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Fellwind 
A resident
(5/21/02 5:09 am)
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Re: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!
I've started using my PDA. Mine's a PocketPC so I use a little app called Slicer and Dicer to roll numbers where PC's can't see. There are others for Palm OS.
Its nice 'cause I can keep all kinds of charts and things on the PDA for quick ref as well.
I am a Thrust-ship.
I am small and tricky - where you think I am, I probably am not. I can work very fast, but I tend to go about things in a round about way, which often leaves me effectively standing still. I hate rocks. Bloody rocks. What Video Game Character Are You?
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"You must not Ph34r, Ph34r leads to anger, anger leads to hate. Hate leads to beatdowns, and B34td0wnz Sux0r."
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Andorax
A resident
(5/28/02 5:55 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
Ok...update for everyone. No gaming as a result of the holiday weekend. Had a need to get up into the hills and hide from civilization for a while.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
Andorax
A resident
(6/3/02 6:18 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
More progress. Hey, is mine the longest running Campaign thread because I've been at it longer, or because everyone else just starts new threads each week?
Our bold adventuring band picks up their new finds (still firmly believing that the West Gate Complex is actually the Earth Temple) and drags it all back to the Dwarven Temple. Luckily, Big V is still lying low and healing up under the Stalagos.
They make it back, and decide to kill the next 30 hours or so rather than risk being underpowered for the attack on the Fire Temple. Gath does a couple of Identifies, and a few items get handed out (Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Slippers of Spider Climbing, Eyes of the Eagle, Ring and Cloak +1...Gath quietly pockets the Potion of Love, saying nothing).
Well, they make their rendesvous with the Kuo-Toa just outside Big V's lair, hop in the boats, and under cover of night make their way along the southern reach of the Stalagos and into the Earth Bridge entrance.
A tense moment or two at the bridge, and they're on their way in.
The fight with the Salamanders went fairly slowly. Sheesh...do you know how hard it is for Salamanders and Kuo-Toa to hit each other? Great ACs, lousy +s to hit.
Then, the doors open.
I placed the platform just at ceiling level, so they see it only briefly before it floats upwards and out of sight. Everyone rushes the Burning Skeletons, and that occupies their attention long enough for me to do my seven rounds or so of prepping (including all my book-specified prep spells, my potion, and lighting the candles).
On Round 8, the platform floats down, and Tessimon slams the drum and casts Silence on one of the Kuo-Toa warriors, which prevents Nilbool from firing off his disintegrate. As the eye appears, chaos erupts!
The four Kuo-Toa warriors all fail their saves...some clutch their heads from wisdom drain, while others fall to the ground from strength loss. No PC was affected, but Gath's Familiar is drained of 2 points of Con.
The battle begins! An Astral Construct and a small Arrowhawk appear on the scene, harassing Tessimon. The Kuo-Toa cut loose with spears, doing nothing against her AC. Nilbool fires off his disintegrate......
...and I roll a 19 for the Platform's save. A 19! Yes, I gave the platform a save as per an "attended" object, since it responds to the will of the person riding on it. I figured it needed an 18+ though...and it got a 19!
While this was going on, Lyssa and Gath finish off the last Burning Skeleton in the side cavern, come out, and both make their saves too. Tessimon drops a Flamestrike on Nilbool and the Kuo-Toa Monk. The platform drops to about 40' up, Lyssa drops a Flamestrike of her own on Tessimon, while Fredrick tries to Ecto-Cocoon Tessimon, and Tsindin fires off a Magic Missile and her Arrowhawk zaps Tessimon (The Astral Construct died in the Flamestrike).
Needless to say, Nilbool and friend Word of Recall out of there, and the warriors limp out in full retreat.
I respond with a Flamestrike at Lyssa and Gath (minimal damage...both saved, and they had Resistance to Fire going), and then do something that made way too much sense. I kneel down.
Poof...nobody can see me from ground level. Please, remember this when running Tessimon...just kneeling down should make her impossible to see unless someone is flying, levitating, or climbing the walls (which was next).
Tsindin and Fredrick head up the walls (Cloak of Arachnidia and Slippers of Spider Climbing, respectively). Gath and Lyssa begin the first of several rounds of holding action, ready to shoot at the first sign of her. Tessimon drops a Cure Critical off, then a Dispel magic at Fredrick (succeeds in supressing his slippers).
Remember, by the way...through all of this, Tsindin is Improved Invisible. That's why she didn't get a LOT more attention.
Repeated Magic Missiles from Tsindin and Lightning blasts from the dang Arrowhawk lead me to cast Protection from Lightning, followed (one Acid Arrow later) by Spell Immunity (Magic Missile, Acid Arrow). Dang, it's a good thing Tessimon has good Concentration. Fredrick has managed to both Grease the tentacled rod (which had, in the meantime, managed to grapple poor Gath's hummingbird while it was trying to deliver a Shocking Grasp), which caused Tsindin to drop the rod and free the hummingbird. He also managed to Ecto-Cocoon the swelling egg on the altar*.
Fredrick, in the meantime, fires up a Psionic Spider Climb and a Psionic Invisibility, and climbs up, along the ceiling, until he's standing directly above the platform. As per standard strategy, he's silenced as well.
Tessimon gets furious, and blasts the Arrowhawk with her last Flamestrike. Tsindin gets clever, and Dispels back at Tessimon, removing her Spell Immunity. Fredrick jumps the 30' down onto the platform, invisible and silent.
Tessimon slays the Arrowhawk with her mace (silenced, and furious), Tsindin hits her with another Magic Missile, Fredrick greases the platform behind her.
Tessimon looks about, trying to find out why she's silenced, and taking cover from Gath and Lyssa's arrows (she was hit by them when she stood to off the Arrowhawk). Then Fredrick gets his moment of glory...he backs up, and then bull's Rushes her into (and off of) the grease. She plummets 60' to the bottom of the pit (and I roll 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5 for damage).
Just a side note, btw. With her Potion of Heroism, her Endurace spell (rolled a 5), and her Divine Power Tessimon has a lot of hps to begin with. Add to that a Cure Critcal, and two Cure Moderates, and she's got a lot of damage-suffering potential without going down. Now note that, to make my life easier, I didn't actually subtract her damage from the total on the whiteboard...I added it to her hps in my head.
Well, the PCs are a bit confused, and out of enemies...they begin to think they may have won, and Fredrick starts healing himself up so he can leap down from the platform (he tried to make it go down before, but that was while Tessimon was on it...hasn't tried commanding it after shoving her off).
Then, three small Fire Elementals appear near Gath and Lyssa (Summon Monster IV). Distracted, they start fighting the elementals...suspecting that it had something to do with the Ecto-Cocooned Egg* that Fredrick had shoved off the platform and into the flames moments before.
Tsindin starts summoning, proportedly to bring something that can recover Tessimon's corpse. Her spell is nearly disrupted when, to her amazement, Tessimon climbs up out of the flaming pit next to her. Tsindin completes her casting of a Magmin (oops...can't harm Tessimon while she's resisting fire), and blasts her with another Magic Missile.
Confronted with this, Tessimon takes a full run through the curtain to the east, and the session was called then (with two out of three Fire Elementals dead).
Ok...after all of this, Tessimon is out of healing and has all of 10 hps left (remember, she's 18 extra from her Endurance, so she's on borrowed time now). She's fled through the curtain, and is going to try to get away while rallying help. She's also pretty dang pissed that she's lost her Tentacle Rod, been assulted by the Water Temple, etc.
Haven't had a chance to study the Fire Temple again and figure out what I'm going to do with her from here.
Now, here's the most interesting spot-ruling of the night:
*The "egg" appears, swells to immense size, and bursts open, with a handfull of Salamanders inside. Ectoplasmic Cocoon is nearly indestructable and contains what's within it absolutely. One of three things can happen here:
1) The cocoon can't wrap up the egg (didn't opt for this).
2) The cocoon prevents the growth, thus causing the egg to never "hatch" right, and the remains of several very-squished Salamanders to lie dead with.
3) The cocoon arrests the growth for it's duration, but as soon as that duration is up, it's hatching anyways (I think it has about 1 round left before it reaches full size...the cocoon is now off).
I'm thinking that option 3 is my current favorite. I'd like the PCs to at least consider running at this point, although I've a quandry in the sense that I don't know where they would run to.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
Thrommel
A resident
(6/3/02 7:59 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
Personally, I like the fact that you keep all your campaign logs in one thread. That way I don't have to go searching all over the pace to refer back to something I missed.
Plus, it's such fun to read that it would be a shame to have your earlier logs drop off the end of the topic limit.
In terms of Tessimon, if you can -- have her collect her troops from 113-114 and send her through that smoke-filled room (Area 110). That room will really slow the party down. Tessimon can hole up with Virith and his guards in 106-107. (I think she'd commandeer all the guards CLW potions.) She can have the mephits guard 110 and stay near 106 to summon the fire elementals if the party attacks. She's going to hole up and fortify after a major defeat like this.
For the egg, I like option 3 as well. It shows the power of Tharizdun can be contained, but not destroyed. Plus they probably still have most of their combat buffs up, so it shouldn't be an overpowering encounter.
As for where the party could run to, I'd guess they would try to go back the way they came. (And hope they can bribe the guards with some of the loot they got.) Maybe Eeridik will be there with his hand out as well. (I see him as being completely mercenary.) That could make things interesting.
Otherwise, if they decide to stick around and investigate the Temple further, they could really be in trouble. Sounds like they are significantly weakened. Tessimon is going to make a stand with her remaining troops and if they bump into Firre Oranac, he's just going to rip into them.
Of course, if they took the logical course of action, they wouldn't be adventurers, now would they?
-Thrommel, who's seen some of the craziest plans spun from the simple sentence "It stands to reason..."
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JLXC
A resident
(6/3/02 8:26 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
Andorax One thread to rule them all... heh.
Putting all your logs into one thread is Genius. More people should figure that out! Keep the faith!
Do not Meddle in the Affairs of Dragons,
for you are Crunchy & good with Ketchup
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Andorax
A resident
(6/3/02 9:03 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
I've been very thoroughly enjoying being able to keep NPCs alive and threaten the PCs with them multiple times. If they did retreat back, I was planning on having Eedrack ask them "what's in it for him"...which could prove tricky if the PCs don't have any loot to offer (or just plain hurt, since they DO have money on them, in a bag of holding...but they're going to be very reluctant to part with it).
The PCs will get some sort of hint when they find several fishy heads stuck on pikes just outside of the Ogre/Gnoll room. They're also going to have an interesting time when Eedrack charges them for passage to the bridge....then offers to sell them the boats that he's already had pulled up and stashed in the summoning room (outside the circle, of course).
Anyways, could go any number of ways from here. I just hope Tessimon can make it to shelter before that one last Magic Missile drops her. Firre is going to come through the main doors behind them in a couple rounds...soon after the Salamanders hatch, and things should get really interesting from there.
Thanks for the ideas, Thrommel...I sure hope you stick around after your campaign winds down. Your insights have been tremendous. And thanks, JLXC, for the vote of confidence 
Edit: Oh...and one other thing. Did I mention that having a single thread like this makes a GREAT way to go back and revew the history, from last week to game's start, of the party's action...accessable from wherever I have internet access? It's a very handy tool for me, as a DM, and I am frequently checking back to find out little details of how the last session went.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" Edited by: Andorax at: 6/3/02 9:05:37 am
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Andorax
A resident
(6/17/02 5:37 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
I'd love to give you an update on my group's progress...but there isn't any!
Big huge climactic fight in the Fire Temple, and it ends with Tessimon running off, and the Inititive order still written down on the board, everyone's places marked. Since then:
We went camping
We went to a concert we had purchased tickets for 3 months ago
and most recently two of my players were down sick.
This is starting to feel like a summer after a cliffhanger season finale. Hopefully, next week, I'll have more to report. Alas, but in summer the youngsters have all day, day after day, to game...while us old fogeys have LESS time.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
Dalavar the Wolfmage
A resident
(6/18/02 6:49 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
odd, did this ghost pop up in the list as a new post?
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Andorax
A resident
(6/24/02 6:34 pm)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
Making one last attempt to recover this thread and make it work again. BTW, bad news. Week #4 and no gaming. Two players still sick.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
Andorax
A resident
(7/1/02 8:18 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
Well then...just when I'd given up on this thread, it seems to be working again.
Then again, I could say the same about the group. But they're back, the thread-o-doom is back, and I've got campaign results to post!
Tessimon booked out through Fierre's room, followed closely by a Magmin, by Lyssa, by Tsindin, and eventually by Gath (as Fredrick watched from the platform, still perplexed about how to get down). I can't hardly believe it, but after Tessimon was shoved off the platform, nobody even considered trying to command the platform to move. Nobody.
So they get sufficiently grossed out as they run through the room, out the other curtain, and don't want to guess which way she ran. Oh well.
Meanwhile, Fierre comes in through the north doors and sees the Salamanders emerge from the egg in the fire pit. He tells them to circle round and meet up with him, and halfway to the curtain...he fails his save from Fredrick's Ectoplasmic Cocoon...bow and poisoned arrow in hand.
Gath and Lyssa come flying back into the temple, spy the salamanders, and drop them in short order.
Tsindin returns, and the countdown begins. I gave Tessimon 11 rounds to go storming through the rooms immediately south of the Temple, rounding up troops and meeting in the (currnently empty) Rast room....the Rasts are among the things she's turned out of the Fire Temple area to secure her hold on the nearly cleared-out region between her and the Air Temple. She overstretched her resources a bit, and there's now a price to be paid.
In these 11 rounds, Fredrick LEPT off the 40' platform, flubbed his jump check, and landed in the fiery pit. 50' fall with no fire protection, climbed out in short order, and lay choking on smoke on the edge of the pit with 3 hps left. Convinced Lyssa to heal him, while Gath proceeds to tie a rope off of the South doors, loop the other end (with a couple tries) around the Altar on the platform, and hold it taught while Tsindin spider-climbs up to the platform to have a look about.
They FINALLY coup-de-grace Fierre on the last round of the Cocoon. But luckily, Fredrick's at full health now, and all but Tsindin still have many points left on their Inertial Barriers (74 for Gath, 85 for Lyssa).
Gath and Lyssa both heave on the rope, trying to move the platform...I gave them about 2' of progress, and had Tsindin stumble and touch the altar, starting turning it violet. Nothing came of it, but it certainly scared the heck out of them.
The round after that, the South Doors open. Beyond them?
Zert, the Salamander, the Sorceror, Tessimon, a Hell Hound, and four grunt warriors (pardon the forgotten names).
Tessimon is almost completely healed up to her Endurance-enhanced HP total after snatching healing potions from nearly everyone else, but she's also almost entirely out of spells.
A silence on a front-liner tries to quell Lyssa and Gath, but they're a bit too far back. A Fireball does nothing against their Resist Fire hides (four 1s, a 2 and a 5), but Tsindin's return Fireball wipes out the front liners and puts the rest in trouble...I ruled that the Unhallow only reaches the threshold, it doesn't cross the doorway.
The fight was on. Lyssa, under the effects of her just-cast Righteous Might, strides into battle against Zert. Gath charges the Salamander. Tsindin climbs down from the platform for fear of attacks on her previous position, and it turns out they were well founded, as the Sorceror fireballs where she stood (alas, burning the rope she clinged to, and dropping her 30' into the firey pit). Tessimon drops her Unholy Smite on Gath and Lyssa...both saved, rolled 9 for damage. PATHETIC spell damage rolls for the bad guys.
The fighters fared better. Zert hit nearly every time, and in two rounds managed to utterly pummel Lyssa's shield into nothing. The Salamander did similar to Gath, and had him in seriously bad shape (he hit so often that he got past the Resist Fire as well and was doing fire damage on top of sword damage through both defenses).
The Hellhould was useless...all he managed to do was flank once or twice.
Tessimon and the Sorceror did what they could, but their aid was short lived...because we still had Fredrick the invisible and silent in the fray! He darted past everyone, took up position on the enemy's flank, and blasted away with 9 of his last 10 PsP...to Mind Blast! Amazingly, my saves went very sour, and both the Sorceror and Tessimon fall. Zert had just dropped from Lyssa's furious assault, so it's down to the Salamander versus the party.
Well, my last frenzy of blows manages to drop Gath into negs, put a hurt on Lyssa, and make a grapple attempt on Fredrick (failed - bad check). So Fredrick greased my Greatsword with his last PSP!
Lyssa misses a lot, Tsindin drops a MM into me after climbing herself out of the pit, and her summoned Arrowhawk zaps him from behind. I go after the same strategy again...and my grapple fails, this time due to being stabbed by Fredrick's dagger!
He's a %)#)%)# Psion armed with a Y%#)%)@)%@ Flaming Dagger...and he's hitting and hurting me badly. I don't care if it's only d4 damage, when there's a +8 behind it (24 Str, +1 Dag), it HURTS. But how in the heck he's hitting, I have no idea.
Anyways, Lyssa's out of shield and ready to fall from my next attacks...she misses AGAIN, the Arrowhawk does some damage...and it's Fredrick's turn. Out of PSP, lousy AC, knowing he's going to be a dead dwarf walking...he stabs me with that %*#%#%) dagger again, and gets the killing blow!
So the PCs have defeated everything named in the Fire Temple. I've next to nothing in the south half of the temple (little do they know) that hasn't been spread out between there and Air. They're counting their loot and giving immense thanks that they're not themselves all dead. Lyssa's down to 2 spells (bless and Meld with Stone...just in case everyone else dies). Everyone's beaten, bedraggled, and just plain exhausted...but they don't dare rest here. So next week, they try to stumble their way to their druid "ally" south of the temple and buy some more of his mushroom brew to heal up.
Oh...and the Demonstone is tucked 'safely' away in the bag of holding.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
Blackthorne
A resident
(7/1/02 9:09 am)
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Go Andorax!
Know that you have another loyal fan sitting over here in Germany. Your campaign (and the way you tell the story) just rocks.
One little nitpicky comment: Somwhere on page three, I guess, you mentioned someone being down to single-digit HP due to subdual damage. This, however, ainīt the way subdual damage works (itīs counted upwards).
Iīm looking forward to the impact the Demonstone will have on your campaign...
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Andorax
A resident
(7/1/02 11:14 am)
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Re: Go Andorax!
Thanks for the compliments. And I may have just shorthanded saying that his Subdual damage came within 10 of his remaining hps. I do know how it works. But thanks for the catch, nonetheless.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
Andorax
A resident
(7/8/02 7:53 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
Well, for right now the Demonstone is still safely in the bag of holding (yes, I'm letting it be "out of posession" there...I'm a softie).
The group gathered their loot and made their way through an (eerily) empty Fire Temple. Some serious nervousness entering into the smoke, justified still further when Fredrick did a header into the pit, nearly pulling Lyssa along with (they were going through the smoke hand-on-shoulder).
A groan of pain and a spider-climb later, he's back on top, and they're hacking their way along the right-hand wall.
Then the first Mephit strike. I ran this badly...lined up, one to a PC, and clawed at them. They were expecting disabled, hacking, choking PCs. They got Lyssa cleaving through them like wheat. Dead mephits went up in flames. She never missed an attack or failed a miss chance. Gath got the last one with his Greataxe, and they're "safely" out of the smoke and looking out over the moonlit lake.
This is the first time they've seen the lake at night, and the first time from this high up (50' off the surface). I described a violet glow that surrounded the very center of the lake, something that couldn't be seen clearly from there.
So the PCs tromp their way up to the temple. Fredrick scouts, and eats four MMs (last two Mephits) for his trouble. He retreats, groaning in pain (between the pit and the missiles, he's down to 4 despite having a strong Inertial Barrier still in place).
So they spend a few rounds preparing, and I summon up all four elementals, as one mephit hovers above the sphere, touching it each round.
The PCs charge in. Nothing gets lit on fire. Fredrick gets a Heat Metal, but has all of a Tower Shield (dropped), a Chain Shirt (shucked), and a dagger (dropped)...and now he's metal-less. The rest pummel away (Tsindin burning up a 3rd level slot now to cast her Magic Missile), and Lyssa's Cleaving Doom goes to work once more. No more baddies.
So they stumble through the now-empty ant caves (the Fire Temple cleared them out while claming some new territory) and come to the Druid. Dang, but this guy's doing some good business with the PCs. Tsindin, sick of being the only one without Infravision, buys all 3 Grey Moss Brews...and Lyssa purchases the one freshly-brewed Mushroom Elixer (which later saves her life).
Round the corner past the sphere, and into that u-shaped dead end. Alarm, familiar, and psi-crystal "on watch", the party collapses, exhausted...and the night passes without event.
So now they decide it's time to go back and finish the job. 'round the corner, back into the Fire Temple...Tsindin wants so badly to try and destroy the sphere, but everyone else yells "DON'T MESS WITH IT!!!"
The rest of the rooms are just as empty. The party finds the corpse of the bard (a heal check reveals he passed away some six hours ago, so Lyssa's on a guilt-trip for not having investegated further). Tessimon's room perks up Tsindin's spirit...they have about the same dress size and similar taste in jewelry.
So now the decision...do we head north by the unknown tunnel (to the east) or back to the guardroom (to the west)?
They chose West...and once again, I read ahead on the wrong area.
Tsindin slaps Improved Invisibility on herself and goes forward "just to scout a bit". Finds all the guards save one Gnoll gathered near the door. So, of course, she drops a fireball off and blasts them into oblivion. Gnoll panics, runs for the door, and pulls the rope (just missing Tsindin). So the party breaks into a run to catch up with Tsindin, who's blowing things up again.
The Gnoll warns the fighters in the bridge guardroom, who suck down their potions and charge. Gnoll continues 'round the corner to warn the bosses.
Lyssa charges up the hallway, to be met with guardsmen screaming "Kill Them" and "We're Invincible!" I kid you not...I didn't miss with a single sword stroke. Two the first round, two the second round, two the third round (it only took her 3 rounds to kill 'em all).
Meanwhile, the Trolls burst through into the room behind Lyssa. Tsindin retreats up the hall and stands back to back with her, dumping a fireball amongst the Trolls. Fredrick hurls Whitefire into the same mass, and Gath charges in a berserker rage, getting pummeled for his trouble.
Long story short, Fredrick plays "dodge the troll" and makes good use of Invisibility. Gath nearly gets torn limb from limb, Tsindin lets loose yet another fireball to save her and Lyssa (after trying to trip the Troll heading for Lyssa's back), and the party's defeated everything they've seen so far.
By the way, it's at this point I should note...Lyssa cast "Shield Other" on Tsindin. It's important.
So the party continues round the corner, gets into the four statue room, is contemplating the statues, when Tac comes darting past an invisibile Tsindin and charges into the fray, followed closely by Eadriac, who lightning-bolts the lot of 'em from under his Improved Invisibility (Tac evades). The bolt hits Gath, Lyssa...and Tsindin, who shunts half her damage off to Lyssa. Tac pummels Lyssa, she crits back at him, Gath casts Detect Invis to find the dang invisible fellow. Fredrick starts dropping grease-spots on the floor so as not to blow his Invisibility.
Another round of pummeling, another lighting bolt (with Tsindin out of the way this time) and another evasion. Lyssa hits Tac again, and he's in serious trouble. Tsindin dumps a Magic Missile into Tac, and he's in critical shape. Last but not least, Gath manages to finish Tac off as Lyssa 5' steps through the nearby doorway to get under cover.
Alas, Eadriac saw where the Magic Missiles came from, and dumps another Lightning Bolt. Tsindin had moved...but not out of the direct line. So she gets hit...and shunts half her damage off to Lyssa, who drops like a wet sponge on the floor of the barracks.
Gath runs into the room, slamming the door shut, and digs out Lyssa's newly-purchased mushroom brew.
Fredrick, Tsindin and Eadriac play a very interesting game of hide and seek. Fredrick has regular Invisibilty, Tsindin has cast See Invisibility, and Eadriac has Scent.
The very next round, just as Lyssa hits -9, then comes around from the potion, Tsindin yells "he's by the door". Fredrick runs up and Psionic Blasts the entire area, but Eadriac saves. Eadriac uses his Wand of Arcane Lock on the door, trapping Lyssa and Gath inside...dumps a Magic Missile in the now-visible Fredrick's face, and runs 'round the corner to the bridge guardroom. Lyssa heals up, unknowing that she's trapped with Gath in the Guardroom.
Tsindin comes darting after him, and spots him in the middle of the room, watching and listening intently at the corridor she just came from. A brief standoff, then she dumps a Fireball where he's at.
Alas..."Readied action: If I hear casting, I drop a Lighting Bolt where I hear it coming from".
I spot-ruled that both would go off. Both more dramatic and more "realistic", since the spells should be about as slow to cast.
So boom...Eadriac gets fried, Tsindin shunts half the Lightning damage off to Lyssa, and she nearly goes unconscious again. Lyssa pulls out a scroll and heals herself. Tsindin shifts her location...to right behind Eadriac...
...just as Fredrick rounds the corner (invisible again) and dumps a Psionic Blast right at the center of where he saw Tsindin cast her Fireball, and catching them both in the area! Both Tsindin and Eadriac save, though...so not very exciting.
So Eadriac reacts by dumping eight Magic Missiles into Fredrick, and shifting again. Now Fredrick is in the wide, wonderful world of negatives...and Lyssa's healing herself up again hoping that Tsindin won't get them both killed. Gath waits by the door for Lyssa to be ready to go out there (being non-invisible and also badly injured, he's in no hurry to face what's out there either).
Tsindin...gee, I love this gal...dumps off another Fireball! But alas, this time Eadriac saw the initiation-point of it. He leaps at that spot (badly singed) and slashes with his dagger. Tsindin takes a point, as does Lyssa. Little does she know the saving throw that lies ahead (he he he).
Fredrick bleeds, Lyssa heals, Gath waits. Tsindin tries again, this time with Magic Missiles...at last, something my Shield can stop! Eadriac keeps coming, and slashes again (this time failing the miss chance). He's trying to save his last Lightning Bolt for more than the one target.
Fredrick bleeds, Lyssa tries the door, and it doesn't budge. Gath tries, and also no avail. So Tsindin...egad...yes, another one! Fireball! For those of you keeping count, this is the 7th she's cast to day, and the 3rd she has hit Eadriac with. I made every last save, and am down 58 (of my Endurance-granted 60).
What, do you think I'm stupid? Eadriac runs like all get out, saves versus the Grease spell, and is even now cursing how slow the chain retracts on the bear.
So Lyssa...I can't believe she keeps doing this...unleashes her Feat of Strength for the day to break the door...AND rolls a 20. I ruled it was a Good door (DC 1 , which the Arcane Lock raises to 28. So she gets a 30. The only way she could beat a 28 DC, and of course she manages it.
Then she turns, runs down the hall, and reaches Fredrick at -8. Only memorized healing was a Cure Minor.
So we break session. Tsindin's in single-digit hit points. Lyss and Gath are both in teens, I think. Fredrick's stable at -7, and Eadriac is running like there's no tomorrow to gather up the trolls down below and try to finish these guys off.
And there's still the matter of a Fort save for Tsindin to see if there's a new Wererat Sorceror in the CRM.
I sure hope she doesn't decide to experiment with the big magic circle.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
Sacremas
A resident
(7/9/02 5:11 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
Great update! That hide and seek game must have been thrilling!
If Tsindin becomes a wererat, how will you handle it? Make her directly LE after first change or...
Likely, the druid will have the belladonna plant and can thus abort it... but might administer an addictive or poisoned one instead. They've used a lot of his stuff, BTW. Any side effects so far?
-Sacremas
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madfox
A resident
(7/9/02 5:28 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
Lycanthropy will not change the personality of the person in human form. What changes is the personality while changed in rat-humanoid form.
Let me give you one warning in advance: under the current rules this is a real pain! Everytime when a character gets more wounded then a few scratches, a check is needed to see if the person shifts. In an adventure like RttToEE this is bound to happen a lot. Nothing can disrupt the flow of a game more then this. I once had a campaign running where two PCs where infected with lycanthropy and after this particular adventure that used this fact to it's fullest potential, I fully regretted not making a cure a bit more easy to gain. When the adventure revolves around lycanthropy and survival the added risks of changing adds extra tension. At a certain point though it becomes mundane and then very irritating.
So my advice is to either make a cure easy to obtain or to make a side-track specificly directed at finding a cure or the problems that arise around the disease. The last option is probably better from a game perspective, but it will take more time from the DM.
Madfox, who has had several sessions severely disrupted when after one fight two fighters where hunting rabits and boars in wolf form, while the rest of the PCs were hiding in the tree tops. During that same campaign he also learned how lethal a cleric with the moon domain can be
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Andorax
A resident
(7/9/02 6:11 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
Remember, the Druid hates the temples as much as the PCs do. He's thrilled to keep selling them goods, and raking in the temples' cash along the way. Could it be any sweeter for him?
And the only thing they've bought before is the curing potion. They know the side effects of it, and don't really care...it's worth it to them to have a CMW vendor close at hand (and since the supply is only 1/day so far, it's not breaking anything either).
As for the lycanthropy, they've actually been through that once already. I ran The Alchemist's Eyrie as a side trek ages ago (check back, it's in the history), and in point of fact both Tsindin and Lyssa were infected then. If worse comes to worse, they'll make the journey back to Hommlet and try to convince Y'Day to help 'em out again...or perhaps take their first journey to Verbobonc. If anyone's earned an "outing and shopping trip", it's these guys...they've barely left for Rastor since they found the Dwarven Temple.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
Sacremas
A resident
(7/9/02 10:53 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
Not once in Verbobonc? Not a single shopping tour? Jeeze...
I just have to ask then, just what kind of equipment do they got? Because as you know, 3e CR's are based upon what a *fully equipped* (as per DMG values) party can handle... yours may be one EL low as a result, unless they've been extremely lucky.
-Sacremas
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Andorax
A resident
(7/9/02 11:32 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
They've got what they've been able to scavenge and identify from within the CRM. Which means they're well potioned and well scrolled, and don't have much by way of other "impressive" items.
Items of note that each PC uses regularly:
Gath: Greataxe +1 (came factory equipped with this)
Adamant Breastplate (ditto)
Eyes of the Eagle (west gate)
Lyssa: Greatsword +1 (again, came factory equipped)
Chain Shirt +1 (way back in the Old Temple)
Ring of Protection +1
Fredrick: Tower Shield, Flaming Dagger +1 (factory equipped)
Slippers of Spider Climbing (obtained from Fire Bridge)
Tsindin: Wand of Sleep, numerous scrolls
Cloak of "spider climbing" (obtained from Lareth, still doesn't know it does anything other than Spider Climb, which is all Identify would tell her).
As you can see, most of my PC's stuff comes from their travels and the bounds of what an Identify will tell them. Even those have been hard to come by due to the serious shortage of pearls they've found in their travels (I'm going to seriously improve on that when/if they reach the Water Temple).
Lyssa DID commission Rerrid Hammersong (through Fredrick, he won't talk to a Half-Orc) to craft her a Greatsword +1, Sure Striking. It'll be finished tomorrow, if they ever get back to town for it.
So yes, they're due a shopping trip to Verbobonc by now, but they're unlikely to take it without something prodding them that way.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
wolff96
A resident
(7/11/02 10:17 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
Great to see you're still posting this...
It's a fun group you've got there -- willing to charge headfirst into danger and death.
Here's hoping they make it all the way! And that you continue the story hour that long, too... 
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could be any DM
A resident
(7/12/02 4:27 am)
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Re: Andorax's Sunday night PCs
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Lyssa DID commission Rerrid Hammersong (through Fredrick, he won't talk to a Half-Orc) to craft her a Greatsword 1, Sure Striking. It'll be finished tomorrow, if they ever get back to town for it.
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Won't talk to a Half-Orc? What about the town "constable" which is supposed to have a good relationship to him?
By the way, love reading your stuff... Keep it coming.
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