his people. He responds that he doesn't want his people to die. They make the connection that Tal is associated with the moathouse people and the dudes in the CRM, so it might not be wise to bump him off just yet. Kierna didn't want to draw attention to the group just yet. Barry, on the other hand wanted to solve the drug problem in town. Both good points, but it just caused more bickering and out of character insults. They decided to do nothing. Before we stopped, they started out for the CRM and fought some spiders. Here's my question. Now that Kierna has his name, she can attempt to scry on Hedrack. Does he care? Does he have any defenses that he keeps up, that would deter scrying? If he detected that he was being scried, would he put up defenses? My idea is to give Kierna a look at Hedrack. More than likely, Hedrack will know that he is being scried, so I would give Kierna a description of Hedrack's smiling face, and then he would cast darkness on himself. Then Kierna would see nothing. What do you think?
JRedGiant Faen (7/8/03 5:58 am) Reply	Back to Rastor Sucks about your group. I hope they/you manage to work things out, because it sounds like people are having a great time when they're not arguing. Anyways, I think your reaction to Hedrack being scried on is good...maybe add in a little wave so that it's obvious he's on to her. If she persists in getting his attention, punish her for it. Have her description circulated around the CRM, maybe even have Hedrack send something small to deal with her. But until the party sacks two of the temples, they are beneath Hedrack's attention.
Infiniti2000 Verrik (7/8/03 6:33 am) Reply ezSupporter	Re: Back to Rastor "Here's my question. Now that Kierna has his name, she can attempt to scry on Hedrack. Does he care? Does he have any defenses that he keeps up, that would deter scrying? If he detected that he was being scried, would he put up defenses?" My first reaction for Hedrack is to punish the interloper severely. Monte really should have foreseen this and put a few comments in the module about what happens if the party scries the Outer Fane too early and are detected. Hedrack, as a high level very evil very powerful very smart cleric, would not take kindly to being scried in his abode. Draw some flavor from the BoB or from the book ToEE by Thomas Reid. Then, if Hedrack notices the scry, I would consider sending in Bethe/Victor to eliminate the threat. Hedrack likes to eliminate threats and as soon as someone is confident enough to scry him, that person becomes a threat. At this point, it is almost an auto assassination and if that doesn't sit well with you (it probably shouldn't, but you let slip the name Hedrack too early), you can just him scry the party back, and then do as JRedGiant suggests, circulate their descriptions through the CRM. Or, have the nearest complex or temple send out a force to deal with the intruders. Or, send out a suitable Spider Eater force.
Offgall Fizziwigg Faen (7/8/03 6:55 am) Reply	Re: Back to Rastor -- "you let slip the name Hedrack too early" That sucks. When it happened, I wasn't expecting that this would occur. I wanted to reward him with some good info since he was doing something productive. I didn't realize I was setting myself up for something to "deal with." I thought I was showing them that there was a hierarchy. Oh well. They will pay for prying too deep. I'm not going to hold back when they are meddling with powerful foes. Would it be possible for him to scry back or retaliate offensively? Wouldn't he have to know who was scrying? How could he know who was scrying?
JRedGiant Faen (7/8/03 7:00 am) Reply	Re: Back to Rastor I made the same mistake...Lareth mentioned Hedrack's name, but fortunately my PC's aren't big with the scrying for some reason. Anyways, after reading Infiniti's comments, it occurs to me that this is a decision point in how you view Hedrack's persona. Is he arrogant, overconfident and disdainful? Or is he cold, calculating and cautious. If he is the latter, he would send an assassin to wipe out Kierna...and if she's raised, he'll do it again, until she goes away and stops coming back.
Infiniti2000 Verrik (7/8/03 7:08 am) Reply ezSupporter	Re: Back to Rastor He would certainly scry back and is almost surely successful. Maybe, and this might be your "out", he would look at the party and sneer in contempt, dismissing them as not even a threat. Have the PC notice the attempt and have them recognize that Hedrack casts a spell through the greater scry that you cannot cast through a normal scry. Them, tell the player that they realize this fact. Or, just tell the player that through his spellcraft he realizes this is a greater scry. This should clue in the party that Hedrack should not be bothered again until they are much higher level. Hmm...another thought to turn this to your advantage. Hedrack could get Varachan involved to use the crystal ball. Varachan does so and manages to send the party a message to the effect of "Wtf are you thinking?!" This is a good way to get V involved early and to avoid the common problem of the PC's thinking Varachan's involvement smacks of too much deus ex machina. Of course, keep his involvement very vague. Varachan would certainly take no chances to blow his "cover", as it were.
Infiniti2000 Verrik (7/8/03 7:12 am) Reply ezSupporter	Re: Back to Rastor "If he is the latter, he would send an assassin to wipe out Kierna...and if she's raised, he'll do it again, until she goes away and stops coming back." I doubt it. If Kierna is killed, she will likely be forgotten. As far as Hedrack knows, the party is merely a force hired by one of the temples who might have overheard his name and got too inquisitive. Hedrack might even ignore the attempt or send out Bethe (e.g.) to capture and question the PC in order to punish the PC's supposed employer. Lots of options, but make sure you consider your choice carefully.
Offgall Fizziwigg Faen (7/8/03 7:15 am) Reply	Re: Back to Rastor That's a great idea. I definitely see Hedrack for what he is - cold, calculating, etc. I like the idea of him scrying with a greater scry. I also like the idea of involving Varachan. How would V send his message? Animal messenger? Something like that?
Offgall Fizziwigg Faen (7/8/03 7:17 am) Reply	Re: Back to Rastor You're right. It's decision time. I'll let you know what I decide to do. Keep the ideas coming though. I like a good brainstorm. I provides for a great game! Thanks Infinity and Giant!
JRedGiant Faen (7/9/03 6:34 am) Reply	Re:Back to Rastor Infiniti, he wouldn't even send the assassin IMC, because I see him as being far to arrogant to bother much with the PC's until they sack a few temples. I'm just stating that if he is the calculating and paranoid type, he would view a dead PC, raised and still on his trail, as an even bigger threat then he did before he killed the PC the first time. It's all in how the individual DM views Hedrack's personality. (The Jolly Red Giant goes back to trying to figure out if a fully advanced howler will slaughter his PC's or not.)
JRedGiant Faen (7/9/03 6:38 am) Reply	Re: Back to Rastor Infiniti, he wouldn't even send the assassin IMC, because I see him as being far to arrogant to bother much with the PC's until they sack a few temples. I'm just stating that if he is the calculating and paranoid type, he would view a dead PC, raised and still on his trail, as an even bigger threat then he did before he killed the PC the first time. It's all in how the individual DM views Hedrack's personality. Personally, I prefer the arrogant viewpoint, because it keeps Hedrack from unleashing his full resources on poor little 5th and 6th level PC's who got in over their heads. I like your Greater Scry back idea...again, it tweaks the nose of the impudent caster without really killing her.
JRedGiant Faen (7/9/03 6:42 am) Reply	AARRGGHH!!!! Oops, accidently double posted...I wish I knew how to edit my posts.
Offgall Fizziwigg Faen (7/14/03 9:10 am) Reply	Group situation Well, the problem I had is now solved. The player of the bard will no longer play with the group. I have an NPC dwarven cleric of Moradin to help the group. He's interested in reclaiming the lost Moradin temple. His spells are needed. I am playing tonight. The group is on the way to the CRM this time. They will probably get on with it. I'm not sure what entrance they will decide on. I'm sure Kierna will attempt to scry on Hedrack. I am going to use the scenario I found on the BoB. It explains exactly what I am going through. I will have Hedrack look right into the focus and smile. Then he'll turn his back and write the note. Shortly afterwards, the group will be accosted by a pseudonatural planar ally! Fun, fun! The party average is 7th level. I'm scared it will be too much for them. They might be able to handle a CR10. I'm not sure what kind of creature to send, either. To advise me, let me share my group makeup now: Kierna: drow elf ECL1, psi6 Kyo: human mnk7 Lyssa: air genasi ECL1, rog3, ftr1, rgr1 Broderick: human ftr6 Grimboulder: NPC dwarf clr6 Now, what planar ally do you think they could handle based on their level and party makeup. I think they could handle a CR10 max, like the pseudonatural behir. I don't think they could take much more than that. I do want to make an impression though. Edited by: Offgall Fizziwigg at: 7/31/03 5:50 am
Offgall Fizziwigg Faen (7/15/03 12:42 pm) Reply	At the gate Well, the problem we had is now solved. The result was a smaller group around the gaming table and a smooth, excellent gaming session. The only argument was about how to bury the bard. The paladin has gone on his own quest now. Jezz, the necromancer, has moved into Rastor. He will craft wonderous items for the group if he is able to cast the appropriate spells. The cast: Kierna: drow ECL1, Psi6 Kyo: human Mnk7 Broderick: human ftr6 (almost 7) Amalys: air genasi ECL1, Rog3, Ftr2, Rgr1 Grim: NPC dwarf clr6 Kyo met the party on the road. They finished the day's march to the fork in the road. They decided to go north and around the mountain to the lesser used entrance. On the way, a giant eagle attacked the group. It went straight for the bard, Barry. Between the bird and Amalys, Barry died. Kierna, the drow elf, collected his tongue and eyes to add to her skull lantern. Then she pinned his corpse on a tree like a scarecrow. They camped at the fork. During the night, they were given trouble by a pack of dire bats. They flew in fast and did a lot of damage. After lots of tumbling and running to get into flanking positions and to keep from being surrounded, the group was able to fell all the bats. So they circled around to the main gate. Kyo ran ahead to get a closer look at the entrance while the others set up a base of operations down the mountain a ways and off the side of the path. Kyo found that the entrance area was not active. The door was shut, but the arrow slits were unoccupied as far as he could tell. So he reported back to the group. This time Lyssa went with him. Kierna made Lyssa invisible, and she and Kyo went up again. Lyssa inspected the door quietly and found that the door could simply be pushed open. When they reported back, it was Kierna's turn to do her own info gathering. She gave her psi crystal spider legs, and sent it in through the arrow slits. She saw the gnolls in 4 and the humans on the other side of the cave entrance. Then she scried 15 feet inside the double doors. She saw an empty hall with double doors and a four-way intersection. She also saw the four symbols just inside the door, which caused quite a stir. Finally, Lyssa went up again, and pushed the door open with a mage hand. The hallway was empty. She applied pressure to the symbols with the mage hand to see if they were traps. Then she moved in. She heard voices around the corner and left the entrance. She reported backe to the group. They camped for two days, trying to find a group from the cult going in or out, so they could sneak inside, but this route is used very infrequently. No one came in those two days. No on came out of the mountain either. They did have a fight with two trolls, which they handled nicely. Now the PCs are camping outside the main gate. They are ready to try to enter the complex next session.
DestyNova1 Faen (7/15/03 2:16 pm) Reply	Whoa.. That was a pretty gruesome thing to do to the bard. I take it the drow isn't good aligned since corpse muitilation is pretty nasty.
Offgall Fizziwigg Faen (7/15/03 4:41 pm) Reply	Re: Whoa.. "That was a pretty gruesome thing to do to the bard. I take it the drow isn't good aligned since corpse muitilation is pretty nasty." That is true. She is a worshipper of Lloth. She is a great character. If you read the earlier episodes, you might remember a character named Sal. He was the halfling thief who fell off the Obelisk to his demise. She cleaned his skull and turned it into a lantern with continual flame cast in it. She's bad. She never fights either. She summons stuff to fight for her. When hard pressed, she'll run and use her and try to hit stuff with her wand that shoots ecto-goo, her crossbow, or fire orbs. Good role-player.